Bound for Balikpapan!

Yes, indeed! Jim and I will be living in Indonesia by early June! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ...!

We are thanking God almost non-stop as we adjust to this superb reality.

It's time to get out the maps, again, dear friends/family! Balikpapan is on the southern side of the isle of Borneo. Brunei is on the northern end of Borneo, along with a part of Malaysia. I was speaking with a dear Indonesian woman just yesterday about it and she said that if we like the out- of-doors (duh!!!), Balikpapan is the best place for us!! We weren't too keen about Jakarta, except as a great place to visit/shop, because the traffic is much like Lagos (minus the ceaseless honking of horns and shouting!) and there's quite a bit of pollution -- as expected in a city of 10 million. So, we are thrilled to be heading to Indonesia and Balikpapan is an extra bonus!

One reason the location is great is the proximity to Jeri and Boy in Thailand and to Brad, Karissa, and Joey in Sydney!!!!!! We've been checking out airfares and it's looking promising. Another reason we think the location is great is that we might be able to get some of you to visit ... something that would never happen if we remainded here!

Once settled in, we plan to head to the U.S. -- in early August -- so that Jim can catch some silvers (that's fabulous salmon, for you non-Alaskans!) in Alaska and so that we can sell off a bunch of our stuff in storage in Denver (a truck, lots of furniture, tools, stuff, stuff, stuff, ...) and ship a 20 ft. container to Balikpapan. Tena has graciously agreed to help with the sale of our stuff by hosting a huge-o garage sale. (Thanks, Dear Tena!! I'll get more specific dates to you soon!)

So, once again, I must say how very blessed we are feeling at this moment. God is good!

I'm sure I'll be blogging about Nigeria as the month progresses. I already shed some tears as we traveled via boat from another company's beach hut back to Lagos on what was our last visit to that part of the country. (It's always been a treat to go out there for a day because we don't need armed police with us!!!) Nigeria will always have a place in my heart and it's not a place we plan to see again, so ... it'll be tough in many ways! ... but something I look forward to having to deal with!!!!!!!! ;-)