The treasures and trials of life abroad

I have one again let it go too long between blogs, and I must say much has transpired since I last wrote..

My dad had a root canal WITH NO NOVOCAIN or pain killer of any kind with out any notice for that matter!!  CRAZY man, he even went back for the follow up appointment to pull the last few roots!! And yes he did get a deal..$2!  I say the service was commensurate with the pay! Or in other words you get what you pay for!

2 of our guy dts students (like family here) got hauled off to prison to await sentencing for a minor crime committed 3 years ago that they pleaded guilty to.  They are now sitting in jail ,a square formation of shipping containers (connexes )with bars on the front that face each other to from a courtyard. They have their Bibles and a guitar hoping for what seems unlikely at the moment… a fair trial.  We are weary from the sadness and prayer that this entails.  Please be praying for Kalz and Jackson. 

I am CRAZY busy trying to get all my adoption paperwork in a row for the official adoption hearing to be held after our 3 month custody (July 19th), so we are hoping for a trial immediately after that date, and trying to arrange for an immigration interview for Bella with all the mounds of paperwork that that entails.  That has to be done in an entirely different country as there is no US embassy here in Vanuatu.  That is looking like Sydney Australia or Port Moresby Papua New Guinea.  WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE, BUT SO WORTH IT!!!!

Crazy as it sounds I have a new friend here who is going through exactly the same adoption immigration process as me who’s baby is only 2 weeks younger than mine.  So we are a great encouragement to each other.  It is so helpful having someone in the same situation to work together with. Her name is Lisa and her baby’s name is Koral (great island name isn’t it!)

I am continuing working with Rachel and the preschool as I can and we are currently investigating foreign aid that may help with the cost of a piece of land but who knows for sure.. It would be so awesome!  We are also trying to figure out a plan of action to set up a sponsorship program for the kids many needs like school fees and food…  There is a breakfast club plan we are wanting to get into place as well but we can’t do everything at once so all in Gods timing….

Josh is currently on a small island north of Efate where we live on the island of Epi where he is helping to lead a mission adventures team from New Zealand in a water tank project.  He along with the 15 or so others is sleeping on dirt floors, eating the food they brought over as there is not much in the way of stores, living with out electricity or much water (hence the water tank project!).  I have long since lost cell phone communication with him since his battery died in his cell phone… Hopefully if there is an emergency they will find some way to contact us.  Please pray for his health as he was sick with the flu and a had a badly infected thumb (infections can be a big deal in tropical countries). He is planning on going on a wild boar hunt if the chiefs go while he is there and is heading out for a fishing trip in a dug out canoe using small crabs as bait like the locals.  I know he will enjoy that!! But we sure miss him a lot!

The kiddos are healthy other than the colds, and LOVING spending so much time with Bappa and Mimi ( my parents).  They love spending the night (Pierce) and hanging out when I need to run an errand.  They (my parents) are so much more fun than me I love it!  They come home with crafts or new bedtime stories and games its the best!  What will we do with out them!!  Bella pretty much lives in my sling and on the sofa…no fancy swings, mobiles and kick gyms here!  She seems to be more than fine though and really smiles ALOT, she will fit right in with the Neeley clan!

The best part of being here…

We love feeling like we are here for a reason.  That is what keeps us going.  Lately I have been just spending time with kids that don’t have much in the way of money or life.  I find it really fulfilling to see hurting kids just being fed and loved.  Here are a few photos.

 

Pierce Dahlia and Angelina enjoying some popcorn at night before we walked her home.  She even stayed for bedtime stories.

My kiddos and with the other kids at preschool while we had a New Zealand team in to volunteer that day with puppets etc..

The three musketeers at the park in Port Vila.  We took Angelina and it was one of the first times in a REALLY long time she had ever gotten to go to town. 

  Angelina on the slide.

One of Rachael the teachers daughters up our coconut tree getting us coconuts to eat with the kids we had over that day.  Yes she climbed that tree and it is VERY TALL!

The preschool watching the volunteers use puppets to tell stories.

Dahlia, Nicole, and Jimmy at our house playing in the back yard one day after preschool.

 

Rachel the teacher holding Dahlia in preschool.  We recently found out Rachel often does not have enough food to feed her family so we along with my parents try to help out whenever we can with food.  Please be praying for her and her 6 kids.  She is due with the 7th in July.

Jimmy is a sweet boy who is not getting the love and attention he needs at home and still needs help with daily necessities.  We are finding that to be very common in our preschool. 

We are working on creating a sponsorship program to figure out the amount needed monthly to cover school fees, uniforms, food and help with their  families rent.  Please be thinking about this as we work out how much it will be.  We will taken NONE of it for overhead and ALL will go dirrectly to the kids families.  We will also be working out a way to check in to see if it is being properly spent on the children.

“Confessions of a Christian hedonist”

That is the title of a book by John Piper that has this as its theme…and yes hedonist does mean pleasure seeker…

“God is most glorified when I am most satisfied in him.”

 

l have been thinking about what God is wanting to teach us in our time right now, and also reading a book called “Marketplace Christianity” that my dad recommended (by Robert Fraser).  (A MUST READ FOR ANYONE!!!!)

In this book one of the things they talk about is the realm of spiritual giftings in the marketplace or business world.  So like the church sphere has apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists the business world has areas of spiritual giftings as well.  God is using the other millions of christians (97%) that are not in the church sphere to serve God and influence people for the kingdom of heaven

 

One of these giftings that stuck out to me was the one about treasure bringers.  It is a funny thing to say while we sit here with less than $30 cash to our name, but I really believe through a series of events that God has spoken to us that he will use us in this way. 

As Robert Fraser puts it “treasure bringers are anointed by God to make money and to do great deeds of compassion and mercy for the nations.”  They are totally motivated by seeing God as a benevolent father and they are free from greed and selfish ambition.  They want to make money to use it to bless others.  One guy like this was about to become a missionary but felt God lead him to start a business.  The business makes multi millions but they choose to  live in a modest 3 bedroom home and drive used cars.  He says “God has called me to make all the money I can and live on as little as possible”. 

(These are the local wood bunk beds my dad,Sam from the base and Josh have been busy building)

WOW!! I was totally humbled and realized that God needs to refine us if we are to be truly useful to God in that way.  I realized that living here with no money and very few things and surrounded by need is exactly the place to learn

TO BE COMPLETELY CONTENT WITH LITTLE, AND TO FIND GREATER JOY IN GIVING THAN KEEPING.

I realized now is the time to ENJOY GOD regardless of personal wealth.  To live here with JOY, Hope and Peace right now, not when we get a job. 

My AHHA moment came today when I saw that breakthrough is not when we can suffer through with little but when we can TRULY BE CONTENT because life really is not about things.  The great joy comes not just by being content but also by having the opportunity to GIVE. To see a need and meet it or help in some way. 

God doesn’t ask us to be completely satisfied with little and it stop there.  He lets us participate in BEING A BLESSING.  what an opportunity to experience real joy.

And so it is very true that “GOD IS MOST GLORIFIED WHEN i AM MOST SATISFIED IN HIM”

We are not meant to suffer through, but to ENJOY!!

So I am off to enjoy the rest of my day and I hope you will too.

(the photos are with some of the kids I bring home from preschool to play and have a meal…Angelina is the oldest, then there is Nicole her cousin and Jimmy.)  It really is a joy serving those guys.  I pray God will continue to use us to bring Joy and love to their lives.

What is going on at Preschool

 

A photo of us at preschool (notice even Bella is with me in the sling!)

Betina and Dahlia playing a game.

We had a Discipleship training school here from New Zealand that volunteered at our preschool recently.

Jimmy needs alot of prayer right now as his dad has lost his job and the land owner where his family has built a small shack has threatened to burn it down and cut all the trees down if His family doesn’t catch up on the rent!  Please pray because the same land owner did just burn down his cousins house right next door a few weeks ago for the same reason.

Well Pierce is singing his heart out but I think Dahlia is looking a bit tired.

Jimmy singing motions and all!  Please pray for his situation.  He will have to leave our preschool if all continues on the same track with them getting kicked out of their home for back rent.

Puppets with the New Zealand team.  The kids LOVED it!

Rachel the teacher is about to have a baby (her 6th!) In July.  She needs a better living situation so we are really praying for answers.  She currently lives in a 2 !/2 meter by 21/2 meter square room with only two small mats for everyone to sleep on.  Which just means most of the family sleeps on the hard ground.  They are behind in their rent, and I just found out have often been going hungry when their food runs out.  Of course now that I know that we are sharing whatever groceries we have and will make sure her family always has food, but it is still a hard situation for them.  Her husband works 6 days a week at a resort near us doing manual labor and only makes the going rate of the US equivalent of $10 a day.  With the cost of food here that is simply not enough.  Their room costs $50 a month and that does not come with a toilet a yard or anything!

We are trying to come up with some creative solutions for them, like helping her get supplies to make necklaces she can sell at the YWAM base to traveling teams and we are talking at YWAM about organizing and setting up a breakfast club in the village so that no one goes with out breakfast.  In the meantime we bring peanut butter and bread to the preschool  and let the kids know that if they have no breakfast (which is very common) they can come early to eat breakfast. 

We will keep you posted as we progress.  Right now we are overwhelmed with need and opportunities, but God is great so we know we can come up with some solutions.  blessings! Kristy

Neeley update and link to our EASY pay pal donation site.

Hello!  Thanks for the interest in donating.  We have created a VERY EASY to use paypal site.  you can find it at www.lovevanuatu.org/neeleys There all kinds of different ways to give all sorts of different amounts!  It is fun to take a look at so even if you can't give at this time just check it out.  And the www.lovevanuatu.org site is the site for our YWAM base that we work with so that is fun to check out as well.

Josh and the fam in the living room when Pierce was sick and Dahlia was once again petting “ours baby” who she adores!  Forgive the mess it happens alot at our house in a small place.

This photo is  of Pierce Dahlia and Lianna (in the pink) who is Geoff and Amanda’s 2 1/2 yr old adopted little girl.  The kids love to play (and of course fight!) together.  She is a real cutie and it is fun to have friends for the kids. 

 

This is Jackie our friend who is on staff at the YWAM base.  The kids love her!  Her dad teaches us the Bishlama (local language) classes.  We just started so hopefully we pick it up fast!

WE are expecting my parents here on Sun the 10th!  Can't wait!!  We are planning all kinds of fun things to do.  Like the cascade waterfall gardens where you can swim in the falls and the local hotels pools as well as exploring a new beach we haven’t been to and just found out about called honeymoon beach that isn’t too far of a walk from where we live.  Josh and I are looking forward to doing a little exploring when they arrive that we haven’t had a chance to do yet.   There is so much to see!

Blessings, Kristy, Josh Pierce Dahlia and Bella

We just adopted…BELLA is finally home & we are all in love with her!

Josh and I have felt it on our heart for years to adopt even before we had kids.  We have tried several times to look into different options but before things could go very far it would always fall through.   We know that at the core of Gods heart is a longing and a desire for children to have life, be loved and cared for.  Here is the answer to YEARS of prayer and a life saved!!  Introducing BELLA CHRISTIAN NEELEY born Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 7:11 am 3.52 kilos, or 7.74 lbs

“True religion is this to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”-James 

I got the call on Sun at 1:45 am that Mary had gone into labor and we (Amanda my friend & I) were to meet her at the hospital.  So I got dressed fast and ran in the dark to my friend Amanda's house down the road a ways to get her.  There was a little confusion and we finally got a hold of the guy who was to take us to the hospital (remember neither of our families have cars, and bus’ don’t run in the middle of the night here unless they are just getting done drinking or coming from a kava bar (not good if you are the one getting a ride!).  We had woken him up and it turns out he went right back to sleep! So an hour later we figured out what happened and had to wake Amanda’s husband  Jeff (you can’t go out as a girl with out a guy in the  middle of the night for safety reasons.)  Then we had to pray for a Taxi cause it was the middle of the night and just as I prayed one showed up (we had only seen two vehicles period in the last hour we had been there!)!

Finally after much waiting and praying Little Bella was born at 7 am!  

This photo is of when she was only 20 min old!  Pre bath.  I was the very first person to touch her after delivery except for the nurse who delivered her!  She was under a heat lamp crying while the nurse attended to Mary (birth mother) and I was able to touch her and soothe her.  I was even able to give her her first bath !

The kids and Josh came as soon as they were allowed at about 8:30 on their way to church which happens to be right behind the hospital.  They were all so excited to meet her!

Notice the falling off diaper! Dahlia was crying cause all She got to hold were Bella’s feet.  Pierce and Dahlia just love having a little sister.  Dahlia keeps tugging on my pants saying “I can’t see my baby” when I am holding her. 

This morning she got out of bed saying “Ours baby! Ours baby!”  Like where is our baby?  Usually she yells “mama” and waits for me to get her out of bed.  Unfortunately at this point Bella much prefers if Josh or I hold her…Don’t know why :) 

This is the brave lady who gave Bella to us.  She is sitting with her daughter on her left and her sister on her right.  She is 36 and is not married, and the father is long gone.  Her parents are not willing to take another of her children as they have raised the other kids (the girl above 18 and two boys 7 and 10).  She knew we were her answer to prayer as to what to do concerning the baby.

Giving the baby up was hard for her to do even though she had planned it for months.  It was a bit emotional at the actual passing over when she got off the bus before us.  She didn’t say anything and I croaked out an awkward “Thank you, thank you” not knowing what else to say.  I am pretty sure she didn’t see me crying as I received the baby from her sister who was with her cause she wouldn’t look at me.  I think she was trying not to let me see her emotions.  I  wrote her a letter and stuck it in her bag at the hospital.  I just wanted to go beyond the language barrier and say that we were honored and thanked her for choosing life for our now daughter.  I reminded her that the love we feel for this baby is the same love God has for us (including her) as He says in the Bible he has “adopted” us in to His family.  I continued to tell her that God has a plan for her life and for Bella's life and that we were blessed to be a part of it.  I also reminded her that God brings the best out of a very bad situation and that this was exactly that.  We have asked her to write a letter to  Bella telling her why she choose to relinquish her to us and that it was not because she didn’t love her…  I hope that she will do that for Bella's sake and for hers. 

Please be praying.  we have committed to making this an open adoption where she can come and see the child and when we live on our land further North we will come and bring the whole family to pownogisu where she is from so they can all see her as she grows.  We believe in Gods redemptive work and want to bring healing and not just tear her away.  We have an uncle of the baby's that is a good friend that we want to have teach her her native tongue (local to that village) as well as Bishlama, so that she doesn’t loose her culture. 

We find it amazing that somehow God arranged it all to go so smoothly.  What a blessing little Bella is to us.  Truly Gods gift to us.