So Long Ordinary

Today marks the beginning of my third week of formal language study! I can't believe I've only been at this for two weeks. It is coming along. We spent a lot of time today filling in some sentences and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my vocabulary has expanded immensely! Don't ask me to recall any of those words when I'm trying to have a real conversation...but they are in there! Eventually, they will find their way out ;-) I loved all of your comments on my last post! Apparently, I need to write more about these types of things - I've never had such a response! Granted, it is a subject very deserving of a response, isn't it?! I do want to say, though, that I have decided that I am going to have to try some anjing (dog) at some point. I have talked to many Indonesians who truly love the stuff and I wouldn't want to miss out on a good thing. It would be best, though, if I didn't know what I was eating until after the fact! I love d...

Sean took this picture of these adorable puppies the other day. They are somebody's pets. That's right...this is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. The other day at language school, one of my classmates was sharing a story about seeing a dog get run over by a guy on a motorcycle. He was telling the story (in his limited Indonesian) to one of the sweetest little Indonesian gals that I've met. She's kind and thoughtful and polite and a good teacher. As the story went on, Ibu Tasya was smiling and nodding. We were all waiting for her to exclaim, "Oh, the poor puppy! Was he okay?!" But guess what she said? "Oh, I LOVE dog meat! It's my favorite. I don't like the small dogs, but the big dogs are so tasty!" We all sat there speechless, waiting for her to laugh and say, "Just kidding!" She did not. We went on with class as if she'd just proclaimed that she really enjoys eating a good salmon fillet when she can get one....

Today, I feel at home. There are many things we've been waiting for and/or doing without. All of a sudden, almost 7 weeks into our life in Salatiga, several things came together for us. We are very thankful for the following simple blessings today.... The fence. When we arrived at this house, the backyard fence was full of holes. The girls (especially Paige) loved escaping through that fence to venture out into all sorts of dangerous and dirty places. The workers we hired a few weeks ago just finished building a brand new bamboo fence today! Now, we can let the girls play in the backyard without the fear that they'll slip out and run into the busy street in front of our house. They are welcome to go out and play anytime now - even if Mommy and Daddy aren't able to come out and supervise. The bunk bed. Brooklyn and Madison have a bunk bed in their room. The bed was built by a local carpenter right before we came. It lasted all of one week before it started to fall ...

This is how it goes. I know it. It isn't the first time I have experienced all this. Yet it happens, just the same, despite my best efforts to avoid it. First, it's the honeymoon. All is glorious and new and amazing. Then, reality sets in and you begin to question your sanity at placing yourself in such a precarious position. You suddenly notice how steep the ledge is that your are perched upon, you recognize that one misstep will send you careening into an abyss you hadn't seen before. Ah, but there is beauty and hope and grace in those unsafe and uncomfortable ledges. We realize how dependable God is. How pitiful and pathetic we are apart from the One who led us here. We're suddenly aware of our humanness and His God-ness. And we learn to Trust Him on a level we'd never imagined possible before. This ledge, until you abandon yourself to trust, is a place of fear and worry and doubt. Trust is a funny thing. It requires self-sacrifice, an abandonment of se...

There was a nice big swing set made of bamboo in our back yard but it was rotting and a little dangerous....so, until we can get that fixed, we've figured out another way for the girls to swing. Sean tied the swings onto trees and branches (and maybe even a clothesline or two). The girls have had hours of fun (as have the neighbor kids) playing on these swings. Oops! Somebody fell off!

Wow! I didn't realize it had been a week since my last post. Man, oh man, have things been busy around these parts. Here's what has been going on lately.... Remember how I mentioned that some creature was biting me at night, leaving gigantic welts and causing much distress on my part? Bedbugs. Bedbugs?! Finally, when I couldn't take it anymore (and Sean was starting to get bites too), I had enough of it all and asked others around here what it might be. Someone suggested that we put our mattress out in the hot sun for a few hours to kill the bedbugs. That did the trick! I've seen several Indonesians with pillows and mattresses out in the sun - now I know why. We had a good week with Sean off from school. It wasn't exactly a restful week - things got hectic and crazy here last week - but it was nice having Sean around more. Many of our MAF friends who also are here in Salatiga studying Indonesian have battled illnesses of varying degrees. Somehow, our family...

Part of our nightly routine includes baths or showers for all three sticky, stinky, filthy little girls in the house. Gone are the days of skipping a night or two between baths. We don't have a bathtub (very few here in Indonesia do) but this washtub works really well. Paige loves bathtime and gets really excited when it's time to bathe. I don't blame her. It really does feel refreshing after a long, hot, sticky day!

So, after our exciting adventures in shopping, dodging motorcycles, and equine abuse, we came home ready for lunch! We didn't have much time to scarf down some PB&J before we were off again - this time on an adventure up the mountain and out of the city with friends of ours. They are also headed to Kalimantan with MAF and have been in Salatiga for almost a year. They invited us along on a Sunday afternoon outing in their car and there was no way that Sean or I would ever pass such an opportunity up! The ride up the mountain was enjoyable, we weaved our way through several small towns and up, up, up, to some abandoned Hindu temples on the hillside. Well, they weren't totally abandoned, there were people there to sell us tickets to see the temples, hawk their snacks and bottled water to us, and when we started to look tired of hiking, a chance to ride a (small) horse up the trail. Having already felt the sting of guilt for abusing a sad-looking pony, we passed on the chanc...