the fun...and the not-so-fun (part 2)

In some ways, I feel pretty silly writing this post about the "not-so-fun" things in our new life overseas...because really, things are going SO WELL!  God has done so much for us, provided so much for us...and we really don't have anything to complain about!  We are naturally pretty optimistic people and we are so very thankful for all that we have.  However, just for those of you who are interested in reading about the things that aren't so fun...here ya go!

1. THE. HEAT.

Most of you are probably not surprised that this isn't a fun thing!  The heat really wouldn't be so bad, either...but the humidity is what makes it so very blahful (this is a made-up word that fits here, I think!)  Lol.  T'he good thing is, I really think our bodies are acclimating!  Or at least, we are just getting used to being sweaty all the time.  Praise God for ceiling fans!

2. The bugs.

There are two parts to this one.  First...ants.  We have ants pretty much everywhere in our house.  They don't really bother us too much, but we do have to be VERY careful about how we store our food!  Every time I open the peanut butter jar, I have to bang the jar on the sink first, because there are always a ton of ants inside the rim of the lid, trying to get into the jar.  I do NOT let them succeed!  Grr.  They are just an annoyance.

I brought a package of light-up balloons from America, for Halle's birthday.  Who would've guessed...ants like balloons!  When I opened the package, there were a bunch of ants inside (HOW did they get in??)...and they had eaten holes in almost all of the balloons (we were able to blow up four, though, so that's good!).  Go figure.  Why would an ant eat a balloon???   

The second part to the not-so-fun bug issue...my kids' legs.  Oh. my. goodness.  First of all, there are lots of mosquitoes...second of all, there are lots of flies.  This is a bad combination, because our kids get bit up by mosquitoes (mostly on their legs)...and then they scratch the mosquito bites.  And then...flies swarm the bites.  It is SO gross!  Sigh.  So we have to keep our kids' scratched bites covered by a bandaid if we don't flies to be all over them.  Needless to say, we are going through a TON of bandaids!  And peroxide, and neosporin...

I took Halle with me one day to work in the garden with my language helper.  I forgot to put bug spray on her.  Oops!  There were so many bugs on her that day--I felt SO bad!! 

This is an everyday, multiple times a day, occurrence...putting bandaids on the kiddos. They have great attitudes about it!  But their legs look pretty nasty.

3.  Trying to balance lots of stuff.
Homeschooling the kids.  Learning a new language.  Having classes for our orientation program.  Going to the villages.  Spending time as a family.  Cooking.  Laundry.  There is so much to balance!

Of course, in America it was the same.  A family always has to find balance!  It's just been a bit different here, where we don't have quite so many conveniences, and we have so much going on with learning Tok Pisin.  Don't get me wrong, it's really going well!  It's just something that is kind of hard sometimes.

Practicing Tok Pisin.  Makes us feel like this sometimes :)

4.  Missing all of you!

This should be number one!  Although we are really happy here, and we totally feel that we are where God has called us--of course we miss our family and friends :(  We haven't really felt too much homesickness, but I know in the future it will probably go up and down.  We are so thankful for Face Time!  And so thankful that God has provided us with new "family" here in PNG.  He is so good!

Well, there ya have it!  Some not-so-fun things about our new life in a tropical third world country.  Overall though?  We are so blessed.  Anytime I am feeling down or annoyed at bugs or stressed out...I just need to read Ephesians or some other passages in the Bible to remind myself ALL that God has given me!  It really puts things into perspective.  Thanks you guys, for all your prayers!