So Long Ordinary

We had a wonderful  Christmas.  It was small and very simple, but just right.  After last year - which I not-so-affectionately label The Typhoid Christmas - we needed this year to be special to bring back the wonder of the holiday and God did it!  All week has been so restorative and fun.   Brooklyn reading from Luke 2 before opening presents.   After opening gifts we enjoyed a yummy breakfast (with bacon!  Thank you Centropolis Christian Church!), visits with our families back in Colorado over Face Time, and then we went out to visit our neighbors - a tradition in Indonesia.  Most families hold an open house on Christmas Day and everybody visits one another.  It feels like such a backward tradition to us since we grew up with Christmas Day being all about being home with family, but we've learned to really enjoy the chance to visit our neighbors and friends in their homes.  After more than two years in this house, we are slowly developing relationships with our neighbors and it is

We've had a fun time preparing for and enjoying the Christmas season this year.  Last year, you might recall, Sean was very sick with typhoid.  Ugh.  But this year, we're all healthy! What we missed out on last year, we are more than making up for this year!   We've enjoyed making gingerbread and sugar cookies and decorating them.  (Okay, I do not love baking or decorating cookies - what a mess!  We do this once a year, if at all, and only because the girls beg me to!) Anyway, I'm glad I powered through my sour feelings for cookie messes because the girls had a blast! (And Sean, bless his heart, helped me clean up afterward.) Paige wound up with food coloring all over her face - she was a mess before we even started actually decorating the cookies!  Love her! For the past several months, I have been a music teacher - something I never would have imagined myself doing.  My friend and I traded off our kids two days a week.  She taught them art while I taught them how to p

We celebrated Paige's 5th Birthday on the 14th of December.  I truly cannot believe my baby is already five years old.  Where has the time gone?  Just like it was yesterday, I can remember that night five years ago that I spent wide awake watching it snow outside, wondering if I was ever going to go into labor.  Turns out, yes, I went into labor early that morning of the 14th and she was born around 11 a.m.  In between contractions I was watching "I Love Lucy" and giggling.  I like to think that is where Paige got her awesome sense of humor! She's a wild little thing who spends a lot of time hollering and trying to be heard over her big sisters. She is also my most affectionate little girl who still loves to be held and cuddled.  She's getting long and lanky - she's nearly as tall as Madison who is two years older.  She often gets mistaken for Madison's twin by Indonesians!  But even if she is getting big for her britches, she still has the cutest little s

I find it hard to believe that this was our FOURTH Thanksgiving in Indonesia already!  Ever since arriving in Indonesia, our Thanksgivings have always included several other nationalities and this year was no exception. We got to host this year's feast in our home and we enjoyed the company of our American, British, Dutch, and Indonesian friends.  It's fun to share this tradition with them and they have a lot of fun, too.  This year our Dutch friends even brought one of their favorite Dutch dishes for us to try - it was delicious!  I love our International Thanksgivings.  Each year, we have been able to enjoy real turkey and most of the fixings we take for granted in the States.  To give you an idea how rare turkey is here, I got this year's turkey (a 13-pounder) in Jakarta for about $45.  Funny enough, we actually found a LIVE turkey at the pet store in town.  They wanted $50 for that one, so I guess my frozen turkey was a good deal.  When asked if the turkey was for someo

First of all, you may have noticed some odd goings-on here with my blog and also with Sean's.  Somehow, we got a virus-y type bug on our computer that was making blogging nearly impossible (plus, we were just insanely busy so it has taken us awhile to even be able to sit down in front of the computer).  Anyway, Sean figured out the issue and now we're back in business!  Woo-hoo!  We are still busy - and will be - for the next month as we prepare to go on furlough in late January, but we're both trying to catch up with our blogging.  Be sure to check back in here and also regularly visit Sean's blog for even more pictures! More than two months ago, on October 7, we celebrated our Madison's 7th birthday.  We reserved a room at the local "fancy" hotel with direct access to probably the cleanest, nicest pool in the area.  It was a special treat for all of us! For as long as I can remember, Maddie has been a huge fan of pie crust.  She'll steal it from aro