The Jones 8 Have Arrived in Ukarumpa!

With incredible gratitude to God for His incredible care and grace and to all of you whom have prayed us here, we are overjoyed to say that we have arrived HOME!  We landed at Aiyura airstrip at 5:18 PM local time to quite a crowd of friends.  It has been amazing to see everyone again and overwhelming to see how much work that they have put into preparing for our arrival.

The kids did great with the crowd and are having a wonderful time checking out their new home. They were exhausted, so went to sleep quickly in their own beds.  We need to follow soon, since we have no idea if they will wake up during the night and we need lots of sleep.

Needless to say, there are a lot of details, pictures, and videos that we will share in the coming days about our trip and arrival.  For now, just know we are safely home!

Our love to all!

Gavin

Older photos and brief update

We're ALMOST HOME!! We leave the Brisbane house for Ukarumpa very, very early tomorrow morning. I think our flight it as 9:30. We'd love prayer for the PNG Customs to be as easy as the Aussie Customs was!! :) We'd also love prayer for yet another really good flight, and for a night of uninterrupted sleep tonight - something we've yet to experience due to Will and David waking up a couple times last night and every one of the kids being up the night before.

I woke up with a UTI at 4:00 this morning. I'm so grateful for a doctor just a couple blocks away who got me right in at 9:30, for a nearby chemist (pharmacy) to fill my antibiotic prescription, and for a LONG nap while everyone else cared for the kids. Blessings galore that one REALLY enjoys when feeling slightly miserable. It also made my heart go out to the women of PNG, most of whom have to go through so much more work and to receive any medical treatment, if they seek treatment at all. Some people have to walk three hours to get to our clinic!

Other huge praises include great health for all the kids and adults, VERY happy, secure-acting kiddos, and little to no jet lag for the adults, including Aunt Deb who always has gotten jet lag in the past!

We've loved having some downtime and good time together as family and friends, old and new. What a blessing, again! 

Dad and David talked today on FaceTime. It was hard to see each one wanting to climb through the screen to get at each other. David asked to go "bye-bye" to see Grandpadad. My dad said he would love to teleport himself here, but he can't because he has too much metal in him now - his new hip. ;) Speaking of which, he has his next surgery on Monday to replace the other hip!

Gotta run. Love and gratitude!

Carrie

Will in Marmi and Papa's far back yard

Grandpadad with David and Will while still at Marmi and Papa's when Seth was in the hospital. 

Seth getting a haircut from Aunt Thera the day before we left.

Playing with Marcie in the playground at church our last day

David on the slide at c

 Marcie and Gracie.

Jonathan giving Marcie, David and Will a ride.

Daddy's turn and Gracie has joined the crew. I think the others were too wet so got stripped. I was still back in CA in the hospital with Seth.

Seth visiting the fish at Dr. Hunke's office during his last RSV shot visit. I was NOT going to risk him getting it on the airplane!

Goodbye for now! (Seth saying hello to my parents through the back door.) 

Saying goodbye

By FAR the saddest part of this joyful time . . . 

Even posting these pictures makes me feel weepy! We could never have left in as sane a frame of mind as we did (or maybe even at all) if we hadn't had heaps of help at the end. Thank you ALL!

Aunt Lyneé, Gracie and David

Seth and "Grandpa" Mike

Last day at church with Gracie and my mom

Miss Lynn's last day to help; Sunday, the day we left.

Aunt Carlene's last day, bathing the girls. Gracie in front, Marcie behind.

Isaac and Peter and my brother Kenneth and sister-in-law Courtney.

Natasha and "Prednisone-eyes" Seth (Prednisone is a steroid that makes you a little crazy and wide-awake! He's off it now.) Seth did GREAT on the flight and his lungs sound wide open and clear, praise God! Gavin and I had to buy and learn to use a stethoscope during this last hospitalization.

Aunt Katie and Marcie, who loves her locket. Please keep praying for Katie as she's still pretty sick with her little one! She's well past the three-month mark so would love to be feeling better by now. 

Grandpadad and David, Gracie and Will.

My brother-in-law Calvin and Marcie

Jonathan and Gracie

The flight

I feel like this post title should be in all caps as it has been stalking our minds, off and on, for over two years now. :) We're just unutterably grateful it could become a reality.

Where to begin??? Thanks so much for praying! We needed it desperately and felt it mightily! There were a few rough patches, but the kids really did remarkably well. Will was pretty crazed out of his mind on the airplane the last few hours (flinging himself around, yelling, etc. - fortunately the lights were up and breakfast was being served), but he survived our first day in Brisbane without too much incident. I told Gavin I would rather do our flight with the quints 20 or maybe even 50 times over than do the one 10-hour flight with Isaac from Hawaii to Singapore again when he was their age (Benadryl backfired!). :} So that expresses how well it really went. Busy, and with nowhere near the amount of sleep we thought we'd have from them, but the Lord was gracious and they did a good job interacting and relaxing with our amazing helpers. 

Oh, one of the biggest praise items was that between the quints, the sheer number of people it took to transport the quints and all the luggage, the luggage itself, and the absolutely spell-bound reaction to the "ride-on carry-on" seats, we were waved through Customs with not even a glance at our bags! "Just go on through," the head officer said while every one of the agents looked on and smiled. Hooray for quints and God's mercy to those who have them!! :)

Various precious friends made us special toys and kits for the airplane. Marcie loved this clasp board so much she fell asleep with her fingers still on a little bolt. :)

Seth and Mickey, the dearest little dog!

Marcie losing her pants

Marcie in the little car

Gracie and David in the play house

Isaac slept and slept and slept the first day here! He didn't sleep much on the plane at all. Too much exciting seat-back entertainment! (Megan, notice what he has next to him??)

Safely ensconced in a large, comfortable home in Brisbane, we are overflowing with busy little blessings who are really happy exploring and playing with the three placid, friendly, patient doggies, the trampoline, the huge yard, and all the new places to explore like a little playhouse on stilts.  The family is lovely, and the four kids all love little kids and are a huge help when they get home from school around 3:30. Isaac enjoys their kids, too.

They have chickens, so the kids enjoyed visiting them and watching them be fed.

Our hostess is feeding us every meal! Breakfast and lunch is self-serve, but she's making us dinner each night. Amazing blessings!

The area we have in which to live is huge! There are five bedrooms and a large central room. The four kids completely moved out to make room for us. The two boys are camping in the yard! I am sleeping in one room with Will so I can pat him if he wakes up and freaks out. Gavin and Isey are together in another room, Seth and Grace are in with Deb, Ray and Dee are on their own until babies call, and David and Marcie are together.

Gavin was commenting how much calmer David has been than we expected. Prayers at work! He struggled the most, though, last night between 2 and 4 a.m. when the kids took turns being wakeful and miserably tired. We all got through it, however, and the kids slept until late morning (all but Will, who was only awake a bit at night).

Things I see in the host family's pantry that are Ukarumpa Store items as well make me think, "We're nearly home!" I'm sure it won't be all roses, but so far this has been such a blessed, joyous trip and time!

Love and deepest gratitude to God and to all you who love and pray for us,
Carrie

Leaving Dallas-Fort Worth Sunday evening

Gavin with the luggage (13 pieces!)

Grandma and a very active Will at the airport

Aunt Courtney corralling Seth and Marcie while we get the luggage arranged on a large cart. 

Jonathan was the driver who helped drop us off. The kids are in their ride-on carry-ons, which were a HUGE hit in both airports! Left to right: Marcie, David, Isaac behind, Gracie, Will and Seth.

Aunt Deb with the kids

Left to right: David, Will, Seth, Gracie, and Marcie

With Isaac this time. Gracie's shirt says "So many bows, so little hair." Marcie's says, "I'm the wild one." Oh wow, was that true on the airplane! She was wriggling her way between the seats and wall to get to the row behind her. She also wanted to wander the aisles when she was so unsteady with exhaustion she couldn't stay on her feet!

Killing time while Gavin tried to make extra seats around us. We ended up having five rows to ourselves, although the hour-and-a-half-longeffort Gavin put into it at the ticket counter wasn't directly fruitful. (It's complicated.)

Hanging out with my parents one last time. Dear Dee was a huge help, as were Ray, Deb and our other helper the WHOLE way!

Deb and Russ with David and Seth. Thanks, Russ, for loaning us your wife for so long!

Ray and Jonathan with Marcie and Will looking out in the airport in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The line-up, checking out our plane

David and the plane, a 747

We are safely Down Under

This is just a quick post to let you all know that we are safely here in Brisbane after a very good trip. There was some sleep for the kids, but not nearly as much as we hoped-- thus we got little sleep as well. Carrie and I were both having a hard time staying vertical once we got to the house where we are staying. We've all  gotten a little rest, but there is a LOT of adjustment left to do. Many more details to come-- and pictures!  Thank you all for your prayers and please continue!

Gavin. 

On the way to the airport!

We are about halfway there. The kids were desperate to go "bye-bye" but obviously have no idea how long this bye-bye will be. They are really sensing the turmoil, so it was a relief to leave the house. Please pray for those we leave behind and for us (all 12 of us, including our travel helpers) as we go, for safety, health, peace and joy, and of course for Seth to continue thriving. 

We love you. Thanks for praying and helping us to this day.

Carrie for us all

Psalm 61:2

From the ends of the earth will I cry out to you, when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I.