In our last blog post, we introduced you to the newest member of our family. Ethan is now two months old and continues to be happy and healthy. We love having him as part of our lives, and Hannah is a doting big sister. We've been blessed in making many memories with our extended family and introducing Ethan to a host of friends. Red Deer is a great central location during the summer time; we've had many friends from up north stop in on their summer travels for a visit.
 |
| Ethan at Two Months |
We have been in a waiting period since Ethan's birth. We went through the process of applying for his birth certificate and waiting for its arrival to send in with his passport application. As soon as we had the passport in hand, our complete visa application was submitted in PNG and now we are waiting for approval of our entry visas. We hope to receive approval soon at which point our passports will receive a stamp in Ottawa and be returned to us for travel. Last week we completed the process of limiting our possessions to what fits into suitcases. We're now living with Tim's parents while we wait for our departure date.
We also received some exciting news last week! After a year of saying that we are moving to PNG without knowing our exact destination, we have now been given our first assignment! We will be stationed in the village of Rumginae in the far west of the country where Tim will be flying a GA8 Airvan (single engine plane). The MAF base in Rumginae consists of two pilot families living across the runway from a small mission hospital, so many of the flights out of Rumginae are medical evacuations bringing patients into the hospital from very isolated areas. The Rumginae hospital and MAFs medevac flights are highlighted in this video put together by MAF Australia:
Having a specific destination has brought a new measure of reality to the fact that we are moving to the other side of the world. Both of us have been taking some deep breaths these past few days! We've been preparing for departure for what seems like a very long time, especially with having a baby in the middle of it. Sometimes it has felt a bit like living in no man's land - in between the home we left and the one we anticipate in PNG.
We hope to be able to depart before the end of the month. Stay tuned! We'll let you know when we have a definite departure date.
 |
| Recently Tim had the opportunity to speak to the congregation of this very unique church built in the 1880s! |
