The Big Day

A big event just happened in our community last week with the loooooong awaited re-opening of a school close by.  I wasn't able to be there at opening day or at any of the other celebrations but it's been exciting to read about it and see pictures from co-workers.  Check out Drew & Bobbi Scholl's blog here if you want to see what gets us excited about school!

Memory Lane

 Fifteen years ago (!!!) I was a high schooler here in PNG at Numonohi Christian Academy (NCA), nervously getting ready to attend the biggest banquet of the year.  Who would ask me?!  How would I do my hair?!  What in the world would I wear?!  Now it's my turn to watch each year as another generation of NCAers prep for the exciting event.  Thankfully this time I'm not worrying about hair or makeup, but about flowers.  For three years now I've gotten to help with making corsages and boutonnieres for banquet and I LOVE it. 

 

 This year, unlike last, there were beautiful flowers blooming all over the base so the kids had lots to choose from.

 

Last year was a zoo since I didn't do a lot of prep work beforehand, making the day of banquet crazy.  So this year I got smart with my prepping, and the day of ended up being a lot of fun instead of a lot of stress.  One hour on Thursday, five hours on Friday, and seven hours on Saturday for a total of seventeen corsages and fifteen boutonnieres.  Phew!

 

Thank goodness for my good friend, Gail, who's let me use her house and been a huge help for the past two years.  Go team!

 Some of the end results...

 

 Picture time!  This is always my favorite part.  Josh and Lucy strike a pose before heading off to banquet.

 

All glammed up. Their night is just starting, but I'm ready to go home and crash! 

If the torrential amounts of rain this time of year don't give away that it's rainy season, the increase of falling trees does.  "Malomalo" trees aren't native to Papua New Guinea, but were brought here years ago as shade trees for growing coffee.  They're mammoth trees which grow fast, making their root systems really weak.  A good rain softens the ground just enough to make them rip out of the ground so we often hear huge cracks and thuds as they fall around campus and out in the village.  Thankfully no one has gotten hurt by a falling tree, other than the day this one fell and one of our interns accidentally got a machete in his leg while trying to chop up the tree.  Ouch.  A hospital trip and a few stitches later and he was back in business with a good story to tell.