A baby. A missionary. Five weeks in NICU and now safe at home. Fifteen hours lost at sea and now safe at home. Here’s how it happened:
Briella has been home for over a week and is doing great. We are a family again! She was relesed from the NICU in the hospital at 5 weeks old 3 lbs. 12 oz. Since then she has added about another half pound and is starting to add some roundness to her petite figure. She is still pretty small though. In fact after loosing her twice in the play pen we decided to find another bedding option. We were able to negotiate with the baby dolls and acquire the cradle which had been made as a toy by Briella’s great, great grandfather.
Though she has not reached her due date yet, she seems to be getting life here on earth figured out. She is eating well and has her mother on call every couple of hours. Though normally a pretty content and happy baby if she start to cry and fuss it seems at least one of her older sisters are ready to hold her, give her a pacifier, or sing her a song. Thank you so much for your prayers for her. You can see more little pics on our website.
Another amazing story happened yesterday near the village where we live in PNG. Our coworker Madonna is in the village working on translation at the moment along with the Webb family who are visiting and could potentially be a much bigger part of the Patpatar work. As many of you know, we often take a dingy boat from our island across 30+ miles of ocean, which can get rough, to another island to get our supplies. Yesterday, another missionary Chad Earl, along with 4 men, 3 woman and a baby from the village were heading back across the channel when a storm came up and swamped the boat sinking it in the sea leaving the passengers in the waves. Rough seas and encroaching darkness limited rescue attempts and they were left to drift in the dark, open water through the night.
Meanwhile, the Webbs, Madonna, and others in NTM on shore and on the mainland did all they could to arrange more rescue efforts for targeted areas in the morning. At day break and after a few hours of searching all were able to be rescued and brought safely to shore. The boat driver, a friend of ours in the village, is in the small town hospital being treated. Chad, having possible shock, is back on the mainland being cared for. We are still waiting details for the others, but all are alive. The incredible story called, He shouldn’t be Alive, along with pictures is told by another missionary in more detail at http://tribalwife.blogspot.com/2012/09/he-shouldnt-be-alive.html
Though not traveling by boat right now across dangerous seas, our family has done a bit of traveling. Two weeks ago we were at the missionary emphasis weekend in Oakland, Nebraska and had a chance to reacquaint ourselves with several people. This last weekend we were blessed to be a part of the mission’s conference in Lemars, Iowa. This weekend we will be in Kansas City an at the end of the month, I will be leaving for Africa to help lead a workshop that will be attending by missionaries from at least 3 other countries. We thank God He has allowed us to always end up safely home…our temporary home that is.
Aaron
Briella in the doll cradle