Little Blessings

Although Homeschooling can be a lot of work, it is a joy to have this privilege with my kids.  My little Preschooler, Tiernan, can read simple words now...he loves being a student! :)

Another amazing thing has been the ability to video skype with family and friends back home!!  We weren't sure if this was something we would be able to do.....so thankful!

I can get emotional about this one too.....a privilege to recently have had Bob Kennel over for lunch while he was passing through Wewak.  Like my parents have been an inspiration to me over the years because of their love for God and desire to do things that count for eternity, so have Bob and his wife Noby.  As we were preparing to head to PNG and I would struggle with emotions about leaving family, home, etc....we heard that Bob and Noby, who had many years before been involved in a church plant amongst an unreached people group of Papua New Guinea (The Kennels and their co-workers had seen believers taught and discipled unto mature believers and an indiginous, self supporting church with functioning leaders established, who were sending out their own people to see other groups reached with the Gospel), were heading into another people group here to start over with language learning (although in the same language 'family' as the previous group, still a separate and different language) and help aid a team of existing missionaries to teach and disciple new believers.  Although in his early 60's, Bob has, in under a year, learned the language and Noby isn't too far behind!  He has been teaching through Galatians and about to start Ephesians - key Epistles to ground believers in their walks with the Lord.  This has been such an encouragement to me as I was struggling inwardly at times with asking myself, "is this worth it?"!  If they can do it, not only once, but a second time........then so can I!

This is kind of shallow of me, but another thing I was lamenting before we came here was the fact that our kids might grow up not knowing what a playground is!  Well, it just so happens that here on the base we are at for this year, there is a mini playground....fun trees to climb in.....beaches nearby......not to mention the many friends that our kids have to play with!  God is good! 

Ben and I are thankful too for our fellow missionaries here on base and in the different tribal areas here in Papua New Guinea.  We feel priviledged to know these people! 

Forgot to mention the amazingly created creatures and critters.....not that they are all enjoyable, but this tree frog is pretty amazing!

            Can't forget the Ghiradelli chocolate chips.....a definite blessing!   Thanks Mom!! :)

Meta is a blessing.....a friend now to me and my family.  I think that Silas has won her heart.....he calls her 'Peta' :)  She helps us around the house two mornings a week while I homeschool then we sit and talk in Pidgin for a couple of hours during and after lunch.  She is a big help for me and my language study....patient as I ask her for the hundredth time how to say something or as I try to say something fairly simple but it takes a whole minute to get from my brain to come out of my mouth! 

This is just a random picture, but if you are reading this, you are one of my 'blessings'.  My beloved family, 'family-in-laws', and my friends.....thank you for being a part of my life!  You are missed much!


The greatest blessing, which is definetely not 'little' is what the words below talk about....Jesus.....these are the lyrics from the group, Leeland...... 'Via Dolorosa'.......great song!

He traded His crown for a crown of thorns,
He picked up His cross and laid down His sword.
He stumbled down the road, bruised and beaten for me,
Jesus walked the way of grief, hallelujah.

On the Via Dolorosa
All my sin was carried away.
And the power of Hell was broken
As He gave His life away.

He knew it was to come from the very start,
But His love for all the world beat inside His heart.
He climbed the road of suffering to the hill of Cavalry,
Where the saints would be redeemed, hallelujah.

On the Via Dolorosa
All my sin was carried away.
And the power of Hell was broken
As He gave His life away.

Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon,
Soon He would rise and the world would be forgiven.

Hallelujah, Jesus rose again.
On the cross He shed His blood on Calvary,
And I'm thankful for the journey of my King.

On the Via Dolorosa
All my sin was carried away.
And the power of Hell was broken
As He gave His life away.
Oh, as He gave His life away.

He traded His crown for a crown of thorns.

Looking Back

It is hard to believe that we have been in Papua New Guinea for almost two weeks already!  The first week was full of adjusting to many things, including the heat, cooking with food that is available here or not cooking many things I used to b/c of what you can't find here, the cost of food, the beauty that we see when we walk out our door, giving the kids baths EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!  (Ugh!),  the many tiny ants that seem to find a crumb on our floor or counter in a split second, cute little gecko's that hide behind curtains and things in our house and make a sound that I always think is some kind of bird until Ben corrects me AGAIN, the different emotions that seem to come out of nowhere at times, etc......
Last week went so fast that I can't believe it.  We started homeschooling where we left off about a month or so ago in Michigan.  Yea, it has been almost exactly a month since we left our home and loved ones in the good ole USA!  We have also been meeting with our leaders/co-workers here who have been orientating us to many different things from what medicines we need to have on hand, to finding out how to get to town and back, to meeting our neighbors, to general contingency, to getting a cell phone (yes, a cell phone!), to being introduced to the one hotel here in this region that is kept up nicely where you can buy a meal and swim in their pool for a pretty good price........
So far, it is taking very long to upload even one picture to my blog, but yesterday was able to put a bunch on facebook, so I hope that you can see them there.  Not any pictures of the PNG people yet, but will have some soon.  You feel a little funny whipping out the camera the first time you are at the market or the first time meeting a neighbor, so we will bring that extra attention to ourselves here in the next week or so!

From N. Ireland... Through Airports...To Australia

We had a great time in N. Ireland and then had to say some more goodbyes to loved ones......we got up early Saturday morning and headed to the airport.  God provided in many amazing ways for us as we flew over 21 hours and sat in airports for more than 15 hours from Belfast to London, Hong Kong, Melbourne and then to Cairns, Australia where we are now!  If you want to see more details about that, you can look on our ministry blog at http://ntm.org/benjamin_hatton or go to the link to the right of this post.  We arrived in Cairns almost two days ago and were able to stay up that first day until night time here.  We got a good night sleep and although we felt a little tipsy yesterday, we managed to keep ourselves on a normal schedule.  We slept again last night, but the jetlag is showing a little bit as all of us were wide awake around 3:30 this morning!  So, we finally got up an hour later and had breakfast.  The sun is coming up here now but I think we will all try to sleep again for a couple of hours!  When we wake up mid morning, many of you will be cleaning up after supper!  If we are calculating this right, we are 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time (home in Michigan).  Of course that will change as you 'fall back'.

We are in a tropical climate here in Cairns, which is strange, because when we flew here from Melbourne, which is a 3 hour flight south, the climate was very different.  It seems that Australia is much bigger than I thought!  It is spring time here right now and it reminds us a lot of Florida.  In the next day or so, we will post some pictures of Australia.  Thanks so much for thinking of us, praying for us and keeping in touch.  There is no turning back now, but we miss home and all of you very, very much!! 

Beautiful Creation

I had to post one more blog before I go to bed.....We took a very pretty walk today at a place called Whitehead.  I hope you can get an idea of some of what we saw today.  God has given us great weather since being here and it is supposed to be beautiful all week...an answer to prayer because we really didn't have room to bring too many jackets or cold weather clothes.  We were given a gift to buy a new camera so we are trying to figure it out a bit, but I had some lenses from years past that fit the camera and they helped to make some good pictures...hope you enjoy!

That white lighthouse on top of the cliff is where we walked to...

We stopped part way to have a snack to give us energy for the rest of the hike up there....it was quite a walk!

The lighthouse was nothing to write home about (although I am writing home about it, aren't I!!), but the views were spectacular!

Finally, after much walking, the kids were able to pick up shells and rocks!

I know there are a lot of Silas, but he was so cute!

They filled their bags with treasures.....what a lovely day!

Traditions At Nana's

We popped in at Nana's house unannounced early last night.  Nana is Benjamin's grandma on his dad's side.  As we pulled up to the house, we heard the music of an icecream truck nearby.  I had always wanted to stop one of those in Michigan, but they always seemed a bit creepy, so I never did.  This one was new and bright looking and children from the neighborhood were running towards it as we pulled up.  So, I quickly pulled out some British Pounds from my wallet and we ran up to the truck.  Each of us ordered a "Ninety Nine" - that is a soft serve type cone......don't ask me what the significance of a that name is - they stick a "flake" in the icecream, which is a rectangular piece of flaky chocolate.  Can anyone relate to this?  I had never heard of it before except when we were in Ireland 5 years ago.  Anyway, the kids (and I) loved it....and they ate it in Nana's living room.

 Then we made supper!  Have you ever had a Crisp Sandwhich?  I hadn't either, but it was very simple and pretty tasty.  Benjamin grew up eating these whenever they were in N. Ireland on furloughs - it is a common school boy/girl's lunch here I am told.  It is basically a bag of crisps (or potatoe chips) squashed between buttered bread.  I am not sure what the kids thought of it....kind of strange, but it is potatoe chips, so who doesn't like that??!!  I have some pictures to show the different stages of assembling this interesting tradition.  This is something that even your kids can make at home with not too much fuss! Enjoy! :)