An Exciting Announcement!!

NO Ruth is NOT pregnant!!!!  NO we are not adopting a new child into our family!!!

As of the beginning of May we are now home owners in 2 different countries!!!   We were able to buy a house here in Papua New Guinea from a family that has lived here for 20 yrs.  He has worked in the Aviation department as a mechanic. She has worked in the schools doing various tasks.  They've  had 1 son graduate from UIS and their daughter is graduating with Meliah's class.

This mom's thoughts, concerns, prayers on the upcoming furlough

In the missionary world, this is true across the board, the task of preparing for furlough takes a lot of brain cells with all the decisions that need to be made.

• Every item you pick up is saying you need to make a decision about me.  Are you going to pack me, store me for future use, give me away to some other needy missionary or national, is this a pack me for furlough or a pack me for storage and last but not least, "will I need it in the next couple months?" 
• You stand in the store and say to yourself, I don't like this time in my life.  I don't want to ponder every item in my cart-if it will be used up before then, or will it store ok, or do you want to share a bag with me to a friend who is going furlough at the same time.  It is almost like a Go Fish game.  Do you have a bag of flour, yes.  Do you have a small amount of chili powder?  No Go Fish (to store). 
• You count the cans in your pantry and figure out how many more days you have till you leave and try to think through the variable of how many meals will you be invited to. You do the same with the meat in your freezer.  Who says that Algebra isn't used in real life???  Ok, I don't think I will stretch the math concept that far.   
• You spend hours and hours on the computer figuring out college things. Google maps is on your favorites tool bar because you are trying to figure out how far it is to point A, then B then C. And how you can throw a map lesson or a history lesson into the stops as you travel. After a long morning or afternoon on the computer you are frustrated because nothing was taken off the to do list but 10 things were added.   Your brain is mush and you go walk around the house to try to put items in boxes.  
• When your child comes home from school with their shoe being held together with masking tape and all you can say is, xx amount of days left, keep the duct tape close by for repairs.

• You go to hang up laundry outside and anything with elastic is stretched out past recognition, your undergarments are holding together with very little material, the white clothes are now a brown- well that is what you think that piece started out as white.  Anything that had color in it is now down to a pale likeness of that item.  

Am I Beautiful?

The 4th (and final) term of school started last week Wednesday and I was brutally taken from my beloved 2-week hibernation with term projects, graduation plans, letters, sports practices and plane tickets. By Friday (the third day of school), I was exhausted. I really looked forward to this weekend so I could simply take a step back and breathe for the first time in 72 hours... 

And if you think about it, that's exactly what I've done. 

Today is Sunday. 

• I woke up
• I got dressed (this is an achievement for me, please understand this.)
• I went to Palm Sunday Service
• I checked Facebook
• I even took a nap

Oh, and I packed up most of my life into 3 black plastic bags...

A fun song to tell you about furlough prep

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Furlough

It’s beginning to look a lot like furlough

Choices left and right

Time to pack all the household stuff

Where did we get so much?

There’s packing tape and no escape in sight

The puzzle of life

Our family worked on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle off and on over the Christmas break. I’ve been thinking about the puzzle “experience” and how life is like a puzzle in so many ways…

You dump out all the pieces and then look for the straight edge pieces first, because they are supposed to be the easiest.  That could represent your “growing up” years and how you are being “framed” for the rest of your life.

2013 Pictorial Year in Review



The year started out with Annakah turning 13, and a water slide party to celebrate!

Anna and Dad have really taken to rappelling together. 

Support Team

We were honored to be asked to be a few months ago to be asked to be a “support team” for a translation team. The  translation team is actually a husband and wife. Our first question was, “What do support teams do for translation teams?” Here is some of what we learned:

• They keep in contact with the translators while they are in the village, either through email, texting or radio skeds.(Set tome to communicate with short wave radio)
• The support team makes sure the translation team gets the supplies they need, either in the village or on their return to Ukarumpa.
• They relay any important news that has happened to the translation team while they are in the village.
• They deal with any emergencies that may come up while the translation team is in the village.
• The support team helps deal with transportation issues that may come up.

After some time of prayer and consideration, we gladly accepted the opportunity to be a support team for Jim and Joan Farr.

Let us introduce you to the translation team we get to support!

Joan on the left and Jim on the right

Jim and Joan have lived in PNG over a span of 42 years working in 3 different language groups. Jim and his first wife, Cindi, worked with the Karafe and the Baruga people.  Cindi and Jim were married for 39 years before Cindi passed away suddenly while in their village in 2008.