August 13, 2016
My intentions of keeping this blog current haven't been realistic. I jot notes on what we've done along the way, and I often
think of writing, but I just haven't had the time to devote to it. Being prepared for my classes each seems more pressing than documenting our life here. So here I sit, almost a month after these events, writing. Better late than never, but I'm sure I'll miss a few important details.
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| Our fish, Brielle, swimming in the rain. |
SPH has a number of after school sports clubs, and the swimming club sounded good to Brielle. She went for a swimming evaluation on a raining afternoon. The fact that it was raining may seem insignificant, but the pools are all outdoor! She'll join the beginner class next week every Tuesday after school; she's thrilled!
We asked each of the kids to choose at least one sport to participate in, so Koen selected basketball. He played on his 5th grade team at GRCMS and enjoyed playing with some great guys and even winning the championship! This season has started out a bit rockier. About 30 5th & 6th grade boys came out for the team. Between the large number of players and a new, inexperienced(?) coach, he's not as excited about it.
Tysen chose to join the badminton club at school. It hasn't begun yet, but he's enthusiastic about learning this sport after playing it in backyards over the summer!
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| Lanterns at the school picnic. |
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| Lanterns at the school picnic. |
The school student council hosted a Friday night barbeque which was fabulous way to end the week. It was so well attended that they ran out of food! It's a good problem to have! I met Seth and the kids there after my first Indonesian pedicure and cream bath. My lovely neighbor, Ceri, invited me to join her at the salon for some pampering after another long week at school; what a wonderful way to relax! While most of you are familiar with a pedicure, a cream bath may have you envisioning bathtubs of luxurious cream. Nope! A cream bath is a hair treatment and involves a conditioning hair therapy and a relaxing head massage. Amazing. It was the first time since school started that I forgot to worry about something!
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| Fresh coconut! |
Saturdays seem to be social swimming time. Many families head to the school pool to cool off, play, relax, and catch up. We unexpectedly stayed about 4 hours this particular Saturday--much longer than usual! Mr. Rod, our next door neighbor, arrived at the pool and demonstrated his tree climbing skills, scaling a palm tree to collect two coconuts. He shared the treats with us as we chatted with his wife and boys. Our unexpected lengthy stay at the pool resulted in some pretty severe sun burns. Ouch! Thankfully, we have an aloe plant growing in the backyard!
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| Ouch! |
Remember our disappointing visit to the movies last weekend? We tried again this weekend and successfully viewed
Ice Age Collision Course! This movie experience is like no movie theater I've ever visited! It caters to kids. You buy a ticket for a certain time, but that isn't the time the movie begins. The movie begins an hour
after the start time; the start time is when you show up for the play area! Our kids sprinted around the obstacles and slid down the slides numerous times before we put our food order in. The food was then delivered to us once the movie began. What service! The only downside was the seating. The kids had their hearts set on sitting in the popular beanbag chairs, or even the couches, but both seating options had already sold out, so we were "stuck" with traditional movie theater seats.
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| Play area! |
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| A slide right into the theater! |
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| Our friend, Claira, Brielle, Tysen, and Koen |
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| Zip line! |
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The cushy orange bean bag chairs--
maybe next time we can sit there! |
On a side note, do you remember that Koen's recovering from poison ivy? That, combined with the extra sun earlier in the day, made his face extremely flushed. When we entered the movie theater, the attendants stopped him and used a hand-held device to scan his eyes. Seth and I puzzled over what that meant for a minute before Claira, who's lived here for a year, explained that they were scanning him for diseases! Thank goodness he passed the movie attendants' health exam. Crazy!
Sunday brought us to church once again. It's quite powerful to worship the one true God in Indonesia with fellow believers. There are two local English services near us, so we've visited each a few times, still unsure where we see ourselves weekly. One is connected with the local Christian college and one is a church plant originating in Ann Arbor, MI. It's odd that though the services are quite different from each other they each offer aspects of familiarity and home. There are two other options in Jakarta, but we have yet to experience worship there. Many people travel into the city to worship, but it is a commitment as the weekend traffic makes the commute longer than usual.
I finally got to bake! Not only did the delicious aroma of banana bread linger around the house for the afternoon, making it smell like home, I took time to do something I enjoy doing! It was the perfect break from school work.
Prayers for us:
-Pray for us to settle into a church community.
-Thanks for opportunities for the kids like swimming, basketball, and badminton. Pray that each of our kids learns new skills and enjoys doing so!
-Pray that we don't live our lives by comparing ourselves to others. This prayer request is probably more for Valerie than for anyone else. Help us to remember that God has blessed us each with different gifts vital to His work and pray that we use our gifts to our fullest potential!
