First Day of School!

The kids have really enjoyed going back to school.

Jessica is in 5th grade.
Karina is in 3rd grade.
Logan is starting 1st grade.
Olivia is starting Kindergarten

Lost baggage arrives...

We just wanted to let you know that God has seen fit to bring our lost bag, including all of its original contents, back to us. PTL

Another praise item is that it appears that Kayla has not yet come down with any "odd" disease as a result of that rat chewing on her fingers during the night!!

Thanks for praying!

"The Land of the Unexpected"

Everything seemed to be going well that day - until we turned the light off in our hotel room.

We were actually staying in the nicest of the two hotels in Vanimo, just inside the PNG border, awaiting for our NTM airplane to come pick us up.

As Kristi tells it:

" Jessica and I were in a room with Kayla---Jess in the single bed and Kayla with me in a double bed---I had actually thought of putting her on the floor but we decided it would be best for her to be next to me for more protection from critters---we were thinking more along the line of cockroaches. Soon after we turned out the lights I kept hearing a noise and kept asking Jessica what she was doing---she said “Nothing, Mom.” Then I felt something running across my pillow above my head---I turned on the light and saw a big rat’s tail coming out from behind the diaper bag on the little coffee table---I told Jessica to go sit next to Kayla. When we both turned to look at Kayla we were shocked to see her little face COVERED in blood. The strange thing was she was wide awake, but wasn’t crying at all. It was amazing how much blood there was---all over her face, sleeper, and blanket. I called Phil’s room and he came right away. When I got the blood all cleaned up I was relieved to see only three little bites on her right hand---two were cuts and one bite not only broke the skin, but was hard enough to bruise her little pinky finger. "

We praise the Lord the rat didn't chew her finger off as is quite often the case. There are tons of diseases caused by rats, but we are trying not to dwell on those for the moment. We are thankful that Kayla's immunizations were up to date. Upon arrival here at our home, our missionary doctor gave her a broad spectrum antibiotic injection as well. Please pray with us that she does not pick up any of those odd diseases.

On another note:

Thanks for praying for our bag that we lost in Hong Kong. Twelve days later and after countless hours on the phone, the airlines have finally located our one last bag in some baggage warehouse in Hong Kong. They are attempting to get the bag delivered to us here in PNG. Pray that it will actually arrive.

We are so glad to be back "home" and are getting settled back into a routine. The kids have started school and seem to really be enjoying it.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family. You mean so much to us!

Arrived with Bags!

Just to let you know that we arrived in Sentani very tired, due to some flight delays, but we did make it safe and with all our bags! (except the one we lost earlier in Hong Kong)

We will stay here for 48 hours and then we will catch our taxi rides which whill take us to the PNG border town.

Thanks for praying for us!

Next leg of our journey!

We have enjoyed our stay with my sister Joanna. It has been neat to meet all her friends. She appears to be progressing well in learning the Indonesian language! The kids have soaked in all the special attention Joanna has given them during the last few days!

We are leaving this afternoon for the border town of Indonesia, called Sentani. This involves a two hour taxi drive to the airport and then getting on a local airline that has a number of stops throughout the night. We get on the airplane at 7pm and get off at our destination on the same plane at 7 am the following morning.

Please pray for safety and that we arrive with all our bags.

Lost luggage - please pray!

Please be in prayer, that we can find our one lost bag.

So far, none of the airlines we have flown with have been able to find it yet.

An anniversary to remember, after all!

This year's wedding anniversary was threatening to pass us by without much "hoopla" as we were very busy packing, organizing and saying our last goodbyes to family and friends. With all that was going on, we were in no mood to “celebrate” so we opted to forgo the celebrations until we reached Indonesia.

After unwinding somewhat from the stress of travelling, we thought it would be a good time to get “away” and enjoy some special time together as a couple.

While my sister Joanna (the true hero of this story) watched all five kids...

We were able to go for a special supper at a new restaurant that had just opened called the Bistro.
I arranged a horse drawn carriage for 5 dollars to take us to and from the restaurant. We enjoyed the ride down the gabled back roads of Salatiga, at sunset.

After some exceptional food, ambience, and service the manager introduced herself to us in English. When she realized we were celebrating our 12th year Anniversary…she ordered all the waiters and cooks to come out to give us an applause and a congratulatory speech, and to top it off, on her generosity we enjoyed a free dinner on the house! Quite the surprise!!!

Thank you for all your prayers for us during the last few days of travelling.

Before our departure from Columbus, OH airport I repacked some of the bags that were slightly overweight, fixed our paper tickets, and found out what happened to our lost miles. When we boarded the plane that morning, we were relieved to find not only that we were sitting together, but that they had given us premium seating with lots of leg room.

After arriving in Hong Kong, we got off the plane and were waiting around for our next flight when I found out that they had free internet service...SO, I thought I would get a short praise email to you regarding the above situation. I had just finished typing most of it out, when over the speakers an announcer notified us of our flight being cancelled completely. I right away hit the delete button, and gave the laptop to Kristi and ran up to the counter. Soon all 300+ passengers where milling around the counter. We had arrived in Hong Kong at 3 in the afternoon and nearly 7 hours later, they were deciding to put us up for a free hotel night with hopes of making a connecting flight the next day, early in the morning. The next morning they were only able to confirm three of us initially, but with only minutes to go before the flights departure, they confirmed the last seats and while they shuffled the passengers around to allow us to be able to sit together. We were quickly led through baggage checking, immigration, etc., to be able to quickly board.

We arrived in Jakarta, and spent about 4 hours trying to track down a missing suitcase, going through customs, getting a tourist visa, and shipping our things to the border town. (We will continue on with our journey to spend six days with Joanna in the town of Salatiga and will meet up with our bags in Sentani before crossing over the border into Papua New Guinea.)

We thank the Lord for providing us an adjoining room in a hotel where we were finally able to get some sleep. The kids woke up at 2 am, awake and wired to play. We ate breakfast at 4am, opting for the "American breakfast" of a fried egg, chicken bacon, and watermelon juice to the more traditional breakfast of chicken and rice. We left the hotel at 4:30 am to catch our 6:00 flight to Salatiga. We are all looking forward to a few days to rest up and prepare for the rest of the trip. Kayla is having the hardest time adjusting to the differences in time.

Kids will always be kids. They seemed to really enjoy those "wild" rides on the back of Aunt Jo's scooter through downtown Salatiga as we got some language exposure attending a local bad mitten tournament with her friends.
Please see posted picture!

Thanks again for partnering with us in prayer.