Road to Peace's Placement

 At last there is time enough to write a bit.  And overall it is positive news.  We got into SC at Peters on June 7, and were quickly on the road to get Peace in FL.  I was sick most of the trip and time in FL but it was not to the extent that we could not pack up her belongings and head north after 4 days. (After a fun lunch with Shelly Rabe, student from Dakar Academy.)  Rick did a masterful job of fitting into the back of our Dodge Caravan a small coffin size cedar chest, my mom's huge rocking chair and innumerable boxes of Peace's life, besides the 3 of us. We spent 2 days in SC for Peace to see her nieces and nephew, and 2 days in PA to see Purity.  Then we drove the 3 hours over to Pittsburg to connect with friends from Senegal days, Jay Sappington, who had cared for our RV for the winter.  This portion was arranged by a friend from Zambia days, Jean Snyder, so we could get our Caravan and RV PA inspected.  What fun visiting with these frien...

Road to Peace's Placement

 48 hours from the time we left our apartment in Papua, until we arrivedat Peter's house in SC.  I've certainly had worse trips, but this trip was marked by the hordes of people.  Our flight arrived in Japan at the time that our next flight to Houston opened for boarding!  This diminuative Japanese lady pushed my wheelchair past every obstacle and to the head of every line and made it through customs, security check, and reticketing/negative covid check in half an hour.  Not to mention covering a great deal of ground.  Rick was pushing to get through so hard that he did not bother putting on his belt after security and carried it in his hand.  As we sat down on the plane he realized he did not have it!  (I was wondering what new adventures a beltless Rick might pose.)  Right before we departed, one of the airline hostesses walked the aisles with his belt asking if it were anyone's??  So we were spared wardrobe malfunctions.   I...

Farewell to Indonesia 2

 Well here we go.  At 9 this morning we leave our apartment for the last time to get our covid test.   We then board our 6 hour flight to Jakarta, overnight in the airport hotel (Can you imagine an airport hotel for $40 per night?....and much better than the baggage claim area where we usually spend our 11 hour layovers),  7 hour flight to Japan,  12 hour flight to Houston,  3 hour fight to SC.  Because of the International Date Line we arrive at Peter's house just 9 hours after we left Jakarta.  Can you imagine?  Our layovers after Jakarta are mercifully very short (pray we make connections).   And God just goes above and beyond with those small little perks.  For instance, a week ago we got an email from the local air carrier asking if we wanted to "bid" on an upgrade to business class.  I had never heard of such a thing, but after checking with our Indo friend online, he said it was not a scam.  So we scored a...

Prayer

  We need prayer.  On June 6 we leave Indonesia and (after many long hours) arrive in SC the night of June 7.  After a few days in SC with Peter and fam, we will go down to FL to pick up Peace. She needs to be closer to family and MA seems to be the best location and Paul and Alisha have graciously said they will be available to her.  However, the point is to find her another independent/assisted living situation such as she has had for the past 10 years or so  in FL.  The paperwork is clear and eventually it should work out, but there is this immediate interim period which has just been impossible to facilitate.  MA says Peace needs 90 days in a skilled nursing facility for assessment and then she can step down to an assisted living situation.There apparently is room in assisted living, but it has been IMPOSSIBLE to find a skilled nursing facility that will accept her for the 90 days.  They will not even answer the phone calls...

Farewell to Indonesia

 My students threw a surprise farewell party for me last night!!! It was just so so sweet of them.  They really kept themselves quiet about it.....a little hard to imagine. All year long we have talked about movies, and last week they were pressing me for favorite movies.  I told them a few and they ended up choosing "Princess Bride",  which was such fun to watch at the party.  They had brought in plenty of food and drinks.  We sat around in the multipurpose room for over 3 hours and talked and watched the movie. The 9th graders had to leave after an hour or so because it was their grade level party at their sponsors' house.  They told stories about interactions with me and wrote such nice notes. There were about 30 of them.  I cannot express how touched I was.  Tonight is the end of year staff appreciation dinner.  That will be nice too. It is, as usual, at a restaurant about an hour away which is owned by the parents of some of our stu...

Road to .....Rwanda

I am lying on the couch at 4 a.m. listening to the call to prayer during the season of Ramadan.  There is great need in our world today.  I just opened my  email, and......  Yes, we have just accepted a post to Virunga Valley Academy in Musanze, Rwanda.  It is the city closest to where the great gorillas live.  (That sounds interesting.)  A website telling about the school: https://virungavalleyacademy.org/ Although we casually talked to two other schools in the past month, this was the second chocie when we came to Papua, Indonesia in Jan. 2021, so it was an easy decision on our part.  We had even interviewed with them all ready.  It is a small school for Rwandan nationals with a few M.K.'s and other expats thrown in.  They have been building the school, adding a new grade every year.  I will have middle school language arts. Rick's class/classes are to be determined.  The high school is all online with a school in PA rig...