Land of Our Sojourn

A Season of Thanksgiving in the Tropics

2011-11-19T20:29:00.001-08:00

Our family is feeling thankful these days. Thanks, in part, to our Thankful Tree. Have you seen one before? We got the idea from some random person's blog last year and fortunately remembered it in time to create it and use it this November. It quickly became something we each look forward to every evening. After dinner we pick a leaf from my attempt at a fall centerpiece and talk about what we are thankful for that day. It has been a really good reminder to each of us to "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus".

Our Thankful Tree

(for those of you who wonder how B uses his painting degree... this was one of his rare opportunities)

A doesn't ever want to put the leaves on the branches :o)

Our festive fall centerpiece

(created by the only orange pumpkin I've ever seen in the tropics, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and construction paper leaves)

An up-close shot of a few leaves

(a few of my other favorites: my bear puzzle, working ACs, Emma running, rain and quiet at nap time, salsa, snuggling A on the couch)

...And Facebook will Give You Rest??

2011-09-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

Life can often be a real struggle. Lately, for us, life is making us very tired. B is out every day either sharing for a few hours, having meetings, or doing coaching with our partners here. By the end of the day, he's really exhausted from the heat and having to be 'on his game' relationally. For K, she is finding herself at home with an increasingly difficult (but still a joy!) 2 1/2 year old and a growing 16lb 6 month old. She's often falling asleep at 8pm. In addition, there are the unique challenges of living in a different culture (even though, after 5 years, many things have become quite normal) and the spiritual attacks that have increased since we've been back (weariness, unexplainable sickness, and emotional stress). So, it is really easy after the kids are down to think, "Now, its time for ME! I've earned rest and relaxation."

However, God has been working on us lately to really examine that common desire to see if it is really true. We often think that TV, Facebook, or other such things will give us rest. Meaning, after we do those things, we will be re-energized to engage in the hard work of ministry and raising kids - which requires grace, humility, and purity. It didn't take long to realize that those activities were not, and would not, ultimately give us the rest we needed. For instance, on a typical day reading through our Facebook updates, I might read an update that makes me feel sorry for myself or feel envy because I didn't get a brand new gadget or household appliance because I don't have the money or it's not available over here. But depending on the day, that same post might make me feel proud and arrogant, because I've sacrificed so much and that person hasn't. Or, I might read a news article or a political opinion that makes me angry...etc, etc, etc. And then while simply browsing the internet or watching a DVD of a show we brought over here, we might be exposed to all sorts of things haphazardly, like: clothes we want, music we want, kids toys that we want, a music video that has a little too much skin in it, or a scene in a show of people about to have sex (which opens a whole new door or thoughts and struggles).

Whew! Does any of that seem restful? Instead of being re-energized to love our family sacrificially and give our children grace-filled words instead emotional and angry words, we instead have let things into our hearts that will put us on edge and will require some serious prayer to put behind us. You see, we're learning that the spirit of indulgence that we feel when tired, is just another thing that is evidence of being tired (like our body feeling tired, being a little bit more emotional than usual, or losing sight of real perspective). However, it is extremely difficult to teach ourselves how to deal with this.

We are just beginning to see that when we indulge (with internet, food, TV, etc), we are no more well rested than we were before those activities. And we are beginning to learn that when we take that free moment to read the Bible and center our hearts on our deep, deep need for Jesus' Spirit to meet us and guide us, we are much more fun to be around, much more joyful, and much more in control of our actions, our thoughts, and our words. And that is what we really need to be good parents, spouses, and pleasing workers for our King.

It really is true, when Jesus says, "Come to me all you weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

Any thoughts? How do you and your family deal with the indulgence monster?

Caleb is 6 months!

2011-09-03T07:38:00.001-07:00

Our little guy has hit the six month mark. He's been a total joy. He's not crawling yet but certainly wants to. We're taking all the cuddles we can get these days because we're pretty sure once he figures out how to be really mobile he won't stop. He's got some hilarious noises. The noises seems to come in two sets: the cute, typical baby noises along the lines of waa waa, baa baa, gu gu and then crazy deep throated growling. He absolutely loves his big sister. He's just generally a happy, smiley, easy baby. We are thankful everyday for little Caleb. Here's a glimpse of the adorable guy at 6 months.

Caleb is 6 mo, a set on Flickr.

Jilbabs Galore

2011-08-21T05:55:00.001-07:00

This is our fifth Ramadhan in a Muslim country. It is such an interesting experience! I just felt like sharing some of the things that are catching my attention this year.

-Coconuts!! In the afternoon just before the breaking of the fast there are small stands every where on the side of the road selling fresh coconut juice (the water-like substance on the inside of the coconut, not the milky stuff made from the fruit). The seller hacks open the coconut right there in front of you and pours out the juice and some of the "young" coconut on the inside into a plastic bag with a straw. Around here this is a traditional beverage to drink to break your fast. Turns out, we learned last year from a BBC article, coconut water is one of the most naturally hydrating beverages on the planet- its full of electrolytes and other things drinks like Gatorade have to manufacture.

-Jilbabs on Sale- Every store has their nicest Muslim garb out on sale. Prayer rugs, prayer hats, wooden Quran holders, sarongs used by men during prayers, and jilbabs galore! (FYI- That's the Muslim female head covering around here.) I almost wish I needed some because you can find them in every color of the rainbow, with or without rhinestones, and with the prettiest broach type pins to attach them with.

-3am Tofu Seller- Every day so far I've heard the man walking (or maybe riding his bicycle?) up and down our street at 3am yelling "Tofu... TOFUUUUUUUU". Since most people buy the food they want to cook the day they want to cook it (either for lack of a fridge or just out of cultural habit), it appears to extend to buying tofu at 3am the fry up just before the fast begins at daybreak.

-Quiet Streets at Mid-day- Every week, at least once (if not many more times) we almost hit someone on a motorbike or almost get hit. The traffic is always horrendous!! But, during this month people are tired by the middle of the day (since they haven't eaten since like 4:30am) so the traffic is much lighter and a pleasure to drive in! If I didn't have a baby that naps 3 or 4 times a day I think I'd be making up excuses of errands to run just to drive around.

Second Half of Time in the States

2011-08-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, right?

Here is a few of our highlights of our time in Lincoln and then our last weeks in Houston. Brian ran the Lincoln Marathon and we got to see lots of family! It was great. It is so fun that Abigail knows Aunt Jenna, Great Grandma, Great Aunt Ruthie, and Great Aunt Lysa all by name when she sees their faces!

5 Years and Counting...

2011-07-21T06:54:00.001-07:00

Last week we celebrated a very special occasion. In July of 2006, we sold our cars, had a bunch of garage sales, and flew to a foreign, unknown, and scary place. When I think back to that time I remember the pains of language learning, the agony of stomach bugs, and the realization that I didn't have much to offer.

Five years, three different homes, and two children later, that last sentence is just as true as it was then. Only by God's immense grace and patience are we still living here and thriving. It has taken years to believe this, but there is no greater privilege than to be on the "front lines" of what God is doing in the world.

So last week, we had a meal together and went out and took some pictures together. It was a quick outing due to this new stage of having toddlers and babies. But the brevity of the celebration did not erase the sense of wonder we have at the thought of still being here after some hard moments, lessons in pride and humility, and incredible personal growth. It is another reminder of the genuine sweetness and guidance of the Spirit in our lives. Praise be to His name!

First Half of Time in the States

2011-04-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Caleb's First Days

2011-03-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

Caleb is Here!

2011-03-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

Our little guy is one week old today and is a wonderful little sleeper and eater. It has been a real blessing. A week ago Kylie began feeling contractions at about 10am. By noon, it was clear that they had a rhythm to them. At 2pm we called our midwife and told her that the contractions were about 5-10 minutes apart. She said to come to the birth center.

When we finally got to the center at about 3pm, the midwife checked Kylie and found that she was already at 7 centimeters!! What a blessing to be that far along already with minimal pain. Little by little the contractions started getting longer and heavier. By 4pm the midwife decided to go ahead and break Kylie's water and assumed that Caleb would come soon. But it wasn't until 6:16 that Kylie started the last stage of labor. Three minutes later Caleb's head emerged and Brian caught our little baby in the water.

We named our little guy Caleb David. Caleb is such an important figure in the Old Testament scriptures. He was one of the twelve men who were sent out to see the land God had promised to his people. Only Caleb and Joshua came back believing and trusting that God would give them the land - the others were scared and didn't trust God's promise to them. Caleb means 'faithful' and 'bold.' Caleb was faithful to God's promise to his people. But it also reminds us of God's faithfulness to us. The older we get and the more experiences we go through, the theme of God's faithfulness has become so important. Though we are often not faithful, God continues to pour out his grace on us. We pray that our son will follow the example of his namesake and become a man who is faithful and bold for the Lord.

David is Brian's middle name and means 'beloved.' There isn't any message much more meaningful to people as they grow older than to remember that we are loved - loved by our parents, our friends and family - not least by God himself. David is also a good example to us from the Old Testament as well. David is known for his passionate worship of God and for his sins. Brian has found it meaningful to remember that God doesn't seek after a perfect person...just a repentant person.

The labor and delivery were still very difficult, but went very smoothly and much quicker than last time. We are very much still in the adjustment of having two children. However, we are very blessed that Abigail does not have negative feelings/actions towards her little brother (though she doesn't understand why Kylie can't hold her right now). We are also thankful to have Kylie's parents and Brian's mom here. They are giving Abi lots of attention and playing time so that she doesn't miss her parents as much.

So, one week in, we are very thankful for God's many graces to us. We are loving holding our little guy and being a family of four.

The Caleb Countdown Begins!

2011-02-27T19:32:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since we first found out we were pregnant. Our teammates left to go to the States to have their baby Olivia, we've had 4 international travels, we've lived overseas by ourselves, AND THEN we made the crazy trip back to the States. We've been here now for about 4 weeks living with Kylie's parents and now just getting settled in the house we'll be for the first month of our little boys life. Whew.

Over the last two weeks there have been too many trips to Target (Abi can now say that she wants to go shopping at Target :) ). But finally everything is in order thanks to many wonderful people at Friendswood Friends Church. Kylie's aches are getting stronger and everyone's excitement for meeting Caleb has come.

Now....we wait :)

Our Advent Traditions

2010-12-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

It has been fun to see many blogs this season about different family traditions for celebrating Advent. We didn't really have any Advent traditions before we moved over here. But very quickly we found that we needed some of our own traditions to look forward to especially since so much that was normal to us did not exist any longer.

One tradition was the Advent candles. We can't find any of the traditional colors, so we have just gone with 4 white candles and one red one for the Christmas candle. We have found multiple different ways to celebrate each candle accompanied by different readings or prayers. My personal favorite is a group of readings that highlight the theme of light versus darkness from Isaiah.

We also like to listen to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb CD throughout the season. But we especially enjoy listening to it on Christmas Eve with a powerpoint that B put together with scripture readings that go with each of the songs. That has been very meaningful.

But our favorite tradition so far has been our Jesse Tree. We found out about the tradition by researching online. We then got a list of scriptures for each day starting the first Sunday of Advent and going up until Christmas Day. B then drew a picture to represent each of the stories and then we made them into ornaments. This year has been especially fun as we have introduced the tree and ornaments to Abi. She remembers a lot of them from the previous days, and really enjoys putting them on.

Here are some pictures of the ornaments:

Abigail is Growing Up

2010-12-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

This past year has been a lot of fun watching Abigail’s little personality develop. Both B and I have found that we have enjoyed this stage of Abi being a toddler much more than the baby stage. Though the funny thing seems to be that the as the enjoyable part has increased, so has the annoying part. We were just discussing this evening that she seems to have two states- completely adorable or terribly frustrating. However, since most of you don’t get in on the adorable part in person, we’ll just focus on that :o).

Imitation…. As is to be expected, Abi imitates people a TON, particularly us and Eni, our helper. She does typical things like sweep and talk on the phone. But her favorite current thing isn’t one your typical American kid would pick up. At least 10 times a day she mimics the lady that comes to our door selling bananas and veggies from a big bucket on her head. Abigail will stick anything on her head and then run around saying “Bananaaaaaaaaas! Veggieeeeeees!” in the local language, both with funny pronunciations. It’s really cute.

Friends… Abi already seems to prefer to play with other little ones her age. Her favorite friend is Emma, but Emma has been out of the picture for a couple months now, so she’s finally (thankfully!) turned her attention to a few other kids. Several times a day she asks to “see Hadi”. Hadi is a little boy one month older than her who lives 2 doors down. For some reason they have taken to each other at the same time. (For quite a while they didn’t really pay attention to each other.) They are so young that they don’t really know what to do with each other when they are together, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Any time either of them are out in their front yards you can hear their little voice calling to the other. “Abi!” “Hadi!” Hadi’s older brothers have taken to calling Abi Hadi’s girlfriend. Abi’s other good friend is sweet Verya. Verya is not quite a year older than Abigail, but definitely more advanced developmentally and verbally. They really like each other until they start trying to play with the same toys… then that doesn’t go over so well. They do best when Abi lets Verya show Abi around. B says Abi is like Verya’s real life doll. Probably Abi’s other favorite playmate is our helper Eni. She loves playing hide and seek with Eni and letting Eni chase her. On the days when Eni doesn’t come in to work Abi asks for her several times throughout the day. It’s pretty cute. Abigail also really likes her new friend Anni. Anni is a few months younger than her but way taller. It’s funny to see them together as Anni is capable of more things physically just out of sheer size but Abi is capable of a few more things that take some thinking.

Language… As would be expected Abigail’s language is really growing. It’s neat because we see obvious development in both languages. (This is rewarding because we’ve been really intentional in helping her learn English and the local language.) We look forward to the point where she is less shy and will use her every expanding bilingual vocabulary with people other than just us. Here's a list of some of our favorite mispronounced words of Abi's:
· Noonels = noodles
· Nonurt = yogurt
· Bapapa = umbrella, granola bar, or papaya
· Beht = bed, bread, bath, or butt
· Ross = frogs
· Ahwo = water… this was one of the first words she learned and for some reason she still hasn’t fixed the pronunciation
· Ick = in
· Pe-pe-pesat = pesawat (the local word for airplane)

All in all we think Abigail is very fun and adorable and wish more of you could enjoy her with us! But we are grateful for her friends and experiences here too.

Abi and Hadi

With our helper Eni

With Anni

With Vreya

Abigail is 2!

2010-11-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving Day Abi turned two!! We celebrated the day before so it could be dedicated to her. She seems to a bit of an introvert- she doesn't like crowds! She doesn't even like lots of people around even if she knows them all, so we just invited one family over to help us celebrate. We had a lot of fun with Vreya and her parents (Papa Vreya and Mama Vreya). The girls played in Abigail's pool, played with bubbles, then we ate homemade pizza, had cake, and then Abi opened presents. Abi's grandparents sent so much stuff we didn't even buy her one present.

p.s. When you ask Abi how old she is, she responds by saying either 3, 6, or 9!!

Celebrating the End of Fasting Month (2)

2010-11-15T16:51:00.000-08:00

Continuing my late posting of pictures from the end of the Ramadan, these first ones are from a neighborhood right on the river in our city. These big carbide cannons are brought out just at this time each year. They make an amazingly loud noise when lit. We can clearly hear them at our house which is like 3 miles away. Some nights I was even a woken from sleep at midnight from these crazy cannons.

These kids were quite amused to see us strolling through their neighborhood. We had been visiting a friend who then wanted us to go see the cannons.

This always happens when we bring Abi somewhere. People want to take picture of their kid with Abi. Its like she's a pop star or something.

Celebrating the End of the Fasting Month (1)

2010-11-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

This is two months overdue, but oh well... The end of Muslim month of fasting calls for much celebration. As you may guess much of that celebration includes eating, but the other main part is visiting important family and friends. This year, since we have been in this city over a year now, we actually had friends we were looking forward to visiting! We started off with our helper (Eni)'s family in her village which is about an hour outside of town via car or 4 hours via small puttering boat up the river.

Abi is sitting in Eni's lap, eating some kind of traditional cookie. Next to them is Eni's daughter, Ira, and Eni's grandmother who largely raises Ira since Eni has to live in the city to work for us.

Ira and Abi really hit it off after Abi warmed up to her. It was sweet.

K, Eni, Abi, Eni's Aunt, and Ira posing in front of Eni's aunt's house. It was our last stop in her village because its the only house of all of Eni's relatives that has a toilet! Everyone else just goest to the river. (I'm not exactly sure what all that entails, but I'm glad they found another option for me.)

Eni's village is built right on the edge of a huge river that runs through our province, so it is all built up on stilts over marshy wet land that often floods when the river rises.

God's Great Mercy

2010-09-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been reminded of one of the greatest lessons I have learned since moving overseas. Of course, it wasn't moving overseas per se that taught me this lesson, but simply the grace of God. What has reminded me of this lesson? Two things. 1. The current issues in the States concerning people of different religions and 2. my own sin.

Over the past 5 or 6 years now I have read the Bible all the way through doing a read-through-the Bible program. After about the fourth time through one message became very clear to me: God is so gracious and merciful. I am continually challenged by the book of Deuteronomy because of the clear communication from Yahweh about what he was doing through the people of Israel. One passage sticks out:

When the LORD your God thrusts them out (of the land) before you, do not say to yourself, "It was because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to occupy this land...It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfill the promise that the LORD made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob...you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the LORD from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place.

Deuteronomy 9.2-7

Let me try to summarize this passage. God says, "When you get the blessing that I have promised you, don't think it's because you are so holy, or so faithful, or so great. Don't forget you've been stubborn and hard-headed ever since we started this relationship. I'm punishing this other group because they have sinned against me, but don't forget: you've sinned against me too."

In this passage, we find an Israel that is trying to figure out it's relationship to God, Yahweh, and the ethnic world around them. They have been striving for a generation to enter the land Yahweh had promised them. Yahweh wants to get something straight. First, Yahweh is faithful to His promises. They will enter the land because He said they would. Second, Israel has in no way done anything to deserve finally reaching the land. Third, not only that, but Yahweh will deliver them to the land despite how evil, stubborn, and hard-headed they have been. And Fourth, His judgment of other people is dependent on those people's sin and is no concern of His people.

I find this passage to be so relevant to our world in general and to my own heart as well. We find ourselves in a world that is getting smaller and smaller, more connected, and thus bumping into each other. Often we focus on our differences - cultural, religious, belief systems, etc. Biblically, we recall the language of being 'separated out' or 'chosen' as God's people. This can have the effect of causing us to see ourselves as better than others. "I am right with God. You are not" etc. etc. But the way of God and the way of His people is humility and grace. It may be true that "I am right with God," but his passage reminds us that we haven't done anything to deserve it, we could have easily been those not called by God, and who knows really if and when others will be called by God!

Personally it is a reminder to fight sin and be holy - to continue to strive after God. He has been so faithful and merciful to me. In the depths of my heart there is pride, arrogance, and terrible sin. I am clearly not pure and holy. Thank God for his grace to accept me anyway. As his child I am humbled by my own state and yet I rejoice in my freedom. And because of that, I am free to love those who are different than me with a selfless love that keeps no record of wrongs because of the love God has given me PLUS I am humble towards those 'on the outside' because I know I am no different than they. By God's mercy, we all can love freely without pride because of God's great example to us: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5.8)

Family Pics

2010-09-09T00:31:00.001-07:00

Setting the Record Straight

2010-09-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

(One of the things I love about blogging is that in your own little space in the world, you can do your best to set the record straight. While doing so you know that it won’t really get to the people that matter, but it does at least make you feel better. That is what I’m doing today.)

This pastor in FL who has decided to ask his small congregation to burn Qurans on 9/11 has really ruffled my feathers. We first learned about this through our local newspaper (in SE Asia) because there were pictures of protests on another island in this country. Our family was on vacation when this pastor made his announcement so when I went searching online to figure out what was going on there was no info on BBC. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on because the international Western media had moved on, but the media and public in our host Muslim country clearly had not. As I pieced the story together I couldn’t believe what I was reading. This pastor of a tiny church in FL has decided to burn Qurans because he feels Islam is a great threat to America. Small news, but unfortunately it caught international attention and became much, much bigger.

What drives me crazy is that this man says he is doing this as a Christian, as a person who represents Jesus. I’m thinking this guy and I must read different Bibles because the Jesus I read about and the Jesus I have chosen to follow does not ever tell his followers to act aggressively or with vengeance.

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also… If you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same… But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:27-36

Now what part of that says, burn the holy books of people you feel threatened by? None. I, for one, am so grateful that the Jesus I serve calls his followers to be loving, kind, and do good. Belief in Jesus as the only way to forgiveness and the love of God may indeed cause division between friends and family. It clearly causes division within religions. But, the actions of Jesus’ followers should not cause division or be mean. The actions of Jesus’ followers should be full of love and mercy, not aggressive or belligerent.

So, to the rest of the world out there- the part of the world who doesn’t follow Jesus- I am sorry for this man’s actions and please do not consider him to acting in a way that Jesus would endorse.

P.S. We have tons of other thoughts about this issue too, as people who take seriously the teachings of Jesus and as people who live among Muslims and count them as their friends. But those thoughts will be saved for a later date.

It Has its Perks

2010-07-21T23:46:00.001-07:00

Often times people think that we've given up a lot to do this work. Some days that seems quite true, but lately I have been extremely thankful for the perks of this job.

One of them is that almost every morning we can leisurely get ready for the day. There is no rushing off to this thing or that. For two hours or so, we enjoy getting ready for the day, eating breakfast, checking email and Facebook, playing with Abi, etc. I often think, "This is really nice."

Another one is that I, B, have had the joy of spending almost as much time with my daughter as K has. Which I recognize is a great blessing. I was there for all the big developmental things. She clearly loves me and engages with me just as much as Mama (though there are those moments where nothing but Mama will do). It has been a total joy and treat to be so close and involved with my first child.

With the intense heat, everything seems to shut down from 12-3. Sometimes those are good times to go out and have a meaningful conversation with someone (since they aren't doing anything). But most days, those hours are filled with a nice nap and a quite house. I am enjoying that this very minute! :)

So as you see, no matter where we live, we really can count our blessings!

Our First Water Project

2010-07-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last week we completed work on a basic rainwater collection system to be used for drinking water at a Bible College in our city. We designed the whole system. Then we contracted one guy to install the gutters and pipes and had a good friend, Agus, oversee the process. He was a great help since he already has a lot of experience setting up systems like this on a low budget.

The pictures below show you the whole system. The gutters and pipes that carry the rainwater down. The leaf filter. And then a secondary filter that collects the first 50+ liters of water (that have most likely been contaminated with debris from the roof). The remaining water is sent into the 11 other cement collection tanks - the last tank with a spigot for filling up buckets to be taken to the kitchen to be further filtered.

This project cost $500 and will save the campus up to $160 a month on drinking water.

Any questions? Just ask. We'd love to tell you more about the process.

Seriously, people!

2010-05-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in our host country for almost 4 years. That’s a good long time to adjust and make our way through culture shock. However, I’m learning that there will just always be some things that I will just never understand and will just forever rub me the wrong way. Here’s a few of them:

• Cutting in lines! I assume most of you that read our blog also grew up in America. Any person who went through their elementary school years in the good ol’ USA can tell you that cutting in line is NOT okay. In fact, can be fairly infuriating, especially when: (1) its in a public restroom and you’ve already been waiting there for a while and you really have to go!, (2) you are standing in a supermarket and accidently allow 5 inches of space between your cart and the person in front of you, (3) you’ve been patiently waiting for your turn to order fast food and someone thinks their request for just a drink trumps your hungry toddler’s request for a meal… Really the list can go on. I will just never understand why people think they can jump in front of others in line!
• Taking pictures of, or with, strangers! Apparently with the rise of camera cell phones in this city everyone and their aunt want a picture of a white person, particularly a white baby, on their phone. What they do with these pictures is beyond me, but I have a feeling Abi might be all over facebook in this city. It is unbelievable how many people take pictures of her, very often without asking, as if she’s a movie star or something. Sometimes I take the picture too just to make it more humorous for myself, so I've posted a few.
• Trash! It is 100% acceptable here to throw wrappers, bottles, papers, etc. on the side of the road, on a path in a park, into the river or the ocean, anywhere!! This country has so many naturally beautiful sites and yet they are inevitable covered in trash from the previous visitors. It is truly appalling and saddening.

Abi with some random worker in a store

Neither child seems to like the idea of this photo

No, we did not know this guy!

K's Travel Checklist

2010-04-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

In case you didn’t know, our family travels a lot. Currently our visa requires that we leave the country every 60 days! (Before this we had to leave the country every 6 months.) I recently realized I have created an extensive mental checklist for when we travel. I thought I would share it for your amusement because most people probably don’t think through all these things.

In Preparation:
• Get the Lonely Planet guide on our destination. This last time we just downloaded the chapter on the city we were headed to. It’s sooooo worth the cost! The Lonely Planet has never let us down and has every time led us to at least one gem of a restaurant.
• Book a hotel that comes with breakfast. You keep everyone happier is breakfast is easy and immediate.
• Make a little pocket exchange rate guide. ___ in the local currency = $5, ____ = $10, etc. That way you don’t buy something you think is cheap and later figure out it was seriously not cheap :o)
• Divvy up the packing responsibilities. You end up with less spousal conflict! I.e. I lay out the stuff and you pack it, etc.
• Bring only travel size toiletries. I have a stock of tiny toiletries (shampoo, face wash, shaving cream, sunscreen, etc.) we only use for traveling. I hate having to bring regular size bottles- it eats up so much space!

On the Travel Days:
• Dress nicely for the flight- even if we are just going to dress casually the rest of the trip. We ALWAYS get treated better (in every culture, every country) if we are dressed nicer than jeans and a t-shirt.
• Bring a few snacks for the travel day because your plane might very well be delayed and greasy SE Asian airport food is just gross.
• Have your passport, tickets, hotel reservations, etc. in the most easily accessible bag.
• When arriving in a new country, get money at an ATM in the airport. It’s just so much easier than exchanging money later on.

On a different note I am in the process of forming my “traveling with a toddler” mental list. I’d love any suggestions my more experienced friends have!

Photos of Grammy & Papa's Visit

2010-04-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

Tearful Goodbyes

2010-03-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

A colleague of ours who helped us acclimate to our line of work told us that the life we lead as overseas workers is “a life of joyful hellos and tearful goodbyes”. She helped us adjust to much of life here, but that statement specifically is probably the most poignant and true. Today is one of the days of tearful goodbyes. We said goodbye to my parents this morning as we dropped them off at the airport to begin their own crazy journey home. (A flight, taxi ride, a ferry, another taxi ride, then two more LONG flights, and a final shuttle before they are on their own doorstep!) The unfortunate thing is that after almost 4 years of living overseas, the partings have not gotten any easier on anybody.

It was so wonderful having my parents here. They got to play with Abigail a ton and see our daily lives here. That was such a treat. We had a lot of fun together. We explored the town together- the malls, some “sightseeing”, and ate out- the best meals involved great grilled fish! We also had fun just in our house- playing with Abi all together, eating a tex-mex meal they brought with them!, watching tv together. Really we just did normal stuff together, which is what we all miss most.

But now, even though they were here a good long time (almost a month), I can’t seem to stop the tears for more than 10 minutes. The sacrifice of not seeing our families often and them not getting to play with Abi is really hard. My honest prayer right now is just “Lord, please make this all worth it! May You truly be glorified here!”

Abigail and her brush

2010-02-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Union!

2010-01-15T00:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Union!

We just got your care package. Thanks sooooo much for all the goodies. We feel a little spoiled :o).

As you can see, Abigail was quite excited to see the boxes.

Even though Abi has never seen these particular snacks, she was pretty certain something yummy was inside. And I was quite pumped about all the pretty Christmas decor (why do I have to wait so long before I can put them up?), the wonderful candles, and of course the chocolate! I believe between the bag of chocolate and the chocolate chips we have 5 pounds of chocolate!

I believe B's quote was "Woah, I've never had this much coffee in the house at one time!!"

2010-01-10T03:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T04:58:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It was fun being in our own home, lounging around, watching movies, playing with Abigail and just being family. We really missed our family and reminisced about last year's Christmas in the States, but it was really nice to "make Christmas our own." (If that makes any sense) We got a package before Christmas, and a package the day after, and apparently we are still waiting on one. (The parents don't like that their packages are late, but I've got to be honest, it is really fun to have Christmas spread out over a week!) This Christmas gave us a lot of great rest so that we are re-energized to get back to work. To our families, we love you!! Pages, can't wait to see you in 2-ish months!! Thanks for the great, sweet gifts - we are really well loved.

Enjoy the pics!

A Different Type of Christmas

2009-12-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m baking Christmas cookies with 2 fans on in my kitchen. Yep, yesterday the high was around 100- and that was in the shade! Its still just 9am here and thankfully there are some clouds hiding that crazy equatorial sun, but nonetheless my kitchen is hot. All that to say, Christmas here is different. Our first couple years we mostly mourned…or at least bemoaned that we weren’t home for Christmas. It was really sad not to be with the family, not to get to wear cozy warm clothes and sit by a fire, not to get all the yummy traditional food, not to… well, I think you get the point. But this year (or 3^rd Christmas not at home), it’s not so bad. Of course, we REALLY wish we were home with our families. But other than that, we are making the best of what we have here. Thankfully we’re not here alone. We have 2 other sweet families we work with. In times like these we do traditional “family” activities together. We’ve celebrated Advent together, we’ve had a Christmas party, and later today we’re exchanging gifts.

In addition to doing traditional American things for Christmas, we’re adding a few new aspects of Christmas to our experience here. In the years past we’ve lived in largely Muslim cities and Christmas was barely noticed. However, in our new city, there is a small but noticeable percentage of Christians. So, there are traditions among the Christians in this city. As in the holiday time at the end of Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month), neighbors and friends go around visiting each other. Because the Muslim population is so large this visiting season lasts at least a week at the end of Ramadan but for Christmas we’re told to expect visitors the afternoon of Christmas Day and perhaps the day after. Now it’s our turn to return the favor of sweet treats and drinks for all the people that drop by. So as we’re making Christmas cookies, we’re also making some for these visitors. All of their cookies here are tiny, bite sized ones. So I’m using some tiny cookie cutters my aunt mailed. We’re getting other snacks and drinks together and setting up our living room. There needs to be a coffee table full of treats and lots of chairs around in case several families stop by at once.

We’re attempting to blend American and SE Asian Christmas for our visitors as they sit in our living room. (No telling, though, if they are going to like our sweets!) We have a nativity set prominently displayed in the room in hopes that it will prompt conversation about how Christmas is much more to us than Santa and presents. (I’m not kidding, the Christmas season that has made it here is highly secular. I even had someone from a local church come to my door asking if I wanted to pay to have Santa come visit my daughter before Christmas!) So, throughout the day today we will be singing Christmas songs, wrapping presents, making cookies, sweating, and praying for opportunities & wisdom on how to share some of spiritual side of Christmas. If you think of us, pray with us for this time and please also pray for our families who really miss us this time of year.

A Holiday other than Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T04:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't heard, this week was a holiday week to more than just Americans. To the 1 billion Muslims of the world this was a very significant celebration- The Feast of Sacrifice. During this feast Muslims who are financially able are expected to purchase a goat or cow to be sacrificed. (Our city was full of cute little goats on the side of the road this past week. They were being sold to passers-by.) This sacrifice recalls Abraham's obedience in his sacrifice of his son. It is also a time to pray for friends and family still in Mecca on the hajj.

After the animal is sacrificed, the meat is shared all around. The family who purchases it eats some, some is given to friends, and some is given to the poor. This year, K happened upon some neighbor women grilling up their sacrificed goat. Of course she was offered some and couldn't refuse. Luckily there was no strange organs in her portion and it actually tasted quite good.

BBC had a great slideshow of pictures from around the Muslim world. Check it out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8382397.stm

Abigail Jayne is 1

2009-11-25T16:33:00.000-08:00

Abigail is one year old today. Here are some recent pictures, including her neighborhood birthday party. Those of you who are not related to us may not need to see all of these pictures! But we are proud parents who happen to have family far away on this important day. So, bear with us! :)

Planning Abigail's Party

2009-11-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

Abigail turns one year old this week. Its amazing how fast this year has gone. (I know, I know everyone told us it would be this way!) We are choosing to make a big deal out of this birthday, though not so much for Abi's sake... more for ours :o). Since we are still new to this place we are trying to take every opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. Well, celebrating Abi's birthday seems to be a perfect fit! We are having a birthday party for her on Wednesday afternoon and inviting every kid on the block. Lucky for me that means all their moms will come too. This should result in a house full of neighbor guests, probably quite amused at the prospect of coming to the cute, white American baby's birthday party. I think this really appeals to me in the same way as an RA in the residence hall at TCU I was excited about my programs. I'm excited about opening up my home to tons of people, all in hopes that a fun shared experience may become the basis of new friendships.

So for these said potential friendships, I am following suit in trying to plan a normal birthday party for around here. That meant this morning I went shopping with two neighbor ladies to the largest, stinky-ist market in town. There we bought the necessary spices and other ingredients to make traditional yellow rice. I was amused at this outing because it reminded me how I am still such a outsider here. We went to a stall that sold rice and I was completely befuddled by all the options. There were 16 bags of rice- all different types of uncooked, white rice. Even with 3.5 yrs here I couldn't tell the difference between any of them, but sure enough there were only 2 that would be suitable for our yellow rice. After that we stopped by a place that sells junk food in bulk. We bought a variety of snacks to put into the goody bags for the kids. Once again, I was amused because there I was standing in a store covered floor to ceiling with junk food and absolutely NONE of it looked appealing to me. Good thing I don't have to eat it, just hand it out to 30some excited little kids. Lastly we ordered a cake which not only is to be served to every kid who comes but is obligatory to be given to my neighbors on the left, right, and in front.

Next on the agenda? Getting a list of names of kids in the neighborhood and hand writing invitations on a super cheesy card. Those invitations will be delivered by kids in the neighborhood to all the others. Then Wednesday morning is the cooking fest. Cooking yellow rice, small pieces of fried chicken, fried egg, fried tempeh (good thing the cake isn't fried, eh?), and fried shrimp flavored cracker thing. Then we'll put them all into little boxes for each kid to take home from the party.

After that? I'm not sure. I'm sure there are several other things to do too, but I haven't heard those yet. Luckily after a few years of adjusting to this culture, all this isn't stressing me out! Praise the Lord! In previous years, a morning outing to the market and conversations where I had to ask tons of clarifying questions would have been a perfect recipe for a headache and mandated an afternoon nap. Thankfully not today!

English Flash Cards

2009-10-28T00:45:00.001-07:00

We just bought a deck of flash cards made for little kids to learn new words. I was pleased because it had clear pictures and 2 languages on the back- English and the national language. After we got home, I opened up the deck of flash cards, knowing that there was a chance that the English on one or two would be incorrect. I was expecting a misspelled word or funny translation. I made it through almost the entire deck, thinking “wow, they really got these all correct!” Then I stumbled upon this card. B and I died laughing. According to me, it should say “Gecko”, but honestly “Small House Lizard” is a fair attempt at naming it. There are geckos all over the place in every house I’ve ever been in here. They hover near lights or on the window or on the wall. They don’t bother anyone, just eat the mosquitoes and so they are very welcome guests. So, I just had to share my good laugh for the day.

Depression, Dengue, and My Daughter

2009-10-20T07:19:00.001-07:00

Just days after my fever broke, and hours after rescuing my daughter from a locked car (whew!), I found myself rocking my beautiful daughter to sleep. As is our normal routine, I do the diaper and read the story, my wife feeds her, and then I sing and rock her to sleep. However, what has also become normal is my talking with God as she drifts to sleep (unless she isn’t drifting – in that case I might be cursing!).

Lately, I’ve had a lot to talk to him about. I think that I have found myself at the tail end of a pretty long depression. It started rearing its head after the second straight week of living in a hotel in a brand new city. We didn’t know anybody, everything cost more than we were used to. Our stuff hadn’t yet arrived at the dock; sailing who-knows-where in the middle of the ocean. I was forced to do car shopping, deal with a contractor and his workers, and everyday it looked as though our move in day was getting further and further away. After one particular afternoon, I laid down and didn’t want to get up. But, I didn’t become aware that this was a depression until two weeks later when all I could think about myself was what I was unable to accomplish; when I couldn’t pray, didn’t want to sing, and didn’t want to anything. All motivation and desire had packed up.

Being a seasoned veteran of depression, I was lucky enough to remember some very important lessons from previous times of dryness. The first one was that I didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this. Though God felt far off, I knew that this season did not represent the wrath of God…or even him being a little conniving. It was time for me to wait – and try not to annoy all my friends in the process (I tend to be quite melodramatic). The second lesson was that these damn depressions often represent the Lord’s deepest and most profound work in my heart. I can’t say that I remembered these lessons everyday, but they did give me a tiny glimpse of perspective on those sad, weighty days.

In the midst of those monotonous months, a good friend gave me a copy of Humility by Andrew Murray. Though neither of us knew what I needed, this book proved to be the gentle, yet powerful prodding that my spirit needed. ‘Broken’ was the word that kept creeping into my mind in those moments of pondering God’s purpose during this season. And ‘humility’ seemed to be the companion that put all of this together. Murray succinctly proposes that though we often think of ‘humility’ as a posture towards others, in actuality true biblical humility begins with our realization of our position before God. Together with the simple yet profound cover illustration of a small empty pot, this truth began to unfurl in the most unexpected answer to my soul’s cry of ‘I’m broken!” – “That’s the point.”

A newly blossoming motivation in my heart brought me to my week of dengue fever (or so we think, blood work was never conclusive). The headaches were unbearable. The shivering under a blanket, hoodie, and pajama pants on the equator was comical. And the messages from our friends and family of their prayers were quite humbling. In case I was slow, the Father seemed to give me an object lesson on how frail and helpless I truly am.

After the fever subsided, and our neighbor’s quick thinking (or quicker than mine) got our daughter out of the car, I came before God in my girl's calm blue room and got a gentle earful. In the midst of the depression and dengue, I saw myself for who I really am – totally helpless. Yet when the dengue lifted, I found myself upset that I had no proof that I had endured anything abnormal…rather than praise God that the pain was gone. When our daughter got out of the car, I pouted that my family didn’t get the fun outing that we ‘deserved’ after a draining week…rather that get on my knees and thank God for his mercy to us. As I lay my baby down for her nap, I realized how selfish I am. I wanted so bad to rescue my daughter on my own. Somewhere deep in my heart, I discovered that in time of crisis (which we often read about in the paper in this country) I really thought that those of this ethnicity can’t get out of it on their own because of education, smarts, etc. But here I was, in multiple (and might I add extremely small) crisis, and I was rendered totally helpless at the mercy of those ‘not as smart as I am.’

In that moment I was reminded how great it is that I am a follower of Jesus. He had all power and all authority. And yet in Philippians 2 we read that he didn’t consider any of that something to be taken advantage of. When he was sent to earth, he was sent in a body like ours with weakness and frailty like ours. He could have worked out of his own strength, because he had lots of it. But he said, over and over again, “I’m not here to do my own will, nothing I do, I do on my own.” “I’m here to do what the Father tells me to do.” I am struck by those words – how Jesus is my true example. “I didn’t work out of my strength, so why in the world would you try and live out of your ‘so-called’ strength?” Jesus was that simple, empty pot.

After my daughter fell asleep, I joined my wife in bed for a much needed nap. But I couldn’t sleep. I got out of bed and kneeled beside it asking for my Father’s forgiveness for my selfishness and pride. I desperately yearn to be the empty pot. So, that through depression, disease, and anything else, I can truly say, “I’m not here to do what I want to do. I’m here to do what my Father wants to do. I’m extremely incompetent, incapable, and worthless. But, hey, that’s the point.” And when I reach that point, I just might be ready to be used by him.

Photos of First Months in River City

2009-10-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our first experiences in River City. Enjoy!

Highlights: the fanfare Abigail recieves any time we go to the mall; evidence we live in the tropics; new friends; a growing Abi; our new house helper- the younger gal holding Abi; teammate Anna turns 4

Our New Crawler

2009-09-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

From 09

Making Friends at the Expense of Cavities

2009-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

After the Muslim fasting month, Ramadhan, comes the week long celebration time. Families get together for meals. Children are given a little spending money. Fireworks are lit. Friends and neighbors visit each other to chat over a cuppa* and sweet snacks. This is where we come in. We are quite new to River City, so we don't have "friends" yet, but we do have plenty of neighbors who we are anxiously hoping will soon become friends. So we are happily fulfilling our neighborly obligation of going around to visit all of our Muslim neighbors, drinking super, cavity-inducing sweet tea or Coke and eating their equally sweet cookies and cakes. Now, one episode of such culinary delights would be easy to take, but we have tons of neighbors! Today I came home with a stomach ache like I haven't felt since I was of the age of eating 3 packages of cotton candy. Fortunately I could keep Abigail from partaking of the sugar fest in all but one house. We are hopeful that these hours spent in our neighbors homes will be the beginning of several new friendships.

*Cuppa- For my American friends who don't know, a cuppa is a wonderful Aussie/English term that I assume comes from "a cup of ___". Friends regularly gather over a cuppa- generally tea or coffee- for a good chat. If I had my way this word would be incorporated into American English too.

Giving a Shirt when They ask for your Jacket

2009-09-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

We are officially in our new home and feel incredibly blessed to have such a big and spacious house (especially since our last house felt like a closet!). Within the first week in town we were blessed to find a wonderful used car that we are extremely happy with. Our official welcome to the city was a motorbike plowing into us at an incredible speed just yesterday. In our country, traffic is ridiculous. No lanes, no order, every man/woman for themselves. But here…unbelievably more so – running red lights, not looking when turning onto on coming traffic, turning with no signals what so ever… We knew it would only be a matter of time, just not quite so soon.

K and I were driving to a café to have dinner. As we approached the parking lot we turned on our blinker to turn right (from the left side of the road over here). We paused because we saw a motorbike coming to pass us on the right side of our car! Yikes! Then we slowly continued our turn. BAM! Another motorbike trying to pass us on the right side nailed the front of our car near the front wheel and flew off her bike. Ridiculous!

Now is when we get scared. People here often only need the smallest thing to get a tad “riot-some,” and the car is often the one “in the wrong” in an accident. Luckily, people already knew us at the café. A crowd gathered to take the girl into the café and we quickly parked the car. If we’d been in the States, the cops would come, we’d exchange insurance info. She’d be the one to blame and we’d drive home frustrated that we’d have a huge scratch in the car. Not so here…

We run into the café and offer to take her to the nearest hospital. We may not be the ones to blame, but we have to be very, very careful as foreigners what we do and don’t do. No one here wants the cops involved - they’re too corrupt and drivers here rarely have all their paperwork in order. But, come on, we don’t want the girl to suffer and she certainly doesn’t have the finances to pay for medical care. We and some strangers get her into the car and take here to the emergency room. We drive up, walk through the doors…and can’t find anyone! A receptionist comes around the corner and slowly tries to find someone to help. She’s in a lot of pain, but thankfully no major wounds. More than anything she’s shaken up and hurt – add to the fact that she’s a Muslim and had been fasting all day. The nurse checks her out and says she’s okay and calls her family (who live in a village 1 ½ hours away!). They want to give her pain medication but don’t have any food – they settle on a small piece of bread to go with the meds! We decide we’re hungry and she’s got to be starving so we walk down the street to get 3 meals to go.

By the time we have returned, the family has arrived. At this point we are extremely nervous because we have no idea how they are going to respond to us. I’ve heard enough Americans talk about “crazy foreigner drivers” to know that it wouldn’t be a far off thought in their minds. Luckily, they are quite friendly and really just concerned about their daughter/sister’s health. The most difficult part of the evening was talking about settling the bills.

We have white skin. Thus, in this culture’s eyes, we represent affluence. After explaining the accident, it seemed that this family for the most part knew that the girl was in the wrong and made a bad decision. They also knew she was very lucky. They wanted us to eat our dinner, get our daughter to bed, and not inconvenience us. However, they still assumed that we would pay the medical bills. When the hospital did not have an X-ray machine and wanted to quickly make sure that there were no internal injuries, they also assumed that I would transport them to another hospital and pay that bill as well.

I was glad that I’ve lived here long enough to expect all this. Throughout the evening as we waited on doctors to see this young girl until 11:30 at night, I kept going over the words of Jesus. To our readers who are not traditional Christians, hang with me here. There are some specific words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew that I tried really hard to remember. There is one that talks about “if someone asks for your “jacket,” give him your “shirt” too” (basically to that effect). That command is SO incredibly difficult to accept. Here I am the innocent party. I have given this family far more than they “deserve.” I have paid two medical bills and given them rides in my car (that is also quite damaged from the wreck!). Later on I was asked to pay for their transportation home and the repairs on the motorbike. I am clearly a poor American – no way could I afford a car or a house in the States. But here, I am the rich guy who is obligated to help.

As an American I have a sense of right and wrong and the importance of taking responsibility for your own actions woven deep into my DNA. I can’t escape it. In my head, I was screaming at these people for “taking advantage of me.” Even as I write this, my heart is pounding faster. Yet, in the end, I knew that it really wasn’t a big deal. We made a deal for me to pay them $54 for two visits to the hospital, an X-ray, a 2-hour taxi ride home, and half of their motorbike repairs. They were incredibly kind and never tried to milk me for more than those things (and believe me, many people would have tried). My pride met up against a cultural norm that I judged to be “wrong” and “unfair.” But I think that is the point of Jesus’ words. Was it unfair? Yes. Is it unfair for someone to ask for your clothes? Yes. Is it unfair to give them more than what they ask for? Totally. But there is something about generosity and grace that is worth far more than everyone simply getting what they deserve; than a driver being justified as innocent in front of a needy family.

Does it change the fact that I felt totally used, that it was really uncomfortable, or that our pride was bruised? No, but we’ll get over it. The girl will get better. And maybe something greater will come of it. That is the hope we find in Jesus’ words of grace. I just wish the lesson were easier to learn.

Camera Phone in Asia

2009-08-17T03:23:00.000-07:00

I recently got a camera phone because I kept missing the wonderfully humorous stuff I was finding around me. So, here is the first installment of "Why I Got a Camera Phone."

A strange advertisement on a public bulletin board:

As I walked into this restroom, I though, "Hmm...why would I need that?"

Sorry, this is sideways...A wonderful example of an awful translation of English at a hotel which is trying to tell you that they aren't held responsible for your lost baggage or valuables.

A cheesy advertisement for a local realty company.

Driving down the road, looking for a house for rent, we stumbled upon this guy plus 3 people walking with him with his "props" (?) I suppose. Notice this guys outfit!! He is on a chain and if one wanted to see his tricks, you would pay the people to watch.

Vacation 2009

2009-08-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a week vacation on the other side of our island. We had a lot of fun introducing Abi to the pool! We got a little suite so that we could still hang out after she went to bed (Wow. So strange - kids even change the way you vacation!) Well, though a little different, we still had a nice time. We had beautiful weather and a wonderful breeze throughout the campus of our hotel. Abi seemed to like it because every time we simply opened the door she started talking and smiling. Hmmm...maybe we should take her out more often!?!

Good bye Home #3

2009-08-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

The last 4 months have been such a blur – adjusting to life with a baby, spending weeks in our new city finding homes, packing…seriously we have no idea how it went by so fast. Tomorrow a shipping company is packing all of our stuff onto a truck, which will then be taken to the port and loaded onto a 20ft container. Then it crosses the ocean!!

Every time we leave a home it is very difficult. I don’t know about you, but in the day-to-day routine, it is easy to complain a lot about your home, your neighborhood, your job, etc. But then when you find yourself packing up things, pacing a room for the last time, all of a sudden, it becomes this wonderful place that you don’t want to leave. There is a lot of peeling paint, a cat and mouse that chase each other every night in the ceiling, multiple roaches, and the water pump never works quite right, but it’s been our home for 1 ½ years, and the first home for our daughter. So that makes it pretty special.

In addition, we have finally become family to our neighbors. Every afternoon there is a huge ruckus from kids running around and their parents telling them to come home. It has been really special to play with these kids and be there “aunt” and “uncle.” They will probably remember these times much more clearly than we will!

In the midst of packing, it is easy to lose peace and to be overwhelmed by “the here and now.” K and I spent some good time together this morning praying and realizing that even in these stress-filled moments that there is much more at work here than simply putting stuff we never use into a cardboard box. We are still called by our LORD to serve Him and serve others. We are hoping that we can gain a greater perspective in the midst of this transition (as well as making healthy choices for our bodies) so that we can be kind hearted people – to each other, to Abi, and to whoever we bump into.

The posts and stories have been minimal for the past months, but we promise by October (when we will be more settled) to keep sharing with you about the people we meet and our experiences in River City with more consistency.

The Troubles of a Friend

2009-07-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

B has been out of the house more recently and Abigail I and can't join in these outings. (We still don't have a car and Abi's not going anywhere on a motorbike!) This means my neighbor friend who cleans our house (previously referred to as Mrs Loudmouth in another post) and I have been spending more time together lately. Today as she was washing the dishes she told me “We only have 3 plates in our house, Ky.” I ask why and a long story unfolds. I had heard bits and pieces of this before, but not in the detail of today. She tells me that last week her husband got so mad at her that he pushed over the rack that holds all their dishes. All the dishes broke except for three. He also hit her on the back of her head. He yelled and screamed and threw stuff around. He did this all in front of their kids. This is apparently a common pattern. He gets mad, he yells, he hits her, he kicks her out of the house. Once he beat her and yelled so much that her 8 year old daughter was taken to the hospital because she fainted from watching it all. Add to all this the fact that he hasn't had a job in years and isn't trying to find one. Mrs Loudmouth works very hard all day long. She cleans my house, then picks up any other job around the neighborhood she can find. It is not uncommon for me to find her ironing others' laundry at 10pm.

My heart just hurt inside me as I listened to her story. I know situations like this are common all over the world, but its never easy to hear from anyone. As I listened I was just burdened because I didn't know what to do or say. I listened, tried to be compassionate, tried to encourage her, but I certainly am still weak in that in my new language! (However, I have been working with this language for 3 years!) I wished there was somewhere I could send her, something I could do, but this culture's answer is still “buckle down and don't say a word”. There are no helplines to call, no counselors, no help even within the religious setting. I asked her if she had ever talked to anyone at her church about it. I explained that elders or pastors should be able to help in such a situation. She loudly exclaimed that there was no way she'd tell them. She can't tell them! You can't talk about these things.

Oh! what a heavy heart I have for my friend and her family! To add to the difficulty, the income that she gets from me is the only consistent income in her family of 6. Her husband doesn't work. Her oldest son, who dropped out of high school to get a job, no longer is employed. Her three younger kids are still in school and school here is paid for by the parents.

If you think of it, please pray for my friend and her family. Pray that God would somehow radically change her husband's heart and change their desperate financial situation. Please pray for me as I try to speak Truth and love into her life in our last few weeks here. We will move from this island at the beginning of August, so I don't have much time left with her.

(The photo is my friend Mrs Loudmouth holding Abi. Abi is captured by the neighbor across the street's TV.)

Who is this Abigail?

2009-06-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

We have a wonderful neighbor who works part time for us as a helper. She cooks and cleans and irons our laundry. (With the lack of modern conveniences these things can completely fill one’s day leaving no time for anything else.) She is SUCH a blessing, especially since I’m not much of the housewife type myself! As this lady (who I affectionately call Mrs. Loudmouth because I still can’t understand her name and she’s the most outspoken Asian I’ve ever met) gets more comfortable with us she is feeling more and more freedom to play with Abigail. I love this because we really want Abi to feel comfortable here and not like an outsider. So, we love that she gets played with by Asians and get to hear their language quite frequently. (We’re hoping she will be fluent in both languages.)

Mrs. Loudmouth now has made it routine to take Abi out with her a couple times a day. Each morning she comes over to get money from me to buy the vegetables she will cook that day. So, now, Abigail regularly goes out with her in the morning to buy vegetables. (Grandparents, don’t worry, there is no motorbike involved, just a stroll down the street to a stand that sells veggies.) Then later in the day, after the work day is over and before sunset, Abi goes for a walk with her to visit our neighbors. I often go out with them, but sometimes I stay home so I can get some work done without Abigail around. As Abi is going out more and more to spend time with the neighbor ladies and kids it really amuses me to hear the conclusions they have made about her personality! The neighbor ladies love how content she is. She will get passed from lady to lady without fussing at all. They say she is really laid back. The other thing they note is that she doesn’t talk or laugh and really rarely makes a peep while she’s out. To this they say- “Oh! She is just like her daddy! She’s quiet just like him. She looks just like him and acts just like him. Her mom easily laughs and talks and smiles, but her daddy is shy and quite. She takes after her dad.” This cracks me up because 1) we are beginning to make the same conclusions about Abi and 2) it shows they’ve figured B and me out too.

Photo above: K (very sweaty!), Abi, Mrs. Loudmouth (they never smile for photos) and her cute daugther

5am Disturbances!

2009-05-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Loud, booming male voice: "Good morning neighbors, we would like to tell you that we are about to fog the neighborhood!..." I swear its worse than the alarm clock!

This morning at a few minutes before 5AM our entire neighborhood was awakened by a voice coming over the loudspeaker re-informing us that they were about to spray the area for mosquitoes. They had mentioned this fogging several times on the loudspeaker the day before but, just in case someone forgot, they felt the need to mention it again. THEN, instead of just letting us be, our friendly neighborhood loudspeaker man decided to play some very loud cultural music. Now I am certainly one to enjoy the cultural arts, but at 5AM shrieking flutes, clanking xylophones, and pounding drums is just not my idea of a good start to the day. These things have always been annoying, but at a 6 mo old to the mix and the suddenly I am much less patient with the situation. Just where are the fruits of the Spirit when I've been so rudely awaken?

Granted, I am grateful for the mosquito spraying! In the tropics mossies (that's what Aussies call mosquitoes) carry all kinds of awful diseases. Diseases that I do not ever want to experience, but know I probably will the longer I live here. None of the other neighborhoods we have ever lived in have fogged for mossies, so I really should be pleased. If only they did it later in the day OR chose not to add to the fuss with the loudspeaker!

On a different, more serious note, mosquitoes are a serious issue here. Most people (in the cities, at least) know that some of the worst diseases are carried by mossies, however they do little to avoid the little pests. Their houses are open all the time- windows, doors, ventilation windows- because of the heat, but they don't put screens on them. Puddles of water are left standing everywhere. Children are allowed to play without any regard to where or when mossies might be around. I know that some of the problem is the added expense of paying for screens to keep mossies out of the house, but the other side of the problem is lack of public knowledge of how mossies breed and the time of day they are biting. Also, I think mossies are just seen as something to live with, as though you can't do anything about it. It's quite frustrating for an outsider to see. I hate when I hear of some small child who was taken to the hospital because they got malaria and I know that family's house just teems with mosquitoes!

Funny English

2009-05-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of living in Asia is the constant stream of mis-spoken or mis-written English. Here are a few from an outing today:

On the road near a construction site: "Be careful: There is a digging a hole on the road"
On a child's t-shirt: one big girrafe says to a baby girrafe "I am higher than you"
On a little girl's dress: "Girls little for thank heaven"

And just because I just remembered this one today...

When I was pregnant and standing in line for a restroom at a mall the lady in front of me attempted to strike up a conversation in english. She points to my large belly and says "You know? Man or woman?"

First Month Back!

2009-05-08T03:19:00.001-07:00

We have had a pretty good first month back at our home. It took a lot of cleaning, and then some set up for Abi’s room, but after a couple of weeks we felt settled again. Our neighbors are really excited to finally meet their new neighbor. And now, every afternoon someone takes her for a walk around our neighborhood to chat with all the ladies. We have had a lot of fun seeing Abi develop and adjust to a new place. She sweats like crazy, but then, so do we. Just before we left for the States, B had just learned to drive a stick. (That was quite an adventure – to understand, you’ll just have to come out here and see the traffic!) We have been very grateful for that because we now are borrowing a friend’s car and are often out enjoying a drive around town with Abgail. We’ve gone for a week hanging out with our American friends, out doing shopping for Abi’s room, and getting groceries and stuff. It often happens that she gets hungry just as we get in the car. Though, when out on his own, B is really enjoying getting back on the motorbike through town. Just the other day, we found someone to clean our house and make lunch for us. That is already freeing up a lot of time – now we don’t have to have the conversation about where we are going, and then the slow travel getting there. Hopefully, this will give us the time we need to polish off our language and begin engaging with the people around us. We are really wanting to re-dedicate ourselves to that. Another really fun thing has been seeing the 3 white babies hanging out together and trying to figure each other out. That has led to lots of laughs. We are so thrilled to be back here and to begin using our time well before we move to our next location in a few months.

Welcome Back!

2009-04-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Coming back to the other side of the hemisphere for the first time in 6 months has reminded us of the humorous side of Asia. Here are a few things that made us laugh:

Sitting in the airport during a layover Abigail got a little fussy. While B is holding her and bouncing her, a man walking by says to us (in English), “Uh...maybe she is cold. I think she is cold.”

During one of our flights Abi starts bawling uncontrollably. B takes her to the small bathroom in the back so as not to bother everybody. Eventually the flight attendant asks us to get out since others need to use the restroom. B is totally annoyed and Abi is still upset. In an attempt to help, the flight attendant comes over with a little paper doll - “Do you like Hello Kitty? Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty.” Like that is going to help a screaming 4 month old!?!

In the same airport while eating lunch (or was it breakfast?) the waitress comes over takes Abi from our hands and takes her back to the other cooking staff. After 10 minutes of chatter and giggling they bring her back.

While coming through the security of our last airport, we get in a line for putting our carry-ons through the x-ray machine. B asks K, “oh, do I need to take off my belt?” At that moment, K notices that staff person sitting behind the machine...texting. Not even glancing at the screen. B states, “I guess that means I don't need to take off my belt!!”

While introducing Abigail to our neighbors, there are a few things that all people do. One, call her a baby doll (being surprised by the white skin); Two, pinch her cheeks; three, sniff her (apparently this is a common way to greet a little baby)

Photos of the End of our US Time

2009-04-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU!

2009-04-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

We are in Los Angeles waiting to catch our flight out of the country. As we look back at our last 6 months in the US we feel very blessed! In coming home we had lots of needs. I has been so neat to see how the Body of Christ in Friendswood, Lincoln, and DFW has joyfully met those needs. We have felt so cared for! We would be hard pressed to name ALL of the ways people have helped us, but here is just some of those very tangible blessings... homes to live in, a car to drive for 6 mo,So, stocking our fridge with food, rides to the airport, purchasing all sort of goods for us to take back (from CDs to brown sugar to fish oil pills), letting us borrow or giving us all kinds of baby things, treating us to meals, helping us pay for dental work, a haircut, coordinating stuff for us, etc, etc! The list really could go on and on. It has been a pleasure to see the Body of Christ in action.

So, THANK YOU: Benji, Greta, Trina, Paul, Joyce, David, Kay, Beryl, Margaret, Matt, Chris, Margaret Jane, Ryan, Cathy, Valarie, Connie, Mike, Brian, Kristen, Donna, Roylene, Sherry, Louise, Phil, Tamara, Amy, Wes, Paul, Susan, Jordan, Amber, Ben, Brenda, Stephanie, Chris, Jimmy, Dixie, the whole Union class... and all the other countless people who listened to us talk about Asia, who paid for meals or coffee, etc!

We also have felt very blessed by our wonderful, loving parents! Our time together was so good. It seemed even more sweet since it is too infrequent. Thank you for all the tangible ways you have loved on us.

We apprecaite you all and hope you keep tracking and praying with us over our next few years of our adventure in SE Asia!

RE: We are still alive!!

2009-03-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

Posting for the past month has taken a backseat to running from appointment to appointment, hosting family, and trying to get Abi to sleep. Whew! We are still in Ft Worth and are really enjoying being back where we went to college, but man has life changed since then. Our home overseas is coming closer and closer into the foreground of our hearts and minds, and with it has come a great desire to be back. We have been so blessed to have a home provided for us in each place we’ve lived, but after awhile living around other peoples stuff gets a little old. We are more than ready to board the plane and begin the process of adjusting back to our home (even though that means some sweaty days!).

As our time in the States draws to a close, we’ve been thinking through some of the things that have really struck us while in the States. Probably the most frustrating has been the portrayal of Muslims in the national media. It is probably all the more aggravating since we have so many wonderful friends who are Muslims. I have not yet heard a good story about Muslims and more often than not (especially on “news” entertainment shows like CNN, Fox, & MSNBC) we have heard so much hate and fear flipantly spewed from the angry mouths of men and women who clearly have no idea what they are talking about. We have been spending a lot of time with Christians lately, and they unfortunately have not had much better to say. One woman kept repeating that Islam was a religion from the devil, as K graciously told her how we have learned to love Muslims. We wouldn’t be able to live in our country without the continual pouring out of hospitality and patience by our wonderful neighbors. They have taught us about their culture, their language, and have shared many aspects of their lives with us. So, it has been extremely hard to handle at times. I don’t think many Americans have been show a different view of Muslims, and thus, out of fear and misunderstanding have developed an attitude that is hard-hearted. I promise you that if you take the time to get to know a Muslim in your community that you will not only learn a lot, but be floored by their gracious heart towards you.

Our First Family Photo!

2009-03-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Weather Shock

2009-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

We are back in Texas now and one of the benefits of that is getting to enjoy the random days of warm weather! After being in SE Asia for 2.5 years one actually gets fairly used to being hot all the time and generally just being sticky. So, going from SE Asia to winter in the US, particularly winter in Nebraska, was difficult. K decided that “Culture Shock” is a recognized reality of traveling around the globe, then “Weather Shock” should be too. For a girl who grew up in south Texas and now lives in the Tropics the wind, snow, and below freezing days were all a bit shocking. (Not to mention the below zero days we experienced in Minnesota!! Why do people live there??? J)

I learned many new things as I adapted to this new weather. (The same way I learn new things in the culture of Asia.) One thing I learned is that diapers, when left in a car overnight in crazy cold temps, can indeed freeze as solid as a brick! I also learned that some places have heated garages! And I learned that you don’t wash your car until the snow on the road has melted away- you have to wait until after the slushy stage is over. Now I’m fully aware that our family up north is laughing at me now. BUT, for all my Texas friends- maybe I’m enlightening you. :o) Here are some of our snowy pics from our 2 months in cold country. (They are VERY different from our usual life in island southeast asia full of palm trees, beaches, and a scorching hot sun!)

More Reasons to Love NEBRASKA

2009-02-11T20:51:00.001-08:00

This past weekend the weather was wonderful so K, A, and I plus my mom and dad took a day trip to Nebraska City. We went to the Lied Lodge and the old Morton Farms (Morton, as in the salt!). We walked around the old farm buildings, had an amazing lunch, and were reminded that Nebraska is the home of Arbor Day. I (B) am a huge fan of trees. If you go with me anywhere you’ll probably have to stop and wait for me to take at least one picture of “the coolest tree I’ve ever seen!” So, you can only imagine how thrilled I was to discover that my home is responsible for a day that is all about planting trees! Awesome.

Best Coffee 2008

2009-02-02T13:05:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, I (B) love coffee. In fact, I love it so much that I actually keep a coffee journal where I make a note about every new blend or roast that I try. So, in honor of the new year, here are my favorite coffees from 2008:

Starbucks Guatemala Casi Cielo – nice and dark plus a light earthy note.
Starbucks Verona – full-bodied flavor.
Tutmak’s House – roasted fresh everyday in store! That means really smooth and fresh people. J
Spenelli Sumatra Blend, Singapore – great taste and so smooth
Illy Espresso Blend – great aroma and great flavor (K and I had this for a few months at home in the beloved French press)
Excelso Jamaican Blue Mountain – This was special b/c it was my first coffee brewed through the siphon method.
Ngiring Ngewedang Arabika – Another one roasted each morning. Fabulous aroma and flavor – great view too!
Dome Café Cappuccino, Kuala Lumpur – Whoa! Greatest cappuccino ever! Silky smooth.
Starbucks Sumatra – Probably my most favored coffee (but I’d rather support a local place)
Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend – The surprise of the year! I thought this would be a gimmicky blend, however the spices were wonderful!
Café Sanora – A coffee from Austin, TX boasts more anti-oxidants than most tea. Hey, that’s great ‘cause I hate tea! J
Newman’s Own Organic Special Dark – Excellent, great body and wonderful flavor
Scooters Kenya AA – Let’s hear it for Lincoln, NE!! Deep, rich flavor!
Scooters Costa Rican – very fresh, full of great deep flavor
Scooters Sumatra Mandeling – Maybe I’m partial to Sumatra beans (3^rd one on the list), but I can’t tell you how good this was.
Dunn Brothers Papua New Guinea, Minneapolis MN – You can tell when beans are freshly roasted! The flavor is fantastic.

So that’s the list! Have any thoughts, comments, additions? Let me know.

January 2009

2009-01-29T08:29:00.001-08:00

It has been a great start to the new year. We moved into a beautiful little apartment east of town. From our porch window we can see the solemn brown fields dusted with snow. It is quite peaceful. We also had the joy of having our great friends Joseph, Lindsey, Anna, and Emily come up from Arkansas for a visit together. It was so rejuvenating to play games together and laugh our heads of at each other. Abi is now 2 months old and is smiling, cooing, and maybe laughing (B insists that she has laughed at him, but K was never in the room – so, I guess, it doesn’t count!). We finally captured her joyful smile with our camera the other day when we were visiting our extended family in Minnesota. It was so cold outside! But we had a great time catching up with people. Some of whom K had never met and B hadn’t seen in 9 years!

'Homeless' in America

2009-01-19T19:54:00.001-08:00

Our time at home has been a time of learning for us as a family. After three and a half months of living in other people’s homes, staying with family, &/or living out of bags, one begins to feel quite homeless. Homeless, yes, in the sense of not having a home, but after 2 ½ years of living in another country (plus, the 10 years since moving from our hometowns to college) we are also feeling the ‘homeless’ of not really having a place that is our own. Sure, such-and-such a place is where we went to high school, or the place where we first learned to drive, or where we went to church. Yet, our hometowns feel like a familiar place where one might vacation frequently. You have both your favorite places, and also new places to explore. That may be fun if you need a break from your real life – the one that has become monotonous. However, if you are seeking for even just a few things to provide a footing for your ever slipping foundation, vacation does not sound stabilizing. Add to that no particular ‘rhythm’ to your day (i.e. consistent bed time, wake time, school, work, lunch break, weekly activities, etc) and what you have is a sort of ‘grasping in the dark’ for something stabilizing in your life.

After having many feelings like this, we were struck again by the concept of peace. Throughout our Scriptures Jesus talks about offering us true peace. This has been an idea that was simply a foreign concept 3 years ago. Yet over the past few years as we have faced new and unique challenges in our lives, we have found that it has been in the midst of these challenges that we have found this concept to been more ‘real’ and more powerful than we had ever really imagined. Upon meditation on these thoughts and feelings, I (B) wrote this song. The basic idea is that we often associate peace with having a home – a place that is our own where we have consistency and privacy. However, in reality, a true, deep sense of peace only comes from the intimate presence of God. So, we as a family are in the midst of trying to learn that lesson again in a different stage of our lives.

My Place of Rest

We’ve been trekking all across this globe

Ever since the day you told us go

As soon as we unpacked

It seemed like we were right back

In a frightening new world

I want consistency

I want security

Tell me is that so much to ask

I’m a hobo homebody

A nomad nobody

Lord, I’m begging for a place that will last

Make your heart my home

Make your peace my bed

Make your faithfulness the streets I drive around

And make your presence my place, my place of rest

I’m a sparrow seeking for a nest

A fox in need of his night’s rest

The Son of Man ain’t got a home

So I know I am not alone

In this frightening dark world

I want stability

I want familiarity

But that don’t have to come from a space

I’m a hobo homebody

A nomad nobody

Lord, in you I can find my place

Chorus

(if you want to get an MP3 just email us)

Celebrating the Christmas Season

2009-01-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

The slide show has pictures from the holiday season. It was a wonderful time to be actually WITH our family for the holidays. After two Chrismases overseas, this was a sweet time for us all. We also celebrated our 6 year Anniversary on Jan 1. That was fun too! It was neat to think back on all that God has done in our lives over the past year.

9 Days Old

2008-12-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

A Prayer for this Advent Season

2008-11-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a video we made a few years ago to celebrate the Advent season. Pray God's richest blessing on our friends on the other side of the planet!

Our First 72 Hours as a Family

2008-11-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

Abigail's Arrival

2008-11-28T22:29:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday we welcomed the arrival of our first child, Abigail Jayne. Here is our story:

Monday night Kylie was on the phone with a friend of ours when all of a sudden her water broke. We called our midwife and she had us monitor K’s contractions. By 3AM it was clear that it was time to head to the birth center. At the birth center, as K’s contractions got stronger, we walked laps around the center, breathed through them together and then K got into a warm pool. This was great for her back and hips as she went through the strongest labor until 7 or 8 AM. The last stage was pushing which was pretty excruciating and lasted 1 ½ hours until the wonderful moment when Abigail’s head, and finally her body emerged. The next 3-4 hours were full, but sweet. She was cleaned and went through all the tests. Then Abi was put on K’s chest with the cord and everything still attached, and she nursed for the first time. After that the three of us just hung out together as K had her first food in 18 some hours – she requested cereal. J The whole staff at the center was great and they just let us all recover. As K was resting, B had the honor of cutting the cord, and then dressing Abigail for the first time – he proudly carried her around for a couple hours. We then signed some paper work, and by 3 or so we were on our way home with K’s parents.

The rest of the afternoon, K’s parents and B’s mom (who flew in that afternoon from Nebraska) took care of us and made any meal or snack we wanted, while we both took a 2 hour nap. The rest of the evening was full of trying to get Abi’s temperature up so that she would begin nursing. Unfortunately that took quite awhile (and required B to hold her skin-to-skin under 5 blankets and a heating pad!) before she got back to normal. Sometime in the middle of the night she began feeding.

The last 72 hours have been full of joy for the two of us. K is healing and beginning to move about more freely and Abigail is beginning to nurse longer and sleep deeper. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both K’s parents and B’s mom – we really had so much to be thankful for. K’s mom had multiple difficult pregnancies and deliveries. So, though we went the natural route, we knew that at any moment we might have to abandon that plan. However, K’s pregnancy was perfect, her labor and delivery (though painful!) went without a hitch, and Abi after her second visit to the pediatrician was said to be in perfect health!

We have been asked, “Who does she look like?” We aren’t really sure yet. She definitely has B’s ears, jaw line, chin, and maybe his complexion. She also has K’s hair color, and maybe her nose and eyes. But it’ll probably take a few more months to know that for sure.

Above, you will find a slideshow of our favorite pictures from Abigail’s first 72 hours – feel free to click on a picture and download it! Only if you want, of course!

Our Favorite Oct and Nov Pics

2008-11-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

Oh the Irony

2008-11-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

One of the things I was looking forward to when coming back home was the simple luxury of being able to communicate easily with anyone I wanted. Certainly during our last year or so in Asia our communication issues had significantly decreased, but I still was looking forward to just speaking my native language all the time. Well, being in the Houston area I have seen a significant change in how much Spanish is spoken here now as opposed to when I lived here 10 yrs ago. Mostly I had been amused by this, until I went to get my haircut. As it turned out the lady who cut my hair was far from fluent in english. She knew "short", "long", "bangs", "layers" and (my personal favorite) "I liiiiiiiike it!". Well, this shouldn't be such a big deal for someone like me who is used to communicating with such simple language myself. BUT, I had the worst haircut of my life about a year ago due to such communication limitations. I found the irony so funny- here I am in my hometown hoping to just get an easy, decent haircut and yet I couldn't really communicate with the haircutter!! So funny. B was there with me and he noticed what was going on. He later told me that he actually prayed for my haircut- the first time he'd ever done that. He said he didn't think he could handle a very pregnant wife with a terrible haircut! That's hilarious!

And I figure an appropriate ending to this post is to show off my pictures from that haircut a year ago that will (hopefully) forever qualify as the worst in my life:

She's a comin'

2008-11-21T08:33:00.001-08:00

We've been asked again... so here's a recent picture of K and the belly. Hopefully this will be the last one :o). We hope to have a picture of her to post soon.

B&K Tour '08 Stop 4: BRYCE NATIONAL PARK, UT

2008-11-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

This was by far our favorite park. We got up early this morning and took a 45 min hike around the rim. From the rim we got to see so many different angles of the "hoo-doos." Upon every curve we would look out and be amazed at how the view would change in an instant. Though we froze our butts off at first, by the end of the leisurely hike, we felt great - it was a great morning for a hike. We then drove to another area and broke out our cooler to make some sandwiches which we partook of while gazing out upon this beautiful landscape. I can't think of a better picnic spot.

Later that afternoon we drove out of the national park to the east along Highway 12. If we were in a hurry, this was not the route to take. But, hey, we were on a road trip! This stretch of road was probably the most beautiful drive either of us has ever taken. We drove through such diverse landscapes - rock formations, desert, valleys, rivers, and mountains. We kept thinking, "How can all of this be on the same 6 hour drive!" We were very impressed by the beauty of Utah.

(Kylie's note: You must go to Utah at some time in your life. And when you go, you must go to Bryce! Take advantage of the beauty that exists in our country!)

Preview of Coming Attractions...

2008-11-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

Friendswood and Pearland Area Friends

2008-11-12T08:27:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder, here are the last two dates and time for our sharing time:

Friday November 14^th 2008 from 7-9pm at Kim & Cindy Page’s home 2717 Pinehill Dr South, Pearland TX
Sunday November 16^th 2008 from 6-8pm at Steve & Ginger Henriques home 2209 Pine Drive, Friendswood TX

No need to RSVP. We look forward to seeing you.

B&K Tour '08 Stop 3: GRAND CANYON NORTH RIM, AZ

2008-11-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

The next stop…the Grand Canyon. B had never had the opportunity to see this site, so we felt like we had to take the 2 hour drive out of the way to spend the morning there. The drive through Northwest Arizona was beautiful as we passed an enormous mesa, descended into a large desert plain, and then rose again through the hills and a beautiful forest. Throughout the forest we would turn a corner and drive through a beautiful meadow – on the way back a huge deer pranced across the road just in front of us. It was beautiful. K and I took a short hike (K is pregnant, remember) to a beautiful overlook from which we could see all the way to the south rim of the canyon. It certainly was like nothing we have ever seen! We hope someday we can come back and stay in their cabins for a few days and do some of the longer hikes. But, who knows?

Friendswood and Pearland Area Friends

2008-11-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

We will be having three evenings of worship and sharing about our work in Asia. Here are the 3 dates:

Sunday November 9^th 2008 from 6-8pm at Stephen & Beth Skeeter’s home 203 W Spreading Oaks, Friendswood TX
Friday November 14^th 2008 from 7-9pm at Kim & Cindy Page’s home 2717 Pinehill Dr South, Pearland TX
Sunday November 16^th 2008 probably 6-8pm location yet to be determined (Pearland or Friendswood area). Check back later.

Please RSVP by email or phone. Thanks! We look forward to seeing you.

B&K Tour '08 Stop 2: ZION NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

2008-11-03T10:02:00.001-08:00

The whole point of the road trip was seeing some of the beauties of our homeland. Zion National Park did not disappoint. The park is basically set in between a huge canyon full of rock formations and forests. It was beautiful. K and I got to the park early afternoon and so decided to take the bus that drives you up and deeper into the canyon. We took a couple walks, but didn’t really have time for full-blown hiking. We hit a few of the easiest to reach sites, snapped some photos, and gazed in wonder at the beauty of creation.

B&K Tour '08 Stop 1: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

2008-10-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our first few days were spent with some of our dearest friends, Benji & Greta. We met them years ago in Dallas and have been close ever since (even growing closer over the past 2 years!). We had great conversations over breakfast catching up with their lives. And they had to endure all our strange exclamations about: milk, microwaves, friendly strangers, and cereal, among other reverse culture shock observations. It was a great quiet place to adjust to the new time zone, sleep, eat, and take it easy. Thanks for being so accommodating! We love you guys! We also got to spend a few hours with some other old friends, Trina a TCU friend and her husband, as well as Debbie and Brandon, old Friendswood friends.

HIGHLIGHTS: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Watching King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, The story about the guy who rode his bike into B&G's car and broke their rearview mirror off with his face!

2,990

2008-10-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

That’s the number of miles we have traveled since arriving in Los Angeles, CA on October 8^th. We took the opportunity to travel from LA through Nevada and Utah on the way to Nebraska (B’s family) and then down to Houston (K’s family). After 2+ years of traveling throughout Southeast Asia, we were dying for a true American road trip to reconnect with our homeland – which included 4 national parks in 3 days! Over the next couple of days we will give you a quick rundown on the B&K Tour ’08.

Saying Goodbye

2008-10-06T06:05:00.001-07:00

With two days before we leave, we thought it’d be nice to think through the things that we will miss from our second home. Here is our list:

The array of musical sellers that walk down our street throughout the day. Some sing one line, some strike drums or plastic barrels, some have whistles, some have full songs that tell you what they are selling. Maybe our favorite song goes like this: Deka Bakery/The bread is delicious/Always fresh/Without preservatives/Deka Bakery.
Our favorite meal, Grilled Fish, Rice, Spicy green leafy vegetables, will be hard to replace.
Fried Tempeh!!! (If you don’t know what this is, it is basically a soy-bean product that is WAY better than tofu and really, really cheap!)
The customary afternoon nap.
Traveling via motorbike. There is no greater feeling on a hot day than to drive past a rice paddy on the motorbike- it cools you off. Plus, especially in the traffic here, it takes ½ the time to get anywhere if you just hop on the bike rather than take the car.
The random laugh you get upon seeing some hilarious English ‘typos.’ (We’ll be nice and call them typos.)
Being able to flat-out stare at people. (Last I checked that wasn’t socially-acceptable in the States.)
I will miss being able to do most errands in 3 minutes. (That is, if it isn’t in a government office.)
Our little friends who come over about once a week to draw and color, Feli, Efa, Komang, Ayu, Inne, and another Komang.
Sweeping and watering the ‘yard’ (just a slab of cement) and watering our plants/flowers.
Our neighbor who comes over to clean and iron for us.
Our neighbors and friends here. Over the years we have developed a few friendships that are very special to us.
Fresh mango and mangasteen.
And last, but certainly not least, our dear western friends who have become like family to us. We’ll especially miss our ‘niece’ Anna and our little new ‘niece,’ 3-month old Emily. We can’t wait to bring you home a playmate.

Car Adventures

2008-10-02T23:40:00.001-07:00

We have been borrowing a friend’s car for the last month. Traveling has become a lot more comfortable for K (rather than the motorbike). We are happy for that. But in addition, well, driving the streets here are just very different, so we thought we’d share a few stories/incidents.

Kids love it when a car comes by through the neighborhood. Oftentimes after passing a group of 3-4 year olds, you will hear a loud “thunk.” No, it does not mean you have just hit a child! It means that they have run up to the vehicle and clocked it with their fist. Why do they do it? We still have no idea other than…its fun to hit some other guy’s car!

The roads are quite narrow once you…well, they’re narrow everywhere, but especially once you enter a neighborhood. Our neighborhood for instance only has space for one car to drive through. Of course, there is always a car, a couple motorbikes, a kid’s bike or toy and/or someone’s laundry rack sitting out on the road in front of their home. So, you have some serious maneuvering to do. The other day K was such maneuvering. From my side I saw that she was close to a tree. We heard a small bump and I told her, “Your mirror just nailed those bananas!” We laughed because it is probably not a normal sentence to shout in the States!

B just recently learned to drive a manual. 95% of the cars here are manual and since we are planning a buying a car after we come back with a baby, we thought it was time he learn. We were driving around in town last week and K said, “It will forever be strange for you if you ever drive a stick in the States.” Why’s that? Well, B has learned to drive shifting with his left hand!

Religion and Commercialization

2008-10-02T02:25:00.000-07:00

The season of Ramadan is just now coming to a close. This is the 3^rd Ramadan we have experienced in this predominantly Islamic nation. However, this year was the first in a large city; and thus, we observed some new things. One of which was the overtly commercialization of the holiday season. Of course, we Americans are quite familiar with Christmas and consumerism, but for some reason we weren’t expecting to see the same thing out of Ramadan.

We currently live on an island that is not predominantly Islamic, so we don’t see Islamic things everywhere we go (that is the opposite of the other towns we’ve lived in). One day we were shopping in a large grocery/department store. Usually we hear the very recognizable dings and gongs of the local music. However, right at sunset the music abruptly changed to Arabic-like strings and Mediterranean rhythms. When we listened closer we could hear the lyrics singing in the local language here: “Allah is great. I love you, Allah.” It dawned on us what we were hearing: Ramadan music! Just like when you go shopping in the mall during Christmas.

Other entertaining things have been the bright green shopping bags with images of a jilbab-wearing woman doing her evening prayers, the Ramadan-themed greeting cards, and even more (seen above) the wrapping paper decorated with drums and the tall, slender spires of mosques. Muhammad must be spinning in his grave! J

And Thus it Begins...

2008-09-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Today K and I had a slow Saturday morning and then went out to do some shopping. Our midwife in town has a little shop on the upper floor of her practice, and so we went over to check out her used, imported baby stuff. We ended up leaving with a car-seat and a pack-and-play bed (total: $155, we didn’t think that was too bad). I walked out carrying both of them, set them down by the car we have been driving, looked again, and again. J I still can’t believe that we just bought those things. They are sitting in our living room right now and it looks as though our friends just left them here. But no, they are ours! It was a new reminder that things are about to get VERY different.

The Belly

2008-09-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

We’ve had a few requests for some pregnant pics. So, for those that you care… here’s K’s ever growing belly. (And Katie’s too.)

Life on the River

2008-08-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

Just over a month ago we got back from another exciting trip across our country. For our work with our local NGO, we had been planning to survey a couple of areas for possible work. The island we live on now is quite popular with western NGOs, and so we feel we aren’t really needed here – we have a passion to work in areas where no one is currently helping. Thus, our trip. We wanted to share some photos from one particular area. This city is the county seat of one of the poorest provinces in our country. We were awed by the huge river that cuts through the city (kind of like Pittsburgh). One afternoon we took a boat ride up and down both sides of this river. One of the reasons was so that we could get a closer look at the poorest of the poor in this city who live on the edge of the river. However, not in the way you are thinking. They don’t live on the land on the edge of the river, they have built wooden platforms and have then built their homes, little shops, and mosques on top of those platforms (the land is expensive – the platforms free). We were particularly struck (or rather, grossed out) as we floated by their homes during late afternoon. You see, late afternoon here is bath time. But in this community, no one seems to have running water – they simple use the river. Around 5 pm everyone poured out of their homes, and began their bathing routine. It was done with bucket and pail (but still wearing underwear or sarong of some kind). The shocking thing was that they didn’t just bathe in the dark muddy water, but they also washed their clothes, their dishes, and brushed their teeth. And this water just so happens to be the same water into which flows the major ditches and trash and feces of the city.

Pregnancy: Even it is Culturally Defined!

2008-08-13T20:52:00.001-07:00

As some of you may already know, K is 6 months pregnant. Every day we are more and more excited to meet our first child. Throughout these six months, we have experienced the changes that every couple does as the baby develops more and more each day, and as we begin to dream, pray, and prepare for the day when we all get to meet. But, our experience has been enhanced by the funny (and sometimes frustrating) interactions we have with our neighbors. It is clear that even one’s view of pregnancy (even though it is physical) is culturally learned and defined. Here are a few examples:

“Ah! Don’t jump up and down, the baby might fall out!” This was shouted by several neighbor ladies when K was around 3 mo pregnant. She was playing with a 2 yr old and slightly jumping with her.
“WHY are you walking around? You are pregnant! You should be lying in bed!!” Apparently here it is very normal for women who are in their first couple months of pregnancy to just lay in bed. Generally there is little understanding of why miscarriages happen, so they have created a million culturally acceptable ways to “prevent” them- like no activity at all for a pregnant woman until she’s around 6 mo pregnant.
“You are not allowed to drink Sprite while you’re pregnant. That’s what you drink when your period is late- to make the blood begin to flow. Pity your poor baby if she gets washed out too.” Later we heard that this extends to all soda beverages, but for some reason Sprite is the biggest culprit. K is told this every time she goes to buy sodas from our local stores. Now she fibs and says she’s buying the drinks just for B.
“If you have your baby here, he might come out with brown skin.” It doesn’t seem that genetics is taught in schools here. :o)
“After this baby, if you have another, can I have it? She will be all beautiful and white skinned!” This was jokingly said to us by a waitress at a restaurant we frequent. We barely know her!
How to tell whether you will have a boy or a girl: “If you crave coffee it will be a boy, but if you crave tea it will be a girl. If you feel them more on the right, it’s a girl.” This conversation came while K was at a salon and explaining that she had a real aversion to the smell of coffee during her first couple months. So, obviously we’re having a girl! :o)

Mosques of All Kinds

2008-08-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

Our most recent adventure was a survey trip around parts of South East Asia new to us. We were traveling for about 2 weeks. Many things caught our eye during that trip, as we were in new places with new cultures and new situations. One of the things we often found ourselves focusing our cameras on was the mosques. We have been living in a predominately Muslim area for the past 2 years, so mosques have become quite common place to us. However some of these were unique. As visitors in each of these areas we decided to stop in and see if they would allow us to see the insides of these neat buildings. To our pleasure, we were welcomed in to each one we asked to see. Here is a little of what we saw…

A very old mosque built over the river by one of the first sultans in this city

One of the largest mosques we've ever seen!!

The inside of that large mosque, looking down from the balcony

Islamic hats, always worn by the men during prayer time, for sale outside one of the mosques

THE largest Islamic Center in South-East Asia.

The inside of the Islamic Center. Full of beautiful marble, iron work, stained glass, and even oak imported from America!

The inside of the dome of the Islamic Center.

The Bird Park and more

2008-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

B's sister is visiting us right now. We've had a lot of fun traveling around and seeing more of the island than we've seen before. She's been here a week, so we've taken a lot of pictures, bit we decided to post a few of the best... or at least the most entertaining.

Photo 1: B and Jenna and one of the largest birds on the earth. (His head is sticking up to the left of J.)

Photo 2: The Bird Park has a place where you can get your pictures taken with some birds. K thinks its a good idea. J's up for it. B says, I'll participate, but I don't want any birds on me. Then, this happens.

Photo 3: All of us with the birds. The one on K's head licked her forehead just before this shot was taken.

Photo 4: This bat was literally hanging out on the side of the road. We could have held him if we wanted, but for some reason neither of us were up for it. When he opened his wings, he had about a 3 ft wingspan!

Photo 5: A beautiful lake scene.

When Toilets and Cultures Collide

2008-06-15T00:57:00.001-07:00

Last week these three adorable girls from our neighborhood decided they wanted to visit “Auntie K”. I was flattered that the girls were finally warming up to me after over 3 months of living here! (At first they were very timid around the new, strange white people.) I wasn’t really sure what to do with them, so I mostly just watched them play together. I asked them to teach me a game I often see them playing- the game resembles hopscotch. They draw a new set of boxes every day on the street, but since they’ve never seen sidewalk chalk, they just use pieces of broken red brick. (It works just as well- and it’s free!)

At the end of the hopscotch game one of the girls (the one in the middle of the pic) decided she needed to pee. I realized this could present a problem because we have a western toilet in our house and I’m certain that this 4 year old girl is only used to using squatty potties. I explain this to her and ask if she’s ever used a toilet where you sit. She says she has, so I usher her into our bathroom. All three girls go into the bathroom and shut the door. I’m waiting outside, quite amused by all the giggling and comments I hear coming through the door. Suddenly I hear water running. I thought that meant they had turned on the shower, so I stuck my head in. The sight I saw was hilarious!!

The little girl who needed to pee was perched, squatting on top of the toilet, facing the back of the toilet! (The toilet lid and seat were lifted.) Her little friend (on the L) had taken the spraying hose next to the toilet and, standing a few feet back, was spraying her little butt!! (To clarify, the hose is a common way of cleaning yourself after using the restroom in cultures where they don’t use toilet paper. But I’m guessing these little girls usually had an adult around to help them use it correctly.) All three girls were in a fit of giggles by this time. The girl who was spraying didn’t have very good aim, and the girls didn’t really plan it out, so the peeing girl’s shorts and underwear were sopping wet. The peeing girl was just barely too short to climb off the toilet- her little legs couldn’t quite reach the ground- and so as she was attempting to get down, while laughing like crazy, she almost slipped into the toilet bowl! So, I had to pick her up off the toilet and then help her get her soaking wet underwear and shorts back on. I asked if she was sure she wanted to put them back on. She said yes because otherwise her mom would be mad at her. So, after all this commotion, we went back outside and continued to play for a while longer. Her friends told her to play in the sun so her pants would dry out. By the time they went home, her pants were mostly dry and the giggling had mostly subsided. So, I think my little friend was safe as her mom wouldn’t find out. Little does she know that tons of my friends in America will hear her story :o)

The Whole Situation

2008-06-07T23:27:00.001-07:00

***Warning: Long, but humorous story***

A month ago we started the process of renewing our visas. Now, everyone has a horror story about the immigration office, but we had not yet had ours. Our story starts at 9AM in the immigration office. We hand the lady our passports and she says, “You’ve waited too long, your visa is expired. Go to the office over there to pay your fee.” We knew we we’re late, no big deal. But then she added, “The stamp in B’s passport when you re-entered the country does not match your visa.” Okay, well that is really strange since we entered on the same day, same flight, and even approached the same immigration official who stamped our passports. She tells us that we are going to have to go back to the airport to get the proper stamp!! But first, we have to pay our fine before they can start the process. We leave the main office and go down the hall to a different area. The official here is also confused by the whole “wrong stamp thing” so we try and retell him what the previous lady told us (i.e. wrong stamp, we did come in on the same flight, we’re going to go to the airport, the lady is going to start the process – we’ll refer to this as “the whole situation). After waiting 20 minutes, he has us go talk to his boss. We again had to tell him the whole situation. Okay, so now the official feels reassured and begins the paying of the fine process. Another 20-30 minutes pass. He gives us the paperwork and tells us to go back to the first lady to pay the fine. We walk back over and hand in our paperwork to the station next to the first lady. We sit down and wait 30 minutes. They call us up, we pay and take two steps to the right in order to give the paperwork to the first lady. We tell her that we are on the way to the airport.

It is now the heat of the day and we are driving our motorbike 45 minutes away to the airport. It is now 11AM. We get to the airport and start trying to find someone to explain the whole situation to. We approach a security guy outside the international departures. He sends us to arrivals. We talk to a guy at arrivals and he tells us about a staff entrance door. We find a guy outside this particular doorway and explain the whole situation. B is allowed to go in, but not K. B grabs his passport and follows a worker into the airport. B gets to the immigration office in the airport and explains the whole situation. The guy is a little confused, so he asks B to explain the whole situation to another guy. He acts really snobby and questions B about the whole thing. B waits 20-30 minutes and then explains it again. However, during this process the official notices another issue in my passport from 2 months ago. Apparently, the old visa of mine had an inaccurate date, and thus, I should not have been able to leave the country last March. “How come you didn’t pay a fine?” “I don’t know.” “But you should have paid a fine.” “I’m sorry.” “Who organized this visa?” “My old school in another city.” Thus begins a long drawn out conversation about the date of which this visa paperwork was completed. Immigration official: “What date does it say on the stamp?” Me : “It says December of last year.” IO : “And when did you leave?” Me : “March” IO : “So, you should have paid a fine.” Me : “But the person got the visa in March! I’m not lying to you. Some immigration guy in the last city made a mistake.” (I’m beginning to think that this is a common thing.)

And so on, and so on…Be aware that there have now been two major mistakes made by immigration that B is being questioned about. None of which are Bs fault and furthermore one of them is so far passed that it is a non-issue.

To make a long story a little shorter, B is in the airport for 2 hours while K is outside trying to wait patiently. During that time B sits on a couch watching 5-6 immigration officials watch TV and tell him every 15-20 minutes, “Oh, the guy with the stamp is coming. We just called him.” The guy with the stamp?!? Isn’t this a freaking airport with hundreds of people passing through every couple of hours? Don’t you have more than one guy with a stamp?!? Finally B is called over to the first official and is told, “I really want to help you. Your passport is now stamped. Everything is taken care of.” B is then looked at in a certain way that makes it clear that the man is asking for a bribe. So, B decides to play the dumb foreigner and says, “OK.” And then walks out the door.

Home free. B walks towards the exit and has one foot out the door when a security guy stops him, “Where are you going?” “I’m leaving the airport.” “How did you get in?” “The staff entrance.” “What?” B then explains the whole situation. The security guy says, “You are supposed to pay for a pass to get in the airport. That is the policy.” “But I already got in, went to immigration, and am now leaving. Why is that a problem?” Three more times he tells B that you are supposed to pay. B tells him, “I’m sorry, sir. Can you just be straight forward? What do you want from me?” He responds (in English), “money.” Lucky for me, I don’t have any money on me and can honestly say, “Sir, I don’t have anything on me but a magazine.” We go around the issue for another 10 minutes and he finally just lets me leave.

K is very excited to see B and hungry. We get a quick bite to eat and hurry back to immigration. It is another 45 minutes back to the office. We park, run in and give the lady the passport. Everything is now taken care of. The only thing left to do is come back in 3 days to pay and then 1 day after that to pick up our visa. Sounds like a really efficient system to us. What do you think? :o) At 3:30PM we walk through our front door, take a shower, and then take a nice long nap!

Daily Things

2008-05-27T05:10:00.001-07:00

This is another installment of the normal things we do everyday that may not seem that normal to our American friends:

We start our day by opening all our windows since we close them at night to avoid mosquitoes. We then sweep our floor each morning and go plug back in the outdoor pump that pumps water into our house. (The city water is not strong enough to come up into our house from the ground, so we use a tank that collects the water throughout the day and then the pump pulls it into our house when we turn on a faucet.) We might also put out our laundry on the rack in the front of our house so that it can dry during the day. We then have breakfast and take a shower. For the next 2 hours or so we either study language on our own, or have a tutor come over. We don’t interact with neighbors since no one is really out in the morning.

We then get ready for class. Our class is 15 minutes from our house, but the motorbike ride is a killer because it is really hot. We make sure to wear our helmets and closed toed shoes and a long sleeved jacket. The sun beats so hard on us that we have to protect our skin (even though it makes us sweat a little more). We also wear a jacket to keep the road smells off our clothing. We study at class for 2 hours, grab a quick lunch on the campus (for $2.00!! both of us!!), and then drive home. After 15 minutes to prepare we may have a tutor come for another 2 hours. After that we go outside to visit with our neighbors who are getting home from work, or waking up from their afternoon naps. During this time we might talk with a friend for a couple of hours about a certain topic that we are currently studying. We may also sweep our porch and front walkway (the whole front of our house is cemented). This also includes watering our potted plants and then watering the walkway (this is a common practice because it knocks the dust you just swept out of the air. Thus, it won’t land back in your house). Just as the sun is setting we will turn on our front light and close all our windows (the mosquitoes are their worst at dusk).

After all that, we will eat a late dinner either at home, or a couple minutes down the road there is a nice local restaurant that we enjoy visiting. Before bed one of us will go down the street to get a refill of our jug of drinking water. We will probably take another cold water shower to cool ourselves off before bed, go out and unplug the water pump again (it frequently makes noises throughout the night), park the bike and close and latch the front gate. The next morning we will start it all over again…

29 and counting...

2008-05-01T07:52:00.001-07:00

I (B) just experienced my last birthday in my 20s. The next one will be quite different, or so I assume. This though prompted me to think back to my 20^th birthday. I was a sophomore in college and had just started dating a beautiful girl. She took me to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and made me a cake. I don’t remember if there were any other activities, but I do remember throwing the frisbee and sitting on a bench and talking—still getting to know each other.

I have now known that girl for almost 10 years (it will be 10 this coming Fall). This time she took me to my favorite place on our island. It is a small tourist area up in the foothills and is known best for its quaint and quite feel along with its wonderful restaurants. One particular morning we took a walk through the outskirts of the town through a rice field and saw the sun rising between the trees and the two nearest volcano peaks. It was a stunning morning. (Except for the big dog that wanted to kill us!) We also went to another botanical garden where K gave me 30 minutes to go crazy and take as many pictures as possible. I had one of my most memorable birthdays which included: a triple grande iced non-fat caramel macchiato (not to be specific or anything) with my American Starbucks-loving friends over here (including my favorite 2 ½ year old), great pizza, and two packages from home arriving on the same day! Lucky me! So, here are a few pictures from the last week or so of celebrating my birthday. Enjoy!

One More

2008-04-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Goodbye to Sumbi

2008-04-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Even though we moved over a month ago now, we still wanted to pay a tribute to our last days in Sumbi. Here is a collage of people we miss and sights we miss. All these things were a normal part of our life in Sumbi... including the friendly neighborhood goats "mowing" our grass.

Everyone has Annoying Chickens

2008-03-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have talked on the phone with us or visited our home, you will know that our neighbors across the street own about 40 chickens, 4 of which are roosters. It is not uncommon in our country to hear roosters crowing at all times of the day. While on the phone with us you might wonder, “What the heck is going on over there?” Nothing, really. Everyone has crowing roosters.

Case in point: Yesterday I (B) am listening to a national news program on the radio. This particular program is highlighting a policy that has been started by the government. So, to get the answer straight the reporter has a phone interview with a member of parliament. However, I can hardly understand a word he says not because I am not totally fluent, but mainly because in the background I can hear one rooster crowing his head off. You’d think that this particular member of parliament, knowing that he was going to be on a news program would have done something about the chickens in his yard (or his neighbor's yard). But apparently it is common enough that he didn’t even think anything about it. So, don’t get upset at us if you hear roosters. Apparently you can’t even talk to parliamentarians without being interrupted by the occasional rooster.

Missing the "Country"

2008-03-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight K and I spent a wonderful evening with our good friends. It included one particular thing that we couldn’t do in our previous town. We went to one restaurant for dinner, and get this, went to a totally different restaurant for dessert. Utterly amazing! We even sat at the table and talked for an hour or so without anyone looking twice at us.

On of our most entertaining conversations was about our previous town. You know how when you go to a conference, camp, seminar, retreat, etc. with a group of people and from that moment on you always have that shared experience? Well, imagine that for a little over a year! These friends represent 2 of 7 other English speakers (we know of) who lived in our town, so it is a treat to remember the special moments we shared in that place. It was during this particular conversation that a realized that I am becoming…(sigh)…weird. I am in a developing country and lamenting how “fast-paced” life is in this city. There are more cars to motorbikes (well, it’s a close call); our neighbors don’t have time for us; and 15 minutes in traffic seems like an eternity! What is happening to us?

At any rate, we had a great time laughing about the differences (and maybe there was a little complaining) and it made me happy. It made me realize that “we will always have that town.” And although I’d rather be living there again with the occasional trip to civilization I can happily look back at a year well-spent – a chapter gone that I’ll always love and look back on fondly.

Parents' Field Trip

2008-03-16T01:38:00.000-07:00

K’s parents just came for a visit! This was very exciting considering we hadn’t seen them in 19 months! We planned their trip months ago, but as it worked out it was odd timing. They arrived right as we needed to pack up our house and move to another island. (We plan to make another post soon with more about our goodbyes.) So as it turned out, they had to help us pack up our whole house and say goodbye to all our friends in Sumbi. Then after a week of that we had several more days together to do some vacationing on a neighboring island. We had good times of just sitting and chatting over breakfast, of doing some of the touristy things together, and most of all just being together. One of the great things of their timing was that they got to see both our old house and our new house. Another fun thing was seeing my short mom fitting in with the Asians and my dad sticking out soooo bad. The cowboy hat was a hit! It was such a blessing to see them. So...who’s next? :o)

How many cameras does it take to look like tourists? :o) I bet three will do it.

Other than seeing K, this was Cindy's favorite activity. I believe the total was 400+ photos taken. Possibly half of them were of monkeys.

Yes, there are friendly monkeys who don't steal things and will even pose for pictures.

K and Mom with some of the beauty of Asia in the background.

K and the Sneaky Monkey

2008-02-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

On the last day of our fun visit with K's parents we went to a famous temple perched on a beautiful cliff that over looks the ocean. B and I had been here before and were looking forward to going again just for the beautiful view. As we entered the temple grounds tons of people were telling the 4 of us to be careful going in because there were tons of monkeys and they liked to grab your glasses. Seeing that the option was to go in with glasses or to not go in because we wouldn't be able to see without our glasses, we decided to go in. :o) Since B and I had been here before and had no problems with our glasses, we just nodded and said we'd be careful.

We wandered around the temple grounds enjoying the beautiful view. There were tons of monkeys around, eagerly grabbing at other tourists food. Once one aimed from K's dad's cowboy hat, but we warned him fast enough and the hat was saved. At one point B asked me to pose for a picture near some stairs. I leaned against a wall and smiled. A few seconds after B snapped the picture a monkey reached down and snagged my glasses straight off my face! These monkeys are actually trained by the locals to do this so that a local will come in to save your valuable object in exchange for some money. So quickly a local man rushed with a few bananas which he threw up to the monkey to save my glasses. The monkey, content with a couple bananas, threw my glasses down the stairs under the tree he was hiding in. B, instead of helping me save my glasses, decided to snap a photo of the criminal monkey.

Later that evening I walked into a glasses store in a mall hoping to get my glasses cleaned. In order to explain what had happened, I found myself saying something in the local language that I had never said before in English "Excuse me sir, today my glasses were taken by a monkey. Could you clean them?"

In The Big City

2008-02-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

We have been in the "big city" for 4 days now. We have
learned a few lessons. After a day of driving on the
interstates, you need to wash your clothes - not because
of your sweating, but because you smell like diesel. We
also need to reorient ourselves to "rush hour." We haven't
had to think about that for almost 2 years! I'm sure we'll
have many more in the months to come, but those are the
first few.

We just welcomed K's parents to our country. For those of
you who know K's dad, you won't be surprised that we first
spotted him coming out of the airport because of his
cowboy hat! :)

We get on the plane tomorrow to start our week of
entertaining K's parents and packing up our home. It is
hard to believe, but we will be in our new house in 2
weeks!

"May I See Your Ticket?"

2008-01-31T19:39:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we took a quick trip to a neighboring city to start looking for houses since our work is transferring us to this city. We had heard that finding houses in this particular city is quite difficult, but we need to find a house really quick – so thus the 48-hour “house-hunting” trip. We enjoy the luxury of flying since our airport in town only recently re-opened. However, we have a love-hate relationship with their local office. The normal procedure of ordering and picking-up of tickets never really goes smoothly. Here is the most recent attempt: Two days before the flight I decide to call and start the ordering process. Once I tell them my first name, they know exactly who I am. I tell them the date I want to fly. However, that particular day, the coming Saturday, the flight has been cancelled. “Why is that?” I ask. “There was only 1 passenger,” the man replies. “Oh.”

So I get two tickets ordered for the following Sunday and Tuesday. They tell me to pick up the tickets tomorrow. We get to the office and have to explain all over again what we said on the phone. They tell us that they will have to write out a voucher because they are out of tickets (i.e. the little booklets that they fill out for us everytime we come in – not before, always after). So, she begins writing out the voucher. “So…when can we get our tickets?” “Oh, well, just come to the front desk to pick them up just before the flight leaves,” the kind lady responds. (Note: This means that we will enter the airport, have ourselves and bags scanned, give a random worker our bags to check, and then get to the desk to pick up out tickets.) Of course, we weren’t too surprised by this since it had happened before.

On Sunday we go to the airport. We get to the front desk. “Sorry. You’re tickets still aren’t ready.” “Oh.” They tell us to take the plastic boarding pass, take that to the place where we pay our airport tax, and then show it to the man standing by the entrance to the waiting area. “So, when are we going to get our tickets?” “When you board the plane.” Now, this was even new to us! As you can maybe imagine, we got to our destination and never received our tickets. That was a first for us.

Goodbye Grandpa

2008-01-26T16:18:00.001-08:00

My grandfather passed away this passed week. Through Grandpa’s life, I again have learned that it is not the high, strong, and mighty who truly matter in this life. Rather, it is those who are humble, gentle, meek, and faithful – and my grandpa was all of those things. Unfortunately, I did not begin to recognize these things in my grandfather until 10 years ago this past summer when my grandmother passed away. At that time, I was a skinny, immature 18-year old boy who was in many respects lost. I knew I was going to college, but didn’t really know what I wanted in life.

Grandpa, as could be expected, was devastated. I remember seeing his tired, wet eyes and hearing his words of love to his now-deceased wife. For the years that followed, through multiple phone calls and birthday and Christmas letters, I remember the words my grandpa said. I remember his words of heartache as he remembered Grandma and tried to live this new life without her. I remember him saying that the Lord was faithful to him; meeting with him and comforting him. I remember one evening as I thought about Grandpa, I decided that I would call him. We ended up talking for an hour. I don’t remember what it was that we talked about – probably the weather, his eyes, or the baseball game he had watched that night. But I do remember him saying that he often felt alone, but that he was never alone because the presence of God was with him. I remember being shocked to tears at those words – in fact, I often still am.

I look back over those years and I remember the example that Grandpa always was to me. I saw in him an old man still learning from his Father what it was that God had for him to learn. I heard his tired, weary voice, but I never heard him complain or lash out against his God. On the contrary, I heard the voice of one so faithful to his Father; one so eager to lean and depend upon him.

Now in my adult life, I often look at my family to find out who I really am. Where did I come from? Where are my roots? I look towards Grandpa as an example of who I am and even more who I can be. If I work hard and allow God to work on me, I can be that quiet, unassuming, faithful, gentle, small man too. When facing my own difficult circumstances, Grandpa’s faithfulness is a great challenge to me. My family told me that some of his last words of encouragement to his children before he passed away were, “Be faithful…You guys be faithful.” These are words extremely significant to me and I saw them modeled through Grandpa’s life and I hope to leave that legacy to my children and grand-children as well.

Happy Five Years, Baby!!

2008-01-18T22:10:00.000-08:00

January 1^st 2008 was a rainy day. We weren’t able to sleep in because we had a meeting that morning. However, later that evening we did get a chance to have dinner together to celebrate the five wonderful years we have had together as husband and wife. The dinner wasn’t great, and most of the surrounding events (you can ask us later) weren’t joyful, we at least had a few hours of reflection over the past year (ups and downs), and of the last 5 years. It was incredible to review all the things that had happened in the last 5 years. We have been extremely blessed. We also rejoiced over all that has happened over the past year and how our marriage has been refined and deepened. It has been a ridiculous ride, but I have extremely thankful for it. So, here’s to a great 6^th year together! I love you, K!!

Catching Up on Roosevelt

2008-01-06T01:30:00.000-08:00

Today I finished an exceptionally wonderful book entitled, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. This book was written in 1979 and won the Pulitzer that year. So, it took me a couple years to get to it. One could argue that Roosevelt is one of the most interesting characters to have become President in the history of our country. He grew up a socialite in Manhattan, grew to love the West through his multiple hunting trips into the Dakotas. Due to his preachy style, loud mouth, and obstinate passion for Civil Service Reform, Roosevelt was often looked down upon by his political peers (in fact, he made many of them down right angry). Throughout his career, through blunders of his own, or because of sticky situations the current "machine" political system attacked him with, it looked as though his career was over. However, his bid to fight Spain for Cuba along with his stunning victory leading the Rough Riders in the battle for Santiago (which his family and political peers thought was pure lunacy) found him a hero when he returned to the States. To get him out of his post as Governor of the State of New York, the Republican "machine" decided to nominate him for the Vice-Presidency for 1900. Six months after taken the oath, McKinley was dead and Roosevelt became the youngest President at 42 years of age.

While this book was a stunning biography, it was so beautifully read and thoroughly documented. I have never read a biography so stirring and such a joy to read. I hope in the next few months to find the second volume of this classic biography.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-30T18:39:00.001-08:00

Another Christmas away from home has come and gone. Each one hasn’t really had that “Christmas-y” feel, but each one finds us more at home in our country. We traveled a couple of islands over to a tourist area to celebrate with some other expats. We have had our fill of Western food, and have had some nice “dates” together (coffee and a nice long talk). Those have been highlights of our Christmas here. For the 2-3 days before and after Christmas, the city had some huge rainstorms, so the dark days and cooler weather made it feel a little more like Christmas. But, due to that we didn’t really do any shopping, and didn’t really have a Christmas day in the sense of opening presents. We gathered at another Westerners house for an amazing dinner and great conversations with other people in our line of work. Overall, it was a nice day. We hope you and your families had a great Christmas season.

Language Interruptions

2007-12-17T02:50:00.001-08:00

Everyday I wake up and make a plan. I don’t necessarily do it on purpose, but I make expectations about what must happen today in order for it to be considered a good day or a bad day. It isn’t too crazy…most people do that each day. However, at least one thing happens each day to put that plan in jeopardy. In that case, most of us just add more things to the day. The one-thing-that-happens thus becomes a negative “distraction.” Living in a developing country, this problem is only magnified. Going to buy groceries is different. Fixing a household chore is different. You can’t just go to a huge store, find the sign for the isle that contains 15 different types of what you are looking for, and then individually pick it up and take it to the counter. Where we live, you have to find the right store. When you get to the store, you have someone hovering over you asking you what you want. Of course, you don’t know the name of what you are looking for because you’ve never had this particular problem before. So you try and explain it only to get blank faces. It may take a conversation with 2-3 other friends for them to tell you what you need and how to get there. Then you try it over again. If you happen to come back from a store with exactly what you were looking for, you have just experienced a modern day miracle worthy of 2-3 days of pride. So, imagine the planner when his motorbike one evening doesn’t start. “Oh, crap. I have multiple errands to run. I know nothing about motorbikes. What in the world will I do? How do I get my motorbike to a place to check it? Where is that place? I don’t have time for this.” I thought of calling my Western friend who could help me out, but then I got a crazy idea. “Wait. If I want time with local people and want to learn how they think and how they solve their problems, maybe I should call one of my local friends?” So, I text messaged a new acquaintance and asked if tomorrow he could take me to the local motorbike dealer. Well, he showed up at my house an hour later. He and his friend took apart my motorbike (!!) while I sat by and watched. Two hours later my bike was able to start, I had a new sparkplug installed, and a bag of a few extra pieces left over to take to the dealer the next morning! (“What is important is that you can drive it to the dealer tomorrow morning,” they said.) Plus, I had learned the words: sparkplug, sandpaper, tight (for screws), and a few other things. So, this planner is starting to realize that an “interruption” is usually a damn good language project! Maybe I should plan that in for next week.

Christmas Time

2007-12-08T02:55:00.000-08:00

The nice thing about living in an Asian country where Western traditions aren’t prevalent is that we have no one telling us when you can or cannot put up your Christmas decorations. We decided the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving to put up our tree and a few lights (commence the booing and hissing). K recently found a receipe for apple cider, so we had some wonderful hot cider as we decorated. We also decided to make some chocolate chip cookies which we ate on some cute new Christmas plates (Thanks Sarah!). It was a little humid, so we had to take a shower after decorating! J But as we watched Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown, drank our cider, and ate our cookies for a moment we were back in the States celebrating the holiday season…well, it was close at least.

Thank God for English!

2007-12-04T14:49:00.001-08:00

Having lived overseas 17 months now some things just strike us at times. Recently, one of those things is how blessed we are to know English. Not even that we just know it, but that it is our first language! The rest of the world has to know my language to be able to make it in the world economy. It wasn’t hard for me to pick up because it was the only language I was exposed to. However, for a huge percentage of the world’s population they have to make significant sacrifices to learn English. Whole families save up money to send one person to a school where they can actually learn from a native English speaker. Only then do they have hopes that that one child will make it far in life.

We see more and more examples of this as we slowly become world travelers. Let me paint a picture for you of the first time this really struck me. We were on vacation in Bali. That evening we were enjoying a nice meal at a Japanese restaurant. All around me were other vacationers. At the table next to us was a European family. Their first language was not English because when they spoke among themselves they were speaking something I couldn’t identify- maybe Dutch. However, when their waiter came up to take their order they switched to English. Their Balinese waiter responded in English. This scene was a little humorous. A possibly Dutch family eating in a Japanese communicates in English to their Balinese waiter! No one in this equation was a native English speaker, but nonetheless it was their one common language. We have now seen this repeated over and over again. Dutch tourists, Japanese tourists, French tourists, Arab tourists all use my language to communicate as they travel about the world! What a blessing it is to know the world’s most popular language.