Skip to main content

Davao Day 1 - Eden Nature Center

Eden Nature Center is at top of a hill on the outskirts of Davao City. Much of the area had been deforested and cleared out when the owners bought the land. They replanted many trees, including bringing in evergreen trees.

The center is known for beautiful land, hydroponic gardening (soil-less gardening), beautiful garden, aviary, fishing pond, skybiking (riding bikes on tightropes-harnessed of course), zip-lining, and they have cottages that can be rented. We had time to walk the trails, eat their magnificent buffet which included their own grown fruits and vegetables, and take a jeepney tour around the center. For our gardening friends, they had the most amazing garden and orchids. Wow.


View of Davao City from the center.
The picture can't do the view justice!

Mini-zip-lining!







Starting our trail walk.
The trail was slippery, uneven, and fantastic!

Check out this bamboo!
We saw even Bigger pods of bamboo later.
I never realized how huge it got.



Future Tarzan!?!





The water came down from the mountain.
It was crystal clear.




Walking down the path with Pastor Ken,
 the president of the orphanage and our host during the day.

Bathrooms in nature.

Bamboo bridge!!!

The Philippine's Bird of Paradise


Checking out a local spider


Caleb LOVED the map of the center.
He made sure we knew where we were going at all times.

Entrance to the garden.

Notice the huge bee in the top left orchid?






Mickey Mouse flower!
They use this lemon-like plant as decorations.


This was my favorite flower.
It is used a lot on the outside of fences as it has Very sharp thorns,
which is a natural way to keep away intruders.


Mangosteen orchard.
They are unfortunately not in season right now,
but I've heard they are delicious.

A deer!
The deer here are miniature compared to the WI deer.


Hydroponic gardening.



Riding on the jeepney tour.
Caleb insisted he ride on the outside and hold on!

A Traditional tribal house


Instruments!!!
These are like a gong/xylophone mix.




Little C is part of the Ata tribe which is in the mountains outside of Davao City.
His biological family would still live in houses much like the ones we visited.




Now onto our evening fun... next post!

Mara


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Four years.

Four years. Four years ago today, our second blessing jumped into our arms for the first time. Four years ago today, these two became brothers and best friends. Four years ago today, all our worlds changed. And yet, how can it have only been four years? Feels like he has been our son from day one. The Lord blessed us ten-fold the day we met you, my son, our Tope. My world is better with you in it.
Post a Comment
Read more

Love & attachment

As I hug and kiss my son goodnight (for at least the third time, 2 hours past his bedtime!) I can't help but think about my other children. How I long to hold them in my arms, kiss them goodnight, show them how much they are loved, let them know that I will always be their mother. Yesterday Jon and I attended our first education meeting. This was put on by our local agency conducting our homestudy. The focus of this meeting was to talk about what to expect once our children are home. We learned a lot about "triggers" for our children - when life could be more difficult, we also learned more about attachment issues, and we learned/discussed what it will be like for our children to live in a "white privileged" family & neighborhood. Since this education, my mind has been swarming with many different thoughts. Many I'd like to try to convey into my writing, although this may take a few blogs. Tonight, as I work on getting my son to go to bed - and Stay ...
5 comments
Read more

Davao Day 3 - Our Forever Family!!!

We would like to announce our newest son to the world! Christopher Andrew  Christopher, aka Tope (Toe-pay), is a delight to behold. We are incredibly blessed to have him in our lives. If his smile doesn't melt your heart, then his big dark brown eyes will.  He is a five year old that has a Great sense of humor and is already quickly melding into the family. His laugh takes my breath away. His hugs are like a warm blanket. And we are so thankful to call him our son. We hadn't even made it into the opening of the gate before Tope ran over to meet us. He quickly jumped into Jon's lap and there he stayed, looking almost shocked and yet content to be with his Daddy. He almost looked like he was going to cry. He clung to Jon for a very long time. What a blessing! One of the caretakers had him put on his shoes, of which he tied himself! He is already such a big boy!  We made our way to the office to sign papers and receive papers. Tope talk...
4 comments
Read more