Visas

Rejoice with us brothers and sisters!  Our visas are finally in motion! J  Miles’ visa should have cleared yesterday the 19^th of August, and Dions’ should be 2 weeks behind.  We are grateful for the gift of time that is including this rest before we plunge into our new Indonesian life.   God is so good and knows just what we need!

What, you might ask, have we been doing with all of our time over here? NOTHING! J

Well, not exactly nothing.  We swim in the pool several times a day, read and nap by the pool, spend time on the beach and in the water.  The water is so lovely.  The part of the beach we don't  like is the wind.  It is pretty windy in the afternoons here.  It clouds up every day but doesn’t rain and it is still very warm.  The more clouds the muggier it is.  The sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous with all the lovely clouds! 

We are having quiet time together each morning.  This feels absolutely luxurious as we

 have always gotten up @5AM and Miles has rushed off by 5:30.  Our relationship with

each other is deepening and our time with the Lord has taken on a new feel as we share

His insights with each other first thing in the AMJ. 

We visited the church where Miles’ folks attend last Sunday and then their “Ohana group

 (Family, home Bible study) on Wednesday evening.  We volunteered 2 mornings at the church, and are feeling like this is our home away from home.  Gods’ family is AWESOME! J

Speaking of family, Dion has a long lost cousin who has lived here for 40 years.  She hasn’t seen her since she was 8 years old but we met up with her and her husband for dinner last night.  We had a wonderful time catching up on family news and they are going to take us to their favorite picnic spot later in the week. 

Well, check back next week to see if I am following through to post each week.  Remember that we are 3 hours behind the West coast so by the time we have breakfast and quiet time it is already noon there.  Blessings to you all!

Miles and Dion J

Doctors and Lawyers and Moles, OH MY!

We had a fruitful time at the home office in Nampa Idaho. We were stretched beyond what we could do humanly. God is stretching us and giving us the grace, though painful for us, to grow through it. While there, we found that we still had some Ts to cross and Is to dot. We spent just over a week seeing our lawyer to organize our family trust, saw doctors, had our last shots, and we both had a mole removed. Miles says he is not sure he will recognize me with out the mole under my nose. It had swelled and become painful while in Nampa so it had to go. His mole was on his chest in the farmers tan area. We are still healing.

The hardest thing for me to do was sort out the last of my "Things".  Mostly it was toiletries. Fluids weigh a lot so we couldn't take it all. I gave some away and left whole bottles at home. It is hard to believe that we are down to 6 suitcases. We have our furniture and some tubs in our shed behind our house but the rest was given away or sold. It has been a difficult but freeing process. God was gracious in having our home leased for the year that we are gone. We feel untied to this world except for our families and friends. Who knows what God will do with us over the next few years? We are excited!

We still have no word on our Visas. Due to a gift from a neighbor who works for Alaska Airlines (Thanks Nelson), and some mileage that we had built up, we were able to come to Maui HI. For under $200. Miles parents have a condo here. After the last few months living at a break neck pace, we could use a break.  We aren't planning on doing many of the touristy things. We are mostly planning on resting and reconnecting. We are living on the cheap and off of our savings until we leave and MAF funding kicks in. We would live this way on the mainland as well, so what better place to get reconnected with each other as well as strengthen our relationship with God than in paradise? We have extra time in His word and more time for prayer. We are sad to say that this time gets shortened when under stress. This is the opposite of what we need to do. God is still working on us. Our only regret in being here is not seeing your faces for a longer period of time. Pray with us that our Visas will go through quickly.

On the other hand, I am sitting here on the Lanai (deck, patio) in the early morning and the cacophony of bird sounds is fantastic. The Bougainvillea, Mimosa,and Hibiscus, just to name a few that I know the names of, are in full bloom making for a wondrous tapestry to view everywhere we go. We have been walking on the beach, walking to town, swimming in the pools, and watching some pretty amazing sunrises and sunsets. We feel pretty good physically and God is drawing us closer and closer to Him. Why leave? We are waiting on Him. When we are ready we are confident that God will release our Visas and we will be on our way.

I will have more time to post as I had always intended , once a week, while here. Hopefully it will become a habit that I will continue during our stay in Sentani. Watch for it.

Until next time! :)