Packing, Basketball and God's Provisions

 

We were so thankful to have the opportunity for Naomi to have her birthmark removed at Boston Children's Hospital. In Nova Scotia the appointments for dermatology and options for surgery were very limited with the backup from covid in the health care system. But it seemed as though Naomi missed her birthmark. 😊

A friend in our church gave us a lot of essential oils to take with us! Amazing!

Packing! We were given this small suitcase but we weren't sure if we could use it. It was very nice and heavy duty that we were able to pack 50 lbs of books in it! It is the same weight as the other bag next to it!

The excitment of eating Dad's homemade ice cream!

Another gift from a friend in church! We were given so many suitcases from many people in our church. And in the end we were allowed to check 12 suitcases on our flights!

Our church started having more activities a few months before we left. Basketball was one of Jonathan's favorites!

Our packing room was usually a mess! But God enabled us to finish all our work of packing and cleaning and sorting! We are continually amazed by all He did to get us back here to PNG!

Visiting Friends!

 

We enjoyed some last visits with friends in our last few weeks at home.

Abby is a long time friend and support of ours! So we were thankful that Covid allowed for us to see her right before we left!

Marlene is also a long time friend and supporter, but with a health condition that didn't allow her out of her house much during covid. Thankfully Covid lifted a bit and we were able to go visit her outside.

And she had a beautiful yard for the kids to run around in! They hadn't been outside in the "warm" weather for a long time, so this was a treat!

More Snow!

I kept telling the kids in Feb, this will probably be your last time to play in snow for 4 years, so have fun! But then in March the snow kept coming!

We definitely enjoyed the beauty of the snow!

 

And the kids and Jacob enjoyed playing in the snow!

I love this photo!

Last Trip to Boston

 

Our last hotel stay in Boston and in the US... the kids are amazed at the height of the building.

They always have fun when we get to go somewhere and stay in a hotel! This time we are in Boston for Naomi's last surgery to have her birthmark removed. Then back to PNG we go!

Everything went very well! It was a simple quick surgery, the recovery time was longer than the surgery itself. So we were so thankful for how well it went!

After recovery we did a little tour of Boston. A friend paid for us to go see the Boston Tea Party Museum! Fun!

They even got to pretend to throw tea overboard!

And we got to be a part of a town meeting!

On our walk around Boston, we spotted a Trader Joe's! Exciting! We hadn't been to a Trader Joe's at all while we were home for 14 months!

The view from our hotel room was not one that we would be seeing very often after leaving America!

Eating breakfast in our hotel after surgery and after our Trader Joe's visit. :) We were so thankful for all that the neurologist told us after the surgery. Since Naomi's MRI was clear, she wouldn't need another MRI for 2 years. And if that one is also clear, perhaps she won't need many more MRIs the rest of her life! Thankfully we have found out that there is a nice hospital in the capital of PNG now that has the option of MRIs as well as an ophthalmologist for Naomi's annual check ups. 

Homeschool Fun

 

O for Octopus - We learned a bit about Octopus and got to make hot dogs into Octopus for Naomi's kindergarten curriculum.  Apparently they tasted better that way!

Watching water evaporate... learning about ice, steam and water

Math fun!

Math confusion

And more O for Octopus learning fun!

My turn to learn - how to French braid Naomi's hair!

My mom and I got our hair cut and Naomi got a French braid!

Practicing at home