And Finally the Roof and Walls!

We had very long sheets of tin to go on the roof

It was tricky to get it on the roof safely and the roof was also very steep to walk on.

But the guys did a great job and we got the roof on safe and sound. Now our precious floor is safe and out of the rain!

Naomi and Jonathan were amazed at how the disappearing house reappeared!

And they had fun using it as a jungle gym! :)

I think everybody felt that the pressure is off after we finally got the roof on safely . we all felt like running around the house yelling...except we didn't, Jonathan and Naomi have that pleasure.

The next step was to get siding on the house.

The floor is really starting to look nice here! A lot of work but it is worth it!

Just a few finishing touches and the outside of the house will be complete!

Water Fun!

 We enjoyed our last trip to Wom beach before we move to the Highlands...

 And our last time at the Boutique as well...

Friends, Play & the last days of School

 Jonathan's good friend Paxden came back from the US after their families Home Assignment! They are happy to play together for a few days before Paxden's family went back into the tribal area, Pei!

 Naomi is enjoying a slide again!

 Naomi loves to get "cozy" on mom and dad's bed! :)

 Dirt Play!

 "Look mom, I can climb all by myself!"

 Jonathan's friend, Julia, was visiting Wewak with her family so they could take a break/help on the house build! So she joined us for school one morning! It is quite fun because Julie and Jonathan will be in 1st Grade together when we move to Goroka! And it was amazing to see how well Jonathan could pay attention and work quickly with someone else in his class! I think he will LOVE having school with other children!

 Learning about the planets!

 "Anyone want to play monopoly?!"

 Superman and chalk fun!

 Learning about Australia Animals!

Shopping for Produce in Wewak

 We enjoy going to our local grocery store every Saturday to see what they have in stock each week! We get excited when they have real juice (without sugar) and apples!! And sometimes they even have celery!

 When there is extra space on the Kodiak airplane flights from the Highlands, we order produce to come for us. The weather there is great for growing gardens and so there is a lot more produce available there! It is quite exciting to get a couple boxes full of fresh veggies!! But the order that came to us after we arrived back from Brisbane was a very sad day... all of our veggies and apples were accidentally frozen. So I made applesauce with my frozen apples... yum! And apple muffins!

 And I boiled the carrots and made carrot puree.

 I used the carrot puree for muffins and it was actually yummy just as carrot puree too!

Carrot muffins with raisins! The kids loved them!

The Frame Goes Up!

Framing the house was another big challenge. Fortunately, the hardware stores in town recently started carrying treated lumber. This is great for us because the termites won't eat it!

We were fortunate to have Jason working here. He has framed many houses over the years and his expertise came in handy as he took the lead on making sure the house went up strong and according to plan.

Here is nail gun number 9...so far it is working great. The seals have not been ruined by the Sepik weather yet! The other 8 still need the seals repaired....

This is by far the biggest house here, even though it is only about 1,500 sq feet. total.- upstairs and down.

 For comparison- the average house size of house in US in 2016 is 2,687 sq feet according to the Census bureau.

It was a difficult decision to build a house so big in a country that usually has much smaller houses. but it is a real need to have a big house when missionary families have a lot of children.

For comparison, the two other houses in the background are all able to house two families.

And yes, just 8 months after falling off a roof, breaking my femur and getting a metal rod in my leg, there I am again in the red shirt building another roof.

Father's Day

 We made Jacob an Apple Ice Cream Pie for Father's Day! Yum!

 And we went to church... the kids are enjoying all the crayons that so many friends have sent us!

 The church is building a new Sunday School building which they hope to finish soon.

This is the current Sunday school building which is used for all ages. But soon they hope to have the younger kids here and the older kids in the new building.