This is the blog for Gavin and Carrie Jones and family. We live in Papua New Guinea and are working to see lives transformed by the living Word of God through Bible translation. Gavin is a helicopter pilot. Carrie, who has her degree in Public Health, works in the lab at our busy rural clinic. Our son, Isaac, was born in 2004 and our quintuplets, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, and Grace, were born in 2012.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. The you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. -Proverbs 3:3-6

Tuesday, December 20, 2016


from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibkbJ1
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibpwQh
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibqU5z
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibkCTA
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibgjYf
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibgl2j
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibgjHJ
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibpuYF
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibf5fw
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibqAUd
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibr0di
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibryjt
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibiqvo
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibhneK
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibgjaH
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibojIZ
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibp4BK
via IFTTT

from Facebook http://ift.tt/2ibnnUV
via IFTTT

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Real Christmas

I started this Christmas season a bit annoyed with all the cutesy, cozy Christmas songs and legends. It bothered me that the birth of Christ is so idealized, and Jesus probably wasn’t even born at Christmas [unless you subscribe to the theory put forth in The Star].  I still love Christmas because I have so many happy memories associated with it, but living overseas in a developing country, I see a lot more people whose Christmases are sad and stressful. Thankfully, in this country there is almost always plenty of home-grown food. There is also a strong extended family structure. But life for the people here isn’t cozy or cutesy at all. It’s raw, and real, and sometimes incredibly difficult and tragic. In the past month, a number of very sad and upsetting things have happened around us. Our own family has experienced something very sad and raw which resurfaced in the past week. We live in a broken, hurting world.

Last night, while singing Christmas hymns with most of the other women on our mission center, it suddenly hit me that the most REAL thing about Christmas, when we celebrate the coming of the Christ, the Messiah, at Advent, is just that: We live in a broken, hurting world that desperately needs a Savior. HE CAME into this world and lived a raw, real life here, suffered a horrific death in our place, and yet triumphed when he rose again and ascended to Heaven. And He’s coming back! He’s going to make everything right again. He will deal with Evil – currently under a death sentence – by destroying it permanently.

No matter when Jesus was born, Christmas celebrates the fact that He WAS born! If not for that fact, we’d all be under a death sentence, waiting for an eternity of destruction. He lived, He died, He rose again, He’s coming back! For those who have accepted His gift of salvation, that’s the ultimate reason to celebrate. It’s not cheesy. It’s not cutesy. It’s not cozy. But IT IS REAL. And it is the most comforting truth possible.

- Rejoicing in that Truth,
Carrie



Cute kids this morning, wearing more Christmas clothes from Aunt Mickey!:




Sunday, December 4, 2016

Christmas Quints

Thanks to Aunt Karen, we actually have photos of our kids in their Christmas clothes! It's really hard to get photos with all the kids looking at the camera and smiling, so there are several you can "composite" in your mind. Happy kids! And happy Mommy, who was taking a Sunday afternoon nap as Karen snapped these photos and her house. ;)





I love how our kids enjoy the ornaments and can be somewhat trusted with them this year. I always played with my mom's ornaments, making up little stories with the various ones. It's one of my best Christmas memories as a kid!







Seth asked to take this photo of Karen, and David plopped down in her lap so he could be in it with her! Pretty good!!

Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones

Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones

Blog Archive