Light rain this afternoon, and raining lightly again this evening. Most of the day today was spent packing and preparing to go to town. Got out the suitcase and tote to look for a dress to wear for our anniversary dinner.
Jokapet came and worked for an hour putting songs in the computer. Then I paid her. Her littlest brother, Sawe, was with her. I didn’t realize her mother had gone to town with her father so Jokapet is in charge of the household.
Sawe looked at books while Jokapet typed. Serah had a busy morning. Then she helped me look through the picture files and find a picture of Eki. Then I paid her for this past week and today. Also gave her some hair conditioner, a little travel sewing kit, and a slip that I found today that is too short for me.
The guys came and worked on the house. Finished up the third wall frame, and the window spaces, and started getting cross poles up for the roof. The rain kind of washed them out.
Just as supper was about ready Mata came with the two youngest girls, Everin and Nedasa (or something like that — the name of a type of flower).
After supper, I did dishes and finished up as much packing as possible tonight.
December 1.
After a rainy evening, we woke up to a clear, sunny, very chilly morning. Again I did not have a very good night’s sleep. Throat and ears were hurting, and my head was stuffy. Around midnight, I finally took some aspirin and allergy med. Slept better after that although I was awakened by mosquitoes a few times. Daddy let me sleep in until after 6:00.
Again MAF’s program was changed, and our flight was to be first thing in the morning. So we hurried to get everything ready. Headed up to the airstrip around 8:00. I was still feeling somewhat groggy from the allergy med. My legs were really hurting too so it was extra hard climbing the hill. I had to stop and rest more than usual. Stopped at Taro’s house to see how she was doing. She said she was feeling a little better today. She followed us up to the airstrip. And when the plane came, she helped me down the hill again, like she did last time.
It was about 8:45 when the plane came — twin otter. Brought Kelly and Ayado. Kelly said he has finished school and passed his courses. Seemed excited to be back in Owena. Will go out in March for graduation. Plane brought in a load of store goods, health center goods, and building materials for the new OIC home.
It was a little after 9:20 before we took off from Owena. The weather was very clear all the way to Goroka. Don’t usually see it so clear. Quite a change from the rainy season weather we have been having. It has been quite hot all day today.
Quite a bunch of Owenas waiting at the airstrip when the plane landed in Goroka. We had money for some of them, sent out by their fathers. Went to CRMF to get settled. Staying at the house where Doris used to live on the compound. After we got some fridge things put away, we went up town. I hadn’t had a snack so was hungry. Had given my snack to a little Owena boy who met us at the airstrip and gave us a popo to take to town. It was a nice popo, and I made a three “P” fruit salad for supper tonight — popo, pears, and passion fruit. Yes, we actually bought pears today. I was surprised to see that they were a couple kina cheaper than the apples. The apples have gone up in price. Usually the pears are a couple kina more than the apples. The first pears we’ve had since we’ve been here. My, how good they tasted!
Went to Papindos and got drinks to go with our lunch — Dad’s Root Beer for Daddy, and Jasmine Green Tea for me. Then went to SVS and got meat pies. After we ate, we picked up a few groceries. Went to Bintangor and got a few fresh veggies. I was excited to find mustard marked down to K2 a bottle — grabbed up five of those. Then we went to Papindos again to get cheese and milk. I was excited to find sunflower seeds, flaxseed, walnuts, and sliced almonds at Papindos today. There were hazel nuts too, but they were a bit too expensive. Then I was thankful to find one pack of dried basil. I had looked the past few times we were out, as we were running low. But there wasn’t any. Then our basil back in Owena ran out. And there was just this one pack at Papindos. Thank you, Lord, for the basil.
After that, I was really tired. We came back to the house and put the fridge stuff away. Daddy went out again, and I went for nap. After nap, I did more unpacking, made the fruit salad, boiled some eggs for supper sandwiches, got the e-mails up on the computer. Read a few of them before supper, some while eating supper, some after supper, and some I haven’t read yet. Got too tired reading all those e-mails. Took a break and did the dishes. Made a cup of fenugreek tea.
This house is full of little tiny ants. Bunches of them came crawling out of the computer when I turned it on. A few are still crawling up and down the screen. It is funny to watch them. They keep trying to get around the cursor when it is moving across the page.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
and thy paths drop fatness. Psalm 65:11
Well, that is all our written information for now. Will update again in a few weeks. A Happy New Year to everyone and thank you for praying for Dad and Mom. God bless.
Christy and Connie Young