Baby Plans And All Sorts of Life.

Hi friend!

Ultrasound at local doctor

As you know, we are expecting!  Baby seems to be doing good! Our doctor friend is out right now in Holland, so we have been going to a local doctor for all checks.  Each check has gone well!  Unfortunately, each time I go the doctor says this...."umm, mungkin perempuan, saya tidak tauh"
which translates "umm, maybe it's a girl, but I don't know"  =)  So we don't know the gender yet.  I've been given two different due dates.  November 24th, and December 1st.  So SOMEwhere in there we expect a baby!!!  =)

We have had a whirlwind of a time here! It has been busy friends!  We moved at the beginning of August.  The house we had been living in was owned by another organisation, and we needed to move.  We moved into a HeliVida house across town.  We are feeling quite at home here, and really love the new place!  Still a few boxes to unpack, but we are pretty much done.  =)
While moving I overdid it.  I started getting sharp pains in my tummy...which signalled to me to SLOW DOWN.   We went to the local doc for an ultrasound when these pains came, the doctor said everything looked okay.  So that is good! The pains left when I started taking it easier.

Other than moving we have had visitors, sickness, our puppy died, helping our friend with his health, saying goodbye to good friends who moved back to America, getting everything ready to leave for a few months, Gracie's FOURTH birthday!  It has been busy! But we are doing good!

Speaking of coming back to America!.... Let me fill you in on our plans!

My big four year old 

Getting ready for baby!

Our good friend mama Agnis came to give Grace some strawberries for her birthday! <3 td="">

The Indonesian government has a rule...no traveling via airplane after 32 weeks.  So, we are leaving soon!  Even a tiny bit sooner than that.  We leave in 3 days!  We will fly to Hawaii, which is where my dad (Amanda) lives!  We will stay with him for a visit!  We are SO very excited to see him and Susan! It's been too long!  From there we will travel to Washington state (end of September) where we will establish care with a doc, make a birth plan, get myself and the baby checked.  All things baby! In November we have been blessed with getting a house of own to stay in!  Which is great for having a new little one!  We also will have a car to drive that is roomy!  God answered those needs! And thank you to our family for helping us out with it all! We plan to return to Papua as a family of 4 at the end of January!

Can I just say I am SO excited to be in America for the fall season!  I am excited to consume everything pumpkin spice, eggnog, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, colourful leaves!  All of it! I am going to really enjoy this time!  Living in an eternal summer has it's perks too!  But this girl is excited for some changing seasons!!! =)  I am also extremely excited for pickles, and mexican food!  Oh yum!

The ladies here in Wamena know I love mexican food,  this last saturday they threw me a SURPRISE baby shower, and each lady brought a mexican dish.  I felt so loved!  Most of the ingredients in mexican food are hard to get, have to be brought from your home country, or expensive to buy here.  It was truly SO sweet of the ladies here.  I felt loved.I am so excited to come to America, but I am also going to miss my home.  It is a strange thing.  Yes, America is my "home" but it is not my home.  I am leaving my home.  It is an anomaly.  =)
I have been saying goodbye to all my local friends, I will miss them.  I am starting to say goodbye to my fellow expat friends.  I will miss them too. We have people to care for our dog, our cats, our chickens and our fish.  I will miss all of them too.  Even my comfy chair, and my bed... that is the strange part of this life... your heart is always in two places no matter where you are.  =)  BUT it isn't a bad thing....it is just learning to navigate life in this way.  How lucky are we to have people to love dearly across the world!

nbsp="" p="">When we are in the States we are hoping to speak at a couple churches, so we will keep you posted on that when the time comes.  We also plan to do a bit more support raising in the states, as we are adding a new little one, and a few monthly donations have had to stop.  But again, we will keep you posted on that!
Matt's flying:  He has been flying with the pilots who are here in Wamena and already checked out.  It has been a season of furlough (home country break) for many HeliVida families.  Our chief pilot has been gone, and he is the one who will need to check Matt out.  But in the meantime Matt has gotten some good experience in jungle flying with our pilot friends who are here, he has gone up on several flights.  When we get back to Papua in January he will begin the process with our chief pilot (and several other pilots who will have returned) to be able to be a solo pilot flying in the jungle.   It seems like a long time, but it is good, because these are some of the most dangerous flying conditions in the world.  So best be trained well! =)  Well, chances are we will be seeing you soon friend!  We will post our contact info once we get set up with phones in America!  We would love to see you!
Amanda, Matt, Grace and baby!

Goofy Grace says "SEE YOU SOON!"  

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