Babymooning

Last week Josh and I decided to take a Christmas vacation/babymoon to Baguio City. We had to go back to Manila to pick up our visas so we decided to go to Baguio a few days beforehand and travel through Manila on our way home. Some of you may remember a trip we took to Baguio earlier this year in January for a conference. We really enjoyed the weather and scenery there and have been dreaming of going back ever since. We were so thankful for this opportunity. We prayed that God would use the time to strengthen our marriage, renew us for further ministry here, and prepare us for our new little addition in a couple of months. 

 

Baguio City is literally a city built into the mountains. The landscape and weather is completely different from the tropic region that we live in. It's hard to believe you're still in the Philippines! The cool mountain air is so refreshing and reminds me of vacations with my family growing up. I may live on the beach now, but I think I'm a mountain girl at heart. 

 The smell of the pine needles was one of our favorite things about the seminary where we stayed.

 

We stayed outside as much as possible, taking in the fresh cool air. This is Wright Park.

 

My pregnant self actually climbed these stairs to get to the park! 

 

But it was beautiful at the top...sadly our photographer didn't capture much :) 

 

We went to 'The Mansion' where many US governors spent summers years ago. It's now the Philippine President's summer home. 

 

We walked through Woodcarver's Village and saw some beautiful, intricate pieces. We even snagged a few things to bring home with us. 

 

More wood carvings at Mine's View Park..haha the workers really wanted us to get a picture in these tribal hats. 

 

The endless fields of strawberries... yum. This is one fruit we never get in Aurora so they were quite a treat. 

 

We went to the Philippine Military Academy. It's kind of like visiting West Point in the States. 

 

Can you see how excited I was about the military academy and my awesome badge?? haha

We spent our last night at the famous Burnham Park. 

 

We took a nice walk around the park's lake..  

And enjoyed some Christmas lights.. 

 

And a lighted water show. 

 

We even made friends with a couple of carolers in the park. Many children would come up and start singing, expecting money in return. This happens in Aurora, too. After attempting to sing about 5 songs, including the 10 minute long 12 Days of Christmas, we sent them on their way with handfuls of strawberries :) 

Not pictured, we saw the movie The Hobbit and during a perfectly wrong time in the movie (I won't mention for those of you die-hard fans who haven't seen it yet) the entire theater shook with a 4.9 earthquake! So we didn't actually see the last 15 minutes or so of the movie because we left the building. No harm was caused by the quake, though. 

The trip was so much fun. Josh and I really enjoyed our time with each other, knowing it will be our last trip with only the 2 of us. It even seemed to really put us in the Christmas spirit! We're thankful for this slower time of year and that we could get away for a while. 

As for the visas we planned to pick up, they still weren't ready. We have been approved, but they aren't finalized. So thank you for your prayers in that area and please continue to pray. It would be really helpful to have them finished before I become too pregnant to travel. 

It's Christmas Eve here, so Merry Christmas to all of you! What a humbling and joyful holiday that we as Christians get to celebrate. May your worship of our King be holy and pleasing to Him. 

Love, the Borens