Life is Full

We feel awful that we haven't been blogging as much lately but we're hoping to make this part of our routine again.

A lot has happened since the October. Here is a quick summary to get you caught up in the life and times of the Michael family:

Chad's Manager Position
The original plan was that Chad would become the acting CTS (Communications and Technical Services) department manager in December. Well, things were accelerated and he has been managing since the 1st of November! There are about 20 people in that department all together. Eleven PNG national staff and nine expatriates. There is a lot of email to "shuffle", forms to authorize, supervision of staff and all kinds of other managing duties to keep Chad super busy during the work day. But he still takes an hour lunch and hasn't worked any weekends so far! Please pray that he would continue to balance life between God, home and work well.

Ruth's Teaching Position
Ruth has been helping in the first grade class at the international school here in Ukarumpa. She has really enjoyed being in the classroom and has mastered the copy machine just like back home at CHS. Currently, the class is team taught by two teachers with Ruth as a helper. But next year, one of the teachers will be gone on furlough during the first term, so they have asked if Ruth would be willing to team teach during that time. She is very excited about it and we are beginning to plan for that. That may mean we stay a little longer than our original 1 year plan, so we are grappling with all of that.

Meliah's Network of Friends
Many of the seasoned veterans here in Ukarumpa have said that the worst year to enter your child into school here is 10th grade (Meliah's grade). The academic expectations are really high, and the way their class scheduling is setup makes the class load very demanding. Also, they have a big emphasis on what they call senior banquet, and the fund raising for that event starts in 10th grade. So there is always a bake sale, or a fund raiser of some kind going on with the 10th grade.
But Meliah has fully adjusted and adapted to all of these things and is surprisingly loving it here! She has made a ton of good friends and seems to be doing very well socially. Her grades are very reasonable as well.
While I'm amazed at how many activities seem to be going on at any given moment, sometimes we'll just get a knock on the door and it will be a group of 10th grade girls going for a walk and wanting Meliah to join them. Sometimes they go on prayer walks where they will pray for the school, for the individual families around center. The 10th grade even has a group they call "Beer and Cigars" modeled after C.S. Lewis and Tolkien where they talk about challenging theological issues.
These are good kids and good influences. Ruth and I have really seen a change in Meliah's character for the better as she spends time with her new network of friends.

Annakah's Loving Spirit
The 6th grade teacher is Mr. Raube (pronounce Rob) and the entire class loves him! Annakah just had a movie night at Mr. Raube's house with the rest of the 6th grade class and had a great time. Mr. Raube is a definite blessing to Annakah and the rest of the students in the class. Annakah loves school and is doing just fine in her academics. Thank you Mr. Raube for what you do!
She has had a little harder time with friends, as there has been some girl drama happening. But she has such a loving and sensitive spirit. Several of her strongest friends now are girls who she had spats with but they have since made up. They even organized and performed all on their own, an American Girl play. It was a parent invitation only performance, but wow! They spent the better part of two months working on the set, costumes and rehearsing. They all did great!
Overall, Ruth and I think Annakah has adjusted very well to living here in PNG. Both her and Kiery are tithing from their allowance in little jars they decorated, and they also have an offering jar that they want to give at the end of the year to a Papua New Guinean family to help them pay for their school fees.
Annakah is also quite the entrepreneur! She came up with a business idea to sell cold lunches at the school in the mornings when students line up at the front gate. There is no hot lunch here, so every school morning, everybody makes a cold lunch for their kids. Annakah thought she could setup a stand in front of the school gate and sell cold lunches! She even typed up a menu on the computer and has thought about pricing and a lot of other details. Mom and Dad aren't all that excited about having to setup a cold lunch assembly line each morning, so we are gently breaking that news to Annakah. She is one good thinker!

Kiernan's Love of Life
Kiery is a blessing to our entire family with her constant smiles and silliness! She has an infectious laugh and giggle that you just can't help but be happy when you hear it. She had a great sleep over at her friend Leslie's house the other night. They had a blast! Every week Kiery and her friend Tsion alternate between our house and her house and have a play date after school. There are also several first graders that live really close to our house here on center and they come over often to see if Kiery can come and play. It's sush a good feeling as a parent when your kids have good friends.
One thing that has really blossomed since we've been here in PNG is Kiery's reading! She has skipped several of the reading levels in first grade this year and is now doing what I think they call independent reading assignments. With all the girls, Ruth and I have read to them just about every night until they were reading on their own. I was shocked when Kiery wanted to read the Berenstien Bears book to me instead of having me read it to her. And she did it! Hardly even paused for harder words and even had tone and inflection. I was beaming with pride!

Well, that should catch you a little bit on our family happenings. We have a lot more to blog about and will soon. We didn't mention that:

• Chad preached a Sunday morning sermon at church on Ephesians 2 (and facilitated communion)
• Ruth and Chad went together on another successful Lae in a Day trip.
• Ruth will be giving her testimony at Sunday evening church in about two weeks.
• Chad went to Melbourne Australia for a technology conference and saw kangaroos and hiked through the Grampians.
• Annakah has a duet on her Trumpet at the Christmas concert.
• Meliah is one of the star players on her basketball team.
• Chad went to New Britain to attend a Bible dedication ceremony (lots of pictures and video to share from that)
• Chad went as a Cabin Sponsor to the High School Encounter Retreat (lots of embarrassing pictures from that)
• Kiery was the Star of the Week last week in her class.
• etc. etc. etc.