Several weeks ago the entire family was supposed to return to Bacolod, Philippines with ICM. We were to build some houses in the same area where Sebastian and I visited in June.* Sebastian was very much looking forward to meeting a boy named "JR" who he be-friended on our last trip. Unfortunately, the Manila floods delayed our trip to mid-November. Our flights routed through Manila where the airport was in chaos. ICM also wanted to focus energy and resources on Manila at that time and hold off on Bacolod. (Left: JR stands next to Sebastian along with some other friends.)

Naturally all the kids were disappointed. We looked at the news pictures and maps of Philippines to see how JR would have been affected by the typhoon. We concluded that, like Hong Kong, JR would have gotten lots of rain on the edges of the typhoon but was otherwise okay. I asked Sebastian if he wanted to send a care package to JR and he said, "Yes!" Coincidentally, one of the ICM team was in Hong Kong at the time and agreed to take the package to Bacolod in the coming weeks. Sebastian dove into the sweetie bowl, pulling out his favourite candies. We put them into a small plastic bag. Sebastian wrote the note pictured below. He also asked me to buy a few things for JR: a new pair of sandals, a drawing book, some pens and a few fresh packs of Sebastian's favourite sweeties. I packed the items up into an envelope. Our ICM friend received the package and it was off to the Philippines. 

* Made possible by generous Tess who let Seb and I escape for a long weekend while she looked after the triplets.

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