The world is at our fingertips...in the form of a handshake

This hasn't been a really exciting week for us, which sometimes is a good thing. I think that it means we're feeling the routine of life and that we're settling in as if this is now our home. Our biggest anticipation this month is Bali at the end and so we trudge along....Actually, we're not even trudging. Each day brings something new to us, usually in the form of a new friend, something fun for our house, a skype-phonecall, a blog comment (yes, we love them!) or even a new idea of what we'll do when Grandma Bea and Poppa get here. Imagine being in a place/situation where almost everyday you meet a new person or root a new relationship just a little deeper. It's a very exciting place to be in that instead of us travelling the world, the world is being brought to us. Just at the school alone we have met people from Scotland, Australia, USA, Korea, China, Eastern Canada, New Zealand and Indonesian nationals as well. Outside of school we've been in contact with people from every continent.

I have always wondered how God could create billions of beings and not one of us looks exactly the same, except of course identical twins, and that's a different biology lesson. I have, however, seen evidence of similarities between people that I know and people I am coming into contact here. For example, as I've said before, there is a driver right across the street from us who looks so much like Greg Baker, just a more Indonesian version. Two days ago I met a Chinese Julie LeGoff...same lips, same big smile, same hair colour. She also has Julie's sense of humour and likes to laugh. The other night I bought a few bags of whole wheat flour (hallelujah!!!) from an SPH teacher who lives in our taman...she has the same gestures and facial expressions as my friend Judith Roy. Also, although Naomi is never replaceable, I have met a woman who is remarkably like her in stature and in spirit. Determined, strong and loves God with her whole heart. No person who works their way into our lives and hearts can be replaced, but God sure knows who to put into our lives and when. God seems to know that I need strong women in my life, ones that know God, love God, are honest, loyal and reliable, and who adore their families. Finally, the first friend that God put in my life is someone I have mentioned before. She isn't a redhead, but she's married to one! Her name is Janet, a nurse with her master's degree, ex-military (navy perhaps??) and who had her last child at 40. She doesn't remind me of any of my other friends in particular, except that she has the qualities that I've listed above, and most of the Canadian girls that I hang with seem to have similar qualities.

I am thankful for the people that God is putting in my life and through my relationships is putting into my familys' lives. There are the women in the study I do on Wednesdays; I am really blessed by that time with them each week as we just share what's going on in our lives from week to week and share how God's working in our lives. The woman who leads it is Esther; she's from New Zealand but yesterday I discovered she's originally Samoan and speaks the language. I loved hearing her speak to her little girl in Samoan (sp?).

We have found a home church. It's called International English Service (IES) and it's in Jakarta. The Comries introduced us to it and they have been picking us up each Saturday evening and driving us in with them. There are a few reasons we chose this particular church and the biggest one is that Matthew and Abby love it. Matt goes to the youth church and really enjoys it. He's a pretty easy-going guy and so I think he'll fit in just great. Abby has hooked up with Sophie Comrie and they go to kids' church together. You should see the two of them together. They walk arm and arm and swing their legs together like a marching band. Very cute (except when they almost kicked someone in the mall...). Another reason is that the pastor has good, biblically based sermons that challenge us. We haven't yet found worship as good as our own Northgate church (maybe we're biased) but the worship at IES is pretty good. It's our hope that soon we will be able to buy a car and give the Comries a little freedom by us driving...or better yet hire a driver on Saturday nights.

A funny situation happened the other day: I was at a social event and, being in Indonesia, there are typically people who are a little darker skinned than myself (not difficult wherever I go!) at such events. In order to gather up my kids I said "let's go White kids!" A little Indonesian girl near me mumbled "white kids?!!???" and then, knowing our family name, figured it out. Guess I will have to rethink how I address my family from now on:)

That brings me to another thought: today I was talking with my helper Sri and telling her how it's funny that in Indonesia you can buy 'skin whitening' soap, cream and lotions. She got a good chuckle when I told her that in North America so many women lay out in the sun and even spray themselves with lotions to darken their skin. Are we never content with who God made us to be?

One final funny note for you: Tris is part of the math department, obviously, and one of his teaching partners is Wong. So, we've got White and Wong teaching math together.

Thanks for reading!