Happy Easter from PNG!!!

     Well. It’s another first for us, first Easter in PNG. All in all it has been a fun day. I (matt) woke up sick and have been dragging all day but it has been great to see the kids do all the fun Easter stuff. Yesterday, we dyed eggs with the directors and their kids. This afternoon we did a massive egg hunt with them over half of the center.

     The Easter holiday here goes from Good Friday through the Monday following Easter. Almost everything is closed during this time, including POC.

     The other interesting thing that has been happening around here is there was a giant youth retreat at the church here. The last number that I heard was 800 people. Since, our workmen have had this time off they have been helping with the youth camp. They were not expecting nearly as many people to show up. They have run short on nearly everything: food, water, places to stay, equipment (generator, cars, etc.), and fuel. This has been a great opportunity for us (POC) to support the local church. It is great to be able to work with them to make this event a success and show God’s love to so many PNG youth.

Happy Easter from the Croslands

Pregnancy Update

{the belly 15 weeks}

 

While we were in Ukarumpa, Mae and i were sick so we went to the clinic to see the nurse. No one there could do an ultrasound to give me a better due date but i did convince the nurse to find the heartbeat for me! (she actually found 2 heartbeats but we are fairly sure one of them was me)…

We found a good doctor in Madang here who is helping us process the massive amount of paperwork to get our medical visas for Australia. He also did a simple check up on Matt and me and reckons i’m due around October 5. i’m feeling a little movement now and have regained my energy (thanks to an angel named Norma in Chicago who is sending me some WONDERFUL nutritional supplements!) So, all is going very well with mama and baby!

i confess that it took a long while for my mind to catch up with my body this pregnancy (maybe due to lack of prenatal care or something). My excitement has finally caught up with the rest of the family, who have all been over the moon since day one.

Our current plan for the birth is to fly out of Madang to Cairns at the end of August (no flying allowed after 35 weeks). Then await baby’s arrival at the Wycliffe guest house there. Depending on how late baby is and how long it takes to get an Australian birth certificate, we will come back home sometime in November…

xo~ tiffany

So Much For Farming

{Matt and the little fatty}

So, i said i was going to tell you about our livestock…

Unfortunately, our pig has died, our friend planted him yesterday. We bought two in Ukarumpa and brought them back to Madang (a 6-7 hour bumpy ride over washed out roads). They didn’t take the ride very well…we sold the smaller of the 2 and had our friend in the village below us take care of ours at his house. Easy come, easy go…the plan is to try to find a new pig in Lae in early May.

Maybe you are wondering why. Why would you want to raise a pig in a third world country while expecting your 6th child??

Well, culturally a pig is a BIG Deal. We want to raise it and fatten it and when it is time for us to go back to America (in 3 1/2 years or so) we will have a HUGE feast and celebration (an amamas) to tell all our PNG friends and family that we love them and we will miss them. They were elated when we showed up 4 days late with a pig…but like i said- easy come easy go…we’ll let you know if we give it another go….

xo tiff

{the brown one on the left was ours}

Lots To Tell

We are back from Ukarumpa. We actually came back Tuesday rather than Friday...we ended up with more to do than we expected- then i got a nasty virus and didn't feel like making the 6-7 hour ride through washed out roads. But we made it and we have lots to report! i just want to beg you to hang on until we find our camera...

We said goodbye to our wonderful rental house and our friends and neighbors in Uka. and packed up again...we are now in the process of sorting and giving away more stuff...this house is 1/2 the size of the Ukarumpa one. We are trying to make it work. Less is more, my friends!

posts coming at you soon include...Our New Livestock, A VERY Exciting Project, and Pregnancy Update~

Thank You for your patience with our internet woes...GOOD Stuff comin atcha real soon...promise.

xo tiff

In Ukarumpa

Hi all,

We are in Ukarumpa right now getting the rest of our stuff and doing some POC business. Sorry we have not posted in a while but it very hard to post for a while. I tried the other day but was unsuccessful. The internet is much more reliable here it is just much slower. So we will start posting again Firday or Saturday when we get back. Thanks for understanding.

matt