Annika's prayer tonight

Dear God,

Thank you for our things.  And tell Jesus to give us more things.  And on our flight to Indonesia, help us to have fun.  And tell Jesus to help us remember our luggage on our flight to Indonesia.

Amen

Feeling Less Funky

It seems that posting yesterday had a normalizing effect on me.  Everything made me seethingly angry yesterday (beginning with the guy who changed the channel at the gym - come on, man!), but  I'm feeling much more resilient today.  I'm also feeling buoyed by a fabulous piece of new information.

More in an act of fear and distrust than in a decision to be pro-active, I contacted a preschool in Jakarta.  I looked at the list and the map, and I emailed the school that looked the very best - my absolute top choice.  I sent some questions and asked for more information, and was wildly comforted by how she replied.  More than comforted, I'm feeling excited by what she said.  I asked some pretty specific questions about how they run their classes and the choices they make in their curriculum, and she had well-thought out and extensive answers.  I told her where we'll live, and asked how much the traffic would impact my choice.  She said I was right to be worried about traffic and its impact on my life (sad, but not surprising).  She also said that she is right around the corner from us, that loads of kids from our neighborhood attend her school, and that many of the moms will walk or bicycle their kids to school.  Hooray!  She also promised that a seat would be available for Annika in August and said not to worry about making a decision in advance.  Hooray!

The school costs more than we budgeted, which means we will take her advice and shop around a bit.  But we just bought a car there, and that is coming in under budget.  Hooray again!

Feeling buoyed by this success, I'm now ready to attack that moving To Do List.  On the list for today - learn how nervous I should be about Lilly and Sophia's school.  They have found a spot for Lilly, but are making no promises to accept Sophia.  I know others are in our same boat, so I'll contact the embassy to learn whether or not I should worry.  Also on the list for today, do a bit of research for music class.  Things are in place for me to open another Music Together center in September, but the home office wants me to submit the location within the next few weeks.  Happily, we have been paired up with a very nice family who live in our complex and have offered to answer any and all questions.  The gym at our complex looks to me like a fabulous spot for music classes, so I'm hopeful that her research will be simple and I'll be able to cross another line off of my list.

Thanks for the words of support yesterday - feeling much less lonely today.  Thanks to the big coffee on the table next to me, I'm feeling much more energized as well.  And thanks to spring sports, I have no time to be bored today.  Its a busy season!

In a Funk

I'm in a bit of a funk this week.

Dave took - and passed - his Indonesian exam last week, during the girls' Spring Break.  We spent last week relaxing together, eating well and traveling and generally living a relaxing lifestyle, very present here in Virginia.

With the return to school and to work, with the completion of language training, and with our weekly countdown entering the single digits, it is now time to put my head into Indonesia.  We pack out in 8 weeks, and we'll drive away from Virginia the day after. 

But I'm having trouble becoming pro-active about our move.  Annika and I lead a very slow life right now, where I don't accomplish and we just explore.  We go to the gym and to music class and to soccer practice, we spend some mornings in coffee shops and some mornings at museums.  This morning we've been playing games at home.  This is the life I chose when kept her out of preschool this year.  I don't really have a lot that I need to do for this move, and so this luxurious lifestyle can remain for probably the next 4 weeks or so.

But that may be a problem.  Because now that my head is entering into Indonesian mindspace, with little to do I'm simply growing worried.  And unfortunately, there is plenty to worry about right now:

- Our preferred school for Lilly and Sophia has not yet offered us a spot for the upcoming school year.
- This preferred school is currently embroiled in a rather horrendous abuse scandal.
- I'm feeling a bit queasy about any of the preschools I've seen.
- I'm having trouble imagining life in this city, a large Asian city with a tremendous traffic problem and very obvious poverty.

And with those very real worries, I'm beginning to build on some not-so-real worries.  Because I've got lots of time but not a lot of normal conversation going on this week.  So here are some of the second tier worries:

- The church may be lay-led, meaning they don't have a dedicated pastor.  We attended a church like that in Shenzhen, and we found it very challenging.
- We've hired a driver and have a recommendation for a housekeeper.  But how does one go about hiring a housekeeper via Skype?
- We are late in the game to apply to other international elementary schools.  And should we decide to do that, most of the other schools are either very far away or on a southern hemisphere schedule.
- I've begun opening a music center in Jakarta, but don't have good answers to this next round of questions.  Where will we meet?  How much will it cost?
- We don't know what we still own, and what we ought to replace before we leave.
- We don't know...

Lets be realistic here.  The list could go on and on with meaningless things that we don't know.  And realistically, I know that we will be fine.  I keep hearing marvelous things about Indonesia, and that families are very happy in Jakarta.  We have been connecting to a number of people there already, who are friendly and beautifully helpful.  We will continue to connect to more people as we get closer.  Realistically, I'm not worried about Jakarta.  We will be fine.  Its a great post.

But this week I just can't knock this funk.  I can't knock this feeling that I should be gaining more control over our life in Jakarta, and that I need to be more pro-active researching my fears and fixing our problems. 

But, sigh.

Realistically, that's not going to happen either.  I don't have much disposable time, and Jakarta is still on the other side of the world and populated by strangers. 

Its time to come to peace with the unknown.  Sigh.

Such a Week!

It frequently happens that after I've been in a new place for a few months, I grow bored.  I'm not involved in anything, have nothing for myself on the calendar.  I have no responsibilities for anything except my children.  When that happens, I usually rush to find a few productive ways to use my time and am quickly too busy.

I'm surprised that its taken so long to reach this point.  I suppose that hanging out with a 3 year old, I was more able to enjoy my free time.  Or it could be that hanging out with a 3 year old, I have no time to myself.  Bored as I may be, there are no windows of time to fill with projects.

Still, I volunteered for a few things which all began this week.  The sun came out as well, and this entire week has flown beautifully past.

It began with a Shanghai Reunion.  Last week, two of the gals from ladies' Bible study in Shanghai met me at a boutique hotel in DC for a weekend full of good food, good conversation, plenty of walking and loads of the Spirit.  I came home so refreshed and eager to be with my family again.

Sports practice began this week, with Sophia playing softball and Lilly progressing in soccer.  Practices take over two evenings every week, and games will be our Saturdays for the rest of our time in Virginia.  I write it as drudgery, but we really enjoy the excuse to spend so much time in parks, on playgrounds and on the sidelines of some really fun games.

I took on a few volunteer projects, both of which require my concentration and my internet connection.  My concentration is only available in the evenings, and then it is fleeting.  Sadly, my internet connection fades most evenings and these projects are moving slower than I anticipated.


But even so, the relaxed tone set by the girls' weekend has lasted through the week.  Maybe because of the lovely spring weather, we've all been more cheerful.  Maybe because music class finished last week, and Annika and I had more free time.  We explored the National Gallery on Wednesday and we went back into the district this morning for an amazing morning of coffee, chocolate croissants and the Young Readers Center at the Library of Congress.  Someday I will have a home, and it will have a room very much like the Young Readers Center.  Bright and cheerful, with high ceilings and cozy chairs, and just the right number truly fabulous books.  It doesn't get much better than this.