revelation

Jesse's revelation at supper last night:

When it's morning, it's morning!
When it's night, it's night!
When it's school day, it's school day!

He's absolutely right.

just a list.

So here's a list...it's just a list....

1. I woke up at 4:25am on Saturday to the sound of cats...but at first I
thought they were children crying. Is that just PNG cats or are all
cats capable of making those kinds of sounds? My dear husband went out
to throw a stick at them. They were sitting right beside our water
tank, nose to nose, making a lot of noise. Weird, I know.

2. When I woke up at 4:25 am on Saturday morning I realized, "Hey it's
my birthday!" And the time on the clock was actually my birth date -
4/25. Cool, I know.

3. Papua New Guineans display a level of loyalty I have never before
seen (except maybe in Heath).

4. U2's new album rocks my world.

5. I want to see a Papua New Guinean try Wii. That'd be pretty mind
blowing.

6. Is anything free? Not here.

7. My mom and dad felt so much closer when they were in NZ. I guess
they were......

8. I wish I could see my new nephew like you wouldn't believe.

9. It's impossible to throw yourself a birthday party without anyone
not knowing it's your birthday. I tried it and it didn't work (but I
was kinda glad).

10. I'm gathering up the courage to go play basketball on Monday
night. Relive the glory days......

11. I miss Crystal. I miss her a whole lot.

odd jobs

This is Drew as a human size paper weight.

a parting shot.....

This was our last few moments together. Nana & Papa are officially
gone. I feel like an empty nester.

it feels like Easter

When Christmas came around it just didn't 'feel' like Christmas....

Now it is Easter, but it feels like a special time just like it should.
And that's because we have family to share it with. I love it. I
included some pictures of our festivities....steak meal last night and
coloring easter eggs this morning (it works to color brown eggs!).

p.s. Jesus, I love you. Thank you for dying for me and for giving me
right standing with God. I love you with all my heart.

Jesse & more Co.

The great search for new friends never stops.

seven

We've got seven years under our belts. Drew, I love you more than ever.

we went to a mumu

What's a mumu? It's a PNG feast. They wrap meat and vegetables in
banana leaves, bury them under the ground, and then make a fire on top
to cook everything. Delicious! Some of the veggies included; kaukau,
pumpkin, corn, pototoes, carrots, cabbage, 'cook' bananas, and fern
leaves. Before the mumu we visited a village church. The preacher was
very passionate and it was neat to see how far our Tok Pisin has come
because we understood the sermon. It was a great cultural experience
for my mom and dad!

we're in Madang!

I'm enjoying every single second of our holiday in Madang. What a rare treat! I love ordering off a menu. I'm loving my time off from the kitchen. The boys are enjoying time with Nana & Papa, and also with their PNG Mama and Papa. We visited Sarang once again. It always feels like home to me when I go back. Nana & Papa were welcomed with open arms and with a big PNG feast. Then our wasfamili joined us for a day at the resort. They had a blast swimming in the pool and we enjoyed a poolside lunch together. The boys have really warmed up to Mama & Papa and their children. Jesse especially likes Papa Thomas and even cried when he left! (What will it be like when Papa Marv leaves?! Yikes!!!) It was a very memorable day.

Last night Drew and I went on an real date to a real restaurant - something we don't get to do when we're in Ukarumpa. We found a great place and had a quiet dinner overlooking the ocean. We realized this could very easily be our one an only date in 2 1/2 years. We'll have more date nights back in Ukarumpa, but not going to a fancy restaurant - that's for sure!

Our time is nearly over in Madang. It's gone by way too fast! We'll be heading back to Ukarumpa tomorrow on that bumpy, long road.

p.s. Mom and Dad: We're at a loss for words for how to thank you for this! It's been the trip of a lifetime! Thanks a million times over.

*I'll post pictures when we get back to Uka....the internet is way too slow here!*

geeks

forgot this one!

Nana squishing Bill.

nana & papa arrival pics

I love the way Jester just melted into Papa and the way it looks like Nana is squishing William way too hard! 

 

One pic is the official 'mac' ceremony picture.  I'm in heaven.

nana & papa

My mom and dad are here with us for the next 4 weeks. Are we excited? YES! Are we happy? YES! Are we being spoiled? YES!!

Nana is the apple of Jesse's eye and Nana is officially my replacement. My current status is chopped liver (but I don't mind....also keep in mind I don't have an unending stash of fun fruits to give him). William is busy being the tour guide. He is a walking encyclopedia, knows all the short cuts around town, and gives commentary to every movie we watch together. In Tok Pisin we say, "William, em i mauswara pikinini," (William is a 'mouth water' kid - which is he talks LOTS).

It's so fun to have Nana & Papa here....2 new faces to show of the latest Lego creation or the latest 'bug of the day'. I know the time will go by way too fast. Hopefully when Nana leaves my status will go up from chopped liver.

Bilum Boys

This is a familiar sight every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  Off to school they go with their bilums hung around their necks.  I love seeing how Papua New Guineans react to the boys when they see them walk around 'PNG style'. They love it. Our hausmeri made these little bilums for the boys and they are very proud of them.

bug cocktail anyone?

Cocktail of the day: Bug Juice. 

 Ingredients: 4 Spiders, 1 Gecko, 1 Giant Grasshopper, 3 Earthworms, and a few other species I've never seen in my life.  Any takers? 

 

 

Jesse & Co.

Jester's main mission in life is to capture anything that crawls. Unfortunately most of his friendships end fatally. That spider isn't poisonous, is it? Jester assured me it was.

this is how it feels sometimes.....

Jesse has a growing fascination with anything that moves right now. His latest pet is this oversized grasshopper with one leg missing. He carries it with him in a jar wherever he goes. The grasshopper faithfully sits beside him as he eats at the table, watches over him as he sleeps at night, and endures 'playtime' which involves being put through earthquakes that would be at least 7.0 on the Richter scale. This morning Jesse went to nursery so his faithful friend was left behind, just sitting on the table with nothing to do but wait for Jesse's return. As I looked at the grasshopper I felt sympathy come over me. "I feel like you," I thought, "Trapped".

Geologically, on the map, I am smack dab in the centre of Papua New Guinea. I am living on a fenced in mission base. I have no car. And I'm living in this country where I don't have the same freedom that I had at home. I can't go out alone after dark. I can't just hop in a car and go shopping to 'the city'. I'm just...here. And it's not always a bad thing, it's just something to get used to.

On a spiritual level I've been feeling trapped too (this is the point I'm really trying to get to)..... I'm reading an eye opening book called The Supernatural Ways of Royalty by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson. Throughout my Christian walk I seem to struggle with the same issues over and over. I haven't fully grasped the implications of the profound truth that I am God's child. In many ways I've accepted 'Pauperhood'. What is a Pauperhood? Here is how Kris Vallotton describes it in his book;

"Pauperhood is relegated to the children of a lesser god. It is the condition of slaves who have yet to discover their freedom on the other side of the river of baptism and find themselves still captured by the dark prince of torture and torment. He is the one who assigns them to a life of poverty, pain and depression through a diabolical play of illusion hoping to conceal their true identity forever. This evil prince feeds his captors the rations of religion to fill their soul's hunger for righteousness. These slaves, blindfolded by their sin, think that they are laboring for their own freedom and work to pave their way out of prison with bricks built from the miry clay of self-righteousness. Yet unknowingly, brick by brick, the are erecting their own chambers of death."

After reading that being trapped inside a jar doesn't sound so bad. But if I'm honest with myself I find myself in this very state. Something my pastor said has spurred me on; "We need to start praying that our true identity will be revealed to us." So I've started praying. I'm tired of living like a second class citizen and believing the same lies over and over again. The reality is that I have the mind of Christ. I have his divine nature. I can know the thoughts of God and I do hear His voice. I am heir to His throne. I have the same Spirit living in me that resurrected Jesus from the dead. I have full rights and privileges to God's promises because I am his daughter. These things are true, so why isn't my life radically different? Jesus is inside me and is ready to come out!

Since coming here I've really struggled. I've felt so discouraged. Before we left the Lord gave me so many dreams about our time here...things He wanted to do through me. Now that I'm here those dreams seem so impossible. But I think they seem impossible because I've been living as a Pauper. Too often my thoughts are, "Can God really use little old me"? The answer is YES. I need to change the way I think and start walking in the authority I have as the Lord's daughter.

"The lowest (the least) member of His body is superior to the highest principality and power of darkness. The original target in the creation of man was for us to live and dwell in His glory. "All of sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). The cross removes the obstacle to His purposes, and restores us to His original intent. The religious heart is unwilling to recognize that we really have been made in His image, and that being born again restores us to a place of absolute purity.
Jesus added to this in His priestly prayer, "The glory which You have give Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one" (John 17:22). It is recorded in Proverbs that wisdom will bring to us a crown of glory. Even our bodies were designed to live in His glory. As we become more and more accustomed to the presence of His glory, even our bodies hunger for God's glorious presence. The sons of Korah, who had spent considerable time in the actual glory of God, and had seen the effect on the physical being, sang, "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Ps. 84:2).
When God's royalty touches our lives, we discover we are designed to live in God's glory. We no longer live in the bondages of our past - performance and comparison in our daily lives, but we know our worth in simply loving Him. For out of that springs living water and revelation for those who have not found the truth in the nations of the earth!"

I've found this to be so true. I have had God's royalty touch my life many times before - my physical body has felt His glory and once you've experienced that you are never the same. You just crave His presence and nothing else satisfies you....

So that's where I'm at. It's a little scary to be transparent....but I think we can learn from each other's journeys. So here's hoping you'll take something from mine.

if only.....

William asked me, "Mommy, do marshmallows grow here?"

 

Unfortunately not....but here is a picture of a marshmallow I know.

Mama i stap wantaim mi

She's here!  My Mama from Sarang has arrived.  I thank the Lord she is here with me.  She has big a huge help and encouragement to me. She has a strong faith in God and I know she prays for me a lot.  She is really becoming a 'Mama' to me and my love for her grows daily.  I can't believe she came all this way to help me while Andrew is gone and she's going to stay the full three weeks.  At first I was very nervous at the length of her visit because I didn't know what it would be like, but now I'm incredibly thankful.  I couldn't do it without her here - I told her that if she would'nt have come I probably would be on a bus by now with W and J to come and stay with her in Sarang.

 

 I've been finding it almost comical at the things I had to learn when I lived with them compared to the things she is learning living with me.  Here are my observations:

•  I had never bathed in a river and was scared to death the first time.  How do you bathe in public?  And how to you bathe when all those curious onlookers are watching you?
• I had to show Mama how to turn on the water for her shower.  I wondered if it was the first time she'd ever showered in complete privacy.

 

• I had never anything over a fire other than the odd hotdog or marshmallow.  While I was in Sarang I had to master cooking rice, baking bread, frying fish etc etc  over a fire.  It felt silly to have a 10 year old know more than me about cooking.
• Mama is scared of my stove and doesn't touch it.  I do the cooking. :)

 

• The first time I washed clothes in the river I had NO idea what was the best way.  I wanted to observe the other ladies and just copy them but unfortunately no one was washing clothes.  But I did have a crowd watching me to see how I would do it.
• Mama doesn't know how to use a washing machine.  She lets me wash her clothes (except her undies - she insists on washing those by hand)

 

• I often forgot to bring my dishes with me when I went to bathe.  They bathe and wash dishes simultaneously.
• Mama loves washing my dishes, but I had to show her which soap to use and how to turn on the tap. 

 

• When we lived in Sarang I had to get used to making just enough food as we had no way to keep it.  Whatever we couldn't eat we'd give away to somebody.
• I noticed that Mama seems to forget we have a refrigerator and she tries to finish all the food at meal time.  Sometimes I actually purposely make extra so that we have leftovers for the next day to eat!  I'd better tell her that!!

 

• In Sarang they thought it was kinda strange that Andrew and I shared a bed and our boys slept separately from us. 
• Our Papa stayed one night when he dropped Mama off....so here's the dilemma; who will sleep where?  They did share a room which turned out to be fine, but Papa had a terrible sleep because he doesn't like to sleep on a mattress.  When he comes to pick up Mama he wants to sleep on the floor.  I noticed that Mama was sleeping on top of all the blankets instead of between the sheets.  She had been complaining that she was itchy at night and I saw she had been using a scratchy wool blanket to cover up at night.  I explained to her she needs to sleep underneath the sheets and then she'd sleep better! 

 

• I loved the strong family ties in Sarang.  I could hardly tell who's kid was who's while we were there because they are just so intermingled.  Every kid has several Mamas and Papas.  They really take care of each other and share what they have.  It's like one big happy (most of the time) family.
• Since Mama has been here I've been very conscious that I don't even know what some of our neighbors names are.  We live so close together yet so independantly of each other.  It's completely opposite of the way they live.  Mama feels responsible for me and has come all this way.  And if she hadn't come who would've come to help me?  Who would've cared for me?  I have friends that would've helped, but not in the measure that she is.

 

I love it how God has taken two completely different people from opposite ends of the earth and put them together.  The thing that is so obvious to us is that we share the same Spirit - the Spirit of God.  It has united us and made a strong bond.  I know we'll be lifelong friends.

 

An explaination of the pictures:  Mama has never been to the highlands of PNG before so she wanted a picture of her and the mountains.  Her, me and the boys went to watch the horses.  She hopes that W & J will ride horses when they turn 7. :)  In her spare time she's been working on a bilum.  She is going to give it to somebody very special from Canada....

You're all tagged btw.