On Our Way Back

Cassidy • July 19, 2022

If any of you have spoken with us through the last month, you would know that we made plans to leave in early June, but they were not God's plans. As Elisabeth Elliot said, when she, like us, did not receive something she desired: "Why? I do not know all of His reasons, of course. The God who orchestrates the universe has a good many things to consider which have not occurred to me, and it is well that I leave them to Him. But one thing I understand: He offers me holiness at the price of relinquishing my will."


After pushing and pushing even to leave a month after we had hoped, and receiving another, "Not yet," from God, he gave our family peace that can only come from Him.


This turned out to be the final, "Not yet." It was in the form of delayed passports which caused us to miss the flights we had booked for July 4th. So we canceled those flights and received our passports on July 5th.


The UPS envelope was so damaged that the passports could have fallen out...

...but all five were still inside and intact!


We rebooked our tickets for July 9th. After all the changes, it felt like we were moving toward PNG still not sure that we would end up arriving here this month. BUT all four flights were on time enough to get us to all our connections, and even all four of our bags arrived safely and on time.


So, from moving out of our house and in with our dear friends, the Hantlas on the 25th of June, to flights the 9th through the 11th of July, to Madang for these last 9 days, we are now 1 day from flying back into the village, Lord willing!


Here are some pictures from our trip.

Since we flew on the night of July 9 and passed the international date line, we skipped Zach's birthday. Jude used the last of his American money to buy Dad a coffee at LAX as a gift. While in the air, we gave him all his birthday cards and small gifts from friends and family.

Just a random picture of Zach as an awesome dad and husband. He is holding a playful baby and is also the favorite pillow for a motion sick boy.

It cost us $35 to sit in this seat that had a bassinet for Annie. You guys, it was the BEST. I put here in there and she slept for 12 of the 14 hours. This long flight turned out to be our easiest.

Celebrating my birthday in Madang. Two dear people sent gifts with me.


Our time in Madang has been sufficient to get over jet lag, connect with some people here, encourage our security guards, and do some logistics, but we are ready to be home.


Hopefully our next blog post will be from there!

Literacy Class 5

By Cassidy • September 3, 2025
On Monday, a new literacy class began! Our literacy teachers, Maikepe and Namura, have been gathering names and school fees for a year, but interest here was low. Once some men from a nearby village decided to join, interest (there and here!) spiked and we have an overflowing classroom. Sewing to bind four more literacy books to account for the extra students:

JAARS Video

By Cassidy • August 6, 2025
JAARS trains and sends pilots over here - we are thankful for them!

Highlands Break

By Cassidy • August 1, 2025
We were able to fly up to the highlands to take a break at SIL's mission base (called Ukarumpa). We wanted to rest, see doctors, connect with coworkers, and give the boys time with friends.

Teaching Video

By Cassidy • July 7, 2025
Zach and I put together a video for our church's Sunday school hour. The first small part explains how we keep ourselves supplied and the rest of it is how Zach handles foreign concepts in translation. If you have an hour and want to know more about the work here, see the video below:

Ellie Turns Two

By Cassidy • June 28, 2025
Our littlest Ellie turned two! We love this little girl and thank God for completing our family with her. We can see her beginning to grow A BIT in independence and contentment as she matures and is able to communicate. She has lots of words, giggles often at Annie's silliness, loves rice, and (as a last born) is usually just along for the ride. She is happy to write in the dirt or play on the rope swing, look at books on the couch or look out the window in a hut, but if anything goes wrong, she just wants her mama. It is sweet to see how good the boys are with her, and Annie is a good big sister, too! (Though Annie DID have a good cry a few days ago when she realized she wasn't going to get any presents on Ellie's birthday 😉)

April and Easter

By Cassidy • May 4, 2025
After celebrating Jude's birthday, we had a pretty low-key April and Easter. Zach has been faithfully preaching through Ephesians, and there have been good opportunities to follow up with people afterward.

Jude is a Teenager!

By Cassidy • April 7, 2025
The boy that made us parents turned 13 on Friday! This boy is growing up!  He has always been an analyst, but now he is thinking big thoughts about future plans and budgets. He has always been conscious of the feelings of others, but he is now taking more initiative to step up and handle things for others.

Australia Break

By Cassidy • March 20, 2025
Last month we got to take a break in Australia! Our first stop was to the town of Madang where we spent several days with the Twomblys and the Ruscios. I have basically zero pictures, but we LOVED our time with them. In Australia, we stayed on the Gold Coast, a bit north, in a sweet Paradise Point neighborhood with lots of parks and restaurants along the water. We went to Costco and ate good food and played in the ocean and felt so refreshed and thankful for our time! Here are some pictures. My mom and Zach's mom flew over and stayed with us for the first half of our trip. SO great to see them and we miss them already!

Teaching on Baptism

By Cassidy • January 20, 2025
The established church here in our village is Lutheran. Or, at least, it’s called Lutheran. In reality, it is a mix of Lutheran religious practices, animistic beliefs, and a false gospel of being good enough to be accepted by God. One of the practices here is that they baptize their babies and believe that this baptism saves the baby. After being baptized as a baby, the child should grow up and do good things and will go to heaven.

Oliver Turns 11

By Cassidy • January 15, 2025
This boy turned 11 on Sunday! He chose cookies and ice cream as his dessert because he knew everyone would enjoy it. Sundays are a busy day, but we celebrated midday with food and dessert and presents, followed by some fun family games. It is a joy to watch Oliver grow in wisdom and stature. This year he finished his first trek through the Bible, memorized Psalm 139; he listens to and think through the great claims of the good news of Jesus Christ, and is making efforts to be generous with others (especially his brother). On the stature front, Oliver is probably the strongest member of our family - certainly for his size. He is regularly swinging from his ninja course - a series of ladders, ropes, and handles hanging from our rafters. He can do a 6 minute plank and 35 pushups (far surpassing his parents' abilities in those categories). And we love how he uses his strength to care for and protect his little sisters.