Happy birthday to Jude! Jude is the man. Quite literally. Our first born officially no longer qualifies for children’s fares on airlines or anywhere else such discounts are offered. He is certainly growing—now a towering 1,486mm (that’s 4 feet 10.5 inches for those not in the metric world). Jude does everything at full speed. He reacts quick to situations (too quick at times). And his reactions are big, be it big joy or big disappointment. He reads at blinding speeds and seems to finish a book a day. His consumption of food has started to rival his dad’s. He loves spice and lots of it — he’ll add buffalo or sriracha sauce to just about anything. He loves salt, butter, tacos, dessert, and dreaming about American fast food. Jude is a lover of people and adventure. He is quick to make friends with anyone his age, and usually leads the charge in whatever shenanigans they set their mind to. He notices when people are happy or hurting and intuitively knows how to sympathize. He has embraced life next the ocean with all the exploring, fishing, and snorkeling it has to offer. Jude is also growing in wisdom. He reads the Bible every morning and thinks deeply about eternal things. It has been so exciting to see the Lord growing Jude in his faith and repentance — especially as Jude faces the challenges of living overseas with a greater understanding of the costs. We love this buddy!

Thank you for praying for trip 9. The team from Countryside in TX were able to do so much! It was not only productive, but spiritually encouraging to have those guys visit and help.

Thank you to all who had prayed for the last build trip! With the three guys from Orland, the floor, frame, and roof were finished on our new house:

Double digits for this guy! Oliver brings so much laughter and beauty to our lives. He is the family funny man, with so many jokes, humorous anecdotes, and a contagious laugh. He also takes after his grandpa Bruce with his love of art, music, film, and all things beautiful. He is learning to play the piano, edit photos, and loves to draw and color. And while reading is not his favorite, he loves a good story. He enjoys people and becomes fast friends with whomever is around, whether we're in a city or jungle. He loves junk food, knives, screaming at the top of his lungs, pestering his sister, climbing trees, swimming in the ocean, and finding new ways to be Jude's best friend and worst enemy (Tom Sawyer would be proud of this kid). We're proud of him too. His actual birthday was low-key since his dad was on a building trip with friends from Orland, but he did want to go to Eden with the Twombly family:

The last build trip was a success, thank you to all of you who prayed and asked us about it! Bryan, Zach, and Kombuk were able to completely demolish the second house, which was their primary goal. In addition, they were able to store and organize the building materials and household items, and they were able to finish all the girding beams and floor joists on our new home. Starting with the solar panels on the roof:

The day before Thanksgiving, Zach, Bryan, and Kombuk returned - thank you for praying! This morning they all left again for the 7th trip. So here is an update on trip 6, what we have been up to in the interim, and what they hope to do on trip 7. On build trip 6, Bryan finished all the posts for our new house:

This little girl is two years old today! She is a joy to our family and it was so fun to celebrate her. She loves jumping and singing and dancing... she loves her baby sister, and loves her brothers a ton, and misses her mom and dad if we are more than 15 feet away. We are living on the base with the Twombly family, so you will hear about them in her birthday video. Here are some pictures of the birthday girl this week. Drinking a kulau (coconut water):

Build Trip 5 was successful! While it was a bit crazy to head into the village only eight days after arriving in country, it went smoothly for the guys and smoothly for us back in Madang. Thankful that Bryan is willing to do hard things with Zach to get us into the village soon! And thankful that his wife is willing to do the hard work of life on her own here so he can go and help! Here are some pictures of the week:

Hello from Madang! It has been a bit of a whirlwind this past week. Our last flight from Port Moresby to Madang was canceled, so we spent the night at the "Shady Rest" hotel. That is its actual name. :) It was fine and the restaurant was delicious and it was all paid for by Air Niugini, so that was nice. Monday we arrived in Madang and were welcomed by the sweet and awesome and lovely Twomblys (Bryan, Kerra, and their three kids). The week has been full of unpacking suitcases, unpacking our boxes here, setting up the kitchen and homeschool spaces, and cooking. A lot of cooking. Plus, we have had lots of good time with Bryan and Kerra; and our boys have played with theirs at pretty much every opportunity.