The Masts are in Kuching! (and we like it here) --QM

Moving Day--Those eight pieces of luggage are all 50 pounds each, and are the sum total of what we brought with us...plus our carry-on luggage, which somehow expanded during our flight over. I really felt like an American with my many bags to carry through in the airport! At least the children had lots of books and toys to keep them quiet--they traveled so well.

This picture was taken just before boarding our flight from Singapore to Kuching. After 38 hours in flight or in an airport Ethan and I were feeling like these two were looking. It was so good to get to the hotel!

This is the view from our hotel window. We are staying here for a week, until our temporary housing is available.

Here is part of the lawn of the house we will be staying at for two months. Our temporary housing is such an example of God's provision for us...it is furnished, and is larger (and more affordable) than anything we have lived in since getting married.

My first time driving in Kuching...its a little crazy driving on the left side of the road! This city is chock full of cars; there is no public transportation to speak of, which baffles me because cars are so expensive here.

My Dorie girl checking out our drinks at a street-side cafe. This is the city of a thousands beverages.

Dorie was having a hard time tonight with the food; she started to cry and asked to go to a different restaurant. Then the vendor brought our order of Satay to the table; once she bit into the skewered meat, Dorie couldn't stop grinning and talking about how much she loved the chicken.

Two tired kiddos say goodnight.

I'm feeling the jet-lag, so this post might be a little choppy and unpolished, but I would like to end with some prayer requests.
Praise: Traveling was a good experience.
Praise: Our teammates are such dear and special people, we are so excited to get to know them better and to be a part of this team.
Praise: The housing seems like a little miracle, praise him.

Pray: For a car...it is such a necessity in this city, but I'm feeling a bit of whiplash at the difference in quality and price. We will be looking for a car tomorrow, so this is a fairly urgent request.
Pray: For long-term housing, that we would be led to the right neighborhood.
Thank you and goodnight (as I fairly drop from my chair)!

Saying Goodbye in New York--QM

James love puzzles but he loves his Omi even more!

Dorie and her Uncle Samuel--and her Uncle Sam's shades

Trampoline fun! L to R: Omi (Esther), James, Rhoda, Phoebe

Fishing at the family pond

Dorie caught a little trout!

Occupy my Calendar -- QM

Occupy our Calendars
Our times are in your hands:
But we count our times for us;
we count our days and fill them with us;
we count our weeks and fill them with our busyness;
we count our years and we fill them with our fears.
And then caught up short with your claim,
Our times are in your hands!
Take our times, times of love and times of weariness,
Take them all, bless them, break them,
give them to us again,
slow paced and eager,
fixed in our readiness for neighbor.
Occupy our calendars,
Flood us with itsy-bitsy, daily kairoi,
In the name of your fleshed kairos. Amen.
Walter Bruggemann
From his book  Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

Last week we decided to write our to-do list on post-it notes and put them on our wall. We pull them off as they get done...and our children needed to get in on the action!

I feel the need to be both productive and restful during this busy last month before we move to Malaysia, and to model for my children Walter Bruggemann's prayer and the word kairoi--allowing my time to be the place and space where God can act.

Our Fair City -- E.

Malaysian Borneo, state of Sarawak, city of Kuching.  This is where our family will be flying in, oh, seven weeks or so.

It's a good-sized city, with a population close to that of Boston.  I don't know if that bit of information helps you -- for me it's limited, because I've never been to Boston.

Kuching also gets about four times as much rain as Boston.  Less snow, though.

Through the eyes of a child...

For Dorie's third birthday her Grandma Polly gave her a kid's camera, and I finally emptied the pictures onto our computer! I want to give you a few glimpses of life through her eyes and mine:

Here's Ethan and James playing a game on the camera after a picnic supper.

Trampoline Series #1

Trampoline Series #2

Trampoline Series #3

Trampoline Series #4

Mom with the Camera

Dorie with the Camera

Mom's point of view

Dorie's point of view

Dorie's dad's point of view
 (For our regular readers who might be curious about how the haircut looks)
(Ethan gave me those freshwater pearls for my birthday!)