Scrunchy face
Doesn't that look inviting?
Emma
Old culture and new culture collide
Our girls night
Sunday, March 29, 2009
5.9
Have I told you about my new favorite sandwich? A piece of toast with ranch dressing, homemade salsa (or tomato, onion, green onion and a bit of garlic), cheese, avocado, and a fried egg. YUMMY-O! How does that sound? You should try it. I know the economy is bad there and we are feeling it here too. I have been learning ways to cut corners. By making a lot of things homemade it is really helping. Salsa, dressings, granola, sauces, powdered milk, bread, noodles, etc. This week I am going to try homemade mayonnaise. There is no mayo here, hasn’t been for many months. We will see how that turns out.
We had a really nice earthquake last night. Did you hear about it? It was a 5.9 and it really shook our bed. Garth and I both woke up to it at about 3 am. The kids slept right through it. But Emma did say in the morning that it felt like someone was sliding her head off the pillow. We also had an awesome lightning storm and the rollingest thunder ever. It just kept going and going.
I am sure you had a crazy week. We did too. Ibu Poppi did not come in on Wednesday or Thursday and no pembantus came in on Saturday. I was trying to get ready for an overnight with the High School girls. That was on Friday to Saturday-I was the speaker so of course we talked about boys, and dating and marriage and ate yummy food and watched Fireproof. Have you seen it? It was great movie of hope and not giving up no matter how hard your marriage seems to be.
Garth did really FINE with the kids while I was gone. I did notice that Cale was in the same clothes on Saturday that I put him in Friday morning, he had a few scrapes, and Emma told me that Daddy almost made her cry. I asked her what happened and she told me that at the dinner table Garth said, “Hey, this is what it would be like if Mommy was dead.” He is such a …what is the right word????? If Brenda, his sister was with me here she would give me about 20 words I could insert into that sentence. He is such a character, isn’t he? I love that boy!
Today we took our hostel and the other hostel to the pool. That was real fun! Garth always has game ideas for everyone-Sharks and Minnows, and Jump or dive. The kids love it! Pretty soon it will be hot and sunny by you and you can jump into some bright blue water and cool off. Doesn’t that sound fantastic?
Love you all-
Rachel
We had a really nice earthquake last night. Did you hear about it? It was a 5.9 and it really shook our bed. Garth and I both woke up to it at about 3 am. The kids slept right through it. But Emma did say in the morning that it felt like someone was sliding her head off the pillow. We also had an awesome lightning storm and the rollingest thunder ever. It just kept going and going.
I am sure you had a crazy week. We did too. Ibu Poppi did not come in on Wednesday or Thursday and no pembantus came in on Saturday. I was trying to get ready for an overnight with the High School girls. That was on Friday to Saturday-I was the speaker so of course we talked about boys, and dating and marriage and ate yummy food and watched Fireproof. Have you seen it? It was great movie of hope and not giving up no matter how hard your marriage seems to be.
Garth did really FINE with the kids while I was gone. I did notice that Cale was in the same clothes on Saturday that I put him in Friday morning, he had a few scrapes, and Emma told me that Daddy almost made her cry. I asked her what happened and she told me that at the dinner table Garth said, “Hey, this is what it would be like if Mommy was dead.” He is such a …what is the right word????? If Brenda, his sister was with me here she would give me about 20 words I could insert into that sentence. He is such a character, isn’t he? I love that boy!
Today we took our hostel and the other hostel to the pool. That was real fun! Garth always has game ideas for everyone-Sharks and Minnows, and Jump or dive. The kids love it! Pretty soon it will be hot and sunny by you and you can jump into some bright blue water and cool off. Doesn’t that sound fantastic?
Love you all-
Rachel
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Smoke and Ice Cream
O.k. Let me tell you about my breakfast. Cale and I were the only ones here. The kids were all at school and Garth was as well since he is in skits this week. So we were sitting at the table eating granola when I heard a noise from over at the computer table. No one was there and all 3 of our 8 month old computers were off. A few moments later a large puff of smoke started to come out of the back of one of the computers along with an awful smell. I quickly called one of the maintenance workers who came by to make sure it wasn’t an electrical problem. Cale thought it was super cool. It seems that, after thorough examination, that computer is dead. It has gigged too many bytes, and been permanently been downloaded.
Sophie brought home some papers from school today. In the pile was a St. Patrick’s Day four leaf clover that she wrote 3 of her wishes on. This is what she wrote: I wish Timber was here (My parents dog that just died). I wish I would be closer to God. I wish Maya and me were sisters. (Maya is her best friend).
The girls and I had a wonderful time on Sunday. We went out on a date and got ice cream and did some fun shopping (according to Sophie food shopping isn’t the fun shopping). It was a real nice time to hang out away from all the hustle and bustle of the dorm and all the kids here and just talk. Speaking of talking, I will be doing a lot of that this weekend, so pray for me. I am speaking on Friday and Saturday to the High School Girls at a weekend retreat.
It is going to be fun. We are going to talk about boys!
Love you all-
Rachel
Sophie brought home some papers from school today. In the pile was a St. Patrick’s Day four leaf clover that she wrote 3 of her wishes on. This is what she wrote: I wish Timber was here (My parents dog that just died). I wish I would be closer to God. I wish Maya and me were sisters. (Maya is her best friend).
The girls and I had a wonderful time on Sunday. We went out on a date and got ice cream and did some fun shopping (according to Sophie food shopping isn’t the fun shopping). It was a real nice time to hang out away from all the hustle and bustle of the dorm and all the kids here and just talk. Speaking of talking, I will be doing a lot of that this weekend, so pray for me. I am speaking on Friday and Saturday to the High School Girls at a weekend retreat.
It is going to be fun. We are going to talk about boys!
Love you all-
Rachel
Storms and Sunshine
Well, I was entirely wrong in saying that it looks like we are nearing the end of our rainy season. I told you all that on Sunday and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday we had these crazy rain storms, I mean torrential rain falls, flooding, and blustery winds…how funny. Like the weather decided to prove me wrong. But today, the sun was out and the breeze was blowing, the air smelled like sunshine-it was beautiful! I was thinking about all of that, of course, and it is such a great representation of my week. You all know, Monday Cale fell down and Tuesday we took him in for x-rays. The verdict now is that he has a green stick fracture in his collarbone and the bone is bent. So he has it bandaged up and has to wear it in a sling for a few weeks. Also on Tuesday, we caught one of our pembantus stealing money from one of the dorm kids. She was in his room, in his drawer and unzipped one of his bags looking for money. So Wednesday we sat down with her and told her she was fired. Now her Mom is our main cook, Poppi, so we didn’t know how this would affect our relationship with Poppi. Thursday, Poppi didn’t show up. She didn’t come in. So thankfully Garth helped me in the kitchen get lunch out. Then Emma came home at lunchtime with a fever of 102.7. All of this going on was like the storms outside. I was starting to get really frustrated. Cale just would not slow down like he is supposed to until his arm is healed, Emma was sick, I didn’t know if we were going to get Poppi back and I didn’t want to be stuck in the kitchen cooking every day…storm, storm, storm. But then, I had to stop, chill and take a breath. I needed to realize that I don’t have the strength to get through any day by myself whether it is a good day or a bad day-I need God. Psalms 25:4-5 says “Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me. For you are God, My Savior, And my hope is in You all day long.” You know the verse says twice to teach me. Sometimes we don’t learn things the first time and we need to be taught and taught some more.
Today I woke up to a gorgeous sun shining day. It was perfect. Poppi came in and brought a friend of hers that she wants to try and train in the kitchen to help us out. So I told her we would give her a one month trial to see how she does. Cale still isn’t always remembering to slow down, but he is trying and Emma’s fever is down a bit. But even if nothing was changed from yesterday, I still have hope. “My hope is in You all day long.”
But isn’t God good to give us days of rain and days of sun? Days of snow and days of spring?
Love you all-
Rachel
Today I woke up to a gorgeous sun shining day. It was perfect. Poppi came in and brought a friend of hers that she wants to try and train in the kitchen to help us out. So I told her we would give her a one month trial to see how she does. Cale still isn’t always remembering to slow down, but he is trying and Emma’s fever is down a bit. But even if nothing was changed from yesterday, I still have hope. “My hope is in You all day long.”
But isn’t God good to give us days of rain and days of sun? Days of snow and days of spring?
Love you all-
Rachel
Argh!
Wednesday
If you were to ask me how my day went today I would probably reply with grunts and groans, instead of words. Like “Uhhhhhhhh, blahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and argh!” It wasn’t too great. What happened was, we had some of our dorm kids tell us that they were missing money. Some of them were missing quite a bit but all of them said that the money had just gone missing within the last few days. So one boy said that the money was there in the morning and gone in the afternoon. We began to wonder if one of our pembantus had been stealing money. So Garth set up his laptop in the room of the boy who had just lost his money. The laptop has a feature where it can sense motion and then start recording video. Sure enough we later saw on that video one of our kitchen helpers going in that room, opening a drawer, going through some stuff and looking for money. In this situation, the only thing we can do is to fire her. There is no second chance when it comes to stealing. And they all know that. The difficult twist in all of this is that the helper that was stealing, was our main cook’s, Ibu Poppi’s, daughter. (Is this a soap opera or what?) So in firing her daughter we did not know how Poppi would take it. So we sat Poppi and this helper down yesterday to talk about the situation-and to make a long story short, the helper denied taking the money, (even though we have it on video), and she sat with her arms crossed furiously tapping her foot the entire time. Poppi told us that we could take the missing money out of her check. And that was pretty much how it ended.
Thursday
I went into the kitchen this morning and was told by Agu, (our laundry girl) that Ibu Poppi would not be coming in today. Now, this could be Poppi’s way of making a statement with us about firing her daughter. Or there could be a legitimate reason that she didn’t come in…I do not know. But it stunk. Poppi knows when she is not here, that means that I am the one doing all the cooking. So, thankfully Garth was a big help in getting everything out in time.
We would appreciate your prayer in dealing with this whole pembantu situation and with Cale and his collarbone-also with Emma. She came home from school with a fever (102.7). She is my girl that is never sick. So this is rare. Hopefully it won’t last long.
Thank you!
Love
Rachel
If you were to ask me how my day went today I would probably reply with grunts and groans, instead of words. Like “Uhhhhhhhh, blahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and argh!” It wasn’t too great. What happened was, we had some of our dorm kids tell us that they were missing money. Some of them were missing quite a bit but all of them said that the money had just gone missing within the last few days. So one boy said that the money was there in the morning and gone in the afternoon. We began to wonder if one of our pembantus had been stealing money. So Garth set up his laptop in the room of the boy who had just lost his money. The laptop has a feature where it can sense motion and then start recording video. Sure enough we later saw on that video one of our kitchen helpers going in that room, opening a drawer, going through some stuff and looking for money. In this situation, the only thing we can do is to fire her. There is no second chance when it comes to stealing. And they all know that. The difficult twist in all of this is that the helper that was stealing, was our main cook’s, Ibu Poppi’s, daughter. (Is this a soap opera or what?) So in firing her daughter we did not know how Poppi would take it. So we sat Poppi and this helper down yesterday to talk about the situation-and to make a long story short, the helper denied taking the money, (even though we have it on video), and she sat with her arms crossed furiously tapping her foot the entire time. Poppi told us that we could take the missing money out of her check. And that was pretty much how it ended.
Thursday
I went into the kitchen this morning and was told by Agu, (our laundry girl) that Ibu Poppi would not be coming in today. Now, this could be Poppi’s way of making a statement with us about firing her daughter. Or there could be a legitimate reason that she didn’t come in…I do not know. But it stunk. Poppi knows when she is not here, that means that I am the one doing all the cooking. So, thankfully Garth was a big help in getting everything out in time.
We would appreciate your prayer in dealing with this whole pembantu situation and with Cale and his collarbone-also with Emma. She came home from school with a fever (102.7). She is my girl that is never sick. So this is rare. Hopefully it won’t last long.
Thank you!
Love
Rachel
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Update on Cale
Here is an update on Cale. This morning we took him to a hospital called Doyo and had three x-rays done of his collarbone. It appears that it is NOT broken, but it is quite bent. His bones are still so flexible that the bone arched up, but did not snap. If you look at the x-ray, on the right side (when you are looking at it here) you can see the way the clavicle bone is supposed to be. Fairly straight. If you look at the left side, you can see how it is arched up. However, a bump in just the right place could break the bone, so we are going to really have to watch him and keep it wrapped up until it heals. But this is all good news. No broken bones means a quicker healing time. Yahoo! Thank you for your care and your concern. We will keep you posted.
Love you-
Rachel
Monday, March 16, 2009
Cale's Broken Collarbone
Cale before his big fall
After the fall
Aimee checking him out
Getting wrapped up
A make shift sling
Getting the royal treatment from his siblings Cale's Big Day
Just a praise and a prayer request for you. But first a rule: family members are NOT allowed to freak out. Cale fell down today and broke his collarbone. Now, this could have been so much worse. We happened to have a friend here that is an orthopedic specialist and she came over right away and was able to check him. She is 98% sure that it is broken. However, we will take him to get an x-ray tomorrow morning. Of all the possible bones to break here in Papua, this is the best one. Because all they would do is wrap it in a figure eight with a bandage-no cast and no surgery (probably). So we have it wrapped in the bandage, and he is in bed sleeping. He is such a trooper. He is so tough when it comes to injuries. I am sure in the next few days he will figure out what he can do with the bandage on and what he can’t. I am attaching some pictures of the whole ordeal. We are so fortunate that he fell in grass too. It could have been worse had it been a hard surface. We will let you know what the x-rays tell us. Pray that he heals quickly and that he slows down while he is healing. Thanks.
Rachel
Rachel
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Today
There was much excitement today after school. Once a year we have “8th Grade Sneak.” That means that the adults in charge plan a fun surprise getaway for all of the 8th graders and “steal” them away after school. The kids don’t know where they are going or what they are doing. The parents (or in our case Hostel parents) pack for them and send them off. So, after school when they kids realized that today was the day, the air was suddenly charged with much delight. The plan was that after school they were to have a snack by our water tower and then walk to the mall-shop, and then have pizza at our one pizza place. After that, Garth picked them up and took them to a new airplane hangar that was just built. They would have a bonfire, play games, and spend the night-the girls would be in the guest house and the boys would sleep in the hangar). Tomorrow Garth will take them to the beach for the day while the rest of the kids in other grades have to go to school. Doesn’t that sounds like great fun?
The Elementary kids have had Spirit Week this whole week and have had fun themes to dress up as. Monday-Fake Injury Day Tuesday-Disguise Day Wednesday-Hippie Day (it should be hippie day everyday! I love it) Thursday- Family Day (the class gets together and decides on what they all want to be). Sophie’s going to be a dog, Emma a teenager, Wyatt a skater. Friday- No school. So we are all going to Kali Biru. That beautiful place where we jump off the bridge into the rapids. Fun!
Love you all-
Rachel
The Elementary kids have had Spirit Week this whole week and have had fun themes to dress up as. Monday-Fake Injury Day Tuesday-Disguise Day Wednesday-Hippie Day (it should be hippie day everyday! I love it) Thursday- Family Day (the class gets together and decides on what they all want to be). Sophie’s going to be a dog, Emma a teenager, Wyatt a skater. Friday- No school. So we are all going to Kali Biru. That beautiful place where we jump off the bridge into the rapids. Fun!
Love you all-
Rachel
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Weekend
How are you today? Did you have a nice weekend? I know you lost an hour on Sunday. That is good news for me because now you are only 14 hours behind me! It makes me feel closer somehow. Garth was gone on Saturday. He took a bunch of high schoolers on the pipe walk (do you remember when I did that with him?) Same pipe. They hiked up it and then swam in the pools of water from the waterfalls. It is beautiful and fun, and they all had an awesome time.
The kids and I decided to make the best of our day so we took a long walk to an orchard area on our property that is so pretty. The kids brought a bucket and collected “treasures.” We found lots of cool things. Then we had a picnic outside under one of the pondoks we have (a covered hut with tables and a swing). It was such a gorgeous day. You would have loved it. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cool. There was a fantastic breeze and we had sandwiches and some Sour cream and onion chips that I got for my birthday and fruit. Wyatt had his new knife and made everyone little spears and we played a game of trying to get them to stick in the ground. And we played on the water tower, and swung on our swing. Sophie said it was the bestest picnic ever! Then we came in with our hair smelling like sunshine. Remember that smell? It is coming for you. Spring is coming! I promise! Isn’t that exciting? Hang in there. Don’t get frustrated with the cold. I miss it. I desperately wish I could have a day or two of snow and cold. But that is highly unlikely for me. So we both have to just deal with what we have.
Take a few minutes and look out the window and enjoy the blue sky. It might refresh your spirit.
Love you-Rachel
The kids and I decided to make the best of our day so we took a long walk to an orchard area on our property that is so pretty. The kids brought a bucket and collected “treasures.” We found lots of cool things. Then we had a picnic outside under one of the pondoks we have (a covered hut with tables and a swing). It was such a gorgeous day. You would have loved it. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cool. There was a fantastic breeze and we had sandwiches and some Sour cream and onion chips that I got for my birthday and fruit. Wyatt had his new knife and made everyone little spears and we played a game of trying to get them to stick in the ground. And we played on the water tower, and swung on our swing. Sophie said it was the bestest picnic ever! Then we came in with our hair smelling like sunshine. Remember that smell? It is coming for you. Spring is coming! I promise! Isn’t that exciting? Hang in there. Don’t get frustrated with the cold. I miss it. I desperately wish I could have a day or two of snow and cold. But that is highly unlikely for me. So we both have to just deal with what we have.
Take a few minutes and look out the window and enjoy the blue sky. It might refresh your spirit.
Love you-Rachel
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Birthday Pictures
My cool new bag
Yummy Chocolate Cake!!!
Sophie made me a neat-o card
Two cakes!?! How lucky am I?
At the river
You gotta put your head in, Mom...
At the fruit stand buying sirsak-yum!Birthday Fun!!
I had a wonderful day yesterday. Yes, it was my birthday. I was showered with birthday wishes-thank you to all. In the morning Garth took Cale and I to the river. It was beautiful. With all the rain we have had lately, the river was full of waterfalls that were so stunning to see. Then Emma and Sophie made me a cake and decorated it with Garth. We had a nice family party and then I had another surprise party with another cake and crazy hats and all the dorm kids decorated and we played a silly game. Fun, fun, fun! I must say that I definitely do not feel 35, but I guess the calendar does not lie. Anyways, I feel very blessed to be so loved. I wish I could have spent it with all of you , but I am thankful for the treasures of memories I have from a special birthday here. Thanks.
Life is back to normal today. Garth woke up not feeling so well. He is getting a cold. For him when he feels it coming, he can get a bunch of sleep and then prevent it from fully attacking. That doesn’t work for me, but for him it often does. So Cale and I took a long walk down to the store to buy some flour and then took an ojek up (motorcycle taxi.) I forgot that I was wearing a skirt so I had to ride sidesaddle with Cale on my lap. Now that is the true Indonesian way. I fit right in when I ride like that.
An update on the kids-Cale just lost his fingernail from getting it slammed in the door and now his toenail is about to fall off from the same thing. That kid is tough. He is such a boy. He falls down and gets right up. He loves smashing bugs and getting dirty. Anything he can climb up on and jump off of is great fun. My Emma Bay has the sweetest heart. She loves to take care of Cale and bandage up everyone’s scrapes. A long time ago when we were out I mentioned a purse that I liked and she remembered it and got it for my birthday. She is having a hard time in school, though staying focused. She is so easily distracted and needs reminders to stay on task. Wyatt loves soccer, and shooting his bow and arrow or shooting his bee bee guns. He is getting quite good at hitting his target. He did mess up his wrist yesterday and it is quite swollen and painful. So I will have it looked at today to see what is wrong. Sophie is reading through her chapter books like they are one-liners. That girl loves to read and is very focused and organized. She loves school and learning. When she goes to the library she gets the information books like The Statue of Liberty and the Civil War. She says when she grows up she wants to be a scientist.
Thanks again for all the birthday wishes sent my way. Now that I am older, I should try to act wiser. I guess that means no more sliding down the slide or playing in the rain. Well, maybe I can-for a few more years…What do you think?
Love you all-
Rachel
Life is back to normal today. Garth woke up not feeling so well. He is getting a cold. For him when he feels it coming, he can get a bunch of sleep and then prevent it from fully attacking. That doesn’t work for me, but for him it often does. So Cale and I took a long walk down to the store to buy some flour and then took an ojek up (motorcycle taxi.) I forgot that I was wearing a skirt so I had to ride sidesaddle with Cale on my lap. Now that is the true Indonesian way. I fit right in when I ride like that.
An update on the kids-Cale just lost his fingernail from getting it slammed in the door and now his toenail is about to fall off from the same thing. That kid is tough. He is such a boy. He falls down and gets right up. He loves smashing bugs and getting dirty. Anything he can climb up on and jump off of is great fun. My Emma Bay has the sweetest heart. She loves to take care of Cale and bandage up everyone’s scrapes. A long time ago when we were out I mentioned a purse that I liked and she remembered it and got it for my birthday. She is having a hard time in school, though staying focused. She is so easily distracted and needs reminders to stay on task. Wyatt loves soccer, and shooting his bow and arrow or shooting his bee bee guns. He is getting quite good at hitting his target. He did mess up his wrist yesterday and it is quite swollen and painful. So I will have it looked at today to see what is wrong. Sophie is reading through her chapter books like they are one-liners. That girl loves to read and is very focused and organized. She loves school and learning. When she goes to the library she gets the information books like The Statue of Liberty and the Civil War. She says when she grows up she wants to be a scientist.
Thanks again for all the birthday wishes sent my way. Now that I am older, I should try to act wiser. I guess that means no more sliding down the slide or playing in the rain. Well, maybe I can-for a few more years…What do you think?
Love you all-
Rachel
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Get rid of it!
Today was not my favorite of all days. This week has been a week of bad news from back home, and then this morning a lady that said she would do something for me changed her mind and backed out of it, and then I heard that Cale was being bad in nursery…UGH! I was sitting in church, down because I was thinking about all of this stuff. And I realized that I needed a different perspective on it all. I was looking at each bit of bad news and each bad thing as like these heavy blocks that were being put on top of me. Each thing was a new block and it was getting heavier and heavier. Instead I decided that I need to set them out in front of me and look at each one as it is. You know, all the stuff from back home-former youth group kids getting in trouble, etc. I can’t change those things now by sitting here worrying about them. My Aunt that is in the hospital in a coma, I can’t change her situation by stressing out. The lady that backed out of helping me, that will not change because I feel like being bitter or mad at her about it. Now the Cale situation I can definitely change and I will, believe me. But by looking at them one at a time and figuring out what I can do about them made the weight of it all better. Then one by one I picked up those blocks, prayed about them and then pictured myself giving them to God. And suddenly I felt lighter. Truth be told, God never intended on us struggling under the weight of our problems. He wrote in the Bible for us to “Cast all of our cares on Him, for He careth for you.” His back is so much more stronger than mine. He is ALWAYS there waiting for me to stop trying to fix my own problems. He knows what is going on and already knows the way it will turn out. I know nothing compared to that. I don’t know what you are going through right now, but I do know that you don’t have to struggle under the weight of it. Get rid of it and give it to God. Besides you can’t dance with the fireflies with an 80 pound backpack on, can you?
I love you guys-
Rachel
I love you guys-
Rachel
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