So Long Ordinary

The past week or so has been pretty hectic and emotional. Our teammates, the Pratts, are moving back to the States so this past week we have been busy helping them get ready to go and saying our good-byes. The Pratts are now en route to the U.S. We were sad to see them go and they will be missed by so many people here but we understand that God is leading them down a new path and we totally support them in that decision. Good-byes are a part of our missionary life - and that is honestly the only part of our life that I really, really, really hate!! We were pleased to host some friends from Tarakan (another MAF base) who came for the Pratts' good-bye party. It's always fun to see our friends and we were sad to see them go so soon after they got here! That's the problem with MAF - too many wonderful people and great friends and so little time to really hang out with them.... Sean has now taken over the Base Manager responsibilities and will also be the only pilot for the...

There was a shrew in our house the other day. A shrew. I've heard plenty about the little creatures and seen them outside plenty but this was the first one to make it's way into our house. It was ugly and it shrieked like crazy when we tried to get it out of the house. I shrieked a little lot myself when I glanced down and saw it coming toward my foot! Sean was disgusted with all four of us girls for screaming like, well, girls. But some things can't be helped. When that shew was scurrying around our house and yard? The cat just stared. The dog, on the other hand, caught the little fella in no time. Well, then. We have a new pet rabbit, this time a full-grown adult that hopefully we will be able to keep alive. She's cute and Maddie is quite serious about taking good care of her. Did I mention that a couple weeks ago Sean brought a (big) snake home from the dock? And that he put it in a cage and wanted to keep it as a pet? And that the snake escaped within t...

English Club went quite well, by the way - there were 61 - and afterward, because I was too exhausted to bake up our usual Friday Night Pizza, we went out to eat. The name of the restaurant, believe it or not is "Steak Aroma" and they serve "steaks" - chicken steaks, fish steaks, burger steaks, paper-thin T-Bone steaks, and hot dog steaks. Thus the name Steak Aroma. Kind of. Anyway, if you happen to be in Palangkaraya and you are in the mood for a steak you are out of luck but if you are content with a thin little hunk of meat slathered in sweet BBQ sauce, this is a great place to go! "Steak Aroma." It's right next to "Giggles Bags 'n' Whatever." Can't miss it. If you pass "Slurp," the goth clothing store, you are not on the right street. If you are more in the mood for chicken of the fried variety, I highly recommend "Red Crispy." It's on the same street as "The Pank Salon" (you know, i...

Our cat, Princess, is in heat. And boy is she ever. She can't seem to control herself - she's your typical hormonal adolescent. This is her first time experiencing all these new feelings and you can tell she isn't real sure what is happening with her so she's just going with it. Apparently, her mother was too embarrassed to go over the birds and the bees with her before they parted ways. She meows pathetically all day long. We can't stand her! I get really mad at the girls if they wake her up from a nap because she starts all over again. Twice she has managed to push her way out of a window in our kitchen that has a loose screen. We are so careful to keep her inside because we've had cats disappear twice from our yard - we have a lot invested in her and, besides, she's one of the only cats in Indonesia that has a full tail! We're very lucky to have found her both times she got out. What we don't know is how long she was out at night...we don...

(Weeeeeee! We're picture-organized! Mostly. For now.) Learning to cross-stich. Practicing, practicing, practicing our reading. Playing the Wii with friends from next door (our helper's kids). Oh my gosh, Pope (pronounced PO-PAY) couldn't stop grinning. Now he knows what he wants to do with his summer break! Goofing off outside with friends. (Ester is Pope's sister and she is pretty much my girls' bestest friend ever - she's here every single day for at least 4 hours now that school is out.) Playing games outside with Pani... and Ya-Ya. And stealing their cell phone to take pictures of everyone else! Not to mention English Club, swimming, going out for coffee with friends, hosting visitors, catching wild animals, crafting, swamp diving, and so much more. (More on some of this later, too!)

So, I've been trying really hard to get my pictures organized. I have pictures on my phone, pictures on my IPad, pictures on my laptop, and pictures on my point-and-shoot camera. ARGH! It is so frustrating trying get everything organized and all in one place. Sean takes care of his own pictures (and you can be sure his are all perfectly in order) so most of these pictures I'm working so hard to save aren't even very good...they were taken by me or by the girls and usually have terrible lighting and are horribly out of focus. Still, I want to keep them. They are memories and they can't just be tossed. But getting them sorted is a bigger job than I counted on - and I'm only working on pictures from this year. I want to tell you all what is going on these days and I love when I have a picture to post with a story...so that's why I've been pretty silent on here - I'm completely overwhelmed by my picture situation and I don't have the patience to g...