Fighting for Faith

(click to enlarge)

Anyone who knows Lucas knows that there is a story in everything he does. Recently, he was playing with pattern blocks and came up with this design and story. He quickly asked Kylah to write it down for him. I love my kids' creativity and especially love the fact that Lucas already knows that faith is worth fighting for.

Small Town Drama--Copra Fire

Copra is dried coconut which is harvested for coconut oil. Many people in the villages get the coconut, dry it in a smokehouse and then bag it and bring it in to sell to a buyer in Alotau. The copra is then loaded onto a boat and shipped off to other parts of the country. The day before the fire, Tim inadvertently captured a photo of the copra boat full of bags, and bags, and bags of copra (center pic-behind the Kwadima). On the night of Kylah's birthday party, the cargo internally combusted with the heat of all the coconut. Sadly, the fire began deep in the boat and wasn't detected until it was too late. The futile efforts to put out the fire amounted to nothing and the captain bravely piloted the boat away from the wharf and into the bay before abandoning ship. Thankfully no one was hurt. The fire burned all night and the town watched waiting for the ship to sink. Amazingly, in the morning we woke to black smoke in the distance and the steel boat continued to float.

Happy Birthday Kylah

So hard to believe our Sweet Girl is 10!!!
She had a fun, festive birthday party, complete with cupcake decorating, sleepover, ocean swimming and even a bonfire! Well, the bonfire was a bit unexpected as a copra ship caught fire at the wharf and burned for over 24 hours!

Milne Bay 2010 Canoe Festival

Every November Alotau comes alive with color, sounds and the faces of friends from neighboring islands and villages as they gather to race, sing, and show off their traditional dress and dance. It is an educational event as well as a festive one.

(Once again, please note that if my technological abilities haven't failed me, you can click on each picture to see it more closely.)

Read-Alouds

One of our favorite ways to enjoy our Read-aloud time during school--with sweet little ones sleeping in our arms.

Yikes!

I definitely like the moths better than these critters. Fascinating but a little too large for my taste! The kids, however, think they are the coolest finds! The bigger, the better!

Magnificent Moth

Mornings are always a treat as we see what surprises await us on the front verandah. We keep our light on all night and insects of all shapes and sizes and kinds come to feast. This moth captured our eyes. Lovely, isn't it? Our Creator continues to amaze us.

The Colors of Fall in Alotau

Sunset over Calvados

Despite the rough weather on the mainland, the trip was blessed with relatively calm seas and clear skies.  This was one of several beautiful sunsets that we enjoyed on the 5 day journey.  

Finally! Fresh Meat

Beef Crackers and Ramen Noodles get OLD after a few days.

  The guys were thrilled with this amazing catch.

Babe's on the Beach

Every woman worries about what temptations will befall her sailor who is at sea too long.
This babe on the beach is no siren, merely a "manatee mermaid".
Rest easy, Stacie.

Sea Time

Radio Skeds, Wheel Time, Uno ("Regha!"), Movie Night, Intellectual Stimulation (AKA reading Calvin and Hobbes), and Richard scraping coconuts to make coconut rice

Heading Home

Jack, Solo, and Kadi were dropped off at their village on Sudest Island in the wee hours of the night. These three translators had spent the last month at our center in Alotau checking translation work with Wycliffe Translator Mike Anderson. They were anxious to get home and thankful for the Kwadima II. It would have taken them days of waiting for passenger boats and dinghy rides to get home on their own.

All Hands on Deck

Offloading Fuel Drums and Medical Supplies on Misima, Rossel, and Paneati Islands.

The Misima Hospital is a beautiful, well-equipped facility built during the previous gold-mining era of the 90's.  Though remote, it serves many people of Misima and the surrounding islands but is still lacking a head surgeon and several other key staff positions.  Please pray for these needs to be met.  

Village Scenes

We always enjoy the opportunity to go ashore and visit new places.  This station on the island of Paneati was a quaint village where we were warmly welcomed by people who were so happy and thankful to receive much needed medical supplies.

Flying the Ship's Colors

Captain's Log

* Excerpt from Safely Home post trip email

Dear Friends,


Ateuova (Misima: Thank you – lit. “to you, my liver”) and Ago laghie (Sudest, Thank you very much) for your prayers for all of us last week. Austin and I arrived back home Thursday morning after completing our trip which lasted almost 5 days and covered about 500nm through the eastern islands of Milne Bay Province.

The trip was a primarily a government charter in which we delivered 100+ cartons of medical supplies and a dozen drums of fuel for dinghies and generators to 5 Provincial Health Centers (on Kwaraiwa, Nimoa, Rossel, Misima and Paneati Islands for you GoogleEarth geeks like me!). Also, since we were in the vicinity of Tagula Island, we were able to make a side-trip to transport 3 Sudest translators back to their village after they had completed about a month of work checking several New Testament books here in Alotau.

This was my first chance to get out with the crew since our return to PNG and it was good to reconnect with Capt. Soki and Richard and get to know Ephraim, the newest crewmember, a bit better. The trip was filled with many hours on the water and numerous wheel watches as we ran round the clock; lots of reading time, some wheel time and a few charting/navigation lessons for Austin and his friend, Caden who also came along for the adventure; welcome deliveries of the medical supplies; some wild Uno (or “Regha” in the Sudest language) games with the crew and our Sudest friends Solo, Jack and Kadi; an AMAZING catch of a ~15kg Mahi mahi (which made for some nice sashimi and a tasty fish-fry); and some new friends and wonderful sights along the way.
Buli waiwaisana (Good night - Misima) and Amba ghinda (See you later - Sudest)

Cheaper by the Dozen

Well, Mr. Frank Gilbreth definitely seemed to know how to work efficiently and economically. In light of his example, I may just need a "dozen" entries to figure out how to make my blogging more streamlined. I have experimented a bit with the collage idea. Let us know what you think of this format. If I'm not mistaken, you can view the pictures more largely if you click on the whole collage.

PNG Independence Celebrations

Independence Day

We celebrated PNG Independence Day on September 16^th, alongside our Papua New Guinean friends as they took a day off from work and commemorated in grand fashion. The day got off to a celebratory start as we watched several men and young boys carry a large live pig down to the waterfront across the street from our house. Though breakfast was in the making, Tim took the camera over to the beach to capture the kill on camera. He was a little wary of doing this right before we ate, but didn't want to miss the moment. How often is a pig slaughtered outside one's front door? The men worked together as they burned and scraped the hair off the pig before quickly and mercifully slashing the throat and allowing its blood to run out into the sea. The pig was then butchered, cleaned and carried back to the house. The men worked together during this process and included Tim in the conversation if not the actual kill. Shortly after Tim returned home, some of the boys came to our gate carrying a large bag with a beautiful cut of the pig. It was a very lovely gesture. Later we enjoyed some homemade mojo-marinated pig. Yum! 

At midday we went into town to watch some of the traditional dances and observe the annual "greasy pole" climb. Two wooden poles (one for the women and one for the men) are placed in the field beside our market and then thoroughly greased with pig grease. At the top of the poles several prizes are strung up awaiting the one who reaches the top first. Along with soccer balls, lanterns, cooking pans, guitars and bush knives, there is often a cash prize available as well. You can imagine the excitement of being the one to reach the summit. My lack of experience in this event did not really prepare me for the 2+ hours of perseverance that went into reaching the top. Teams of people worked together hoisting one another on top of each other countless times until basically their bodies had rubbed enough of the grease off the pole to make it possible to shimmy up to the prize laden apex. (For the record, the women had a slower start than the men but reached the prizes first.)  It seemed that all of Alotau turned up to watch this event. It was a joy to laugh alongside the Papua New Guineans as we all enjoyed this hilarious spectator sport.

The day ended up being laced with grief, however, as we learned of the sudden death of our neighbor's newborn baby. The same family that had slain the pig returned home to find that their sister's 3 day old infant had passed from this world into his heavenly home. The baby had come home from the hospital seemingly perfectly fine just the day before but had cried extensively throughout his first night home. The mother was preparing to take him to the hospital in the morning only to discover that he was not breathing. In the late afternoon we made our first trip to the morgue to offer our comfort and prayers to the family as they awaited news of the cause of death. Unfortunately, they did not receive any conclusive answers. The mom, however, is a believer, and knows the comfort of a Savior who holds her beautiful baby. She grieves but as one not without hope. Please pray for Shalon and her family as they continue to mourn the loss of their little blessing.

Weston's Arrival

Austin loves his new baby brother

Sweet Baby, Sweet Sis

Happy Birthday Weston!

Testing, testing

Preying Mantis

Lucas loves his critters!

May We Love Silently

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.

Congratulations Josh and Corrie!!!

Our friends’ wedding occurred on the same date as my cousin Corrie’s. While I was happy to celebrate with our friends here I was poignantly reminded of and missing the sweet celebration of Corrie and Josh’s union. We wish we could have been in 2 places at once. Congratulations to both of you! We love you and wish you a lifetime of joy, adventures,and blessings.

White Wedding

Some of our friends from church told us that we missed the first white wedding at church. I knew there weren’t too many white people who attended so I wondered who had gotten married while we were away. After they told me, I realized that white wedding simply means formal wedding with a white dress!

During our times in Papua New Guinea we have been privileged to celebrate and commemorate with our friends some of the more significant moments of life. I have been involved in the birth of 2 babies, we have attended several funerals, a handful of New Testament dedications and most recently we were invited to the wedding of our friend and associate pastor of our church, Mr. Martin Mareco. I was so excited about attending this event not only because I love weddings, but because I had not attended a PNG wedding before. I was imaging thebeating of Kundu drums as the chief led the groom into the area dressed in traditional grass skirts. The bride would come after the blowing of the conch shell and she would arrive adorned from head to toe in feathers and shells with bright markings on her cheeks. I imagined the traditional dancing and decorative guests as they gave gifts of pigs and clay pots. Imagine my (slight)disappointment when it turned out to be an almost exact, though lovely replica of the many “western” weddings I have attended in my life—complete with the wedding march, the kiss, and sharing of cake bites. One exception however, was the inclusion of the word “obey” in the vows. I had not heard this word used in too many American weddings of my generation. Though it was not as I had imagined, it was actually a beautiful reminder that things are changing for the better for many of the Papua New Guineans. Marriage in the past has not always been formally or officially recognized. One of our friends here shared how if a man and woman move into one another’s home, then they are considered married. The flaw that comes from this “tradition” is that when either one moves out, the marriage can be considered dissolved, leaving a string of unwanted spouses and children in the wake. This lack of accountability and commitment has created a dissolution of family units and family values in the country. Please pray for the people of PNG as they take steps toward strengthening the family unit through these “white” weddings.

Mr. Martin Mareco

Martin and Groomsmen

Can you find us?

The Father Escorts His Daughter Lao

The Unity Candle

Martin and his lovely bride Lao

Frying Fish for the Wedding Feast

Pastor Harry Serves the Cake

Auntie watches over the abundance of food brought by the guests.  Plenty of greens, fish, chicken, pig, sweet potatoes, bananas and rice filled the plates of the many guests.