Some Construction and Language Study

Jonathan worked for a few days on building these crates which we will put our stuff in to be shipped soon. He built them the size of kitchen cabinets and painted the insides so when our kitchen is ready he'll just put on doors and counter tops!
We're trying to finish our national language study, so we've been out with the kids whenever we can.

Daddy's Back... and we're SO Glad!!!

Jonathan came home last Thursday, so we were really thankful to have him for the holiday weekend! The kids each wrapped up some of their toys along with a bag of peanut m&ms to welcome Daddy home. While he was gone, we also wrote in the Easter egg books you see there something the kids wanted to tell Daddy each day. It was a lot of fun to hear him reading what the kids wanted him to know!
The Lord really blessed the building trip and though it rained a couple days, they were able to accomplish the projects they went to do. They also got some valuable time sitting down with the village men in the evening talking. There are so many things about God's love and grace that need to be communicated to these people! Please pray we will have patience and wisdom going about the whole process one step at a time!

Enjoy the Pics from the Trip!

Jonathan went with the Lujan family who brought their son, Ethan. He was one of the first white kids a lot of the people had seen! I'm sure they will love the fact that their are 8 white kids on our team!
Taking a break... scoping out our house site... daydreaming... not really sure, but I like this picture!

Will They Fit???

This is the plot of land given to us for all three houses. I'm told it is bigger than what it looks! If you can see about half of a big mango tree on the left side of the picture, the Lujan house will be in front of it, Sanford house in back of it, and ours will be on the far right corner. In this picture the ocean is to the left of the mango tree.

Dreaming of Home Depot...

After much planning and waiting, this barge transported the building supplies for the boat dock and generator shed from Kokopo to the village. While the guys were waiting for it to arrive, they cleared the land for their building projects and built an outhouse.

Cultural Tidbits

Trees were cleared on the plot of land that was given to us to build our houses.
The people had a pig mumu to appease the ancestral line that the ground belonged to where the trees were cut down.
Leg of... pig?

Generator Shed

This is the generator shed which will hold a generator big enough for all three houses and also 50 gallon drums of diesel fuel to power it. It is located in the back of where our houses will be.

The Boat Dock

Jonathan's getting down to business! There were some trees at the edge of the river that had to be cut down in preparations for the boat dock to be built. Here, Jonathan is holding up the tree so the man with the chainsaw can cut off the limbs, then they just let the logs float down the river and out to sea!
This dock will be very helpful since we will be bringing all of our supplies into the tribe by boat!