As a mom and wife, I found myself struggling a bit with my place here when we first moved. As uncomfortable as it was to have an Indonesian helper in my home then - it is such a godsend now. The number one reason is laundry! To help you understand what I mean:
- stop reading now
- walk over to your dryer and give it a big hug. Don't be shy, hug it for at least 30 seconds.
There you go - feel the love.
Here is my dryer -
Don't be jealous. No big deal, right? Just a little sacrifice of luxury. True. If not for my Indonesian helper who is here in the morning to do as pictured above, I am left with this:
Ok - not that extreme - although these are actual photos of laundry drying in Indonesia - we don't have near as much. BUT - praise God for my helper who will get it all in before I return home from school and before the rain comes each afternoon.

Speaking of rain.... most of the year we experience what is referred to as rainy season. Each day about 3pm it begins and continues through the night. It makes for interesting living. You have to learn how to work around it. Without helpers, clothes never get dry and start to mildew.
And believe me - you DO NOT want to be the smelly, mildewy person at the table!
As well, travel is harder. We live in a country that laughs at the American idea of traffic. What I would have referred to as traffic 5 years ago I now consider a good traffic flow. Oh how I long to weave back in forth in my large lane that others do not invade....


Traffic here is such an issue it has created a job force...
You will see so many men and women who have started their own store in a cardboard box that they carry with them. Have you been sitting for an hour in traffic? Thirsty? No worries - you can buy bottled water for about $.50.
Are even better - are you a smoker (heaven forbid :/) - run out of smokes? No worries, they will sell you a SINGLE cigarette from their cardboard box store for about the same.

But with the traffic also opens the door for those who beg. Whether they are trying to make it day by day, handicapped, or children - who are most often being used and exploited and many times even forced to beg. They are there - always. This was a hard thing for us to grapple with when we first came - what is our responsibility?
This cutie's sales pitch is most effective - how can you say no?



But oh the beauty of this country. Laundry, traffic, flooding aside - we are in a place that is an obvious fingerprint of God. There are sacrifices - but the view is out of this world.... so are the beautiful people...
So I have had to let go of so many of the assumptions I had - what is being a mom? What does it mean to have convenience?
Focusing on relationships. focusing on the work God is doing in this beautiful place.
Hope you enjoy a little bit of my Indonesian home. :)