Jakarta and Medical Update

We have arrived at the guest house in Jakarta and have been getting settled in for the last few days and learning where everything is. The house is nestled downtown in the middle of several high rises, so it definitely has a busy city feel. We take cabs everywhere, which is an incredibly easy method of transportation here. For the first week and a half we lived in the guest house and all stayed in one room together. It definitely had it's challenges but we also enjoyed getting to know the different people coming through with different backgrounds and stories. Today we moved into the apartment behind the guest house and have taken over the responsibilities of managing the guest house.

Front View of the Guest House

Front View of the Apartment

I have already been to see the doctor several times and it has been very encouraging and hopeful. The doctor is from LA and has been practicing in Indonesia for over 20 years. After he explained my x-rays and MRI, I learned that I have three different problems with my back that need to be addressed. First, my sacroiliac joint is unstable and has been one of the biggest reasons I continue to have pain. I will need to continue building my core muscles and getting chiropractic adjustments. I also have scoliosis, which I knew about but I didn't know that anything could be done about it. The doctor has started me on a scoliosis treatment in which I lie on a special table that moves my back into the correct angle. This will continue until we leave and at the end of our time here (tentatively end of July), I will get another x-ray to evaluate the degree of improvement. Lastly, I have several bulging discs and some degeneration in the discs as well. I have starting decompression therapy in order to take pressure off of the discs and hopefully put things back into place. I also have started exercising at the hotel next door. We definitely could use prayer that this is a time of healing for me, and also prayer for Matt as he watches the kids for my appointments and exercise routine. Being downtown makes it a little difficult to think of things to do with the kids and this is a pretty expensive area, so already the kids have been going a little stir crazy.

Here are a few things that I have noticed about Jakarta:

1. The mosquitoes are much worse here
2. The ant situation is not as bad.....maybe it's just where we live but we haven't seen nearly the amount of ants crawling all over our house and counters like we did in Salatiga.
3. Traffic is horrific!
4. You can find just about anything and there are some VERY fancy malls....and great restaurants!

On another subject, this week our car sold! We praise God for bringing along a buyer. Thanks to each of you who have supported us through encouragement, prayer, finances, and countless other ways as well. We have definitely felt God's grace through so many of you.

 View of backyard. You can see that there is a building about 1 foot...at the most...next to the fence.

Callie loves this rocking chair