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 "As for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Firmly Established in Christ in 1995 BING, ELIJAH (8) & BRIAN (13), AND BERT - DEC 2005
Hello and thank you for
visiting our site. That's me (Bing) on the left and on
the right is my husband, Bert. We have two wonderful boys,
Brian and Elijah. These photos were taken at a wedding on December
18, 2005. Bert was the best man and had to wear his navy dress
mess uniform. Elijah was the ring bearer.
Brian was born at Cubi Point
Hospital, Subic Naval Base - Philippines on May 13, 1992, almost
one year after the infamous Mt. Pinatubo eruption that caused the
historic evacuation of over 19,000 US military personnel and
families from the Philippines. Elijah was born on the 4th of July,
1997 at Tripler Army Hospital, Hawaii. We were supposed to be at a
Chapel Picnic, but my husband wanted a 4th-of-July baby, so I went
on ahead and pushed! Our Barber's Point Protestant Chapel
congregation prayed for me during the picnic! It's also interesting
to note that 4th of July in the Philippines is Filipino-American
Friendship Day.
Well by now, it should be
obvious to you that our family is a blend of two exciting cultures,
East meets West! And as we travel all around the world, we pick up
bits and pieces of each culture.
Bert calls Alabama-The-Beautiful his
home. Bert is a P-3 pilot in the Navy or what you call a
Naval Aviator and an Officer. He has served for over 20
years. As of this writing, we are seriously
considering his retirement plans. We are looking at
possibly staying in the Navy for another
tour. Every three years, the navy moves us to a new duty
station , we usually have a 30-day leave and visit his
parents and relatives in Alabama. Mom and Dad live in a small
town called Seale, deep in the country side: beautiful ,
woods, wild berries, fishing, hunting, rattle snakes, and not
very many people!
In contrast, I came from
the Philippines and was born
and raised in the city of Manila where almost 10 million
people live according to the 2000 Census. When I was a little girl, it
seemed we had more than 15 million people! Manila is the
capital of the Philippines and everyone comes from everywhere
to do business there. My cousins from the provinces lived
with us for many years to go the colleges and
universities in Manila. The city is about the size of the
country of Singapore but Singapore only has 4 Million
people! We have jeepneys, tricycles, taxis, motorcycles,
buses, cars, bicycles, light-rail transits, wagons, calesas,
and more: all on the same road! We also boast the largest
shopping malls in the world, where window-shopping is the
national recreation, free air-conditioning! I have relatives
in Singapore, Hongkong, England, US and in the Philippines. Every year, we
go to Manila to visit. Whew! I don't think our family will
ever stop travelling, this is a lifetime
expense!
Eleven years ago,
circumstances in our lives caused us to examine our priorities and
realized that we needed God. Bert, at his lowest moment, became a
born-again Christian in December 1994. God's wonderful works
followed in 1995. Bert became involved with Promisekeepers. To date,
he has attended five (5) Promisekeeper's Conferences where 50
to 100 thousand men gathered to praise and worship God! We
have also attended the Family Life Marriage Conference
five (5) times. We are not bragging about how
many times we have been to one of these events. We would like
to point out that it is good to go as often as anyone can, as
in our case, every 2 years or so to get a refresher course on
how to live with your life mate. For several years now, we
have been involved in a parenting ministry called
Growing Kids God's Way by
Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo of Growing Families
International.
My conversion was a little
slow. It took me over a year to catch up with Bert. My background
is that of a very confused but religiously zealous
person. Just like most most Filipinos, I was born a
Roman Catholic. But my parents were not devout members of the
church, as a family, we would only go to church services twice a
year - during Lenten Season or Holy Week and Christmas. Many of my
relatives on my father's side are Jehovah's Witnesses. One of my
brothers became a JW elder and had influenced me and my sisters
theologically.
Although I was never baptised,
it is safe to say I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness. In my
high school years, I was very passionate about my JW beliefs that I
convinced many of my classmates to abandon the Roman Catholic Youth
Maryan Crusade. Many teachers hated me for it because the group
eventually dissolved. This group held prayer vigils every afternoon
in front of a statue of Mary. This was allowed in our public
schools. As a matter of fact, groups like these were mostly created
and supervised by teachers. In my elementary and high school years,
part of Character Education is a religion class, and it
was all Roman Catholic Theology. I was one of the
few odd balls in the class who came from other faith
backgrounds but had to sit and listen. It was assumed that everyone
in the class was a Roman Catholic. That's another story I will
have to write in another page!
Anyway, after Bert's first
experience with Promise Keepers, I saw how he had become a new man.
All aspects of his role as a husband and a father have changed
dramatically since he became a Christian. I could no longer deny
that God was a reality in our life and the search for peace and
direction was over. On February 11, 1996, I accepted Christ to be
my personal savior. We finally surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ
all areas of our lives - everything from movies, music, books, our
language, finances, education, and most importantly, our marriage.
Thanks to the discipling of Ben and Tara Orchard. Ben (a graduate
of Dallas Theological
Seminary) was our pastor when we
were stationed in Hawaii, his discernment and friendship was
very instrumental in molding Bert to what he is today. Ben's
wife Tara was responsible for my conversion, she is the
classic example of the Proverbs 31 woman.
In May 1996, Bert and I were
baptized by Ben in the Pacific Ocean. On April 16, 1998, our oldest
son Brian (just turning 6 years old back then) had accepted Christ
as his Lord and Savior during Easter while we were doing our family
devotion using the Resurrection
Eggs. Brian was baptized on July 24, 1999
by Ben Orchard at the Ranger Indoor Pool, Atsugi Naval Air
Facility, Japan.
Our youngest Elijah is no doubt
being raised in a Christian home, that's all he's known since he
was born. He loves the Lord Jesus!
Bert and I have been married for 16 years, we
celebrated our 16th year on November 28, 2005. On the same day, my
parents also celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! I praise
God for this wonderful blessing!
We believe that God gives each
believer a gift/talent to help strengthen the body of Christ and
that we are commanded to preach the word to everyone. Over the
years, Bert and I have had many opportunities to facilitate
the Growing Kids God's Way parenting
class and the Right
From Series by Josh McDowell.
Our family currently attends
the NAS Corpus Christi Protest Chapel in
Texas. Every Thursday night, we host the
Officer Christian Fellowship (OCF) at our home where young
aviators and students, single and married, come for
fellowship, food, and Bible Study. Bert also
teaches the adult Sunday School class whenever the chaplain
is unavailable to teach it. He is also involved in a Men's
Group.
Answering emails that we receive through
our websites has also become an
important ministry outreach for us. We get many prayer requests and
questions on homeschooling and family issues. Web and email
management is one my primary tasks.
At daytime, typical
homeschooling schedule for Brian and Elijah runs from
9:00 am to 3:00 pm (with plenty of interruptions and
breaks). You might say 6 hours is too long! We are not rigid, we
simply prefer order and organization to our day. We
follow a traditional but flexible schedule. We still find time
to do other things like website building, archery, etc. There is
never a dull moment in our household!
We also have two lovely
cats named Boots and Gentle that we brought from our previous
tour in Bahrain and a beautiful Australian Shepherd named
Cowboy from Harrison
Ranch in Whitesboro, Texas.
I do have my hands full, but
the rewards of teaching and being with my children cannot be
purchased by all the money in the world!
God Bless you! May the Lord
Jesus Christ always keep you in the fullness
of His grace!
Bing, Bert, Brian, and Elijah
Howard
This page was updated on
December 30, 2005
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