The birth pains of the family picture

Wow, that was painful...

I can't even tell you how many attempts we made. We went pass the comical to the ludacrest. So here are the best of the lot;

What do we do?

Since February 2013 we have been waiting for the PNG government to approve a position for an ex-pat to work in a new role as CFO/Mentor at Christian Leaders Training College.

It is now December 2013, and still no news, in fact, no contact from the government at all.  There has been a steady stream of correspondence from CLTC, but it has been a one way conversation.

We waited.

And waited.

And still we wait.

We weren't looking for a call to missions work, we were actually quite happy doing what we were doing.  One weekend changed all that. God called, we were open to what He was suggesting.

We visited, we freaked out a bit, it is a land of contrast, and extremes.  Yet we knew God had called us. So we said yes, we will go.

We waited.

And waited.

And still we wait.

Now we have been offered an opportunity to go out with another organisation until the CLTC position has been approved.  With this offer, comes an orientation, and a chance to work in Mt Hagan until we get the big tick for the other job, as well as a chance to build relationships with other ex-pats in the region. There are many positives.

We weren't called through this role.  We don't want to fall into the trap of 'sorting it out' ourselves. God's timing is perfect.   We are praying and listening as we are keen to make sure we're not trying to work out God's plan for him in a Abraham and Hagar kind of way.

We've prayed

And prayed

And still we pray.

Fishing Trip

Today was a special Sol and Mum day. I could think of nothing better than going fishing with my youngest.  He loves fishing, and so do I.  So off we traipsed to Mapua Wharf, to meet friends, drink coffee, eat ice-cream and reel in some big ones together.

While fishing, we meet a lovely older couple who were visiting from Amberley, who 'helped' Sol and our friends, catch a fish.  'Helped' can be translated: when they caught a fish, they called over each child in turn to reel it in.  All were able to have their photo taken with a fish, all around the same size as this one...

They decided to cut the head off and use it for bait, as well as explore the intricacies of the fishes insides.

Before Sol and I went fishing, we said goodbye to Dadda, who was off for a 2 night tramp/hike with friends, and goodbye to Seb, who had a Survivor Day event organised by our local Christian home educators group. It was Seb's dream day; making shelter, rafts, fire, whittling, chasing Weka, swimming, and hanging out with his buddies, Ez and Sam.

He came home tired and happy, and so to finish the day we made fire at home and cooked some damper. While they ate it, I read them a chapter from our current read-aloud, a Gladys Aylward Biography.

Seb keeping an eye on Sol's cooking of his damper.

Damper Recipe:

1 cup self-raising flour

25 gms butter

pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

Rub butter into the flour. Add salt and cinnamon. 

Slowly add milk to make into a dough consistency.

Use less or more milk as required.

Wrap around a clean stick and cook over a fire, time varies with heat of fire.  

Damper pulls off the stick cleanly when cooked all the way through.

Enjoy.

Bug Week

Surprise discoveries are so exciting.  This week we were blessed with welcoming the first of this summers cicadas, which initially is exciting, later on in the summer they are deafening.

Our next discovery was a little more unexpected. I have not seen a Weta this size before, and I certainly didn't expect to see one as I was pulling my sage bush out. Seeing this attractive creature reminded me of the Bear Grylls clip when he was filming a show in New Zealand. He got bitten and it drew blood! This made me very cautious when handling it. Bear Grylls then ate it, this is a funny clip, worth a look. View clip here. We did not eat it.

Cross Country Fun

Our local Christian Home Educators Group Cross Country Event

Gathered around listening to the directions for the days running and biking events. There was so much excitement and anticipation.

SOLOMON #17

Here I am lining up ready for the race, I was feeling a little bit nervous.

 Here I am, coming in 7th place. I was very proud of myself.

RABBIT ISLAND

 Moturoa, sometimes I am amazed we get to live, run, bike and swim here.

SEBASTIAN #34

Ez and I, extremely tired after the run. Ez placed 1st, I placed 2nd.

Just crossed the finish line, quite tired.

Kori the Penguin Came for a Visit

What a delight to get a surprise visit from Kori the Penguin and Aunty Shirlene.   Such an occasion requires Solomon to dress up - in his swimming goggles.

6 Months Down, How Many To Go?

It has been over 6 months since we applied for the volunatry position of CFO/Mentor with CLTC, in PNG - so many acronym's!

We indicated our willingness to fill the position the College was looking to fill - a mentor for the staff in the Finance office who look after the finances for both the college and the business activities that subsidise the college. The College put in an application with a relevant government department in PNG, to have a foreigner fill the position. The government department has declined to answer this application at this point. This is apparently not unusual for PNG, although the length of time taken has surprised and frustrated even those who have more experience of PNG than us.

So it's been a strange autumn-winter so far for us. After putting our hands up to go out, we began getting ready (tidying the house, putting a few things on Trade Me, etc) but that soon ran out of steam. It's difficult to throw yourselves into such activities when you're not sure if you're definitely going and it only lengthens the ups and downs of the rollercoaster so isn't particularly helpful. Meanwhile, Ingrid still needs to home-school the boys, Marcus had a job to go to, we have friends we love catching up with, the boys are into the football season, etc. Essentially, we have tried to get on with everyday life, but it's not quite as easy as that when you're not sure if you're going to be in the country in 3 months time.

We are valuing all prayers for a peace over this time as it's a little unsettling. Specifically, that God would reveal the meaning of this part of the process - Marcus especially. When we have told the boys the about the plans, we faced an understandably mixed response!

We recently stumbled across a wee 9 minute video on the College website that was made to promote the College's new Masters programme. It gives quite a good insight into the College, its reason for existence, etc. The agricultural activities that we would be involved with get a few seconds mention, which is the way it should be, but it is these activities that mostly fund all the other great work that the College does training wise. http://vimeo.com/67611421

God Bless

Marcus & Ingrid

Sebastian

Ears do not hear when eyes are in a good book.

Concentrating on handwriting

Galations 6:4.  Do your own work well and then you will have something to be proud of.

Built with his buddy Ezra, a ladder and lookout on a shade-sail pole in our back yard.
Boys love to build.

Solomon

Some days you just feel like wearing your swim cap around the house.

 Who do we know lives here?  We think of them often.

Story writing on a warm spring morning. A lovely pile of pencils and a perfect clear day.

May All Phlebotomist Be Happy Ones.

I love my doctor. Despite trying to talk me out of applying for a position in PNG (in front of the boys - slight cringe moment), I still think he's pretty cool. He's been to PNG, so we had an understanding. He was fantastic, and when he heard we were taking a volunteer position, he charged us for one person, instead of 4! Such kindness.

The x-rays were simple. Expensive but an easy process.

The blood tests were...fine. And by fine I mean, why did I get the grumpy one?

It dawned on me at the end of this process that the one person you would really want in a good mood is the phlebotomist.  I had a gruff one.  I'm sure it's not the most fun job in the world, but then neither is bagging up chicken manure and yet I've done that with a cheerful face. 

We decided to take the boys in with us while our blood was taken, just to show how brave we were. We concluded they will have to have jabs at some point too, so we just wanted to show that it pricks, but it's not really sore.  And I go and get a grumpy lady doing mine. We divided to conquer, Marcus had Sebby and not only did I have the grumpy phlebotomist, I had the effervescent child with me - not a good combination. We survived, with only a little blood shed, and it was all mine.

Forms, forms and more forms, blood, signatures, x-rays, photocopies, medications, verification, stamped by Justice of the Peace. 

And now we wait.

Imagination Travel Journal by Seb

Date 5015, the 56 month of the year.

I was climbing the famous Almond Mountains in Russia, it was quite misty as it had been raining beforehand.  I was very high now, so I turned around to look at the view and I saw a big kangaroo chasing me.  I started sprinting hard out but he was gaining on me fast.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the famous stolen banana dirt bike and it had petrol in it. I couldn't resist to try it.  Then I remembered the kangaroo.  It was so close now I could hear it bounding after me, so I jumped on the dirt bike as I had ran towards it when I had first seen it.  I revved it and took off. Leaving the kangaroo coughing in my dust.

I was keeping a good lookout for World War I and II trenches that hadn't been filled in , silly people. Further on I came driving through a little group of Hotels in the middle of nowhere.  I was puzzled as I was wondering if anyone lived here.  Out came some partly naked people, only a bit of hippo skin covered them. They were dark skinned and quite tall. They started talking to me in Maori, which I know, so I started talking back (I did quite well at my languages at school).  They said they came from New Zealand by boat to help with the fighting (which they are good at).  They made Hotels themselves, which I think is awesome. They said they would give me hospitality and they would clean up the dirt bike which was quite dirty from all the riding.

I went into one of the hotels in quite good shape. I went up the stairs as a tired man. I went into the bedroom and flopped onto the bed.  It had been a tiring day. I lay awake for as long as I could remember, thinking about the day that had passed.  Probably the most epic day anyone has ever had.  Chased by a kangaroo, found the famous banana dirt bike, found Maori living in Hotels in the middle of nowhere. I finally felt my eyes dropping from dowsiness and went to sleep thinking Russia is a strange and puzzling place.

Sugar in Peanut Butter? Really?

Yesterday we went to visit Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter  factory with our local home school group. I admit, I was looking forward to this as much as the boys were.  I really love Pic's peanut butter, it truly is 'really good'.

The boys in the factory after the tour and taste test, 

surrounded by packaged Really Good Peanut Butter.

I learnt a lot from the tour. The most amusing was that these folks started roasting their peanuts in a brand new hand concrete mixer.  Now they roast 2 tonnes of peanuts per day, so clearly have more appropriate facilities. What was recent news to me was that Pic started making his own peanut butter because the peanut butter we buy on our super market shelves had sugar in.

Sugar in peanut butter?  Really?  We have two different peanut butters, Pic's, which the bigger people in the family like and another supermarket brand, which the smaller people in the family like.  I read the ingredients with shock.  Sugar was listed.  Sugar in peanut butter!  Why?

Why must we need sugar in everything?  I blame the fall.

Craig our tour guide told us we could make peanut butter at home. Why not try it too.

Take some raw peanuts, roast them in your oven, then put them in a blender with a pinch of salt, and blend for a few minutes until the peanut dust becomes a ball of peanut butter.

We Wait

For many the call to the mission field is a call to sacrifice, isolation, hardship, blessing, faith, and patience. Some I know have prepared and waited years and years to go after they were called. Some wait for Government departments or visas for months, in our case for a pitiful 5 months and it feels like torture. December 2012, we were called. January 2013, we visited. February 2013, we were invited and said yes, and now we wait.

We live in a state of limbo. Drawn to a place we want to be, a place we believe God wants us to be, yet still having to live our lives in the country we call home. And still we wait. Our mission agency policy isn’t to pay bribes, they feel called to be counter cultural to the corruption that exist within this developing country. And I agree, in theory, but in practise, I just want to get there. I don’t want them to pay bribes either, but this waiting is hard.

As we started this year, we were so full of excitement at what this year would hold, and after months of not hearing anything, and knowing this tick we are wanting from the government is only the first of many, the excitement is waning. Our expectations went from 8 weeks to get there, to months and months of excruciating waiting. Our friends who have been there, smile and tell us this is good training for life in a developing country, learning patience, understanding corruption, knowing nothing happens in a hurry. This is our training ground.

With our call still fresh and our excitement waning, I searched in my concordance to seek what the Word of God said about the word ‘wait’. What I unearthed was food for a hungry soul and hydration for drying lips.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 38:15 But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

Isaiah 40:31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Our call is to obedience, and as the Word says, we wait for the appointed time, we can trust as the LORD is the author of time. Just because we are to ‘fret not’, be patient and hope in Him, doesn’t make it easy, it only makes it do-able.

Into week 14 of Home Schooling

Well it's fun.  Home schooling is FUN!  Yes it is challenging, it's hard work and it's a total blast all at the same time.

I currently live in a VERY supportive home school community, if anyone ever wants to home school and will move the world over to do so, then Nelson, New Zealand is the place to do it.  Apart from being a beautiful location, there is so much to do; swim at the beach, rivers, lakes (if you're into braving alpine lakes that aren't exactly warm in summer).  We have big hills to walk, tracks everywhere for biking and homeschooling networks from Christian to non-schooling hippies.  It's awesome! And I get to begin my journey amongst the most seasoned home schoolers, as well as other beginners, it's amazing.

We have found that making connections is vital to building community with other families, you do have to work at it, and yet it has come very naturally for us. our church has a number of home school families, and we are super fortunate to be blessed with others who have children the same age as ours.

And yet at the back of my mind, in this time of waiting, I know we are not going to be in this environment forever.  Soon, hopefully Lord, we will be moving far away.  Yet I am doing my best to make the most of every opportunity we have here now.  

We have begun this adventure with structure, opting to use the Sonlight program, I am not disappointed. I am learning so much and the boys seem to be too.  Our family are readers, so this program works well.  I now have two history lovers and my youngest has been mad about geography and flags after attending a Montessori pre-school.  This program is brilliant for us this year.  I just don't know how we will be able to fund it for next year.  But after reading the story of George Muller, perhaps I should take my desire and need to the Lord and let Him resource our needs.

Not much else to say today, just that this is so much fun.

Joys of homeschool

For two boys who love the outdoors and reading, what better thing to do on a balmy autumn day, reading high on a giant outdoor play rhombicuboctahedron  (honestly - I had to google it!).  

Thankfully our boys are adjusting well to home school life. They soon realised that although there are some things they miss out on, home school has it's benefits. The biggest being that play time involved climbing trees, making tree huts, playing Bear Grylls with all sorts of ropes, sticks, and pocket knives.  Most of which wasn't permissible at school.

It hasn't been a totally smooth transition. There have been some very ugly moments, and sometimes those have turned into ugly days - and that wasn't just the boys.  Home schooling isn't easy. Easy is dropping your kids off at school and doing what you like from 9am - 3pm.  I loved that part of my life, and really appreciate that time I had now.  But ... I wouldn't go back now.  I love homes school as much as the boys.  We are learning together, and boy is it fun. History, geography, literature, cultures, beliefs - we cover some great topics.  Topics that broaden our world view - all through well written children's' literature.

I think I'm going to start a recommended reading section, to share all the fantastic books we are reading. There are some utterly rubbish books on the book store shelves and the library shelves too.  But if you know where to look, there are some great books available.  Creating a family library is a very worthy investment.  Thanks to www.bookdepository.co.uk it's not ridiculously expensive either.

Back to home school ... if you are thinking about homeschooling, and are terrified for your children or your own sanity then welcome.  I'm not a teacher by occupation.  I was not even a very good student when I was at school.  The only thing I have is a deep appreciation for my children's  hearts and minds.  I love those two rascals.  They test me, challenge me and infuriate me at times, but together we endeavour to learn. To be honest with you, the best curriculum can not measure up to a parent who desires to invest in their children's heart and mind.

We didn't have a choice to home school. As we are preparing for the mission field, we felt this was the only option for our children while we were overseas.  So reluctantly I started looking into it.  It took one day face to face with Google to be convinced, it's a good thing to home school.

But what about Socialisation?  Dude! The number of times I have heard that question!  Sadly we are too busy to worry about socialisation. With football and basketball practises and games, language lessons, play dates, kids version of youth group, kids church, I don't have time to do all I would like to with our boys.  But  that is how it is for us at present, we are jamming all we can into our time here, until we are to leave for PNG.

This home school lark is fun, fun, fun.  Not easy but definitely full of joy, not just enjoyment kind of joy but also joy in relationships.  My boys are way more connected to me, even on days when I have been Mrs Battle-Axe (which was a surprise). Joy.  That's worth all the ugly moments, that is.

 

PNG Recce

 PNG here we come.  Next week Marcus and I fly out to PNG for a look at an amazing missionary organisation called CLTC (Christian Leaders Training College).  CLTC is situated in the Wahgi Valley at 5,500 ft, 60km east of Mt Hagen. The campus covers 400 acres of pastoral ground, and incorporates a Bible College, commercial beef, poultry and gardens programs. We understand it is quite a strategic mission, they not only equip Melanesians to pastor their own peoples, they self fund enough to reduce the costs to the students. They also do humanitarian work with the local village women.

And while we are there, these two cheeky boys are going to be having the holiday of a lifetime with friends and their families.

This photo was taken the last day of school. I could guess what they were laughing about, it most likely wasn't polite.  They find those jokes the funniest!

So why am I documenting the process?  Well at this point in time the boys don't know what 2013 is shaping out to look like.  Neither do we, but they are totally in the dark on this.  We decided that to home school was  a big enough transition to make without the prospect of moving countries and away from their friends.  So to avoid unsettling them any more than necessary at this point in time, we are keeping this information to ourselves.  However we would love to show them how we came to seeking out this opportunity, so what better way than to start a blog for them.  They will take over the blog once school starts or when we leave NZ.We hope it will be our family/homeschool blog.

Exemptions

Exemption!  The word can put the fear into any prospective homeschooling parents heart.  I can only speak for myself when I say putting together a detailed description of what and how I am going to teach my children was daunting.  Thankfully I had a few friends who had been down that path and were able to help me.  Still after submitting a detailed and lengthy document, I was still lacking in the area of maths.  It was time to avoid my lack of maths appreciation and dive into some research.  Bottom line, I wanted to stick with the curriculum that my children were being taught in school.  I think it is a very valuable way to learn numeracy, strategies are taught then after children are taught to think around a problem they are taught how to work it out on paper.  For someone who was taught by rote, and now has forgotten so much of it, thinking strategically about problems was a skill I naturally developed since I had forgotten the process taught. With these new tools under my belt I began to write out my plan for Maths.  I struggle to believe I am saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to it.

Once I have submitted my Maths plan, I hope to achieve the exemptions.  Then by that time it will probably time to leave the country and we won't need them anyway!  Such is life, and the experience of writing an exemption should prove useful, as I am bound to have to do it all again at some point.

Praying for the big tick from the Ministry of Education.