We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Emma! We had a party for her and some of her friends on Saturday-of course, it was a Fashion Party! She loves to dress up and try on shoes!!! Here are a few pictures from the party:
Sophie-
Emma-
The whole Fashion party-
I feel so blessed to have ten years with this beautiful girlie!
Happy Day!
Rachel
Our week was full this week. Starting on Wednesday we hosted a basketball tournament on our campus. Our A and B boys and girls teams were in it. After elimination, it was down to just our A team boys and girls. They did fantastic and went all the way to finals on Saturday. Finals started Saturday at noon and went until after 11 at night. Our girls went into overtime and then lost by one point with a score of 99 to 100. Isn’t that crazy? Our boys won with a score of 79 to 65. The day the tournament started both hostels were out of water. For a day or two after that we didn’t have any except for what we would get from the rain. The school was having plumbing problems for the week so there were only 4 working toilets for the entire school. We sure could use some well trained plumbers here!
April 19th was Emma’s birthday. She turned 10! It is amazing to think about my little girl in the double digits. We had a dorm party, and a party with her class on Monday and this Saturday we will have her girlfriends over for a Fashion Party. While we were in Singapore I was able to buy some fun things for Emma for her birthday-Polly Pockets, and a High School Musical doll, and some flip-flops.
Yesterday I was able to work with the Grade Four kids. We dissected pig organs-opened up the heart to look inside, along with the lungs, kidneys, spleen, and liver. I think the kids would have enjoyed it more if the parts didn’t smell so bad, but overall they did think it was pretty cool. If you are squeamish don’t look at the last of these pictures.
Hope your day is less smelly than mine…Ha ha.
Love you
Rachel
One of the things I love about Indonesia are the clouds. I know, I know, that might sound like a silly thing, but the clouds here are so absolutely amazing. I am always pointing the kid’s eyes up to the skies to look. The sky is something we take for granted and often ignore, but there is so much beauty to behold in the Heavens.
I read recently that some clouds can weigh more than a million pounds! Isn’t that crazy? Yet we are able to fly right through them. God is so cool, and creative isn’t He?
Today was clear, and bright so Garth, Cale and I went out for a motorcycle ride. Here are some pictures from our morning:
I am reminded again how different life in Indonesia is compared to life in the United States. I mentioned to you a few days ago about the funeral that Garth and I went to for a nephew of one of our pembantus (helpers). Well, the story continues. Apparently, when this boy, Robert, started getting sick, a neighbor noticed and gave him some vitamins to help him get stronger. Later the boy died. Now that neighbor is being charged with witchcraft and sorcery. They are saying that she put a curse on him and killed him. They have attacked her and her house and demanded that she move away so no one else dies. They have also insisted that her family pay 15 juta ($ 1,500) along with 10 pigs and numerous bags of rice.
Other people have been attacked and beaten along with our pembantu. She was beaten because in a family of all women, this nephew was the only boy, and she shouldn’t have “let” him die. One woman went to call the police from a house with a phone. While she was gone her house was destroyed and windows broken in. There is much unrest between the two clans right now. Each violent act just encourages more aggression. Whenever there is a death, they feel like someone has to pay for it. Please pray that they will accept god’s peace and stop the violence.
Rachel
Right now we have four Indonesian students living with us. They are part of a 2 year program called TITIP. In TITIP they can be taught English, and have an opportunity to stay with a Western family to practice. It has been a lot of fun having them. Today we took them to the beach-Tanah Merah. What a beautiful sunny day full of fun and adventure!
There is a rope tied up in one of the palm trees and then a platform built out of bamboo. So you can climb the palm tree and stand on the platform and while grabbing on to the rope you can swing out over the water. Everyone was having so much fun doing it that Cale even wanted to try. It turned out to be his favorite thing! No fear!
Then Garth came up with this “great” idea to play human bowling. The person swinging on the rope tries to see how many people they can knock over. So, of course Cale and Wyatt had to try that. Here is Cale getting a strike:
I heard that Wisconsin may be getting more snow!! Boo-hoo for you! I am sorry! But as you shovel just imagine yourself in one of these pictures-swinging out over the crystal clear waters, feeling the warm sun on your skin, smelling the sunshine in your hair, taking a nap in that hammock like Cale… Glorious!
Love you - Rachel
