The Cook House

Unlike our houses in Canada, national houses here are very different as you can imagine.  One of those differences is you have a separate house to cook in.  Since the cooking is all done over a fire they do not want this smoke in the place where they sleep.  Most buldings here are built up on stilts to allow for better air flow and to try to keep a few of the critters out but dispite this nationals have to rebuild their houses quite often.  The pictures below are of the boys helping a family demolish their old cook house so that they could build a new one.  The mom shared with me that it was very old, about 8 years old and was getting very unsafe. The boys had a blast helping to tear the house down!  It is always great to make friends while wrecking something.  Here the boys are with their buddy Judah and  his little sister Esther. 

Oh what a face of great concentration and power (or is that fear)

The Bush Boy!!

                                                 
                                             Happy Birthday Kaleb!!


                                                  

Can you believe that he is twelve!   That is right today we celebrated Kalebs twelve Birthday, actually not tecnically until tomorrow back home but since we gained a day coming he got to sneek it in early.  Today at church, when Pastor Jacob called Kaleb up to pray for him he also got the whole congregation to give twelve claps.  It sounded like a lot of years.  He keeps reminding me that there is only one more year until he is a teenager!! YIKES Kaleb is also quite happy with the Tok pisin language, as there is no `c`in the language, they always spell his name right!

 

                                            The beautiful sky on the eve of Kalebs birthday! 

Snakes!!

                                                            Here we have Dr Addy!

 

and here we have the snake!

This snake is minus a head and it is a good thing for us, not so good for the gentleman who was bit the night before.  It is a good thing that the hospital is here as the man was able to get here late that night and as a result his life was saved!  The snake shown here is a death adder.  It is not very big but it has a deadly bite! 

The morning  these pics were taken we were invited up to the hospital for a snake talk.  Dr Addy was able to educate us on, first of all how to avoid getting bitten, and what to do if such a thing should happen.  It was great for the boys to see the real snake and to hear about prevention.  Hopefilly that will deture them from going where they should not be. 

Dr Addy in the picture above was taking a piece of the snakes tail to send away to Port Morsbey for testing.  They are currently doing some research on the death adder, as how it effects its victims seems to be changing.  The death adder bites side effects have been presenting as if it were a different kind of snake but this time they had cold hard evidence that it was an adder!

Stay safe, Keep your eyes down and your chin up!

Mel for the Marshes

Star Light Star Bright

Good morning everyone!  Last night we were able to see the stars!  This is so exciting because usually it is raining as we climb into bed and we don't get to see them twinkling.  Last night I was especially touched as I looked out, I saw the constilation O'rien, which is one of the two that I would be able to pick out of the sky at home, the other being the big dipper.  That was pretty cool and very comforting to me, that while we are a world away we are still sleeping under the same big sky!!  Thank you for sharing your stars with us!  Isn't God Awsome!
It makes me think of little mice and a  song "Somewhere out there".  Try not to break out singing!              Mel for the Marshes

Jay at work

Hi everyone, just wanted to send a long a few pic to share some of the work that Jay has been involved in so far. hard to believe we have only been here in Rumginae three weeks today! Jay is helping to load a medivac patient into the ambulance to carry him to the hospital. This man was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got in front of an angry man. The result was a spear in his back. Thank the Lord when they went in to operate they found that it had missed all of the vital bits! Later when Jay and Rick (fellow pilot) were able to go check on him, he was sitting up and able to thank them!

The medivac patient strapped into the plane. Not the most comfortable way to fly but a little difficult to sit up

Sign speaks for it's self. This is Jay`s home base!

Oh look!! The mail man has arrived! It is always exciting when mail comes in. Just one of the little but important things that Jay brings back with him. One of the others is fresh veggies every week!

Thanks for sharing in our life!

Blessings to you all!

Mel for the Marshes

Hieghts & Bites

What do you think of that climb? I took this picture just off of our balcony. This boy was elected to go up the tree to chop down some kulau (green coconut provide a very refreshing drink on a hot day, it even has a bit of fizz) for all the boys to share. It was pretty amazing to see him shimmy up the tree with a bush knife in hand. No sweat!! Depending who you are.

Ok another guess what it is?? Yes we are far away from home but we are not on the moon! Our last mystery pic was taken in Australia at the beach. The little balls are sand balls that the crabs make while digging their holes!

Thank goodness this leaf bug was found dead and I am not sure if he would bite you but he is really impressive. We are however receiving a lot of mosquito bites!! What a pain and a terrible itch! Those of you at home can take comfort in the fact that mosquito season is over!

Good bye for now,

Mel for the Marshes