Family News!!

It has been a long time since we sent out a family update – as usually we are writing about different aspects of the ministry - so we thought we would send you some up to date news about ourselves personally.

Jubab had his 12th birthday on Sept. 7th and here in this photo you can see him getting a birthday hug from his sister Jen, and a cuddle from his niece Charly-joy! Clint who is 5 looks pretty bemused and brother-in-law Udi is enjoying the whole family birthday gathering!

Can you believe we have a 30 year old daughter now?! Jen just turned 30 last week and is expecting their 3^rd baby in May, 2011, Udi is 32 and keeps very busy tending their farm, looking after their cattle, and functioning on the leadership team of the church in Cauyunan, Charly is in Gr 3 and loves to sing and dance, and Clint is in kinder and is still a real Mama’s boy! Jen and Udi just had their 12^th anniversary last week. They arrived here in Lapoc this morning and we will be enjoying lots of family times and cuddles with our grandkids this week!!

Jubab is 12 going on 14!  We wish we could keep him our ‘baby’ but there is no chance of that! He is almost finished Gr. 6 and has had a good year being back in Lapoc. Adjusting to life back in our remote village and back to homeschooling has been smooth and fun for him. He misses Ballina but loves it here, has enjoyed being able to spend times with his sister and brothers and all the rest of our family, friends and missionary team here, and he loves playing basketball and being back with his dog Sparky. Jubab has had 2 attacks of his sinusitis and one attack of tonsillitis this year but apart from that, his only other health issue has been his braces and that can sometimes be a pain as it is a long trip out to the orthodontist in town (has to be an all day thing) – and the brackets for the braces are different here than in Australia which is a pain if one of them falls off.  It’s working out okay though. 

 

And then there is Dad and Mum.....that’s us......(this photo was taken in June during a family outing.)  We are both doing great – are very proud parents and proud grandparents – we’re making sure we put time aside for family times:  not just family night every week, but times together with Jubab every day and a family time in the Word and in prayer most every day. God has been teaching us as a family lately about spending time worshipping Him and glorifying Him rather than just mostly praying about needs and about the work.

Life in Lapoc can get very ‘heavy’ so we make sure that we don’t let ourselves get too stressed out and we take a few days out in Cagayan every 6-8 weeks for a break.

We are quite thrilled with the progress we are making this year on Translation and really thank you for your prayers for this and for continued prayers as we have such a huge desire to see the translation of the New Testament completed into Tala-Andig and hopefully into Higaunon as well.

Health wise we are both keeping well apart from some normal issues for our age (in our middle years J) like Paul having some prostrate trouble and both of us noticing occasional new aches and pains.

Thanks so, so much for your prayers for us and for your love and partnership and support!!!

Love Paul, Deb and family XXXXXXX