Update!

Where to start?  

• Madison and I were just chatting about some visitors from the States coming to our house tomorrow.  This is a couple that does Member Care for MAF and just wants to spend some time getting to know us and see what life is like for us here. We're looking forward to having them.  When I told Maddie that the guests are arriving tomorrow she said, "So, when I wake up there will just be people with big noses standing outside my door?"  Ummm... I had to ask why she thinks these people will have big noses (she hasn't met them yet) and she said, "Because they're Americans!"  
• We've been back in Indonesia for four months!  It's been a rough adjustment back to life here.  I think we're finally getting there, though. Honestly, we just got too spoiled on furlough. Those things we were used to before furlough (heat, humidity, ants, separation from loved ones, crazy driving) are taking some time to get used to again. 
• Homeschool has been going really well again this year.  I'm loving seeing my girls get excited about reading especially.  Paige is even reading now.  Be still my heart.
• We're still waiting for a work permit for Sean to be able to fly.  Please pray!
• I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis while we were Stateside.  After months of trial and error with my medication, I'm very pleased with how things are going.  My joint pain is almost completely gone and, if I do have pain, it doesn't last long.  The side-effects caused by the medication (mostly nausea) have been very aggravating but with a new dosing regimen that seems to be getting better as well.  Praise the Lord!
•  I have to go to Jakarta every 3 months for a check-up with my doctor.  I LOVE Jakarta trips!  Even better, I have dear friends who are willing to come be my buddy in Jakarta and it's so fun - like a pre-scheduled, mandatory mini-retreat.  Oh, and IKEA recently opened in Jakarta.  Sean says that although my actual medication is very cheap, this disease is going to cost him a lot of money.  With IKEA so close to my doctor's office?!  He's totally right!

So how's life?  It's good in that messy, life-in-a-fallen-world sort of way.  God is with us, and I see His fingerprints all over the details of where we are right now and what we are doing. He's meeting needs we don't even know we have. Sometimes I get bogged down, feeling sorry for myself and all the trials and troubles that come with a life overseas.  But the fact is, life is life no matter where you are. Life is hard and it is messy. This side of heaven, it just isn't going to be perfect.   So maybe we're missing family, dealing with a really crummy diagnosis, struggling to get dinner on the table, and waiting for proper paperwork to come in so we can do what we came here for...somehow in the midst of it all is Jesus.  He's with us, and He's actually all that matters.  We follow Him, wondering where we are headed and why and how it will all turn out.  

We're trusting Him.