relationships, part one...

Our family has moved around a lot in the last 5 years.  And everywhere we have moved, God has been so faithful to provide us with some very sweet and lasting relationships!  We were confident that He would do it when we got to PNG--and we were right!  Once again, God has been so gracious to us!

I want to try to introduce you all to the people who we are living with, building relationships with, and spending lots and lots of time with!  Hopefully all of the names don't confuse you...

So, our family is living on a New Tribes Mission base right now.  We are about a 20 minute drive from town, but the base is surrounded by small villages, some even within a short walking distance. We are also right on the ocean--definitely an added bonus! :)

 Living here on the base with us, we have our New Tribes orientation leaders named Bill and Kelley.  They. Are. Awesome.  Seriously, we thank the Lord for putting them "in charge" of us right now!  Bill and Kelley came to PNG quite a few years ago with their two daughters. They moved into a tribe, learned the language, and planted a church--just like we are hoping to do!  They are still working on the translation for their church plant.  They are a very godly couple and they are filled with wisdom and advice for us as newcomers!

Bill and Kelley are seriously amazing with our kids.  Our kids love their Uncle Bill and Aunt Kelley!  Kelley always is so thoughtful to think of our kids, and do special things for them--we are so thankful for both of them!

There are just a few others on staff here...Lisa is another amazing lady!  Lisa is a missionary who is also working on translation for her tribal work!  Seriously, we have been blessed with such wisdom and experience here in charge of our orientation!

The girls love it when Aunt Lisa lightly runs her long fingernails up and down their arms :)  They are always asking her to do it!

Along with our family, there are some others in orientation with us.  There is a couple from the UK and a family from Mexico...we love our international team :)  I will post pictures of them someday!There are also two college interns (names: Tanner and Becky) from Liberty University.  The two college interns will only be in PNG for these 4 months, then they will return home...we are so glad they are here!  They are AMAZING with our kids!

The kids LOVE their Uncle Tanner!

Tanner loves Daisy and she loves him--but she is SO shy around him!  He was happy one night when she allowed him to play baby dolls with her :)

Nathan and Tanner get along really well too--they have similar senses of humor ;) 

They also love their Aunt Becky!  One night she made homemade chocolate and was so gracious to share it with our girls...they looked like little baby birdies :)

Okay, there is also another couple here on staff.  Their names are Joshua and Amelia, and they are actually from the tribe that Bill and Kelley worked in!  They are believers and they really want to help us newcomers learn the national language--so every time a new group of orientees arrives, Joshua and Amelia travel from the tribe and live on base here.  We are SO blessed to have them here!  Language helpers right here on base with us is hugely helpful!

This is Joshua.  For those of you who follow me on Instagram, he's the one who taught our group how to climb coconut trees!  

Joshua and Amelia have an ADORABLE baby boy named Russell! Our kids are obsessed with him :)

There is a family who lives next to the base, and we have hung out with them a couple of times.  They also go to the church that we go to.  They have kids our kids' ages, and we are so thankful that they live nearby!  Kaine has had lots of fun with their boys already...

Their dad, Eddi, taught Nathan to go fishing with a net one day.  While they fished, our kids all swam and played together.  And I hung out with Kovina (Eddi's wife)--I can't communicate much with her yet, but hopefully that will change soon!

I will continue this blogpost next time...I didn't want to overload you with pictures!  Thanks for your prayers!