brand sparkling new

I know it's already the fifth day of the year, but I've been thinking about this whole "new" thing.

You know, it's a new year (congratulations, btw), so it's the time when

we think about newness.

Well, on Sunday at church we had a sermon on newness. I arrived half way through because I had been feeding Theresa, so I can't tell you the passage, but the gist of it was that in Christ, we have a new heart, a new life, a new self. In fact, every day, God renews us. Every day we must walk in the pattern of this new life that He has given us.

So as I was sitting there, listening to the sermon, mulling over this newness in Christ, and a Big Thought hit me. I love it when Big Thoughts hit me. It's like, all of a sudden, the penny drops, something ticks over in my head and some I finally understand something properly, well at least a little bit properly.

I was thinking about the buzz of newness. You know, there's nothing like getting something new. I remember back in my former life in NZ, the incredible feeling of money burning in my wallet and the urge to buy something new, an urge which I sometimes satisfied. But after a while the new thing, wasn't so new again and after a bit more of a while, that urge for buying something new burned within me again. Here in the Solomons, the only new thing I buy is food (at least, I hope it's new ;). Sometimes I go to the Chinese second hand clothing stores (which by the way, if you come to the Solomons and don't go to one of them you're really really missing out...) and even though the clothes there aren't new, there's still a bit of a buzz about newness.

And then there's the buzz of newness that I get with all these parcels and pressies people have sent for Theresa. (Thank you sooo much, by the way). Lovely. Look, Theresa, here's a new dress for you, or a new bib for you, or a new rattle for you. It's great. Every week or so for the last month, I've got a buzz over the new pressies for Theresa. But invariably they won't be new forever.

But this buzz of newness isn't just a by-product of clothes and presents. Sometimes I wish I could watch a new movie, not the same old ones, or eat a different meal, listen to some new music, or paint a wall a new colour, or (well, back when I had a flower garden in NZ) plant a new flower bush. Sometimes I like other people's places better than my own. Why? It's new to me. It's a buzz for me.

I don't know if you're the same. Maybe you might be because our culture is quite crazed about consumerism and newness.

But the snag is this: eventually this new whatever will lose its newness and buzz and you'll have to get a new whatever to get back the newness and the buzz.

It was at this point (believe me, it didn't take me as long to think about this as it's taking to write) the dollar dropped in my head. All my life I've been going after a newness that doesn't last, but maybe this desire for newness is ingrained in us humans. But like that "God-shaped vacuum in our heart", our lust for newness won't be filled by material possessions or different experiences. Our desire for something new can only be filled by us becoming something new in Christ. That's a newness that doesn't lose it's buzz, or if it does, it's a sign that we're falling back into our old ways, our old life, rather than relentlessly pursuing Christ and our new self in Him.

So, there's a brand sparkling new thought for the new year. A newness that renews its newness every day.

Christmas

Christmas felt a bit different this year. Different place. Different traditions.

But it was still a special time.

During our traditional Saturday Morning breakfast of Cinnamon Banana pancakes we opened the presents we had. Jair got an amazingly cool (but not genuine) All Black rugby teeshirt. He was stoked. He knew about it, in fact, he wrapped it himself (in baby wrapping paper!) because I was too busy with Theresa. Then I got a dvd courtesy of a Waku store. Gotta love 'em. Bianca was here too and guess what? She brought pressies with her as well. Classic car magazine (Theresa, I mean, Jair was stoked) and Brooke Fraser's latest cd and we're all stoked with that.

I think Bianca was pretty wrapped with her Pijin Baebol tee-shirt as well.

So we were all happy on that accord.

We decided to splash out and buy cream cheese so I made white chocolate macadamia nut cheesecake. Mmmm. That went down well at morning tea with an iced coffee.

Then lunch - usual Solomon Island extravagence (I mean that). Sticky chicken, the most beautiful mango you've ever tasted, rice, two different mince stews. And then Kwark (I wanted the locals to taste some of our Kastom Kai) and Apple crumble. Anyone at the base came and joined us (bringing food...) for our dinner. It was great.

Then to finish the day off, Ben and Rina,

who are staying here helping out while Kevin and Machi are on holiday, came over, we had more cheese cake, hot chocolates and then sang Christmas carols. It was absolutely lovely.

"Oh little town...

missing the buzz

So we seem to be in the swing of things now. Theresa is growing well - today when I measured her she was two centimeters longer than last time (which was not that long ago...). Although we're feeling the cumulative effect of sleep deprivation, we're doing ok. Jair is busy as ever with work on the base. The generator needed a... well, you know what they do with engines, that's what it needed. So that's taken up some of his time this week.

We are very blessed to have Bianca over at the moment. Her friendship and cheerfulness enrich our lives. She's come here on holiday, but she's gone straight to work, cooking dinners, mowing lawns, cleaning roof cavities. Her amazing willingness to help has given me time to catch my breath. In the week that she's been here, I've only cooked dinner three times. I feel very lucky to have a "live in house girl" - well, that's what the locals think she is! It's very cultural to take a young woman into your house when you have a baby to be your house girl, to cook and clean, and so that's what everyone thinks Bianca is for us!

But the buzz I'm missing is the Christmas buzz.... I know, I know, Christmas is over-commercialised in the West and while you're probably getting sick of cheesey Christmas songs in every store you go to, the long lines, endless pulling out the card to buy presents and the two story high Christmas tree that will undoubtedly stand in Westfield shopping malls, I'm a little bit sad to be missing out on all the Christmas cheer. No tree. No presents. No tinsel. No lights.

So I made a wreath for our front door and added a few simple touches of Christmas cheer to our house. I couldn't help it. Just goes to show that your cultural background dies hard!

Welcome!

Well, after last time's epic announcement, I ran out of time to update this blog! But I think you'll excuse me.

Theresa Porche Jael Duinkerke came into the world and into our family on 12.11.10 at 8.05 pm. It was an eventful day, the day that she was born. I had rung her birth mother in the morning to find out how she was doing and she said, the baby will come today, but I'll ring you back later to pick me up. She didn't want to wait in the hospital all day. Well, when she finally rang, at 6pm (her waters broke around 10am), we went down the bumpy and slippery road to the area she lives. Now, Solomon Island women don't make a lot of noise when they give birth. The only sign that she was having a contraction was that she would rub her back and close her eyes! And that was happening fairly regularly on the way to the hospital. Jair didn't know whether to drive faster, and get there quicker, or drive slower, because of the bumps, the baby might just pop out!

We got to the hospital maybe just before 7pm and she waited in the corridor of the labour ward before a nurse was free to check her out. She was ushered straight into the delivery area. When Theresa first came out, the umbilical cord was around her neck so she was blue and wasn't

breathing. I was praying and praying, "Lord please give her breath." And then I heard her cry and it was the most beautiful sound.

I looked at my watch and it was 8:05. Eventually I snuck out to tell Jair and then he came in as well, to see his daughter. After he went out to buy some food and milo for the birth mother (the hospital doesn't provide anything), we went home for the night.

Saturday we spent going in and out, hoping we could take her home, getting food for the birth mother, getting hot water (yes, they didn't even have water to bath the babies there), and eventually going back home to spend the final restful night in a long

while.

Sunday we arrived at the hospital just before 10am and they had already recieved permission to go. I paid for her little baby record book. Inside was the birth certificate, with all the details filled in except her name. Yay. We first went to the birth mother's house to drop her off, let the whanau have cuddles with Theresa and chat about having a custom ceremony to officially culturally hand her over.

The birth mother left her clothes on the washing line at the hospital so Jair went back with her and her sisters to get the clothes. I waited at the house with Theresa. So after quite some time we were able to get into our car, travel back over that awfully bumpy road to our house. When we got here, all the locals at the base ran over to see the new baby, and our journey as parents began!

the great big crash and the great big news

Work has finally begun on pruning the trees here at SWIM! Jair's been up the trees, with Andrew down the bottom belaying him. Then they send up the chainsaw with a rope and he cuts away, ending up with many big crashes as the branches come down. As you see, this tree, the first to be finished with its haircut, looks a little naked, but then won't fall when the flood sodden ground softens!

But there are still many trees left to prune. We covet your prayers for safety!

But we have other news that needs prayer - and thanksgiving too! We're going to adopt a baby! Just over three weeks ago we were contacted by a pastor's wife who has a woman in her church who is pregnant but feels she can't look after her baby. Well, the question for us was, would we

be willing to adopt this baby? of course, we were more than willing. We're over the moon!

After this, the father of the birth mother wanted to check the entire extended family to ensure no one else wanted it, and to get their blessing. And they are all more than happy for us to adopt this baby. I then took the birth mother for an ultra sound and they estimated that the baby is due to come on the 14th of November. So since we heard the news, it's been a busy rush for us to get things prepared. We are so excited, so happy that God has chosen to answer our prayers this way, and so eagerly waiting in anticipation! I took the birth mother to the clinic this afternoon. The baby is certainly growing and is right in position ready to come out - hopefully soon! :)

A Hot November with More Guests

Hi all... Really I don't know why I haven't blogged earlier. Now that our last overseas mission team has come for the year, things have quietened down a lot for me in the Transit House. It's nice having some time to sort out jobs that have been on the back burner (or rather the paper conglomerating on my desk). And Hellen, the woman who cleans in the Transit House, has been blessed with so much more time to give everything a good clean.

Recently we had two members the Solomon Island Workgroup of SWIM come over for a week. It was great to spend some time with them, talking about our work here and struggles and joys on the mission field, as well as letting them be a part of our work for a week. I think they went home blessed and we were certainly blessed by their visit.

Well, I thought the Solomon Islands was hot. Until I met November. Now it's really hot. Indescribably hot. Or actually, the temperature is probably much the same, but we have this relentlessly high humidity level. So we're all feeling a bit weak and fatigued as the heat drains our energy. Apparently, the next few months should bring a lot of rain - so we've started the pre-flood preparations like clearing the "drain" area for the water to flow, building up around the side of the fence that fell over with the last flood, and Lord Willing, this week Jair plans to do a bit of tree lopping. You might remember from earlier on in the year, a tree fell down after

a flood. The ground becomes sodden with water and the flimsy roots with the weight of the tree result in a great big crash. So, the trees all need a drastic hair cut. But thankfully, it's been dry lately, so the weather is ok for doing all this work.

Well, in other news here at SWIM, some people next door at the sawmill recently caught a croc. Yip that's Jair with his new friend. We've heard there are a few around and I think they're better dead than alive so we wish all the best to the locals who catch and kill them.

Also, we have some interesting night time security!! They hang out on the fences (we're told the big ones are on the fence by our house... )

And finally, after many months of waiting - we now have a parrot. We've called it Gehazi (it was given to us by Elisha, seriously). Gehazi is still a baby. He can't talk yet and his feathers are still changing from grey fluffy baby ones to colourful red, orange and green, and his beak still needs to grow. But he's cute, although he does squawk alot.

Laki is extremely jealous of Gehazi and now whines a lot and begs for a lot of attention. Oh well.

oh dear!

Oh, dear! You're probably wondering what happened to us! I haven't written a blog for ever so long... Well, we've been rather busy lately with many teams coming in and out of the transit house. That's kept me (Lauretta) especially tied up, as well as the ongoing work supporting the teachers at the Hospital School, and prison ministry with Jair. Jair has been busy with repairs, maintenance work, and of course, his mechanics course at Tetere. He's had a few health issues too, lately, like cellulitis in his foot - confined to bed! He's also had malaria five times since we arrived in January (I've had it twice).

That short little paragraph accurately sums up what we've been up too! We're both well and battling on in this part of the kingdom.

Last week, I accompanied a team to Betivatu School near "Gold Ridge". I stayed for three days, but the team stayed on for a few more days. On Saturday Jair came over and with the team and a whole lot of people from the school, we went for a walk to a beautiful water hole. The kids, ingenuitive as they are, quickly made fires to cook rice. Some even speared a fish and

cooked it, wrapped in banana leaf, on the hot stones. We all had a great time playing in the water and boy we needed it. It was hot (as always).

The teacher whose house I stayed in, Joycelyn, picked this gorgeous flower - it looks plastic, I know, and it feels quite thick and

artificial, but it's real, and absolutely beautiful. Isn't amazing, that we find these little testimonies to God's creativity tucked in the bush where few ever look.

Speaking of wonders, here's a picture of the night sky! Jair bought me a new camera for my birthday and I tried it out one night. I still need to figure out what all the buttons do, but I'll get there. I love being able to capture in an image even a small amount of the beauty we see around us.