So Long Ordinary

Last week, we needed a little something special.  Our regular homeschool routine was feeling a little dull and lifeless, so I decided it was time for a tea party. When you have little girls, tea parties are the easiest go-to cure for whatever - for bad days or grumpy attitudes or boredom or celebration.  It always works.    We whipped up some scones (and added chocolate chips, of course) and some Ginger Lemon tea. I put on some peaceful music to play.  We donned our favorite dresses, brought the dollies to the table, and set out our nicest tea set.  A flowery sheet was our tablecloth.  I pulled some of our favorite poetry books off the shelf and we took turns reading poems to one another, giggling at silly lines and talking together about what the poem might be saying.   We didn't linger too long.  It started to get hot and our dresses began to feel itchy.  But when we went back to normal life - cleaning up our mess, tackling math and sp...

Without a whole lot of other perks or forms of entertainment, we get pretty excited about new restaurants opening in our city.  Even better is when the restaurant wants to cater to homesick foreigners as well as introduce fun local foods. Our neighbors recently opened a new restaurant and it's by far the best place in town now.  They make a pretty stinking amazing Mie Tarik  or homemade, pulled noodles that you can watch them make right in front of you.  Since we've eaten there, they've added fajitas, nachos, and burgers to their menu and we hear it's all good.  Can you say "giddy?!" When we first tried out the new place, we were surprised to see that they have a real, wood-fired pizza oven.  Their pizza has...real cheese!  In a town where the closest thing we've had to a order-out pizza was a weird pizza crust smothered in a sweet ketchup sauce and topped with fake cheese and hot dogs, this is a big deal.  We make pizza at home every week bu...

First of all, a huge thank you for all the kind comments on my last post.  I love hearing from you - through comments on this blog, Facebook, emails, phone calls, real life conversations, and the grapevine ! It was a little hard to put such an honest post out there, but you've all encouraged me so much with your words.  Thank you. It feels like ages ago, but it was only a few weeks ago that we took the girls and the dog down to the MAF dock to play in the river.  The river was pretty high, which creates the perfect little shallow pool to play in. We took a lunch and made a picnic of it. Check out that huge log that floated down the river!  It was the perfect place to play. We should totally do this more often.  (Except maybe not take the dog?  This is where she got the water in her ears that started the ear infection that we're still battling!) While the girls played, I sat on the bench and watched the monkeys play - and by monkeys I don't mean kids.  ...

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 c...

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 fro...

Oh, we've had a great few weeks since my last post!  I mean truly   great weeks with all sorts of little blessings that have shot our end-of-term weary arms full of the energy we need to reach our furlough in just FIVE more months. I think I'll start with the most obvious..... I mean, really.  Who ever would have thought? I know I never imagined meeting Harrison Ford in Central Borneo. I'm just blown away by this life we live.  It's amazing.  Sean and I often talk about how crazy our work in Indonesia has been - dealing with the rich and powerful as well as the most down-trodden and needy.  It really throws us sometimes. Three years in, we're still learning how to navigate two such different worlds - neither of which is our comfort zone. Mr. Ford really impressed us, though.  Not because he's a huge movie star (though I was most certainly starstruck), but his attitude was so humble and kind. He's a normal guy.  I was touched at how he took the ti...

In the busy-ness of the past several weeks, we celebrated some big days.  13 years of marriage for Sean and I.  3 years in Indonesia. And... Sigh... Somehow it happened without my being able to stop it.  My oldest girl turned 10.  Ten.  The big 1-0.  What?! We celebrated with a morning with friends at the local waterpark, followed by homemade strawberry cake at home.  It was the best day ever!   Honestly, Sean had the most fun of all. As usual, here is Brooklyn's birthday interview.  I was secretly pleased to discover that although my little girl is growing and maturing so very much, she is still essentially the same little girl who loves, pink, American Girl anything,  and wants to be like her parents.   What is your favorite activity?  Reading, writing, playing on my iPod. What is your favorite color?  Pink! What is your favorite toy?  American girl dolls and my favorite stuffed animals Who are your best friends?...

I'm just gushing over here.  My second-born took a big step today and made a decision for Christ!  We were having a talk in the car on the way to the store about heaven and next thing I know she's over there quietly folding her hands and whispering a prayer to Jesus. When she was done, she looked over at me with a big smile and said, "I have so many blessings from God, Mommy!" Indeed. Happy Born Again Day, Madison Elizabeth!  We love you so much.  

Paige had a blast on the water (without Mom there to ruin the fun) and I'd say the older kids had even more fun, if that were possible.  Again, I'm just glad I wasn't there.  They all came back alive, sopping wet, and giddy with excitement.  Can't really argue with that now, can I? Life jackets, Becca.  Life jackets. Maddie and Brooklyn take a turn. Then the boys jump on board! It's getting more fun! Uh-oh! And... they're off! Let's play spot the kids in the ginormous Borneo river! Life jackets. And really great Daddies watching out for the kids while also helping them have the time of their lives and make memories they'll never forget.  

A while back, we spent a fun evening on the river with our teammates.  While my friend and I sat back in the air-conditioned MAF office at the dock, the guys took the kids out for some tubing.  Paige was not about to be left behind, even if she is the little four-year-old and Mommy's little Wuvvy-Duvvy-Baby-Poo.  Here are some shots her Daddy got of her playing on the river.  A nice calm start on the inner tube, looking relaxed and happy.  Whoa!  Hitting a bump!  Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Two things: 1.  It was a good thing I was not there because sending my baby out on an inner tube behind a speeding boat seems like exactly the opposite of good mothering. 2. When I see these pictures, my heart jumps into my throat and I can't breath.  She's four.  She's my baby.  She's having way too much fun for her health and safety. This post brought to you by Nervous Nellie. P.S. Lifejackets.  I just keep telling myself "lifejackets."  

The other day, when Sean was cutting our grass, he came across this little guy.  Our animal-loving, tomboy-ish, fearless Blondie was really excited about it!  This was a cute little fella with a long, long tail and tiny little body.  Being an MK (missionary kid) is the perfect gig for Madison - she can hold, pet, raise, adopt, and smother all sorts of interesting creatures!

A few weeks ago, when the moon was full and reportedly very close to the earth, we headed out to the MAF dock to try to see the rising moon.  It's hard to find a good place to watch the moon rise when there are tons of big trees all around and the land is flat as a pancake for miles and miles.  Sean's grand idea was that we would climb up on top of the hangar roof.  At first, I thought this would be fun...until I saw what that meant.   Somehow, scurrying up a wobbly ladder and up onto a steep metal roof with a 100 foot drop into a muddy river is not my idea of fun.  Not really. Fun fact: my feet sweat when I'm nervous.   I was nervous. And I was also wearing flip-flops.  Sweating feet and flip-flops are a bad mix on a steep metal roof.  Ugh.  I don't even know how I shimmied up to the peak of the roof, but I'm pretty sure it was done with a few tears and some harsh words for my husband who was so helpful by telling me to "just stand up and wa...

Madison and Paige learned about the Romans today!

Taking the Final Math Tests! These two happy little girls are really excited.  Today they have completed all their work for 3rd and 1st grades!  They have worked extra hard this week to finish up so that we can have a nice little break before starting up again with grades 2 and 4 in a little over a month.  Paige will also be starting Kindergarten - which you can imagine she is excited about - she's been watching her sisters and wanting to "do school" for a long time. I really love homeschooling our girls.  Long ago, when Brooklyn was a preschooler, I dreamed of homeschooling my kids, but when it came time for Brooklyn's kindergarten, we were in the throes of support raising and it just didn't work out.  Then, we were in language school and I was again not able to homeschool.  But when we started our first year of homechool in Brooklyn's 2nd grade year, I knew I'd found my calling. I'm not sure I ever would have had the guts to homeschool if it hadn...

I can't believe we celebrated Paige's 4th birthday on Friday.  How did this happen? In the midst of a very, very busy week, we carved out some time to celebrate our precious little "baby." We had a really fun "rainbow" birthday party with our friends the Rogers. There was a water balloon fight...the 70 or so ballons I filled took all of 30 seconds to finish off.  Sigh.  The kids weren't getting each other wet enough so I had to help.  ;-)   Then we just hooked the hose up to the slide...   Next, was cupcake decorating time.  Pretty sure Paige ate all of hers before we even got to see them.   Aw, my cute, precious, precocious little four-year-old.  She's as sweet and mischevious as she looks in this picture.  We all love her to pieces...(though I'd say her sisters really do get frustrated with her at least twenty times a day!) She's a pill!

After a spell of being pretty much the only Americans in Central Kalimantan, it has been a real treat having teammates again.  MAF'ers!  Americans!  People with kids our kids' ages!  Teammates.  We've had so many.  Loved so many.  Said good-bye to so many.  But I tell ya, we are grateful for them all.  Because being out here "all alone?"  It's hard.  There's just something about having somebody else around from your own culture that makes you feel more energized, more able to deal with the difficulties and ups and downs of this missionary life.  I know that having teammates and friends on the field - let alone those that really "get" you is sadly rare. We've somehow managed to have the best teammates everywhere we've served.  Maybe God knows how much we need them?  We are blessed again with new teammates who make the load we carry feel not quite so heavy.  (Their container full of household th...

Sean and Brooklyn left for a trip a couple of days ago.  It was a lovely, rainy morning but the electricity was already off at 5 a.m. They'd planned on riding the scooter out to the airport but because of the rain, we took the car and the little girls and I dropped them off. I stopped at the donut shop near our house on the way home, and the other two girls and I have been making the best of it since.  The electricity has been going off a lot and, after that one rainy day, it has been really hot and humid.  There have been tears - big, salty ones running down little sisters' cheeks as they discover just how much they love and miss their big sister.  There have also been giggles - quiet, silly ones as little sisters take advantage of a big sister not around to chase them out of her bedroom. I've been trying to remember to do all the chores and remembering all those odds and ends that Sean always takes care of that I totally take for grant...