Incredible Near-Death Experience

It's a rainy day here. I love the rain. Josh and the boys went outside to watch the clouds roll in before the rain started falling. The breeze was cool and felt wonderful!! My kids are coloring and doing homework, Josh is working in the office and I'm answering all sorts of random questions. ("Is it Easter at America, mommy?" "Which picture do you think I should color?")
We had a couple who just came out of the tribe in for lunch today - we served a big salad as well as "Ayam Cabe Hijau", Chicken seasoned with green chili peppers served with rice. It was just mildly spicy so that the kids could eat it too.
Our friends did some story-telling while we ate together. They work interior and were travelling down a river between villages when (they're not sure why - could have been several factors) the boat tipped and they and 2 tribal guys were thrown out. They're just a bit older then my folks (so middle-aged), and have been here for 20+ years, traversing the river between the villages many times. This time was pretty scary as the wife almost drowned. There are many rapids and the river was pretty high, so it was a miracle that her husband was able to pull her out (she kept coming up under the boat and there wasn't much air under there.) Finally she came up away from the boat and was able to hold onto a log, very weak. Her husband was able to lift her up so her head was above water, and then the force of the water washed him down the river further. She wasn't able to hold on much longer so a tribal guy (who had trapped the boat against some logs to keep it from going down to the next set of rapids) let the boat go, crossed the river to her and helped her up onto the log. The amazing thing (besides the fact that they survived) was that they had packed the boat so well that they didn't lose anything besides their hats! The boat did go down the chute towards the next set of rapids, but somehow ended up getting redirected just before the big rapids and was tangled in some vines, floating upside down. When the boat was righted again, everything was in it. They lost their hats from their heads. They did end up having to wait for a couple of hours on some logs in the middle of the water while they were waiting to be rescued (one of the tribal guys made a raft out of vines and logs and floated down the river looking for the boat). She ended up with heatstroke, and was sick for 2 days throwing up and very weak (probably a combination of both the near-drowning and subsequent heat stroke) in the village they were visiting. Thankfully she did recover her strength to take the return trip (yes, on the same river in the same boat) the 3rd day. No one heard about the accident until they were safely back home. (A good reason to pray for missionaries even if you don't hear from them - you never know what's going on, sometimes don't hear until it's over.)

We are incredibly thankful that the Lord chose to spare our friends last week. They both have been an incredible encouragement to us in the time that we've been here. They head home to the US for their son's graduation from medical school and their daughter's wedding in the coming weeks so pray that in the next few days before they leave that she would regain her strength. She's still experiencing weakness in her arms.

Thanks for praying with us!

Everyday Lfe

Wow - again it's been over a month since I've posted - need to get back in the habit...

Life goes on here.

In early March we had all of our colleagues in this region in (literally into our home) for some meetings. This required rearranging much furniture for about a week. I co-lead the kids meetings using a terrific Biblical Peacemaking program. We all ate together, fellowshipped together, prayed together and were refreshed together. It was a very busy time and as it was at our house (and the Mission Home facility), I overdid it a bit, and by the last 2 days had to take it easy for health reasons. I'm doing better now, still taking it easier than I'd like to, but would rather be safe than sorry. We turned our dining/living room into the meeting place, and moved our living room furniture into a grouping in the kids toy area for fellowship between and after meetings.

Here's a shot of the whole group - including a number of our national counterparts. Almost 50% of our number were kids!

Easter was not that traditional in our home this year - at least not traditional to ME! We did the Resurrection Eggs with the kids as normal, but since the heat prohibits me from attending services at church these days, we did a service at home with the kids. Spencer remembered that last year we taught him the "He Arose" Easter Hymn (...UP from the grave He arose...), so at his request we sang it again, also teaching it to Mitchell and Julia. I made scalloped potatoes using the last of our "Farmer Sausage" and we had another couple over once they were done with services at church. We did take time that weekend to color eggs and decorate sugar cookies.

A few weeks ago we got a package in the mail from Women2Day at Elmbrook. It was an exciting event and we had such fun introducing our kids to Chef Boyardee! They'd never heard of it before! Mitchell is holding a cool Crayola product I'VE never heard of that he was particularly excited about. They enjoyed cereal for breakfast the next day (all we can get here - if we're lucky - is Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies). Thanks, ladies! What a bright spot!

Another exciting event at our house lately was Julia getting a new bike - her FIRST! We had borrowed a bike owned by the people whose house we're living in when we first got here and it fit her perfectly, but in the last year Julia has shot up incredibly and 2 weeks ago, when we took the kids to a development that's coming up (nice paved roads, no traffic) to ride bikes, it became very apparent that she was WAY too big for the borrowed bike. We took a trip as a family to the bike shop downtown and chose a pink strawberry bike for our dear daughter. It's an 18 inch, but won't be that big for her too much longer! Mitchell's 18 inch is getting too small for him, so we'll have to upsize his soon too!

Some of you may have heard that we've found a house to rent. We will have to move out of the house we're currently living by mid-June at the latest. We're glad to have found a house in the same neighborhood - 2 doors down, in fact. Here you come to an agreement on your "contract" up front - in our case we agreed to rent the place for 3 years (partially to get a better price, partially because though some of that time we're hoping to spend at home in the US, hopefully there will be another family who needs housing during that time and will house sit for us). Then usually you pay all of your rent up front (the entire 3 years), and then you are responsible for any and all remodelling, painting and whatever else needs to be done to the house to make it livable - you get it "as is". We have a big job going on in our "new house" - we have to raise the kitchen counters to make them usable - the old ones were just a bit higher than knee-level on me. Here's a shot of the kitchen - we weren't quick enough to get a good "before" shot.

We also have to switch out the facilities in the bathrooms to make the "squatty potties" and "bak mandis" into toilets and showers. The one shown here is basically the entire room - so even with the renovations, it's going to be TIGHT!!! No huge vanity in here! (In case you didn't know - the bak mandi holds water and the dipper you see floating in it is used both to pour water over your head to "shower" as well as to flush the "toilet". This one obviously hasn't been cleaned in a while as you see sediment on the bottom.)

THIS bathroom will be our "family bathroom" and is bigger - we will be able to fit a vanity in here, thankfully. The shower will be a bit long and narrow but will be fine. A little bit of trivia - a toilet costs 10X what a squatty potty does. I was shocked when I realized that but not shocked enough to change my preferences!!

So our time is taken up with not only our "normal" work plus home schooling and so on - we're also running back and forth between home and the new place facilitating the renovation of the new place. No Home Depot here! (I miss it!! - Shopping for stuff here is just incredibly HOT and dirty and you have to go to many places just to find something as "simple" as a basic hot/cold kitchen faucet!)

And last but not least - some of you have been asking for a prego tummy shot - this was taken just a few days ago. I don't feel that big for 6 months along, but it sure is exhausting to carry this baby-belly around all day long! :) I'm sure finding out why prenatal care in the US costs so much - it's because they DO so much of the thinking for you!! Here I'm ordering all of my own blood tests, urine tests, ultrasounds, taking my blood pressure, monitoring my weight and so on. I'm glad I'm not doing this for the first time!! Thankfully, my results are all coming back normal and within reasonable ranges. I'm right on track and hoping that the baby comes "early" or close to my July 11th due date. (I also have July 7 and July 4 due date predictions from earlier in my pregnancy.) Ultrasound measurements of both head and femur say that the baby is EXACTLY the size it should be for the projected July 11th delivery. Not that that means anything (except that this time I won't be delivering an 11 pound baby like with Mitchell!!).

Please be praying with us for:

• health for the rest of my pregnancy
• a safe and healthy (uneventful) delivery
• good progress on our "new" home and quick completion so that we can move in before it's too much of a struggle to pack and move (because of my pregnancy)
• that we will be a light to our contractor and his workers as we seek to serve them in little ways while they work on our home (refreshments, etc.)
• we will be losing one of our helpers as she is going back to her village in the coming months - please pray as we look for a suitable replacement for her!
• Thank the Lord with us for His provision of so much that we have to be thankful for!

Thanks so much for praying with and for us!