Pierces 5th Birthday!

 

 

FUN WAS HAD BY ALL…..

Then Nap time!!

Simon Peter update (our friends 14 week premature miracle baby)

Thanks so much for all your prayers here is the latest update from Ben and Anna
Dear Friends and Family,
For some of you this will not come as news but we realized too that in all the busyness of the last 2 weeks there are people who we have not been able to be in touch with yet. So here is a brief summary of what’s been going on in the last couple of weeks to bring everyone up to speed.
Simon Peter Story was born around 8:30 am, July 31, Vanutua time.  He was just over 25 weeks gestation and weighed 980 gms / 2lbs. He was born in the Santo hospital but they were ill equipped to handle such a premature baby.  We had an 11 hour wait with only a little oxygen, a couple of hot water bottles and blankets and a lot of prayer, while we negotiated with our insurance company to get him medivac to Australia.
We had a wonderful Australian midwife helping a PNG doctor to keep him breathing and our friends Bill and Christina and Anna's parents helping and supporting us the whole time. The medivac team arrived around 19:30 by this stage the midwife and doctor had been resuscitating him for about half an hour. The medivac team took a few hours to stabalise him and we left for Brisbane around midnight.
Simon is still in hospital here in Brisbane and as most premature babies are usually kept until their original due date, we expect him to be there until the beginning of November.  He is doing quite well at the moment and the doctors seem pleased with his progress.  He had a rough couple of days earlier this week. He wasn't keeping his food down (which is feed through a tube) so they stopped giving him Anna’s milk. His oxygen levels were also up and down and they decided to give him a blood transfusion because his hemoglobin levels had been low and weren't improving. Also he had an infection in his eyes which they started treating with a course of antibiotics. Over the weekend things have actually improved. Simon had responded well to the antibiotics and the blood transfusion and they have started feeding him milk again. The doctors said this is all quite normal and we could realistically expect a few similar episodes again along the way to overall improvement.
We visit Simon in the hospital every day.  He still has various tubes going in to him, to help with his breathing and feeding, and wires attached for monitoring so our interaction with him is fairly limited.
We can hold his hand and help the nurses with his ‘cares’ (changing his nappy/ diaper) and hold his feeding tube when they give him his milk, but much of the time we are limited to looking at and talking to him through the hole in the side wall of his incubator. We have been able to cuddle with him 3 times now but this is only possible a couple of times a week.
Anna's parents were able to follow us from Vanuatu to Australia (a slight detour in their holiday plans) but had to return home after the first week here. We are staying at the YWAM base in Brisbane which is about a 30 minute journey from the hospital. Anna and I are doing okay, but tired but I’m sure that's pretty normal for any new parents.
We have felt very well supported here and have had a number of friends come and visit us at the hospital too. I may have to go backwards and forwards to Vanuatu a couple of times in the next few months because our DTS is still in the middle of running. Juggling the different responsibilities of being here with Simon and Anna and making sure the students doing the DTS in Vanuatu still get a fair deal is quite a challenge. There are also practicalities of visas that need to be sorted in the next few weeks and then passport for Simon too.
Though it's hard sometimes we are really enjoying this new season however and we are also learning to trust God in a new and deeper way.
It seems a long journey ahead yet but we are confident in God and his promises and are putting our hope in him, trusting that he will be glorified, whatever the outcome of all this is. When we choose Simon's name, not knowing whether he would even make it through the first few hours, we had no idea that it meant "God hears us" but his life is already evidence of that truth and we are encouraged and awed as people around the world continue to call out to God for his life.
From this point on there probably won't be much news to report on a day to day basis as it’s mainly a case of Simon finishing off the growing that should have still been going on in the womb. For those of you that would like to be kept updated regularly though, let us know and we’ll try and make sure we drop you a line every few weeks or so.
We are also working on a more general update which we hope to get out soon too. Apologies that we probably won’t be able to respond personally to all emails during this time but we really do appreciate receiving them. For those of you who have facebook we will also try and upload a few photos from Simon’s adventure so far.
We really appreciative all your prayers and support. We feel very loved and blessed in the midst of this time!
Much love,
Ben and Anna

Been busy with immigration and adoption stuff & Josh has been building a Christian school

Josh (and sometimes Pierce) have been busy building a christian school with some missionaries from our church.  They are thrilled to have Josh as they have teams of volunteers at different times but not many skilled in carpentry so Josh is a HUGE help.  He is getting ready when this school is done to help our pastor some more with his house now that the container of supplies has arrived from Australia.  He is really enjoying getting to work in his field and really bless these guys.

For the last several weeks I have been pouring myself into the immigration and adoption process trying to get Bella either a visitors visa or full citizenship.  The full citizenship is really difficult as we have no embassy here.  Please be praying!! If we cannot get the full immigration process done we really need to get a visitors visa so that we can all come to the US to spend the holidays with my family.  We are aiming for Nov 11th.  Please pray we can get a visitors visa for Bella if not citizenship. 

Dahlia loving on her sister

My gramma is very sick with pancreatic cancer and so it is very important to us to get back and spend some time with her.  Because of this recent turn of events my parents will be heading home in a week.  SO we totally understand and think it is definitely the best thing to do, but we will miss them sorely!!!  They were originally going to stay through mid Oct so we are bummed, but know that is the best for them and gramma.  Please pray for her.

Pierce and Dahlia love having them here to play with!  Pierces birthday is coming up on the 20th of this month so we are planning on getting everyone together at the pool at the resort for a good time if we can get some sunshine.  We have had several weeks of rain and gloom, but not too cold.

 

I better sign off for now and hang out with my buddy Pierce who is patiently waiting for me while Dahlia and Bella sleep….

Blessings, Kristy and the fam

What is that… a pig for sale in the classifieds? A bit of local culture…

Josh and I laughed so hard at this…ONLY IN VANUATU!  See if you can translate this..It is in Bishlama.  I will give you a hint.  Just say it out loud phonetically.  Hope you laugh as much as we did. 

“Me salem won male pig

blong 45,000vt ($450!).  Tusk I kamaot long hem.  Spos yu interest plis call….(#)”

Ok too funny!  It says I am selling a male pig for $450, With long tusks.  If you are interested please call.  Who sells a pig in the classifieds next to the boats, trucks etc..

This was a local pig hanging around the medical clinics we had going a while back in a village.  Pigs have great significance in the culture and are still used for all celebrations, funerals, and weddings etc…

The best part is trying reading it out loud with your best impression of an island accent.  I won’t even get into what they call breast feeding as this is a G rated blog!  Let me just say the language was created by traders from the islands picking up the sailors English ,some of which was potty mouth slang, to make it easier for business.  So yeah the words for going to the bathroom “piss-piss & sitsit” when sounded out are awfully similar to our swear word for the same!  Pretty fun language to learn.  Makes you laugh….

Fried Chicken & Dogs (by my mom)

This is written by Roxy ( my mom)

A little time has gone by and still things are leaving a big impression.

I absolutely love working with the Youth With A Mission base here.   They are so lovely in every respect.   The Ni-vans (pronounced knee-vans, means the locals) smile a lot , are shy a bit, very friendly , overtly curious on the street and usually very helpful.   They speak a language called Bishlama, which is a type of pigeon English.  So about every 7th word you can understand.     I saw an advertisement for a credit card that read "Yumi blong card"    Yep, you get it, The card that belongs to you and me.   Things like that make you smile.   

Other than the ni-vans here there is a couple from Australia and with out them I am not sure how long the base would last.    This couple Jeff and Amanda are a little power house.   They have great networking skills with the government and are creative problem solvers.   Living amongst so much poverty creates many problems that you are just not big enough to handle but when you have the favor of the government you have many more resources to draw on.   I really admire them for all their energy, skill, and obvious love . 

So other than them, Kristy and Josh, and Dick and I ,  we are the "white People".   That is so funny, it sounds so racial but I haven't told the ni-vans how politically incorrect they are.

A couple weeks ago  for dinner we had fried chicken for our International  dinner.   We try to cook something that goes with the country that we are praying for that night.   Someone had heard of fried chicken so at 6:00 pm I was asked if I would help.   It should have been about done cooking but no one would even start because the ni-vans are afraid to cook for the whites. 

We had 60 ppl to cook for many Australians and New Zealanders and even a few Americans (2 different health care teams were here).   They asked me.   I have never cooked fried chicken successfully, usually I burn it on the outside before it is done on the inside.    Well, the long and the short of it was that it was quite successful, we had gravy and mashed potatoes.   I hate trying something that I am not sure of but it was real break through for me.   I want to help where ever I can and not feel that whatever I do is somehow a reflection of me, like if it goes bad that I really messed up.   It is hard to get free of yourself don't you think?   Well anyway , I loved being free enough of myself to just run the risk of cooking something for 60 ppl that I  would not even have done for 5 in my own kitchen with all the conveniences.  

 

Oh yeah, the rest of that story was that I was cooking outside by flashlight.  There was 1 light where we cook and it was not over the gas burner so while the pots were full of hot grease  and chicken, we picked up the table holding the gas 3 burner stove  and propane tank moved the whole set up so that I could at least see what I was cooking.    They had been cooking by flashlight for quite sometime.   the flashlights are on there cell  phones!    As the whole group was moving the set up I thought to myself "this could turn out quite badly, but we do have medical help here if necessary".

I wanted you to have a few pictures of our world here.   So that you can see my cooking set up.    Josh is working on a more formal kitchen but it still remains that we have a tiny refrigerator, for a young married couple this refrig would be a challenge, it is just so SMALL!   a gigantic freezer ( with no food in it) and well... as you can see below we don't really have  conventional oven or stove.    I love how they use 2 cinder blocks and 2 pieces of rebar.   That is the stove!  

When we have propane we use the 3 burner stove on the table top.    We do our wash up of dishes outside with dogs under foot.    

  Speaking of dogs, we eat out under the pavilion, it has a coral rock floor, when ppl are done with their leftovers they throw their bones to the dogs right there by the dinner table!   Help!    That was a bit too much for me and I have been asking ppl not to do that, white lady or not.  It conjures up thoughts  of Vikings eating their meat with their hands dripping with grease and then throwing the bones to the dogs and have the dogs fight for the bones with yelps and growls as background music.   Ya,  ...NO!    Yesterday I was thinking that we should have a Korean meal and serve up dog, and let them wonder where all the dogs went.   More than a few of us would be so relieved!  

Blessings to you all, thinking of you,

Roxy

TV ponderings and an update

It is 10:30 on a Friday night.  the kids are down and the house is quiet except for the background noise of cars on the road and the murmur of kids audio stories still playing in the kids room.  I had some chocolate slice ( an Australian cookie bar thing with coco and coconut I made today) and it is the perfect temperature with the cool breeze blowing through my louvered windows.  Ah.. Peace... I have to savor it since daytime with 3 kids is fun and always an adventure but not too often is it really peaceful!

I am even thinking of watching a movie on my computer after I write this....funny how you can go from a big old flat screen tv and although you love it and its great you adjust just fine to a tiny little computer screen and forget there is a difference.  Well I should talk for myself Josh is still trying to figure out how to get it here!  I don't see that happening in our tiny little village house!  Can you imagine.. always short on rent and grocery money but sporting a tv that takes up the whole living room (not a very big living room!)  Funny stuff.  Don't worry Kevin I don't see it happening any time soon!  Your sports are safe, sorry Janel.  Is it just me or is doing a work out video with one of those tvs like having a live instructor (life size!)  Not the same I suppose since you can pause or just sit there starring in confusion and no one can bother you about it!  Yeah much better than real life !

Just thinking of all of you right now and different things you have encouraged us with while we have been here.  And might I add keep the prayers and scriptures and words coming we are needing them.  Yeah we are trying not to wear ourselves thin, but it is hard to discern the line between balance and apathy.

 

The needs are real and desperate so it is hard, but we do have friends here that live a totally different life out of the village in the "white world" (my own verbiage) where we are able to relax.  It feels very bizarre to spend the day with them frolicking in a pool at a resort then return to the village where we see hunger, abuse, poverty, neglect and sickness.  I know it is not unique to this area but it is still real and hard just like it would be anywhere else you were face to face with it.  I do see one positive thing though in being in both worlds, and that is to really bring the two together.  I want to help these guys who are here (I go to an expat church) see the wide open mission field and life changing opportunities for service right in front of them.  Most are here on Government contracts or for other lucrative jobs for a period of time.   I would love to encourage the two worlds to meet more often.  Please pray for that.  I see need and abundance.  Where is Robin Hood when you need him?  I am looking forward to more mingling of the two groups as we are able to bring the needs to light and set up opportunities for them participate.

Josh seems to be doing great last I heard!  Thanks for all the prayers.  The mission team is loving it in Epi and the village is going all out for them with welcome feasts and all!  He says at night you can see two different volcanoes erupting bright red into the black sky.  Pretty cool. He will be back by boat (read cargo boat overloaded with people and stuff and no seats) on thursday.  We look forward to it.  The kids are doing surprisingly well.  I know having my parents here helps!  They are a great blessing!  I am working my tail off on the immigration thing and running into problems all over the place since I live here, and there is no embassy here!  I have to go to Papua New Guinea!  Sydney turned me down and said I have to go where my district determines and PNG is it.  He (the guy from PNG responsible for immigration) has already told us they will deny us until the child has spent two years in our custody, but that is wrong according to US law so I am very concerned about that. WOW that was a run on sentence.  No use in fixing it now!  We hear he will be replace in Sept as he is moving.. I hope so!

The ticket to get there alone not counting all the fees is around $1200!  THe fees are crazy as well, so we will continue in walking in faith.  we have made it for over 3 months with all our savings gone so I am sure the Lord will provide this as well.  We do have a tax return that should be showing up in Colorado any day now and that will help!  I am reallly enjoying my friend Lisa here who is also trying to adopt.  Funny fact.. The statistics on the government websites that cover foreign adoption and immigration show a total of , get this, 1 adoption from Vanuatu in the history of our records.  1 and all of a sudden there is Lisa and I with our two little pikinini's (kiddos!) trying at the same time to get all the adoptions and citizenships legalized.  No wonder they know nothing about it at the embassy! It has hardly been done before!

My parents are doing good and are a great source of wisdom  and blessing for the base here and we are really enjoying them. 

I think a bug just flew up my nose!  TOO MANY BUGS!  I now understand why the fly plague in the Bible really did suck!

Continuing on with that thought…They provide much needed administrative and organizational ministry support to help us not be so chaotic with so much going on and so little money to do it all with!  I am so glad they are here and the base leaders are really enjoying them as well.  We will be so sad to see them go in the end of Sept or beg of October... But we are using our return tickets to come home for the holidays.  It will be about 10 months we have been gone and we will be able to bring more stuff back supply wise.  We sure are enjoying the sun and fruits and veggies though!  Blessings  we sure appreciate all your prayers and words of wisdom.  Thanks again!

The treasures and trials of life abroad

I have one again let it go too long between blogs, and I must say much has transpired since I last wrote..

My dad had a root canal WITH NO NOVOCAIN or pain killer of any kind with out any notice for that matter!!  CRAZY man, he even went back for the follow up appointment to pull the last few roots!! And yes he did get a deal..$2!  I say the service was commensurate with the pay! Or in other words you get what you pay for!

2 of our guy dts students (like family here) got hauled off to prison to await sentencing for a minor crime committed 3 years ago that they pleaded guilty to.  They are now sitting in jail ,a square formation of shipping containers (connexes )with bars on the front that face each other to from a courtyard. They have their Bibles and a guitar hoping for what seems unlikely at the moment… a fair trial.  We are weary from the sadness and prayer that this entails.  Please be praying for Kalz and Jackson. 

I am CRAZY busy trying to get all my adoption paperwork in a row for the official adoption hearing to be held after our 3 month custody (July 19th), so we are hoping for a trial immediately after that date, and trying to arrange for an immigration interview for Bella with all the mounds of paperwork that that entails.  That has to be done in an entirely different country as there is no US embassy here in Vanuatu.  That is looking like Sydney Australia or Port Moresby Papua New Guinea.  WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE, BUT SO WORTH IT!!!!

Crazy as it sounds I have a new friend here who is going through exactly the same adoption immigration process as me who’s baby is only 2 weeks younger than mine.  So we are a great encouragement to each other.  It is so helpful having someone in the same situation to work together with. Her name is Lisa and her baby’s name is Koral (great island name isn’t it!)

I am continuing working with Rachel and the preschool as I can and we are currently investigating foreign aid that may help with the cost of a piece of land but who knows for sure.. It would be so awesome!  We are also trying to figure out a plan of action to set up a sponsorship program for the kids many needs like school fees and food…  There is a breakfast club plan we are wanting to get into place as well but we can’t do everything at once so all in Gods timing….

Josh is currently on a small island north of Efate where we live on the island of Epi where he is helping to lead a mission adventures team from New Zealand in a water tank project.  He along with the 15 or so others is sleeping on dirt floors, eating the food they brought over as there is not much in the way of stores, living with out electricity or much water (hence the water tank project!).  I have long since lost cell phone communication with him since his battery died in his cell phone… Hopefully if there is an emergency they will find some way to contact us.  Please pray for his health as he was sick with the flu and a had a badly infected thumb (infections can be a big deal in tropical countries). He is planning on going on a wild boar hunt if the chiefs go while he is there and is heading out for a fishing trip in a dug out canoe using small crabs as bait like the locals.  I know he will enjoy that!! But we sure miss him a lot!

The kiddos are healthy other than the colds, and LOVING spending so much time with Bappa and Mimi ( my parents).  They love spending the night (Pierce) and hanging out when I need to run an errand.  They (my parents) are so much more fun than me I love it!  They come home with crafts or new bedtime stories and games its the best!  What will we do with out them!!  Bella pretty much lives in my sling and on the sofa…no fancy swings, mobiles and kick gyms here!  She seems to be more than fine though and really smiles ALOT, she will fit right in with the Neeley clan!

The best part of being here…

We love feeling like we are here for a reason.  That is what keeps us going.  Lately I have been just spending time with kids that don’t have much in the way of money or life.  I find it really fulfilling to see hurting kids just being fed and loved.  Here are a few photos.

 

Pierce Dahlia and Angelina enjoying some popcorn at night before we walked her home.  She even stayed for bedtime stories.

My kiddos and with the other kids at preschool while we had a New Zealand team in to volunteer that day with puppets etc..

The three musketeers at the park in Port Vila.  We took Angelina and it was one of the first times in a REALLY long time she had ever gotten to go to town. 

  Angelina on the slide.

One of Rachael the teachers daughters up our coconut tree getting us coconuts to eat with the kids we had over that day.  Yes she climbed that tree and it is VERY TALL!

The preschool watching the volunteers use puppets to tell stories.

Dahlia, Nicole, and Jimmy at our house playing in the back yard one day after preschool.

 

Rachel the teacher holding Dahlia in preschool.  We recently found out Rachel often does not have enough food to feed her family so we along with my parents try to help out whenever we can with food.  Please be praying for her and her 6 kids.  She is due with the 7th in July.

Jimmy is a sweet boy who is not getting the love and attention he needs at home and still needs help with daily necessities.  We are finding that to be very common in our preschool. 

We are working on creating a sponsorship program to figure out the amount needed monthly to cover school fees, uniforms, food and help with their  families rent.  Please be thinking about this as we work out how much it will be.  We will taken NONE of it for overhead and ALL will go dirrectly to the kids families.  We will also be working out a way to check in to see if it is being properly spent on the children.

“Confessions of a Christian hedonist”

That is the title of a book by John Piper that has this as its theme…and yes hedonist does mean pleasure seeker…

“God is most glorified when I am most satisfied in him.”

 

l have been thinking about what God is wanting to teach us in our time right now, and also reading a book called “Marketplace Christianity” that my dad recommended (by Robert Fraser).  (A MUST READ FOR ANYONE!!!!)

In this book one of the things they talk about is the realm of spiritual giftings in the marketplace or business world.  So like the church sphere has apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists the business world has areas of spiritual giftings as well.  God is using the other millions of christians (97%) that are not in the church sphere to serve God and influence people for the kingdom of heaven

 

One of these giftings that stuck out to me was the one about treasure bringers.  It is a funny thing to say while we sit here with less than $30 cash to our name, but I really believe through a series of events that God has spoken to us that he will use us in this way. 

As Robert Fraser puts it “treasure bringers are anointed by God to make money and to do great deeds of compassion and mercy for the nations.”  They are totally motivated by seeing God as a benevolent father and they are free from greed and selfish ambition.  They want to make money to use it to bless others.  One guy like this was about to become a missionary but felt God lead him to start a business.  The business makes multi millions but they choose to  live in a modest 3 bedroom home and drive used cars.  He says “God has called me to make all the money I can and live on as little as possible”. 

(These are the local wood bunk beds my dad,Sam from the base and Josh have been busy building)

WOW!! I was totally humbled and realized that God needs to refine us if we are to be truly useful to God in that way.  I realized that living here with no money and very few things and surrounded by need is exactly the place to learn

TO BE COMPLETELY CONTENT WITH LITTLE, AND TO FIND GREATER JOY IN GIVING THAN KEEPING.

I realized now is the time to ENJOY GOD regardless of personal wealth.  To live here with JOY, Hope and Peace right now, not when we get a job. 

My AHHA moment came today when I saw that breakthrough is not when we can suffer through with little but when we can TRULY BE CONTENT because life really is not about things.  The great joy comes not just by being content but also by having the opportunity to GIVE. To see a need and meet it or help in some way. 

God doesn’t ask us to be completely satisfied with little and it stop there.  He lets us participate in BEING A BLESSING.  what an opportunity to experience real joy.

And so it is very true that “GOD IS MOST GLORIFIED WHEN i AM MOST SATISFIED IN HIM”

We are not meant to suffer through, but to ENJOY!!

So I am off to enjoy the rest of my day and I hope you will too.

(the photos are with some of the kids I bring home from preschool to play and have a meal…Angelina is the oldest, then there is Nicole her cousin and Jimmy.)  It really is a joy serving those guys.  I pray God will continue to use us to bring Joy and love to their lives.