On the 16th, PNG celebrated 50 years of independence! There were big celebrations all over the country. In our village, they had a flag raising ceremony at the school to start off the week. Then there were basketball and soccer tournaments, dart games and lots of food. Hiking down to the school:

On Monday, a new literacy class began! Our literacy teachers, Maikepe and Namura, have been gathering names and school fees for a year, but interest here was low. Once some men from a nearby village decided to join, interest (there and here!) spiked and we have an overflowing classroom. Sewing to bind four more literacy books to account for the extra students:

JAARS trains and sends pilots over here - we are thankful for them!

We were able to fly up to the highlands to take a break at SIL's mission base (called Ukarumpa). We wanted to rest, see doctors, connect with coworkers, and give the boys time with friends.

Zach and I put together a video for our church's Sunday school hour. The first small part explains how we keep ourselves supplied and the rest of it is how Zach handles foreign concepts in translation. If you have an hour and want to know more about the work here, see the video below:

Our littlest Ellie turned two! We love this little girl and thank God for completing our family with her. We can see her beginning to grow A BIT in independence and contentment as she matures and is able to communicate. She has lots of words, giggles often at Annie's silliness, loves rice, and (as a last born) is usually just along for the ride. She is happy to write in the dirt or play on the rope swing, look at books on the couch or look out the window in a hut, but if anything goes wrong, she just wants her mama. It is sweet to see how good the boys are with her, and Annie is a good big sister, too! (Though Annie DID have a good cry a few days ago when she realized she wasn't going to get any presents on Ellie's birthday 😉)

After celebrating Jude's birthday, we had a pretty low-key April and Easter. Zach has been faithfully preaching through Ephesians, and there have been good opportunities to follow up with people afterward.

The boy that made us parents turned 13 on Friday! This boy is growing up!  He has always been an analyst, but now he is thinking big thoughts about future plans and budgets. He has always been conscious of the feelings of others, but he is now taking more initiative to step up and handle things for others.

Last month we got to take a break in Australia! Our first stop was to the town of Madang where we spent several days with the Twomblys and the Ruscios. I have basically zero pictures, but we LOVED our time with them. In Australia, we stayed on the Gold Coast, a bit north, in a sweet Paradise Point neighborhood with lots of parks and restaurants along the water. We went to Costco and ate good food and played in the ocean and felt so refreshed and thankful for our time! Here are some pictures. My mom and Zach's mom flew over and stayed with us for the first half of our trip. SO great to see them and we miss them already!