Adjusting to everyday life.

During these four months, we live on a base--kind of a campus.  It is so beautiful and we have a great team of people helping us adjust--and a couple of other families who are in our class, adjusting alongside us!

The first couple of days that we were here, we just unpacked and settled in, and got acclimated to our new home!

We went on a walk with the group...

The kids love all the new plant life here!

Nathan's holding a lemon--we have lemon trees! 

Our kids have really been having a good time!  That's our house in the background.

The trampoline is definitely their favorite thing to do on the base!

Thankful for that hose ;)

I love this view every morning!

We love you all! 

We are HERE!!!

After 4.5 years of training...the Muellers are IN PNG!

What a sigh of relief.  We are so happy to be here, though we miss everyone in the USA...and we know that God has given us that joy.  We are so thankful!  

I have a few excuses for the lack of communication :)  First of all, adjusting to living here has just been tiring!  The first few days, we were falling into bed by 8 (or earlier!)...and it just takes longer to do everything here.  And my other excuse...let's just say the internet here is NOT like having wifi at home :)  The internet is super spotty, so many times if I would want to do a blog post, I wouldn't even have reception at our house.  Some days are better than others, though!  Today it's good :)  Oh, but I will say--having not-so-good internet has actually been kind of refreshing!  It takes away all temptations of wasting time on social media!

All that being said...we are back to the blogging world, and hopefully we will be able to blog often!  We love and appreciate each one of you, and we want to keep you as involved as possible in what the Lord is doing here in Papua New Guinea!

Here are some pictures from our journey to get here...some of you might have seen some of these pics already if you follow me on fb or instagram.

Daisy was pretty much the cutest traveler ever...with her cute backpack and big stuffed reindeer on her back...

Well, they were all cute :)  And they did great, too!  Such good attitudes!

Of course, it helped that they each had their own tv on almost every flight ...

Yep, Kaine was pretty much in heaven ;)

When we got to the Fiji airport, we knew it would take some answered prayers to get us on our next flight in time.  So...thank you for all who were praying for our connecting flight, because God totally answered them and got us on that next plane!  I had to sit around with my kids for about 1.5 hours while Nathan was running around with a Fiji airport employee...but it all worked out.  Thank you Lord!

Finally boarding our LAST flight!

There was a long line of people in the PNG airport, and they all stared at us :)  Our little blonde girls sure draw attention in this country!  The customs guy was super nice to us, and we got through super quick...

We had to wait in the PNG airport for a couple of hours...we were feeling pretty tired and just gross by this time!  So ready to be at our destination!

Here we are that evening in front of our home (for the next 4 months).  We were all super tired...we got invited to a staff lady's house for supper that night, and our kids were falling asleep at the supper table!  We all slept so great that night!

The next morning, we couldn't sleep past 4:00 am :)  Our bodies took a few days to adjust to the time change, but it wasn't so bad.  More to come!  We are feeling settled, we are adjusting, and we are so excited to be here!  Thanks for praying!

we are flying across the world tomorrow...

What a surreal feeling.  Especially when I look at a globe and really think about just HOW FAR away Papua New Guinea really is...

But anyway, it's here!  Tomorrow we will fly out of Chicago around 3 pm.  We will have a layover in LA, and then onto Fiji (flying 10.5 hours through the night).  In Fiji, we will only have a 2 hour layover, and it is a tight connection because we have to reclaim our baggage and then recheck it...pray that we make that connection!  From Fiji, we fly another 8.5 hours to Port Moresby, the PNG capital.  And from there, we fly to Madang, which will be our home for 4 months!  That's a lot of info, huh?  Thank you for praying!  And for those of you on Instagram, feel free to follow me!  I hope to blog in PNG, but I will Instagram far more, because it is just quicker!  You can look me up:  rachebethm.

But right now, we are in Chicago.  We decided to come to Chicago two days early with my parents and Nathan's parents.  We are SO GLAD we did.  It has been the best weekend!  I don't know why we never really hang out with both sets of parents--it has been so fun.  When we were back in Indiana, everything was so crazy with packing and all these last minute details...and now we have had a couple of days to relax and regroup with our parents.  We are thankful.

On the way to Chicago--we are REALLY doing this!!! 

Pretty much the best hotel swimming every--four kids, four grandparents.  So fun!  They are in heaven :)

We went to a fun restaurant/arcade last night...

The dads helped Nathan prepare our luggage even more.  We have been a bit nervous that these tubs might crack during all of the flights, getting thrown by airport workers, sub-zero temperatures which makes them brittle, etc...so Nathan went and bought shrink wrap to wrap them.  Hopefully it works!

Good times :)

 This afternoon, my parents had to leave :(  It was SO stinking sad to say goodbye to them, but we all have an eternal perspective and we all have a passion for God's glory...so that made it all okay.  Sad, but good.  Dad and Mom, we love you guys so much!

Nathan's parents are still here.  They will take us to the airport tomorrow and we will say goodbye then :(  So hard.  Good, but hard.  Both of our parents are so wonderful, which is such a blessing.  It just makes it harder to be away from them!

Me and my mama ;)  

After we said goodbye to my parents, Dave and Terri took us to LegoLand, which was so much fun for the kids.  Thanks,  dad and mom!

Silly kids!

So.  Tomorrow we are leaving!  Can you tell I still can't believe it?  Haha...soon it will become reality, and it will become a new normal.  And for that, I am so thankful!  I have to keep reminding myself of this...

Praise God.  He is worthy!

Our last couple of weeks in America...

Just a quick recap of our final days (for now) in the States...

Our family took a much needed trip away!  We took our kids to the Creation Museum, which is one of our favorite places to visit.  It was so great to take our kids there for the first time!

On our way home, we stopped at IKEA to get a few things for the tribe.  Kaine saw these things (like a potholder type of thing--what are those things called??)--he called to me, "Hey mom!  We should get these because they look really tribe-y!"  It was so sweet.  It is very awesome to have our kids involved in this!

Picking out a blanket for their beds in the tribe...

Meanwhile, at home...my wardrobe became almost non-existent!  It was actually sooo freeing to just get rid of so many clothes.  It's amazing how much we accumulate.

We had a double birthday party for Kaine and one of his best friends, Carter.  This group of boys is something that we are TRULY thankful for!  Kaine has a great group of friends!

I spent a morning with my dear friend Jane.  She made us each a coffee cup.  Jane, I will think of you every morning when I drink my coffee!

We spent lots of time with family...

Another double birthday party for Kaine!  This time, with his little cousin August :)

I love this dramatic action shot...he is such a goof! 

Oh, and yet ANOTHER  double birthday party for Kaine!  What a blessed boy he is :)

Oh, our friends are just too much!  They got our kids these pillow cases with pictures on them, and then the kids signed them.  God has blessed us with the most thoughtful friends in the world, for real!

Playing some fun games with Grandpa Dave and Grandma Terri :)

Nathan's parents helped us get our luggage ready.  Their help was seriously invaluable.  I was super stressed for a day or 2, until they helped us get it all together.  Thank you, dad and mom!

Our amazing sending team and dear friends totally outdid themselves with a "see you later" party for our family.  They made it so memorable for us, and such a sweet way for us to say "see you later" to our friends and supporters!  We were so thankful for such a wonderful evening!

 Are these cookies not amazing???

 

Our friends.  We love them! Photo credit--my talented friend, Amy.  The next two pictures, too :)

The Three Musketeers, we call them.  Such sweet friends.  Their friendship is something rare, I am sure of that! And I just adore this picture! 

Our sending team.  Minus a few kiddos :)

We are so very grateful for  such an amazing sending church, and so many amazing friends and supporters.  We thank God every day for you all!  Also, stay tuned!  We are flying to PNG TOMORROW!  (breathe, Rachel)...keep praying for us!  And check the blog again--I want to post one more time before we fly.  Love you all!