Christmas party

Last night was our Agape staff Christmas party, but before we the party started the ladies took some fun pictures on the beach.  I love every one of them!

Of course we started the party with food!  It was AMAZING.  Dan and Tori brought turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, apple pie, the works!  Oh, and of course there was rice!  It would have been even more amazing if I could have tasted it (I haven't been able to taste my food often the past few days since I've been sick), but the texture was delightful!

After we ate, Praise, Sander, and Andrew sang some fun Christmas songs.  This is when I started tearing up because it was a happy time and I'm going to miss it when I leave in one week.  The last song was "Joyful Joyful" and we were supposed to be going around telling people merry Christmas, but I ran upstairs to try to look normal again before running back downstairs and being recognized for serving here the last four months.  I held it together okay, but I don't think I was totally tearless...

Shannon and Teresa said some sweet words and Dan presented me with a gift, which was a Starbucks Boracay coffee mug and a gift certificate for the Starbucks here which I will be happy to use this week!  We then watched a great slide show that Praise put together for me.

We ended the party with a gift exchange, which we did the same way my mom's side of the family does every year at Christmas eve where a gift can be stolen two times.  The gifts had a 100 peso limit ($2.50) and I went fifth.  I opened up a stuffed Patrick (a Spongebob character) and of course was stuck with it the whole time :)  I gave it to the little daughter of two other teachers.

This is Jhing, my co-teacher, picking out a gift.

It was a fun party!

Today at church some of the kids from the Kagban feeding site that I go to did a dance performance.  I will post a video on facebook as soon as I get the chance.  They did a great job and it was fun to be able to sit with them during worship.  I love that I've been able to build a connection with those kids even though I usually only see them once a week.  It's easy to build connections when the kids just latch on so easily!

I can't believe I'm leaving in a week.  Shannon asked me if I've made a checklist of things I want to do before I leave.  Nope!  I want this week to be like every other week, because that's what I have loved!