Sunday, July 20, 2008

Fun with Family

It's been a while since we blogged. Life is busy when family is over! But it's a very good kind of busy. What a great blessing it's been for us to have Tim and Elissa and their boys here. The only ones who have had a harder time are the kids...as they've learned to share everything and be around each other all the time. We've had to break up a few fights already! But as you can see, they still love each other very much!

And also as you can see, Karlyn is Lucas' little mama. She's always looking out for him as he's crawling around the floor. If he grabs anything that he's not supposed to, she is right there. And if he needs a toy or his soother, she's there with it before any of the rest of us even notice he needs it!

Yes, and here's our crazy son in the bucket...I mean, bath!


Tomorrow we are taking our two families on a 10-day holiday to Madang which is a town up the coast. So we have a 5-hour drive ahead of us. And it's not like there's Timmy's or McDonald's to stop at on the way either! Andrew and Natalie just came back from there and said the road is a little rough at spots, especially driving through the mountains (which is about two hours of the trip). We are bracing ourselves and praying that the kids will see it as an adventure! After 3 days in Madang, we'll drive to Ukarumpa, the SIL/Wycliffe Bible Translators base for PNG and spend the weekend there. We are really looking forward to getting away from Lae and our work here for a bit. There's been a lot going on lately.

Please join us in praying for safe travels. Something we never take for granted here.

May the Lord bless and keep you all, and fill you with His strength each day.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Soccer Camp with "Mr. Tim"!

There’s a stadium with a nice, green soccer field just down the road from our house and that’s where Tim held the soccer camp from Tuesday to Friday of this past week.

Here's Karlyn, ready to play!

We were not sure what to expect in terms of how many kids would come and whether we would get rained out! (Since we are in the midst of our wet season now…) Well, it turned out we didn’t need to worry. The Lord provided in every way. The kids just kept coming and coming—some even missed school to do so, not that we encouraged that or anything. (In typical PNG style, we were told by several schools that this week was indeed a week of holidays for the kids, it turned out that it actually wasn’t). However, many of the kids don’t usually go to school at all, (because their parents can’t afford it), and so the soccer camp was a great way for them to come out and have some fun and keep busy this week. And as for the rain, the first day it held off until we were done, the second day it poured rain almost the whole time, but even that didn’t stop the kids (and coach) from getting out there and slipping and sliding on the wet field! And then the last 2 days were dry again—praise God!

Penalty shots, in the rain!

When soccer got a little boring...


The juggling competition...to win a "PNG-Canada Soccer Bible Camp" t-shirt!


Josiah--the best juggler!! (60 times!)



Everyday Tim lead the children through a series of drills for about the first hour, then we would have a break and Ian and Tim would lead them in a devotion time, and then there was time to play some games. I think it’s safe to say that all of the children (aged about 6-20 years old!) had an amazing time. I think they are all hoping that he would run another camp next week and the next…And they’re already talking about what he can do the next time they come to PNG!! Hey, we’re all for that!!