Off to Singapore

Well, the past month has rather flown by. I feel like we have just gotten back into a routine. So much for routine!!! We are off to Singapore today! The car comes to get us at 11:30, then we drive to Surabaya, and then fly onto Singapore from there. I dont mind the flying part, but I dread the car part! If Shane is driving, I am usually ok, but because we dont want to leave our car at the airport for a week, we have to take a rental car to the airport. I always get so sick on the 2-4 hour drive!! So...just be thinking of that!

Honestly, I really dont want to go to Singapore. It is sort of like a forced break for me. Shane has really been working hard this summer, and he really needs a week off of language and life here. The week in Singapore will be really good for him. I'm still really loving language, and dont want to take a break from school and my local friends! I just finished book 3 on Thursday. After we come back from Singapore, I will review for a week and then take my exam. This exam is a big one....it is a Princeton rated exam so I will really be able to gauge where I am at not just at my school but on a world language scale. The exam is an hour of talking-answering questions about culture using all that I have learned thus far! I'm taking my books with me to Singapore and going to try to study.

What am I most looking forward to in Singapore? GOING TO THE DOCTOR! We havent had good medical checks in over a year!

We still have no word on our language visa. We will wait it out this week, and if it still isnt ready we will come back in as tourists. Problem is we will have to leave again when the language visa comes through. Maybe it is the Lords way of forcing us to take a break. We have heard that Singapore has lots of parks and there is a library across the street from where we are staying so we are going to take full advantage of that for the kids. We really have no plans other than to go to parks, the library, and a book shop so the kids can buy new books for their reading reward. We were going to try and go to the zoo, but we just did the awesome safari here so we are a bit "zooed" out! We are just going to try to relax and enjoy this last bit of summer as a family.

Yesterday, Shane signed the papers for our NGO! A big moment for us. We have friends on our island that have been waiting for 2 years to get their NGO going, and it has only taken us 2 months. It is all God!!!! The papers werent going to make it here until Monday, but they arrived yesterday. This will allow us to mail them from Singapore (a lot quicker) directly to our teammate in the US so that he can sign. Shane and I made the decision on Friday night that even though our friend had given us the OK to sign his name for him that for the integrity of our NGO we would still send the papers to him to sign even if it costs us some time and money. The government requires signatures, and that is what we will follow. Praise the Lord the papers arrived yesterday so that we can mail it quickly from Singapore! The Lord is so very faithful!

Speaking of faithfulness....

On Wednesday night, Dave made a decision to follow the Lord for the rest of his life!!!! When we studied about Joy (Fruits of the Spirit), we studied about Paul and Silas in prison and how they had joy in their hearts singing to the Lord no matter what their circumstances were. Dave has been talking a lot about Paul and Silas lately. For the past week or 2, he has been real concerned that if he follows Christ, he will have to go to prison like Paul and Silas. Well, honestly, I dont know what will happen to Dave if he follows Christ. I dont want to say that he wont go to prison because I just dont know what the future holds. So we have talked about having joy in our hearts no matter what, and on  Wednesday night he came to me saying that he knows he will have joy even if he goes to prison. He has said he wants to be baptized right away because he wants everyone to know he follows Jesus no matter what and he wants all to know that Jesus died for the bad things he has done and that he is forgiven. Praise the LORD! This is our biggest answer to prayer yet!!!! Please pray with us as we walk with Dave. He is still dealing with a lot from life here, but with Christ he can do anything!

Other news...

We have found out that we will all be going to Thailand for meetings in January. Our whole region is having meetings, and our entire team will be going for some Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills training (in other words....learning how to work together more effectively). This will really work out well especially if our NGO visa is ready because we have to exit anyways for that. Our old area leaders from our Vietnam days are leading our training. Wow...it will be wonderful seeing them again. They walked with us through some tough times!!! We have also decided to return to Chang Mai (in Thailand) for some check-ups and a break before we move on-site. Now, for those of you that know our journey, you will remember that we spent time in Chang Mai when we decided to return home from Vietnam. We are actually going back to meet with our old counselor for a mental health check up. Nothing is wrong....we just want to have a check up and make sure we are going well and doing the things we should. We are excited to see our counselor again!!!! Actually...we really think all people in our work should be doing regular mental health checks (but that is for another post)! There is a child counselor there and we are going to have Dave (because of what happened to him at the preschool) and Noah (because many changes are coming up with the move) talk with him. I am finding the boys open up a lot to a third party and I just want them to feel free to talk about how they feel about life here and things that have happened to them. It will be really good for them. I think they basically just go and play with toys with the counselor while he talks with them. The child counselor is actually recommended by the counselor we saw in April (at our meetings) so we are real excited about this. I was shocked when I started filling out the paperwork for Dave. He has been through a lot. More than I even realized so please continue to uphold our kids. They need much protection and prayers. We should all be able to have some good medical checks in Chang Mai as well!

I cant believe that our summer is winding down. We are in Singapore this coming week, and then we come back and only have a few days left before Noah starts second grade. We have really all enjoyed our time together this summer. I will be sad to see Noah go off to school, but I know it is only short lived and homeschooling will be here before we know it. We've enjoyed learning about the Fruits of the Spirit and doing our Science experiments and crafts. Noah has been writing A LOT in his journal and is even taking it with us to Singapore. He needed to work on writing this summer so that is really good. The boys have really learned to play well together, and I have loved seeing them develop a really close friendship.

Well....I think I have written enough for now. I'm not sure what internet will be like in Singapore. We are actually staying with a family. This family is committed to our people group and they host those of us working in that area. So exciting. They have hosted our teammates before, and I think they are top people! I will try to blog when I can. Thanks for all your prayers.