Week in Review 2

Around 4:00 a.m., we made some more memories when Aaron pulled Olivia's first tooth somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. We landed in Fiji around 4:30 and watched the Lord work in our favor yet again. We couldn't find our baggage claim checks from all of the chaos in Fiji, so the lady behind the counter had pity on our sleepy family. Instead of having to pick up all of our luggage and recheck it through security, she checked it all the way through to Port Moresby, Papua New Guninea. Woohoo! We watched the sun rise over the mountains of Fiji as we waited for the next flight.

After a very pleasant flight, we arrived in Honiara, Solomon Islands for a very brief stop to pick up more passengers. We only had time to stop by the restrooms once (again) before we had the leave our beautiful new home for the next leg of our journey. However, we were surprised to find some of our colleagues boarding the plane with us! Another family serving in the Solomons was also travelling and spending the night in the guest house in Port Moresby, so we took the opportunity to get to know them a little better when we arrived. We took an SIL bus from the airport to the guest house, and who should greet us coming out the door but our next door neighbor from Dallas! The Lord knew we needed to see a familiar face and get some hugs upon our arrival in Papua New Guinea. We settled in, ate some supper, and went to bed on Papua New Guinea time.

The next morning, the kids enjoyed playing with some new friends on the trampoline and playground at the guesthouse while the grownups sat and learned as much as we could about the Solomons and our upcoming training at POC. After lunch, we took the SIL bus back to the airport and went through the process of checking in all of our baggage. We noticed a big difference between the airports in PNG and those in the States - the flights aren't called over the intercom! There is just a little screen that tells you which flight is boarding. When the words "BOARDING" flash up on the screen next to your flight, you'd better be paying attention! This makes the waiting area much quieter (and nicer for sleeping babies). Whole sections of the seats just empty all of the sudden!

Our flight to Alotau was brief and uneventful (and not a little bit hot!). Katherine slept the whole way in my arms with a cool infant seat belt attachment. Our friends met us in the rain to drive us to the SIL center in Alotau. They also have four children almost the exact same ages as our kids, and he is involved in the maritime ministry in this part of Papua New Guinea (as well as the acting center director).

To be continued...