Ramblings on Arrival in PNG

We have made it to Papua New Guinea, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to blog right away, but I had several requests, and I do want to write things down when they’re fresh, so here goes. Warning: It really is going to ramblings.

*Traveling from the USA to PNG is not fun, especially when kids are included (yes, the 1 year old AND the one in the belly made it much less easy). Sophie did really great, but she had to be on one of our laps most of the time, and she needs to be tended to. We had to bring lots of toys and snacks… literally, most of our carry-on was for her. Also, because you can’t go through security with water, we had to constantly find more water as soon as we went through security. In our Shanghai layover it was interesting because the only water that was available was HOT water… I could barely hold the cup when I poured it in (and then immediately dumped it out when I realized it wash hot), but the Chinese people would take a sip of it right away! The baby in the belly caused puking on one of the flights (well, the Chinese food probably didn’t help either), swollen ankles (I tried to walk as much as I could, but with the sick feeling in the stomach, it wasn’t always something I wanted to do), and uncomfortable kicking and movement. We were SO glad when we finally arrived.

* We flew from Chicago to Los Angeles to Shanghai (China) to Cairns (Australia) to Port Moresby (PNG) to Madang to Wewak. A LOT of flying. Next time we’re booking a flight right to Australia. Total air time: 31 hours. This doesn’t include layover time, check-in time, etc. Did I mention that I don’t like flying?

·      *When we landed in Wewak, we were welcomed by obnoxious crying/wailing/moaning. Since we’ve seen NTM videos, we knew this was known as the “death wail.” As Evie puts it, it’s very important to PNG people to show their emotion so that people know they care, and so the death wail is very loud and over-done. We were confused why we were greeted by this until a casket was brought out from our plane! Oh yeah, and did I mention that this last airport was pretty much a barn? You collect your bags outside. Yupp, we’re in the middle of nowhere.

·      *While it would be easier to come this far without kids (all things are easier in life without kids, right?), it’s such a joy to watch Sophie experiencing things. She loves the big guard dogs here and enjoyed cooling off in the little tubs of water that are on the hang-out porch. She noticed that the screen doors to all of the apartments open easily, so she’s tried to let herself into the apartments with other little kids. She saw the one little boy carrying a woven bag around, so when he dropped it, while at the NTM base store, she picked it up and began picking up her own items to put in the bag. Of course, we’ve also had a number of breakdowns as she still recovers from jet lag, new surroundings, and the heat.

·      *Everything is so expensive here! We knew that, but now we have a better understanding why. Pretty much everything has to be imported. Which, after taking all the planes ourselves to get here, we understand what a process that is. It’s also expensive to drive, so you don’t want to drive to town unless you know what you want/need, and the guys are trying to put together their last minute needs list for going into the tribe on Monday, so pray that they’ll remember everything! 

·     *While flying on our last flight to Wewak, I was looking out the window at the beautiful, mountainous, PNG landscape, and God put the song, “Bless the Lord, O’ My Soul (worship his holy name)” in my head, and I realized that we certainly do not choose to come to this land because we love the people or we love the land or we love adventure. We come because we love the Lord and he loves these people. After being so tired and sick from flying and being reminded of how far away we were from those we love so much, it was good to remember that there are so many people left that have NEVER had the opportunity to hear the gospel in their heart language, and God loves them and sent his son to die for them. And that is a reason worthy enough of giving up comfort and living near loved ones. And it’s the only reason.

Enough ramblings for now… just a couple of other things. Ben heads into the tribe on Monday (your Sunday night) with a group of guys to begin building homes for the missionaries moving into the Pei tribe (Chris and Evie Jones, Justin and Lauren Rees, and Candace Swift). It’ll be a great opportunity for him to see what that is like as well as to help. It includes taking a Cessna plane (“puddle hopper” with 7 seats that can hold up to 800 lbs of cargo … including people) and then a 2 hour boat ride. Sophie and I will stay in Wewak and will hopefully go in at the end of the month

(photos taken by Evelyn Jones)

One Week Until Take Off!

I can't believe it, but it's one week until we leave for our trip to Papua New Guinea! It's been a BUSY month, but a good one.

We've:
-Gotten our malaria medicine, along with Sophie 18 month check-up
-Gotten shots
-Talked with a number of people in PNG to make sure we're covering everything we need to take and know
-Sent out new prayer cards/update letters
-Hung out with countless friends and family
-Had several weddings, birthday parties, bridal showers, and a bachelor party
-Purchased Christmas gifts
-Had a family thanksgiving with my family yesterday
-Have enjoyed sweet time of fellowship with our Life Group

I've:
-Finished getting all my teeth filled in (I had a LOT of cavities)
-Had a midwife appointment (and have one more before leaving)
-Welcomed baby Wesley into the world (my best friend's baby who was born last week)
-Had a Thirty One party!
-Taken Sophie trick-or-treating

one of the best parts about hosting a party- food planning!

looking at fun bags!

this was what one of Sophie's gifts came in- it was a cash register... the box was much bigger than necessary

Sophie, the giraffe :)

Since I know this week is going to be crazy, I've began a To Do list. Hopefully this will help keep me from getting stressed out! Thankfully we already have all the big stuff done, but little details can sometimes be the most stressful.

Since we're leaving on November 4, we also had to get absentee ballots. We need to fill them out an send them back.

We appreciate your prayers!
-That we will accomplish everything we need to this week without being stressed
-That we will have safe travels and also for Sophie as we travel- since it will be long!
-That we will learn a lot while in PNG- that our time there would be helpful in making decisions for our future as well as that it will strengthen our relationship with the Lord
-That we will stay healthy
-That Ben and the others building the homes in the tribe will accomplish MUCH!

We're Taking a Trip To....

Papua New Guinea!

Today it became official when we booked our flights. It feels unreal, but we're excited for this upcoming 6 week trip!

Check out this panoramic view that we'll have while there... (photo taken by Chris Jones)

Our church, Christ's Covenant Church, supports our friends Chris and Evie Jones, and they are preparing to allocate into the tribe with the people group they are going to work with. We're stoke for them! Along with this process, they wanted men from our church with carpentry skills to come and help them build their houses in the tribe. Their house is going to look something like this (except not surrounded by sand... Chris is super techie, if you can't tell!)

So Ben has great carpentry skills AND we're currently planning on moving to PNG around 2015 or 2016 to do mission work there, so this was a perfect opportunity for us. While the opportunity is amazing, it involved some tough decisions like Ben quitting his job (as he can't take time off), being gone over thanksgiving, going there with a 1 year old and with me (Alisha) being pregnant, etc. We're thankful for our church elders and deacons who advised us wisely.

So, Lord willing, we will be heading to PNG in the beginning of November and will be there until the middle of December. We can't wait to experience PNG and come back to tell you all about it!

The Newest Member of the Miller Household

Yesterday we learned that our second child is a girl! We're so excited that Sophie will get to have a little sister that she can share lots of memories with. We took some fun pictures to announce with! (Photos by Created By Carrie Photography. She's awesome!)

Why I Avoided Pinterest... and Why I Finally Caved

I avoided Pinterest for a long time. I did so because I already have enough things to do and check online and really didn't need one more. Plus, I heard from plenty of people who said they spent hours pinning things but never actually making or doing any of the things they pinned. I was afraid I'd be one of those people as I know my creativity motivation... and it's pretty low.

Well, I wouldn't say I love to cook, but I do enjoy it. I think I enjoy it even more while pregnant. I found myself googling recipes, and it was annoying to have to click on every link to see what the recipe looked like. I began thinking it might be a good idea to join Pinterest so that I could get recipes more easily (I love being able to see a picture!). I'll admit... part of me was being stubborn because I was proud I had held off on getting it for so long. But finally I decided to get it.

And I have not turned out to be one of those people who pins all day long and does nothing about it! Ben has been very happy with my decision to join as he's gotten lots of good food out of it (he told me if I made at least one recipe a week, I was allowed to stay on it, haha!)

I've made EIGHT recipes in the 2.5 weeks since I joined! And quite a few of them have been really good.

I made Chick-fil-A Bites that were amazing- I think they were the biggest hit! They really weren't too complicated either. Now here's the shame part... I've never had real Chick-fil-A Bites, so I don't know if these compare or not. But they're really good either way. Definitely worth trying! 

Other main dishes I made were:
- Bourbon Chicken (I LOVE the bourbon chicken place at our mall- I would say this wasn't quite as good, but it was close!... You have to scroll down in the link...
- Sweet and Sour Chicken (I love sweet and sour anything, so it was good of course, but I think I had my hopes too high)
- Chicken Ranch Tacos (These were great, but really not much different than regular chicken tacos made over the stove with just taco seasoning)

I also saw this thing floating around on Pinterest about how you could hard boil eggs in the oven. I was a fan! I hate hard boiling eggs on the stovetop. So I gave it a try, and they turned out great! The only thing is that you have to make sure you push the pan back far enough in the oven because the ones in front didn't cook quite as good for me as the ones in back.

The most addicting part of Pinterest for me is the desserts... mmm yumm!

Last night, I made No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies. They are delicious, of course. http://mysoulisthesky.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-peanut-butter-cookies.html
Other desserts I made:
-No Bake Energy Bites (These were ok, but I used regular oats instead of rolled oats because it's what I had, and it made it much harder for them to stick together).
- Healthy Banana Cookies (I'm a chocolate... and sugar lover... so these wouldn't be my first choice by any means... but Sophie loved them, so they're a great healthy cookie for a 1 yr-old)

All in all, I would say my joining Pinterest has been a success.

Sophie's First Trip to the Zoo

On Wednesday, Sophie took her first trip to the zoo. Ben had off work, and we have been talking about going all summer, so we finally went. It was the perfect time to go because it was late in the season, kids were in school, and we went early in the morning, so it wasn't very crowded. We also left just in time before the rain came, so we had perfect weather too.

I started babysitting this week, so the boy I babysit for came along too! Here they are looking at the hyenas.

Sophie checking out some animals...

Looking at the lion.

Giraffes!

Sophie's favorite animal was the orangutang. They were so fun to watch as they swung from one rope to the next.

There was a little farm area, so Sophie got to pet the goat. She's probably one of the few one year-olds that go to the zoo and yell out, "Goat!" when she sees a goat. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Miller, she knows what goats are and love them.

All in all, we had a great day at the Ft Wayne Children's Zoo! Sophie will probably enjoy it a little more in the next couple of years, but it was fun to take her.

Visiting our Future Home (MTC MO)

We took a quick trip to New Tribe Mission's MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Roach, MO. We left thursday so that we could help these dear friends from the Bible School move on to the next phase of training (Downings and Cizdziels). 

We drove through rain the ENTIRE drive from Indiana to Missouri (the worst rain I've ever drove in too!), and we hit some frustrating construction as well. But we made it in one piece, and thankfully a lot of things stayed dry.

It was nice to help them move because it also gave us a chance to see our future home! Hopefully, this is where we will be moving to next August in order to finish our last phase of training. This is the older, smaller housing ... this is Jason's and Laken's apartment.

This is the newer, bigger housing for families...

And standing in the same spot as the previous picture, but looking down the hill instead of up, you can see the classroom and administration buildings. It's a little bit of a walk, but not bad.

Here are the administration buildings.

And that classroom building.

Here is the beautiful lake. It is really pretty! We love the location of the campus. It's on the Lake of the Ozarks.

One other nice thing about visiting was that we got to see quite a few Bible school friends! It was nice to see Brett and Kelli and baby Addie.

After a quick few days in Missouri, we drove home through the night last night (less traffic, no construction hold-ups, and no rain= much faster arrival time!!!). It was so nice to get home to see this little girl who stayed with my parents. It's the longest we've been away from her, and we sure missed her... but I think she had such a good time that she didn't really miss us much. She will love the MTC too- it is very kid-friendly with playgrounds and lots of other kids and lots of area to run.