Catch up.

The weekend flew by, so I'm just now taking the time to write about it.

We had a restful Sabbath. It was fairly overcast, and we enjoyed that! I opted to keep Jason home for a morning nap and then just go for Sabbath School so he would be rested up for our beach trip on Sunday. Jason took a very good nap then, and also took another good one in the afternoon, so Eric and I were able to get some rest too!

Saturday evening I worked on putting together the food for the beach trip. I cut up all the fruit for the fruit salad and also made the macaroni salad. Eric had to do a flight first thing Sunday morning, so by doing the bulk of the work Saturday night I wasn't left with too much to do by myself the next day!

We woke up to gray skies and steady rain Sunday morning. Still, the weather looked like it would improve, so no need to cancel the beach trip. Eric made his flight just fine; had to fight some weather, but nothing major. The folks that had requested the flight were very appreciative.

The boys and I worked to get things ready for the beach. I wasn't saying anything to Jason about the day's plans, but then Jan came over and mentioned to him that we were going to the beach. Jason just started bouncing off the walls and running around screaming, "Going to beach!" I told him we had to wait for Daddy to get home first, so then he was running around yelling, "Daddy coming. Go to beach". I wasn't getting any peace, so thought I'd try using his excitement to my advantage. Jason's real good about taking a nap if he knows that we're going to do something fun when he wakes up. Oftentimes if I have trouble getting him to sleep in the afternoons I tell him, "Go to sleep. Daddy will be home soon and then you can have a motorbike ride." So he'll quickly calm down, repeating to himself, "Sleep now. Daddy coming soon. Go motorbike ride!" I told Jason, "Go to sleep. When Daddy gets here we'll go to the beach." It worked like a charm!

I wasn't anticipating Jason napping before the trip, but since he did I was very glad! I was able to finish cleaning up the kitchen and getting the car all loaded before Eric got home. Zachary's friends came over just after 8:30, and we were all on the road by 9:00.

The road to the beach has in no way improved in the two years since I was last there. It was horrible! We had to stop a few times for Jason to take a potty break, but for the most part he was very patient with the long drive.

It was still drizzling rain when we got to the beach, but we were able to get all our stuff from the car to the beach (1/4 mile) in just one trip. Jan and Bob had arrived earlier than we had, so they'd already grabbed a 'pondok' and set up camp. The boys changed clothes quickly and ran to play in the waves. They were really big! Jason had a blast for about the first 20 minutes, and then it got sort of boring after that. He enjoyed just walking around in the sand, and even got buried in it (in a sitting position) by Grandma and Papa!

After a light dinner of sandwiches, macaroni salad, watermelon and fruit salad, we left the beach early. Jan needed to be home by 3pm for piano rehearsal, so the rest of us came home as well. The boys had worn themselves out, and Jason needed a nap anyways. It was very good to be home so early. We could get everything cleaned up and still have the afternoon and evening to get some things done.

Eric is not flying today. He's got several meetings, some of them are not going to be pleasant. Personnel problems at work. I know he'd much rather be flying! Zachary's had a good day in spite of all the activities yesterday. I let him sleep in until nearly 7:30 this morning, and I think that helped. He was quite red in the face yesterday from sunburn, but he slept well and doesn't look too bad today. Jason's been asking to go to the beach again, but I keep telling him not now...and probably not again for several more months! Could be Stephanie would like to go once more before leaving, but we'll see.

There's still a high overcast today. The weather has definitely changed for the time being!

Stay tuned...

Ready to Rest!

Eric, Bob and Rohan landed just before 12:30 this afternoon. Zachary, Jason and I were there to meet them, along with Rohan's wife and son (their 2 daughters were in school). They were glad to be back, and we were all glad to see them!

Eric had a nice time over in Goroka. The PAC is a nice airplane, but not the ideal aircraft for our operations here. There's a guy in Australia who's trying to get us to lease a PAC from him, but he has quite a few requirements that we're not sure we can fulfill with this type of plane.

Our puppy dog is finally getting a new home! We only had 4 puppies this time around, so I didn't advertise. Three went right away, and we sort of got stuck with this fourth one. She's nice, but we really don't want two dogs. Anyway, in a passing conversation Bob found a missionary couple in town who were wanting one of our puppies should Panda ever have more. Bob mentioned that we in fact still had one left from her last litter! They came out Tuesday afternoon to meet the puppy, and since deciding to take her, they will pick her up momentarily.

Eric's outside planting some Brazilian cherry tree cuttings he brought from Goroka. I think it's too hot to have success with those, but Eric has fun trying anyway. I'm going to take a quick shower and then it will be Eric's turn.

We're having Friday night supper here this evening. Jan's bringing broccoli salad! (They get broccoli year-round in Goroka...lucky dogs!). I've made a spinach soup and toasted French bread with garlic/olive oil toasted on top. We'll have fruit and other things as well.

Happy Sabbath!!! (though I know it won't reach the rest of you for another full day...)

Stay tuned...

Heading Home!

Jan got an email from Bob this morning. Eric flew the PAC all day yesterday; I'm sure he had a fabulous time! They anticipated departing Goroka between 8am-9am, so they should be on their way by now (they're one hour ahead of us over there). We've got the radio on and are hoping to hear an ETA soon!

I'll be going to market with Jan around 8:30. I don't need much, but I do need to get some papaya and pineapple to go in the fruit salad I'm making for the beach trip. Zachary has decided to invite two friends, Gilberth and Wilfred. It will be just a small group going, so that should be nice. We're leaving early and going to a different beach than we normally go to. Jan needs to get home in good time that afternoon for Classical Night practice.

Stay tuned...

Different Day

This day has been at bit out of the ordinary.

I worked in the library yesterday, as usual, but I have been preparing for our annual inventory, and that's quite a process. I'll spare you the gory details. Anyway, I didn't get things all finished yesterday, so I decided to come in this afternoon since I'm still resting my ankle (thus no water aerobics). I'm here now and should be leaving in about 20 minutes; just waiting for the last few things to print.

Jan invited the boys and me to join Stephanie and her for dinner today at a place in the Sentani mall. We planned to go about 12:30 so that Jan could leave from there for water aerobics. Well, since I was planning to come in to the library I decided to give Jason his dinner early and just leave him home with Enda so I could come straight to the library. That plan worked great!

Stephanie, Zachary and I left home just after noon so I could do some quick shopping at the supermarket in the mall. Jan had gone to town earlier to get a haircut and run some errands, and we met up with her at the supermarket. After putting our groceries away in our truck Zachary and I went to scope out the third floor of the mall; we've never been up there! There's a big video arcade, where I know a lot of expats take their kids. There's also a food court (all Chinese-Indonesian cuisine), and a very big book store just opened recently. It's huge! I'll have to go again sometime when I have the time to just browse.

Dinner was just fine. We had some fried rice, fried noodles, and two tofu dishes. The portions were pretty small for the price we paid, but the food was not that bad. Stephanie, Zachary and I left from dinner to come up here to HIS. I've been working on inventory while Zachary's been doing his homework. He lost the privilege of going to the pool today because he had a very nasty attitude this morning! Anyways, he's always more than happy to come to the library. Stephanie has a computer class here each afternoon...

So, my print jobs have all finished now, so I'm going to get home. I've not heard directly from Eric, but Bob has sent a few messages to Jan. They're all doing well. Very cold! Things are still on schedule for them to return home tomorrow!

Beach trip still on for Sunday.

Stay tuned...

Back on.

I'm feeling more motivated to keep a blog going, so we're back on now. I plan to update the site each evening with the days news, but that's no guarantee. Check back as often as possible to find out the latest and greatest...!

Right now, in an nutshell :

• Eric is in Goroka, PNG, until Friday of this week checking out the PAC-750 as AMA is considering purchasing one for use in Papua.
• Heidi has upped her thyroid meds in the hopes of more energy. (This is with approval from both doctors)
• Zachary is looking forward to a family beach trip on Sunday!
• Jason has so much going on in his little world it would take too long to write out, but he's happy and healthy, and that's the important thing.

Stay tuned for more!