First of all, I have a praise report. I recently wrote a blog called Gabrielle needs you! where I shared her need for financial support. She needed $300 before January 1st to be able to stay on the Race. In 2 days she received donations totaling $2500!!! Praise God! Thank you for your prayers and/or financial support of her.
Many people have been asking how our holidays went. Here a glimpse into what the holiday season looked like in the Philippines World Race style:
The view from our hotel
Me at the beach on Christmas day
Team Lego at Christy’s birthday dinner
I got to see Santa on Christmas day and again on the 28th!
Team Lego did a Secret Santa gift exchange- Courtney was my secret santa!
We had a gift exchange with the squad. The catch was that when you wanted someone else’s gift you had to compete with them and whoever won got the gift! Allison and I did Korean chicken fighting over a big bar of chocolate and Esther and I arm wrestled for M&Ms and a movie. I lost both times. (Korean chicken fighting: you each hold up a leg and try to knock the other one over. Best 3 out of 5 wins.)
The improv Christmas skit. Sean was in a plane wreck (he’s still wearing the oxygen mask and life jacket from the plane) and ended up on an island. The natives had taken Santa hostage but Sean saved the day!
We had a Christmas carol-themed sand castle competition. Our sand castle- “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.” (Tamara and I are buried in the sand in dancing positions.) We won the competition!
The next few days, those of us who were certified got to go scuba diving!!! Our dive boat, the first day divers, the second day divers and me jumping off the platform during our break between dives.
We came back to Manila for New Year’s Eve. We sat on a hill overlooking the city and watched fireworks exploding from every alleyway in the city. There were more fireworks going off at one time than I’ve ever seen in my life. It was beautiful!
It was by far the craziest Christmas I’ve ever had. It was sad to be without my family for the holidays but we made the most of it and had a lot of fun anyway. I hope you all had happy holidays as well!
