John C. Bailey Family Blog

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Friends and Fellow Workers

I could fill many pages of pictures of the people I work with in the Philippines. Each of these photos has a special meaning for me, but I hope they will serve as a reminder of the great family God has all over the world. Some of them are even pretty.

The First Leg of Our Journey

Greg Smith, John Bailey, Gary Daniels and Danny Carrigan made a hurried trip to the far east. These photos were taken in NRT after a long flight from DFW. I wanted you to see how fresh and awake we were at this stage of our trip. After 9 days with only 5 nights sleep, having visited 4 countries, 5 islands, spending 50 hours in the air and traveling over 25,000 miles, we didn't look so good. Sen. Phil Graham said we are a nation of whiners, but not these guys. There was never a discouraging word even in the midst of a typhoon, 4 overnight flights and a few hours of suffering an uneasy feeling in the abdominal region. Notice I changed from the first person to the third person. The reason is I stayed in the Philippines 3 more days to attend to some business. I wanted to stay a few days longer, but I could not get my ticket changed. However, when we approached the counter there was a sign saying the flight was over booked and they were offering volunteers a nice package to stay. I jumped on their offer and got to stay in the finest hotel I have ever stayed in. The food was great, but this luxury only lasted for 24 hours. However, the package I received also gave me $200.00 so I had the funds to pay for the other two nights in a lesser hotel, but none the less, adequate.

You might wonder what the rush was, so I will explain. Greg, Gary and Danny are all working for a living. Greg and Gary offered to make this trip to photograph some of the things BandS is doing in Indonesia and the Philippines. They took over 1300 pictures and several hours of video. I have seen some of their work and they captured the story on film. These are the same photographers who documented our trip to China last year. Danny has been interested in BandS for some time so I thought this would be a good trip for him to get a close up look at what we do in some of the places we work. I could not have had better traveling companions.

I'm ready to go to China in 5 more days. I had cataract surgery a couple of days ago, so I will be traveling with my dark glasses on. I hope I will not be singled out for extra security checks. I don't think I will be because I have read that there is no profiling and I certainly believe what I read. I will not be doing any surgery on this trip because I am not certified to do any procedures in Braille.

Texting Is An Art in the Philippines

When it comes to texting, America is a backward nation. The real pros are in the Philippines. They can text in the dark, with both hands while driving! They have their own texting language that is a mixture of English abbreviations and common symbols with some Filippino dialects mixed in. There are signs at cross walks in Cebu that read, "NO TEXTING WHILE IN CROSSWALK". Notice in this picture both Sharon and Gigi are texting using two phones each!

It doesn't matter. I love them. - Papa

Monday, July 07, 2008

Historic Day - Rainey Bailey

Rainey Bailey lost her first primary tooth this morning. The historic event took place while she was eating her breakfast waffle. Congratulations are in order. Papa

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Not Mine

If you read this blog you will know why I chose this picture.
The trip to Indonesia and the Philippines was great. We had to weather a typhoon in Manila, change our travel plans that ate up one nights sleep and got a day behind in our very tight schedule, but we all survived and almost without any problems.

As expected, the younger guys, Danny Carrigan, Greg Smith and Gary Daniels, all suffered from the food they ate, but it was an illness of short duration and minor consequences.

Greg and Gary were the photographers who documented our China trip last year. They did the same job on this trip. We were able to witness 95 eye surgeries on the island of Nias. We went to Cebu and saw the "Give A Kid A Goat" program that is going extremely well and has potential beyond anything we have done to help move people out of poverty.

We went to the island of Mindanao and visited with the Leyte orphans that we have built houses for. These kids who have lost so much, are doing remarkably well. We have received a few more students, so we are expanding both the boys and girls dorms.

To summarize, this whirlwind trip of 12 days covered abut 26,000 miles, 12 flights, 50 hours in the air, included 4 countries and 6 islands. Our hotel cost were minimum because we were flying on four of the nights.

I have some great pictures of eye surgeries, pretty scenery, beautiful people, but I hesitate to post them because I am unsure if anyone visits this blog.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Lake Weekend!

Bailey brought a few friends to the lake...it was so fun spending the weekend with them!

Bailey and Reagan

Reagan's First Wakeboard Run of the Season

Monday, April 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Papa!

I have no idea if you will see this but know that we are thinking of you today and wish you a happy birthday! I blogged a few pictures of Reagan's track meet. He ran the 200, 400, 4x100 relay and did the long jump. Midland Christian won the meet. I thought you and mom could talk about your old days running track...for Western Christian and of course Mom's Farington Field glory! Love you both.