School photos and the Joneses on Spring/Fall Break!

 Hi all,

It's "Fall" here, but Spring Break back in the USA. Either way, there was a school break we took full advantage of to get our kids off the mission center. We all had a blast!

But first, official school photos by my lovely friend Anita! Seth is in first grade (because of spending so much time in the hospital and hooked up to feeding and oxygen tubes the first year of his life); the other quints are in second, and Isaac is in 10th.

Swimming at the pool in Goroka, about 2.5 hours away by road. Seth is on David's shoulders!
The kids are big enough now to do "chicken fights" with each other. Gracie is on the left.

View of Goroka from a small mountain overlooking the city.

Eating in the restaurant. The young PNG man is Isaac's best friend and classmate Kori, and the lovely young PNG woman is our surrogate daughter and babysitter extraordinaire, Dilu. She's been a delightful part of our family for the past almost seven years - a HUGE provision and blessing in caring for lots of toddlers back when she was only 11 years old! (Isaac is pretending to be unhappy with me for taking a photo, the stinker. I didn't notice in time to take another one.)

Mom and Marcie, or "Me and Mini-Me," in our lab coats. She asked me to bring mine home from the lab so we could get this photo together. (Hers is from a play vet set.) I've been in charge of all the ordering of lab supplies and writing operating instructions for our many new machines. Busy but fun!

I've started helping out at a weekly Saturday "café" for our community. The roof of our house is visible in the far background, just right of center, so the café is very convenient for the kids and me! (Which of these children is NOT mine? Yup, the one in the blue hat. He might as well be, though, he's so essential to their fun! We love him.)

Easter Sunday before our "candy hunt" - no Easter eggs this year. Shipping has been really tricky during the pandemic, so things our store used to have are no longer available. My suitcases when returning in February had NO room for more than a couple of packs of candy per kid, so we hid those around the yard. Good enough!
That's not what it's all about anyway. He is risen indeed!

Easter seven years ago! Isaac was at his friend Peter's, of course, his weekend home. :)
Left to right: David, Gracie, Seth, Marcie crying about being held, and Will crawling

The Monday following Easter we drove a couple of hours off our center down a road we've never followed far before. Such adventures!

Exploring and sliding down a hill of pine needles

Marcie mid-jump into a swimming hole we discovered. We had lots of onlookers, of course. Will is standing behind Marcie and Gracie is on the dirt pile on the left.

Playing around the stream bed (Will, Gracie and David)

Gavin with one of our doctors, center, on a recent medevac following a bad dog bite injury. (The patient was already in surgery and is doing well, thank God, although we continue to pray for full physical, mental and emotional recovery!) This was at the Nazarene Hospital in Kudjip - an AMAZING place!

COVID has worsened in PNG, so the Kudjip hospital now has two full wards devoted to COVID patients and they are building more. All public schools are closed to try to slow the spread. Our school remains open, but temperature-taking and hand sanitizer are strictly enforced. 

At this very moment, as I post this, Gavin is up a tall tower installing an antenna.
It's a whirl of gaiety around here, ha ha! (Isn't he cute?!)

Thanks for your love and prayers!

Carrie