Staff Christmas get-together!

 Pete carving the meat...

 Waiting for the arrival of all the yummy food!

 Jacob & I, Julie, Jessica, Micah, Josh, Kelsey, Diemo, Jonny, Marco, Pete & Lesley, Janie &Jack enjoying Christmas goodies! This is our current staff on campus but many of us are away are not quite here yet. We look forward to Drew & Bobbi and family returning with their new little one! And Janie returning from home assignment! And two more families arriving in January!

 We had to watch a traditional Christmas movie, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

 The fun times of a White elephant gift exchange!

Village Christmas Tournaments!

 This year, all the villages around us decided to organize a sports tournament of basketball and volleyball.

 Everyone made up their own teams and gave a bit of money to play. The winner of each sport gets the money in the end!

 Linet, in the purple t-shirt, works in the kitchen!

 It was fun to watch my friends play... the ladies I work with in the kitchen... here is Piku!

Momore playing with the kids on the side lines...

 Many ladies come just to sell bananas, cucumbers, scones, etc to all that gather to watch and play. Julie and I like to sit with them and "story" and work on our bilems (string bags)!

Christmas Party with the Ladies

 Every Christmas I invite all the ladies that work in the kitchen to come for a little Christmas party! It is always a fun time!

Suzanna and Piku had a great time playing tic-tac-toe with my Christmas tic-tac-toe board. :)

 Soon Linet and Loli were playing too. :)

 Loli, I call her Mama, because she says I am her child... she works in the kitchen cutting fruit and veggies for us.

 Utu also helps in the kitchen with veggie and fruit prep... a great worker!

 Piku is trying out one of those metal puzzles, the ones you have to try to get apart. Piku washes the laundry and Ninike, on the right, washes dishes in the kitchen.

 Julie also washes dishes in the kitchen!

 They tried the rubix cube but that didn't last long... then they just watched Jacob fix it. :)

 We made some rice with tin fish on top for a late lunch... it is one of their favorite dishes!

I also baked a loaf of banana bread for each of them to take home for Christmas! Another favorite!.. Starting on the left and going around is Utu, Efeke, Sone, Rose, Julie, Suzanna, Piku, Ninike, Loli and Linet... I'm so grateful for all their work they do in the kitchen!!

The beginning of the new Classroom floor...

In February, our co-workers parents are coming to visit and to work! Hank, Lesley's dad, is an expert with cement! And our classroom floor is in very bad shape and has been for many years. For the last year, the guys have been planning for this big project. But last week we heard that the only cement factory in the country closed down!! There was no more cement!! We were a bit worried because we needed 150 bags! But thankfully God provided! We got the cement!!!

Christmas decorating!

 Jonny and Diemo decorating our house with lights!

 Jacob and I decorating our tree! Our second Christmas in PNG!

  Julie helping decorate the tree... I think we need a bigger tree... too many ornaments! :)

After decorating we were ready to eat a bit of chili and cornbread, despite the mess!

And we couldn't forget to take our traditional Christmas photo! This was take one... all of us laughing after watching Julie run like crazy up the ladder to jump in the photo!

We had a great time decorating with everyone once again! 

We love our fireplace for those cold evenings, as low as 55 degrees F/ 13 degrees C! :)... and we even have Christmas presents under the tree... Thanks Mom and Dad Devine!

 Now we get to enjoy relaxing by the fire every evening with Christmas ambiance!

Relaxing in Madang!!

 Jonny, Marco, Diemo, Jacob and I were very excited about heading to Madang just after American Thanksgiving! We were ready for some relaxing!

 Jacob, Jonny, Diemo and Marco enjoying fresh fish, the nationals fry it over an open fire and sell it in this market here by the ocean. This is a very cheap lunch, but very tasty! We ate here almost every day!

 Jacob enjoyed a little golf...

 It wasn't the typical golf course because there were random people hanging out, someone digging up the green with a machete and someone using the first hole as a driving range. But Jacob managed to enjoy it!

 Jacob also played a bit of tennis with the guys too, at the Madang Resort.

 We enjoyed the Seafood buffet at the Coastwatchers Restaurant... they even had a chocolate fountain!

So sad, our time in Madang is over... waiting for the plane.