Beach Trip with Isaac

Thursday morning Isaac and I headed out on our beach adventure.  We enjoyed a nice uneventful drive to the beach which is always a blessing with these roads and traffic.  Leaving the house around 9:30 am and with some leisurely stops we made it to the beach around 2:00 pm  We started our stay eating at a local warung makan which is kind of like a local diner in America but a lot more rustic in methods and style, which fits my personalty well.  Isaac and I well mostly I enjoyed a simple dish of nasi goreng which is a standard meal of fired rice.  Usually Isaac really likes nasi goreng but this time it was a little to spicy for his liking.  We then took some time to explore around the beach and examine some shoreline creatures.  The weather wasn't quite as nice as my previous trip with Franklin.  The waves were bigger, windy, and overcast but Isaac still had a blast.  We spent the night there and Isaac slept well as he has a knack for sleeping anywhere.  In the morning the tide was high and the waves were even bigger than the first day. Isaac gave me a couple good scars but he did pretty good obeying and staying in the shallows.  Around 10 am we were back on the road heading for home with another thankfully uneventful trip.  Well almost uneventful I saw my first live snake here in Indonesia crossing the road in front of us and it was a big one too spanning half the road.  Below are a few pictures of our adventure at the beach.

Selesai Hari Ini

As the title states "Complete Today" meaning that the "day" has arrived for me (Greg) to be finished my formal language training.  10 months ago when we arrived in Salatiga I didn't think this day would come but here it is.  Wow praise the Lord for His goodness!

The next two months will be filled with packing, goodbyes, and some traveling for Julie and Franklin.  Next Monday Julie and Franklin will be traveling to Singapore for some testing and evaluations for Franklin.  We are hoping to receive some information on how to help Franklin learn easier.

July 13th we are planning on loading a container with our belongings here that we want to take to Papua.  This will include our furniture and motorbikes and odds and ends.  After all our stuff is sent on it's way Julie will do her best to finish up her language studies as well we will be able to visit our neighbors some without distraction of packing for a few days before we follow our stuff to Papua.

Textbooks and notes can be packed away now.

Not sure when this box will be opened again?

Celebration supper at my favorite local diner.

Enjoying my favorite dish at my favorite spot.  Babi Kecap fried pork with a sweet sauce on top of white rice and cucumbers.

When I am weak then He is strong

I think that the title of this post can best explain how these last few weeks have been for our family. And I am so blessed that I can recall those words and allow God to give me the strength for the task that He has put in front of us. So much has happened in the course of only three short weeks that I still can't believe that it was all accomplished. Our two younger children finished their school year off and that means that they are know adjusting to being home everyday. Franklin is finding this a little hard as he still has to work through the rest of this month before he is done but I think that it is helping that mom and dad are still in school. Along with the ending of the school year the children have said good-bye to some very close friends which is never easy no matter your age. We have helped load containers for two MAF families and sent them on the way to their assignments and have welcomed one new family to Indonesia. With one more family due here in about two weeks and then one family will be leaving for their assignment at the end of the month. Greg completed unit eight and is now almost half way through his last unit. While I (Julie) completed unit 6 this past week and then began unit 7 as well. Through all of this we have been in the process of lining up some testing for Franklin that required a mountain of paperwork to be filled out for that to happen. And it looks like Franklin and I (Julie) will be making a trip to Singapore next month for this testing. And we are still trying to be out among our neighbors and friends and try to be a blessing to them as much as we can. The people here are so precious and like all our previous moves we are not looking forward to saying goodbye. And we hope that our time with them has planted seeds into their hearts that God will continue to help grow.

And for those of you who know us well our summer would not be complete without a big move involved as that is what we have done the last four years. So not wanting to break with tradition our family will be leaving Salatiga on August 4 and will be moving to the Island of Papua. That means that we have now add to our to do list, packing. Also in the month of August we will have hit the four year mark of being with MAFC which is really hard to believe.

Here are some prayer request for us during these last two months on the island of Java:

*  That everyone will be able to finish strong with school and not loss heart as even though we will be done with school the learning will still be coming on.

*  Safety for Julie and Franklin as they travel to Singapore sometime in the month of July.

*  Please pray for our support levels which seem to have dropped over these last few months.