With Grandpa and Grandma

On June 30th, my parents left Canada and made their way to Cairns, Australia. After about 24 hours in the air, they finally landed in the land down under!

We, on the other hand, left our home two days later and after only 2 hours in the air, arrived in Cairns before they did! At least we could then welcome them with open arms! After 10 months apart, it was a joyous reunion!

We journeyed to Cairns partly for pleasure and partly for work as Ian was requested to preach and lead communion one Sunday at the Reformed (house) congregation in the Tablelands just outside of Cairns. While we were there we were very blessed to stay at the home of Rodney and Makeesha Byl who happened to be attending a family wedding in Canada at the time! We had a wonderful stay there!

We had all we needed at their home, including shuffleboard! Here's a true Wildeboer--fully focussed with his tongue hanging out!

Grandpa and the kids enjoyed the pool, even though it was a bit chilly this time of year! We had some lovely times of fellowship with the church group there, as well as others who were visiting at the time. Here are a group of us ladies at a bbq at the Lagoon in downtown Cairns.

It was also great to see Wayne and Cheronne VanderHeide and their kids there. My parents took Jonathan and Bryce VdH on a tour of the Great Barrier Reef where they took in awesome views of the coral and other sea life, from the safety of a glass-bottom boat! Here they are playing in the sand at Green Island.

Caleb the Explorer--on the move at Muddy's playground!
We also went to the Rainforest Habitat in Port Douglas where Karlyn discovered that the Roos were pretty friendly!
My husband was pretty friendly too on this romantic(?) rainforest walk!
As for my Dad, well, he made friends wherever he went!
And then we were on our way home. Welcome to PNG, Grandma and Grandpa! We spent our first night in Port Moresby at the Bible College.
And then it was home sweet home to Lae where the swimming continues (for Dad and the kids, anyway).What a blessing to have them here with us. It is interesting to experience PNG anew through my parent's eyes--as they take in all the sights, smells, climate, people and different way of life. Things that have become commonplace for us have amazed, saddened, and overwhelmed them in the few days that they've been here. We look forward to sharing more days in Lae with them in the coming weeks.