When a missionary family returns....

When a missionary family returns to America after being gone for 3 years

  Ok we all knew and anticipated life was going to be crazy once we landed in mainland United States, but in reality it has been beyond crazy!!!!  Since we landed not quite 2 weeks ago this family of 5 has had 24 different appointments.  Here is a quick run-down on those appointments; So we have 3 less teeth, 1 in braces, 1 in orthodontic appliance (and another appointment made for more work on their mouths in a couple weeks), 2 in contacts, 1 that doesn’t need glasses at all, 5 teeth cleanings,3 cavities filled,7 chiropractor adjustments, 4 well people visits with an unsuspected ear infection found, 1 shot and 1 TB skin test taken and read. Getting 2 kids signed up for online schooling and all that entails. We also have thrown in a Welcome Home party for ourselves at a local park. An added stress of trying to get all these things done before we leave on Aug. 8^th to start the journey of Meliah starting college- which in itself is major stress. 

Pictures to tell of our busy lives the last few months

The much anticipated Banquet of 2014 happened this last weekend here in Ukarumpa.  

 Chad was involved in many different aspects of Banquet.  Chad made a cannon shooting booth. It was called Cannon Blast. Chad was also in the skit that the parents put on to honor the grade 12 students.  Chad was also asked to be a waiter for the dinner that night.  

Mom was apart of some of the Banquet prep for the week and had lots of odd and end jobs the night of, helping with serving up food, taking pictures. 

Lots of hard work from the parents went into making the Teen Center transformed into "Treasure Island" There were boats made, a Tiki bar, Bowling with coconuts, a couple different craft things to make, sword fighting wii play, lots of different things to keep the grade 11 and 12 busy all night long. 

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.