Time with Sherm and Bernie....

I first met Sherm and Bernie when Caleb and I were newly married. They were introduced to me as family friends who served on the mission field with Caleb's family. Little did I know at the time that we would be joining them on the mission field. Though they serve in PNG, we never get to see them there because they live on the Islands. When we found out that they were staying at Tree Tops for the week-end, we were beyond excited to get to spend some quality time with them.

Saturday night, they took us out to dinner at Bushfire Flame Grill. This place is practically a Brazilian Steakhouse.....where the waiters brought endless supplies of meat around on "swords". The meal was amazing. I would have to say that my favorite kind of meat was the pork. You cannot get quality pork in PNG....it all tastes like fish. Pretty gross! I also liked the spicy sausages that they served.

I was touristy and made them all pose for a quick picture before dinner:

On Sunday night, we decided to celebrate Ben's birthday. The child is officially 4 even though his birthday is a month and a half away. Here are pictures from his party. And, he must have really enjoyed himself because he has not stopped telling people about the party, his presents and how he is now 4. The kid is in 4-year-old heaven.

Walking into the clubhouse....a little unsure about what his party will be like:

Smile Ben! (He's going through the "I can't remember how to make a smile look natural phase!)

We found a Kmart here in Cairns. And, can I just say that the Kmart here is NICE! It isn't just because we have been in PNG that we now like Kmart. It is because it feels just like the Target here. The quality is just plain better than in the States. Anyway, I bought two presents for Ben and a bit of wrapping paper from Kmart. I couldn't pull myself to pay for birthday paper, so I tried to find Christmas paper that would work for birthday. When I got back to the flat, I realized that I didn't have any tape. I improvised with stickers that I brought with us. Pitiful, I know....but I had to work with what we had.

Caleb manned the grill. I have been dreaming about grilling out for a while. Caleb and I used to grill out ALL year in the States. There was even one Christmas where we grilled steaks for dinner. Not having a grill in PNG has been hard. We will probably get a lot of use out of the clubhouse grill while we are here:

Mom and the birthday boy:

Look at all that food. On top of all the delicious "adult" food, Sherm and Bernie bought Ben a Happy Meal from McDonald's as a special treat. He was so excited to have a cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake. The kid's smile started about this time and just kept getting bigger and bigger all night!

After dinner, it was time for CAKE....

....complete with candles and singing!

Here you go.....you get to see a picture of a VERY pregnant Adrienne. I've got less than 4 weeks people!!! Give me a break. :)

Look at the smile on his face. He was really excited about cake. He kept calling the M&M's vitamins. He knew they weren't vitamins, but he just thought he was so funny calling them that.

These are the kind of pictures that I get now-a-days:

Love this child! :)

Sherm and Bernie made the night so special. I am just so happy that they were there to celebrate with us!

Family of 3 shot.....soon we will be a family of 4!

After cake, it was time for presents!!

Ben got two water guns! Caleb thought that this would be a good gift idea and he was right. Ben has been entertained by them for hours already today. When they aren't filled with water, he is army crawling around the flat pretending to shoot bad guys. He also spent the afternoon (while we watched football) cleaning the windows with the water guns.

Sherm and Bernie gave Ben an off-road jeep. When you shake it, it makes noise and the wheels start on their own. So, you shake it and put it on the floor and it drives across the room. Ben loves it!

Happy Birthday, Benjamin! You are going to be such a great BIG brother soon! It was so nice to have his birthday early so that it could be all about him.