Donuts!!

yummy!

 I always am collecting recipes that I want to try at some point.  One of the things I've thought would be fun to try is donuts.  Especially as we can't get them here.  (Occasionally, someone will make and sell them here, but it's a rare treat).

So Saturday morning I decided to try making some.  I've always preferred the more cakey donuts to the light, fluffy sorts, so I had a recipe for Buttermilk donuts to try.  They actually were pretty simple to make, and didn't take all that long.  I think they turned out pretty well (a couple of them didn't get fried quite long enough, so were a bit doughy inside still) and I'll definitely be up for trying them out again sometime (maybe the yeast kind too).

Counting the Days

Right now I'm in full count down mode.  27 days until we leave for Cairns!!!!  As sad as it sounds, I haven't even really started to think about Baby's arrival, or start getting super excited about that yet.  (I mean, I'm excited, but not thinking about that primarily).

Because we have to leave the country to find a decent hospital for having Baby, we go to Cairns, Australia.  Since this will be our fourth baby born there, it really feels like a home away from home, away from home. =)

We love going to Cairns!  Yeah, the days can get a bit long, and it's really expensive for us to stay there (especially with the pathetic US dollar right now), and it will be a bit squishy (all 4 kids will share a bedroom, and we're going to have to get really creative in trying to figure out a workable way to homeschool with little kids playing in the same room).  But I can't wait to go! 

Some of our most favorite things about being in Cairns are:

*Muddy's (an awesome playground that also has a water-fountain section for the kids to play in)

Kaitlyn in 2006 playing at Muddy's

*The Lagoon (a public swimming pool that is also like a man-made beach that is a ton of fun)

2009 at the Lagoon

*going swimming

*McDonald's, Dominos and other restaurants

McDonalds!

*Large, well-stocked grocery stores

*A big bathtub to wash the kids in (seriously, on furlough and in Cairns a "normal" bathtub is considered to be a swimming pool by our kids, who are used to the tiny base of our shower as a tub)

*Everything being cleaner (I won't have to scrub black feet every time the kids come in from outside, and their natural skin color may finally start to show again!)

*paved roads and sidewalks

*Blending in!!!  (It's amazing how much of a sense of relief it is to just fit in -- well, until we open our mouths-- it's nice not to be the very tallest (even taller than the men) and just constantly stick out like a sore thumb)

*Shopping!  Walmart, Target, etc, here I come! =)

*Date night with my favorite guy  (here in Ukarumpa, there is nowhere to go for a date)

*Rusty's (an awesome farmer's market for fresh fruit and veggies-- as much as I love tropical fruit, I miss some good stuff like grapes, apples, oranges, etc!)

*Real Ice Cream!!!  (not the PNG variety which is more Ice than Cream)

*And last, but definitely not the least:  Family and friends who will be visiting during our time in Cairns!!!!!

Sports Day 2011

Yesterday my kids participated in their very first-ever Sports Day at school.  Every year, the Primary School has a day off of classes, and all the kids are split up into two teams (Red or Yellow) and they compete against each other in running races, ball throws, long jump, sack races and an obstacle course.  Kaitlyn is in 4th grade now, and this is the first one we have ever attended, as every other year (from Kindergarten up) we've either been in the village, on POC staff, in Cairns having a baby or on fulough. 

Unfortunately, our "dry season" this year has been amazingly wet, so after rain all night long, everything was good and squishy and muddy for the day.  It was cold and lightly raining for most of the events.  But I think, despite the mud, the kids enjoyed themselves.

Everyone is divided up by age groups, rather than grades, so Kaitlyn was with the 9-10 year old girls and Nathan was with the 6-7 year old boys (which Matt was in charge of).

Because we were in the village for the first 3 1/2 weeks of the school year, K and N didn't get to practice all the events for Sports Day at PE like the rest of the kids.  This is where I really saw their personalities come into play.  Nathan just went at everything (and even though he was the youngest 7 year old) he tried hard.  Kaitlyn is very (overly?) cautious about any new thing, and when she's unsure, she'd rather just not even participate.  So she definitely didn't try very hard for most of the events.  It didn't help that someone was mean to her early on in the day, and that sort of tainted her attitude for the rest of the time as well.  Hopefully next Sports Day (if we are even around for it) will go better for her!

Julianne with Kaitlyn and a bunch of her classmates

Kaitlyn M. and Julianne (gotta love her camera expressions!)

Ready for the Sack Race

Reaching for the flag at the end of the Obstacle Course

Kaitlyn's Sack Race (on a wet, puddly field)

The water gushing thru the drain was a much bigger draw than older siblings running races

Ready to run

And they're off......

Julianne and Rebekah keeping dry

Nathan and Emmanual (N's first ever 3-legged race... the first few steps didn't go to well, but they caught on really fast)

Kaitlyn and Ella

Somehow the 3-legged race morphed into a 6-legged one! =)

Last event of the day:  tug-o-war

Gotta love the mud!

The Things Fear Makes Us Do

Last night, we were having dinner with good friends.  After dinner, the 5 older kids were running around outside, in the dark, jumping on the trampoline and having a great time.  Then Nathan came into the house, shirt shredded, stomach bleeding and crying.

It turns out that he was afraid of our friend's dog (which was tied up) and thought it growled at him, and he took off, running in pure terror.  But because it was dark, he did not see the barbed wire fence that was at the edge of the yard.  He hit the fence (about chest-high on him) and in his momentum, went flying headfirst over it.  I guess (he didn't tell us this right away) he was hanging by his stomach/shirt for some moments (nothing touching the ground) until he was able to rip away and fall to the ground.

Matt went out and took a look at the fence, and it was hard to imagine Nathan actually flipping over it, as it was so tall on him.  And the barbs were very sharp!  But in his utter panic, his momentum allowed him to get over.  (his shirt is trashed, but the cut on his stomach wasn't very deep, so I am thankful because he could have been hurt a lot worse).

But this got me thinking.  How many times in our lives is fear a motivating factor for how we respond or act?  Not necessarily because a dog barks at us, but maybe because we're afraid of rejection, failure, other people's opinions, etc???  I will be the first one to admit that I have missed out on a lot of opportunities to share my faith with others because I was afraid of what their reaction might be.  Or afraid to try something too new, because I might fail and others might see me fail.  But how much have I missed out on by my fear?  Seeing God work in someone's life?  Discovering a new hobby, or friend or ???  just because I gave in to my fears and didn't act.

I was thinking of some Bible verses that talk about fear, such as "do not fear, for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10) and "the Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).  But as I was looking through the concordance of my Bible, I was struck by how few of the mentions of fear are dealing with being afraid of others, or things/circumstances.  The vast majority of the mentions of fear in the Bible are in reference to how we should be living in fear of the Lord!  Not necessarily in the sense that we are afraid of God, but that we "respect highly" and have "profound respect for" him.  Just think if we all lived and acted and responded to others out of fear for God.  Out of a great, profound respect for who God is, and what he has done for us, and how much he loves us.  If we truly lived in "fear" all of the time, think of how full our lives would be, and how much we would be allowing God to accomplish his purposes in and through us.

When My Kids are Happiest

Sometimes, I must confess that I get jealous. Especially of friends whose
children don't like to get dirty. Granted, there aren't all that many of
them, but there are a few!

My kids, on the other hand, are the happiest when they are as dirty as
possible. For example, at this moment, Kaitlyn and Nathan have mud painted
solidly from their toes to their knees, and from fingertips to elbows.

For some reason, for my kids, there is nothing on earth so wonderful as mud.
If there is mud anywhere nearby, they will be in it. If there is no mud
around, they will happily make their own. Kaitlyn, our sweet little girl,
is the ringleader. Seriously, it's like she's a magnet attracted to dirt.

Today, being Saturday, they went outside immediately after breakfast and
started digging in what little mud they could find. When that wasn't good
enough, they began hauling water from our outdoor laundry sink to their
rapidly growing mud hole. An hour or so later, Matt went out, and seeing
how muddy they already were, decided that a little more mud wouldn't make
much of a difference. So, to their utter delight, he collected a bunch of
extra PVC pipe and piped water from our laundry sink, into their 'sandpit'
under the house, where they like to dig. They spent hours building pools
and tunnels for the water with pipes, and just practically rolling in the
mud. After a while though, they got tired of the mud pool, and have since
been building mud roads around the house and painting mud onto themselves
and the water tank.

Let's just say that baths will be on the schedule for tonight (as well as
scrubbing out muddy clothes -- oh, how I miss my washing machine right now
-- and mopping muddy floors)!

But if you were to ask the kids, they would probably say that this has been
the best day ever!

Right now, I have the happiest kids in the world!!! =)

A Cushy Life

Have you ever been to a church conference? Maybe you drove or flew to your
destination. There was probably a hotel or conference center booked for
your group. Catered meals, or restaurants nearby.

This has been a unique stay for us here in Hamelengan. Matt hasn't had too
many opportunities to work with our co-translators, or many other men
actually. Everyone here has been working full-time trying to prepare for a
huge church conference that will be going on this week. People from a
number of villages (both Nukna, and also from the neighboring language,
Timbe) will be arriving today. I am in awe over how much work there has
been, and how hard everyone here has been working to prepare for this week.
First off, there are no hotels or restaurants here. Nope. Any extra
housing needs to be built. I think about 5 new houses have been built as
living quarters for the out-of-town delegates for this event. The men and
women have also been working hard these last few weeks clearing ground,
building other conference buildings (often with a bamboo frame, banana-leaf
walls and tarps for the roof), and carrying a ton of food. (and when I say
"ton", I think it literally is close to that!). In the center of the
village a "mess hall" has been built. It is a large structure that will
house the food, 5 fire pits for cooking, and a counter that runs all the way
around it. The women will work here, cooking food for all the people who
have come to the conference. Another large structure has been built right
next to the church, for the meetings.
Every night, people get together to practice the singing that they will do,
probably today, to greet everyone who is arriving. Kundus (drums) and
singing have been going on until midnight or even later every night.

And then there's the food. Yesterday we walked around and Matt took us in
to the place where they are storing everything the people have carried from
their gardens. Piles of yams, kaukau (sweet potato) and taro, several feet
high. There were yams there that looked like huge tree roots, and taros so
large that even one was heavy to lift. And these all came from gardens,
some several miles away, over steep, muddy trails! And the last two days,
most of the men from the village have been gone from sun-up to after dark
carrying pigs to the village. People in other villages have given or sold
pigs for the food, so these had to be carried in. The day before yesterday
all the men hiked 6 hours, one way, to bring back two pigs. They tie them,
hanging by their feet, to a bamboo pole and two men at a time would carry
the several hundred pound pig for a short distance before trading places
with other men. Everyone, from the teenage boys up helped out. It hasn't
helped that it has been raining a LOT here. The day the men were actually
going to start carrying pigs, it just rained and rained. We got a good 4
inches. And it hasn't been sunny at all to dry anything out. So not only
are the people carrying heavy food and pigs up and down steep mountains,
they have to do it on trails that are little rivers, or ankle deep in mud.

But now, the day of people arriving, I think most things are in readiness.
I know there are still things to do: firepits in the mess to build, a
bamboo aqueduct to be built from the nearest water faucet down into the mess
hall for washing/close water. I will be pretty shocked if there is actually
a church service this morning... people are probably going to be rushing
around, finishing things up, or are still pretty exhausted from the past
couple of days.

But being here really drives home once again, what cushy lives we all do
have (in the US). I mean, there are tons of logistics and such that go into
planning a church conference back home, but nothing like the back-breaking,
months-long physical labor that it takes to put on a 1-week meeting here!

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Eternity

A couple of mornings ago, Nathan woke up and declared that he was going to
count to one trillion that day. So without even getting out of bed, he
started in. He made it up to around 420 I think, before he took a break to
get up and dressed. He was so excited throughout the day to keep on
counting a little more. That evening, Matt asked him if he knew how big a
trillion was. Of course, Nathan had no real idea. So they sat down with a
pen and a paper and figured out how many seconds were in an hour, and then
in a day, and then in a year. They figured out that if Nathan counted one
number each second, and he had started counting at the moment of his birth,
never took a break, not even to sleep, and lived a full 90 years, it would
still take him around 12 lifetimes to make it to one trillion! Well, that
definitely killed his enthusiasm.

The next morning, soon after I woke up, I heard Nathan's excited voice from
his bed, calling to Justin. "Justin, Justin, guess what? When we get to
Heaven, we'll be there forever and ever and ever, so I'll have time to
finish counting to one trillion!!!"

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