Boys and Bananas

Cale and I took a walk the other day.  A father came running towards us with his two naked boys when he saw that I had a camera.  He pushed them at me and kept saying, ‘Photo, photo.’  So here some pictures of them:

I also wanted to take a picture of the banana trees here.  It is so cool how the banana fruit grows down from the middle of the stalk.  Did you know you can eat that?

Cale was so excited when he found something that looked like the nuts that fall at Grammo’s house. (acorns).  It wasn’t really-no oak trees here.  Then he had to pretend to be a superhero and lift the bamboo pole to show off his strength.

Cale keeps asking God to turn him into a superhero that can turn its’ head all the way around and fly.  So far, he is still just my crazy, daredevilish 4 year old little boy that jumps off of everything and runs as fast as the wind.  Sophie (Grade 3) is eight and is not embarrassed to tell you that she loves school.  And homework is the best!  She thrives in a school setting especially if it stretches her.  Emma (Grade 5) is ten and thinks homework is clearly the worst thing ever invented.  It takes her a very long time and she doesn’t understand how figuring out the value of a number will help her be a better fashion model in the future.  Wyatt (Grade 7) is 12 and doesn’t enjoy school but he does well in it and tries to get his homework done as fast as possible so he can go out to the gym and play soccer.
Garth and I have much of the same responsibilities as we did last year.  However, we have decided to be more organized about all the different tasks and try to use our time more wisely.  This should be a year of great growth for all of us.
Love you much-
Rachel

Birthdays, Birdies, and Beaches

The students in the high school here really get along well and one of the main reasons for that is the Annual Back to School Beach Trip.  They  left this morning- all 78 of them- for a weekend at the beach.  The Senior class goes down a day early and gets all the tents set up and campfire pits dug and then the rest of the kids follow.  They have a spectacular time of hanging out, snorkeling, swimming and talking while they stroll along the shoreline.  They come back with a newfound appreciation of each other and rekindled friendships.  And for the first time ever, all of our hostel kids are in high school –therefore they are all on beach trip.  So it is just us here.  That is nice every once in awhile.

We actually had a very crazy night instead of just relaxing.  We had some friends over to celebrate their little boy turning one.  It is hard to have people over when the hostel is all here so we often use these down times to entertain.

This week we got two new kitties.  They have been a very comical addition to the family.  They are very lively with each other and sweet with the kids.  And because timing is often such a funny thing, we also have a mother bird that has built her nest in our laundry gudang and two baby birds have hatched.  Two new kittens…two baby birds…we will see what happens there.

Love you

Rachel

Bubblegum

Garth was talking to Cale yesterday.  The conversation went something like this:  Garth- “Cale, you have had a really great life so far.”  Cale- “Yeah, I know.”  Garth-“What has been your favorite part?”  Cale- “The good, healthy food.  And the bubblegum!”

Yeah!!!! for bubblegum and healthy food.  Don’t you wonder what made him pick those two things?  What would you pick?

Family?  Trips?  Babies?  Gum?  Hahaha-I am sure none of us would pick gum…but what would we pick?  Some of the favorite parts of my life are things I did with those I love.  Times we were all together.  It doesn’t have to be this grandiose event - it is just simple times of hanging out with no agenda, just life.  I love that!  You know, I have come to realize that big trips and expensive Christmas presents are so much fun to be a part of, but they are not necessary.  What our family will remember the most are the times when we gave of ourselves to do something with them.  I know that money is tight for a lot of people right now but that doesn’t mean it has to be a negative time for you or your family.  There are plenty of memories to be made that don’t cost anything but time.  Playing games, reading books, taking walks, helping out a neighbor, visiting someone you haven’t seen for awhile…

What else?  I am sure you can come up with your own list.  Try it.

Love you

Rachel

Why I am Here

First day of school…remember that feeling?  You are excited about all the new things like crayons and notebooks but nervous about the unknowns.  Well, that is what all of our kids are going through right now.  Sophie is in third grade, Emma in fifth, and Wyatt in seventh.  Going from sixth to seventh grade is a big adjustment and Wyatt is experiencing it without his best friend who has gone back to the States.  All of the dorm kids this year are in High School.  We are still very understaffed and so Grades 1 and 2 haven’t started yet, and there will be no band or music classes this year.  Pray for visas to go through and for willing hearts to come here and serve.

Did you ever read the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day?  I feel like we could write our own version of that with all the things that are wrong with the hostel right now.  Our kitchen is all messed up and we still have no hot water, the oven isn’t hooked up, the counter is cracked and so paint chips break off, many of the cabinets won’t close and there are ants everywhere.  The hot water doesn’t work in our shower, the dinner table isn’t finished, there are holes in the screens that let bugs and lizards in, there are termites, we still haven’t found our cat which means soon we will have a rat problem as well…should I go on?????

Blah, blah, blah…o.k. I got all that out of my system.  I have to keep telling myself that I am not here for my comfort.  I am here to minister to the dorm kids that need me.  I am here to find ways to bless others.  I am here in obedience to what God has asked me to do.  When I stop remembering that, I get frustrated at all these ‘terrible, horrible, no good bothersome’ things.  Instead, I need to look out at the beautiful mountain in our backyard and taste the fresh, juicy pineapples, and see the way the kids rush in the door after school to see us and tell us all about their day, their joys and struggles…Ahhhhhh, I can do this…This is why I am here.

Thanks for praying.

Love you-
Rachel

Dry, Parched Ground

This week we had another brush fire start up because everything here is so very hot and dry.  Anytime the fire is anywhere near the school or the houses people start to get worried.  This one was very close so all the gardeners ran to get branches and a hose to try to steer it away or put it out.  They always do a great job working together in situations like that, and once again they put the fire out. 

Lately we are all looking eagerly to the skies for any sign of gray clouds that may come this way bearing rain.  The ground is so cracked and dry, the grass so brown, the leaves drooping down in need of rain.  Once rain starts to fall down the ground can’t soak it up fast enough.  The Bible says that Jesus is our “Living Water.”  I am realizing that I need to be like a dry, parched ground aching to soak up every drop.  Longing for the nourishment that only He can provide. Nothing else can satisfy, nothing.  I can go outside with a hose and try to water stuff but there is no way I have enough water, and what I do won’t last.  But the rain…that is what the ground needs.  Just like with me, I can try to get happiness and fulfillment from other people or things, but nothing will last like a life soaked up in Jesus.  Only when I am filled up with Him can I grow and produce fruit.  What good is a withered up tree?  Not much.  I don’t want to be like that.  How about you?

Love you-

Rachel

Sentani

We made it-we are here in Sentani.  Talk about culture shock!  What a difference from what we have been used to these last 9 weeks.

It is so hot and right now everything is so very brown-we are in desperate need for some rain.  There is no waterfall as it is completely dried up until we get some more rain.  The hostel has a few changes as well.  For some reason someone moved our small oven and so now it is no longer connected to a gas line so we cannot use it.  Someone came into our outside gudang and stole all our soap.  One of our bathrooms in our apartment was locked with a key and pulled closed so we can’t use that either.  Our bus was missing, and our cat is gone.  We had people watching her and feeding her but she is gone.  We walked around one area two times yesterday calling her and looking everywhere.  One of the gardeners said that he saw her there on Friday.  We will keep looking, but the kids are devastated.

We got here and there was absolutely no food.  Luckily, I had brought some boxes of Mac-N-Cheese with from America so we had that for brunch.  The house helpers said that they couldn’t finish the cleaning or do the mounds of laundry that we brought back with us from Bali because someone had stolen the soap and cleaners.  So after a quick nap, we ran to the store to stock up on everything.  And I mean EVERYTHING.

Tomorrow is Indonesia’s Independence Day and all the shops are closed.  So we knew that we had to get all the shopping done today.

The dorm kids come tomorrow.  One day to get ready…pray for strength, o.k.?

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Riding the ripstick and playing tag to stretch out our legs after the first leg of the journey, and sleeping on the hard tile floor at the Makassar airport. By this time, we were so tired we would have slept anywhere.

Leaving Bali

Today we leave Bali.  Originally we bought tickets with an airline that is usually pretty awful, but they are the only ones that have an afternoon flight from Bali to Jayapura.  The other airlines have flights through the night.  Wouldn’t you know, that this airline, Lion Air, decided to switch their flight.  So now we will be leaving at 6 p.m. and fly to Makassar where we will sit until 2:30 a.m. and then fly to Jayapura.  UGH!  What a way to end a vacation.

We will get to Sentani at 7 a.m. on Monday, go home and sleep a bit, and then it is off to do a huge grocery load since the dorm kids come on Tuesday, and school starts on Wednesday.  We will hit the ground running.

But what a fantastic summer.  The kids keep talking about all of our amazing memories.  How many kids can say that they spent their summer with family in Wisconsin, went up north to their great Grandpa’s cabin, birthday parties, picnics, hanging out in downtown Chicago and going to Navy Pier, Virginia, New York, got to see all the sights in Washington D.C., go to a water park, bowling, fishing, swimming, tubing, then travel to Tokyo, Singapore, and Bali??????  My goodness!  What a summer.  We sure packed it full!

Thank you to everyone that helped make this so fun!  Thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us all live together in such wonderful harmony, and Papa Don and Priscilla for letting us stay there as well.

Love you all-

Erickson’s

Here are some pictures of Bali-

1. When we first got there, we were so very tired.  Cale fell asleep at the table.  2. The next morning eating breakfast at the hotel, we were much more awake. 3. Touching the wall of water 4. Cale taking a nap in one of the cabanas

5.  The pool at the hotel (doesn’t that look inviting?) 6. A man dressed in celebratory garb 7. One of the many beautiful sunsets 8. Making friends at the pool (Wyatt and Chris talked to the boy in the red shirt about Jesus!)

9. One of the water pedestals that they decorate each day 10.  Some people doing a native Balinese dance at our hotel

Our Ceremony

I have had this romantic idea floating around in my head for sometime-that Garth and I could renew our vows on the beach in Bali.  We just celebrated our 15^th year of marriage and I thought it would be an amazing time to do it.

The kids all wanted to help.  They looked up verses and planned the service.  Garth and I wrote our vows to each other and we wrote vows to each kid to let them know how special we think they are and our promise to always love them completely.

The girls picked fresh flowers for Cale to sprinkle around us and they made me a bouquet to hold.  We found the perfect place on the beach to have the sunset ceremony. Wyatt did the service.  They each took turns as the photographer.

It was such a magnificently beautiful time.  I am so in love with my wonderful husband and it was precious to hear how he feels and for the kids to be a part of our commitment to each other and to them.

The only thing that could have made the night more perfect would have been to have our friends and family there to be a part of it as well.

Here are a few pictures:

Sweet Home Alabama

Today was a bountiful day full of fun family memories.  In the morning we went out to the little shops around the hotel looking at all their goodies and got some ice cream to try and cool off.  Came home and took a family nap.  (Can’t remember the last time that happened.)  Then we all went to the pool to relax and swim.  Once our stomachs started rumbling we decided to walk around and see if we could find a place to eat.  We happened upon a really spectacular place that we fell in love with.  It was called The Grill and it had a strange mix of foods:  like hamburgers with pineapple and goat cheese or spaghetti with a bacon sauce.  But the best part was the ambience.  There were three musicians lively playing whatever requests were given to them (except Stairway to Heaven-they didn’t know that one.)  But we had a great time singing along to Sweet Home Alabama, Hotel California and many Beatles tunes.  It was so much fun watching the family enjoy it while Cale was dancing around.  When we got back to the hotel at around 8 we all decided to take a quick dip in the pool. 

I went to bed smiling and feeling so relaxed and happy!

Isn’t that a great way to end the day?

Love you

Rachel