Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! And Happy Birthday to Lucy who turned 5 yesterday!!!

















I realize that the meals and family times are over, but we still always have opportunity to give thanks and this is mine. I just want to list a few things that I am thankful for. I believe that blogs are personal reflections of who we are, and so if this gets corny, it's because it's who I am....

Some of the things that i am thankful for are:

*salvation and that I have a God who is powerful and gracious and forgives

*my health, the health of Tris and my kids. Actually, we have a pretty healthy extended family, too!

*the support and love of family and friends who, although you love and miss us, let us know that what we are doing here is good and that we have made a good life choice.

*letters and parcels!!

*Tris and his positive outlook on life no matter what's going on. He's my balance!

*Matt and his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He's an intellectual sponge with a great sense of humour...

*Abby and her desire for excellence...look out world...

*bright blue sky and a cool breeze now and then....also

*overcast sky which means it's not QUITE so hot

*new friends that have helped our transition so much more pleasant. It's not easy but it's more fun when others are in the same position as us and can relate to the weird stuff (like the rat in our bathroom...more to follow)

*rat traps

*opportunity to see, do, and live life differently

*my mom and dad who are my "marriage heroes." They have lived a life that says commitment, love and a strong faith in Jesus are the answer to turning a difficult marriage into one that is life-giving and "until death do us part."

*Tris and Sunny who have told me since day one that I am the one that they prayed for for their son.

*excellent examples of generosity by our parents of their wisdom, love, support and their finances.

*girlfriends who cry about my absence. Who would have thought?? I'm thankful for the ones who don't cry, too!

*the house we've been given to live in. What I was expecting and what we actually received are two way different things. It's clean, bright, intact and has room for greenery outside.

*my brothers

*simple things like the lavender sprouts that keep on growing (slowwwwly) in my pot outside; the smile of the guy who sweeps the road outside our house; Edwin McCain on my stereo.

*surrogate family members

*the incredible redheads in my life:)

I think I could fill a whole page with things I am thankful for....and the list goes on as life goes on.

This is a photo of a grade 7 teacher named Becky Bertram and Tris and I. We originally thought that Becky would be teaching Matthew but that changed with the school year. See the Canadian flag? Pretty creative, eh? And to think that it was unplanned!

The woman with dark brown hair is Christine and she's helping Melissa, who organized a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. She found turkeys at the local supermarket and everything! Check out all of the food...and the table on the green tablecloth in the background had all the desserts on it. The amount of food was incredible.
We weren't able to find real pumpkins but a really dark orange squash worked for pie. Tasted pretty much the same. For those of you who tasted the last pumpkin pies i made...this time I actually included sugar!

This is what Indo kids do on Thanksgiving...go swimming! We were commenting on how for the majority of us it was the first time that we'd ever worn shorts during a Thanksgiving meal. While some of the kids were swimming the people inside took a 'family photo.' Pretty happy looking bunch, aren't we? Full of turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, that's why. I was thinking that it would be funny if someone was looking over this photo and recognized someone here from school or something. Weirder things have happened.

If you look closely you'll see that Tris and I are some of the 'older' people in the crowd.

I think this photo is of Matthew contemplating his turning 13 tomorrow. Looks pretty calm about it, I'd say! We're trying to think of something fun to do this weekend. Probably we'll go ice skating, which is not a common event here. We'll just pile a bunch of kids into 2 taxis and head over to the mall that has an arena in it.

Now for a few updates:

There tends to be a bit of a 'stink' that comes with living in Indonesia. It's an overall sewage smell that once in a while wafts up to your nose when you least expect it. Unfortunately it creeps into our house now and then, so I have tried to tackle it to the best of my ability. I have nice smelly soaps in the bathrooms, and have stuffed the floor drains with plastic bags. The other day I went into the 'powder room' and what do you know, the drain lid was off and the plastic bag had popped out. Nothing came of it and so we shoved the bag back in. It so happens that the rat guy came last week and has yet to come by to pick up his (hopefully full) traps from the ceiling space. Maybe he put the traps in the wrong place, because on Sunday Matthew was in the lou and said "hey mom, come listen to this.' Of course I heard nothing until the second time he called "hey mom, there's definately something in the drain!" What we heard was the sound of scratching and sniffing and the wrinkle of plastic. Under the plastic bag I'd stuffed into the drain was some rodent-creature trying to make his way out. Tris banged on the drain lid and the sound went away. However, the saga continues! I wonder if the fluffy, shiny and plump rat that I saw running across our taman's entry road was the same on that likes to visit us? I am pretty sure when he was running in front of me that he looked at me and smirked.


It's Matt's birthday tomorrow. If any of you are on Facebook and have a moment, please send him a birthday greeting. I think that it would make his day extra special to know that his friends/family are thinking about him.


Last night I was at the orphanage and was looking through a North American flower book with one of the teens. As I pointed out my favourite flowers we'd discuss them and if they had an Indo name she'd tell it to me. I laughed when she told me that marigolds are (direct translation) called "poop of chickens." That made me think of Sunny and her love of marigolds and how she collected seeds for hours in Courtenay one day. One day I hope that those seeds of "chicken poop" flowers grow abundantly in your garden, Sunny. Marigolds are happy and sunny and they're beautiful in any garden. Not so sure about the origin of that name, but I still love the flower!

I think that that's all I've got for you today. It's a long one!

Thanks for reading.