Sending Love

I am signing in from the Hotel Business center. Facebook is blocked, so this is howI am saying hi to my family for tonight. We went to a child center today. If we weren't paying for internet by minutes, I would write more about it, but it was amazing. Adam, I loooove you. Give Josh hugs and kisses and tell him Mommy sends him kisses from far, far away in Indonesia. The drivers in Medan are crazy. Pray we stay healthy with all the exposure to germs. (Telling myself they don't exist.) Got to go.... Love to all. xoxoxox

The Time Has Come

The time has nearly arrived. I can feel my stomach tensing. On my last flight, the combination of excitement/anxiety and the change in pressure while we were flying was too much for my stomach. I was so bloated and in pain, I really just wanted to lie on the floor in order to find some relief. I prayed that God would help me and curled my legs up onto the seat. My back twinged as the muscles by my neck tightened and I reached up to massage where the muscle hurt. Moments after I began massaging my neck, my stomach seemed to relax slightly and the pain lessened. I wondered if I had found a pressure point... The rest of the flight I struggled to find a comfortable position in which to sleep. The tiny pillow which my Mom had sent along was of great assistance as I turned my head this way and that. I stuck the pillow between my head and my shoulder, I held it in front of me, and I found myself wishing that I was as comfortable with leaning my head on someones' shoulder as the military man was next to me. The young man had arranged his head very comfortable on the young woman's shoulder in the next seat over, not too much more than a half hour into our flight. He slept in a what seemed solid sleep until we arrived in LA. I was told by a military friend of ours the next day that, when you are in the military, you lose all sense of what is the "socially accepted norm". Perhaps that is why he was so comfortable sleeping on her shoulder, but at that point in time, I was slightly jealous that I am of a more reserved nature. I maybe was able to catch a half-hours worth of "winks" and arrived in LA at 1:30 EST. I was exhausted,but eager to meet my hosts for the night. As I entered the lobby, I quickly scanned the crowd and saw no familiar faces. I turned toward the baggage claim and peeked back over my shoulder toward the group of people waiting for their loved ones. It was then I saw her. She stood up and held a sign that read "Welcome Bethany". I grinned and headed for the couple who had so willingly come to pick me up and open their home to me. We exchanged a friendly hug and I knew that this was going to be a good visit.

A couple specific prayer requests for the next couple weeks.

~For my stomach during the long flight overseas.

~For safety traveling and the health of our whole group.

~The we would be a blessing to the children at the centers and to our sponsored kids.

~Language difficulties.

~That the Holy Spirit would overflow from our lives to those we meet.

~For God-given opportunities to witness and to minister to those around us.

A Blessing

What a wonderful Californian day! I have been so blessed by the Lord to have such hospitable hosts for the day. Wanda and Don have been so kind to open their home to me, a strange girl from New York and allow me to stay here, in their home. Wanda is an inspiration: a good cook, a wonderful house keeper, and a kind wife. She has the gift of hospitality. I like her and I am grateful for their kindness to me. When I initially booked my flight to LA, I was left wondering who I would stay with between my arrival and when I leave for Indonesia. God has filled the gap and left me feeling blessed for His intervention. You see, I had never met Wanda or Don, but my Mother met her while blogging and they have been blog friends for just over three years. My Mom mentioned my brief visit to LA and Wanda was more than happy to open their house to me if I was fine with sleeping on a couch and using a small bathroom... I could not refuse. God is good.

So... I'll be keeping in touch. My love to all!

Preparation and Protection

The countdown is on... 12 days before I fly out of NY. Fourteen days before I leave the country. I have been practicing my Bahasa Indonesia and at the moment I can count to ten. Lets see if I still remember how tomorrow...

Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, delapan, sembilan, sepuluh... And nol is zero.

Putih is white. Merah is red. Biru is blue. Can you guess what hitam is?

I am trying my best to avoid stress. You may think I am extraordinarily premature, but I started gathering items for packing tonight. I have realized that I am very prone to stressing out, and I am trying to prevent any last minute anxiety attacks. I put things into Ziploc bags and wrote down what was in each bag. I packed the bag of things I had for Ayu. I am trying to be prepared.

And although I am beginning the packing process, I am still feeling pressure in a different aspect. (Though it has been better today.) I covet your prayers in these upcoming weeks, and would like to you to pray against spiritual attack. I feel like the devil is trying to steal my joy away and make me overly concerned with leaving Joshua. Strep throat has been rampant at daycare this week, and all week long I had/have been paranoid that Josh has it too, but the symptoms are just hiding. I mostly was worried because he broke out with a rash on his face Tuesday (though it went away after his afternoon snooze) and my sister had also had strep, without any of the typical symptoms. So the Mom in me was afraid he had it too, and it would hide in there until he would be so, so sick. Then my other paranoia was that Josh would spend all his days and evenings while I was gone watching cartoons and that he would turn into a cranky monster. Then I would come home to a miserable boy who didn't care what his Mommy said. Isn't that horrible?!? I really know that Adam would not let Josh watch TV ALL the time and that other people are perfectly capable (kinda...) of taking care of my boy while I am away... But it is like I said, someone is trying to steal my joy and make me nervous about leaving. I know God has prepared all the details and He is sending me to Indonesia, I have no doubt about that. And Satan will try to use means to distract me and keep me from spending the time I need to with the Lord. He wants me to be worried. Worried! He likes when Christians are worried! So I covet your much needed prayers. I need a wall of protection around me in these up coming weeks, to guard against attacks. And if you could pray for my family too. That they would be healthy and safe. How much we do need Jesus.

Thank you Lord Jesus, that You are our protector and that You love us! Please guard my heart and mind and keep my family from danger. Keep me close to You and trusting in You. Amen!

Did You Get My Snow?

So the snowstorm missed us. We got maybe three inches. It was heavy, icy snow. But certainly no where near the 7-10 inches that were predicted. I'm trying to decide if I was disappointed or relieved to find there wasn't a foot of new snow outside this morning. I'm sure all the local school aged kids were happy none-the-less, as all the schools had canceled classes for today in advance. I guess there was no real reason to fuss, unless the storm is just holding out and wants to hit us tonight instead... At least if it comes tonight, we'll have dog food. :)

Just a Bit of Snow

Tonight Heavy Snow Lo 18 °F

Wednesday Wintry Mix Hi 28 °F

Wednesday Night Snow Lo 14 °F

Thursday Chance Snow Hi 21 °F

They tell us that we are to expect some snow tonight. They have been telling the whole country to expect some snow. Up to ten inches tonight and up to seven more tomorrow... Nothing like a little bit of snow. I guess we should've remembered to buy dog food. But we are New Yorkers and we can brave the snow if it means the dog won't be starving.