FUN WITH JOICE (AND SOMETIMES KARL)

I started this series of short stories by thinking about some of the funny things that have happened in my married life. I had been posting something about Joice and her legacy on Facebook each week and this could be an addendum. I have not attempted to put the stories in any chronological order. I begin with the mosquito story:

The Persistent Mosquito

This incident happened several years ago at a church in Michigan. Joice and I hadn’t met the new pastor, so we were standing at the entrance chatting. A mosquito kept buzzing around the pastor and finally landed on his forehead. Without hesitation Joice reached over and slapped the insect, which fell to the floor. The pastor looked slightly puzzled, but Joice calmly bent down, retrieved the now dead mosquito and held it up like a prize. “See,” she said, “I got em.” That is not the end of the story. Later when Joice was asked to say a few words from the pulpit, she remarked, “Well I think I finally knocked some sense into your pastor,” and told the mosquito story. Later the pastor, not to be outdone, remarked “The next time the Franklins come, I am going to wear a helmet:” Needless to say, we became good friends and I believe they later sprayed the church entrance with an insect repellant. Life was never dull with Joice around.

That little story elicited several comments and it brought to mind a number of other “funny” incidents. I’m going to start here, and hopefully I can continue to add to them.

The Lost Skirt

Joice often told this story, and I can picture her telling it now and laughing as she does so. She was speaking at a church in north Dallas to a group of women and she had on her PNG attire, which included a “lap-lap,” a decorative full-length skirt, tied with a knot in the front. As she was making and important point with her hands raised, she noticed that the women were not looking directly at her, but at her feet. And there lay her skirt, which had come off. Joice didn’t miss a beat and said, “Well, I guess you never had a missionary stripper here before.” The women were in awe and laughing as Joice continued, “Now let me show you how to put on a PNG skirt.” Fortunately, she had a slip on, so she wasn’t as revealing as it sounds. She continued, “I’ll never forget Elmwood Methodist church,” to which a woman replied, “We’ll never forget you either Joice. And I bet they won’t. When she told the story to our then teenage daughter, Karol said, “Oh mom I would have been so embarrassed.” Her mom replied, “At your age I would have been too, but not at my age.” Joice loved that story and it spread far and wide among our missionary colleagues.

The Green Dress

Joice had a green dress that was attractive, and she wore it a lot—too much I thought. One day our dear PNG friends (David and Sineina, who were more like our kids) were visiting us and I thought “This is my chance to get rid of that dress.” I walked into our bedroom closet, got the dress, and took it to Sineina. “Here, Sineina is a dress that Joice has been wanting you to have.” Joice looked at me puzzled and then a sly smile came across her face. She went into the bedroom and returned with a large armload of my shirts. “And David,” she said, “Karl wants you to have these shirts.” I didn’t, of course, so I walked over and took them back, saying “Most of them won’t fit you, but here is one that will,” and I gave him a shirt I had bought in the Philippines. Not much more was said, but that is not the end of the story. Sineina gave the green dress to a woman who worked in an office near me, and she promptly wore it almost every day. Joice was pleased.

Missionaries in Black

In one way, it was clear from a young age that Joice would become a missionary. Her parents often hosted missionaries and she loved their stories. In addition, each year her church had a mission conference, something common some years ago. And each year Joice would respond to the invitation to follow God’s calling her to be a missionary by walking to the front when there was an invitation. However, she told me, “there is one thing I will never do as a missionary: I will not wear black.” Why not? It seemed so drab to her, a woman who loved colorful clothes and a bright atmosphere, sometimes with many candles. True to her calling, Joice married me and became a missionary and I never saw her in black clothes. They simply would not have fitted her personality. There are all kinds of missionaries, but she was unique in many ways and I love to remember her (in bright clothes).

The Smile and “the Look”

I have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of photos of Joice and people who look at them have often said, “She always seems to be smiling.” For the most part that is true, but she had a particular look that she would give me that made me pause. It was a kind of bemused look, as if to say, “What are you thinking?” I would have done something or, more likely, said something, that displeased her and, by that look I knew immediately that I should stop and punt. It seems wonderful to me that she did not usually have to say anything, instead just look at me with that expression. Sometimes I would quiz her about the look, but not often. I wonder sometimes, perhaps often, if Jesus isn’t looking at me like Joice did because, when she did, I had the convicting work of the Holy Spirit suddenly talking to me. I really miss the smile, but I also miss “that look.”

The Antenna

Sometimes Joice liked to have a little too much fun. I came home from work at our school in Dallas one day and noticed that the antenna of the car lay limp on the roof of the car, much like a dead, but thin snake. I asked what happened. “Oh,” she laughed, as she said, “I often like to push the button to have the garage door go down and then see how quickly I can get out with the car. I didn’t quite make it this time.”

The Water Drum

Joice and her best friend in Papua New Guinea were much alike: gregarious, energetic, pretty. and smart. (They also had great husbands.) Marge and Joice did a lot of things together and there is one event that typifies their bond. One afternoon when I was outside our house painting, I heard them approaching in an old Landrover. They had been to a nearby town shopping and Marge was bringing Joice home. They pulled into our driveway and Marge, thinking she was pushing the brake, instead gave the accelerator a mighty nudge. At the corner of our house stood a 55 gallon drum filled with rain water. The Landrover cruised into the drum and sent enough water from it to baptize the side of our house. I rushed to see what had happened and found the front bumper of the vehicle perched on the drum with the tire still spinning. As it spun aimlessly, it made a noise that blended perfectly with the peals of laughter coming from the women. What do you do with a wife like that? You laugh with her and wonder what will happen next! What is she up to in heaven now?

Yodeling at Windsor Castle

This story happened when we were in England teaching at our summer school and on one weekend we went to visit Windsor Castle. I had gone off to buy some film and left Joice, our daughter and our niece to wait for me. Somehow, we got separated and I was far up the trail when Joice spotted me in my brightly colored shirt. She got up on a wall and did the Kewa yodel for me. I heard it, turned, and spotted her, much to my embarrassment. But Joice was having fun and laughing at me. “It worked—I got your attention,” she told me when I rejoined them. “Yes, and the attention of a thousand others,” I replied. That made her laugh even more. She loved life and laughter.  A Kewa yodel is generally only something the men did to pass messages, but Joice learned how to do it and the men of the village would have peals of laughter when she yodeled for me.

My Libido

Sometimes Joice got her technical terms mixed up (like we all do). She was telling a story about me—I don’t remember what it was—and saw my disappointed face. She felt sorry for me and meant to say, “Oh Karl, I’m sorry, did I hurt your ego?”  Instead of ego she said libido!

Gag Gifts

Joice loved to give out gag gifts at parties and one of her favorites was to take a very small box, perhaps 3 inches by half an inch, and insert a bikini in it. She would then act so surprised and offended when the person opened it. She had several such “white elephants,” including a pair of mega-undershorts. They were all waiting to be released at the proper moment.

So Many Shoes

Joice loved shoes and she had a lot of them, probably 80 or 90 percent from the “missionary barrel” or “boutique” as we were encouraged to snobbishly call it. We were going to teach in England one summer and enroute we stayed with our good friends Bill and Lucille Wernsing in Ithaca, NY. We had to repack and after Joice laid out her 10 or so pairs of shoes, Bill commented “so that is what you do with our support money.” He was joking of course, but years later Bill was in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and we were visiting him at a care center. His wife told him that he had visitors, but no response. “The woman with all the shoes,” she said. With that comment, something triggered Bill to give a response. “Oh, that one,” he said. It was the last words we ever heard from him, but we treasured them.

Fortune Telling

We were living in the village and women would stop by regularly to see us. On one occasion, a very pregnant woman came by and was complaining of pain. Joice gave her two aspirins and, in joking, told her that she was going to have a baby boy. Two hours later the woman returned with her baby boy and soon other pregnant women were coming to see Joice. “Give us the pills that make the baby come and tell us if it will be a boy or a girl.” What Joice had intended as small talk and a joke prompted other pregnant women to see her as a fortune teller.

Puppetry

Joice had a little hand puppet that she would use to talk to the Kewa women. She would hold it in her hand—it fit something like a glove—and it would talk Kewa. She would get the women to talk back to the puppet and I think they even gave it a name. She had a lot of fun with it!

A Pupil of Joice’s

I’ll quote from Joice for this story, which happened when we were at a government station called Kagua, in the Southern Highlands of PNG in the late 1980s. “When we got there a teenage girl came running so excited and breathless. Karl opened the car door and she fell into his arms crying ‘You didn’t know me, did you?’ It was Yausi who was in our [Joice’s] pre-school literacy class years ago. Now she was in Kagua High School. She insisted on speaking English and it was very good. I felt rather gratified since I had taught her to read. She got in the car and wanted to talk and talk. She had been worried that she had missed us.”

Flipping her Wig

While we lived in the village of Muli, in the Southern Highlands of PNG, it got very cold and windy. It was hard for Joice to keep her hair looking like she wished. For some reason, a couple of women visited and they got talking about hair and asked Joice for a snippet of hers. We didn’t know why but a month or two later a package arrived with a wig for Joice. Joice decided to have some fun with the Kewa women, so she wore her wig, which they didn’t notice because it looked like her normal hair. The people often had lice and itched their heads a lot and Joice pretended that she also had lice. She itched and itched and, in the process pulled her wig off. The women shrieked, thinking she had pulled out her hair, but when they learned the truth, they laughed, and all wanted to wear the wig.

In the Dark of the Night

Joice and I were invited to the Catholic mission station to spend a weekend. We had often interacted with them, encouraging them to use the Kewa scriptures and some of the nuns had even visited our village, about 15 miles from their station. When we arrived at their station, we had to split up and Joice went to the nunnery for the night. All the rooms the nuns slept in were the same, and sometime during the night Joice had to get up and find her way to the bathroom. She did so but became disoriented on her directions and, searching for her own room, ended up in the bedroom of a nun–if I remember correctly. She thought it could have been very embarrassing but, instead she got a funny story out it.

Kidnapped

Joice loved to tell the story of how she got kidnapped when we were at Kangaroo Ground, teaching at our Australian linguistic school. All the staff knew Joice well and they knew she could take a joke. So, they decided to kidnap her. She related it like this: “I heard a knock at the door and although my hair was up in curlers, I went to see who it was. Suddenly a large bag was put over my head and I was taken firmly to a nearby car. No one said anything, but I was driven around for what seemed like hours and then taken back to my house, or at least that is where it seemed to be. As the two men untied the bag, I reached for my hair and removed the curlers. I saw that my abductors were two men from our staff that I had probably played some jokes on. I was released in our house into the comforting arms (perhaps) of Karl. Did I learn my lesson? No, but I had a funny story to tell.”

My 40^th Birthday Hay-seed Party

Joice loved birthday parties and she made sure that my 40^th was one to remember. All of my friends who came to the party were dressed like hillbillies. One man had a corncob pipe and his toe bandaged up. They wore bib overhauls, and one woman had her teeth blackened. I was given weird gifts I am sure, although I can’t remember what they were. And, of course, there was my wife directing it all and delighting in the party. What laughs we had!

Surgery

Joice had many surgeries during her lifetime—I think we counted up 8—and when we came home on furlough in 1976 she needed some extensive repair work done because of Kirk’s long and difficult birth. I don’t know who referred us to the surgeons (whose names I have somewhere), but Joice soon became friends with them and as they were walking her down the hall for her anesthetic, she looked at their surgical gowns and quipped, “Do you always dress up like this?” They loved her and one of the surgeons paid what our insurance would not cover for the operation.

Popcorn

Joice loved popcorn and would eat gallons of it. We often ate popcorn with our friends Clyde and Lois Whitby and Joice and Clyde would see who could eat the most, joking as they did so. When Clyde was dying, he said t Joice, “It must have been all that popcorn.”

The Pastor’s Notes

Joice enjoyed telling how she noted that things were not as they appeared. The situation was when she was in the choir many years ago. Each year the pastor invited a man who spoke on temperance or some related item and Joice thought he was exceedingly boring. However, she noticed the pastor taking copious notes. “What can he possibly be writing” she thought, so when the choir stood up to sing, she leaned a bit to the right and was able to read the pastor’s notes. He had written: Change the oil in the car; go to the hardware store; and so on. She was delighted to see that pastors get bored too.

The Old People

We had not been back in the Kewa area for a long time and were in at the Lutheran airstrip in Wabi. We had gotten off our small airplane and were walking along the road to meet some of the Kewa people, who had heard we were coming. I had grown a beard, and it was grey and white. When the men saw me with it, they said, “Oh, the old man is coming,” and Joice thought that was very funny. Then when we got a bit closer, they said “And the old woman is with him too.” Then we both laughed! A caveat: being old in the Kewa culture demands respect and the names for “old man” and “old women” are given with the attitude of esteem.

Joice Gets Mad (at herself)

We were in Paris and the train was packed. I nearly had my pocket picked when entering the train, but I turned and interrupted the man, giving him a shove back outside. Joice was with Karol and Susan, and they were surrounded by several wild looking characters. The girls had their purses over their shoulders, under the arms, but as Joice relates: “I was not so smart. My shoulder bag hung down to my hip and I hung one to a front strap with one hand. With the other hand I was hold on to a pole, sharing it with several others, including a nice looking young man who stood facing me closely. Odd, I thought, but he got off soon and I was relieved. Ken [Susan’s dad] started moving towards the girls and the characters moved away. Later, when shopping by the Arch de Triumph to buy some cards, I went for my wallet and found my purse open and it was gone. The nice looking man, no doubt. I was very mad at myself for not being more cautious.”

Not Complaining

Joice was helping at the SIL museum in Dallas, and I was teaching at our school. She often went to the “boutique” to find donated clothes. “I go every time I’m on the Center. The clothes aren’t much but the price is right! I would love to buy new clothes—but can’t reconcile this with our other needs for Karol, the house, etc. I guess this is the way mothers have been for centuries. I’m not complaining. I love doing it for my family’s sake. Particularly Karol. I had thought of taking a part-time job. But when I thought of the clothing I would need I figured I would soon nullify my earnings.”

Meeting Mike

We had come to the US from PNG to be interviewed for a forthcoming job with our organization. We had about two weeks and during the weekends we wanted to go to Waco to see Karol and meet her fiancé Mike for the first time. Joice was prepared for the occasion, and we hadn’t been talking long before she said to Mike, “I don’t know if you are the one for Karol, but I have been praying for years for that man and here is what I have prayed for.” Karol and I cringed a bit, having no idea what Joice was about to say, but also knowing that it would be direct and revealing. “I have prayed,” Joice continued, “that the man would be Christian, come from a stable home, and be sexually pure.” That seemed to go over OK, so Joice continued, “Are there any diseases in your family that we should know about?” I thought that might end the romance, but Mike easily countered with “Mental or physical?” I knew immediately that Karol had chosen the right man.

The Singing Dogs

I believe that Pretzel IV is the fourth Dachshund that we or our family have owned and Joice has taught every one of them sing duets with her. She would put Pretzel on her lap and start singing “How much is that doggie in the window?” and soon Pretzel would put his head back and start to wail the song, mostly in tune as far as I could tell. One of our “Pretzels” was in New Guinea and just learning to “sing” at our house at Ukarumpa. A neighbor heard the noise and came quickly to see if there was a problem at the Franklin’s house. She promptly got an introduction to the talent of the singing dog. Joice would often have Pretzel perform for our PNG student friends and they would clap and yell with delight.

The Cement Marker

Joice and I have done some odd things, which we thought was funny and this is one of them. We were teaching linguistics for SIL during the summer at one of the Universities in Sydney, Australia. We had a business manager named Tom Hibberd and he loved a good joke. We decided to see how far we could stretch that humor. We were out driving on a back road and noticed a large cement post by the side of the road. “I know a good place for that,” I said, meaning in Tom’s bed. The post was heavy, and we worked hard to get into the car, up two flights of stairs in the dorm, and into Tom’s bed. The bed was not very substantial ,and it sagged almost to the floor. We waited anxiously the next morning for Tom at breakfast, for he usually sat with us. “What would he say?” we wondered. He said nothing and we have no idea if he felt it was funny or not.

Practicing a Jewish Dance

For some reason, the staff at our Dallas SIL were going to put on a performance and one part of it involved a Jewish dance. Joice, who had never danced in her life (her parents and church would not allow her) was asked to participate and of course she wanted to. However, in the first practice she attempted a high kick and strained her thigh muscle. She was sidelined and could not participate. “That is probably what was due to me for trying to dance,” she said and then had a laugh.

Throwing away Money

It happened on two occasions. The first time was after Joice had attended a church function in Dallas and the church had given us the equivalent of one year’s support, a check for $1200. For some reason, I didn’t go and was in bed when Joice returned. In an excited voice she woke me and said, “Look what I got and waved the check before me.” It was the last we ever saw of it.  Apparently, when getting she was getting the wash ready the next morning the check got tangled up in the sheets and disappeared down the drain. Somewhat shamefacedly we had to ask the church to write a new check. The second time was at Kangaroo Ground, Australia, where we were teaching and heading up the SIL school. Karol had just graduated from Baylor and had come to visit us. While there she received a grant from the University to teach in Guatemala. It was in a manila envelope, plainly marked and it was a check for around $1200. Joice, cleaning up the room, threw the empty envelope (so she thought) into the trash. I had taken the trash to the dumpster, and it was sometime later that Karol couldn’t find her missing money. “Where is the Baylor envelope?” she asked, and mom replied that it had gone to the dumpster. Karol and I hurried off to the dumpster and I climbed down inside it. I sorted through the trash and found it! Joice was very careful with checks after that although, for some reason, she thought it was funny. I didn’t—it is amazing what people throw in a dumpster!

Fake Lamington Deserts

While living and teaching at Kangaroo Ground in Victoria, Australia, a couple of the staff became Aussie citizens. Joice decided to “celebrate” and gave them a party. As part of the event, she said that she had some Lamingtons for them as desert. Australian Lamingtons are “A moist butter sponge dipped in chocolate then coated with coconut.” However, Joice decided to play a joke on them and instead chocolate, she covered the cake with vegemite. If you have ever tasted vegemite, I don’t need to say anything more! The new citizens were not pleased with the new taste in their mouths!

Rubber Cockroaches

We had a couple of rubber cockroaches that we would insert into Joice’s blueberry pie or gingerbread cake when certain guests were not looking, but we would carefully determine the recipient. On one occasion when we were having students from UPNG, I set them up, telling them that we had been having cockroach problems and I had to spray all over the house. Later when it was desert time, Joice slipped a rubber roach into the cake of Tom. He started eating it and came across the rubber varmint. “Oh, Oh, Oh,” he exclaimed as he stood up and pushed the cake away. We told him the joke, but it did not matter—he would not eat the cake. Another visitor didn’t have his glasses on and was eating his blueberry pie desert. He knew something was in the pie that was hard to chew, but he kept attacking it. Joice, fearful that he would eat and swallow our rubber pet, confessed. He was not happy, but he did finish the blueberry pie. Another student asked to “borrow” one of our rubber roaches and took it to the Teacher’s College to play a joke on fellow students. We surmised that it got mixed in with the real roaches at the school because we never got it back. 

The Vacuum Cleaner Salesmen

Joice was home alone when two well-dressed men knocked at the door. Believing them to be Mormons, she eagerly invited them in, thinking she could witness about Jesus. “What do we have here, Mormons,” she asked cheerfully. They came inside and said, “No, actually we are selling Kirby vacuum cleaners.” And their demonstration began: they cleaned a part of the living-room rug. “But will it do brick?” Joice asked, pointing to the fireplace area. “Oh yes,” they said and proceeded to clean the area. “What about tiles?” and led them to the kitchen. She then saw me drive into the garage and came running out to meet me. “Oh Karl, I have some men that you will want to meet! She took me to their Kirby demonstration site and looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes. I could tell we were going to have some fun. Joice continued to point to potential cleaning sites: tables, chairs, lamp shades, until the man in charge said they wanted to show us how it would clean a mattress. We went in the bedroom and as they vacuumed the mattress, they took a video that they wanted to show us on our TV. “See,” they said, “You have thousands of mites in your mattress.” And we could see them because they were magnified until they looked a herd of small dinosaurs. “But those are not ours,” I explained. “We got this mattress from our kids in Waco.” “Furthermore,” I cautioned, “We should not disturb them. They are used to us, and we are used to them. If stirred up, they could cause a serious disease.” The men looked at one another, uncertain of the next step. They had been quoting prices from when they first met Joice ($2000) to a new low of $1000 but they could tell we were hard customers. They decided to call their supervisor, who just “happened” to be working nearby. He came immediately and offered us additional incentives and perks. We didn’t budge and finally, they gave up and left. Joice and I sat down and had a good, long laugh.

The Business Cards

John and Ruth Burgin came to help at the Kangaroo Ground school when we were leading it for SIL. John had to leave a year before we did but we found a stack of his business cards that he had left behind. Sometime later they invited us to visit them in Toowoomba, near Brisbane. We decided to have a little fun and took the business cards with us. Joice thought it would be fun to hide them throughout their house, so we put them in books, cupboards, plates, drawers, and so on. Then we thought of the overhead ceiling fans and put them on the blades of the fans. It was winter, so they didn’t turn the fans on for a couple of months. And when they did, cards flew everywhere and we were remembered, but perhaps not with fondness. They told us about it later and we all had a good laugh.

The Salt and Pepper Shakers

The staff from the Australian SIL often did things together and one night we went to a self-serve restaurant. John and Ruth Burgin had invited everyone to their house later that evening and Joice decided to have some fun. She saw Ruth putting free donuts into her purse and said to me “Let’s take the salt and pepper shakers from a table and put them in her purse as well,” so when we had the chance, we did that. We got to Burgin’s house late, but Ruth was already waiting for us. “You have gone too far this time,” she said, and we could tell that she was not happy. “Oh, we were going to take them back,” Joice explained and tell the proprietors “Oh, auntie Ruth is always picking up things and we are sorry she took these.” We would then return the shakers. Ruth did not think this was funny at all, but she got over it.

Whitby’s Dog

Clyde and Lois Whitby were good friends of ours in Duncanville. We had known them in PNG as well, but once we both lived in Duncanville we often got together. They had a dog that they were quite fond of and at some point (it may have been after the real dog died) we got a stuffed dog and placed it somewhere in their house—perhaps sitting on the toilet. That started a round of “hide the dog” and we found it in our tree, and they finally found it in their bird bath, with cement to hold it there and a RIP sign. We had fun doing it and I think they did (sometimes) as well. We also hid recipe books (they had dozens) around their house and between Clyde’s library books. He didn’t like that so much, but it was fun for us.

Joice’s Perfume

Professor Pike came to PNG in the early 1960s to hold a linguistic workshop. Both Joice and I were working on the Kewa language and we met with Dr Pike each week. Joice was working on Kewa tone and had prepared elaborate charts and recordings. In her consultation one day, Pike said to her, “Joice, you bring something very special to these meetings.” “Aha,” Joice thought “He is finally noticing my work and preparations on tone.” So, she asked him what it was. “It is your perfume,” Pike replied. Another time he visited us at our home in the evening after he had eaten (and abruptly) left another home. We had a linguist guest staying with us who thought this would be a chance to ask Pike some linguistic question, which he did. But Pike turned to Joice and asked, “Do you have some paper and scissors?” and for the next hour he made very fancy cutouts for Kirk. He didn’t want to talk linguistics!

The Jungle Camp injection

We were attending Wycliffe’s Jungle Camp for training in southern Mexico in February 1957. Part of the training was to learn how to give injections and we were given oranges to practice on. I was excused because I had already learned the “skill” during my training at the BIOLA School of Missionary Medicine. Betty, the camp nurse, said that Joice should give me the shot. I was reluctant, having seen the orange she practiced on. “Don’t be silly,” said Betty, “she can give it to me.” Then she gave Joice instructions: “Just hold it like a dart and thrust it into the muscle of my arm.” I shuddered, but Joice took the apparatus firmly in her hand and thrust she did. Betty had small arms and the needle went in one side and came out the other. “Pull it out, pull it out,” yelled Betty. And Joice, now quite ashen, did. When we lived among the Kewa, she never gave an injection. It was my job and, remembering that orange and Betty’s white face, I’m glad.

Giving Blood

On April 25^th Joice and Lois Whitby went to the small hospital in Kainantu (8 miles away from our center) to give blood for a member who would soon have a baby. While there, Barry Ondo (a Kewa medical orderly) came for most of the event. “He teased me that I would be too weak after giving blood to walk to the car. So on the way out the door I feigned fainting which left him wide-eyed at first.”

Pack your Stuff

I had just gotten home from work and Joice met me at the door. “I have your clothes, just get your bathroom stuff. We are going away.” She had reserved a place for us, and we were off for the weekend. It was a complete surprise to me, but one which she had planned. When your wife is so spontaneous and joyful, it is hard to remain concerned about your work. I had some problems at work, and she was making sure I got away from them.

Wes is Born

Our grandson Wes Franklin was born at our Ukarumpa clinic, the first child of Kirk and Christine. Joice relates it this way: “Karl was out running so I put a blue bow on the door. But Karl’s glasses were too fogged up to see it. He was suspicious because the porch light was off when he returned. He then saw Dr Stan’s car at the clinic and we three were there at 6.45. I praise the Lord for his graciousness in bringing Wesley safely into the world. ‘My soul doth praise the Lord.’ Reminds me of how I felt when our kids were born. Kirk was very cool evidently throughout and a big help. He was cool when he saw Wes. His classic query: ‘Christine, do you think you should check him eo see if he has all his parts?’”

The Joy of Switzerland

Joice relates a joyous instance: “A highlight of the trip was visiting Adelboden and Interlaken. In Adelboden wee stayed at the Hari Pension, run by the father and brother of a colleague in Nepal. He gave us orange drink and mineral water and directed us to the cable car on the other side of the valley. Once at the top we had a feast of Swiss chocolate, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, then went back to the Pension where they served us a three-course meal! They generously would not let us pay for it.” Another example of God’s surprises!

Another Birthday Party

This time it was my 50^th and we had several guests. Joice describes out meal like this: “The main course was chicken divan, mixed vegetables, rolls, stuffed tomatoes, then a chocolate cake with a mountain of frosting tinted green with chocolate fudge drizzling down the sides and ice cream. We then played some old, old games and the people brought funny gifts.” I never knew what to expect at my birthday parties—except that my wife would make sure that it was unusual, funny, and that I would be surprised.

A Slip of the Tongue

We were engaged and about to me married and Joice was receiving a lot of gifts. Several of them were slips, which women wore in those days. We were on our way to retrieve another gift and Joice said, “I hope it is not another slip. If it is, I’ll scream.” And of course it was, to which I foolishly said, “Well, scream, you said you would if you got another slip.” Joice looked offended and said, “Why, Karl, what a terrible thing to say.” Notice she did not deny to our friends that she said it, she just said it was a terrible thing to say. And it was, but we got married anyway. It was one of the many times I said something foolish and was forgiven.

Pretzel (II ?) Dies

Over the years we have had several dachshunds, most of them named Pretzel. When one of them died in PNG, Joice put this sign on the bulletin board in the Post Office: “An Ukarumpa resident of 10 years, named Pretzel, has died. We will miss his welcome home each day. Memorial gifts will go towards the 11^th grade retreat.” We received a total of K6.73 (probably about $2.50) for the retreat.”

A large Incision

Joice almost died in PNG from a tubal pregnancy. We got to the hospital just in time and a European doctor at the Goroka hospital operated on her and saved her life. A day or so later he came to examine her, and it was the first time Joice had seen his handiwork. “Wow, that is a bit incision,” she said. The doctor, hovering above her, raised his arms and said, “I’ve gotta big hans.” We always laughed and I said that the next time she needed an operation I was going to look for a doctor with small hands. And I did!

In Jesus Name

Joice had called our daughter on the phone, but she wasn’t home. In the customary manner a voice asked her to record her message. Joice talked a bit and then, perhaps forgetting where she was, concluded with “In Jesus’s name, amen.” She then realized what she had said and, while still recording, had a long and loud laugh. And so did we when we heard the recording.

Falling into the Ocean

We were visiting a Wycliffe and SIL couple who lived on an island in the Solomons. We had taken a two hour ride over the ocean to get there and been ferried to shore in a small canoe. A group of the people and our friends had come down to the ocean shore to meet us. Just as we were about to step ashore, a large wave struck us and submerged Joice into the sea. The people were aghast, but Joice got up laughing. The people then laughed as well and we became instant friends, but Joice was the honored guest.

Bluebird of Happiness

Joice loved birds and her most favorite was the bluebird. She had pictures of them in her study and on the refrigerator door. We were returning from MD Anderson after Joice’s evaluation for her cancer treatment. A long road laid ahead of us. We stopped at a rest stop, and I went inside to the toilet. Joice remained in the car and as she sat there a bluebird came and perched on a bush near her. It seemed to be looking her right in the eye. As she watched at the beautiful bird, she heard God saying, “you see this bluebird and it is one of happiness. I am going to be with you throughout your cancer treatment.” When I returned, the bird was gone, but there was a glow on Joice’s face as she told me about her message from God.

The Rehearsal dinner

I’ll close (for now) with this rather long story. It took place on the night of the wedding rehearsal dinner for Mike and Karol at a fancy hotel in Arlington Texas. Mike’s parents rented the facility and provided food, a cinema photographer, and had many invited guests from Tulsa as well. People ate delicious food, were happy and said nice things about Mike and Karol. But Joice had a different plan in mind. At the end of the desert, she stood up, banged the table and exclaimed very loudly, “This wedding has got to stop!” A hush came over the crowd as I stood and asked in an embarrassed voice, “What is the matter?” Joice replied dogmatically, “It is the night before the wedding, and we have not gotten a bride price.” “Well,” I said, “let’s have brother of the bride-to-be help us.” I motioned to Kirk, and he stood up, feeling very noticed. “What do you think Kirk? How many pings is she worth? Ten perhaps?” Kirk looked at her carefully. “No, he said, she is much too skinny. She would not be able to do hard work in the gardens and she would not be able to look after the pigs very well either.” We needed arbitration and I saw someone arriving. It was Dan Litteral, who I introduced as the head man from our village in PNG. I explained who he was and said that we would talk in Pidgin English and that I would then translate. The chief would be our judge. Dan opened with at least 3 minutes of talk in Pidgin English. People asked, “What did he say?” “He said ‘hello’” I replied. Dan talked at length again and I was again asked to translate. “He said, ‘I came by Qantas.,” By now everyone was laughing. Our final act was to call Mike and Karol to the front and adorn them with New Guinea artifacts and dress. Later, when the party was over, the business partner of Mike’s father’s came to Joice and said, “When you stood up and said that, my heart stopped.” “Hurrah,” said Joice, lifting her arms heavenward. The whole incident was filmed, and we have watched it, wondering, “How did we ever get up nerve enough to do that?”

Karl Franklin
February 2024