From sweet to savory

Today, I have Thursday morning tea with 11 women. The guests originate in Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, USA, and the Netherlands. It's quite typical in an expat get-together to ask, "Where are you from," but it takes a while to answer.

"Do you mean recently, or where was I born? Or where did I grow up?" we respond. It's hard to give a definitive place, since most have lived many places in the last 10 or 20 years, perhaps far from where we started. This time, tea is not at our house, which also makes it feel like a holiday for me.

W's been teaching all week. He comes home exhilarated and tired. He loves the classroom, whether it's large or small. He leaves in the early morning and comes home around suppertime, and it's like someone has plugged him into an electric outlet. He's fully charged.

Monday
We have a good study today on the porch. We're down to two kinds of cookies - there's not much left in the freezer, though we baked a few times last week. We'll carry on all this week to refill the freezer. The little things matter in ordering a foreign household.

The team goes to Maxi's, a nearby hot spot for events. We haven't been there for ages, but we eat a good lunch and work through our agenda.

Wednesday
Over brunch, some of our team evaluate where we've been this past year and what we've accomplished. Reviews are never easy, but they can be fun and give good information. I have some things to work on, as do they.

W and I have a date night - I go along to pick him up from school, and then it's time to head home.

A New Zealander from the walking group is leaving town, wrapping up work to return to their country or thereabouts. There's no fixed destination yet. She has a good bed and sofa to sell, which she and her husband deliver in the evening. Both fit the house well and will be useful.

Thursday
We start baking at 8. The rooms get revamped today, with furniture moved and floors washed. (Oh my, what a lot of lizard poop under the beds and night tables! Its an ongoing battle.)

Pho on date night: just ok

Expat tea is at 10. What a treat to be in a beautiful home at the Australian Compound (our name for a neighborhood of military families). I finally meet Kim face-to-face. We were introduced via Facebook by a mutual friend in Korea who used to live in Bandung (and now lives in the USA).

Life gets complicated when you or your husband are roving internationals. The military or a company moves its employees around the world, so these women have lived in Vietnam, Europe, Mexico, Australia, and elsewhere, besides their own countries.

Several of us are friends from the Thursday walking group. Before Christmas, the walks switched to Friday. Today we acknowledge that almost no one is able to come Friday; we plan to start back on Thursday next week. What a relief. We've all missed the walks. Fridays are our preparation day for weekends when Jakarta descends on us. We do all our shopping and meetings before Friday afternoon, avoiding all but necessary travels.

One of the other women and I are going to lunch. Oh! I discover a second menu item I like at the restaurant on the next hill. We need a heart-to-heart chat and the comfort of spiritual companions. After dropping her off at her place, I head home for an afternoon of reading.

In the middle of the week, sitting at the next table, we run into some Jakarta friends of friends. It doesn't take long to make connections since there are so few foreigners in Bandung. We all know someone from elsewhere - though Indonesians recognize us before we recognize them. We take a quick selfie for our Jakarta friends with the instructions to: "say hi from his former boss." Done, with smiles all around

The Thursday evening study is a review of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). We agree that they align us with the nature of God for our own protection and well-being.

Imagine a world where every child respected their parents, every spouse was faithful, and no one took anyone's things. What would life be like if there was no coveting, no lying, or no disrespect for authority? If you could trust everyone?

God aligns us to himself for our own good. Jesus said that only two laws sum up all the others: "Love God; love others as you love yourself."

Read more:*You are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea. Psalm 64:5 (NASB)

*What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to

sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:1-4  NIVu 

*Jesus Christ came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Ephesians 2:17 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Precious Jesus, you call us to be peacemakers in our homes, in our communities, and in our world. Help us to speak kindness into discord, comfort into mourning, and hope into hopelessness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.