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...

Without a whole lot of other perks or forms of entertainment, we get pretty excited about new restaurants opening in our city.  Even better is when the restaurant wants to cater to homesick foreigners as well as introduce fun local foods. Our neighbors recently opened a new restaurant and it's by far the best place in town now.  They make a pretty stinking amazing Mie Tarik  or homemade, pulled noodles that you can watch them make right in front of you.  Since we've eaten there, they've added fajitas, nachos, and burgers to their menu and we hear it's all good.  Can you say "giddy?!" When we first tried out the new place, we were surprised to see that they have a real, wood-fired pizza oven.  Their pizza has...real cheese!  In a town where the closest thing we've had to a order-out pizza was a weird pizza crust smothered in a sweet ketchup sauce and topped with fake cheese and hot dogs, this is a big deal.  We make pizza at home every week bu...

Some days, my Indonesian language skills are woefully inadequate for the conversations I'm having.  Okay, most days.  Ugh!  I wish there was a way to transplant what I actually mean into the brains of the people I'm conversing with...or that I'd wake up with a miraculously improved Indonesian vocabulary that would flow from my mouth freely, elegantly, and perfectly pronounced.  That'd work too.  As it is, I blubber along, feeling like a huge goofy dork.  Because I am.  There's really no getting around this. Granted, I am suddenly having deeper conversations on subjects I've never spoken of in Indonesian before.  I should be happy that things are going deeper, that I'm being allowed into a deeper level of knowing and connection with my Indonesian friends.  But instead, I just feel dorky.  They are pouring out their hearts and I'm saying things like "Well, that's hard."  or "I don't know." or "What does that mean?" or ...

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...

About a week and a half ago, we should have been on a jet plane, headed back to our home, life, and ministry in Indonesia.  Um.  We didn't go. No visas. Visa purgatory. At the same time, this delay has been just what we needed.  It has given us a few days to rest, to recover from all the craziness of our furlough travels.  It has provided us with extra time to deal with a medical issue (more on that later).  It has freed up a weekend for camping with my family and for being able to see my niece off to college. It provided us a chance to see our friends and mentors whose influence brought us to MAF as they prepare to head back out on a new assignment themselves.  It has given us a little more time so we could go visit Sean's cousin, finally visit the Denver museum of Natural History, and see Sean's sister and our brother-in-law again.  It gave us a weekend to drive out to eastern Kansas to see my Grandma Jean (a precious weekend with her, by the way) an...

Thanks for the sweet comments on my last blog post.  Yes, if there is one thing this overseas life has taught me (but there are waaaaaayyy more than one) it is that "home" is not here on this earth.  And I am so glad! I came across this article full of quotes for third culture kids ...but it applies to all of us living overseas so well. There are many good quotes that struck a chord with me, but this one from C.S. Lewis hits the nail on the head: Image by RachelPiehJones {link to http://www.babble.com/contributor/rachelpiehjones} We had an awesome week last week and I'm still just trying to crawl out from under the laundry pile.  We took a family trip to Moab, Utah....but more on that later!  First, some pictures from our Easter!  We had a great Easter with my family and even got to go to our home church - an awesome treat.  The girls enjoyed having an Easter egg hunt with their cousin, Audrey.  We may or may not have enjoyed a tasty ham. Pork Pro...

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 ...

The girls and Ester.  Ester is a sweet, shy, quiet little girl from next door.  She's also our helper's daughter, so she comes over almost everyday to play with the girls while her mom works.  On Friday, she just wanted so badly to spend as much time as possible with us, so we brought her with us to the MAF dock to say our good-byes.  All four girls spent the time at the dock playing around in the grass.  (Remember that post of the girls playing in the water a few weeks ago?  This is that same area, now bone-dry.) We're going to miss Ester...and so many other friends here. I'm not going to mention how very much we will miss our MAF family. (okay, guess I just did)   Sniff. Well, what a surreal feeling.  Our house is pretty echo-y.  Since we're having the interior painted while we're gone, I took down all of our pictures and wall hangings.  I also put away breakables and special items that might get damaged just sitting around the house f...

First of all, a huge thank you for all the kind comments on my last post.  I love hearing from you - through comments on this blog, Facebook, emails, phone calls, real life conversations, and the grapevine ! It was a little hard to put such an honest post out there, but you've all encouraged me so much with your words.  Thank you. It feels like ages ago, but it was only a few weeks ago that we took the girls and the dog down to the MAF dock to play in the river.  The river was pretty high, which creates the perfect little shallow pool to play in. We took a lunch and made a picnic of it. Check out that huge log that floated down the river!  It was the perfect place to play. We should totally do this more often.  (Except maybe not take the dog?  This is where she got the water in her ears that started the ear infection that we're still battling!) While the girls played, I sat on the bench and watched the monkeys play - and by monkeys I don't mean kids.  ...

Not a roller coaster.  Just Brooklyn and one of our Indonesian MAF staff taking a quick boat ride at sunset. If there's one thing I've learned, its that life is full of ups and downs, bitters and sweets, incongruities and inconsistencies.  Now multiply that by 1,000 and you have missionary life in a nutshell.  I'm learning to be okay with all the mixed emotions constantly ebbing and flowing in my heart - the longing for other places, the love for where I am, the gut-wrenching loss of time with family, the thrill of new friends becoming like family, the dream of leading a life following hard after Jesus, the tears that come as I count the cost. Right now, I'm a wreck.  Full of emotions that I expected and other emotions that have taken me off guard. I want to go.  Yesterday.  And I also want to... stay ? I absolutely love that we are going "home" to Colorado.  There just aren't words that express the kind of excitement I feel about our upcoming furlough...

Let me catch my breath here.  I'm kinda (very) grossed out. The vet just left and.... s hudder . If you've followed this blog for long, you may have picked up on an unavoidable fact of life in the tropics.  At least for our family, pets have been a decidedly disappointing venture pretty much all 'round. Kittens.  We found some kittens at the dock just after we moved to Palangkaraya.  They were so cute!  (And look how cute and little Paige and Madison were!)  But they ran away pretty quickly. Chickens?  Um, do you mean oversized disgusting vulture birds? They were cute little chicks but we gave them to our helper when they got big and pooped all over our pump house next to our porch where we eat dinner.  Our helper loves them.  She named the mean rooster "Rocky."  We are happy her family can enjoy the eggs. Rabbits?  We  tried the cute little baby bunnies from the pet store.  They all died within days.  Not a fun ordea...

We had a wonderful  Christmas.  It was small and very simple, but just right.  After last year - which I not-so-affectionately label The Typhoid Christmas - we needed this year to be special to bring back the wonder of the holiday and God did it!  All week has been so restorative and fun.   Brooklyn reading from Luke 2 before opening presents.   After opening gifts we enjoyed a yummy breakfast (with bacon!  Thank you Centropolis Christian Church!), visits with our families back in Colorado over Face Time, and then we went out to visit our neighbors - a tradition in Indonesia.  Most families hold an open house on Christmas Day and everybody visits one another.  It feels like such a backward tradition to us since we grew up with Christmas Day being all about being home with family, but we've learned to really enjoy the chance to visit our neighbors and friends in their homes.  After more than two years in this house, we are slowly developi...

I find it hard to believe that this was our FOURTH Thanksgiving in Indonesia already!  Ever since arriving in Indonesia, our Thanksgivings have always included several other nationalities and this year was no exception. We got to host this year's feast in our home and we enjoyed the company of our American, British, Dutch, and Indonesian friends.  It's fun to share this tradition with them and they have a lot of fun, too.  This year our Dutch friends even brought one of their favorite Dutch dishes for us to try - it was delicious!  I love our International Thanksgivings.  Each year, we have been able to enjoy real turkey and most of the fixings we take for granted in the States.  To give you an idea how rare turkey is here, I got this year's turkey (a 13-pounder) in Jakarta for about $45.  Funny enough, we actually found a LIVE turkey at the pet store in town.  They wanted $50 for that one, so I guess my frozen turkey was a good deal.  When a...

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 ...

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...

Oh, we've had a great few weeks since my last post!  I mean truly   great weeks with all sorts of little blessings that have shot our end-of-term weary arms full of the energy we need to reach our furlough in just FIVE more months. I think I'll start with the most obvious..... I mean, really.  Who ever would have thought? I know I never imagined meeting Harrison Ford in Central Borneo. I'm just blown away by this life we live.  It's amazing.  Sean and I often talk about how crazy our work in Indonesia has been - dealing with the rich and powerful as well as the most down-trodden and needy.  It really throws us sometimes. Three years in, we're still learning how to navigate two such different worlds - neither of which is our comfort zone. Mr. Ford really impressed us, though.  Not because he's a huge movie star (though I was most certainly starstruck), but his attitude was so humble and kind. He's a normal guy.  I was touched at how he took the ti...

Paige had a blast on the water (without Mom there to ruin the fun) and I'd say the older kids had even more fun, if that were possible.  Again, I'm just glad I wasn't there.  They all came back alive, sopping wet, and giddy with excitement.  Can't really argue with that now, can I? Life jackets, Becca.  Life jackets. Maddie and Brooklyn take a turn. Then the boys jump on board! It's getting more fun! Uh-oh! And... they're off! Let's play spot the kids in the ginormous Borneo river! Life jackets. And really great Daddies watching out for the kids while also helping them have the time of their lives and make memories they'll never forget.  

The other day, when Sean was cutting our grass, he came across this little guy.  Our animal-loving, tomboy-ish, fearless Blondie was really excited about it!  This was a cute little fella with a long, long tail and tiny little body.  Being an MK (missionary kid) is the perfect gig for Madison - she can hold, pet, raise, adopt, and smother all sorts of interesting creatures!

A few weeks ago, when the moon was full and reportedly very close to the earth, we headed out to the MAF dock to try to see the rising moon.  It's hard to find a good place to watch the moon rise when there are tons of big trees all around and the land is flat as a pancake for miles and miles.  Sean's grand idea was that we would climb up on top of the hangar roof.  At first, I thought this would be fun...until I saw what that meant.   Somehow, scurrying up a wobbly ladder and up onto a steep metal roof with a 100 foot drop into a muddy river is not my idea of fun.  Not really. Fun fact: my feet sweat when I'm nervous.   I was nervous. And I was also wearing flip-flops.  Sweating feet and flip-flops are a bad mix on a steep metal roof.  Ugh.  I don't even know how I shimmied up to the peak of the roof, but I'm pretty sure it was done with a few tears and some harsh words for my husband who was so helpful by telling me to "just stand up and wa...

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...