Tomorrow

This is our last day in Papua.  I am so excited about going home.  Especially after today.  We had no internet, almost no water, we ran out of gas for the stove/oven, the big, red ants were having a huge party in the kitchen and were all over my counters, the hot water doesn’t work in the kitchen, it was so stinkin’ hot out…yada yada yada.

So Wisconsin, family, friends sounds so great-here we come!

Three days of travel and we will be there.  Pray for us.  We will leave Jayapura tomorrow May 30th at about 2:00 in the afternoon and fly to Makassar, Jakarta, Singapore, Narita (Tokyo), Atlanta, and then lanad in Milwaukee June 1st.

Cale was up puking last night.  I am hoping that it was just something he ate and not the stomach flu.  Sophie has a bladder infection.  Wyatt has a broken wrist.  But the rest of us are hunky-dory!  The kids are good travelers.  It helps that they have done this so many times before.  They know what to expect.  But it is still VERY long!!

Can’t wait to see you in person!

Love

Rachel

Wyatt’s Wrist Update

We are all back together again-Wyatt and Garth returned from the hospital at around 1:00 this afternoon.  The x-rays today showed the bones lined up right, so hopefully everything that was done here was done well.  God is good – He got us all through this.  I often tend to get real emotional in times like this but I felt such a calm and peace during the whole process.  During the long trip to Jayapura we were singing praise songs together and praying.  Wyatt said that maybe this whole thing happened to help bring him closer to God.  He really felt comfort as well.  Thank  you to all who were praying.

Here are some pictures: (The x-ray at the bottom is the x-ray of the break.  Not the ones of the bones all lined up.)

Keep praying!  He is still in pain.  The cast goes all the way up past his elbow, up his arm.  It is very heavy and he is finding it hard to do much of anything.

Love you all-

Rachel

Wyatt

A quick request for prayer.  Shortly after school today Wyatt fell while playing basketball and landed on his wrist breaking it badly in two places.  After  visiting two different hospitals we found a doctor that would do the surgery on him. The bone was poking through on one side. They put him under at 9 pm and then the doctor tried manually realigning the bones.  He feels like it was successful and will do x-rays on it tomorrow.  Wyatt is finally pain free and staying overnight in Jayapura at the hospital.  Garth stayed to be with Wyatt but I came home to be with the kids.  The hospital is a military hospital an hour away.

Pray that the Doctor made the right decision to not put pins in and that it is lined up right and that Wyatt continues to be pain free.  It was a long emotional day.  It is now after midnight and I am ready for bed.

Thank you

I will update tomorrow.

Bandnastics

As the end of the year is rapidly approaching, it seems like there are so many things to do.  Included in that is the many school activities/performances.  This past week Wyatt was involved in the band concert.  He played the drums and the clarinet even though his favorite instrument is the guitar.  All the students did a great job.

Emma has been attending a weekly gymnastics class taught after school by the HIS P.E. teacher, Sandra Smith.  The girls have been working very hard and put on a performance of their own for us parents.  They showcased the many things they have learned this semester.  (That’s Emma in the black top and pink shorts.)

Thanks for your prayers for our family as we prepare to make the long journey home in a little over a week.  Please pray for us all to be healthy as the 50+ hour trip home can wreak havoc on a body.

Garth

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday was our Junior Senior Banquet.  The Juniors surprised the Seniors by taking them all to Jayapura to a place called Dante’s Café.  They had the whole second floor and made the night very special for all the Seniors.  In our Hostel we have four Seniors and two Juniors.  It turned out to be a wonderful night!

Sunday night there was a fantastic praise concert for the kids here at our church.  We sang songs like “I am going to throw up, throw up, throw up…throw up my hands and praise the Lord.”  And “I am going to hurl, hurl…hurl my sins out the door…”  The concert ended with Garth giving a short devotional on the importance of obedience.

Love you

Rachel

Our Week

Here is a quick update on our week-

Girls date with Mom to the Mall

At the pool Cale taught himself how to do a front flip,  After that we all went over to the orphanage that I used to teach English at.  The kids and I had gone through all of our stuff and packed up some boxes of things that we could do without and wanted to share with the kids there.  So we brought that over.  They were so excited to see us!

Fake Injury Day at school.  (That always makes for great pictures)

I am sure glad they don’t come home from school looking like this every day!

Love you

Rachel

Fingerprinting

What a day today was!  We were told that we needed to go to Jayapura for fingerprinting.  That would mean borrowing a car, taking the kids out of school, driving over an hour, and then waiting until the whole process is over.

We were told to leave at 8:30 a.m. to make our appointment for 10:00. After much traffic we arrived only to find out that the people who do fingerprinting were not in yet, and would not be in until, 11, 12, or 1:00.  Ugh!  That is Papua for you.

The trouble was that not knowing when we would be  called, we didn’t want to go too far.  Here are some pictures:

Look at the door mat here-it is a pair of shorts.  Emma always gets so car sick when we travel…

We found an air conditioned shop to wait in.  Believe it or not, they had Oprah on the TV.

Check out this broccoli juice!  Also Jeli IQ Balls (interesting) and I am not sure what Sophie is holding.

Finally at around 2:00, we were able to go in for fingerprinting.

As a treat we took the kids for lunch at Pizza Hut in Abe.  It was about 3:00 when we finally were able to eat lunch.

We made it back home at 5ish to start homework, feed the masses, and get everyone in bed.  What an ordeal!

Here are some pictures of Jayapura: