Happy Birthday, Karlyn!!

Our big girl is 3!

Look at that frog cake! What a great cake, and delicious too. Thank you, Aunt Alice!

Here's the crowd who helped us celebrate!


We've been remembering her last birthday, which was celebrated in Hawaii on our way back here from Papua New Guinea! Kind of a fun place for a 2nd birthday!

At that time, we were facing so many unknowns--uncertainty about Ian's health, if and when we would be able to return to Papua New Guinea, how we, especially our kids, would adjust to this sudden and big change in their lives. And now here we are a year later. We've been richly blessed during our time here. We've even become a family of 5! And the Lord has blessed Ian's health enough that we are making plans to return to Papua New Guinea shortly. Big changes are upon us again, and the only thing that seemingly remains the same is the many unknowns we are facing once again. We don't know if Ian's health will continue to improve or if it will decline again in the tropical climate, and it will be quite a transition for our family, especially our kids, to adjust back to life in Papua New Guinea. It is easy to worry and to feel anxious, but we have to remember that in the midst of unknowns, there is One whom we do know, Who never changes, our Lord and Saviour. He is faithful, He is good and He loves us so much. And while we don't know His plans for us, we do know we're in His hands.

Caleb

We've been home from the hospital since Sunday, but here are still a couple more photos from there. If you look closely at this one, you'll see that Caleb and his cousin Jayden are learning to count already...Jayden's holding up one finger and Caleb two (or is that the peace sign?!)

Uncle Peter and cousin Liam.

Here's our little man, looking so mature and wise already as he sits in his chair (which is actually way too big for him still).

Proud big brother!

With cousin Jayden before he returned to Holland.

Welcome to the World, Caleb

We can hardly believe it was just yesterday that our little man Caleb entered our lives. We praise God for His faithfulness and this gift to our family. Here are just a few of the people he's met so far in his short little life!

After talking about and to "baby Caleb" for months, Jonathan and Karlyn finally meet him for the first time!

A cuddle with Grandma.

Meeting Aunt Kathelien, who with Uncle Jonathan and cousin Jayden leave us to return to Holland tomorrow :(. But what a blessing that he did arrive while they were still here--an answer to prayer for us. God is good.

With friend Allie Buist.

With cousins Noah and Lucas.

Summer Fun

We started off our summer celebrating the wedding of Ian's sister, Lydia and her husband Adam on June 12th. It was a beautiful day! A great time for the family to be together. Here's us!

And the siblings with the happy couple.

Then in July it was off to Killbear Park for a weekend of camping with the Wildeboers. Hours were spent at the beach and in the water, as well as hanging out at the campsite. We actually had a bear walk through our campsite in the middle of the day. Exciting! Most have to visit the "camp dump" for sightings like that, and here we had a close-up encounter. We soon heard, however, that the camp rangers had transported it further up north.

Then just this past week, we spent a few days at a cottage with my parents, as well as my brother and wife and son, who are visiting from Holland. Jonathan managed to get his share of water rides again!

Here's Ian with baby Jayden, my brother's son. Although looking a little unsure here, he really does love his Uncle Ian! Jonathan and Karlyn shower him with attention and love! Actually, we all do!


This summer has been a real blessing for us so far as we've caught up with many family and friends. And the best is yet to come...we are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of our newest family member--sometime within the next couple weeks...!

For those of you who are wondering, Ian's health continues to slowly and steadily improve and he is able to preach around more. We are hopeful that we'll be heading back to PNG in mid-September, God willing.

Goings On Around Here

At first glance, you may think we had our baby already and here it is! But, no, this is Ian with his new little neice, Kate Maria Wildeboer, daughter of his brother Peter and wife Nicole. Ian had the privilege of baptizing her a few weeks ago, hence this photo of the two of them.


Here's Peter, Nicole, Mom and Dad Wildeboer, and big brother, Liam. Oh, and baby Kate too of course!

We travelled up to Ottawa the other weekend. For those of you who don't know, Ottawa is Canada's capital city and about a 5 hour drive from Hamilton. Ian's oldest brother Malcolm and his family live there. So our big reason for going there was to visit them and their 5 lovely daughters! But Ian was also asked to speak at a men's retreat for their church that weekend, which he thoroughly enjoyed doing.


While the men were "retreating", Cindy and I and the kids went to "Sally's pond", this wonderful idyllic getaway close to their home and enjoyed the sun and water. This is Karlyn with her "twin cousin", Olivia. Determined to catch minnows, with nets that looked more like basketball meshes!!

And Jonathan with a few of his cousins, all of whom made sure he was having great fun all weekend!




And here's our soccer star. Every Tuesday night, we now join the ranks of soccer parents and cheer our somewhat timid of a soccer player on! He's loving it, though!