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!