The little house we just moved into

We just moved from the other house about 2 blocks away to this house.  My parents are still staying in the house we were in the village.  We moved so we could get the kids out of the village (This house is off the main road right before the village) for sickness reasons and a more convenient walk with the stroller to YWAM.  Now we can avoid the giant mud puddles that are really  hard to navigate in the stroller.  As soon as our lease is up in July my parents will move out of the other place and we will see what we do then.  Notice the 2 papaya (or paw paw as the Auzzies call it) trees.

Here is our messy living room as we haven’t found a place to put anything yet since we have no furniture.  So we are praying that in. You can see the kitchen through the pass through.  This house stays much cooler than the other house.

Josh and I and Bella’s room. Sheets are on the line drying.  Bella is laying content a rare thing lately!

Sorry I didn’t clear off the table but I thought if I tried to clean everything up you wouldn’t get any photos as it was one or the other before the baby needed me again!  The table from the landlord needs serious work as it is a shop type of table made with scrap lumber that the landlord had.  But the Oven (to have one!) is a serious upgrade for us!  Yeah!!

our tiny sink in our little bathroom.

The rest of our bathroom (shower & toilet). 

This house has hot water!

This is Pierce and Dahlias bed room.  Notice the bed goes into the doorway.  Can’t shut the door yet, but some friends of ours here had some bunk beds they are not using so they are giving them to us.  That will be great since the room is so small.

Grace upon Grace…

(written around May 19th or so)

It is weird to explain but we are finding so many other blessing in the midst of these trials.  I am sure by our 911 prayer emails it sounds like a hopeless or miserable situation but daily we are finding joy and blessing and encouragement to be here.   Although we have struggles we want to be here even though  we do miss home and the comforts that came with that like income, familiar food, and even our infrastructure in the US.

If you have never left the country for an extended amount of time on a missionary budget you may not know how hard it is, but it can be rough at times.  Everything is different even cooking and grocery shopping not to mention the differences when you suddenly find yourself with out much money to live on and are having to completely rely in faith on God to literally supply for your next trip to the grocery store.  Plus all the sickness.  The sacrifice is not with out reward though.

 

(this photo is from the annual celebration of when the gospel first came to Vanuatu.  The local church was congregating outside)

Blessings come in at just the right time or last minute.  In my prayer time yesterday (not usually as long as I want it to be since I now have 3 busy kids under 5!) I got Isaiah 51 which talks about Gods joy and gladness and constant salvation and was so encouraged.  I know that Gods heart for us is Joy and Gladness and reliance on Him in all times.  we are finding that in the midst of trial.

(Pierce with a baby turtle from when our friends took us to turtle bay with them)

Like yesterday for example.. I had a VERY trying day with the kids.  Pierce is still sick with a stomach bug, Dahlia has these blistering sores all over that are spreading (impetigo? I think it is) and my dad was still pretty laid up with his massively infected foot...I just could not get on top of things chore wise and could not find time to sit with out someone crying or needing me or trying to diffuse a situation with the kids.  So my back was tired, I was dying to read the email that had been downloaded from the internet at the base earlier by Josh but that was simply NOT GOING TO happen.  But later in the day Bella finally fell asleep (after what seemed like a whole day of holding  her and trying to get her back to sleep constantly), I had a great meeting with the teacher that I am working with at the preschool, and 3 yes I said 3 packages arrived for us, and Josh was finally feeling much better!  We had just spent our last dollar (literally) on diapers and laundry soap and our dear friends Julie and Shannon showed up with a box of food goodies that are usually too expensive to buy like imported apples, cereal, juice, special cookies and milk as well as a few other things.  What a treat!  

Then we got a package from Kathy & Becca Sanderson in Alaska filled I mean filled to the brim with treats for everyone!  Brand new gifts and clothes for Bella,Pierce and Dahlia as well as food treats for everyone!  IT was such a blessing!! We were shocked and they sent some cash that came at JUST the right time. 

 

And the third package came from Australia with an old staff member of Ywam that came for a visit and heard we had adopted.  Mind you this is someone we had never met or spoken to they just heard about us from our friends here.  She came with clothes for Bella and a two small stuffed animals and shirts for Pierce and Dahlia!  What a blessing.

(this photos is a random photo as I have a VERY thin selection of photos at the moment as ALL my photos got deleted on my computer by a virus but I have to keep my blogs picture heavy to keep you reading! So read on..)

So in the middle of a trying day God reached out and through 3 different people from 3 different countrys sent us a blessing and encouragement!  Then while Josh was out he ran into a friend from church and ended up spending the day with him and by the end of the day this friend offered us a car to use so we could take our parents up to see our land.  That was a huge blessing as we have been here almost 4 months and that has never happened (the loan of a car).  We just felt so blessed. 

(Pierce & Dahlia w/ new slippers from the Carley’s in New Zealand!)

Were we still tired, still experiencing some sickness, surrounded by laundry and broke?  Yes but by the end of the day we felt blessed, encouraged and strengthened.  God is so good. 

SO as far as sickness Josh no longer has hepatitis (PRAISE GOD!!) just a cold now, Pierce seems healthy, I have a cold and Dahlia is still suffering some kind of blistering skin infection that is causing sores., and a bad cold.  Please pray for our continued healing.

CRAZY WEEK…

Just keeping my head above water these last two weeks.  Josh has all the symptoms of hepatitis, my parents arrived (into our 525 sq ft home) with lots of luggage & supplies, dad has a bad foot infection and can’t walk, baby crying and both girls not sleeping well at night….., new team arrived at  the ywam base BUSY!

So please pray and I will post photos and more later. 

YOUR PRAYERS ARE WORKING!! THANK YOU!

THANK YOU ALL YOU PRAYERS!  WE sent out our 911 prayer request for us while Josh was sick and we were all going crazy with only one parent well.  The kids usually have a REALLY hard time going to bed, actually Dahlia has a hard time and sometimes Bella.

(Dahlia doing her sassy power walk it is so funny!)

Pierce does really well.

    Every (I MEAN EVERY!!!) night she wakes up several times and wont cant whatever go to sleep with out someone laying down with her for a while (usually till she is almost asleep and we sneak out, then she notices screams crys and eventually  I go in again...)  Last night was awful she wouldn't fall asleep and I was SO tired and Bella wouldn't sleep, so they took turns crying till late, and the house was a mess, cause I couldn't do anything but feed and hold Bella and get meals.

(the two culprits!! )

Poor Josh was out on the couch really sick with a stomach bug or food poisoning... And today started the same..Josh is still sick but since the kids were exhausted we started them to bed very early and BECAUSE OF YOUR PRAYERS we had EVERYONE (kids) in bed quiet by 7! with out another peep!! NOTHING!! we were even able to watch a movie with out one single interuption,,, (well almost Josh's stomach flared up a bit but still )AMAZING!!  Can I just say again that NEVER happens.  THANK YOU GOD!! We are so blessed by your prayers.  WE needed that peace and quiet to recharge for the next day.  we were running on fumes!  We watched Fireproof what an awesome movie!!  Thank you all so much for your prayers.  just wanted to let you know right away they are working and we are feeling them!  Love you guys, Kristy

PS mom and dad hope you are not expecting an immaculate home with a guest room!  We will be giving you our living room with a sheet for a wall (that is if you brought a spare one! he he), and we will aim to have the dishes done and to hide the laundry!  Love you guys can’t wait!

New Bella Photos!

God thoughts

Just reading and praying and these verses really stuck out to me.  I was just praying about our time here and asking God to speak to me..

“Remember those in prison as if you yourself were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourself were suffering

 

Keep your lives free of the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said

Never will I leave you,Never will I forsake you

So we say with confidence

The Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what can man do to me?

Let us then go to Him outside the camp bearing the disgrace He bore For here we do not have an enduring city but we are looking for the city that is to come. 

And do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 

May the God of peace…Equip you with everything good for doing His will and may he work in us what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever amen.”

Scriptures taken from Hebrews 13

Just felt God saying don’t think about what we don’t have.  Think about what we can do.  How we can be a blessing.  We don’t do everything we do for a better life here, we do it with an eternal perspective.  There is so much need here.. But like it said in the first verse I want to think about the mistreated (SO SO many of these village kids) as if I were suffering myself which means constantly.  That is where my thoughts and prayers should be.  How can I help.  The need can be overwhelming but there is so much we can do.  PRAY. Please be praying for these children to know God.  To know his love and acceptance, for their parents to take care of them.  They are suffering, neglected, mistreated, hungry, and God does care .

Dahlias quote of the week…

After some frustration that she couldn’t hold the baby cause mommy had to feed her (I am nursing) she pulled her dress up and  loudly objected “I feed my baby!”  Needless to say that didn’t happen…

Efalias Village where we live

Hello everyone this is Josh,

I’d like you to sit back, relax, and put your feet up as we take a tour of our village.

This is our house.  We have the nicest house in a Very very poor neighborhood.  It is a 525 sqft. 2 bedroom 1 bath bungalow.  The ocean is 50 yards behind us.  We enjoy banana and pipi, (papaya), and avocado trees on the property.  We have recently added screens to the windows to keep put unwanted visitors!  We truly are blessed to have such a nice home .  We do not have much of a kitchen (ie no stove or appliances other than a fridge) but it is nice.  We also have learned the art of hand washing or rather we are trying to…. :0

If you were standing on our front porch, which someday you could be, you would notice the village church.  Directly to the left of this photo is our house.  The church is Presbyterian.  We’re also hoping this will become our preschool building!  We will be asking if we have preschool on days there are not church activities.  We don’t know the outcome so we will see.  Please keep that in prayer.

Now lets take a look at some houses from left to right from what you can see from our porch.

There are three houses in the above picture.  All of them are one bedroom and zero bath.  Come for a visit and we can arrange one of these cute bungalows for you.

I call this one “ Old Man Sits On Trash Pile”.  If I ever win an award for it he’ll get the proceeds.

I call this one “Bigger View Of Old Man Sits On Trash Pile”.

This shot is the front right of us.  I believe this is a two bedroom???  It’s architecture is in the classic “Alaskan” style, meaning two or more additions attached to the falling apart main structure.  If you can't see, it is constructed out of ANY available material.

And finally to our far right is this humble dwelling.  It is one of the nicer homes, it has the only glass windows I know of.

If we go deeper into the village it gets worse, but this blog would be much to long.  So that will be another journey another day.

I hope you’ve captured some of the essence of village living.  We love it,  except for the burning trash, lice, disease, lack of education, abuse, and starving dogs.

Our address..

YWAM (Neeleys)

PO BOX 8105

Port Vila, Efate

Vanuatu

Pierces quote of the week

Pierce-Mom I have a really bad cough, I got it from Dahlia.

Me-really?  Dahlia doesn’t even have a cough.

Pierce-uh..mom she had one till I took it from her!

HM…I can see how that makes sense to him.