Lazy Sunday Morning

It's a lazy Sunday morning here at the White house. Tris went back to work Friday after being off for 9 work days, and the kids had their usual heavy weekly work load for school. Sundays in Canada always involved church in the morning and usually something social or at least outdoors later, so our Sundays here are so much longer. Now we head to church in Jakarta on Saturday nights, and Sundays we mostly just rest, rest and rest some more, except for ultimate frisbee at 4.

For the past two weekends we've had speakers from the Ravi Zacharias ministries (North America) come and speak at church, and they've been really challenging. I've been challenged in the area of forgiveness (last week) and simply looking to God's word on a daily basis for wisdom and strength (this Saturday night). These are reoccuring themes that come from the pulpit, but typically what comes from the pulpit usually coincides with what's going on in our personal lives...ever find that? I don't believe in coincidence. I do believe that God loves to talk to us and wants us to just listen to what He has to say. It's sometimes through the bible, sometimes through circumstance and sometimes in ways that He knows will register with us.

Our update on Tris is a good one. He went to physio on Thursday for the first time since the surgery, and although there are a few things he has to work on, the prognosis seems good. This morning he went to the pool to allow his right arm to float on the water's surface; he's just working now at strengthening (read: gaining some basic muscle strength) his arm muscles. He still has pain but it's more because the atrophied muscles are tired, so as he strengthens his entire body he should find more relief.

We are now in the middle of Ramadhan. I don't find that the calls to prayer are nearly as loud this year as they were last year. It is difficult to remember not to eat or drink in public, but we're in the 2nd half of the month and I believe the fasting ends around the 21st of September. After that every muslim it seems goes back to their village of origin. Not a time to be travelling. Originally we'd booked a homestay in the city of Jogja (where I went with Dale) during the holidays for a language school, but we've since cancelled because of Tris' shoulder. Friends who have lived here for years have reassured us that we REALLY didn't want to be in Jogja at this time. Apparently it's a major muslim area and it gets incredibly crowded during this time. Matt's opinion on going to language school during the holidays was not the most positive; we've come to the conclusion that he'd probably rather stick a hot needle in his eye. Needless to say, although we haven't yet broken the news to him, he'll be glad to stay put.

Thanks for reading!