10 weeks and counting

Our first suitcase is packed. We may squeeze a few more things in, but it's pretty full. Friends of ours will take it to Singapore for our later pick-up. Needless to say, there's nothing urgent in that luggage. Art supplies, books, a few clothes, and toiletries.

The scary chickens

Honestly, seeing the ticket form in our inbox stamped "JULY 1, W and I felt a bit shell-shocked. It's real. We're going. And we're excited about it.

We're raising support until we leave - so that means a few more trips out of town. We've had such fun speaking and getting to know people. Our supporters have been enthusiastic and generous, so it's only taken 8 months for enough funds to get clearance for ticket purchase. We need a few more monthly pledges, but trust those are underway.

We're browsing books, newspapers, and movies in Bahasa Indonesia (language), trying to make sense of sounds and grammar. We plan to attend language school in Bandung this fall.

Visas and vaccines are underway. We seem to be doing everything for the last time (Easter this Sunday with family, for instance) - and so grateful for these memories-in-the-making.

We chuckled yesterday at the Asian market, seeing chicken being sold with feet on. It looked like a fowl protest, claws extended. There's a new normal coming our way - and we suspect chicken feet may be the least of our surprises.