So Long Ordinary

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to go along with Sean on a survey trip interior.    I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I'd been wanting to go interior for a long time. We live in a pretty modern city that is nothing like the villages Sean flies to each day, and I wanted to see that world, meet those people. This was a crazy trip to volunteer to go on, and if I'd known what I was getting into, I'd have said "no way!"  I decided to go rather spontaneously and then spent the next three days freaking out.  I didn't let myself talk myself out of it, though, and I'm glad I didn't.   This trip changed my life. A bit too dramatic?  Maybe.  But I'm telling you that three weeks later, I'm  still  processing what I saw and experienced on that trip.   We flew deep into "the heart of Borneo"  to check the river for possible future MAF service in one of the most isolated villages in Central Kalimantan (a 2.5 hour trip upriv...

Reading over this post, I realized it sounds awful whine-y and complain-y.  But I'm leaving it because, not only is it simple honesty, I want others to understand that as adventurous and wonderful as the life of a missionary really is, it also comes with plenty of hard days.  It would be dishonest and unfair to only portray the good stuff.  In the end, you'll see I'm better now and feeling far less like a petulant two year old.  But it's a process... You know when you have so much to say that you can't say anything at all? Yeah. We arrived back into Indonesia about 8 or 9 days ago and it has been pretty much chaos ever since. We were welcomed back so well by our team here and we feel so blessed by the friendships and people here as we pick back up where we left off.  We spent several days getting our house in order and it feels just like home again.  There have been long, hard days, fun parties, lots of laughter, and fun moments of joy as we get back into o...

You know it's bad when you see people you haven't seen in four years and all they have to say to you is, "You haven't blogged in a very long time!" Okay, yes, I've been a little quiet on this space these past few months. To tell the truth, furlough has been a bit of a roller coaster for me, and I'm still trying to find my bearings here in the land of plenty.  America, you are way too much for me.  Truly, I still have panic attacks every time I walk into a store.  I want it ALL - because it is there to buy.  And then, I realize, I don't need that - it doesn't fit into a suitcase...or, I'd be sweating buckets if I wore that in Indonesia....or, maybe bowls made out of bacon aren't exactly the best use of my money.  Or are they? Building a snow man with cousin Audrey (February 2014) Can I tell you how much I am loving waking up in my parents' house every morning, hearing my kids teasing my Dad or my Mom reading a book to them in her little ...

A wild "bajaj" ride from my most recent trip to Jakarta through hidden back alleys and crowded, dirty streets...on our way to Starbucks and the mall.   I keep waiting for things to slow down, get less chaotic and hectic, reach some kind of equilibrium. More than 3 years into living in Indonesia and I'm finally learning that just won't happen. Not in this missionary life. We have some less-busy seasons.  But life here consists of far more crazy-busy seasons.  It's okay.  Because it is a good life and we love it. There goes my "Living-Overseas-Is-A-More-Simple-Life" box. Part of this crazy life means learning how to live in a ton of different worlds at once.  We're Americans - through and through - America is, and always will be, our home country.  I cannot wait to go there in a few months and to be able to really relax for the first time in years .   But Indonesia has worked its way into my heart.  It is also our home.  If I think about leavin...

Well, our crazy month of July is over.  And we survived it.  You know what?   Grace.  All was grace.  God was good and He gave us what we needed.  Through two weeks straight of work for Sean with no weekend in between.  Through week upon week of guest upon guest (at one point we had 6 guests sleeping on every bed and air mattress in the house). Through parties and meals and meetings and grocery runs God saw us through.  And we had fun!  We worked hard, played hard, and laughed hard.  I'm coming away from this crazy month feeling both tired and exhilarated.  God brought us through!  And we didn't just survive, we were blessed. This is how God works.  More than we can ask or imagine. We're trying to sell our house (see the link here , in case you are in the market for a small house in South-Central Colorado) and things were looking grim. Houses aren't selling this summer in small town Colorado. I wanted to worry.  I did...

It's hard to believe we've almost lived in Indonesia for three years.  In some ways, it has become a pretty ordinary life.  Things that once shocked me now barely register a blip on my radar.  I was trying to think of some examples for you but found I had to think a good long time to come up with anything!  That is how normal life here has become - I can't even recognize the things that, for this Colorado Mountain Girl, weren't normal 3 years ago.  You know -  things like taking your shoes off before going into people's houses to have important documents notarized.  Or unloading an airplane engine from the back of a dump truck using nothing but manpower and 2x4's.  Or seeing all manner of objects transported on scooters - refrigerators, chickens, 5-6 people, rebar, lumber, food carts, bicycles, fans, jerry cans full of gasoline, propane tanks, monstrous bags full of rice cakes.  On any given day, I see about 20 different things that I never k...

On one side of us, there is a huge, expansive house with chandeliers and multiple servants and a swimming pool. On the other side of our comfortable home lives my helper and her family in a small, musty wood house with holes in the floors and boards rotting away. I've been listening to my helper a lot, lately.  I consider her a friend and her value to me is far more than simple friendship or househelp.  She's my mentor, my cultural buffer, my sounding board, my teacher, my advocate in murky relational waters.  She's an example to me in her Christian walk, in her tenacity to do what is right despite huge opposition.  She has such a different life - one I can't really imagine, no matter how often she describes it to me.  How is it that somebody living just on the other side of my fence can have such a drastically different life?  It is just one more strange dichotomy that defines my life here.  In the past month or so, her family has ...

First of all, thanks so much for your prayers for Sean's trip!  It seems to have been a very successful trip...more details to come about what they did and how it all went! Our family is doing great.  We are extremely busy this holiday season but things are going so well.  We've lived in PalangkaRaya for a bit over a year now and it is really feeling like home.  We have hit our stride in family life, ministry, and relationships are growing, slowly.  We are so blessed.  Indeed, I am a deeper kind of content than I can ever remember being.  We are thriving and full of holiday cheer! And yet, in the midst of all these blessings and joys, I am heavy-hearted.  Though my personal life is going so well, I am surrounded by the pain and suffering of lost and hurting people.  These are the people I am learning to love, and as I watch them endure the hardships of life I am undone.  I don't know how to make it all better.  I don'...

  Let me just say, everybody is fine.  But that picture up there, in Brooklyn's sweet note to her Daddy, pretty much sums up our weekend.  Blood.  Lots of it.  Flowing out of Sean's foot.    On Sunday afternoon Sean was using a weed-eater to try and tame our wild, jungle grass in the yard.  This weed-eater, rather than having a nice, docile nylon string was basically a little metal machete propeller.  Which, incidently, is not so safe when you accidently get your foot in its way.   Ugh.  Let me just say that seeing my husband's foot bleeding profusely was mighty disconcerting.  I worked in a dialysis unit, mind you, and regularly dealt with people's blood.  But when it is somebody you love, it just can't be helped to feel a little woozy and worried at the sight.    Praise God, it wasn't a toe and Praise God it wasn't any worse.  We were able to drop the girls off with our teammates and get him to t...

There's this great swimming pool about 30 minutes from our house.  It is a lovely spot, set far away from the city of Palangkaraya and tucked in a quiet village on the only hill for miles around.  We love going there on Saturday nights.  We order chicken curry and watch the kids swim.  I like to get in the tepid water for a quick swim and enjoy the little chill-bumps that raise on my skin when I step back out of the water into the fresh night air.  Last time we were there, there was a huge storm rumbling as the sun set.  By the time the kids were in the pool, it was a downpour.  Our friends were with us, and while the kids jumped into the pool, we adults found ourselves a spot out of the rain where we could visit. Every time the lightning struck, I'd glance nervously around, start counting the seconds that passed before I heard the thunder.  I was a worried wreck.  Five precious little people, including 3 of my own, w...