Kura Kura Slide Show-not sure how this will work!

Kura Kura - A Snorkeling Trip

I seem to like putting our vacations on this blog. I guess i am more motivated to talk about the less mundane things of life here and more about the fun things that we get to do because of where we live. This week is a break from school so on Saturday we took off on a "speed ferry" to Karimun Jawa-about a 3 hour ride. Then we boarded the next boat and after an hour we landed on the island resort of Kura Kura. We were allowed to stay there free of charge (long story)-we just had to bring our own food and arrange transportation out there. We were on this island that is about a mile in circumference with only the 17 of us that went and the small staff that were there keeping up the resort. We enjoyed the quiet, especially after just finishing the month of fasting here when the mosque is going almost non-stop. It was very relaxing and fun. We got to snorkel at least twice a day by just stepping out of our small cottage rooms and into the ocean. I have prepared a slideshow that i hope will work to show you some of the many fish we saw underwater. I am always amazed at the underwater garden God has made for us to enjoy. I just am in awe of His creation and the many varieties of fish, coral, starfish etc. that are so unique and beautiful. I got the pictures off the internet so they are not ones i took-but will give you a sample of things we get to see in the seas around us. :)

Batu Karas

There is really nothing to compare to sitting at the beach and listening to the sounds of the ocean waves crasing on the sand. I think it is one of my most favorite places to be...somehow it brings peace to my soul and rest to a weary heart. Maybe it is the getting away from the same old, same old but for me there is not better place to that than the beach....well a mountain in Idaho could do that for me, but the beach is a lot closer and more accessible than the Idaho mountains.

About a week or so after school was out, our family along with two other families and 5 single teachers headed southwest to a beach known for its surfing. It is a little bay and at one point has some great waves for those learning to surf or for the more experienced surfer. This along with another nearby beach experienced a small tsunami in July of last year. It was good to see that there was very little damage to Batu Karas although the other beach, Pangandaran, still had visible signs of the HUGE wave that hit it. We had a wonderful time together, getting up late, running or walking along the beach, surfing (well for some of us you could call it that...some of us were just glad to be able to stand up for a few seconds on the board) a couple of campfires with modified s'mores, playing games, laughing and talking.


Photos above: Motorcycle Mamas, Nick surfing, Local surfer on a good wave, Amanda and Anna, Luke surfing on the left.

Jay, our resident croc hunter, was out running one afternoon and came home with a monitor lizard, also affectionately known as Dodger. We were all impressed with Jay's ability to catch this fast moving creature but also with Dodger's ability to play dead. For the first while that Jay had him, the lizard was very calm and docile. Later that night, in Jay's room (he just wanted to keep him for a night), Dodger woke up and wasn't the nice playing dead lizard he had been earlier. Won't share the details but no one was hurt. :) We all enjoyed getting a chance to hold this wildlife that seems so rare on this rather populated island. Can't say that i have ever held a lizard this big before. We also took a trip to the Nature reserve which is full of monkeys and deer. I was hoping to see some beautiful birds but the closest we saw was a cave full of bats.


It definitely was a great trip and full of laughter and fun. I am sure it will be a place we go to again, despite the 9 hour drive over some very bumpy roads. :) We were exhausted but "puas" (satisfied) with the time away.
Just a few more images to share with you. :)

Photos: Laura and Nick, Luke looking cool, Jay the tree hugger


Anna and Hannah-best buds, Nick bargaining for boards, Jeremy and Jarod

Goodbyes

Goodbye-how i really don't like that word much anymore. After living and working at Mountainview for 10 years, i can't remember how many goodbyes i have had to say. Each year as the month of May rolls around, my heart begins the process of preparing itself for the inevitable ripping/tearing it will feel at the end of the month. Each year we say goodbye to at least 10 - 20 graduates. Each of them heading off to different parts of the world with some never knowing if they will come back to Indonesia. We also say goodbye to staff that have worked with us anywhere from 2 to 3 years or much longer than that. Last night we said goodbye to Amanda D., the last of the staff to leave Salatiga. On Thursday was our goodbye to Maria and Ferdinand who are heading to Canada. Maria is from Winnepeg and Ferdinand is from Indonesia. So, he gets to go through the cultural adjustment of living in another country. Right after graduation we said goodbye to Pat vanderMark who had been here longer than me, is in her 70's and is now back in the U.S. with her family. She has been such a stabilizer and encourager to me through my years working here that i can't imagine what school will be like without her.

Last night as i ate dinner with some friends i said that i think i will just start disappearing at the end of May so that i can avoid all these goodbyes. My friend Amanda looked at me and said, "But do you think that would be good for you Laura?" She knows me well and i realize that goodbyes are part of the closure that i need in particular. I told everyone that i don't even like it when people leave my house and don't say goodbye. (Yes Jeremy...that's you! :) ) so i guess avoiding saying a permanent goodbye would be even harder. So while the tearing and ripping hurts, i recognize that it is part of the process of life that we are called to here. I am thankful to be a part of this community of believers-there is a special bonding that goes on when working at a small school like ours and interacting with one another on more than just a work related basis. We get to know our students-we pray with them, talk with them, play with them-basically experience their growing up. We also are more like a family as a staff-hanging out together, going on vacations together...praying and crying with one another and walking through the good times and the hard times with one another.

Each year i wonder if i will be able to go through the process of getting to know the new staff and will i want to get close to any of them. But, then August rolls around and May is but a memory and we are off and running into the new school year, new friendships, along with the old, new memories and just being a community working and living out our faith together.

Singapore

Dear Friends and family,

We are all in the Singapore Airport waiting for our flight that leaves at 10:30 pm. It has been a long day as we had to be out of our hotel at 12:00 and so we had a lot of time to kill. So we went to Borders Bookstore, had some Coffee Bean then went to lunch at Subway (big treat) then went to watch a movie but only Nick and Luke watched a movie because the one that Anna and i wanted to see had an over 16 years of age limit on it and as you have probably heard, Singapore is tight with its rules and there was no getting her into see it, although i am sure it would have been fine. So, Anna and i hung out, she drew, i played scrabble on Nick's Palm Pilot and then we roamed a bit in the mall, had a Starbucks and then they finished the movie and we headed here to the airport.

Yesterday wasn't a whole lot more exciting...so much for an exciting get away from Indonesia. We woke up in the morning to hurry up and head to a doctor's appt. for Annaliese at 9:30. We met Dr. Siow and are very impressed with him. He is a neurologist and one of the few headache specialists in Singapore. He has studied in Boston, Philadelphia and Ireland and has been back in Singapore since 2003 practicing. It was so nice to finally sit down with someone that had the expertise in this area and was able to pinpoint what most likely is going on.

Basically after listening to us and checking out Annaliese he thinks that she has two things going on. One is that she most likely has Rebound headaches or Medicine Overuse Headache. This is typical of someone that has a chronic headache and has been using medicines such as ibuprofen and tylenol etc. to help deal with the pain. Our first goal is to get rid of that problem...which can take up to a month for all of those types of medicines to be out of her body. She is on steroids this week to help deal with the pain as she isn't to take anything but the Steroids and another drug that she was on before but wasn't in a high enough dosage. Then after dealing with that we will begin dealng more directly with the main problem which is called "New Daily Persistant Headache". If you google that you will find out more about the type of headache she has. It usually happens after or with having a virus, the person can remember the exact day that the headaches started (which we can-Jan. 3) and there is a sensitivity to light/sound with some nausea and the headache is 24/7. The bummer is that it is one of the hardest headaches to treat and it could be up to a year or more before we see any relief. If she is not better by the end of May when they come back for visa work again, she will probably have to be admitted to the hospital for 4-5 days to be pretty much knocked out for a time so as to break the cycle. We are really hoping we don't have to go that route. So, please pray that all of the treatments will work quickly and thoroughly. She is very weary of having the headaches but i think for all of us knowing a bit better the type of headache she has helps-now we just have to figure out how to support her and help her through the pain. Please pray especially for the next few days since the headaches could get really bad since she is not able to take any pain reliever. We will plan on missing school if needed so that will mean making up school work as well. It seems never ending but we are getting to the end of the school year so that is a real praise. :)

Please continue to pray for new teachers for the elementary. We are still in need of 4 staff members-Kinder, first, second and fifth. My heart is trying to not worry-keep giving that over to the Lord on a daily basis but still wondering what God is up to. If you know anyone that might be interested tell them or send them our website www.mountainviewics.org Thanks...

That's all for now. Hope to give you a good update by next week about Anna's headaches. Oh yah...praise that the kids and Nick go their social cultural visa with no problem and probably in another month will get their residence visa. :)

Javaarm Update

I realize i haven't been posting much lately on this blog site. So, here comes an update.

Anna: It is late Saturday evening and we just spent four hours in a doctor's office. Annaliese is still experiencing headaches daily and so we decided to try accupuncture. We should have arrived at 4 pm and put our names on the list, then come back at 5 but instead we arrived around 5:30 and waited til probably 7 or 7:30 before we got into see the doctor who poked Anna with disposable accupuncture needles in various parts of her head and made her lay with her face down so she could hardly breathe. It didn't have any immediate relief but i suppose we will have to try several times before we see real relief. Please keep praying for her. The constant pain has been really hard for her and she is pretty drained. She is keeping up with school okay but every now and then just has to take a day off because it is just too much to sit through school.

Luke: He has been doing pretty well the last couple of months. He finished up his basketball season and now he is in the water lots as he is on swim team. Their only meet is this next weekend in Surabaya. They will be competing against 4 other International schools in Indonesian that are about the same size as our school. Nick and i went to this swim meet the past 2 years but i think we will have to pass on this years. Kind of sad to miss it but i am sure Luke will be glad to not have Mom and Dad constantly around. Luke is definitely counting the days until school is out. He didn't have the greatest attitude during 3rd quarter but it seems to be getting better so we are very thankful for that.

Jay: Did we tell you that we have a third child? His name is Jay and we have adopted him into our family. :) Jay is one of our teachers at Mountainview who has gone through a rough time recently and moved in with us. He has been a huge blessing to our family-being a great older brother to both Anna and Luke and just a huge help all around. We have throughly enjoyed having him as a part of our family. Please pray for him as he continues to work through issues in his life. One day at a time.

Nick: This past week has been rather stressful as Nick has been trying to figure out what to do about his and the kids visa for staying in the country. Their visa expires the end of this month and it was thought that it would be renewed under the organization that Nick has had his visa with for the past 3 to 4 years. But, last week he found out that the government has had some reshuffling and new laws and it was not possible for him to stay under that same umbrella. He has been doing some fast thinking and seeking out different options and it seems like he has found a viable option. We will have to go out to Singapore at the end of this month to get a social/cultural visa until the other one can be processed. Please pray that all of this works out and goes smoothly.

Laura: It has been a hard couple of months-very busy, very full, very hard watching annaliese be in constant pain, trying to be an encouragement to the family, just a lot of STUFF going on. I too am looking forward to the end of the school year and being able to catch my breath some this summer. But until then, i pray for the stamina and endurance to finish this school year strong. There seems to be infinite things to do but not much time to do it. Despite feeling busy all the time, it has been encouraging to see God at work amongst the students and the faculty. It feels like a lot of us have been walking through fire these days, yet it is very evident that a refinining of our hearts is what is most importantly happening. God is good and most days i am able to rest in that. :)

That's all for now. Scroll down to the next post for pictures of our time at the beach over Easter. If you want to see a bigger version of the photo, double click on it and it will take you to the photo. To get back to the blog just click back on your web browser. :)

Pacitan-Easter Weekend April 6-8th

So here are lots of pics of our 3 day Easter weekend in Pacitan. The four of us plus Jay D., Jeremy C., Maria and Ferdinand went to have some fun in the sun and that we certainly did. :) The weather was great, the water was warm and the beaches were not crowded. It was just what we all needed.

First Row pics: Happy Easter in the sand, rooster in the yard, Luke body surfing
Second Row, Views from balcony, Jay as a pregnant mermaid (don't ask-i think we had the sillies that day), the culprits who turned Jay into a mermaid.


Shell Beach Pics...we had fun looking at the tide pools. The third pic above is a neon blue fish right in the middle.

Jay swimming in after a two mile ocean swim. We made a finish line for him and cheered him in.

Easter Sunrise morning... beautiful...Jeremy C. :)

Easter Dinner at O Solo Mio and it was O so yummy. :)

Global Fast

Picture to the left is from North Korea: Political factors cause hunger in North Korea. Photo courtesy of World Health Organization, 2005.

This past Friday some of the secondary students participated in Global Fast. Jeremy Cramer had been made aware of an organization that was encouraging people all over the world to fast for a day and to give the money that would have been spent on food that day to an organization that is directly involved in helping fight world hunger and poverty. So, Friday was the day that we chose to do this. We were not sure how many students would be involved as it hadn't been talked about other than in Bible Class and a short announcement in chapel, but it was a really cool day. Jeremy's 10th grade Bible Class spent Thursday's class decorating the music room transforming it into a prayer room...we finished up that afternoon-hanging posters and printing out prayer requests and information/facts about "world hunger".

At lunch time i entered the "prayer room" and it was already full with students sitting at different spots, in front of maps, praying on their knees or sitting quietly by themselves, lifting up the incredible needs of people around the world. One especially touching scene was two Korean students weeping as they prayed for North Korea-being from South Korea, many still have relatives/connections to South Korea. It made my heart break seeing that their hearts were breaking for the many, many victims of an unjust government.

My heart felt especially burdened for the mothers...we had a slide show going on in the auditorium with pictures from some of the poorest, most destitute places through out the world. As i watched the pictures go by, i just couldn't help but think about the women in the pictures-moms, just like me. How do they make the choice of whether to feed themselves or their child? How do they make the decision of which child will get food or which one needs more? I just can't fathom having to choose. As i look at my two children, i realize over and over again how blessed i am. Both are healthy and thriving-what would i be like if that were not the case.

It was a humbling day and one of just seeing God building in our students another big part of our faith-standing in the gap for others, putting others' needs first, feeling compassion and hurt for those who are hurting...may we never become hardened to those in need.

Enough-Yes God is!

Just wanted to give a bit of an update. Nick and Annaliese are in Singapore today and tomorrow. They saw the neurologist and he prescribed medicine to hopefully break the cycle. He didn't feel like there was anything wrong with her neurologically so that is a praise. They are now seeing an internist to see if there might be some other causes for the non-stop headaches. Just hoping and praying they can figure out what it is.

Luke is still sick. He has a bad head cold that is really draining him. He went to school half day, played a bit in his team's b-ball game and then came home and just laid on the couch. He made it through til lunch today but then we came home and he has been in bed since. Sure seems like we have had our share of illnesses at our house. Enough is enough!

I am learning through all of this. I have realized how much i was hanging onto my kids and was fooled into thinking that I knew what is best for them. After some time in prayer with good friends, God showed this to me and i was able to give them back to Him-to see that my role is to love and nurture but to not protect them from pain and illness. I have had such peace since then. I am tired of this trial and the worry thoughts still pop into my head from time to time but there is also just a sense of calm that God is taking care of us. He has their best in mind as things come into their lives. I just started reading the book that my blog title is from and the author says, " In God's reign, 'everything belongs,' even the broken and poor parts....You do not resolve the God question in your head - or even in the perfection of moral response. It is resolved in you, when you agree to bear the mystery of God: God's suffereing for the world and God's ecstasy in the world."

International Day

Last week was International Day. Each of the classes at school study a different country for about a month and then at the end of the study we have a travel day when classes get to go and see what the other classes have learned. Then the next day there is a program with classes performing something from the country and then a big pot luck with LOTS of yummy foods. It is one of my most favorite days each year. :) Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Handing over Ceremony