Goodbye PNG... Hello Canada!

Our last week in PNG was really special, it was amazing to feel connected to so many members of the Living Waters church. At the last Sunday service we said goodbye to most of the members, and as is the tradition in PNG we were given a whole lot of gifts - all handmade bilums, jewelry, traditional beadwork peices, some handsewn maryblouses, Tim even got a handsewn man's shirt (you'll have to ask him to model it for you sometime!)... we were overwhelmed with the generosity. It is amazing to see people who have little material possions be so willing to give so much away. On our last night a group of people came from Biwat, the nearby settlement to say goodbye, and we had a nice time of prayer and singing with them.

Tim saying bye to the guys at church

Saying goodbye to Emalda (she sewed the maryblouse I am wearing!)

As you might of already heard, Ian, Nadia and family are also headed "home" to Ontario for an early furlough, as Ian is dealing with ongoing health issues. We of course never expected to be leaving at the same time as Ian & Nadia, but it did make leaving PNG easier - knowing we would be able to see them fairly soon again. We all left on the same flight out of Lae together, and we got to spend one day in Cairns, AU together. They will be taking their time to get home, and we headed straight back to Canada without any breaks.

The little 20 seater prop plane that took us from Port Moresby to Cairns, AU!

Lucas in Cairns

Noah, Jono & Karlyn excited about cheesecake!

And now we have arrived home in Ontario! Wow, what a long and exhausting plane trip home - our own bed has never felt so good before! We are so thankful to be home, and to be healthy and safe, we praise God for His blessings over us on our time away! The 6 plane trips (yes we had to go on 6 planes to get from Lae, PNG to Buffalo, NY!) felt really long and tiring, but it went really well - the kids did great! Our first plane and our last plane were delayed, but thankfully we were able to make all our connections on time! For the really long stretch (Sydney to LA) we had bulkhead seats, so extra leg room - which turned into a great spot for Noah to sleep! We are definately dealing with jetlag (the boys were wide awake from 1:20-4:30 am last night), but we hope to get back into Ontario time soon!

Since we now have highspeed internet... I thought I'd upload a few more pictures... some more of our favourites!

Soccer camp

Kids at soccer camp in the stands during devotional time Soccer camp - Noah getting involved

Shopping PNG style for a maryblouse at the market
View of Yonki Lake in the Highlands View of horse pastures in Ukarumpa, Highlands
Gami showing Noah a little rat
Health session in the villageCooking over fire in clay pot
Lucas sleeping
Lucas managed to crawl up into the change table shelf himself... I couldn't find him anywhere!
Room in school in village... kids sit on mats on ground
School kids
Village homes
Family that is very involved in the church... Tim helped fix the windows of the home they are now living in
Mama and beautiful baby girl