Andrew and Heather

It's a cold, snowy winter evening here in Pittsburgh...I have a candle lit on my desk, and am wrapped in a cozy blanket.  It's hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were sitting on the beach, worried about sunburn and dehydration.  While in the Philippines, Andrew, Heather, my dad and I took a short, two day trip to the island of Cebu, just to have some time together, and to see more of the country.  

The view from our hotel room

Cebu is a beautiful island...several days after we left, there was a fairly severe earthquake in the area (6.8 magnitude) that killed a number of people and caused panic in Cebu City, and other surrounding cities.  When I heard the news, I was so grateful for God's protection while we were there, but my heart goes out to the families that are suffering as a result of this...somehow it brings a disaster like this a little closer to home when you know the area, have rubbed shoulders with some of the locals, and just escaped going through the nightmare yourself (from what I've read, no one was killed in the immediate area that we visited, just a lot of chaos caused by the aftershocks, tsunami warnings, etc.).  

Sunrise the next morning

This was low tide, about mid morning - there were a lot of fishing boats like 

these up and down the coastline.

It was so nice to have some time to talk and catch up with Andrew and Heather.  While we were there, they asked if I would take a few pictures of the two of them together - their 8 month anniversary had just passed, and of course I was happy to. :)  It was the perfect place for a quick photo shoot...