January 30, 2008 - Am I an egghead?

I think you can tell about a person’s disposition by the way they peel a hardboiled egg. Would you agree? Garth has always peeled them very well, slow, and careful. And he is a very patient person. I used to peel them slow until they became difficult and then I would pull off whole chunks of the egg in my impatience. But tonight when I was peeling eggs for Wyatt, I noticed something. I was taking my time, and each egg still looked like an egg when I was done, not some deformed eyeball that fell out of some monster’s head. Do you know what that showed me? God is working on me. Every day I pray for patience, because it is something I am lacking. And God is giving me opportunities here to learn patience. I am not saying this to toot my own horn-but I would like to toot God’s horn a bit. Toot. Toot. He cares enough about me to give me struggles and difficulties to help me learn patience. YEAH for struggles and difficulties!!!!!!!!! See, when I lived in Wisconsin, I was a cheese head. Now, I am in Indonesia, and I guess I am acting like an egg head. (Whatever that is.)
Anyways, Garth asked Sophie today what she thought God’s voice sounded like, and she said, “Uh, Dad. I can’t really do His voice.” And he said, “But what do you think it sounds like?” And Soph said, “Well, it is really low and it sounds kind of like my breath.” I took her back to the clinic today to do a malaria slide on her and will let you know when we get the results. She is still running a fever, so hopefully this antibiotic will start working and kick this virus right out of her system.
Yesterday, Garth thought it would be nice to take Sophie and Cale on a motorcycle ride. Sophie wanted to get out of the house and we figured some fresh air would be good. She had been laying around on the couch all day long, so she was ready to go out. Well, about 10 minutes after he left a huge storm rolled in. It was pouring! Garth called me and said that they were out in the front of a little store down the road and would just hang out there until it stopped. I knew that would be difficult with the kids and nothing but a dirt floor to sit on, so I called our neighbor and asked her if she would run me to the store to pick up the kids. She did and I am grateful because it rained for a long time. Cale was covered in dirt and mud and very wet-but happy. Sophie was o.k.-wet and cold. Yes, I did say cold. I was cold yesterday with all the rain too. I asked Carlena if she was cold at all when she was here, but she said no. How many of you have seen my family since they came back? Raise your hand? I see those hands-thanks!!!! You lucky people! I miss the fam!
I won’t be able to write anything tomorrow as all of the internet connections will be shut down. The whole hill is changing to a different service-hopefully a better one. Anyways, so you probably won’t hear from me until your Thursday night at the earliest.

I helped Jason with Yanis’ foot today. That is always interesting. I was encouraging Jason to cut off as much of the dead and infected skin as he could, so there isn’t as much for me to do when he is gone. He is so good at it, and I am still getting used to the whole idea of cutting into someone elses’ open, oozing wound…o.k. enough, I know. It is looking good, but I have a question. Does anyone know if you have pigment on the bottom of your foot? Because his new skin is coming in pink, and all of the new skin on his leg has black spots underneath that are his skin pigment, but on the bottom of his foot where the new skin is coming in is some black. We are hoping it is his skin pigment and not a line of infection or trapped blood etc. If any of you smart people I call my friends know about these black spots or if any of you went to special skin pigment school-email me.
Oh, we had a waterfall today in our kitchen. Shortly after the pembantu’s came in this morning I was in the kitchen. I heard water running and I looked over and saw that everything was turned off. But once I moved and went around our middle counter I saw water pouring out from the cabinets under the sink. Some pipes came off or something, I don’t know. I called Poppi to come in and she called our Indonesian fix-it guy and he came right over and took care of it. Now, if my Dad was here, he would have fixed it in a jiffy-I know that.
I hear that you are having more bad weather and cold. Some of the school’s were even cancelled. I wish you could all just stay home, put a fire in the fireplace, make some coffee, answer my emails and STAY OUT OF THE COLD! I get nervous thinking about you driving on such slippery roads so BE CAREFUL! MSN News says that you have -4 and a wind chill warning as of 6 AM on Wed. Here it is only 82 (cold, I know!) but it is also 9 PM. If you are cold, go to our blog site, pull up the pictures of us on the beach and squint your eyes so it won’t look like us, and pretend it is you. Can’t you just feel the sun beating down on your back-giving you sunburn…? Nice, isn’t it?
Well, on that pleasant thought, I must go.
Love to all,
Rachel

Rachel helps treat a burn victim.

Cale never has a bad hair day.

Mother and daughter.

How was the visit from the in-laws, Garth?


Father and daughter saying good-bye.

Cale saying good-bye to Eena.


Cale loves to run.

Cale takes his place on the floor before dinner.

Sling shot kid.

Jodi was a good shot.

These are some of the kids who live on our road.

Just a welcome smile.

Eena and Cale spending some quality time.

This guy took video of Cale the whole time he was there.

Soph and Maya are the best of friends.

Bob finishing one last project.

We lost our kitty, TB when he was hit by a motorcycle.

Emma will really miss him.

TB lies behind the dorm.

Hanging out with Grammo at church.

Cale riding in the "Gus."

Soph, Tootsie, and Grammo.

Goin' to church.

Floating in the pool.

A cute local girl.

Here's the fam.

Here's the crazy fam.

January 28, 2008 - Dorm Kids, Tragedies, and Ping Pong

The dorm kids all got off safe and sound this morning. We got up to send them off at 4:15 a.m. and they all seemed excited. What a great experience! Later when the clinic opened, I took Sophie in. She has had a fever since Saturday of around 103. I found out that she has a bulging eardrum, red throat with white patches, swollen glands along with the fever. She started Amoxicillin on Dec 30th for strep but apparently it didn’t do the job. So she is on another antibiotic and hopefully this will take care of it. She was already showing signs of improvement. She ate some dinner and played Uno with us. We hear that the first year at a new place is the hardest physically. That is takes awhile to build up new immunities. I guess we are trying to get a little bit of everything to get as many immunities as we can. It seems like Wyatt, Sophie and I have been sick a lot, while Cale, Emma and Garth are dodging the germs. Sophie is such a sweetie-being sick doesn’t make her crabby, or difficult. Today, Emma hurt her foot and Sophie, even though she was sick, went and got Emma her blankie and some water to help her feel better. Later, Garth was putting Sophie to bed and she said, “Dad, isn’t wowzer just a fun word? Just say wowzer, it makes you smile.” She makes us smile. Emma is adjusting to a new teacher. Her previous teacher moved to Bali to have her baby. This new teacher, Jenn, just got to Indonesia on Saturday. Pray for her and her adjustments. Also, one of the mechanics we have here with our mission just turned 21 on Saturday. So on Sunday he and his family went to the Black Sands Beach in Jayapura to have a picnic and celebrate. Well, he got caught in an undertow, so his cousin jumped in to save him and they both drowned. They found the mechanics body, Chris, but they can’t find the cousins’. What a tragedy. Please pray for those families. And again, for Dottie, Garth’s Mom, as her husband, Paul died suddenly Saturday afternoon. It is so hard when it is sudden like this. We know that God has a reason for everything, but when it is recent, when it just happened, we are often too close to the picture to understand. Like when you hold a picture right up to your nose, you have a hard time focusing. But in time, often, we will be farther away from the picture and we can focus and it makes more sense. Not always, but sometimes, God allows us to understand why things happened the way they did. Other times, it never makes sense and we won’t know until Heaven.
Wyatt is getting so good at ping pong. He is actually returning many of Garth’s slams. He and Garth have a nightly ritual of playing before bed. Cale is in love with Garth’s motorcycle. Sometime after lunch every day, he will go up to Garth and ask for a ride. They have their “spots” that they go to and everyone there knows them. Cale is a great connector between us and the Indonesians. He is very well loved and people stop us to ask about him, and that starts good conversations. Most of the time, the first question they ask me is if he is a girl. O.k. I need to go. My cute husband here wants to play me in ping pong. I need to go whip him-ha ha. I am getting better…
Love you-Rachel

January 27, 2008 - Paul

I need to give you some quick news. I was going to wait until I knew more of the story but I thought I should tell you right away. Sometime today, Garth’s stepdad passed away. All I know is that Paul had been complaining about back pain and so Dottie called 911. It sounds like he died in the ambulance on the way there. That is one story I heard. The other is that he was at the hospital being treated for pain and Dottie was at home and they called her to come back but it was too late. Either way it was sudden and it doesn’t sound like Dottie was there to say good-bye. Please pray for her and for Paul’s kids. We are all saddened by this news. Paul was a Christian so as Emma prayed today “We know that we will see him in Heaven.”
I will tell you more as I hear it.
Rachel

January 26, 2008 - Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Garth and I sat down the other day with Bill and Aimee, a couple that will be taking over the new hostel as of the middle of Feb. They have never been dorm parents before so they had a lot of questions. We are not entirely sure that the hostel will be completed by then, but hopefully things will get done quickly here at the end. My Dad helped paint when he was here, but there is still quite a bit to be done. The family has 3 kids close in age to ours, 10, 7, and 5. We met with them at our house and only after about an hour when I took them into our kitchen to introduce them to our pembantu’s did I see the look on Poppi’s face. She looked horrified. She explained to me later that she thought that I was so sad about my family leaving that I was going to go home and that this couple was going to be the new dorm parents for this hostel. Poppi said she was trying to listen to all of the English words to see if she heard any she knew. She heard me saying “dorm parents” but didn’t understand the other stuff I was saying. She was so relieved when I explained it all. She has really softened with me since we first came. After my family left I laid low that whole day. The next morning I was in the kitchen when Ibu Poppi and Ibu Yulli came in. Poppi looked at me and said, “You o.k., Ibu?” I said I was o.k. and they both gave me a big hug. That is huge! House help rarely shows that much emotion or affection for their boss. I was really touched. Today I made all 4 of our helpers cards and printed out pictures that my Mom had taken of them when she was here and gave it to them as a thank you. It is wonderful to see how much a small act like that makes a big difference to them.
Today I went to help Jason take care of Yanis’ foot. In case you don’t remember, Yanis said that Satan threw him into the fire and his leg and foot got badly burned and started to gangrene. He has been getting treatment now for 11 days and we are starting to see improvement. I was a bit queasy today when I was helping Jason, but I need to learn what to do because Jason will be gone for about a week in Jakarta and I said I would do it for him. It will be a stretch for me. I love medical stuff, but this is all open skin on his foot and up his leg-just open skin and sores. I have never seen anything like it.
On a much different note, most of you don’t know that I have been doing book reviews for a magazine for over a year (and loving it). I wasn’t sure however, if the editor would let me keep doing it here since it would be difficult to send me the books. He did decide though, that he would let me, we just have to figure out exactly how it would work. My dream is to have some of my children’s books published, but this is a great place for me to start. I am very thankful that he will let me continue.
We sat down today as a family and told the kids that we would like them to think, and pray about whether or not we should stay another year. We asked for their feelings and got pros and cons on both sides. They all mentioned things they miss back home and things they would miss here if we left. We mentioned that this cannot be a decision based on feelings. It needs to be decided because we all feel like it is what God wants for us. We had some good discussions and said that we would gather again in a few days and decide. Please pray for us that we would know for sure. I have been praying that God would be real to the kids and not just a Being. I talked to them about how the more time you spend with someone, the more you know them and what they like. It is the same way with God. I also said that if they are in the other room and I whisper for them they might not hear me. But if they are sitting next to me they will hear everything I say. So the closer they are to God the easier it is to hear what He is telling us to do. Garth was talking about how God always wants what is best for us and just because we obey doesn’t mean our way will be easy. Every step of our journey is for a reason and will teach us and help us grow if we are willing. So we can’t just decide based on what we think will be the easiest, but on what God thinks would be best.
This is tough because it is such a HUGE decision-please pray for us. Thanks.
Oh, and pray for my family too. They are still adjusting to the time change. Right now it is 3:30 a.m. and Mom is writing emails and Dad is working on taxes. Carlena too.
LOVE YOU-
Rachel

January 24, 2008 - Gula and Hand Wash?

I know you all love to hear about our blunders, so I thought I would share 2 more. I was in the middle of baking a coffeecake when I realized we were out of sugar, so I asked Garth if he could hop on the bike and get me sugar. I told him the word for sugar is gula. Well, it only took him a few minutes and he came back with 2 big bags-not of sugar, gula, but of glutamate (MSG). He bought 2 big bags of MSG. So needless to say after we got done laughing with him (at him), I sent him back out and he came back with the right thing. The next day I went back to the store with Garth and explained what happened and they let us return them. YEAH! What would I do with 2 big bags of MSG? The second blunder was all me. I bought some clear stuff that came in a small clear squeeze container. It looked a lot like Purell hand sanitizer. So I have been keeping it in my purse and squirting it on the kids hands when we are out to keep them clean. Well, one of the dorm kids said something about needing some hand sanitizer and I said “Oh, I have some you can use.” So I pull it out and she started reading it, and then informed me that it was not hand sanitizer rather it was a feminine hygiene wash. Ha ha. Live and learn. Cale never complained. Ha.
Well one of our pembantu’s stopped showing up for work (Yosina) so Poppi asked if she could bring one of her friends that needed work. So now we have Lina. She is older and very new. Poppi is showing her how to do everything. I have seen her concentrating on putting the silverware away in the right containers. Hopefully she will be a quick learner.
This morning Garth, Cale and I went to pick up the guy that he and Jason have been helping. He rolled into the fire and has severe burns on his leg and foot and some gangrene. My parents went twice to help him also. He is improving. The nurse has been packing his wound with sugar to help combat the infection. Some of the burned skin is starting to regrow. The nurse will be gone now for 2 ½ weeks so Jason is going to be doing it without her, so today we moved the guy, Yanis, over to Jason’s house to live with his house helpers. They are friends and it will be easier to care for him with him right there. I told Jason if he needed any help I would come over and help him. If any of you have strong stomachs and would like to see the pictures let us know. They are interesting but very grotesque. Another lady that my Dad helped make a leg brace for took off some of her bandages and then tried to rewrap them and wrapped them too hard and cut off her circulation, so the leg was blue and swollen from the knee down and very painful. So she came back and they took care of her too. Today the guys were so appreciative of our help that they gave us 2 bunches of bananas. It is nice that God gives us little ways to make a difference.
You are making a difference in our lives. We appreciate the notes, cards, money, gifts, prayers etc. Eveything- no matter how big or small is appreciated and noticed. So thank you. I hope that your day is full of sunshine even though it is cold. My family should be landing in Chicago in about 7 hours and they are bringing some Indonesian sunshine just for you.
Love you
Rachel

January 20, 2008 - Kitty

Well, today wasn't my favorite day. We found out last night, about 10ish, that our kitty was hit by a motorcycle. So Mom, Carlena, and 2 of the dorm kids (Josh and Sung Min), along with 2 of our guards went out to see where it had run off to. We searched and searched but could not find it. Finally we gave up and went to bed. This morning when we woke up, Tebe (Cale named it), the kitty was there, but not doing very good.
So I called the vet and she said that she would come over after church and look at it. She could tell by his breathing that it had a collapsed lung, and possibly a hole in its diaphragm. She said she has never done surgery on a cat here, but would be willing to try.
And boy, did she ever try. Once she got the cat opened up she realized it was much worse than she thought, still she tried, but the cat did not survive the procedure. It was difficult because the kids and I have wanted a pet for years, and finally got one for about 2 months and now it is gone. It was hard for all of us. The kids painted rocks and pieces of wood and we buried it in the backyard.
I am glad that my family was here. That helped big time.
So, we went home and watched Rattatouille and popped popcorn and tried not to think about it.
So that was my day.
Bye for now
Rachel

Which one is the mannequin?

Bob found work painting the new hostel.

Sisters walking up an Indonesian street.

Hanging out at the MAF hangar.

Carol goes for a motorcycle ride...

...and so does Carlena.

Sophie opening her Christmas stocking.

The fam.

First steps in Sentani.

January 18, 2008 - Dr. Dad

Yesterday, Garth and my dad went to take an Indonesian man to see a missionary doctor because of a wound on his foot. I won't go in to details about that because some of you may not have eaten breakfast yet and I don't want to ruin your appetite. But I will say that, he thinks that Satan threw him into the fire. What probably happened was that he fell asleep by the fire and rolled into it. Regardless, he burned his foot pretty bad. So while the doctor was treating him a lady from a village in the Highlands was brought in. She broke her leg in three places on New Years Eve when a big rock rolled on it during a party. The doctor had to reset the leg. The lady had no anesthetic, yet made not a peep during the whole process. Good thing my dad was there because he helped the doctor's husband make a brace for her leg out of a 2x4. They were attaching it with ace bandages until they ran out. Then they used duct tape. Good old duct tape.
That stuff is good for everything. They drew quite the crowd of Indonesian amazed at what my Dad and Phil could do. The brace is amazing. The lady was so grateful. What a way to be a blessing.
I have decided that today is the last day we will have sickness in our house. Wyatt has been home with a fever, Mom and Dad are getting over colds, Sophie was up a bunch of times during the night throwing up and Carlena has a terrible cold. Last night her ear was really bothering her, so I read in my Herbal Remedies book that if you finely chop an onion, wrap it in gauze and place it on the ear it will help. So we did that and secured it with a bandana. She smelled like soup but it really helped. Today she feels 100 times better. Yeah for onion ear!!!!
It has been raining today but if it clears up we are going to take the family on a drive around the lake so they can see the different villages. Mom has taken over 1000 pictures already. So if you ask her to see some pictures after she gets back, make sure you have a chair and lots of time.
Hope your day is pleasant.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Rachel

January 17, 2008 - Dragonfruit and Jeruk Bali

I am pulling myself away from the fiesta of fun to write this email to you. I am having a blast with my family (as you can well imagine).
Today Mom and Carlena and I took a great walk down the mountain, through the cemetery, and out to a wonderful fruit stand. I wanted to buy some jeruk bali for them to try. It is segmented like a jumbo grapefruit but not as sour. This morning they tried some dragonfruit.
The outside of it looks like an inflated pink flower but the inside was like a white and black kiwi fruit. I took them to Hypermarket today and they bought a whole bunch of crazy Indonesian foods to bring home to show everyone.
Those of you who know my Dad will not be surprised when I tell you what he was doing today. He went next door to the new hostel that is being built and helped them paint. The foreman is in a time crunch to get the hostel done in time, so I know that they greatly appreciated Dad's help. Right now Garth and my Dad are taking an Indonesian man to the doctor. He has gangrene on his leg or foot that has to be treated everyday for 4 months or he will lose his leg. He does not speak Indonesian so they took an interpreter.
It was so precious when Cale woke up this morning. The first people he called out for were "Grammo and Eena." He, along with Wyatt, Emma and Sophie are REALLY enjoying having family here. Although, I must tell you that we almost lost Mom. When we were at the beach on Monday, we were walking along the ocean picking up shells. Mom bent over to pick up some pretty ones right as a coconut fell from a tree.
Luckily it hit her on the shoulder blade and not on the head!!! For those of you who do not have palm trees in your backyard, let me inform you. They fall fast, and they are stinkin' hard. More people die from coconuts than from being struck by lightning. That was close!!!!!!!! We are very thankful she was o.k. She does have a bruise and we saved the coconut and a reminder. Of course it would happen to Mom....silly girl. We have a hilarious video of Eena trying to slide down the fire pole at the playground at the MAF base. She had a very unique way of sliding, scooting, flying and jumping her way down the pole. Garth was in tears laughing so hard watching the video. We might send it to America's Funniest Home videos-honestly, it would win! She also has quite the bruise on her leg and a knot on the back of her head. You try to figure out how you could get a knot on your head from sliding down a pole. Only her!!!! Ask her about it.
Oh, one more good thing. A wonderful man named Joe bought the hostel a shop vac. It is for wet or dry and it is very nice. I am so glad he brought it when my Dad was here so he could put it together and show me what I needed to know. It is so great to have all of them here.
Bye-Back to the fiesta of fun!!!!!!!!
Rachel

January 13, 2008 - Blessings

We have seen so many blessings from the Lord with my famliy's trip so far. I thought I would share some of them with you. First off, though, I want to thank everyone in the States that gave money for Mom and Dad and Carlena to come here, and those who gave money for us and those who sent presents for us. We were amazed at all of the generous people that care so much about us. The fact that my family was able to fit everything in their luggage and get it all here past customs is a HUGE blessing. God really worked all of that out. When they got to customs, the officer started to go through their luggage. One of the first things he pulled out was my Dad's book, Experiencing God. The officer thought that my Dad was with the Gideon's, Dad said they weren't, but the officer said they were, so he stopped looking and let them through. That is fantastic!!!!!!! Plus, we needed to change some stuff around with our flights and Mom and Dad and Carlena's hotel room for on the way back and all of that got worked out perfectly.
Dad had an awful cold, that cleared up for the trip back here. You could pray for Mom. She had a weird allergic reaction to something in Bali and was all stuffy with itchy red dots all over. They are getting better, but are still there.
Otherwise, there are no complaints from anyone. We are on cloud 9 with the family here. This morning we had a little church service just with the famliy and the kids sang, played the piano, and we all talked about our favorite verses and things we are thankful for. It was very special. Tonight the kids all play socceer and get to show off their moves to Grammo.
God is so good to give me such a great family. We are enjoying every minute.
Lov eyou
Rachel

Pictures from Bali

We met the fam at the airport in Bali. Carol didn't know we were going to be there.

Sisters in Bali.

Sophie Joy in Bali.

Emma Bay in Bali.

Cale likes throwing rocks into the ocean.

Dinner out was great.

Emma got to play some of the local instruments.

Bob and Carol chillin' in Bali.

Is this typical Balinese headwear?

Scary masks.

Fun at the beach in Bali.

Hanging with Grampo at the hotel.

The Een team reunited.

A lot of luggage headed for Sentani.