Cave Exploring Expedition

Hiking into the dense jungle, our friend Robert (MAF national staff here in Telefomin) served as our guide to go explore some nearby caves just a 45 minute trek from our house.

On our way we passed through the small village of "Red Corner".

The path was steep and slippery in places.

And MUDDY in most places!

Often the kids were up to their knees in mud!  We live in a very wet region where it rains almost every day so even though we're hiking up the side of a mountain there is always an abundance of mud.

Our shoes stuck to the bottom of the mud puddles like suction cups so we would have to pull hard to get them out.  After a while both my sandals and Dale's sandals gave out so we went barefoot like everyone else.

We made it!  The pictures really don't do the scene justice.  It was breathtaking to see this river cascading out of the mouth of a cave. The plants nearby sparkled with mist rising from the waterfall.

 We clambered up the mossy rocks beside the waterfall to take a look inside the mouth of the cave.

Once we got to the mouth of the cave where the waterfall poured out of we splashed several meters through waist-high rushing water to get to a small ledge which is as far as we went because the rushing water was too strong to go in much further.

Inside a cave -- how cool is that?!

Robert and Callum sharing a snack before we head back home with Callum riding high on Robert's shoulders.

Having fun exploring God's glorious creation!

Happy Birthday Scott!

In February we celebrated Scott's 12th birthday with some outside games with the neighborhood kids, eating cake and then watching "How to Train a Dragon" with a few of Scott's friends.  What a treat to have an outdoor party in February!  The cake is "Zozo the Octopus", one of the characters in Scott's many drawings.

Days of our lives

On August 10 Amy celebrated her 10th birthday with a shark-shaped birthday cake, made to order!  The party was 11 days early so we could include the children of one of the families who would be away over Amy's birthday.

Shark! Amy's 10th birthday

The party started out with 10 kids. We played Fruit Basket Upset, Musical Chairs and a few other games out on our front porch and by the time we were ready to "attack" the shark cake there were over 20 kids!  Birthday cake is a rare treat for the national children here (most homes don't have a stove but cook over an open fire inside a "Haus Kuk" or cooking hut) so it was fun to share something special with them.

Let them eat cake!

If you've ever wondered what our kids keep busy with, keep reading......

Of course, school work always comes first.  We have learned some fascinating things about animals in Science class -- like how the bee does a little "waggle dance" in a certain angle to the sun to point his buddies to a food source (astounding!) his dance can even tell them the quality of food and how much there is!  We also discovered that flying snakes can glide up to 165 feet between tree branches (shudder!) and that a flatfish's eyes move from one on each side of his head to both on the same side by the time it's 6 weeks old (weird)!  We learned about turtle-mothers who lay their eggs and then walk away, never to see their offspring again, and orangutan-mothers who take care of their babies for up to 10 years! The more we studied God's intricately-designed creatures the more awe-inspired we are by the Creator.  Last week we kicked off our "Human Body" unit by watching Indescribable by Louie Giglio.  Mind-blowing!

Pulling apart an owl pellet for Science class

In his free time Scott enjoys playing around with making videos and being a "sound technician" for his productions. A few weeks ago he put together a fun newscast with some of the other kids called "Nerd News". He loves Adventures in Odyssey and is a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and the Narnia books (the audio books keep us on the edge of our seats!) He enjoys writing stories about heroes and bad guys who ride dragons and live in castles or robots and sci-fi stuff.

Math class is pretty cushy some days!

Amy has recently added knitting to her list of hobbies which also include reading about, writing about, cuddling with, playing with, eating, sleeping and breathing animals!  (Horses, dogs and sharks are at the top of the list at the moment.)  Watching the movie "Flicka 2" as a family on her birthday was the highlight of her day.

Knit 1, purl 2 .....

Arianna and Amy are happiest outdoors - catching tiny fish in the ditches or playing "Rubbers" with the neighborhood kids (kind of like a game of marbles, but tossing rubber bands).  They are taking advantage of the opportunity to observe some of the curious creatures we find in this part of the world! This fat and colorful caterpillar they found kept them entertained all day!

Arianna and her caterpillar friend

Amy and Arianna playing a game of "Rubbers" with Albina, our "Haus Meri"

Callum's "second home" is the neighbor's "Haus Kuk" where he can satisfy his pyromaniac tendencies (don't worry Grandpa, it's perfectly safe.)  He's also in a very crafty stage -- drawing and coloring, cutting and pasting (hence the snippets of paper usually littering our floor!)  Playdough is always a favorite, or better yet, cooking real food in the kitchen!  He's our little "Ratatouille" if you've seen the movie.  His Lego creations are usually helicopters and airplanes (surprise, surprise!)

Callum's "fingerprint" tree

Last week Dale had a short flight to the village of Bak.  The plane wasn't quite full so the boys took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing and exploring there.

The boys on the airstrip in Bak

Can you spot the two "whiteskin" boys among the village kids in the photo?

Where's Waldo - uh, Scott and Callum?

As for our pets, we still have one kitten (Poppy) and the cuscus (Opie) who keep us entertained.  The cuscus (in the possum family, we think) eats bananas, papaya, etc.  He likes to follow you around and if you're not quick enough he will climb up your leg but watch out because he's got some pretty sharp claws designed to dig into the bark of a tree!  He will climb all the way to top of your head if you let him and when he's ready to climb down he goes head-first, wrapping his long, prehensile tail (can you tell we've been studying animals in Science class?) around your arm or leg to help him get down.  A very unique animal!

I SEE you!!!

So you can see that our lives aren't much different than yours except for some variations here and there.  We can all be a light no matter where we live, so let your little light shine!

Now we would love to hear about some of the days of your lives.

Cuddly Creatures, Plenty of Parties and Conference 2010

Our little "Derksen zoo" is in a constant ebb and flow of comings and goings it seems.  Rex the rooster and Clover the hen were stolen one night, out of their locked cage, after having them less than a week.  Then, last weekend (after Arianna's birthday party) we sadly said goodbye to our delightful pet tree kangaroo, Toffee.

Scott and Toffee

Toffee liked to hop along behind the kids, following them all around the yard. He was very cuddly and loved attention, so we all miss him.  (We think he might have eaten some noxious grass or weeds that made him sick.)

This weekend someone showed up at our door with a baby cuscus (sort of like a possum).  A hunter had shot the mother and found this little one in her pouch.  At first it wasn't eating much (I don't think it was weaned yet) but it has started drinking milk now and eating some fruit, so we'll see what happens.

Arianna cuddling the baby cuscus

Our cat Casey gets a little annoyed at all the new residents, including two fluffy orange kittens the girls got recently, named Aslan and Poppy.  But I think he's resigned himself to the fact that he will have to share the spotlight here in the "Derksen Zoo"!

The girls' new kittens Aslan and Poppy

Though our pets haven't all faired too well, we are thankful to report that we are all healthy and doing well.  Dale has been trying to shake a cold for a few weeks now, but nothing too serious.  He is also preparing to do additional studying, training and testing so he can fly as captain on the Twin Otter -- so that's always a bit stressful.

Summer is a time for birthdays in our house.  In June Callum turned 4 and together we made a cake in the shape of an airplane, of course, with colorful Smarties for windows.

Callum's 4th Birthday

July was Arianna's birthday which was celebrated with a green turtle-shaped cake, by request, which is her favorite animal at the moment.

Arianna's 7th Birthday

Amy's birthday is coming up in August and she is requesting a cake in the shape of a shark.  Hmmmmm....

The Tele gang heading off to Hagen for conference

July was also when the MAF conference was held at the main MAF base in Mt. Hagen.  We were so blessed by the encouragement and challenge from our speaker -- Phil Bignill, a pastor from Cairns, Australia who comes for this conference annually.

Adult sessions at the MAF conference held in Mt. Hagen

Amy catching a water balloon at the outdoor picnic held at nearby Kudjip

It was lovely to catch up with other MAF families we hadn't seen since we moved to Telefomin and some we hadn't met at all. We returned home after the weekend, tired but refreshed.

At the Beach and introducing Toffee, Rex and Clover

Sun, sand and SWEAT were the order of the day for us the first week in June while we spent a few days at the MAF base in Wewak, which is a town on the coast of PNG and VERY HOT!

Playing in the waves and finding sea shells and starfish.

 Callum learned how to swim underwater

Happy to head back home to the cool of the highlands in MAF's GA8 Airvan

Studying in our new classroom with Toffee, our pet Tree Kangaroo.  He is very friendly and cuddly and hops around, following us wherever we go.

Mother's Day Service and Telefomin Kids

MAF is on the roster to take a turn in leading the Sunday morning service every few months. This time it fell on Mother's Day so it was a good opportunity for our whole family to get involved. With one of the MAF families away, that meant it was up to Irwin and Gay and our family! We all felt a little out of our comfort zone, but God worked through our inadequacies and we were blessed.

Irwin was willing to preach the message (which is usually a mixture of Pidgin and English, the ratio of English to Pidgin depends a lot on who is preaching!) Dale was the worship leader and Gay and I led the singing along with Jen H. who was out from the MAF base in Mt. Hagen for the week.  We laughed when the three of us ladies all showed up at church wearing blue meri blouses!

(photo: Gay H., Jen H., and Lori)

Most of the songs were in Pidgin with a few English ones.  We had a lot of fun with "Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah" (that's the one where you split into two groups and stand when it's your turn to sing and sit when it's not.) They really enjoyed that one.

Scott did a great job of reading Acts 6 for the Scripture reading (in English).  We are going through the book of Acts in our Sunday morning messages.

(photo: Scott doing Scripture reading)

Amy and Arianna did a beautiful creative movement routine they had made up to the song "Blessed be the Name of the Lord".

(photo: Arianna and Amy doing creative movement to a song,

Dale is sitting on the bench in the background.)

In his message Irwin reminded us that the men chosen to minister to the widows in Acts 6 were not particularly gifted in food services, but they were filled with the Spirit. He shared his personal testimony of how he, as as a young man, didn't believe in God or the truth of the Bible but decided to read the Bible so he could make an intelligent decision to reject it. Well, in time he began to realize that the Bible was true but struggled in accepting it in faith. Only after fasting and praying over a weekend was he able to completely surrender to God and the truth of His Word.

It was a reminder to all of us of the power of God's Word and how we can't expect to be filled with the Spirit if we are not regularly getting fed by the Bread of Life.

THE TELEFOMIN KIDS!

The lady who is slightly taller than Scott and Amy is Jen H. Here she is with all the MAF Telefomin kids (except Lauren, age 2, who was still napping). Jen and her husband, who is an aircraft mechanic, come from New Zealand and are based at the main MAF base in Mt. Hagen. Jen is our home school support teacher (along with Jill C. from Nova Scotia). We always look forward to their visit every few months to offer their support and encouragement. They usually spend a day or two with each family, often bringing some fun crafts or games with them to add some variety to our school routine.

SUMMER BREAK

We are into our second week of "summer holidays" and plan to start up with our regular school routine in mid-June.

A Traditional "Singsing", Crunchy Caterpillars and Dazzling Dahlias!

Dressed in their traditional finery these men performed a traditional "singsing" (song and dance) to welcome some of the passengers Dale had on board the plane that day, some local politician. It was quite a welcome!

One afternoon Amy & Arianna joined their national friends collecting these little black caterpillars which they later roasted and ate. (Amy & Arianna generously donated their collection to their friends instead of eating them!)

Here they are, hunting for caterpillars. Apparently the field behind our house (that's the back of our house you see in the photo) is crawling with caterpillars -- or, at least, was!

If you look closely you can see two little guinea pigs in this photo.  Callum and Albina (our Haus Meri) are holding "Juliet", and Jenny, the MAF gardener, is holding "Romeo". (Unfortunately, Romeo died after we had only had them for a week.) We are hoping to find some more little piggy companions for Juliet.

In Science class we were fascinated with how crystals are formed and their many uses -- especially sugar crystals!

Early one foggy morning the tall grasses around our yard was laced with sparkling spider webs like this one that Scott captured on camera.

Jenny is very proud of the beautiful flowers she has been nurturing on our yard. She does all the gardening with just a machete and a spade, but for a region that is known for having poor soil, the results are amazing!