To finish off July and Start August

     Today our teammates are leaving for the States.  It is a bitter sweet.  Bitter because they are dear friends who have been by our side (through the good, bad and the ugly) for the last 2 years.  Sweet because they are going to be eating TACO BELL in 24 hours! :)

     We had an amazing month of July.  Time has been zooming past us and, praise God, we are so blessed that each step of the way we know His presence.  In the last two years, our journey has taken us to live in two different countries, and  meet TONS of incredible people whom He has called out that we are able to now call friends.  Although this is only the beginning of our life in Vanuatu, we are HUGELY blessed to call this amazing country home.  It is a difficult transition into a new culture,  there has been blood (thankfully not lots!),  lots of sweat and lots of tears and I can tell you in full confidence that God was in it all. He continues to show us that this is NOT possible in our own strength but that  moment by moment we MUST trust in His strength!  What a battle!  To be in the habit of relying on His strength.  Does this ever become 1st nature?  So often we muck things up because of our constant power struggle with our all-knowing, all-caring, and all-powerful creature.
Here are some little snippets of the last couple weeks.

While mom and dad were here, we had Tania take some family shots of us all.  This tire swing has provided many a picture for our kids!

Although we can get cottage cheese in one of the stores here, I thought I would give my cheese making skills a try. :)  I made Ricotta for some lasagna and it was AMAZING!

  

We were able to celebrate Vanuatu's 30th year of independence together.

 

 

These lantern things were SO cool.  Its like a mini hot air balloon that you light and send off into the night.  COOL!  It was a bit windy so that night proved to be a bit tricky, BUT we got it off without lighting anything on fire (as far as we know!) :).

We see this a couple hundred times a day. :)  Our little three (sometimes sans clothes!) walking up the hill to see what Lewi and Monique are up to.

Helping Josh wash dishes the last day the Kenners were here.

Getting in some time before the big move.

One final pic as a team...turned out pretty cool! :) The Kenners are now back in the states finishing their support raising.

A Visit from America!

What a joy these past few weeks have brought as mom and dad (Thulesen) came to spend three weeks with us in Port Vila.  This has been our first set of visitors (and I say "set" purposefully as we hope many more visitors will come) and what a delight and breath of fresh air they brought!
For the most part we just hung out and they were just around with the kids and whatnot but we also did some fun "touristy" things that our family otherwise never would have done.  Ya know how that is, you never play tourist in your own city.  SO here are some pics that display our time with mom and dad.

A sweet long awaited embrace

 Showing off the house

 Experiencing some new things... like drinking a coconut!

 Eating soursop! Dad wasn't too thrilled about this one. This is Laura and I's fav,  flavor is awesome but the texture is a bit hard to get used to! 

 Helping with school

 Si got this dinosaur in a care package and has been eagerly waiting to put it together until Grandpa could help him.

 Cooking together!

Grandpa is a wonderful walking stick carver.  We brought back a piece of wood from Ambrym so dad could use it to carve on.

 Oh, how helpful little ones can be!

The next couple pics are taken at Mele Falls.  These are amazing waterfalls that run year round.

 A friend sent some gifts with mom and dad.  Among those gifts were some water guns.  Moments after filling them and handing them out, the girls were caught .... watering the flowers! :)

Ooo two against one...

 Even though it was a bit cool for us (low 80's) we were able to enjoy some beach time.  

Gwen is checking out this sea cucumber.

 We have a picture very similar to this only it is from 3 years ago and it was Si in the swing as a baby.  It was taken when our family first came to Vanuatu in 2007 to check out the country for the first time.  Dad came along with us on that trip.

Mom and dad got to see some new cultural things too...

After church you are introduced and you stand at the entrance to greet EVERYONE on their way out of the service.

Some traditional dances, songs, and dress.

(of course, as my luck would have it, I was selected to join in the dancing!)

Some different things for the palate.  This is fish lap lap in the market.

Pig at a meal to celebrate Fred, and Timo's baptism along with the twin's and Lewi's birthdays.

Church service were the twins were baptized with Tasiana (their cousin)

To watch a video of us all celebrating with L and M and family click here

Watching the world cup... Vanuatu style

We took advantage of a photo opp while we were visiting a mock custom village.  This was a "show" put on by these men who dressed and acted as Ni-Vanuatu men would have some years ago.  It was quite something!  As we walked up onto the outskirts of the village, we were brought face to face with a man with spear raised.  Then some yelling between him and others who also appeared out of the jungle.  Finally a chief came and carried a palm leaf (symbol of peace) and allowed us into their village.  Throughout our time in the "village" they showed us traditional ways of fishing, trapping, burials, dances, dress, medicine and much more.  It was an interesting lesson on some of Vanuatu's history.  I don't mean to sensationalize anything, but I can say this, if we were missionaries a century ago, a survey trip would have looked VASTLY different. Amazing to see what could change only in a century.

We took a ride on a large outrigger canoe.

All in all mom and dad got good time with just hanging out with the kids doing day to day stuff.  Perfect! And such a blessing!

Papa read to the kids a lot.  Just as he did with Laura and I when we were little.  He brought some of the same stories with him, and read some of the kids' new books too.