A new mountain, a new home

View from our second floor balcony.

Philip did a heroic job of walking/motorcycling the streets looking for 'to rent' signs while I tried to keep the kids entertained back at the guesthouse. Our new house is a short walk to language school in one direction and Soren's kinder in the other. Fantastic.

The boys enjoy the small yard, and lots of space to play inside.

The house came with basic furniture but it was still quite a task getting it set up. A wonderful new friend lent us his motorcycle for a week, and took us in his car to a big electronics store.
The house was full of dirt and dead critters when we moved in. Taps, toilets, powerpoints and the water pump were broken or missing. Figuring out what on earth was going on with the workmen became a cross-cultural comedy of errors, but after 10 days of no reliable running water, I was running out of laughs!

Now it is clean and functioning, we love our new home.

A day at the beach

We drive about an hour from Sentani in convoy with a few other families to where a boat picks us up and takes us the 20 minutes to this beautiful beach. On a clear day the water is a pristine blue and the view of the mountains surrounding the bay is stunning.

The boys head straight for the water.

There is plenty of opportunity for snorkeling, exploring and collecting sea creatures.

Random house shots

The view from our street.
Psalm 121:
A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you--the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore.



The study.



Soren's room.



Making friends in the front yard.

Side porch.

The river which is right next to our house. Fantastic!

Soren playing with Uriah, his new buddy, in the guest room. In Indonesian houses (our house is quite Indonesian in style), this is the room at the front of the house where guests are received and entertained.



The view of the neighbourhood from the front porch.



We have two bathrooms, both with a bak, which is a kind of tub that you splash yourself from. Very refreshing!



The laundry is in the garage.



View of our house from the road.