For those of you who haven't read all our updates, Brett (pictured above) came with some guys from his church, Countryside, for the 9th build trip. He stayed a month, joined Zach and Bryan for the 10th trip in March, went back to TX, and then came again for this 11th trip! He is a young guy, but a hard worker and knowledgeable. So glad he was willing to come to PNG to help us in the village and Bryan in Madang.

Then there is this guy! Bryan joined Zach on FIVE of his build trips from October of last year to May of this one. On this last trip, he finished our cabinets and painted them while also helping Zach paint. We are so thankful for him.

We had a few interim weeks of finishing homeschool, packing and supply buying for our move in July...

... then, on Monday, Wendy and Kate from our home church, GBC, came to join Kerra Twombly and me in the village for a cleaning and unpacking trip.

These three ladies did SO much to get our house ready to move in. We did things we expected, like clean and unpack and wash all the dishes. We did things we didn't expect like clear out rats' nests and burn ruined toys. And we did lots and lots of things that didn't quite fit in either category but will help us function in the new house and get back to life and work quickly: things like replacing the kitchen faucet,

cleaning and adding new shelves,

putting up curtain rods, adding a screen to the water tank overflow, hanging clocks, organizing the desks, cleaning out the stove (which had also once housed a rat's nest), cleaning wasps from windowsills, installing a medicine cabinet, hanging an indoor laundry line, filling cracks with Great Stuff, moving lots of tools, etc...!

Here is an after photo:

It was also a sweet reunion with some of my friends:

and I got to show these ladies my village! Thank you to Kerra and Kate and Wendy for all they had to do to come and help me. And thank you to anyone else reading this who helped send them and cover for them (like Bryan with their kids!) and who sent wonderful care packages to us in their bags.

And then there is this sweet baby! Ellie turned one today! She is timid and gentle and cautious and generally content and happy. We celebrated her with some purple cupcakes and snuggles. We love you!

Cake!

If you get Zach's email updates, you will know that his dad passed away this week. Zach left today to begin traveling to the US to grieve with his family, attend his father's funeral, and also attend his sister's wedding (we are all so excited to welcome Max into our family!). He would love your prayers as he travels and spends time serving his mom and siblings.

And we would love your prayers as well - we have lots to do here to prepare to move back to the village in three weeks and it will certainly be more complicated to do it without Zach. We trust God though and know that He always does what is best.

We are rejoicing that Bruce is in heaven now, though we miss him dearly!

Sorry for the fire hose of information, updates, etc... but I wanted to jump on here and get everyone up-to-date - thanks to all of you who have reached out!