HomeLife

So the time is coming soon when I will be boarding a plane on my way to Bali, Indonesia. These last number of months have flown by, I've gone from saying 'I'm leaving in 5 months' to 'I'm leaving in 5 days' in what seems like a blink of an eye, with some term papers and final exams thrown in.

Since school ended in April I moved back home to Innisfail and worked painting houses with 'Shirley's Painting Services', here I learned the value of baby wipes; it is amazing how much paint they can clean off of surfaces where there should not be paint! Other than painting, I started to learn some Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian language), visited with lots of friends and family which was a great blessing, worked on a number of papers, and caught some of my little brother Josh's lacrosse games! It was a pretty good two months even though I have been anxious to be on my way to Bali.

(Above: Josh #19 in a lacrosse game
Below: One of my mom's flower beds)

I also read a number of books! Here are some thoughts...
-Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: So good, I got lost in it and it was like an addiction. Lots of descriptive violence in it though. Memorable characters!
-World Without End by Ken Follett: Kind of a sequel to Pillars, and there are actually a lot of similarities between the characters and plots of the two books. This at time could be annoying but it was also neat how it all worked in together. The violence was noticeably toned down in this one.
-A Short History of Indonesia: The Unlikely Nation: I had to read this for onSite history and culture, but I actually didn't mind it that much. It was alot of information to take in in such a short book, but it was great for getting a brief overview of the turbulent history of Indonesia. Of course the fact that I'm going there made it more interesting.
-East of Eden by John Steinback: This is a classic novel. I really enjoyed it. I loved the way Steinback wrote, and his insights into human nature have altered the way I look at people and the good and the evil within people. I've noticed that I compare people I know to the characters in his book!
-The Early Church Part 1 by Henry Chadwick: My nerdy pleasure, I'm still going through this one. Its about the development of the church from the apostolic age to the great schism. I like it! I probably won't finish it before I leave for Bali, so I'll be reading it on the plane... which is alright with me.

Anyways, back to onSite! Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me in their thoughts, financially and with encouraging words. I think I am very close to reaching my goal of raising $10,000 for this trip, which is incredible. The generosity of people has repeatedly blown me away, honestly. I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support and encouragement I have been receiving and I am so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.

(Above: Josh and our dog Max before they both got their hair-cuts
Below: The field behind our backyard)