Rewind to California and Oregon

Our last few weeks in the USA were a huge blessing as we got to have sweet, fun times with Gavin's whole family, first in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada of CA, then in Oregon. We all celebrated his parents 50th wedding anniversary at Mt. Hood. It was incredibly beautiful and relaxing, not least because older cousin Lisi entertained and watched and cared for our kids! :)

At June Lake, our first few days in CA.

In Marmi's playhouse in the back yard. Gracie and Marcie were such little homemakers, even WANTING to wash the dishes and plastic fruits and veggies!

Slippery Slides at Camp Sierra

Replacing the toilet at the cabin :)

Raft and water cannons at the swimming hole. It was way too cold to actually swim.

Doing the annual growth measurements on the wall. All the family has their names on the wall from the time they were tiny infants and had to be propped up against it!

Dancing around the 4th of July "mini volcano" fireworks. 

Cousins!!

More cousins! And aunts and uncles! And of course the grandparents.

A fun day on the slopes of Mt. Hood

Grown-ups ready to race on the "real" go-carts.

Marcie REALLY got into the bungee trampoline and back-flipping

Coloring with Lisi

Morning at the river

Happy (early) 42nd birthday, Gavin! The day before we left for PNG.

Journey across the Pacific

We're HOME! Thanks to everyone who prayed us across the world. It couldn't have gone better, truly. God is so gracious. The kids are thrilled to be here and playing like crazy with all the toys they missed and outside on the trampoline. Gavin and I are working at unpacking, of course, and Isaac is super busy catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. School starts tomorrow, as does my work in the Clinic lab (which is severely understaffed and losing its lab person for a few weeks, effective tomorrow). Gavin starts back to work on Monday. Please continue to pray for our transition, including culturally. People have started coming to our door, and we need wisdom for each situation!

A few photos from our travel:

Last minute folding party of the last load of clean clothes. Thanks to Gavin's siblings and their spouses in Oregon! 

Gavin's parents and nephew Ethan dropped us off at PDX. It was sad to say goodbye.

Walking to our gate in Portland. The flight to LAX was super easy.

Waiting in LAX. Our transfer was absolutely seamless! We only had to walk a short bit, and our bags had already been checked through. We flew out just before midnight, and the 15-hour flight was perfect! We slept and watched movies and ate food. What could be better? Thanks for praying!

Arriving in Cairns, Australia to our beloved "Aunt" Natalie (the one who trained me in the Clinic lab here in PNG)

It was such a surprise to see her at the airport!

 (I'll post pics of our two days in Cairns later . . . )

Goodbye hugs for Aunt Nat as we prepare to fly to PNG

Enjoying the Cairns airport terminal with a couple of Aussie friends. The flight to Port Moresby was also seamless and quick, as was our clearance of Customs when we got there, praise God!

On our way up to Ukarumpa in our organization's Kodiak!

Welcomed by wonderful friends - what a blessing!

Travels to from AZ to CA

Tombstone, AZ. (Proof that there's nothing [sinful] new under the sun.) Cool Wild West experience, though!

Hoover Dam!

Our one nice evening out as a family - otherwise we're crossing America on fast food and sandwiches.

Hiking with Marmi and Papa on the eastern side of the Sierras

 Snow in Yosemite's high country!

Seth

Will

Poor Marmi got blasted with Seth's snowball!

The poor girls were sick in the car that day, so they missed Tunnel View in Yosemite

Incredible background, isn't it??!!

Flashback to May and North Carolina

Marmi and Papa came to visit us our last month in N.C.! They arrived the end of April, stayed for a week, and then we eight Joneses left our happy furlough home the end of May.

It was a WONDERFUL year for all the kids in school, and the Lord really answered prayers for friends for Isaac. He had a number of fun, sweet friends by the end of the school year. I got to go as a chaperone on the last field trip of the year to see him "in action" with them firsthand. My job was to stay relatively far away and keep my mouth shut so I didn't embarrass him. ;) I wasn't perfect at it, but I tried . . . mostly.

It was surprisingly hard for me to leave our beautiful area of N.C. I have so enjoyed our year there! We attended a precious church and had a really special community group. I have a couple of close friends in the area, and I never got tired of the quiet house, grocery shopping, easy meal prep and clothes dryers in the First World. I would watch British movies while folding the laundry - the height of fun. :) But I know it's time to get back to our beautiful life in PNG and let someone else fold my laundry while I go back to work in the Clinic lab. I love that job even more than folding clean clothes with the Brits!

Gavin, Isaac and all the kids except Seth are very ready to return. Seth would prefer to live in Texas. :) He and my sister's son are good friends, and he really likes Grandpadad and Grandma's house. However, Seth is almost invariably happy wherever he is, singing in operatic tones at the top of his lungs all over the house and yard. It's hilarious! Right now we're in CA with Marmi and Papa again, and the three boys are LOVING the Legos in the toy chest. Marcie is still recovering from the nasty tummy bug she and Gracie had; meanwhile, Gracie has returned to normal and taken over the backyard playhouse and evicted the boys. :) She is quite the little mama in her tiny cottage! Isaac is doing chores around the house trying to earn money for a virtual reality thingamabob he wants to take back to Ukarumpa to play with his friends there.

In a week we move on to Oregon, where we'll celebrate Marmi and Papa's 50th wedding anniversary with a family reunion! Then we fly to Australia the next day (July 14th) and on up to PNG and HOME on the 19th, Lord willing!

A helicopter flight with their favorite pilot!

Photos from a hike up Crowder's Mountain, west of Charlotte

The two Marcies

Climbing "Pride Rock," where they pretended to be lion cubs

More Dallas farewells

48th Anniversary!

Loving Grandma (with my little niece)

Chocolate cake is SO FUNNY, she thinks!

My brother's sweet family!

So proud of my baby brother!

He's a cop, so of course he brought us donuts our final morning in Dallas. :)

Aunt Mickey with her well-dressed quints!

Dallas farewells . . . the hardest part of being in overseas missions

We've been too busy packing, moving and making memories to post anything recently. I hope to catch up in the next couple of weeks before we leave for PNG. We've already said goodbye to my (Carrie's) family, including Aunt Pam and Aunt Cynthia. Now we're on the West Coast with Gavin's side of the family, having a great time except for the fact that Gracie and Marcie are really sick. We appreciate your prayers they'd get over this tummy bug quickly and that NO ONE ELSE WILL GET IT, please!

Lots of late nights and too much fun made Marcie a sleepy girl!

Aunt Pam and Seth

Aunt Pam and David

Will telling Aunt Pam all about it (whatever "it" is).

Gracie is inseparable from her "Cheetah Speed"

Aunt Katie and Seth

David holding court with Aunt Pam and Aunt Cynthia

Last playdate for FOUR years!! (D.V.) This is the saddest part  - kids change SO much in four years!

Isaac and his best friend Peter on a backpacking trip in Colorado