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

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Spring Break Road Trip (and Roll - read to end)

When the kids' schools let out for a week we took the opportunity to visit Isaac and Meagan in Louisville at Boyce College. It was a precious time of being with our soon-to-be newest family member and beloved firstborn. There were quite a few wedding projects to work on, including flowers, fitting the groomsmen suits, and touring the church for a plan of how the day is going to go. Hard to believe Baby Isaac, who was 18 months when we landed in PNG, is now 21 and getting married! 



Culver's was our first stop. It is a rare treat, one we all LOVE!


Apparently Mom likes the car temperature too cold! The girls were in the back.





Our babies are so big they can do their own "chicken fights" now! David has Gracie, Seth has Marcie, and Will has only himself to worry about. 


Conga line?




Not a great way to start our second day. A large rock or chunk of asphalt flew up and shattered our window right where Seth's head was! Praise God it was only a window and not our son.




Isaac trying on his suit.
(He's SO handsome, isn't he?! Although I'm blocking him a bit too much.)


Seth bonding with our friends' dog where we stayed.
It was SO nice to get to be with the Dicksons, their fun pool table, and their pets!




When we first drove onto Campus the first person we saw was University President Albert Mohler. Will wanted to meet him, which totally surprised me! Dr. Mohler was intrigued by the quints being quints, and took a picture of them "to show Mary," then kindly let me get this photo.



Siblings!


Meagan and Isaac goofing around after Chapel. I promise that's not his purse. 😄



Marcie decorated one of the coffee cup sleeves at Scholar’s Coffee Shop there at Boyce/Southern Seminary. She does art wherever she goes. The coffee shop has a display of these at the main counter, and she added hers to it. (It’s a wolf howling at a moon in the mountains.)










The suit alterations and reception flowers would be a terrible stress without dear Aunt Peggy (Gavin's mom's dear friend). She even hosted us girls for a tea-time planning session. Sadly, I’m the worst selfie photo taker, and Meagan’s largely-hidden lovely face is proof. 😅 Sorry!


The boys at the walking bridge in Louisville, crossing over into Indiana.




I was so hungry I could have eaten this entire banana split! Gavin helped me a little bit. I don’t know why Louisville has so many AMAZING ice cream shops, but it’s a good thing I don’t live there year-round! Isaac is looking exceptionally covetous here.


Breakfast with the family, minus Isaac and Meagan, who were in class

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Coffee with the soonly-weds,
and a couple of photo-bombers on the side

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The boys and Gavin poked around the stream bed in Cherokee Park (where Isaac proposed to Meagan a few months ago). David found these very studious-looking glasses.




Playing putt-putt golf
(The kids were there too, but not pictured.)


Our final day, getting lunch at Burger Girl, Isaac and Meagan’s favorite burger joint - largely because they love “Burger Momma” and she loves them. ☺️


The setting of Gavin’s tendon “popping” when he rolled his ankle playing tag with the kids. The Boyce campus is so beautiful. The magnolias were starting to bloom, but we missed capturing them in this photo. 



Good news from orthopedic doc: This particular tendon is virtually impossible to sew back together, so instead they sew it to other ligaments in the area to approximate its normal function; however, it tends to “scar into” the other ligaments and tendons naturally, making surgery unnecessary for a decent proportion of patients. Gavin has had so much healing, pain relief, good range of motion, and decrease of swelling, he appears to be one of the people in that blessed group! So likely no need for surgery! Just wear the boot; following up with an actual foot surgeon next Wednesday. Thanks to those who have prayed! 


Friday, March 21, 2025

A few February photos

Just a few miscellaneous photos of February. :) 

I am planning on posting again tomorrow, Lord willing, as Gavin has an appointment with a foot surgeon for a full thickness (complete) tendon tear in his foot. It happened during our Spring Break road trip to visit Isaac and Meagan at Boyce College - details to come. We have no idea how that will impact our planned travels this summer, but it looks as though surgery will be necessary to reattach the two "halves" of the tendon. 

Seth and Will are brothers and best friends. They both like airplanes and cars, like most other boys.



Beautiful Marcie ready for a school celebration


Will enjoying his sweet littlest cousin Hannah at her birthday party


This fun cousin moment brought to you by the community treehouse. Photo from a hike a few weeks ago -  such glorious weather at the end of winter! Now that area is all green and gorgeous, with the redbuds blooming.





Friday, February 21, 2025

Keeping Up With The Joneses - February 2025

Hello everyone! 

Click here to see the latest newsletter from the Jones 8. 

In Christ,

Gavin 

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Blog issues

 Hi friends! We're alive and mostly well (the odd cold or two), but I haven't been able to post new content to our blog since January 22nd, Isaac's 21st birthday. I was trying to do a happy birthday post, but no success getting any photos to upload! 

I just wanted to say we'll be back when I get Gavin home to help me. He had a big check ride today in North Carolina to renew his certification for helicopter instructing. Last week he was instructing a former Blackhawk heli pilot in preparation for PNG. It was a really productive, encouraging time. He came home for a few days this week, thank God. We miss him but are very happy he can keep current and continue investing in supporting Bible translation! 

I'll attach a video that so accurately describes our situation with our quints. I'm including the text from my Facebook post about it:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19v5HDuNdT/

The second half of this video is 💯‼️ 🥲 What she says about high order multiples and trying to support the struggling ones - girl, I feel you. We’ve had to really work on our kids (and ourselves) understanding that WE ALL HAVE WEAKNESSES, and the Lord asks us to bear with each other’s weaknesses and even bear each other’s burdens, and in so doing fulfill the law of Christ. But HOW HARD is it to not give grace to someone who struggles in a way to which you cannot relate?? They’re learning and growing, as are we, and it makes us see Jesus increasingly as the beautiful Person of the Trinity He is.

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

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

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