We are now into our final weeks here in the states… again! Joel's parents are here for the week visiting and playing lots with their grandsons. We have a busy week planned but it should be very enjoyable for us all. Joel leaves Saturday with his parents for New York. They will be there and in New Jersey for the week before Joel's brother's wedding. Mom and I will have a few days here in Missouri before going out there just few days before the wedding. Then we return home to Missouri for a little over a week and on the 22^nd, we will fly to Indonesia.

Our boxes to take back are all but packed with just the odds and ends to throw in before we leave. The other things we left in Indonesia are now in our new house awaiting us! We are sooooo eager to get back there and begin our ministry at the guesthouse.

The photo here is one we just got from our co-workers in Papua of a bridge that was just recently repaired. Yes, that is a light pole in the middle of the road at the end of the bridge. And yes, they did remove it - just a few weeks after. This is where we are heading to live! Not quite like America, eh?

Bethany

Summer Update from Eary July

Hey all, Life has been active lately and we haven't been able to communicate much. So in everyone's interest, I'm gonna catch you up on some things.
#1 Jack has been singing 'Tomorrow' from Annie, except that he sings it as 'Tonanno, tonanno, I yuv ya, tonanno. onwy day away!'. It's very fun, that kid has music in his blood. Wonder where that trait came from... #2 We had a really fun 4th of July. Finally a BBQ with no rain! We had several friends from church over. All the kids swam in our wading pool and the adults all swatted flies. But we had fun doing it. Yummy food, a good musical playlist, tiki torches, and homemade ice-cream!!! We watched fireworks from our church's parking lot. The biggest show in Springfield is shot from a location just north of us, so we had a great view... #3 Bethany and I had and have an awesome opportunity to put together a missionary Teamwork workshop with a group of folks who will be sent out of High Street as missionaries. Because our training with NTM is based on the premise of working in teams, our Pastor as well as Missions directors asked us to host this event and present some information about working as a team. We were really excited and honored to be able to do this. Our first meeting was on July 5 and our next will be the first week of August. #4 We're close to being done with the biggest stretch of fencing in the backyard. I've really enjoyed the 'manual labor.' There's something satisfying about that kind of work. #5 Mom Stroud went back to work this week after three weeks off for her surgery. She's just working half-days this week and then will move back to full-time next week. It seems she is healing well and the surgery was a success. #6 B and I are going away for two nights this weekend down to Tablerock lake to the south of us. We're so excited to have some time for just the two of us and to finally celebrate our 4th anniversary! That's the high points right now. We're really excited to see Dad and Mom Potter in 3 weeks and we're trying to use the time before they come to finish up the fence and some other projects.We are also trying to begin the packing process for returning to Indonesia. Our goal is to have most of our stuff packed and ready to go before we leave for my brother's wedding the first week of August. We also finally have a date set to return to Indonesia. Our tickets are booked for August 22nd. We still have no word on how our visas are coming along but we are just going to assume they will be granted and will progress forward!

That's all for now! Enjoy your summer! Joel for the Potter 4!

packing

Well, the time has come for us to begin sorting through our things in preparation for us to go back to Indonesia.  We have about 10 boxes of stuff that we've pulled out from our storage unit to see what we can actually take with us.  We will have to do some trial runs on packing to see how much we can cram in and then decide how many extra totes we can afford to take.  Mom's dining room will be sorting central for awhile and we will count today as the first day in our preparation to return "home". 

 

Joel's parent's will be here in 2 weeks and then the wedding and just a week later, we will be leaving once again, on a jet plane!  Let the games begin!

One side of the fence completed

Installing a fence panel

Jack

Owen - Indonesia or Bust!

Our friend Rachel Burch made Owen this fun tshirt! He's ready to go!

Some of the flowers from Mom's garden

Putting in a post for the fence

After many weeks, we finally are getting the posts in the ground. This is no easy process!

Jack's Thomas Train and Makeshift Track

jack absolutely loves Thomas the Tank Engine!

Daapoi and Wikipai

This is Good News!

This is what it's all about!

As we prepare to return to Indonesia, we are reminded once again why we go.  Please read this article we received a few weeks ago from some of our future co-workers in Indonesia, Scott and Jennie Phillips.  They have been working on translating Bible lessons into the language of the tribal people where they live, the Dao.  The two men that have been helping them with the translation process, have now heard the complete Truth, the Gospel, start to finish.  From creation to Christ's resurrection.  Read on to see what can happen in the lives of those who hear for the first time…

 

As our two translation helpers Daapoi and Wikipai were hearing about the torture and death of Jesus Christ this last week they were astounded at what Christ went through. "The words that you are telling me make my heart hurt, this is a talk that would make us cry. Jesus could have easily fled from those men or killed them all by merely speaking, but he did not." - Daapoi responded as he was hearing that Jesus had been beaten, whipped and then nailed to a cross. As the lesson went on and they heard up through the death and then burial of Jesus Christ and why he had refused to fight back but instead died a willing death on the cross for our wrong doings, they were both very quiet and I could tell that they were thinking hard over what they were hearing. They were realizing that Jesus had died on our behalf just as the lambs had been sacrificed over and over again throughout all the stories they had heard from the Old Testament.
 
As we came to the part of the story after Jesus had died where three days later the tomb was found empty and the angel announced that just as Jesus had promised, He had risen again from death, Wikipai could not help but laugh with joy at what he was hearing! "Only the Son of God could do something like that! Only Jesus could come back from death! Is there anything at all that He is unable to do?! I don't think so!" . We continued on hearing through how Jesus appeared again to his disciples and walked the earth another 40 days to prove he had conquered sin and death itself. These two Dao men were soaking it all in with smiles on their faces as they were hearing that Jesus had come out victorious! I began to question them to make sure that they understood what they were hearing. Daapoi was the first to respond.
 
"If it were not for Jesus, our sins would have never been cleared away, if Jesus had not become the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us, we would have faced eternal punishment! I believe that this message is true, I believe that He died for me!" .  You could see the joy on Daapoi's face as he was realizing for the first time that his past had been forgiven and that because of what Christ had done, he was now part of God's family and would spend eternity with Him some day.
 
At this point Wikipai chimed in "If His sacrifice would not have been enough, God would have never raised him from the dead, if Jesus sacrifice had not been enough then the curtain in God's temple would have never been ripped in half to show us that we could now come into God's presence. I also believe that Jesus death on the cross was for my sins and that His sacrifice was sufficient!"
 
As we closed the teaching that day by hearing that Jesus had given one last command to "Go into all the world and share God's message with all the others that had not yet heard" and that He then ascended back to heaven to be with His father they got that much more excited and kept on getting up and trying to act out what they were hearing about Jesus ascending back into the heavens. The last verse that we covered was Acts 1:10-11 where the angels asked the disciples "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? Jesus, whom you saw taken up into heaven will come back in the same way you saw Him go!" At the moment they heard these verses they immediately began asking me "When will he come back? Will he come back today? Tomorrow? Will he come back quickly?" to which I responded that He will come back when there has been people that have believed from every language and group of people and every body that He has called to believe has heard His message. They then said, "Well then we have to tell the others! We have to tell our families! We have to tell the Kupekuye clans and the Mokotaka clans! We have to tell the Taomi clans too so that Christ will come back! We have to tell them His message!"
 
…the Bible lessons and scriptures needed to teach have at this point all been completed, and on June 11th, they began together with Wikipai and Daapoi begin teaching their first Dao village so that their wives and families can also have the opportunity to place their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Please pray for these two men and their families and the other Dao people so that they can also come to repentance as they hear His Word, just as Wikipai & Daapoi have done.

 

 

Scott working at his computer on the translation of the lessons

Dads

Yesterday was Father's Day and what a lovely day it was.  The boys gave Daddy his Father's Day gift and each gave him a card.  The gift I "helped" them pick out was kind of in honor of my Dad.  For as long as I can remember, my dad has shaved using shaving soap and a brush rather than shaving cream.  He had this fun little nubby brush that he would lather up with a special soap and he always got new soap in his stocking for Christmas.  Well, as I was shopping for Joel's gift the other day, I stumbled upon the same kind of shaving set that my Dad used.  Joel is very into Gentlemanly type things like handkerchiefs, dresser valets, cuff links and such and so when I saw this set, I knew it was just the thing.  He is very excited to use it, so thanks Dad for the inspiration!

 

Yesterday afternoon, we met my brother and his 2 boys at Phelps Grove park for a dinnertime picnic with Dad.  It was such a nice afternoon, warm but not too hot and a nice breeze was blowing.  Dad was in good spirits and enjoyed getting out to play with his boys. He even threw the frisbee with me – he still can throw it better than me! In all, there were 7 men and me, the only girl in the bunch (mom was still home recovering from her surgery).  We took a great picture of all the boys together with Dad, what a group they are! 

 

Thanks to all you Dad's out there who do so much to provide for and love and guide your families.  Thanks Dad for your love for me and thanks Joel for all you do to lead our family!  I love you both!

 

Bethany

Father's Day 2007

Jack, Dad, McGwire, Owen, Jeremy, Kael and Joel

Challenges

Today some friends are returning home from their field of ministry due to some health problems.  My heart is heavy for them as I know they are battling discouragement right now.  But I was also encouraged from the Word this morning that as we wait on God and trust in Him and His ability to strengthen us, we will find we have strength when we thought we had none.  We have direction when the road ahead seemed dark.  We can have hope because He is our rock.  I am challenged again that I need to be redirecting my own thinking at times.  I should be thinking on things that are true and not just how I feel. I need to think about honorable things, righteous things, pure things, things that are lovely, of a good reputation, things that are excellent, and praiseworthy.  This is how I can see my feelings change and follow truth.  How often do we just look at our circumstances and then let them be our guide to how we feel.  It's so easy to do.  J & B, we are praying fervently for you.  Set your minds on things above – God's grace and peace be with you.

 

 

It's a small world

Today we will get to see some friends that we haven't seen in several years.  While we were at the Bible School in Jackson, Joel was in the same class with a couple from Malaysia.  Little did we know back then that we would be living and working in their "backyard".  They have since returned to Malaysia to be tribal church planters there but low and behold, their daughter is going to school here in Missouri at my alma mater.  They are right here in our neck of the woods and we get to have lunch with them today.  The fun thing is, we can now not only communicate with them in English, their 4^th or 5^th language, but also in Bahasa Indonesia, our 2^nd language and the sister language to what they speak in Malaysia!!  How fun is that!  Welcome Doug and Ruby!

A WORD FROM MOM

Words can't begin to expess my thanks to each of you who have upheld me, and my husband, Steve, in prayer these past several months.   I am so very blessed because God has his very best for us, no matter what the answer would be.  I know it's not about my faith, but all about His grace towards us. 

 

Even if God's answer regarding the medicaid had been no or wait longer,  God still has answered an even more urgent prayer, that being Steve is doing so incredibly well.  The difference between December, when I had to put him in the nursing home, and today is amazing.  Just to know that people around the world, who have never met us, yet are praying for us, is so humbling.  I know that God truly hears the prayers of His people.

 

With a grateful heart,

 

Lynn

Aka Bethany's mom

Lynn (Aka Bethany's Mom)

And God Said...

It is with a heart full of joy and overwhelmed by God and His grace that I write this.  I can't get the smile off my face!  I walked in the door just a few minutes ago and was opening the mail when I ran across an envelope from DFS.  AAAkkk, this could be good news or bad news… I braced myself.  I read the statement on the front page and it said Mom and Dad qualified for Medicaid as of February 1.  This is a miracle.  We got a call a week ago saying that it looked like they would not qualify that far back and because several months have passed since we applied, we would likely only qualify for May and beyond.  This was a huge let down as it meant Mom would have to come up with the money out of pocket to pay the nursing home for Feb – April.  That's a lot of money to pull out of thin air, but we Prayed… you prayed… AND GOD SAID – YES! 

 

Thank you so much for your prayers for us.  We are so in shock right now.  No matter what the outcome, we knew God had a plan but this just blew our socks off! 

 

On another good news note, we also received Owen's passport in the mail today, several weeks earlier than expected so now we gather all the necessary documents and begin the application process for our Visas to enter Indonesia again.  Keep praying!  And don't ever believe God can't still do miracles!  HE CAN!

 

In His Grip!

 

Bethany for us all

 

Bethany, Owen, Cherie (the bride) and Jodi at breakfast the day of the wedding!

A Map of Indonesia

The Announcement

The Countdown Begins

Dear Friends,

Today is the first day of June and I find myself realizing that our time here in Missouri is quickly coming to an end.

A Look Back·

· We arrived home in February with so much before us and we hit the ground running (you all praying us through each step of the way). Most of the things we came home to do, are done or are being finished now and our time with my Mom and Dad has been very encouraging and profitable.

· We still are waiting to hear from Medicade as to whether or not Mom will qualify. This has been an area that we have felt like our hands are tied and we truly can only pray. Mom’s lawyer has been wonderful and a huge encouragement to us through this whole process and we are so thankful for her.

· Owen was born on April 30^th, making us a family of Four!

· Joel’s brother and sister came for an unexpected weekend in mid May. Owen got to meet his Auntie and Uncle!

· Our 4^th anniversary was May 23. It has been a whirlwind 4 years but we can say with joy that it is better now than ever before!

June

· This past weekend I was able to go to a dear friend’s wedding in Pennsylvania. It was a truly special weekend with her and old friends from my time in Michigan.

· Next weekend, Joel will be making a 4 day trip to see his brother in Indiana. Jon will be getting married in August, just a week before we leave to return to Indonesia, so this will be a very special weekend for them.

· Owen’s passport has been applied for and we hope to receive it in the mail in about 4 ½ weeks. Once we have it in hand, we will then begin the process of applying for visas. Bethany, Jack and Owen will all need new visas but because Joel (the head of the household) already has one, we hope the approval process for the other three will go quickly and smoothly.

· Bethany’s Mom will be having surgery on June 13 and will be off of work for 3 weeks. This was an unexpected surgery and so we are so thankful that we will be here to help her in her recovery. Isn’t God amazing that he knew this would need to be done and he allowed it to happen while we are home and able to help her?

July

· Bethany’s Aunt and cousin will be coming for a week-long visit in early July from Minnesota.

· We will be celebrating our 4^th anniversary with an overnight trip, just the two of us, sometime this month!

· On July 29^th, Joel’s parents will arrive and stay till August 4^th. This will be their first time to see Owen and the first time in over a year and a half since they have seen Jack!

· On August 4^th Joel will be flying with his parents to New Jersey to see his sister and help with wedding preparations.

· On August 9^th, Bethany and her Mom will fly with the boys to New York where the wedding will be held.

· August 11^th is the Big Day for Jon and Christine.

· August 12^th, we will celebrate Joel’s 29^th birthday in New York City returning home the next day to pack for Indonesia!

· August 19^th is our target date for returning to Indonesia. This is pending the visa process going smoothly.

Whew!! Are you as tired as I am after reading all that? It’s going to be a busy few months, which means it will go by quickly, too quickly in some ways and not fast enough in others. We are excited to return to Indonesia, this time to a totally different island. We will now be living in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), a province of Indonesia (not the country of Papua New Guinea). Upon arriving there, we will continue our language study with a tutor and begin learning our new ministry (running our regional Missionary Guest House

Prayer Requests:

· That our visas will be approved quickly and without any problems

· That God would give us peace as we prepare to leave once again. We know He can and will take care of Mom without us here but it will be difficult to say goodbye to our family once again.

· An increase in our financial support. For the past year or so, we have leveled out in our support at about 80%. We have been able to live at this level without a problem up until now and we are so thankful for that. Our recommended support level has now increased due to Owen joining our family and so we are asking God to bring along new supporters to join our team. We will also have some set-up expenses, such as visa costs, flight costs, purchasing a vehicle, and expenses for setting up our new home in Papua

As always, we covet your prayers for us and appreciate the various ways you support us! It’s an exciting ride, and one we wouldn’t trade for all the world!

In His Care,

Joel and Bethany Potter

Hey Tom, that's not a window, but thanks for fixing it anyway!!!

Shouldn't one of you be holding the ladder?

The new front picture window! Almost done!

Burch, taking out the old window

Windows

Yesterday was a huge success.  Thanks for your prayers.  The work began at a little after 8am and besides Joel, four other guys came out to help us install the windows.  By about 3 pm, 8 of the 18 windows were installed and they look wonderful!  Thank you Matt Cates, Matt Burch, Jeff Terrell, and Tom Demers.  Jolene and I were even able to get a small kitchen project done as we ended up not having any other kids to look after other than Jack and Owen. Overall, the day went really well and Joel now feels pretty confident to keep working on the job himself.  Tomorrow another friend will be here to help him for a few hours in the morning while the boys and I are out.  Hopefully by the end of the week, he will be able to have all the windows installed.

 

This next weekend both Joel's sister Bekah and his brother Jon will be here visiting.  We are excited to see them after over a year!  They will be able to see their newest nephew and also to see Jack again and hear him say Auntie Bekah and Mon Oncle (a funny name Joel and Jon are using for Uncle Jon).  Jack is now counting to 20 in English and 10 in Indonesian and says a whole smattering of things!!  It should be a fun weekend.

 

Coming Soon:

In the next few days, I hope to write a few posts on our future work and partners in Papua (formerly Iran Jaya), Indonesia.  Stay tuned to see what life will look like for us and the amazing folks we will have the opportunity to serve alonside in Indonesia.  You'll also hopefully get a better understanding of how we fit in to the ministry of tribal work there and begin to learn about the tribal groups NTM is ministering in there.  Our hope is still to return in August pending all the paperwork comes through for Owen and then visas for Jack, Owen and I are approved quickly.  We had a good reminder today through the experience of some other missionary friends, that even our visas are in God's hands and nothing is guaranteed to go as we expect!  All the more reason to be praying diligently that God will work things out in His way as to what is best in the big picture and that we will be trusting in Him and not our own ideas!

Did You See That Dad!

The World On His Terms

Not So Lucky Kid

Otherwise known as road rash. My bike addiction may not be all that healthy, as all addictions usually are not...

Lucky Kid!

Project #1

Tomorrow is the big day for the window installation here at Mom's house.  Tomorrow at 8 am, 4 or 5 friends of ours will be coming over to help us get the windows installed.  There are 18 total to do, which may mean we are biting off more than we can chew for one day, but Joel is excited to see it begin at least.  If we are unable to get the whole job done tomorrow, one other friend has offered to come next week to help finish the job!  This will be a great learning experience for Joel and hey, who knows, we may see ourselves doing this in Indonesia some day at the Guest House.  Joel will be able to add this to the growing list of "construction" type jobs he has learned to do!

 

Mom and I will be having fun keeping the kids occupied.  Matt, the guy who is heading up the project for us is bringing his two boys, we'll have our two boys and then my best friend is also coming with her 3 kids.  There is a big park across the way from us and so I imagine we womenfolk will spend the majority of our day over there playing!

 

Please keep all of us in your prayers tomorrow, the guys especially that there are no injuries and that they are able to work quickly!

 

 

Finally some action...

Action that has nothing to do with Owen, but action none the less. I finally started a series of articles on my personal blog 'Auraltecture'. The link is on the left of this page. The blog is a fairly deep dive into my own personal cultural tastes and likes and hobbies, if they can be labeled as hobbies. At any rate, it's worth a quick click to see for yourself. You might find your cultural tastes slightly expanded, which is never a bad thing.

visitors

I just wanted to post this here for all that are in the area and read our blog.  Many have asked if we are up for folks to come by the house and visit us, to see baby Owen.  We would LOVE That!  Mom made a yummy cake and coffee is always on at our house!  So please stop by or give us a call. We are always up for company.

 

Bethany

home

It's about 3:30 am and I just finished feeding Owen his middle of the night feeding here at home.  I say home, and then quickly think to add, "my mom's house, in the states".  Then it dawns on me, home is such a relative term to me.  Isn't that weird?  Most people can say home and mean just one thing.  To me, home is truly where my family is at any given moment.  It could be our little Honda.  The one we had last year as we toured the US, one state at a time while doing partnership development for 5 months.  All I needed to be home was Joel and Jack!  Several months later it meant a great little house in Salatiga, Indonesia.  It was the most different place I've ever lived and had some serious challenges in store for us but Joel and Jack were there and so it was home!  This night finds me missing what I will call home again in a few months, Indonesia.  Yet here I am in Springfield, in my parents house, with my husband and two sons and the greatest Nanni in all the world and I am home. 

 

Owen has now joined the family, adding one more little Potter to the equation and as I sat here feeding him, I looked into his eyes and felt so at home.  I sure hope as he and his big brother grow up, even though home may be a different place all too often, they can look into my eyes, Joel's eyes, each other's eyes and know they are always home when we are there.  Even better, I pray that some day, even when we are all not around, they will have chosen a relationship with Christ that allows them to always be at home with Him, no matter where they are.  It is such a great comfort to me to know that I have that relationship so that no matter where I am or who I am with, I know I always have a home, someone to share this journey with and even though I may not have a roof and four walls, I am always at home.

 

Bethany

If you get me this chair (The Eames Lounge Chair, 1956) , I'll do all the middle of the night feedings...

You got that right kid!

'This isn't so bad...'

Yes!!! Cookies

Now Can I have Some Cookies

Home At Last!!!

Around noon on this rainy day, we brought Owen and Bethany home. I was amazed at how much better Bethany had recovered this time. She's looking good and so is Owen. It'll be great to slowly get into a daily routine with two boys here at home. Be praying for patience and understanding for all of us these next few weeks!

"Jack is in for trouble ;-)"

They come with hats, what happened to mine?

Worth every minute of the last 9 months!

You sure you want to do this?

Potter BOYS

Note the title, BOYS, plural!

That obviously means we had, well it was more like Bethany had the baby.

Owen Daniel was born at 1:52pm, nice and in the middle of the day. He's 7lb11oz and 21 inches long.

The whole process was such a awesome blessing from God. When we compare it to Jack's birth, this was a breeze. It was so great to have him be born healthy and be able to hold him for a while after the birth. Bethany especially treasured that as she was pretty out of it after Jack was born.

Hows that for news! More to come later.

baby update

Today was my last Dr.s appointment!  Yes that's right!  The last.  I haven't progressed any more toward delivering little Owen, so I am scheduled to be induced on Monday morning at 5 am.  I am still hopeful that he'll come on his own before then but at least there is now a definite end in sight!  Joel's sister's birthday is on Sunday and so that would be a fun birthday present for her!

 

With the weather we've had lately, I have wondered what would happen if I went into labor while we were under a tornado watch or warning.  Could be interesting but I suppose we'd just have to pray our way to the hospital!  Tonight our weather here in Missouri is forcast to be severe and hail is a good possibility!  Some people say that low pressure systems have been known to bring on labor. I will take it, if that's true!

 

Sorry this is all we have had to report lately.  I promise come August, life will become interesting again and we'll have lots to share with you about our international travels!

 

Bethany

no new progress

Ok for all you out there wondering… today I had another appointment with the doctor and he said I still have not progressed any farther toward delivering the baby. Keep praying. I am finally beginning to feel a bit better after starting the medicines for bronchitis on Tuesday. I know God knows what I can handle but I must say that this on top of feeling very pregnant has certainly tested my limits! Thanks to those who have prayed for us these past weeks and those who so faithfully check up on us. It's so nice to know we are loved!

My birthday bike!

Jack got a new bike for his birthday. He still won't use the peddles and prefers the "flinstone style" of riding but he sure can get around the house just fine.

Have your cake and eat it too!

These two are being published a little late but none-the-less...

Jack truly enjoyed his birthday party this year! As you can see, the cake was a big hit!

Give me an "O"!

Here is Bethany at Owen's baby shower. The theme was all "O"'s, including the refreshments! This is my favorite kind of doughnut! Yummy!

Chatting with Daddy

While Joel was in Indonesia renewing his visa, we stayed in touch via skye every day. Jack loved seeing Daddy on the computer.

Takin' a ride in my automobile!

Jack is in love with all things mobile and when we saw this tracktor at the outlet mall, he just had to take a ride. It made his day until... he had to get off.

Still waiting!

It's been an interesting few weeks. I must admit, not at all like I thought they would be.  We are still waiting on Owen to make his appearance, much to my frustration at times.  I am reminded in my heart though, and even by my doctor, that God's timing is best.  I suppose since Jack came so early I truly thought Owen would as well, but this little guy is making sure we know he's not his big brother!  I have had contractions off and on the last few weeks but nothing seems to pan out.  Jack also passed me his cold this weekend and so now I'm thinking I'd like to get over it before going into labor.  I'm so fickle!  Do you ever find yourself wavering like me?  I sure hope I'm not alone in that!

 

Joel has been making great progress here at mom's house in the rhelm of cleaning out!  He has dubbed himself the "clean sweep" host of the Stroud house!  Mom has graciously agreed to go along with him and we are now seeing the basement once again!  I think we might actually have it usable by the time we leave to go back to Indonesia.  We plan to install the windows and fence in early May and with those projects done, mom will be able to see some long time goals accomplished!  We are also making headway with getting her stable and organized financially and are seeing God provide for her in some amazing ways – this year she loves the IRS!!

 

Joel and I aren't so in love with Uncle Sam this year.  We just found out that contrary to what we thought, we won't qualify for overseas exemption for last year as we missed the qualifying number of days out of country by about 30.  We are now praying God will show us how He is going to provide in spite of our mistake.  We are details-oriented people but we really missed it on this one!  God has already shown us His ability to provide for our every need just in the past 2 weeks.  With medical bills mounting (baby bills and Joel to see an allergist), we weren't sure how they would get paid but just the other day, God used a current supporter and friend and his generous heart to meet a very specific need.  You want to know the truly humbling part, this frined is currently going through a very difficult personal struggle but still, in spite of what could overwhelm him he was looking to the Lord still to know how he could be a blessing to us!  Isn't the body of Christ amazing.  We truly are never alone. 

 

We have now met with our language helper 3 times (2 of which we spoke only Indonesian) and we are so encouraged with how God met that need.  She is a wonderful gal who has blessed us by giving of her time to help us.  I was nervous as to how I would do but have seemingly slipped into speaking Indonesian with only a few gliches.  We have covered so many amazing topics which each stretch our vocabulary and use of grammer.  She is from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia and there they have their own way of speaking that is very different that where we were living in Central Java but even so, we have been able to understand her and are even picking up new things from her.  Our language training was in very formal Indonesian and so it's been good to loosen up a bit!

 

Well that's all from this home front.  Lord willing our next update will be an ANNOUNCEMENT!  Till then…

 

Bethany

baby shower and other news

Last night several ladies from our church threw me a baby shower for Owen.  It was a really nice time and we will be set for diapers and wipes for some time!  Mabye even till we leave for Indo again!  Thanks ladies!  It was an "O" theme and even the dessert followed the theme with donuts, of course, all in the shape of O's!  Cheerios, life savers, etc.  Very creative and fun – thanks Rachel and Laura.  Today I had an appointment with the doctor and it looks like my body is certainly getting ready for this little one to join us soon!  If we make it to the due date, I'll be shocked. 

 

We are really enjoying spring this year. Knowing what the two seasons we have in Indonesia are like, really opens our eyes to what we have here.  Spring is so beautiful with everything popping up here new and green.  I've even enjoyed pulling weeds in Mom's garden!  Jack loves running in the grass, playing in sandboxes, swinging on his toddler swing in the back yard and sliding down slides or "weeeee's" as he calls them.  He is talking up a storm and most of the time is understandable with all the new words he comes out with.  He is still using quite a few Indonesian words so that is fun! 

 

We have our first official language session tomorrow night with Caroline.  We are excited but I'm a bit nervous too.  We're going to be eating Thai food together – close enough to Indonesian food!  It should be fun.  For now, I leave you with an Indonesian Salamat Malam or Good Night!

 

Bethany

 

 

Praise update on language helper

Today is a good day!  Want to know why?  Well yesterday afternoon, Joel was able to do some calling to the various universities here in Springfield in search of an Indonesian student that might be interested in helping us with our language while we are here.  (Remember that the first one we had lined up never came through).  Well, just a few hours later we received an email from a gal studying at MSU getting her MBA from Jakarta!!!  We were thrilled to hear back so fast and to know that she was very interested in helping us.  Not only that, but just now we received another email from her confirming our first "appointment" with her for tomorrow night.  Praise God with us that he has provided someone!  We will meet her at Panera tomorrow evening to get to know each other and set a "schedule" for meeting each week.  An ironic thing about her is that she and her father both went to College of the Ozarks – the college Bethany went to back in the early 90's!!  Small world, eh? 

 

So thanks for praying – we are thrilled with God's response!

 

A Long Overdue Update

We have been home now for quite some time and folks keep reminding me that I haven't updated our blog in way too long. Thanks to those who kept reminding me. We have had a lot going on in the last month or so. I will copy some snipits from a few emails I sent out recently that will bring you all up to speed.

We left Salatiga on Monday the 29th in the morning taking a van the 1 ½ hours to the airport. Joel wasn’t feeling well but we all were tired and so we didn’t pay too much notice to it. UNTIL… 30 minutes into our flight when he began to get really sick and then passed out! It was the scariest moment of my life, much more so than even bungee jumping as I did in college, but after a few minutes he came to, very sick and very out of it! We landed about 30 minutes later and after resting a bit, decided it was best to take the next flight out of Indonesia which would put us in better standing medically, because we would then be in Singapore, a very advanced country medically. Joel was sick again on the next flight but made it without passing out and after several hours, we were at our hotel room being visited by a doctor friend of other missionaries who serve there with NTM. He diagnosed Joel with a stomach virus, exhaustion and dehydration and said he felt we should take several days there to rest up before trying to go any further. The NTM missionaries there took us into their home for the next three days and by Feb. 2 we were ready once again to resume our travels back to the states. Praise God the next 3 flights were uneventful for Joel!! Jack and I both got hit with motion sickness due to turbulence but we handled it fine and made it home!! Mom and several other friends met us at the airport and we were greeted with a blast of cold air!!! The temps here were unbeleivable and our bodies felt like they were going into shock too! But even so, we were thankful to finally be here!

It’s been over a month now and what a month it’s been! Our first week was full of doctors appointments, tidying up Mom’s house after she’d been out of it for 17 days due to the ice storm, moving my brother out of Mom’s house and into his own and moving ourselves in!! Jack was a trooper through it all and we were so thankful! Another milestone for me was going to visit my Dad in the care facility he is now living in. He is now adjusting to life there and we go to see him as much as possible.

The 3 weeks ago, we found ourselves up to our eyeballs in legal documents, new car paperwork, birthday cake and medicade applications. Mom finally agreed to go see a lawyer to help with the process of getting their finances in order for Dad to be in the nursing home. We had our first appointment that week and while there I think it clicked that this whole process was much bigger than any of us expected. Mom told me to write this in here by the way! Less than a week later and after about 30 hours of paperwork for me (I feel like an administrative assistant again), a day of car shopping for Joel (not that he minded), another day of window and fence shopping for Joel and Mom, mom now has a reliable car that will last her many years with hopefully little hassle, new windows ordered for her very old home, a privacy/security fence ordered so the neighbor kids won’t keep jumping in her pool and loitering in her yard in the wee hours of the morning, and an application in for help with the nursing home finances. And, Jack and Dad celebrated their 2nd and 63rd birthdays in there somewhere!

God has been so faithful to give us the energy we needed to hit the ground running and we have all been very thankful God allowed us to come back to help her with all of this. It will be another 3 years until we can come home again (after we return to Indonesia in August) and I don’t know what state my Dad will be in mentally then. It is so comforting to me to know he is being well taken care of and that I have this time with him now. Jack and Owen will get to know their Poppi, Mom is not facing these beginning days of transition alone and Joel and I feel God has allowed us to be very useful for my Mom.

That brings us to last week. Joel left on Thursday morning to head back to Indonesia for 2-3 weeks so that he can renew his visa. The process is in motion and it seems to be going well so far. It's really one of those, hurry up and then wait some more situations but we're getting used to that being the way things are done there.

Jack and I are here with Mom and the three of us are settling into a routine together while Joel is gone. We miss him desperately but so many from our church have offered to help in any way they can while he is gone. It's wonderful to be a part of such a great church!

Sooo,,, thank you for your prayers for us these past months. I look back now to when we left for Indonesia almost a year ago and never would have dreamed we would be where we are now, but I know that by God’s strength and your prayers, He has sustained us, given us grace to handle each situation and will go with us each day.

What lies ahead in the next months?
Owen is due to be born around April 25 (earlier would be fine, of course)!
May will find me in Pennsylvania for an old friend’s wedding
On August 11th Joel’s brother will be getting married in New York and then
At the end of August, we will return to Indonesia, this time to the Island of Papua to begin our ministry there!

There are many things to keep us busy here in between those events and we’ll keep you posted once a month or so as time goes by.

We value each one of you reading this email and thank God for your roles in our lives.