Catching Up :)

Well, the last few months have been quite exciting, and the next few months will be just as exciting, so it's about time for some blog posts to catch up! In March, I (Julie) successfully defended my thesis and graduated from APNTS with a Master's degree in Religious Education. It's so ironic that I finished before Brian, since I never really wanted to go to seminary in the first place. :) But God has provided some amazing opportunities, and we trust that our experience here will be used to enhance our future, so we continue trusting in God's incredible grace and guidance. We're also not looking forward to saying goodbye to our incredible friends at APNTS and in the Philippines, so we're treasuring our last few months here as Brian finishes his degree. It was a huge blessing to have my parents and sister visit for graduation and spend a few weeks with Justin.... and us. ;) Here are a few pics from the graduation festivities.

Rathburn/Woolery family at the Graduation Banquet

with incredible friends from Japan

friends from Myanmar

friends from the Philippines

all the graduates

Yay for family coming to visit!

We're still here....

Just a quick post to say we're still here and will be posting soon about our many adventures in the last few months! :) It's been busy but wonderful - thesis defense, graduation, family visit, Justin walking/running everywhere, youth camp, and more... We're enjoying our summer, but we still haven't slowed down enough to update our blog.... hopefully soon. Thanks for staying in touch! :)

Justin's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated Justin's first birthday on January 31 on the APNTS campus. In many countries in Asia, the first birthday is very special, and it is tradition to have a big party. Since this will probably be Justin's only birthday in the Philippines, we gave in to tradition, invited everyone, served spaghetti (Filipino birthday tradition - eat pasta), and had a wonderful time! Justin did pretty well, but he was a little overwhelmed by so many people at a few points.... Here are just a few pictures from his special day.

"Fish" was the theme for the party... why? because it's fun and easy! :)

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Terri, who helped me bake almost 100 'ocean' cupcakes and Justin's 'fish' cake!
Justin's happy birthday message contained pictures from various occasions over the last year... yes, every circle in his name is a different picture. :)

tropical fish tattoos! This is where Brian chose to wear his.

showing off their tattoos....

Our amazing friend, Melissa, painted this for a fun photo op! Everyone had such a blast getting their picture taken. :)

Since our theme had to do with water, we played fun games with water balloons - perfect for a hot afternoon in Manila!

The merienda (snack): crab sushi rolls, 'octopus' hotdogs, shanghai lumpia, spaghetti, and goldfish crackers Brian brought back from the states! Needless to say, all the missionaries from the states went crazy over the goldfish. :)

writing messages to Justin....

We needed some help blowing out the candle. ;)

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to....

Happy Birthday, Justin!

EJ

I have put off writing this entry, because every time I talk about it, it just makes it more real, and that's still pretty difficult. You may have seen in past blogs some pictures of Justin with an adorable Filipino boy named EJ. EJ's mom, Janet, watches Justin twice a week, and soon after she started, I encouraged her to bring her 5 year old son. EJ is Justin's best friend... I've never seen two children so separated in age and development have so much genuine fun together and love for each other.

About 3 weeks ago, EJ was feeling sick when he was at our house, so the next day his parents took him to the doctor. They were told he had mumps. But a couple days later, his condition was getting worse, so they took him to another doctor, and he was diagnosed with diphtheria. I must admit I've only heard of diphtheria in relation to vaccinations and had no idea what it meant to have it, so I quickly researched and found that yes, he would need to be treated in a hospital, but if caught early, it was easily treatable and he would just need a lot of rest. There are still a lot of unknowns about all the details, but the toxins from the diphtheria reached EJ's heart, and he died less than one week after his diagnosis.

When I received the text about his death, I just kept hoping it was a mistake or a bad dream. For two or three days, every time Justin picked up a toy to play with, I would burst into tears because it reminded me of EJ. While our minds are still filled with tons of questions and unknowns, I'm trying to focus my energies now on supporting EJ's parents and older sister and remembering our incredible friend. Here are some of my favorite memories:



~Justin's face whenever he saw EJ... he would instantly light up no matter where we were or what was going on. He would shake his arms with excitment! :)
~EJ's incredible ability to play with Justin... other children come over to play and just kind of play with the toys and ignore Justin... he is still a baby, after all. ;) But EJ would intentionally play with Justin for hours - it was really amazing.
~Whenever Justin was taking a nap, EJ would sometimes come find me in the library. He would just stand and watch what I was doing, and then I would give him my cell phone so he could play games.
~EJ didn't speak very much English, so if I saw him on campus, I would ask him if Justin was sleeping, by motioning with my hands and leaning my head to the side. EJ quickly learned the words I was saying, but every time he saw me, he would say, "Ate Julie, Justin sleeping" and do the motions with his hands and head.
~EJ loved to watch Brian work on his computer. He would point at different icons on the screen, and when Brian would open it, he loved the action and movement.
~EJ wore a pair of bright yellow galoshes. When he was running around campus, you could see him from far away because of his yellow galoshes.
~EJ made everyone on campus smile. He always had a smile for anyone he saw.

While the funeral service and preceeding visits to his family's house were extremely painful, they were also filled with blessings. EJ's family lives in what we call a squatter area.... many small houses made of wood and scrap materials, very crowded living conditions, etc. One night while they were having a service outside, I was able to sit inside with Janet and we just talked about everything. It was so incredible. We cried together, and then we started telling stories, and that quickly brought laughter. When I first visited after EJ's death, I had developed some pictures of Justin and EJ and gave them to Janet. She was so appreciative and then directed my attention to a shelf behind me... the shelves were already filled with pictures of EJ, Joana (his 8 year old sister) and Justin... I can't describe the emotion I felt... I had never seen these pictures before... Janet had taken them with her cell phone at different times at our house...in each one the love EJ had for Justin was so evident.

So while we're still grieving, and our little apartment here will never seem the same without EJ's brilliant laugh, we're assured of where he is now and that we will see him again someday. Please keep EJ's family in your prayers. Of course, they are having a difficult time. And give an extra hug to the children in your life today... they really are blessings God has entrusted us with... make sure they know how much you love them. :)

Christmas in Baguio

So, I'm doing some catching up today with our blog. :) We were so blessed this last Christmas to spend a few days with some dear friends in Baguio, a town in the northern part of the Philippines. Baguio is famous for strawberries, fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, weaving, cool mountain air .... we just really love Baguio and try to go any chance we get. We went with our friends, the Tsutada family, and Junichi and Mari Nakade. They have been incredible friends while at seminary and we can't imagine life without them after we all graduate. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our last Christmas in the Philippines.

First we visited some friends and former APNTS students in a town on the way to Baguio. They are teaching at a Wesleyan Bible College. Justin and Kinomi will be great friends some day, I'm sure... right now they kind of just look at each other. :)

Beautiful Baguio


Justin quickly fell in love with Baguio strawberries.
visiting the Easter Weaving Room... you can buy tons of stuff upstairs, but the best part is going downstairs and seeing all the ladies work on the looms - truly amazing!
Baguio has some really great restaurants... we kind of planned our whole trip around eating. :)
Justin's first firework show on Christmas Day
is Brian thinking about a new hairstyle? :)
eating 1 day old chick... yes, we have some interesting food items in the Philippines. :)

we love Baguio! :)

Spaghetti!

Justin is in a food-loving stage right now... He wants to eat any and everything we eat, and he wants to eat a lot. :) It is a Philippine tradition to eat pasta on your first birthday, and we've been to a couple of 1st birthday celebrations recently. It's also tradition to send food home with everyone, so basically, Justin has been in heaven. He really loves spaghetti... here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last couple days.