One Year at a Time. . .

December 1st: {{Ok family. This is one of the hardest messages I have ever had to write. I am sorry if your hearts sunk when you read that like mine kind of did typing it. However, after agonizing months of prayer, despite all odds, we feel that God is calling us back for one more year. I don't really understand it. It is the difficult struggle of leaving everything we love at home to complete a task that we feel is not yet completed. We have such an amazing gift in all of you. I hate the fact that another year will go by where we will not be able to deepen our relationships and make more awesome memories. Yet, I still feel like this is where God wants us. Don't get me wrong, we are blessed here and I know that God has put students into our lives for a reason this year . . . and for reasons I can't foresee He is telling me that there is more that needs to be done. I wish I was being called back home and felt that clear leading to where my selfish heart wants to be, but that is just not the case. I am scared. I am scared that when we come home that time will have slipped away. That things will be too different, that people will be different places. That Thursday night basketball won't happen. That Josh or Justin will have moved away, that we would not be able to play Saturday football anymore. That we would not be able to have ________________. I don't like it. You guys know me. I don't like change and feel so blessed to have had you all so close all my life. I honestly feel that God still has that for us, or at least I pray that way. The point is, I love you guys, we love you guys, but we love God more. I never fully understood Luke 14:26-33 until now. 

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples."

We feel like we'd be hypocrites if we ran home now. So, that being said, we have two extra weeks this Summer and will make the most of that time! I love working here, and love coaching and the kids, but I love you guys much more. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I didn't know how I was going to get it out so I just started writing. Love you guys and thanks for the unending prayer and support. }}

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Chris wrote that to his family as we were making our decision to leave Indonesia after this year, or re-sign our contracts. And this post has been in draft form since then. For some reason I just couldn't round up the words to finish it off. Coming back to it now, I'm kind of glad I didn't. Looking back at our decision, and how torn we were, I can now say that our hearts have been so calmed since then! My favorite verse proves to be true time and time again: 

Philippians 4:6-7

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Every time. 

It's barely been three months since then. Chris is still working his buns off, we miss our families like crazy, we long for June 14th when we can hop on a plane home. BUT, we are contently living where God has placed us, and He is blessing us. We're loving our church. New opportunities are arising for us to serve.  New friendships are blossoming. New student ministries are forming. God is good, and we're seeing those things that He still has for us here. The things we felt, but couldn't see, are now being revealed. There's no better place to be, than in the middle of His will for our lives. 

Thank you to those of you have been prayerfully supporting us. When I talk to my grandma and she reminds me that she prays for Chris and I everyday, I am overwhelmed with love. And I know she's not the only one. So thank you. God has put us into the best families ever, and surrounded us by the best friends we could ask for.  Thanks for supporting us no matter where we are.

And since no blog post is complete without pictures, I did a little random recap. It's crazy looking back at how time has flown by!

G809

I meant to put up these pictures a looong time ago, and just found them in my draft blog posts. I don't really feel like writing much to go along with them, but if you're interested in seeing what our apartment looks like, here's a peek. I always struggle to get shots with good lighting in our place because there is a huge window on one side, which makes everything else look dark in pictures. . . 

Anyways, here's our place - The Empire, Unit G809

As you walk in the door (again, sorry about that awful lighting!)

Overexposed, to show the room

Underexposed, so you can see our AMAZING view!)

Though you can't tell from this, there are two soccer goals on that field. I love looking out the window and watching kids play. And even a little bit of blue sky that day!

Our good friend, Donald Trunk

As you can probably tell by now, whoever decorated/wallpapered this place had some eclectic style! yikes!

This little Bajaj driver print was a birthday gift from my friend Madi. I'd been eyeing it since the beginning of the year :)

No, our oven still doesn't fit in the kitchen well, but still thankful we have one!

The turnaround view from the window side. Bedroom on the right, guest bedroom, bathroom, and laundry on the left.

Again, not how I would have decorated the place (goldfish clock!?), but I like the bar connected to the kitchen!

I didn't add pictures of the bedrooms or kitchen. The bedrooms are the blandest part of the place. Nothing too colorful or exciting. And maybe I'll get pictures of the kitchen sometime. . . when there aren't dishes in the sink :)

Stay tuned for some Christmassy apartment pictures soon!

P.S. 10 points to whoever noticed the two Spiderman toys that made appearances in several pictures. I'm a good wife, and somehow let them remain as part of the decor ;)

An all-around good weekend!

This weekend was just what we needed. I'm so thankful for times when Chris and I can truly relax, and do things just enough differently to make a weekend seem extra great. On Saturday we got to sleep in (both of us! which doesn't happen often), watch football, and still have time to make a good breakfast. Then we went to a nearby apartment complex where some other teachers live to swim and soak up some sunshine. The atmosphere and fellowship was wonderful. And then after being home for a few hours, Erik and Amanda came over for pizza and Australia planning. We're going over our Christmas holiday to visit some of our friends from last year. We can't wait!

And since we had the time, so we thought why not make our own! We made one pizza and one calzone just to mix it up. Both were so delicious!

Good times with the Frys!

Sunday was nice too. We went to the 9:00 service for church, and then the boys went to play basketball while Amanda and I did some grocery shopping. We were both back before 1:00, which I always appreciate on a Sunday. Chris and I then had the rest of the day to relax, grade papers, do some cleaning, and just hang out together before starting up another busy week. Don't get me wrong, we love what we do during the week, but without our weekends, we wouldn't have as much energy and oomph to make it those five crazy days! 

I'm sitting here typing this on Monday at 5:00 waiting for Chris to get back from practice so we can watch the SeaHawk's game with Erik and Amanda. We're having chili and cornbread, and watching football. . . somehow it feels like our weekend just got extended one day :) 

Oregon friends in Indo

These people are all from Oregon!

And here we are, meeting in Indonesia. Small world.

Tyler, Brady, and Anika (left to right minus us) all went to George Fox. And it's pretty funny how many connections to different people back home that we have, for having just met each other on this side of the world. 

The weekend before Chris and I left for Indo last year,  I was at a big antique sale hosted by Aunt Bee's (cutest little store in Salem!). I was having a really hard time not being able to buy stuff that I liked, because I knew we'd be leaving and I wouldn't have anywhere to put it. As I got to the check out line, with only one item in my hand, the lady asked me if that's all I had found. I had to admit to her that I wanted so much more, but was leaving the country, and couldn't justify buying any more. 

Then she said, "Where are you going, Indonesia?!" (In kind of a sarcastic voice). 

"Uh, yea! Actually I am!" (thinking to myself, how weird?!)

Then she proceeded to tell me how her son who had just graduated from George Fox was going to Indonesia for two years with som friends, to teach at a Christian International school in Jakarta. Sound familiar?

 What a small world, I thought, as I drove home thinking about how random that was! Then, come to realize, Brady and my good friend Addie, had lived in the same dorm at George Fox, and so Addie knew who this "random guy from George Fox who's going to Indonesia" was!

Anyways, it took us way too long last year to meet up with Brady and Tyler in Indo, but since then Brady has been playing basketball with Chis on Saturday mornings, and we went out to meet up with them and some of their other friends in West Jakarta last night. 

Brady knows people I went to Elementary school with, and Annika and Ruth (we took the picture before Ruth got there) know both Addie and Sam from George Fox as well. How cool that God orchestrates things like this to happen! 

This is Central Park, near their apartments, where we met for dinner

 Then, we got ice cream and hung out on the rooftop of their apartment
and looked out at the surrounding city. Quite the view!

These are the same three pictures, just small so you can see the whole picture of the skyline