The Day I Thought Would Never Come...

....our last day of Language School. After months of laughter, tears, joy and frustration, all of them amid feelings of both failure and accomplishment we have completed all 9 Units. I have to be honest here, if you have followed me on this journey through my blog or Facebook, you know it has been a hard long road. I can think of little else in my life that I have hated as much as writing those essays for my class, not to mention giving presentations! However, I always loved the topics and information we gathered to write them. So today, the day I couldn't wait to get here, was good.........but sad in a bittersweet kind of way (huh, that was unexpected!). We have come to love our Pelatihs. Those guys and girls have a great sense of humor, an astounding amount of patience, a gift for teaching their language and a love for the CEO! After seeing them daily for about a year, they kind of become like family. They will be dearly missed.

At school your schedule can change month to month, so you never know who you will see at class or who has been moved to another time. Most of these students (American, Swiss, Dutch, Korean, Malaysian, Australian) are in the very early levels, and although we didn't know them as well, they all gathered around us today since we are leaving, and spoke to the CEO on our behalf, it was a very sweet time.

The graduating class of April 2010. This sweet family, J and C are from Korea. Barry and I were in Units 7 and 8 by ourselves, but we were joined with them for Unit 9, they will stay on this island to work.

Our "Karya Tulis", or term papers!! We turned them in on Monday so they could be read before our evaluation on Wednesday morning (Tuesday night at 10:30pm, US) They looked pretty snazzy due to our cool new laptop! :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have walked this journey with us and supported us by your petitions to the CEO, we could not have done it without you!! Now on to getting items for our home!!!! :) I will blog more, now that I have some extra time...we have lots of catching up to do!!

Not your Momma's Mathis Brothers Furniture

The work room at one of the furniture makers store. Wow, not what I was expecting!


As you may know, we are currently starting the process of buying furniture and appliances for our home in "Folgers". I don't have time to go into the whole process now, but let me just say that it is quite involved. There are very few(read affordable) places around that have pre-made furniture. Usually you go to a furniture maker with a picture and measurements and they build it from scratch for you. Sounds like a dream doesn't it? Getting to pick out the wood, teak or mahogany, the size, length, height, etc. sounds wonderful....until you go to the place and they want every single measurement like how long should the arms be on the chair (really?), the measurement from the back to the front of the chair seat, etc. Then you sit for three hours while they figure out the price only for you to realize it is all more than you can afford. Frustrating!! We did get some other bids that were in our range but yikes, how do you really know what you will end up with? It was a little overwhelming the first day but I have been able to take a step back and make a better affordable plan for our family and am at peace with whatever happens.

Anyway, it has been an experience to say the least. Not sure what we will end up with but I am learning some things like a) make sure you tell them to make the drawers go all the way back or they will make them short to save wood, b) clarify the size, if you are getting a vanity but want the drawers on either side wider, make sure to tell them to widen the seating area or they will make the drawers wider but you won"t be able to fit into the area where you are suppose to be sitting, same for a desk. Ya' know, those are kind of important details.

I wasn't sure what to think when I asked one furniture maker if he dried his wood long enough so that it wouldn't split, he assured me that all I would have to do is get wood filler and put it into the crack...thanks, really, but not the answer I was looking for there buddy! :)

I hope to write more later but we are crazy busy in this last week of school, speaking in chapel, giving a presentation, writing our term paper, and finishing reading a novel for class! After that, our final evaluation and we are done!! Please lift us up during this time that we would finish well! Homesickness has been strong here lately for several of us, not sure if it is because of the impending move or what but emotions are running a little high around here please ask for peace and comfort during these times! Thank you for being a lifeline to us!! We love you guys!

Happy Easter

May you and your families know the love of the CEO!