The Catch-You-Up Bullet List

A little Kitchen Science with yeast, flour, water, sugar, and oil! 

• We're 1/3 of the way through school already. All in all, it has been a good year so far.   It feels good to be plugging along, though I must admit to occasional rough days.  Welcome to homeschooling - the world with the highest highs and the lowest lows.  ;-)  Luckily, the good days far outweigh the tough ones and my girls and I are still smiling...and talking to each other.  I love that we get to do this, challenges and all.
• A friend of a friend interviewed me last night about homeschooling for his Master's thesis paper.  The concept of homeschooling is very new in Indonesia.  I really am passionate about homeschooling and it was fun to talk about it with someone who has never even met a homeschooler before!  If his topic is approved by his professor, we'll have the opportunity to share more about our school choice and our faith with him and his family, which is a really cool opportunity!  I never could have imagined the doors homeschooling in Indonesia would open up.  
• A couple of weeks ago, Sean and I ran off to Jakarta for more dental appointments and a little birthday date for me.  It was great fun and I was able to show Sean that Jakarta is not as horrible as he first imagined.  I mean really, all it took was taking him to the Mexican restaurant, visiting Starbucks twice a day, and helping him find a new pair of sunglasses....  
• I still have two more trips to Jakarta to finish up my root canal - both of which will be in October.  Will be nice to get that over with, but I won't deny I love the perk of going to the big city so often.  
• I will also be going to a missionary women's conference in October.  I'm very excited about it but knowing I'm going to miss my family like crazy while I'm gone.
• If you are inclined to pray - would you please pray with us that our house in Colorado will either SELL or get RENTED?  Possibilities keep falling through, and it's been a little stressful as we wait for something to work out, especially with winter fast approaching.
• I miss Fall something terrible.  I would say this is the hardest time of year for me.  Here in Palangkaraya, it has been extra-hot and miserable in addition to the smoke now hanging in the air.  Yes, smokey/dry season is upon us - a bit late, yes, but apparently we won't be getting a free pass on this most-despised season.  Ugh.  And then I know how crisp and fresh the air is back in Colorado, with the leaves changing color and snow making it's first appearance on the highest peaks.  Sigh.  
• Furlough.  4 months.  Coming fast!  (And still no dates nailed down, but we'll let you know when that gets worked out.)
• Madison's 7th birthday is fast-approaching.  What do you get for a little girl who loves dolls and dinosaurs, wants to be a "scientist" or explorer when she grows up, loves purple, hates wearing dresses, loves doing art, reads well above her age-level, and can't be bothered to wear shoes?  A stuffed dinosaur, a sketchbook and oil pastels, and a huge book about dinosaurs.  I can't wait to give it all to her!