A Toddler's Perspective on Poverty

Living in a developing country provides many learning opportunities. We often have to explain to Hannah that all of her friends don’t have trucks like we do. She’s learned that most people don’t cook their food in ovens like us. I’ve heard her say, “Susan cooks on a fire.” (Susan works in our house and goes to church with us.) We’ve had the chance to give some of her toys away to friends who may not have any. It’s such a great learning experience. But I don’t think she quite gets it all just yet. For example, when we were in Brisbane we were shopping at an outlet mall. One store was having a huge sale. There were tons of people in the check-out line. Hannah asked us what all of those people were doing. Craig said, “They’re buying new clothes.” She responded, “Because they don’t have any?” (That makes sense, right?) Then we had to explain that those people actually had lots of clothes, but they just wanted more. (as opposed to people in PNG who wear the same thing all the time!)

Hannah and I were walking down the road together today. We saw some men carrying a big pig on a long stick. Then we saw a second one being carried. (In PNG, pigs are very valuable and are slaughtered for special occasions. These men were more than likely on their way to a feast.) Hannah asked what they were going to do with the pigs. I told her that they were probably going to cook them. “And eat them?” she asked. “Yep,” I said. Then she asked, “Some people don’t have food, so they have to eat pigs?”

Brisbane Vacation

Jeri and I have now enjoyed most of our Brisbane vacation. We are down to two sleeps (chronology according to Hannah) before we head back to Alotau. A Series of Fortunate Events allowed us to enjoy this wonderful time. First, we would like to thank the United States Government because it required us to travel to Port Moresby to take care of some paperwork for Caleb. Second, (and much more importantly) we would like to thank Craig's parents for an early Christmas present - a week at a two bedroom condo in Kingscliff, Australia.

Below are some pictures of our trip ...


Who knew that a kangaroo and a wallaby would look so much alike. So this is Craig and Hannah with either a kangaroo or wallaby.

The snake might not be real, but it was still enough to give me the heebie jeebies. When your greatest fear is snakes it doesn't take much to push you over the edge.

Of course, no Australia vacation would be complete without lots of time at the beach.

Hannah loved 'modern conveniences'. Did you know malls have doors that open by themselves? Steps can move by themselves? Were you aware that at the Centro Toombul you cannot walk more than 100 meters before coming across another car or helicopter for kids to play in? I am just glad that Hannah has not yet learned that mommies and daddies are supposed to put in $2 to make the thing shake and make noise. Please don't tell her - this secret is proving to be a very economical one.


Sidenote by Jeri: If you've enjoyed the writing in this particular post, please tell us! I've been trying to convince the author (CRAIG!) that he needs to participate in this blog more. Isn't he funny??!!

Sidenote response by Craig to the sidenote by Jeri (above): If you think the salvation of human souls is more important than a mere moment of joy and pleasure please encourage Jeri to write the blogs so I can be about a greater ministry - a ministry with eternal results. (Either that or you could encourage me to spend less time watching TV so I could do blogs - but I prefer a more noble excuse!)

Hannah and Caleb

I caught Hannah carrying her baby in Caleb's snugli. I guess she figures since we won't let her carry Caleb she'll have to carry her own baby!

The kids love playing on the floor together. Hannah can make Caleb laugh more than anyone else. :)

Hannah got some cooking things for Christmas. She spread them all out on a blanket in the middle of our kitchen so she could get to work making supper.

Caleb is really starting to like eating solid foods. He especially likes papaya.

He's not crawling yet, but somehow Caleb managed to scoot himself underneath Hannah's bed and couldn't get out. (I had to take a picture before I rescued him!)


We thank God again and again for our children. They are such a blessing to us!

Easter Retreat

We had our church Easter retreat at the end of last month. Here are some pictures to show you a glimpse of it!

Amy enjoyed holding Caleb at the retreat.

Here's a picture of the attendees. There were about 100 people at the retreat - half of which were children!! Can you spot the Fords? (Don't look for Craig too long... he took the picture!)

This is where we had our classes during the day. In front of us is the beach, but you can't see it. We had a wonderful camp at a place called Gehi Gehi. Hannah and Caleb both slept great in the tent.

Pictures

Hannah loves her friends, Baylee and Rochelle. These three girls are inseparable at church and have a playdate together every week. Rochelle is going on furlough at the end of April for 3 1/2 months. Baylee's family will be in Canada for a year starting at the end of May. We'll really miss you, Baylee and Rochelle!!!

Craig's Dad came for a visit at the beginning of March. Caleb was glad to see his Grandpa!

Hannah and Caleb enjoy hanging out at the beach.

Hannah and Grandpa are ready for church on Sunday.

Caleb enjoys snoozing on the beach. Looks comfy, eh?

Tupperware, MKs, and Dirt

I was delighted to get a Christmas present this month (yes, in February). It was scheduled to arrive by January 1, but most things happen late in PNG, we’ve learned. Delayed gratification is our theme here. Anyway, I was overjoyed to receive a bunch of Tupperware containers from Craig’s brothers and their wives for Christmas. Okay, if you saw how many ants inhabit our kitchen, you would realize why this was such a special gift. I spent almost a whole day reorganizing my goods into these great storage containers. I was just thrilled. Never knew that something like Tupperware could be so exhilarating eh?! (Thanks, James & January, Trevor & Sarah!)

Missionary Kids (MKs) are blessed with the opportunity to explore the world. Hannah loves to travel (like us!) and often reminisces about our holiday to New Zealand after our furlough. Yesterday I walked into her room and found her and Craig playing ‘travel’. She had fake tickets, money, and a passport. Craig would ask her where she wanted to go, make her pay, and then pretend to fly somewhere. When she arrived in New Zealand, Budapest, Hong Kong, or wherever, he proceeded to pretend he was a customs officer. She can now state her country of citizenship, where she lives, and her birthday! (I don’t think they’ve ever asked our birthdays…) By the time our next furlough rolls around, we’ll let her handle all of the customs agents!

Gardening has never been easier. Well, I’ve never really had a garden and most plants I’ve owned in the past never survived very long. But here, I think nearly anyone can grow things! We haven’t even planted some things that are growing around our house. Obviously some seeds were just dropped, and surprise!!!, we have plants! We have all kinds of flowers, beans, pumpkin, watermelon, tomatoes, bananas… It’s so much fun. I must say a big thank you to our friends Susan and Pastola though, who have done a lot to help us out. In North America when someone visits your house, it’s not uncommon for them to comment on your lovely windows or choice of interior paint color. Here, everyone that comes to visit can’t say enough good about our amazing soil. Who cares what the house looks like – we have awesome dirt! Apparently, it’s very rich soil and perfect for gardening. And I believe it because it looks just like the dark colored potting soil we used to have to buy to grow anything when I was a kid.

December Update

Caleb and Aunt Jen

Our picnic on Picnic Island

Hannah and Grandma make a sand castle together

Hannah on Christmas morning

Making Christmas cookies!

Daddy and Caleb

Grandpa and Caleb

December came and went so quickly. Not having internet access at our house makes it difficult for me to keep up with this blog. But we’re doing the best we can. We don’t have phone lines at our house and don’t anticipate having any for years!

Some exciting things happened in the month of December:

First, Craig turned 30 on the 21^st! We celebrated with pumpkin pie in the afternoon and enjoyed a buffet at the Masurina Lodge for supper.

My parents and youngest sister, Jen, were supposed to arrive on the 20^th, but their flight from Port Moresby (the capital city) was canceled. They had a warm welcome (literally) to PNG – the “Land of the Unexpected”. They flew in at 6 a.m. on the 21^st instead. It was great to have them here for a couple of weeks. We filled those two weeks with all kinds of activities. We showed them around Alotau, went to a resort for a day, kayaked, took a boat trip and stayed in a guest house with no electricity, picnicked on Picnic Island (a small, uninhabited island), snorkeled, collected seashells, played lots of games (Thanks for Perudo, Philip and Andrea!), ate lots of fish… it was such a great time. My sister, Jen, is terribly afraid of spiders. You think everything is big in Texas? You should visit PNG!! I think Jen went home realizing that those minute spiders in Wyoming are nothing.

We were able to enjoy a Christmas potluck/party at church on December 23. It was a fish fry, accompanied by many other local foods. Unfortunately, my oven stopped working that day and I couldn’t bake my cake. (Our PNG friends LOVE cake and I always make one for the potlucks.) Fortunately, I had done all of my other Christmas baking the day before. As I write this (Jan. 12) my oven is still not working. We’re still working on finding someone who knows how to fix it in Alotau. Thankfully, my stovetop is still up and running. J

Christmastime in PNG is always different than in Cheyenne, Wyoming or Beamsville, Ontario! For example…

• Our Christmas meal included shrimp and yellow fin tuna.
• We went swimming on Boxing Day - outdoors.
• A cup of cold water tastes much better than hot chocolate.
• Short-sleeved shirts and sandals are worn instead of coats and boots.

. . . But they still play the song, “White Christmas” in the shops!! (We just have to use our imaginations.)

Thank you to everyone who sent us special packages and letters over the holidays. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. May God bless you in 2008.

November Update

November has gone so quickly and we haven’t posted as many blogs as we would’ve liked. Our first month back in PNG has been good. Things are going really well and we are thankful to be home. Here are a few interesting things that have been happening… I hope this doesn’t get too long!

-WATER– We were a bit concerned about our water situation since we are not connected to the town water supply yet. Therefore, we rely solely on rain. We have a huge tank, so as long as it rains every couple of weeks, we are just fine. But dry season is approaching, or so we thought! Usually by this time of year it would be quite dry, but there have been some cyclones in PNG that have caused us to have lots of rain the past few weeks. (And when it rains, it pours!) We have been thankful for the rain. However, there have been lots of people in other parts of the country who have lost their gardens and homes due to the cyclones. An ironic part of our water story is that the town water has been shut off many hours each day because it is dirty and they are trying to resolve the problem. So, we are faring better than most people right now and have been able to share water from our tank! Craig and Hannah are pictured playing in the rain. (Well, Craig claims he had to go and fix some flooding problems in the yard….)

-YARD WORK – When we moved into our house, we never really had time to do any kind of landscaping, planting, etc. But because of the wonderful help of some amazing people, our yard actually looks great! Two Christian sisters, Pastola and Susan, have put in HOURS (without us asking!) to make a garden and upkeep it. We came home to beautiful flowers, pumpkin, greens, bananas, papaya, and more. Pastola has 10 children living in her house right now and often walks down to our house with many of them just to weed our yard. Hannah is pictured with Kylie doing some work outside.

-THANKSGIVING – We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast on Saturday with our teammates, the Reese and Williams families, and a couple of other American families in town. We were even able to track down a turkey in the capital city for the occasion. (I’ve never seen a turkey here in Alotau.) We had the works – turkey, gravy, potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes, rolls, dressing, pumpkin and pecan pie. . . it tasted like a real Thanksgiving meal! Hannah is pictured with our thankfulness turkey we made at home.

-CHURCH – Hannah has become quite attached to some friends from church and always wants to go. As I was putting her in the truck after church on Sunday, she said, “I want to go to church again.” Two girls from church, Garimea and Doreen stopped by our house to play with Hannah one day and she loved every minute of it! Just an interesting fact: these two girls walk about 1 ½ hours to church each way every week.

- KIDS – Hannah loves to play outside and read books. She also loves to watch Dora. Her potty training is progressing well. Caleb is already 4 months old. I love his giggles. I better stop writing for now. This wasn’t supposed to be a novel!