Wyatt is Sick

Sending your kids back to America is hard but it is even harder if they get back and get really sick. That is the case with Wyatt. He started feeling bad the last leg of his trip and soon progressed quickly toward awful. We thought at first that he had malaria but now feel like it is dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever because everything hurts so bad you feel like all your bones are broken. Horrible aches and pains, fever, chills, low energy etc. Praise the Lord there is a family taking care of him. I don't know what we would do without them. What a blessing! Thank you Jesus for the way You take care of Your children. It has been really hard for me to be all the way over here and hear about how miserable he feels, but I know that he is God's kid, and God loves him even more than me. So I can trust Him in this. Wow. Talk about a faith stretching time, though. I hope I don't just let God stretch me in hard times. I hope I don't just trust Him when I am going through something difficult. I love the way He cares for us. Think about it. He is concerned about my little boy all the way over in Oregon, and He hears all of your prayers for his healing and He will work it all out in His timing according to His great plan. How cool is that? I have been reading through Romans and in Chapter 15 verse 13 it says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." He gives me hope. He wants to give you hope. Not just a little bit but enough to make us overflow. That is pretty awesome.

So I would appreciate your prayers for Wyatt as he recovers from this. Once he starts feeling better, he still has to be careful. If he does too much too quick he will have a relapse. He feels the need to get back to work, but working a ten hour day after an illness like this will put him right back in bed. Pray that he has the chance to rest and that he makes good choices as he heals. 

Thanks you guys for caring.

Love
Rachel

Update #15

Wow guys. Christmas is over. I always look forward to Christmas but this one I looked forward to even more than usual because my kiddos from America were coming here to celebrate with us. Wyatt and Emma arrived on Christmas Eve, and boy, did we celebrate! We had so much fun reconnecting. Emma brought a friend, Whitney, and we gladly showed her all of the things we love here. I feel so blessed. Seriously. So very blessed. God is good. In the easy times and the hard times. It was easy having them here. It was hard letting them go.

 Pray for Wyatt as he is back in Oregon working and waiting for the fire season to begin again. We got some great, fantastic news while he was here. He received a full ride soccer scholarship to a college in Oregon. He tried out for the team and the coach was so impressed he offered Wyatt a full ride. That is the first time the college has ever done that so they must have been impressed. We are not surprised. Wyatt has always been so very talented when it comes to soccer. So come fall, Wyatt will be a student again. 

 Pray for Emma. She is finishing up her second year at John Brown University in Arkansas. She has a double major of Outdoor Leadership and Family and Human counseling. She has also bee n named captain of the Ultimate Frisbee team and enjoys that. She is doing well but hates that we are so far away. (I agree.)
 

 Sophie is vice president of the high school and on student council and on SLIC (Spiritual Leadership.... something. I can't remember). She has 2 AP classes and is on the basketball team. She is soaking up as much of Papua as she can, and loving every minute of it.

 
 Cale is doing great in school. He is one of the leads in an upcoming drama the school is doing. This past weekend he went on a beach camping trip with his friends and is also enjoying his time here. He has pulled out of a lot of sports due to the trouble he has been having with his chest. That is concerning to me but he is making the best of it.

 Garth is now teaching 3 Bible classes and one PE class. He is a busy guy and is doing really well in his teaching roles. I am running the guesthouse as well as helping out with a lot of school related events. Plus I am sorting and organizing the house as we prepare to end our time here. That sentence brings up a whole wave of emotions but I will save it for another email.

We love you guys. I hope you are enjoying your New Year. Each day is such a gift. Try to make the most of it.

Rachel

My Goofy Goobers are almost here!

You guys, it's almost Christmas! I can hardly type because I am so excited!!! Wyatt and Emma and Emma's friend Whitney are on their way here right now! They are in the air for a 16 hour flight from LA to Hong Kong, and then on to Jakarta and then Jayapura to me! I just hate being apart. So my heart is bursting with anticipation. AHHHHH!

Can you imagine how Mary must have felt? All the anticipation she carried with her those 9 months wondering what it would be like to give birth to the Son of God? What would He be like? Would she be a good Mom? Wow. I can't imagine. And that beautiful little baby is what Christmas is all about. My life has meaning and hope because of Him.  It is not about how many presents are under the tree, or if your lights look better than your neighbors. It's about Jesus.

I was thinking about the song "Silent Night" yesterday. I feel like the forces of noise are against people ever getting sleep here in Sentani. Between the fireworks that go off at any time of day or night, the village parties that include beating on drums all night, the church bells that clang every hour everyday, the pondok Natals (small houses built to blast music from- google it), the microphoned karaoke songs, the roosters, the calls to prayer, etc. I feel like we never have a silent night. Ever. So I find that I have to be intentional about not letting that keep me from finding peace and quiet. In those moments when we block everything else out and just listen for His voice, He speaks. He brings calm in the midst of crazy. He brings stillness. He reminds us what Christmas is all about. Don't miss that message. Find the quiet. And listen.

Please pray for the kids as they travel. It is such a very long trip. Pray for safety and for sleep for them as it takes three days to get here. Our last trip took 61 hours! That is a long time to not be able to lay down and snooze. This will be our last Christmas here and I often get teary when I think about that. I don't know how we will ever be able to leave this place. Pray for us to enjoy and be in the moments that come our way. I tend to carry sadness with me when I  know that it is the last time doing something and I don't want that. I just want to enjoy.

Speaking of joy, these pictures will make you smile. Wyatt and Emma sent me these as they were taxiing down the run way in LA.

 

 

I love those goobers. I can't wait to squeeze them.

Merry Christmas.

Rachel

Update #14

Hello all. Thanksgiving is past and Christmas is swooping in. I love it. We have reminders up all over the house of who this season is truly about. Our great King and Savior born as a baby. That moment changed our lives forever and gave us hope. What a blessing! I know this is a busy time, but take time to remember.

Your winter season is our rainy season, so instead of just being hot and humid, now it is hot, humid and rainy. Haha. I love how green it makes everything. We have color bursting forth, and new life sprouting up all over. Beautiful.

 

This week is the indoor soccer (futsal) tournament. Sophie, of course, is playing. It's her favorite sport. On Friday she scored all three goals to help bring her team to victory. She is amazingly gifted when it comes to kicking around a soccer ball. Much of that is thanks to her big brother coaching and teaching her. 

A heads up about Cale-I know I haven't mentioned this before but I really need you guys to pray about something. He has this deformity in his chest cavity that doctors have been observing and running tests on for years. It is called pectus excavatum also known as sunken chest. In the last year and a half it has become a lot deeper pushing on his heart and lungs. When we get back to America he will have surgery to place a metal bar behind the indention to push it out and give him relief while preventing it from dipping further inward. He has a hard time doing sports because he gets so short of breath. He has always been such an active kid and this is frustrating him greatly. He tried to play soccer with his friends on Sunday and had to stop because he couldn't breath which in turn caused him to get very dizzy. We saw a specialist in Milwaukee when we were home last year and he confirmed that surgery needs to be his next option. Please pray for him through this. He is frustrated. He wants to do all that he used to be able to do. (The photo is off of the internet and not him. But his looks just like that.)

 

 Emma and Wyatt went to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and had a great time with family. Emma had a bit of an adventure getting back to Arkansas when she found out her flight from Mil. to O'hare was cancelled and she had to take the bus. It is always hard when plans unexpectedly get changed. Pray for her as she has a lot on her plate to finish before coming here. Wyatt has another day or two in Wis and then he will be traveling back to Oregon before coming here. Both kids will arrive in Papua Christmas Eve. Please pray for safe flights for them.

 

 We have several guests coming over the next two weeks. Last week we had 9 guests. I am thankful this home is being used and enjoyed by so many. I am doing a lot of cooking, and baking for upcoming school events. I thoroughly enjoy having time and space in my life to say yes to the things I love. I have been writing more and have been doing a lot of gardening, and crafts. I have two more weeks of my Food Prep class and we are having a great time exploring how fun making food can be. 

 

  Garth just celebrated his birthday. Even though he is getting older he is still a kid at heart.

 

The kids have finals coming up and then they are off school starting on the 19th. I am bursting with anticipation for Wyatt and Emma getting here so we can all be together for the Holidays.

Thanks for caring about us and for all the ways that you support us. We love you.

Rachel

Thanksgiving and Cale's Birthday Update #13

Happy almost Thanksgiving to you all. I heard a quote once, "What if you woke up tomorrow and all you had around you was what you thanked God for the day before: What would you have?" A lot? Or a little? During this season of thankfulness I want you to know that I am thankful for you. I really am. And I am thankful that God has called us here. Life is beautiful here, hard but beautiful. I am intentionally choosing everyday to make it a good day. No matter what. I am thankful today that God is using us to help a family in need.

As I am typing this I keep checking outside. We are waiting for a family that is coming to stay in our guesthouse. They are being threatened by people that believe differently than they do on some issues and are not safe in their home. The Mom and children will be staying here until it is safe. (Don't be worried for us. Our lives here have been safe. No riots or violence. Life feels back to normal.)

   

 

Sophie is on the futsal team (indoor soccer) and scored five goals on Friday. That girl is a beast. (She had Wyatt training her growing up so what do we expect?) She is also on several school committees and enjoys singing in church. Cale just had a birthday and turned 14. That is luar biasa. Extraordinary! He was just 1 1/2 yrs old when we first came here. We had so much fun celebrating him with all his friends. He has such great friends here. Most of them have been his friends that whole time. A few weeks ago the whole Middle school was able to go to a local orphanage and play with the kids and work. It was the beginning of a friendship with these kids that hopefully will continue for years. Garth is busy teaching Bible classes, and I am teaching Food Prep and helping cook for a lot of upcoming school events. We also have several guests, 9, coming this week.

There is something I need you to pray about. Sometime between Nov. 20 and Dec. 3 we will have some accreditation inspectors coming to the school. The government is requiring us to become an Indonesian school, no longer an International school, and therefore, we have had to "jump through a lot of hoops" in a short amount of time. I can tell you more about it if you want to know, just email me. Anyways, there were like 39 big things we had to agree to and one of them is that we will teach the Indonesian agama (religion). And we didn't agree to it but we did include our Bible curriculum and a description of what we do teach. We are not trying to hide anything. We are trying hard to show integrity, and be honest. Please pray that we find favor with the government, and that they understand our heart for the people of Papua. We truly love them and love being here.

 

 

 

   

   

 

Again, thank you for your love and your support. We feel blessed beyond measure. God keeps giving us great opportunities to serve. 

Enjoy all of your yummy Thanksgiving fixings, and your ham, and turkey, and while you are letting it all digest tell someone how thankful you are for them.

Love you

Rachel

Update # 12

Hello everybody. Happy Tuesday to you. We are already at the end of October. Can you believe it? 

Our guesthouse continues to be an avenue that God is using to bless us while we bless others. We had a high school girl stay with us for almost a week while her parents were in America for conferences, and we have some counselors coming this week to stay. Whenever we can, we grab all of the kiddos around and go on outings. We were able to take a group to the beach on Friday. It was a beautiful day and we felt so refreshed until..... we got robbed. Ugh! Someone went into our van and stole my bag, Sophie's bag, and Cale's bag right out of the van while Garth slept nearby in the hammock. It is crazy how something like that can take the air right out of your sails. Poor Cale. He lost so many special things. The chance of getting them back is quite small. The beach is over an hour away, and no one else was around. There has been so much theft lately, especially since people lost so much during the flood. I always pray hard for our hearts in situations like this that no bitterness will take root. I love these people, and know that they need God's love and saving grace. Please pray for Cale not to hold a grudge. Thanks.

   

An Indonesian friend of ours got married. This family is very important to us. How special it was for us to be invited to be a part of this wonderful event.

   

 Volleyball season has just ended. Garth was the coach and Sophie and Cale were each on a team. They did a fantastic job playing and Garth made a great coach. Now they are starting futsal season. Futsal is indoor soccer. The kids here live for soccer. They are so incredibly good at it and it is so fun to watch. It is hard thinking about all of Sophie's "last" firsts. You know what I mean? This is her Senior year so that was the last time to see her play high school volleyball. Now she is starting futsal for the last time. I guess it's that way for all of us since this is our last year here. We are soaking in all these moments and treasuring them. They are not just sweeping by us. We are very aware and thankful for each one.

   

Wyatt's fire season is over with Grayback and he has started a new job. He is working for a general contractor helping build a house and also learning how to team rope and ride. He is catching on quickly and there are a lot of exciting possibilities for him in this field. Emma is backpacking right now with her Outdoor Leadership Ministries class. We heard they had a tornado watch so I am hoping all is well. I haven't heard from her yet. Cale is doing ok. He just keeps growing up, height-wise. He is so tall and skinny. He loves the freedom he has here to ride his bikes and run around with friends.

Garth is still teaching Bible and PE. That is a big load for him but he is doing well with it. I am still teaching my Food Prep class. You know me, I love all things food related so I am having a blast. This week we are learning how to

 make cookies.

 

 Praise the Lord MAF got a new float plane. WOOHOO! This baby is such a blessing. There are so many remote village that need the love of God, medical care, and food that don't have an airstrip. The only way in is by landing on their river. Thousands of lives have been saved because of planes like this.

   

Well as far as safety goes. Things are calm at the moment. We know that frustrations are always boiling under the surface here and it doesn't take much to stir people up towards violence again. Thank you for praying.

Well, time to go. Thanks for reading and caring and praying. We sure do love and appreciate all of you.

Happy Fall- enjoy all the fall colors (since I can't, do it for me.)

Rachel