Abigail Turns 15!

Almost a month ago, my baby girl turned 15 years old.  As we were taking a holiday from all things intellectual (work and school), I decided not to blog.  However, now is a good time to celebrate Abigail.

One of the disadvantages of living away from your home country is that usually all your old photos are back where you came from, and that is the case with us.  However, I have managed to collect a few favourites and this is definitely one of them.  Abby was a DOLLY when she was a little girl, and every year we are quite convinced that she gets more beautiful, both inside and out.

Tris and I are pretty proud of her and how hard she works.  I would like to post a photo of her awards and trophies but #1, she's hidden them away in her closet and #2, she'd probably chase me down.  I will say, however, that I believe that the hard work ethic that she maintains at 15 will help her to succeed in future years, and she follows God's leading and puts her mind to what He directs her to.

Although Abby works hard, she also knows how to play.  I'm tempted to post a few of her goofier moments but usually her bbf Zoe is usually in most of those photos and I'm afraid I may be blacklisted if I do.  A few summers ago my mom came up with an old pair of very large, very '80s, glasses, which Abby and Matt have adopted.  They loved them so much they bought a 2nd pair at the Thrift Store.  This past month, Abby and Zoe wore them to the local mall (lense-less), and as I watched them enter the mall, I saw more than a few double-looks.  Made me laugh!

It's good to have Abby around, because when she's ready to relax, she often forces us to as well.  One of my favourite memories is of a picnic (sushi and rice paper spring rolls) we had outside one Sunday afternoon, under our pink Frangipani tree.  It was during Ramadhan, so we weren't really supposed to eat in public, so we made sure we were hidden from inquiring minds.

One of the greatest blessings in my life is my children, and I love that they like each other.  They usually enjoy each other's company, and I hope and pray that this lasts into a lifetime relationship of communication, loyalty and commitment.

I've mentioned it before, and I will say it again, that having a blog is a great way to tell others how wonderful I think my children are.  So, happy birthday my Abby-girl!  You are a blessing to me and your Dad, and we can't think of anything more wonderful than to have you as our daughter.

Company's Coming!

They're almost on their way!  Tris' parents are heading here for their 2nd visit (first was Dec 2009) for almost 5 weeks and we're really excited.  This time will be a little different as last time it was over Christmas break and this time it's over April break (no Spring Break here...Spring doesn't exist!), so we don't have as much visit time.  However, we plan on making the best use of our time and hopefully they'll have a lot of opportunity to just relax.  One of my mom in law's favourite Indonesian things:  having her dirty clothes picked up in the morning and delivered the next day, washed, dried, ironed and folded!

March is flying by so fast it's making my head spin.  My days are full of books, reading, writing and lots of editing of papers and assignments.  I'm learning a lot in my first class, and am looking forward to learning in the second one that I just started last Monday.  It's a research/statistics class, and that kind of scares me.  It's kind of fun working alongside my kids, as they work on essays and projects, and meet school deadlines.



We still have fun around here, it's just more intentional.  Our school held it's annual Soccer Carnival a few weeks ago, and Tris and the kids were really into preparing for it.  Our house team (Merapi...named after the volcano) was going with a military theme, and so our family went along with another Merapi family, the Comries, to some shops far, far away in Jakarta to buy military garb.  Once all was said and done, they looked great.  Abby, our friend Sophie, and a few other girls did a cheerleading dance to get our team going (all-school assembly just before the carnival started).

I thought matt was going for 'sasquatch' but apparently this is military camouflage.

Report cards came out and the kids did really well.  It's neat to see what areas they're really developing into, and what gifts God has given them.  Abby loves to write, and it shows.  Matt loves art, especially photography, and it shows.  Below is a photo that he took for a lighting lesson in digital art.  He was supposed to use lighting to show emotion.  Here, it's hopelessness.  

Thankfully, this is just a staged photo.

We're off to Bali in April, something that we haven't done since Tris and Sunny were last here, and so we're really, really excited.  

thanks for reading.

Abby's 14

Yes, I know.  It's January already.  Our family was too busy relaxing and holidaying for me to blog, and so this is Abby's Official Birthday Blog Post.  My birthday baby was due December 25, but thankfully was born Dec 18.  The 15th would have been nice since that's the date of all the other big events in our home, but Abby likes to do things a little independently and that was her way of introducing that part of her personality to us.  We've come to the conclusion that 18 is a nice number too.

For her birthday, our lovely girl had a few friends over, they ate pizza, and they 'slept'. The next morning they were served a white-linened breakfast of french toast on fine china.  It was the first official day of Christmas break, and so the girls were able to bring in the holiday with fun and style.  

Included in this post are a few photos of Abby, since pictures say so much more than words.  On Christmas Eve we had an open house, just like the ones we used to have in cold Canada.  There are a few families here with kids our kids' ages, and they happen to be great friends as well.  I love that they're all so goofy.  It's fun having them around.

On Christmas Day we took a bike ride into the rice fields, and Matthew shot this one of his sister.  

After Christmas ran its course, we had 2 weeks left of finding wonderful things to do.  Most of our friends went on some kind of holiday and so the kids were left with the next best option:  their parents.  My favourite day was when we visited the largest mosque in Indonesia, and then headed across the street to the Catholic Cathedral (where, on a Tuesday, a wedding happened to be taking place).

This final photo wasn't taken during the holidays, but I love the way it has captured Abby's thoughts.  If I tell you that she's watching a cow being slaughtered during Idul Adha (Muslim holiday), does that make knowing her thoughts any easier?

Mock U.N.: Palestine & Page

 This morning I woke up late and when I walked out of my room there was this stranger in my home, packing up Matt's school bag and looking as if he was going to work in a Jakarta office building.  After taking a closer look I realized it was my son, dressed in his brand new pin-striped suit.  First suit ever!
Of course I had to drag him into the yard to take a photo, on the  pretext that his grandmother would never forgive me if I didn't update her on this most important occasion.  Wouldn't you know it, she called about an hour later and when I told her about the new suit, she asked "you took a picture, right?"  As an aside, to the left of Matthew are some pineapple plants that I just discovered...I knew the plants were there, but it wasn't until the rains came that I discovered the plants were fruit-bearing.
Anyways, back to the suit.  Matt and Tris went out last Monday night and purchased it for today's Mock United Nations.  A few weeks ago, for his Speak Up club, he was assigned the role of representative of Palestine.  Since then he's had to research and develop an argument on his position regarding Genetically Modified Foods as well as on the abuse of domestic workers working abroad (or something like that.  There's a specific term for that but it's too late and I can't think of it).

It was really interesting to go and listen to kids from a variety of schools imitate the United Nations.  They had to answer attendance when their country was called..."present and voting...", they had to address the chair only, speak in 3rd person, and never answer a question with a question.  Thats what I remember.  There was o so  much more going on, and it was interesting to see the kids working within the rules and structure, having to use their research to back up their arguments, and to think on their feet whenever confronted with a question they hadn't considered beforehand.

Abby also participated in the event as a page.  She and a few other grade 8s would silent walk around the room collecting notes from various countries, to pass to either another country or to the chair.  Notes had to be UN related only.  When it was time to vote on a resolution, the pages would have to watch the doors so that no one entered or exited.  It was neat to watch.

Matt and his buddy Eric were in it together (Eric represented Chile...in his new suit jacket).  In this photo Matt's really impressed that his mom is taking photos of him....it's my job and my prerogative.

In this final photo Matt is standing at the podium as Palestine, defending his right to vote.  I think it's probably the first time he's spoken publicly, aside from class speeches, and I think he did well.  He looked good doing it, regardless!

Today, Mock U.N, tonight a sleep over at the school for student council.  Tomorrow Tris and the kids are off to their monthly visit to an orphanage just outside of Lippo.  I think tomorrow afternoon will be one LONG nap....


Thanks for reading.

Alberta Bound

Candace and Nathan cutting their Mario cake

It's been two weeks since we arrived in Canada, and we've done a good job of vacationing.  The weather hasn't been too bad, not nearly as cold as last year but still not super sunny either.  I usually walk around with a light jacket on each day, so that's a bit of a treat after spending the last year trying to wear as little as possible while still being acceptable in public.  So far on our trip we've seen both sets of parents and we've been able to get a few dinners/coffee dates with a few friends.

lovely Dale

The highlight of our quick, 4 day return to Vancouver Island, other than reuniting with family and watching the Canucks lose to Boston, was watching a good friend Candace get married to a guy who seems just perfect for her.  They're quite two peas in a pod, and it's a delight to see her happily skipping off into the sunset with the man she loves, and didn't even know existed this time last year.  Sadly, although I was able to visit with my dear friend Dale (Candace's Aunty Dale) at the wedding, our paths won't cross again this trip home and that makes me sad.  On a happy note, I was able to meet and quiz my friend Rebes' new husband Wayne, giving him the friend-5th-degree, which he passed with flying colours.  Again, sadly, I will not see Rebes again for a long time as she's moved from the Island as well.  Thankfully, all three of the above mentioned women have spent some time in Indonesia and we have some wonderful memories and photos for me to look at whenever I miss them.

Last year I had fun camping with some girlfriends for my 40th, but with time and circumstance being the way that they are, we settled this year for a girlie, reminiscent-of-7th grade, sleeping-on-foamies-on-the-cement-floor-of-the-basement sleepover.  Times have changed since the 7th grade, and after a delicious steak dinner, a cooler or two, and some intense catch-up chatting, we were all fast asleep before midnight.  My goal is to one day all meet in Bali and we can chat non-stop for a week!

the cousins after a long walk

hanging in the hot tub

The last week has been spent in Cloverdale, visiting my husband's family and mostly just hanging out.  This year our intent is to just be with others, rather than always going, and overall we've done that quite nicely.  We've gone on long forest walks, explored the birthplace of British Columbia (Fort Langley--gotta get some Canadian history in my kids while I still can!!), gone for coffee and just hung out in the back yard.  I have to admit, I've gone shopping a few times, much more than last year, and it's been difficult to say no to all the good things that jump out at me ALL over the place.  Did Value Village twice and a few bookstores as well...very successful but not sure how we'll get it all home.

cousins panning for gold in Fort Langley

Today we're all sleeping in on the day we should be running around getting packed up.  In 2 hours we're expected to be at the Rod and Gun Club for a special events day, and after 2 hours of shooting fun our family of 4 will head off down the highway, take a left towards Alberta, a few zigs and zags and we'll be at the foot of the Rocky Mountains before we know it.  Tomorrow we explore the mountains, Banff and whatever else comes our way.  After that we'll head to my brother's house in Red Deer (I'm so excited!), down to cousins in Calgary and then further south to Idaho to visit friends we met in Indonesia.  This is a trip I'd never thought we'd take and so I am very excited about it, and about seeing all the people we'll get to visit.

Once we head back to Canada we'll keep on driving and will start the 3rd leg of our journey in Campbell river with my family. At this point the thought of returning to Indonesia overwhelms me, not because it's a negative thing, but because there's still so much to see and do before we pulang (head home).  Instead of stressing, I'm going to sit in the passenger seat of our van, watch the beautiful scenery whiz by, enjoy time with family and friends, and keep up the constant eating that I've done since I arrived.

Thanks for reading!

Tomahon, North Sulawesi

Ok, one month later, life gets going fast, it's almost time for summer break and I still haven't written anything about the second leg of our North Sulawesi journey into the mountains.  It was a 2 night stay, cooler than on the island, and the landscape, outside of 'overall tropical', was completely different.  My favourite landscape photo was of a volcano we stayed near.  In the early morning the moon was slowly sinking down the blue sky while the sun worked its way upwards, and I attempted to get a nice, clean shot of it all.  In doing so, I intentionally kept out a plume of yucky brown smoke that just made the photo a little 'dirtier.'  Later, as I looked at our friend Jeff's photos of the same mountain on that same morning, I realized I had missed out on an opportunity to photograph the volcano smoking...I thought the smoke was from a nearby village.  Duh.

Our transfer from Bunaken to Manado's port was quite uneventful, which is always good when you're on water, but we did see a unique sight at the port itself.  Yellowfin tunas were being transported from a boat to a small truck, and it was quite something to see young guys haul 100 kg frozen tuna onto their shoulders, skirt up a skinny, worn wooden plank and plop the frozen fish into the truck.  I've seen big salmon and West Coat fish, but these were BIG.

Once in the mountains, we took advantage of the terrain and went white water rafting.  That, by far, was my favourite part of this trip.  I think I grinned the whole way down the river and then some.  That was a first for me, as was peering over the edge of a volcano into the crater below.  That didn't thrill me nearly as much as the hike up the volcano, with the fields of varying crops on all sides, in various shades of greens and browns.  Absolutely lovely!

Of course, how can you get the full feeling of a place unless you go shopping?  Just before our trip up the volcano, we needed to find 3 year old Caleb a pair of shoes, as he lost the only ones he had.  As his parents and the rest of the gang dug through shoes, chose the perfect pair, and dickered for a good price, Matthew and I wandered around and took a bunch of photos.  My favourite 'person' photo was this one of an older woman in the market.  She was quite willing to pose for me, although it's the candid shot of her than I like the best.  If ever I had to take a survey, I think that Sulawesi is by far the most friendly place to visit in Indonesia (with Jogjakarta a close 2nd), and this woman epitomizes that for me.

There was more to our trip in the mountains, with a hike into a waterfall, free massages for each cabin, dinner with friends and even a movie channel in the villa!
It was a super "Spring" break for our family, and traveling with other families was a great way to go.  Indonesia is such a huge country and we'd like to experience a bit of every part of it, so who knows if we'll ever go back to Sulawesi.  I hope that sometime in the future we'll have another opportunity, and if you're thinking of visiting, I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading.

Photos from last post

gravestones, wood fuel, recycling carts and sorted recycling

 Some photos of the area I wrote about in my last post.


Thanks for reading.

fresh graves

outdoor kitchen

bathing/fishing/laundering area

Fifteen Photos for 15 Years. Happy Birthday Matt!

This is Matt.

This is Matt's new hat.

See Matt run.

See Matt with a gun.

Look at Matt tell his sister how to do his work.

See Matt dry a dish.

Watch Matt catch a fish.

See him draw.

Watch him swim.

Look at Matt feeding the cute little monkey!

Watch the cute little monkey bite the hand that feeds it. Evil monkey.

See Matt's cool tattoo.

See Matt & his sister's teeth are blue.

This is Matt two years ago, blowing out his 13 candles for the 8th time (trick candles). In two years he's gone from boy to young man,

and we're very proud of him.

Matt, we think you are fun, intelligent, compassionate, funny, courageous, talented, strong, disciplined, good looking (good genes!!) and so much more.

Happy 15th Birthday to my Sunshine.

Thanks for reading.

My drive into Jakarta with my Camera and my Driver

When Candace was here in August, she and I headed out to what is considered a slum area of North Jakarta. This is the same place mom and dad visited and that I have mentioned a few times in the blog. While we were there last time the ladies showed me a quilt that they had made, with the intention of selling it at a later pasar. It was the first quilt that they had ever made and I was very impressed with it. I asked if they would like to learn a new technique on how to finish a quilt edge, and they were very interested. In the time between now and then I made a 10x10 inch sampler square quilt, and I brought this in on Friday. With the extra material and stuffing, the ladies copied my sample and made their own samples. This is a time when I wish I had access to a proper quilting cutting board and an Olfa rotary cutter for each of these women! These ladies are incredible, and they soak up anything you teach them so quickly; I wouldn't be surprised to find that they take what I showed them and improved on it by the next time that I visit.

On the way in to North Jakarta you have to drive over a really skanky river and on that river there are various types of homes. In the foreground is a recycling community, where people live amongst the garbage that they collect, sort and hopefully later, sell. If you look the background, there are some really nice looking, cookie-cutter cement homes, and further behind that are the fancier malls. I've been casually observing the growth of the recycle spot along the river over the last year, and I've noticed that it has grown quite a bit.

In order to see the ladies from the slums my driver has to take a road that is sandwiched by another filthy river and some mass-inhabited home fronts. There's not a whole lot of room for our vehicle, small as it is, and we have to share the road with motorcycles, pedestrians, very small, half-naked children, and sometimes another oncoming car. When I go into the home area, Haris our driver sits by the river and smokes, watching our car. We've been told not to leave it unattended. I feel a little guilty, kind of like I slink in, do my thing, and then climb into my new car with a driver and cold a/c, and drive off to my safe home where mosquitoes are relatively controlled, there are satpams protecting me and my family, and I have a refrigerator full of food. I guess I could allow my guilt to overcome me and avoid such situations, or keep looking for opportunities to experience the lives of others, regardless of their situation, while I learn from them. I've got so much to learn.

This is a rather long blog but there were so many photo opportunities and I want to share some of them with you. As Haris and I headed home, my hands cleansed by my ever-handy hand sanitizer, my belly full of bottled water, imported pretzels and a peanut butter sandwich, we came upon a street light where many street beggars take advantage of cars having to stop and sit for a few minutes. Again, it's hard not to react to a situation where you have an onslaught of people banging on your window, either wanting to sell you a bobble head, a blow-up life child-sized life jacket (hmm? Who chooses the items to sell? Is it marketing or the result of a box that happened to 'fall of the truck' when merchandise was being unloaded in a warehouse somewhere?), or just to wanting you to hand them some coins. Just before we started moving, this little guy came around. When you watch him over time, you can see he has the knack; he's got the look figured out. My response was to leave the windows rolled up, but it inspires me to continue to seek out ways to help within my own community.

The latest email from Karawaci Ladies (I have been using their old name in my postings) informs me that we're collecting money to supply items to 'cardboard kid' schools. These schools have been set up by local individuals (nationals, I think) to provide an education for the kids who, like this little guy in the photo, work the streets during the day. They cannot afford an education. There are local national teachers who volunteer their time and energy (beyond their regular work) each week to come and teach these children, and they have asked that Karawaci Ladies supply them with a plastic bin full of learning supplies (paper, pencils, books, etc). I can't help this little guy (there's probably a big guy who takes most of his money from him and his mom anyways) from my vehicle but thankfully, Karawaci Ladies is a great way to help him, practically, from my home.

One more thing the ladies' charity group is doing is raising money for goodies to be distributed to these children at Christmas time. Each student will receive a plastic cup with a toothbrush, toothpaste, face cloth, a bottle of water, a comb and some other sundries.

Thanks for reading.