So Long Ordinary

On one side of us, there is a huge, expansive house with chandeliers and multiple servants and a swimming pool. On the other side of our comfortable home lives my helper and her family in a small, musty wood house with holes in the floors and boards rotting away. I've been listening to my helper a lot, lately.  I consider her a friend and her value to me is far more than simple friendship or househelp.  She's my mentor, my cultural buffer, my sounding board, my teacher, my advocate in murky relational waters.  She's an example to me in her Christian walk, in her tenacity to do what is right despite huge opposition.  She has such a different life - one I can't really imagine, no matter how often she describes it to me.  How is it that somebody living just on the other side of my fence can have such a drastically different life?  It is just one more strange dichotomy that defines my life here.  In the past month or so, her family has ...

The other day, Brooklyn and I slipped away to the salon and she got this adorable haircut.  I've always loved all three of my girls with long hair but I don't know if I've mentioned this before, it is HOT here.  This shorter cut is much better for hot, humid weather and easier for our increasingly independent little girl to take care of all by herself!  And I think she looks pretty darn cute.....    

After a few weeks off for the holidays, we are back into the swing of things with English Club.  For our first day back, we painted ornaments of the nativity that had been sent by Centropolis Christian Church in Kansas - my Grandma's church!  Here in Indonesia, it is not unusual to celebrate Christmas through the end of January, so our late Christmas party was no problem for the kids!  The kids had a blast painting and took home their creations plus candy canes as a treat.  While there is a ton of candy available here, candy canes are a totally foreign concept, so that was fun to introduce to the kids!   Sorry about the not-so-clear cell phone pictures....these girls really made some beautiful ornaments.  I am always amazed at how careful most Indonesian kids are when doing arts and crafts.  Even the littlest girl who is around 3 years old did a great job.  The boys, however, were a lot messier! This isn't quite the whole group as s...

Well, just like that, 2012 is over and 2013 has begun.  I can't believe it! I'm finally feeling human again.  No, I wasn't the one that was sick, but life in our house was pretty much on hold for all of us for a good two weeks or more.  Today, though, Sean is all better!  He is back to work and seems to have more energy than I expected him to.  This illness really knocked him on his back.  Can't tell you how great it is to have him back to himself again.  I'd really be okay with never having to take him to the ER again - I did it twice in about a one-month span! (Once for stitches on his foot and then again to try to figure out what he was sick with.)  Thank you again for your prayers!  We had to miss our planned vacation to another Indonesian city and we did not join in with the usual visiting that happens on Christmas Day here due to Sean's illness. Our Christmas this year was not at all like we'd planned it to be, but we rested. A lo...