Home again!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying! Our travel went incredibly well, easiest trip to date, and we made it to Ukarumpa! What an amazing feeling it is to be back in our home of nearly 20 years, as of July 29th (which is also Gavin's birthday)! 

It's been so indescribably sweet to renew relationships and just be back in the house in which we raised our kids and from which Isaac graduated in 2023. I just found his bath towel with his name on it. (Thanks, Aunt Fay!) Gracie has taken over his room, and his dog Goose has joined her there. There have been three community events, including a wonderful worship service and sermon that spoke exactly into our lives, from Ephesians 3:14-20, ending on the verse that was honestly the very first thing that popped into my mind the moment the ultrasonographer said, "And there's baby number five." (Up until then we thought we had twins, triplets, or maybe quads.) It's been our theme verse since then, and is again our prayer for this potentially very difficult time: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"

Please don't stop praying; this is really difficult even in the persistent joy, especially as we look towards flying away from this beloved place and these people who have become family. Thank you!

Dilu is married now and has a new baby, Jeffrey! Her husband, who works at Aviation, is holding our big, funny April! She lived with us her first year of life and is now three years old. To our surprise, she still took to us immediately and started playing all kinds of silly games with the quints!

Dilu and baby Jeffrey (one year old)

Jeffrey again

The girls and their friends when we arrived

David and his friend Elliott. We've known them for almost 10 years! They've been together for hours every day since we arrived. It's so sweet to have such wonderful friends here!

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Seeing Eketa, our cleaning lady and friend, again. Tears of joy!

Eketa is a big part of our PNG family. The kids were so thrilled to see her!
(I don't know where David and Will were at the time.) She has been a priceless gift during this time of sorting and packing. I don't have to give a second thought to all the cleaning and laundry!

Friends from a partner organization, FinisTerre, for which Gavin flew often! 

Goose remembered us WELL and was very excited to see us, but he checked Isaac's room immediately to see if he was in there. Isaac said that almost made him cry! He'll always be Isaac's dog. Gracie took over her beloved big brother's room, and Goose sleeps in there with her. 

Laughing it up with Kori, Isaac's best friend and "brother from another mother." Kori was unable to make it to the wedding as best man, so we showed him the wedding slideshow Gavin put together. There were LOTS of pictures of Kori in it! If you zoom in, you can see why I'm laughing and Kori is cringing. In the photo on the screen he looks just like Where's Waldo?/Where's Wally?

Kori, David, and Gracie - Isaac said this photo almost made him cry too!

Gavin and some more Ukarumpa "family"

Loving each day and each kiddo I've watched grow into lovely young people!

"Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we could ask or imagine, according to His power that works within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

On our way home

 Dear loved ones,

I'm (Gavin) writing this from the San Francisco airport after a wonderful week with my family in California. We are about to fly to the other side of the world to say goodbye to Papua New Guinea -- our home for 18 years! We first arrived in PNG in July of 2005 when Isaac was 18 months old. Now he's a joyfully married adult! We first took the quintuplets to PNG when they were 21 months old.  It is our home and where our kids spent most of their childhood. 

PNG is where we had an incredibly meaningful ministry and wonderful friendships. All the time there was intermingled with challenges, hardships and fully saturated with the presence of the Holy Spirit and the faithfulness of our great God.

We are braced for the range of emotions that will surely be experienced during this trip. We expect each one of us will be experiencing a unique amplitude and wavelength of feelings. We will be experiencing different "lasts" for each of us and deciding what important things of ours should come back and what of our stuff  should stay to be a blessing to others. Please pray that through all the good and hard times as we laugh and cry we would feel how deep and wide and tall the love of Christ is for us. 

Thank you all for your generous and selfless support in prayer and finances over the years! This so clearly could not have been done without you!

After our trip we expect to continue living in Dallas where I work in the maintenance department of the International Linguistics Center in addition to occasional trips to JAARS in North Carolina where I help with training new missionary pilots. I will also start working as a recruiter for JAARS soon after our return. 

With love and in Christ,

Gavin, Carrie, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, and Grace

Update on my mom

Written on Sunday, 6/29:

Hi again! Thanks so much for praying! We really, truly felt your prayers and appreciate your caring! My mom was discharged after two days and is continuing to recover at home. We don’t know how long that will take or how much her speech/eating/ will improve, but of course we’re hoping and asking for quick and total healing, trusting the Heavenly Father holds each of our days since before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139, which went through my mind on the way to the ER last week.) It was considered a small stroke, and many people wouldn’t even notice a difference until after some time with her. Of course, we can tell she’s not functioning at 100%, and she is the most aware of any of us. She has an amazing attitude and sense of humor, though! We have laughed at out loud at her jokes and funny observations. (For example, they were trying to turn the TV on and only realized after some time and lots of punching of buttons that they were using the bed-attached telephone.)

We’re in CA now, by God’s grace (after a day’s delay). The Lord wonderfully provided the stamina and encouragement and help we needed, including throughout a missed flight, a five-hour wait in the terminal, and driving back home again to try again this morning. 

Written today, Tuesday, 7/1:

My mom is still searching for words and speaking a bit slurred at times. She is also just very tired. However, she's been blessed to have met already with two specialists: the cardiologist and the vascular surgeon. The cardiologist has fitted her with a continuous heart monitor. He suspects the stroke was caused by her heart, given that she has a dilated ascending aorta and decreased ejection fraction(?). Her heart is supposed to pump 60-65% efficiency, but it's only pumping at 50-55%. The vascular surgeon thinks it's too early for any sort of surgical intervention, but he referred her to a cardiothoracic surgeon to be sure. She's on two or three new medications and not enjoying the side effects, but she's grateful and amazingly positive! Her hope is in the Lord, and her family (besides we who are in CA on our way to PNG) is around her and caring well for her. Thanks for your continued prayers, especially for encouragement for her and my dad. 

Love in Christ,

Carrie