So Long Ordinary

Madison is growing up.  She's ready for Kindergarten and learning to read...at least, I think she is, and it's breaking my heart.  She's quite the little lady.  She loves homeschooling (we've been working on her letters in preparation for the possibility of joining the Kindergarten class in Salatiga).   Sometimes, I know it's hard being stuck in the middle but she handles it well and by golly, if she isn't the sweetest kid I know.  She's also hilarious!  The other day she proclaimed, "America is my favorite island!"  I guess that makes sense when we're always talking about this island or that island in Indonesia.  And yes, our girls are all really missing America.  We all are!  I think it has to do with the people there that we haven't seen in a year now.  Sigh.  But we will see them, oh yes we will...someday...and it will be the "best day ever!"  (something else Maddie says a lot :-)) My girls are growing and changing before my v

We recently got some art/craft materials and, oh my, have we had the best fun using it! At first, Paige wasn't sure about using her fingers to paint. But she quickly got over that! In fact, I came in the schoolroom the other day to find no less than 7 kids at the desk making creations. Neighbor kids had joined my kids and they were all up to their elbows in glue and sequins.  This was not part of my plan, and at first I was a little upset that all our nice craft supplies from the States  were being used up. But then, God reminded me that these Indonesian kids never  get to play with clay or googly eyes or pipe cleaners or even Popsicle sticks and glitter.  So I let them have at it...and realized something important.  I realized that this is a part of our ministry - living here, letting these kids into our lives and holding nothing back.  Giving them a chance to play as kids should, to stay innocent for a few more years.  They play in the yard, pull around the red wagon at high spee

I realized over the weekend that I'm busy. I'm not trying to be snarky or even funny.  I honestly just realized this.  Oh, I know we throw the word "busy" around quite often (and we usually mean it) but I realized that I am BUSY.  And I kind of foolishly thought that I wasn't all that busy, for like a split second there.  Because honestly, with all this busy-ness, I don't have much to show for it.  Well, other than a family that is fed and kids that are somewhat  educated.  And the thing about my busy-ness is that I'm never really, completely done.  It's a never-ending cycle.  Cook, clean, teach, cook, clean, enforce the rules, cook, clean, give baths, go to bed, start again. I spend hours and I do mean hours  in the kitchen.  I cook everything from scratch. I've always enjoyed cooking and baking and I've done my fair share of cooking from scratch.  But we have even less available to us here than we did in Latin America.  I am making just about

We got our homeschooling materials at last! Yippeeeeeee!  Ohmygoodnessnewbooksarefun!  We're a little excited, if you can't tell.  But, the majority of our materials are going to have to wait until we get back from our 2.5 months back in Java.  We're planning on a return to Java to complete our last two units of language school Aug. 7 or so.  We'll be there thru mid-Ocotober. Brooklyn will be returning to the International school there in Salatiga for one quarter of 2nd grade and Madison may possibly get to join the Kindergarten class as well.  Paige will go back to the preschool.  It'll be good for all of the girls to have something to do while Mom and Dad are in class. But seriously, with all these new materials I am feeling so inspired and ready to start homeschooling!  Maddie has been anxious to start so I'm letting her go ahead with a little beginning phonics/reading. Brooklyn is joining her friend, KJ, in his homeschool and she really enjoys it!  We'll

Sean shared on his blog that he finally got his Indonesian float plane license.  He's flown a few operational flights solo already! I got a call yesterday informing me that the guys at MAF were ready to "baptize" Sean according to tradition - a good shove into the river.  They had waited a little longer to attempt this feat because they knew Sean would expect it...and quite honestly, Sean is about double in size of most of the guys so they were a little afraid that Sean would take them into the river with him. (And he would have if they hadn't caught him by surprise.)  Jason, our teammate, though, was less fearful (he's also bigger than the Indonesian staff) and he devised a plan that would get Sean into the water with minimum collateral damage. So, we were invited to the fun...but we had to stay hidden in the office so Sean wouldn't realize something was up.  Sorry the pictures aren't great. I am not the photographer.  And some of the pictures were taken

We often have a houseful of kids.  KJ's parents are missionaries here - he comes over at least once a week if not more.  Ester is our neighbor - her Mom helps me around the house and Ester usually comes to play with my girls while her Mom works.  Sometimes we have even more neighborhood and missionary kids joining our ranks. With all these kids around it can get a little crazy, and it just occurred to me that maybe if I got a little more involved and gave them ideas of what to do they'd actually get along and have fun!  Boredom can really kill the fun, ya know?!  And let's face it, a group full of kids ages 8 and under can't exactly be trusted to come up with the best (a.k.a. Mom-approved) ideas for how to pass the time. I'm really not very good at coming up with fun things for kids to do.  I need to get better at this.  Anyway, over the weekend, Sean pointed out that we did have a hose with a nozzle that would be great fun for the kids while at the same time puttin

Check out my most recent post on the MAF Blog here .  If it seems vaguely familiar, that's because it is!  Things were too hectic and crazy for me to make anything fresh, so I dug up something from last year on this blog.  Funny, it still very much speaks of what I'm learning these days...nearly 10 months later! ;-)  It's always good to revisit things you think you've got down-pat only to find out you still have so far to go. It is HOT here today and we woke up to lots of smoke hanging in the air.  Smokey/hot season is in full swing now.  Pray for rain!

I have just a few minutes before running out the door to  after Bible Study so I wanted to post a little note here to share what  has been going on the past several days! Having our stuff back after all this time has been wonderful .  I'm loving all the baking I can do with an oven and I'm nearly overwhelmed with tools to use in my kitchen. It's been a long time since I enjoyed  cooking this much. Love it! We had a grill in our shipment and it's already gotten a lot of use.  I have a husband that loves to grill and that makes for some great, easy meals.  We even took it over to our friend's house for a July 4th party!   We had a fun party with friends (a few other Americans, some Indonesians, and even a Brit) to celebrate Independence Day last Sunday.  We played games, laughed, ate hamburgers and hot dogs, and the kids played in water.  Then on the actual fourth of July, we set off a few bottle rockets for the girls.  They were so excited! The septic tank for our ki