Madang over New Year's

Playing with friends on the raft

Taking a dive course! (We celebrated Isaac's 18th birthday on the 22nd of January. I can't even wrap my mind around the fact that we have an adult child! Because we didn't start him at kindergarten until he was 6 we still have another year-and-a-half with him, for which we are truly grateful.) 

Date night!

The reason we have life insurance (Gavin is worse than the kids!)

Seth floating in the waves

Will

David and his favorite soda - pineapple Fanta!

Marcie (Few things are more refreshing than a soda at the sea on a hot day!)

Gracie's sweet face becomes a mass of freckles no matter how much sunscreen we use!

Marcie selecting her lunch at the nearby fish market

I think this is yellowfin tuna, but either way, she loved it!

Seth chose sago pancakes for his lunch from the fish market. He and I LOVE them!

 

A few fun Christmas photos

 Credit: Siobahnne Duhe, set up by Susan Smith for our Clinic staff! Gavin was off flying and Isaac was . . . not keen to give up his first day of break. 

A not calm but very bright Christmas

Not much in our lives has been calm since the five babies joined our family! But this was a lovely Christmas with lots of blessings.

Flashback to 2012: Seth was still in the hospital. We couldn't fit Will's big belly in the stocking. 😆

The girls and I sang in our week-before-Christmas church service. Gracie is the only visible girl.

Making a gingerbread house!

My favorite night of the year: our Christmas Eve service!

Gracie's gift to her siblings was a Christmas kitty cake. She is a keen baker and cook already!

We served it Christmas Eve with friends at our house.

Happy Christmas morning!

Isaac with his gifts: an ESV study Bible and Biblical Doctrines book - which he took on vacation with him. 😂 He requested theology and Bible study books for his gifts this year and bought Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity with his grandmother's gift. We're thrilled that the Lord has given him a passion for Truth, and we pray that his love for Christ continues to grow! We appreciate your prayers for him. He wants to go into full-time pastoral ministry, specifically aiming for the mission field. He needs your prayers because we know there is an enemy who would love to trip him up and attack him.

How they love LEGOs!

This young woman, Iren, needs your prayers. Marcie gave her a homemade plaque that says "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you, Hebrews 13:5." She's been a friend of the family since 2006 and has a very painful growth in her back and abdomen. Her pathology reports were never released, thanks to COVID disrupting everything. She needs to get to the hospital again ASAP and see a surgeon, but if it's cancer there's nothing that can be done. We had a lovely day with her and her family!