Dec 2023, first half

December was also a quiet month. Lots of school and regular activities. Truth be told, it's really not that quiet...it's still very busy!

Daniel spent all of his extra hours working on the skating rink. He couldn't agree with his siblings on how to make it, so he ended up doing it all himself.

Evelyn would play nearby to keep him company.

More school.

Hi Mom, I'm working hard.

Matthew's latest writing project had to do with Coke. So we got to try out several kinds and gave him our opinions. We actually like the taste of the zero coke the best.

Such hard workers!

Evelyn's classic "hug?" request.

Progress on the rink looks slow, but it's definitely getting further along every week!

Daniel's project involved jelly beans. And way toooo much testing. I'm not sure any of us want to eat jelly beans for a while now.

Ooooh, what is it doing? Is it printing something? What's happening?

Jennifer has been attending a Life Skill's class at the school that Melanie has been volunteering at. They made tye-dye pajama pants and aprons. Jennifer has been enjoying the class...and lending a hand when it's something she is good at, like sewing.

Evelyn set up a tree so we could hang up our Christmas cards. Sorry, we are not sending one out this year, but we are enjoying the ones we've been receiving!

Nov 2023, Daniel is 14!

Daniel turned 14 at the end of November.

Time is sure going by fast!

We've never tried an escape room before. For Daniel's birthday Matthew Melanie and I joined Daniel at an escape room. It was a really fun experience, even if we didn't quite solve the last clue...we did get pretty far and worked together as a great team.

1. D. 4. Daniel 14, or 14 Daniel...read how you like. He's sure getting mature. Lol.

Hopefully this second hand gift will work properly and isn't too difficult to get to work. We pooled together resources and got something off of Kijiji. Daniel isn't particularly helpful at giving us ideas of what to give him. Seeing as his very cool cousin has a 3D printer, we thought we'd take a risk and see if he'd enjoy one.

We are thankful for another year with Daniel in the family. He does a great job helping host younger kids at our house (the boys, I mean) and entertaining younger boys at church. He is kind and honest. If sometimes he seems a little too argumentative...I try remember that he gets that from his dad's side of the family and I used to think it was kind of cute, all those technical and pointless controversial discussions.

Nov 2023

November was an uneventful month. Full of school and regular activities. Matthew had to sew on some new badges on his uniform.

We were thrilled to host some cousins for two nights. A first for us!! Jennifer recommended some favourite books.

Evelyn had way too much fun

And the youngest was pampered by us all because she is too cute.

I stepped away with Matthew to take part in the Remembrance Day parade. 

Well, actually, I observed, while he took part.

It was a cold day to be standing still for over half an hour! And then finally the long march back.

Daniel grew a lot. He wanted to show us how much he grew by showing the measuring tape while Matthew took a photo. I'm sure that clears things up for everyone.

We have our Korean friends (minus the dad) over on a weekly basis now. On this particular occasion we are babysitting for the evening while the parents went in for a meeting...to discuss the call to be a co-pastor at our church. He accepted the call so we are thrilled to have our friends stick around in Canada!!

Evelyn playing with the triplets.

Melanie keeping Bona busy.

On a warmer day, Matthew stepped outside to work on his math. The fresh air helped clear his head.

Evelyn still has enough free time to work on crafts.

Melanie fits a bit of schoolwork in during her week. She volunteers once a week at a school...which seems to enjoy more than her work. ;)

The girls working hard. :) After all, we do need to do some actual schoolwork after all those holidays and trips!

Matthew working hard.

I harvested the last of my garden in November. We had a pretty mild fall...and the carrots stayed protected from the frost, being underground. So we enjoyed fresh garden carrots, even in December! Yummy!

Oct 22, 2023 Crash

The Sunday after getting back from our trip, Matthew and Philip went ahead of us to church in the car, as per usual. The rest of us came later in the van...and not far from home we had a bad collision. We were going about 60km/hr when we beaned into another vehicle. As many have said before, it happened so fast! Melanie was at the wheel, and she responded in the best way possible, but it was just unavoidable at the speed we were (legally!) going.

All six of us were able to walk out of the vehicle safely, and so did the other guy. We did have to hunt around for our glasses. We were not injured seriously...we had some really sore muscles. We got muscle relaxant medications and had some x-rays done the next day to be safe...but other than some scratches and bruises we were all okay. So absolutely amazing. I am very thankful for the safety features built into vehicles nowadays! But more so, we are thankful for God's protecting hand over us! We traveled through much more dangerous places in PNG and were kept safe, and here close to home we are reminded again that we are still in His care.

Bye bye faithful blue van!

If you live in the GTA and need a tow, I would strongly recommend that you call your insurance company for a recommendation...or use CAA. Our van is still be held "ransom" by the towing company that showed up at the scene. They seem to think that they can be paid $100 a day for storing it (against our will). The first two days they gave me the runaround instead of letting me sign a release paper and tried pressure me into fighting my insurance company Fortunately the insurance company stepped in and is the one dealing with them now. They are taking the towing company to court. It's certainly a slow process..it's been over ten weeks already!

Today I finally got a minivan from the rental company...to say that they are hard to come by these days is a bit of an understatement! Occasionally we've needed to ask other people to pick up a few of us, since Nathan needed the car and we can't exactly fit 7 of us in a car or SUV.  That's over 10 weeks so far! It is annoying to have to delay being able to buy a van (and have one of our rentals overheat and die on us) but we put it in perspective. We are all ok...a bit of hassle and waiting is not much of a problem compared to what could have been. 

This accident reminded me most of all that God has given us all more time here on this earth to do His work. When he is ready he will take us home to heaven...but for now he wants us to keep busy here.

Oct 18, 2023 home again

We had yet another early start, this time we are headed home!! We had plenty of extra time at the airport after going through security. We enjoyed some breakfast and did some last minute shopping.

Goodbye Papua New Guinea!! I left a piece of my heart behind...the people in PNG are so easy to love, even having made such brief connections, it's so impactful.

The 18th was a very long day...since we traveled with the time zones this time...it dragged on and on. Our stop in Manila was shorter this time, so we didn't do any touring.

We will be home soon! So tired and so excited at the same time!

Counting down the hours until we arrive. We are feeling pretty out of it by the time we get home safely!!

Oct 15-17, Port Moresby

While we were away Melanie celebrated her 17th birthday. That is the third birthday in a row of my kids that I wasn't there for. Yikes! 

She was pleased that we actually had gifts left behind for her, and Opa and Oma also spoiled her. So thankful for their love and care for their grandkids...especially while we were gallivanting on the other side of the world.

So thankful for this young lady!

On Sunday we worshiped in the 9 mile church. Meaning, it's 9 miles away from Port Moresby. It was a short drive and a very restful and relaxing day. And very hot and muggy.

We went to the adventure park near the bible college. Everything is so tidy!

We were a few weeks too early for the most stunning display of orchids, but there were already a number of beautiful display of orchids. There are hundreds of varieties.

They have a lot of birds as well. The bird of paradise is the national bird. It is a very shy bird which you probably would only hear when it is out in the wild, and never actually see. It took a while for it to come out and try the berries.

What long feathers! There were a lot of different kinds of birds. What an amazing Creator we have!

We also checked out the crocodile...which was absolutely motionless until the keeper sprayed him. He also petted him and kissed him, hoping we would give him a tip for his efforts. Personally I still think the crocodile is dangerous and wasn't interested in encouraging the keeper. It was hot and muggy at the park, and it was nice to get back to the college. Especially for Evelyn.

Matthew didn't seem to be bothered by the heat. He ran around and played with the boys, keeping up no problem.

If they were running around and playing, he was sure to be with them.

Philip and I went along for a tour at a settlement where there is a church plant. It is really shocking in what condition these people live. They are all packed together in such dirty surroundings with so little to their names. It is really hard to understand why they left their hometown and are living here...they don't seem to be getting richer by living near the capital city.

The trail to the church was steep and strewn with garbage.

Some of the homes are built on really steep sections of the hill. Sometimes the hill collapses a little and they have to rebuild.

Evelyn was happy staying behind and playing with Ruth. The two of them were thick as thieves.

Near the end of our trip we went out for dinner at the waterfront. It felt cooler next to the ocean. It was a lovely place to be.

There was a small play-set there for the kids, who enjoyed hanging out there while the food was being prepared.

Matthew had a lot of fun making friends and playing games. He will surely miss it! Once we get home, he will have to get back into the school books. He made use of every minute that he had!