Keeping Up With The Joneses: April 2017 Newsletter

For those of you who did not receive our April newsletter by email, here is a link to the PDF file.

KUWTJ April 2017

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Not having prepared anything for an Easter egg hunt, and not having any kind of Easter candy in the store, we had Isaac hide the kids' muddy boots in the yard and reward their discovery with portions of the one chocolate candy rabbit that a friend gave us from Australia. Thanks Aunt Nat! These kids didn't know any different!

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Swimming pool fun!

We're so very thankful for new teacher friends, the McCarthys, and for Anita's amazing camera! We need other teachers to come here too, please! We desperately need 2nd and 3rd grade teachers starting in July, plus preschool teachers (you'd get to have the quints!) and teachers for 5th, excepting language arts. There are several needs at the high school, too!

Challenge: Which kids are ours?! From left to right: the first (Gracie), the fifth (David), sixth (Seth), seventh (Marcie) and ninth (Will). Isaac didn't want to be in the photo - I think he knew he'd stand out too much!

Cuddling a cold Seth

Marcie loves soda and all things sweet!

My girls love little baby Lucy. Gracie loved relaxing with her on the lawn.

Will and Elliott (who looks like he could be one of the quints, but isn't)

Marcie anticipating the rain

I finally discovered what lies at the end of a rainbow! This Picture was taken at the Yifki airstrip in western PNG.

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Playing in the river

This tussocky stump grows in the middle of the shallow section of the river

Mighty Seth dragging bamboo around (this was just before he finally got his cast off) 

Excited Will

Marcie remains our most water-loving

David and Seth help each other stay upright in the swift water! (There were several of us around to rescue if needed.)

Fascinating sights in PNG from the helicopter and on the ground

These kids are looking at pictures of the quints and our family on Gavin's tablet. Most people in PNG have trouble wrapping their minds around a woman having five babies at once; here, even twins are rare, and triplets are amazing!

The adults are equally as fascinated by quintuplets. In response to their amazement and questions, Gavin gets to share about the goodness of God, ultimately expressed in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, as THE way to Him.

An outrigger canoe near where Gavin was doing shuttles up into the mountains from the coast.

New and old cultural practices juxtaposed: a modern casket with mud- and ash-covered mourners as pallbearers.

The son of the man who died photographing the event

A baby cassowary is one of the most interesting pieces of cargo Gavin has flown! Its head is sticking out of the box.

Recently the helicopter helped sling supplies for building a footbridge over a river that, meanwhile, was threatening to flood. Our pilots certainly need prayer for wisdom and protection!

This area was so remote there was still some native dress (or rather, near un-dress), with leaves as coverings

PNG bush and timber houses with, again, some "modern" juxtaposition of a chain-link fence. The rainbow is a double one!