Jeremiah 29:11

Since we've moved to Indonesia, I have been waiting. Waiting for language school to be finished, to move to Papua, to start teaching, to get a work visa, to find a house, to make friends, and the list goes on. I find myself still waiting. This waiting period has caused me stress.

My outlet for stress was running...until a stranger asked me for my phone number and probably yelled in my window that afternoon (we aren't sure, but it's likely). So now, I just try to tell myself that I'm not totally stressed out. Well, my body is saying otherwise. I've heard that some people express their stress through headaches, ulcers, not eating, or other things like that. I'm not having those symptoms, but my skin will break out into itchy rashes. I was praying yesterday and thanked God for my "warning singal" that let's me know that my stress level was too high. I'm not sure how to de-stress. There aren't many forms of entertainment things to do, and I'm finding that I don't have hobbies. So I'm up for ideas on ways to de-stress. I tried to treat myself to a trip to a nice salon. It was wonderful, until I backed into someone's car that wasn't parked all the way in their spot. That is taken care of (Praise the Lord!). Please pray that I would find a way to de-stress, be less anxious, not worry... all those things. God and I are on a journey together trying to figure out this thing called life.

In other news, last week was a crazy week for Josh too. Monday was a holiday, so we went to a friend's house to play games and have dinner. When we got home he started running a fever that eventually lasted almost all week. Tuesday I took his blood slides to a couple different pharmacies to check for malaria. One came back positive for the type that enters your bloodstream and will eventually kill you if not treated, and the other came back negative for malaria. I called the nurses, and they said,"Treat it as a cold because many cases from that certain pharmacy are coming with the same result, and that's just not that likely!" So, the next day I took another slide to one final pharmacy. That result came back negative for malaria. On Friday, we went to the clinic. They looked at him, listened to his symptoms, and said,"You probably have the type of malaria that goes into your liver." So, his started taking medicine this past Friday. His symptoms are now gone, and Monday he worked a half day. Today he decided to go back into the hangar. He still is low on energy, but God has restored His health. We know that it was God who healed Josh, and it's Him who will (and is already) restore His strength.

One less thing to wait on is the work visa! As of yesterday , the visa that will allow me to teach is waiting for pick up in Singapore. We have half our plane tickets, we have information on a place to stay, and we're excited for a "mini-vacation". It will be nice to eat a nice meal at a nice restaurant. In Papua, the place you go for a nice date is the same place you go after church on Sunday. I'm looking forward to going to a movie theatre and book stores that stock English books. We hope to celebrate our anniversary (June 23) and my birthday (Sept. 3). We had a nice dinner at home and split a dr.pepper (thanks marilu!) for our anniversary. Still, we're looking forward to it.

We think we have places to stay through August. We're hoping to have a more permanent place, so we don't have to continue in our (unwanted) nomadic ways. We're praying that we can settle down, begin a routine, and feel more at home here.

Josh is hoping to start his ground school training at the end of September. He's hoping to start his flight training sometime soon after that. We're praying that he can get in the air soon. He's been on the ground too long!

I hope this gives you some ideas of more specific ways to pray for us. God is, has been, and will continue to be so good to us. We're thankful for the ways He has provided. It's hard to sit back and wait. Pray that we can focus on now and leave tomorrow's worries to itself. If any of us try to carry the regrets of yesterday, the agenda for today, and the worries for tomorrow surely we'll all collapse. We love you, miss you, and wish we could see your faces.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to bring you hope and future."

this whirlwind called life

So busy with so many things happening all at once!

- I (Amber) went on a "ride-along" to two villages that yajasi services. It was great! I saw a handy-cam in the middle of no where... very interesting :)

- We went to a "water hole" called Kali Biru. It was sooooo much fun. We got to jump off this bridge, which was really just two logs laid across the water, into freezing cold mountain water.

- Amber was involved in a teacher in-service training. This was fantastic training that really reenforced what I have already learned.

- Josh changed a tire in less that 15 minutes after church.

- I still don't have a visa for teaching. They are waiting on one letter that represents the churches. Until they have that letter, all visas (including mine) are frozen and will not be processed.

- This past weekened we hit the lake with another yajasi family. We had a blast wakeboarding (Josh got up on the first try, and I got up on the 8th try!), kneeboarding, skiing, and tubing!! It was a great stress reliever. We are STILL sore :) :)

- School starts tomorrow!! Summer is officially (but unoffically until I get the visa) over.

Lots going on here. Sorry for the long over due post!

We are Safe!

Many of you will be waking up to news of bombings at 2 hotels in Jakarta. I just want to relieve some of your worries, concerns, or anxieties about where we are. We are about a 7 hour flight east of Jakarta in Papua. We had plans of going through Jakarta in couple weeks on our way to Singapore for visa reasons, but it looks like this may be postponed too. Don't worry! God is in control of all things. Continue to pray for this country that hearts may be turned to the Truth.

Jakarta is in bold letters with the star. We are located on the most eastern side boardering Papua New Guinea.

Visa... and not the credit card :)

This summer we found out that I would be allowed to teach at the international school in August. We made plans to fly to Singapore for a week for visa purposes, spend a couple days in Jakarta, and then return to Papua. We just found out this past week that all visas for the school have been frozen. This is due to a tax being put on the school which will make them pay $100 USD every month for every teacher (that's some big bucks!) Until they get this situation resolved, they are not processing visas. They are hoping to get the visa ball rolling again soon, but as of right now we're not sure when that will be. This has not only effected my visa but also one of the administrators. We can't work legally until we have a work visa. Please pray for the school, teachers, students, faculty, and that in the midst of chaos that God would still be glorified.

Kami masi hidup! (We're still alive!) **Now with Photos!

I'm so sorry for not updating this blog lately!

We are still alive! Our weeks are filling up with things to do. It's very different than when we first arrived. We're thankful for friends that have been here for a LONG time and friends that have just arrived.

We had a good time experiencing the Sentani Lake Festival. This is a time for the villages, who live around the very large Lake Sentani, to dance tradional dances in their native dress. I have never seen the colors orange and red stand out so much like they did against their dark skin! Beautiful! (Photos to come!)











We celebrated two years! So many changes have happened in those two year. It was great to look back and see how we've changed to compliment each other more and more. All the glory goes to God!

This past weekend a friend took some "couple photos" of us to help build up his portfolio. I also just wanted some recent photos of us. That was alot of fun, but by the end of the day we were both really tired! Thanks Max! (Photos to come!)



















No changes on this photo. This is how the shot came out :)








Tomorrow we will celebrate our first year in Indonesia! It has gone by SUUUUPER fast. We've lived in three places- Jakarta (about 3 weeks), Bandung (about 9 months), and now Sentani (almost 3 months).

We have started to house hunt again. During this time, Psalm 77:19,20 has really been a challenge and a great reminder to me.

"Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters-- a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds." Psalm 77:19,20

The Reminder: God knows the way! He knows what He's doing. He knows where He's going. While finding a house, I trust that He's leading us down a pathway that no one knew was there!

The Challenge: All of us have different shepherds- God, teachers, preachers, parents, husbands. God has placed Josh as my shepherd. I am constantly learning (this pursuit of knowledge started 2 years ago) to trust him to lead and to guide me. This is hard, because sometimes (most of the time) I think I know better! So, I'm learning to trust.

Here are a few things to pray about:

- that we would trust God as the shepherd as He leads us down pathways that only He knows about

- that God would continue to show me how to follow Josh

- that we would continue to develop friendships in this still new place

I'll update this entry with photos when I get the photos ready to be posted! Thanks, you all mean more to us than you'll ever know.

-A&J

Whew, What a Weekend!

It all started in March, when we moved to Papua. We took a trip to the "pasar" (pah-sar) or the farmer's market. Here you can buy fresh veggies, fruit, meats, and whatever else you need. In a way, it's like the Wal-Mart of Sentani, if you use your imagination. They have a section of meats- chicken, fish, shrimp, even some pork or deer meat. Josh is always making comments of how he wants to buy a fresh piece of fish to grill. So, I took a trip on Thursday with a friend and bought a piece of fresh yellow-finned tuna ALL for him. I don't really like fish, but I love my husband so I bought the fish. I brought it home, cut it up, made a batter to fry it in, and cooked corn on the cob and made a salad. So we ate dinner, and Josh made me feel so great! He kept saying," This is so good. This is really good. Wow, so good." As he put another fish bite into his mouth.

After dinner, we were watching the Bourne Ultimatum- great movie!- and he said that his hands and feet were itching. I just said while still focusing on the movie that maybe it was the fish. He then got a big headache, which he thought was because he didn't drink enough water, so he took two tylenol. After the movie was over, he went to lay down in the bed. I followed, and I looked at his eyes. I said something like," Wow, your eyes are really red! I mean like REALLY red. You should go look at them." So he got up to look in the mirror, when he turned around I noticed that his face was REALLY red and swollen. The redness went onto his neck too. I asked him to lift his shirt up- red EVERYWHERE. It looked like some design of red and white. My first reaction was to laugh and get the camera (we were both laughing about this!), but after the photos we immediately realized that this was not a good situation. So I called some friends that knew we were having fish. After our friend got his laughs out, called a nurse, and came to our house with his wife, Josh took two benadryl. He lasted about 1 1/2 hours on TWO benadryl- he's a beast. Most people would have been out after about 20 minutes. So I woke him up again at 2:30 AM for two more pills. When I woke him up at 7 AM, he was back to normal but had a big headache. He did look tired, but after 4 benadryls in 9 hours anyone would, right? He's back to normal now, but we're staying away from tuna.

Saturday we took a trip to the beach with some families that Josh works with. It was a cloudy, overcast, rainy day. Not unusal for some mornings here, but we thought it would clear up. So we went anyway. Someone had built a new swing. You climb up a tree onto a platform of bamboo and swing into the water. Along the shore of the water was alot of dead coral, due to fishermen that use dynamite to bring in the catches. That not only kills the fish but also the coral. So, I climb up the tree, grab the swing, and go. I had sand on my hands that caused me to lose my grip! So I land on my right knee in the row of dead coral. I stood up, tried to laugh it off, but my knee looked a little rough with blood running down my leg. I iced and elevated it. I was out for about an hour, mainly because I was afraid of the salt water burning it like crazy. Josh and I did go out again for snorkling. It is really different when there's no sunshine, but still quite the sight. I woke up Sunday morning with really intense neck pain. When I slipped, we think I had a little bit of whiplash too. It's funny, because you never realize what neck muscles are used for what until they are sore- like holding your head up, you use them when you yawn, or when you look down or around. As of Monday morning, it's still a little tender, but looking down is a little bit less painful.

You really NEVER know what will happen in life :) Praise God that He knows everything that is going to happen to us and wrote it out before time. Incredible!

I've been withholding information

It's true, I have been withholding information from the blogging world. It's okay, I think that's normal. This particular event I haven't shared, because it was SUPER embarrassing for me.

Here's the story:

I decided that I wanted to go on a bikeride. Can anyone even remember the last time I rode a bike? Didn't think so, me either.



The bike looked something like this. It was a mountain bike decked out with a basket on the front of it and a bell. So I put my ETBU hat on, grab my ipod shuffle, and I'm off. My route was just around the neighborhood near by our house.

These are some renditions (taken from google images) of what the side of the road may have looked like. The road was higher than the ground, so it was not level but raised way above the ground. To go to someone's house, you would turn DOWN into their driveway.

The grass was about this high. At one point, the road actually turned into a path and by that point I turned around.



From the street, the grass looked like this (please replace the black bear with a couple of chickens).



The grass, if standing in it, could have been this high maybe a little shorter.



As I am riding along a rocky, unpaved road a group of women are outside of their home (which is set DOWN off the road) working and hanging out. They look up, smile, and wave at me. So I smile and proceed to wave back. As soon as I wave back, I hit a rock big enough to move the tire or I lost control of the bike, or BOTH! Off I go, way down deep into that high, high, very high grass.



I look up, and the ladies are already at the edge of the road looking down at me! I am eye-level with the road and totally embarrassed. I was laughing in my head because of the picture from their point of view- one second I was there, and the next I was completely gone!

The bike landed on my left leg. So, my ankle was covered in dirt with a couple of scratches. Nothing serious at all. My ankle was a little swollen, even now if I jump, run, or step on my left foot the wrong way, I remember what happened that day!

So fast foward to yesterday.



This is the third week of the couch to 5k running program. I enjoy running the same route, because it makes me feel safer I guess. It's easier to calculate where I am time-wise, so I don't get stuck walking back the rest of the way. As I am running, this girl is walking the oposite direction. She stops and says," Are you the lady the fell?" and points to the very, very high grass where I had previously fallen. I said that that was me. This opened the door for a small conversation. She asked where I lived and if she could come visit me. I said sure.

I share this story with you (3 weeks late), because we never know how God is going to use those moments we wish to forget (although, this moment I consider quite funny, but a little painful too). He could open the door for a new friendship or something else unexpected. I also share this story to remind you that laughing at yourself and those moments that you wish to forget is okay! We need to loosen up and enjoy this gift of life that we've been given. We don't know when our last breath with be, so make the most of every opportunity-

laugh,



dance (even if you don't know how),



sing (even if you can't carry a tune),



but most of all...

live.