It's Begining To Look Nothing Like Christmas...

Ev'rywhere you go

Take a look at market stores
They're the same as they were before
With no candy canes or silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look nothing like Christmas
The same cheap junk in every store
But the prettiest site you'll see is your ghetto rigged Christmas tree
On your living room floor.

To see all our friends and be home once again
is the wish of Jordan and Rach
Still we love it here and are full of good cheer
and have plenty of cookies to bake

It's beginning to look nothing like Christmas
a new language you will start,
And the carols that you'll sing, will certainly have a new ring
Right within your heart



Rusty Oxygen Tanks / Silver Bells

City sidewalks, littered sidewalks
covered in buai spit
In the air there's a feeling
of more rain

Worn dirt paths
muddy dirt paths
traveling mile after mile
at every market place you'll surely hear

Rusty oxygen tanks, Old tire rims
It's Christmas time in New Guinea
Ring-a-link hear them clink
Soon it will be Christmas day

The power is off
there are no lights
to blink bright red or green
as the lady's walk home
with their KauKau

Rusty oxygen tanks, Old tire rims
It's Christmas time in New Guinea
Ring-a-link hear them clink
Soon it will be Christmas day



Though these songs are a bit dreary, we really do like Christmas time here in PNG. We really miss being home for Christmas in the snow with family and friends but this is probably the second best place to spend Christmas. (Just in case you were a bit confused, instead of ringing a bell, people pound an old oxygen tank or tire rim with a hammer or wrench... and buai is PNG's version of chewing tobacco.)

How to decorate a tree when you have no Christmas decorations:

Step 1: Develop a love for scarves.
Step 2: Become crazy obsessed with knitting.
Step 3: Randomly knit things you have NO use for. (this requires strength and determination due to the fact that you may have a husband that continually questions why you are working on your 23rd hat while the other 22 are sitting in a basket on the floor in your livingroom)
Step 4: Find a tree in a pile of junk in maintenance.
Step 5: Ask your ever-so talented husband to construct a way for the tree to stand on its own.
Step 6: Place tree in your house and toss on your scarves and random knitting projects!
Tah-Dah!

Gingerbread Christmas Party

All the missionaries got together to celebrate Christmas with a gingerbread themed Christmas party! We ate AMAZING food, had a great devotion, had a gingerbread house decorating contest, ate too much candy in the process, watched "Santa" hand out presents to the kids, and had an auction for other misc. gifts. While we really miss our family, especially during the holiday season, God has blessed us with an awesome, hilarious mission family!!

The Christmas Program

I'm pretty sure we have the cutest missionary kids ever!!

Check out the high school's temple backdrop...Ethan would appreciate you taking special notice of the top right corner of the sky! ;)

Our Baby

You will be happy to hear that Jordan and I have successfully planted, nurtured, and harvested our very own pineapple. We named him Herbert and then devoured him. He was delicious!!

Becky's Un-Staying Party

Dr. Becky Wallace (above) has been our friend and neighbor for the last 15 months. She came to serve in the hospital for two years and unfortunately, her two years ended a little while ago. However, before she left we threw her an "Un-staying Party" with a Mad Hatter / Alice in Wonderland theme (the old Alice in Wonderland...not the creepy new one!) Of course, we all had to wear some kind of crazy hat (some more crazy than others). I got to put my undeveloped knitting skills to use and let my imagination go wild. These are the results! We miss you very very much Beck!! :)

Geneva and the Cake

Geneva used to be the principal at the Nazarene Bible College, just down the road from Kudjip. She recently left PNG, but before she went we had a going-away party for her. I got to decorate her cake...which is suppose to be a Papua New Guinea kundu drum. It was a lot of fun to make!! Even though we didn't get to know Geneva all that well, we will definitely miss her English Lotu stories!

The internet likes me again! :) More pics from mom and dad's trip.

Mom and Dad

As many of you know, my parents were able to fly all the way to Papua New Guinea to see us. They were here for about 10 days that just flew by! We had a great time. The highlights of their time here were probably watching/making/eating a mumu (food cooked in a hole in the ground), hiking up a mountain to go to a bush church, touring Hagen, and going golfing! They were amazing...by the end of the 10 days, mom could dispose of cockroaches like you wouldn't believe and dad was pretty close to fluent in Melanesian Pidgin. I feel so blessed to have parent who are willing to fly thousands of miles to come visit us AND who were so eager to embrace the culture and the people here! :)
(Pictures aren't posting...hopefully more to come when the internet decides not to hate me!)

Spaghetti Bridges

This blog is really really late BUT it’s about one of my favorite things I’ve done with the kids since I’ve been here so I thought I’d share anyway. At the end of last school year we had a “Math and Science Celebration.” The high schoolers (plus, Allie and Lydia) had to construct bridges out of a package of spaghetti noodles and a bottle of glue. At the party we had a contest to see whose bridge could hold the most weight. In the end, Quinton and Cilla were victorious with their “Chinese foot-bridge.”

Harvest Party

Every year around Halloween, the missionaries have a Harvest Party. We have all sorts of fall treats and hobo-dinners on the fire. It’s great fun! Especially when people dress up!! In the pics we have Becky Wallace dressed up as a clown…Jordan came as a security guard (notice their unfortunate acronym!)…I came in some 80’s gear…my favorite was Judy, who came as a bride late to her own wedding…and Bill came as himself! J

School so far...

School has officially started…well, actually we’ve been going for about the past 4 weeks. I thought it’s about time that I introduce you to my students this year (as of now…we’ll be having a few more join us later on in the year).

On the far left, we have Jessica Myers. She is a 10^th grader this year and is a wonderful student! Her hobbies include reading, emailing friends, working out in the fitness center, and making tortillas!

To the right of me, we have Ethan Myers, younger brother of Jessica. Ethan is a 7^th grader this year and is great at making us laugh! He enjoys hanging out in the maintenance workshop, playing basketball, tubing down the river, and reading Frank Peretti books!

On the far left, we have Allison Dooley. Allison is also a 7^th grader this year and is probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met. In her free time she likes to read, go tubing, play Settlers, and eat Chinese food!

So far, we’ve had a fabulous time together! How blessed am I that I get to teach such great kids!?!

They made it!!

Jim and Jane/Dad and Mom Thompson have finally arrived in Papua New Guinea! After some very long plane flights and a week in New Zealand they made it to our little corner of the world which we have called home for the past year. So far, they have gotten a tour of the station, met TONS of people, visited the local market, played basketball with the Nationals, grilled out on Jordan’s homemade grill, and eatin Rachel’s home cooking (and they haven’t even gotten sick yet!). :)

We can't praise God enough for allowing us to come and learn from the people in this beautiful place AND then get the opportunity to share all of this with our parents! God is amazing!

l

The Saw Cake

The head of maintenance recently resigned, so on his last day of work we had a little get-together for him and his family. I was asked to make a cake and since Ruben started as a carpenter, I decided to make my first AND last “saw” cake (hopefully you could already tell what it was!). I was told that it tasted pretty good, which was such a relief since it was the first cake I’ve ever made from scratch and the last cake that I’ll ever decorate with so many little jagged edges! :)