O Canada, here we come!!!

O Canada!

Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Canada, we're almost there.  Just a few more sleeps and we're on the plane.  There's a lot to do until then, with moving into a new house (new to us) just down the street, finishing up school, finalizing some paperwork and of course, going for the final travel touches...manicure/pedicure for Kim and whoever else in this family who wants to come along.

Tomorrow is a busy one.  We're moving some of our things out of our house tomorrow, school parties are planned all day long, I'm seriously booked for a salon visit (!), and tomorrow night Tris and I get to be part of a 'relationship' discussion panel held by the Senior School students.  I'm quite excited to be a part of this panel, and am impressed by the questions that have been asked (we get a preview of what they are...thank goodness).  I think it's good we have packed our days full, because I'm too excited to just sit around staring at my already packed suitcase.

On our Cdn agenda:  a good friend's wedding, a quick trip through the Rockies, a visit to family in Red Deer, in Calgary and on to stay with friends in Idaho, an open house at my parents so we don't miss seeing anyone on the island!!!, camping, and of course, just hanging on the porches at our parents houses, visiting with family and friends.  What am I most looking forward to?  Visiting, and showing my kids the Rockies.  I can't believe they're born and bred in BC and have yet to see them.

So, until we climb onto the plane that will land us safely in YVR (Tris is hoping we land the same time that the Canucks are passing through the airport...fingers, toes and all else crossed...), we will buzz around here, keeping busy, saying our sad goodbyes and looking forward to next week.

Thanks for reading.

Marriage

Marriage. It's a huge step. It also costs a lot. Not just the wedding itself, but the rest of it. I love my husband; he's my best friend in the whole wide world. There have been times when I'd like to kick him (seriously. I grew up with brothers...I did that kind of thing. Either that or stick him in the center of an inner tube and fling him down a hill...that is kind of fun though and it probably wouldn't let him know I was actually ticked off), where we don't really like each other that much, but we still love each other. In the beginning years we both admit that there were times where we'd wake up and look over at the other person, thinking "what have I done. I'm in this for life!" Mostly, however, I love being married. I love knowing someone's going to be there when I come home, knowing that if I can't eat all my burger I've got help, knowing I've got someone to make me take my vitamins when I can't be bothered, I like knowing that I'm beautiful to somebody, and I like knowing that I'm taken care of.

This is why I am sad. I'm sad because there are some really dumb guys out there. Sorry, male population, but there are! I've got some absolutely beautiful, intelligent, funny, adventuresome, non-threatening girlfriends who would love to find someone, settle down, have babies, make soup and berry pies (or eat out...whichever): someone to come home to. If I had my wish, I'd take the best of the best of the single men out there (and I'd find them!!), drill them for details, match them up with my girls and whah-lah! we'd have some good husbands for these lovely girls. I know I'm not supposed to play God and it's NOT my job, but the temptation is so big sometimes.

I just went to a bridal shower today. One of the new girls here was married 5 days before she moved to Indonesia, and two of her friends here threw her a post-wedding surprise shower, 2 months after her Big Day. I love going to showers, wedding or baby. There's always so much life involved, lots of hopes and dreams for the future, and usually some pretty funny stories if you pay

attention to what's being said around you. I especially love it when it's a surprise, and the bride actually falls for it, like Becky did today.

The shower was held at a new restaurant in town, Grasshopper Thai, where Emily the proprietor serves Thai food but will whip up a scrumptious English tea party for you as well. Today was a good day--an extra special day for Becky--spent with good friends.

Tris and I are working through the Love and Respect marriage series with a few young couples and a longer-term one, and we're getting a lot out of it. Each time we examine our own marriage, not only does it make me thankful for the man I've been blessed with, it makes me happy when I see others in my life blessed the same--difficulties, blemishes, even heartaches, and all. It also makes me wish the same for those I know want to be married, and that's been my prayer for these friends of mine for years. I'm happy to say that some of my prayers have been answered, and I know there are more to come:)

Thanks for reading.

Our First Indonesian Wedding (Sept 18, 2010)

Last weekend our family had the privilege of attending an Indonesian (Chinese) wedding. Other foreign guests said that it was quite a western wedding compared to some that they had been to before, but I've gotta tell you, we've never been to a wedding like it. The venue was a sports club called Pantai Mutiara (Pearl Beach) in North Jakarta, over an hour away from our home. Thankfully the weather was cooperative as it was held outdoors, under a beautiful three-starred night. Even the breeze blew in the right direction, and kept the smell of the surrounding waters away from the evening's festivities. If one looked at the water from the dock that we stood on (ohhh, the beams looked like the cedar beams used to make docks back home...) we could see the rubbish floating in the brown water, and it made me understand why one would host a wedding after dusk. It was the sound of the water lapping against the piles that made the water magical, definitely not the smell nor the sight.

As for the wedding itself, the actual ceremony had taken place earlier in the day, at 10 am. We were invited to both, but as is common, apparently, for such events, most guests only attend the reception. We arrived at 6:30 pm, and after our driver dropped our family off at the front doors, we walked down a beautiful pink & red satin-draped corridor through the hotel to the outdoor reception. A long red carpet led us down through the reception area where, after signing the guest book and leaving our monetary gift in a special box, we headed towards the cake, drinks and fruit plates. Lining the carpet on the outskirts of the dock were food vendor stalls, each labelled with their particular food for the taking. If you take a look at the photo above, you'll see pillars behind Kendri and Cyinthia, the happy couple and their parents, and the cake in between. That cake was HUGE! According to etiquette, none of the food or drinks were to be touched until after the wedding party arrived, which typically occurs about 30 minutes after the guests arrive.

It was fun to meet up with a few of our SPH community members, and a few old ones that have moved elsewhere, and to chat while we waited. Once the wedding party had arrived, the parents were introduced and the wedding couple strolled down the long red carpet, finally stopping under a flower and grape covered "love gazebo." It was here that Kendri, the husband, spoke some incredible words of love and admiration, in English, to his beautiful new bride (I told Matt to take notes for the future Kendri was so good!) that inspired older couples like Tris and I to gaze into each other's eyes for a split second and think of our own vows (ah, memories of new love) made to each other years ago.

Indonesians are quite into romance, and this was proven when, while the newlyweds fed grapes to each other, choreographed reams of tinsel hearts exploded over the couple and above the crowd. This happened a second time a few moments later after the couple finished feeding each other pieces of their wedding cake. What REALLY screamed romance, though, was when the couple leaned in for their official "wedding bliss kiss" and fireworks, yes...seriously...fireworks went off behind them. Our friend Becky was able to capture the incredible, out-of-a-movie scene on her Canon snap and shoot. You can't see the couple but you get the gist of the whole atmosphere. Very lovely.

There are very few opportunities to dress up in this culture, at least for our family, and so it was fun to put on our nicest clothes, wear heels (thankfully, they don't even sell nylons here) or dress shoes, and to sweat in clothes we don't usually have the fun of sweating in. Tris did that really well, even after he took off the dress jacket, but fortunately that was hidden by the shadows of the night:) When someone commented that Tris looks hot in this photo, little does she know how hot he REALLY is (and for the record, I agree, he does look pretty hot). Here's our family in regular form, and then posing properly for a nice family shot.

We really enjoyed our night and were glad to have been invited.

Thanks for reading.

Let's Discuss Good Stuff for a Bit

Happy Birthday to Dale for September 30!

Things we are looking forward to in the near future:
*Aunt Sam (Tris' aunt) is coming to Indo and arriving on Matt's 14th birthday (October 15th). We're getting excited!
*Tris and Sunny (Tris' parents) are coming for 5 weeks beginning December 11. We're not doing the countdown yet because it's too hard. I don't let myself begin anticipating someone's arrival until just weeks before, or else the wait is too long...BUT we are still getting excited to see them, too.
*I am going to be Auntie Kimmie for the 3rd time for Tyler and Tanya sometime around the beginning of December. That means Abby and Matt get another 'sepupu' and mom and dad one more 'cucu'. This is very, very hard for me to not be there or see the baby, or see Lucy and Elijah's response to the baby, or TJ with his newest, or Tan after she does one more great job of making an incredible baby, OR see my kids with the little one. Wow, hard to type that without tears. I miss family.

Speaking of new ones, these are the newest editions to our family:

This is a photo of Darren, my big brother, and his wife, Chrystal. They were married September 12 of this year. Congratulations, Darren and Chrystal. We are looking forward to meeting Chrystal and her 2 girls next summer. Welcome to the family!

Tris' cousin Jain was married to Peter on the same date as Darren and Chrystal. Although we wouldn't have been able to go to both weddings even if we lived in Canada (one on the island, one in Alberta), we are sorry to have missed either one. Congratulations to Jain and Peter!


Our Australian friends, Jonny and Mel, that I've written about over our time here, aren't blood family but we love and miss them since they've moved back to Adelaide, Australia. They've just had a baby girl, Zoey Sheree, and we're hoping one day to meet her.

On our end, as much as Abby wants to adopt, there are no babies in our home and no weddings yet. Matt's learning how to flirt but hey, that's all for now. Abby's not interested in boys, and in fact, they're "horrid," to quote Ab.
Junior school had an Athletics Day yesterday and Abby ran in 7 of the 8 events. She came home a very tired young lady yesterday, but had a good time. She placed first in a relay and 2nd in long jump. I ran a relay for parents at the end but I didn't place. I just ran.


Totally aside, but something exciting to me...I went to a gardening area along a main road in Jakarta, where you walk along the road, dicker and sweat in the hot sun until you have a car full of plants. I bought a hydrangea plant and it sits outside my kitchen, across from my rosemary plant (which one day will be a bush). In my front yard is a basket of petunias that I have to admit are getting a bit faded in the sun...they need a new location. The hydrangea plant at home would be about $25. I bought it for rp 30 000 ($3).

Thanks for reading.