Papa D's birthday

The other day Papa D turned 34.  When we met he was 28.  For some reason 34 seems a lot older than 28!  We celebrated Papa D all day on his birthday.  We went shopping for a new watch for him.  We saw the cost which was 3xs the cost of that watch on Amazon.com and thought better of buying it.  We will buy it for his 1/2 birthday in June!  After that we went home to have his favorite pork dish for lunch.  It was delicious (I didn't cook this, Ibu Sri did).  After naps we took our Malang family out for hamburgers which was a special treat for us all.

I want to say that I love celebrating my husband.  He is a good husband to me and a good father to the girls.  Our marriage is not perfect (show me one that is) but each year we grow in our understanding of each other, respect for each other and in our love for each other.   We have a happy marriage.  We enjoy playing card games together.  Since Baby C's birth we have not been able to play one game due to pure exhaustion, however, we know this is a season of our lives and we are loving every minute of it.  I cherish the moments when we get to sneak away on our motorcycle and have lunch together or run errands together.  When we get a chance to put Big C down to bed at night together I soak it all up as I watch him hold her and tell her stories.  I know the day will come when we will not be wanted by Big C to put her to bed but for now it is a very sweet time.  We enjoy taking trips together.  We share a love of travel.  Papa D and I know how to laugh together.  We have a great joy from entertaining the other.  Papa D is a person who loves to laugh, he likes a clean house with order, he lives by faith, he strives to be a better man each day that he lives, he enjoys trips and seeing new places, he can fix anything, he shows his love by serving people, and he loves our God with all his heart, mind and soul.  Thank you Lord for Papa D.

The first birthday celebration

And the 2nd

The birthday boy

Christmas Day

Santa Came!

Christmas 2010 Photo

A cash register!  Who could want anything else?

Forget the toys, I want the tree

Martha's family, we have been blessed by her for 2 years

Ariel is one of Big C's favorite people

Christmas with the family

This New Year

This has been a very nice and simple Christmas break.  We stayed here in East Java at our home.  I have spent my days with my family and friends for the past couple of weeks.  I need to tell you that I have been homesick for my friends and family in America very badly and at the same time I need to tell you that this was one of my sweetest Christmas' that I can remember.  It was simple.  There were not a bunch of parties to go to or gifts to open (even though my aunts and friends tried their best to not make that true).  There were not a bunch of Christmas specials on tv or trips to take.  Instead there was a lot of sitting and being.  There was a lot joy in the simplicity of it all.  I have enjoyed three conversations over coffee that have really touched me.  I have enjoyed playing Barbie with my 2 year old.  I have enjoyed getting slobbering kisses by my 6 months old and I have enjoyed sitting with my husband while watching movies or just chatting about life.  My favorite times though were on Christmas day visiting good friends of ours at their houses and seeing how they live....so different from how I live in this same country.


One thing that seemed to be the topic of many of my conversations and thoughts is the perspective that we have.  You know compared to many of my Western friends my family lives without a lot of "stuff" and my house may seem small and my salary may seem little.  However, I never really noticed that my house was small until coming back to it after going to America for four months last winter.  When I walked back into my house from that America visit I remember thinking "I don't remember this house being this small, did something happen to it while I was gone".  Nothing happened to the house what happen was my perspective of house size was changed.  Well on Christmas day we went to visit our helpers' families and seeing their houses made me think "Oh my, my house is so big".  Again the house didn't change but my perspective did.  Our house is plenty big for our family of four.  We have three bedrooms and while they are small compared to American bedrooms they are the perfect size for us.  We have two bathrooms and one of those bathrooms is in my bedroom!  What a luxury that is!  Do we need two bathrooms for four people? No!  However, we have that, how blessed are we!


Another point of my perspective that has changed while living in East Java is wealth.  Many of the students that I use to teach in the U.S. were "poverty level" kids.  However, that definition of poverty is so off compared to the poverty that I see here.  I just read a friend's blog talking about just that.  She speaks of how the poor of the U.S. live like kings compared to the poor of Haiti.  That statement could be made about the poor of so many countries in this world.  My first resolution for this year is to remember the poor.  I hope that everyday I take a look around me and recognize how much we have and then I hope that I take a bag and pick up just three things that we don't need or use in this house, then take that bag and walk 50 meters to the end of my neighborhood and give it to one of the 100,000s of people who live in this city who would use that stuff much more than I do.


In one month our family will move to Kalimantan, the island north of Java.  Our lifestyle will again change drastically.  When I moved to East Java many of my American friends and family asked me how could I leave a comfortable job, friends, and family and go to a place that is not nearly as "good" as it is in America.  While now I find my Javanese friends asking that same question about our move to Kalimantan.  My answer is the same "Life in God is 'good' no matter what the conditions around me look like".  Please don't think that we are about to move to the jungle, there will be a KFC in walking distance.  It is just that life will be different and how we live our lives may be a bit different.  We will adjust though, we always do.  My second resolution for this year is to not let others define what a good life should look like for me.  I know that life can be good if you just choose that it will be good.  Even when hardships and sadness come our way I can still choose to see God's goodness in my life.  I refuse to let my surroundings or situations define if my life is good or not, I will let God define goodness for me.


I really hope that I can keep my perspective in God's truth this year.  I really hope that I can live with less and give more.  I really hope that I can think less of Mama K and more of my neighbor.  I really hope that I can stay away from self pity and stay close to God's truth.  I am not one to make resolutions but these are two areas that I can use some work in and so I am choosing to focus on them this year.  Lose weight, yeah I want to do that too.  Read more, yes that too I would love to do.  Many other things I would love to change about myself this year.  I think that if I focus on the two highlighted above that many other things in my life that need to change will follow suit.  





Mama K

Merry Christmas 2010 Baby C

Sweet Caroline,

On June 18th of this year your Papa said to you while you were still in the womb, "Baby, tonight the U.S. has their 2nd game in the World Cup at 9-11pm and after that from 1-3 am England will play their 2nd game.  Please, Baby don't come during those games".  You are such a good baby that within five minutes of the last whistle blowing of the U.S. game you started your departure out of the womb and one minute before the starting whistle of the England game you finished your departure and rested in your Papa's arms.  Perfect timing.  At 12:59 am on June 19th I held you for the first time.  It was a moment that I will never forget.  You looked at me with your big brown eyes and I fell in love with you so very deeply.  The first thing that your Papa said to me after your birth was "You gave me another princess".  A Princess you are, indeed.

Just as you came into this world fast you have done everything else fast.  You smiled before you were two weeks old, you rolled over in your second month, you started rocking on your four limbs during your fourth month, started some form of crawling before you were six months, and sat up during your fifth month.  You move at your own pace eager to keep up with your big sister.  You gave us the biggest belly laugh when your sister would bounce a ball in front of you, I have no idea what made that so funny to you.  I wish you would slow down and be my baby for longer but you are teaching me early that you will do things on your own time and that I need to just embrace that about you.  I do, cheers to who you are and to who you will be!

Honestly during week 6-8 of your life I wasn't sure if i was going to make it as a mother of two.  I think you had some stomach issues but whatever it was made you so cranky.  Your sister became more and more jealous of all of the time I was having to spend comforting you.  However, sometime in week 8 you settled into a routine, your sister figured out that she COULD share her Mama and our family became a fluid family of four.  I have loved every minute of it, even during those hard weeks.

I love smelling you.  You smell so new and fresh.  I love squeezing you, you have the biggest, most squeezable thighs that I have ever seen.  I love your smile, it melts my heart.  You squeal with delight often.  You smile easily.  You love being held in your sling.  You are a wonderful sleeper, most nights you sleep 7 pm until 6:30 am.  You look so cute in your matching outfits with your sister.

You are loved.  You have not even met your family yet in America or in Menado but I hope that you know, Baby, that they love you deeply and long to hold you tight and experience the joy that you bring to everyone here in Malang.

In our first video of you we call you "Kennedy".  That was your name for the first few hours of your life.  However, for some reason "Caroline" kept ringing in my ear.  You see for four months of my pregnancy with you I watched your Aunty H cheer.  She did this very cute dance to the song "Sweet Caroline" once during every game.  That song just stuck in your Papa and my head.  When we held you the song rang so true.  You are so sweet and good times are just that much more good with you in our life now.  You are our Sweet Baby C.  You always will be.

The 6 months during 2010 that we were able to hold you and love on you have been some of the happiest moments of my life.  I look forward to watching you grow into the beautiful lady that God created you to be.  Every day I give thanks for you and your sister.  What a beautiful family we have become.

Merry Christmas, Baby C.  I hope you know, and always know, that you are deeply, deeply loved by your Papa and your Mama and most importantly by your God.

Merry Christmas 2010 Big C

Big C, you are a joy.  You have the ability to make even the saddest person feel a bit of joy when you look at them with your big brown eyes and your big toothy smile.  I love it when you do something that frustrates your Papa, such as drop cookie crumbs all over the house, and then when he lets out his sigh you hug him and say "It's fine Papa".  How can we ever be angry with you?

I love laying in bed with you at night and "reading" you stories (Big C we are actually telling you stories) about Dora, Barbie or Jesus.  I especially loved last night holding you in my arms and telling you about Jesus' birth and why we needed Him to be born so badly.  I loved when you said "Jesus got spanked so we don't have to be spanked?"!  Hahahaha Yes, Big C, we get to spend forever and ever in the presence of a good and great God because of Jesus.  I know you don't get it all right now and I don't really know how to explain it all to you yet and that is ok.  You already understand that you are loved by the One that created you.  If you are able to remember that through all the highs and lows of your life then you will do ok.  Big C, know that you are loved by the Creator and by many, many others.

I love watching you sing and dance.  You are so much NOT like me and I love that about you.  You want to be a ballerina, you dream of the day you get to go to Aunt Kelly's dance classes in America.  You spin around this house, kicking your legs up, and your arms over your head and ask me "Is this how a ballerina dances".  I always say you are dancing beautifully while honestly, baby, I have no idea how a ballerina dances!

You want a Barbie for Christmas.  One year for my birthday my parents (your Memaw and Pop-o) gave me Barbies; I gave them away.  However, you hold the Barbie boxes in the stores like they are the most precious treasure in the entire world.  I always said that I would not get my girls Barbies but a few days ago I bought you one.  How can I deny you something that means so much to you?  I wait with anticipation for tomorrow morning when you get to open it.

We left America 11 months ago.  I thought by now you would have forgotten all those that you left who love you.  You haven't.  Daily you ask to go to Cousin "Savior's" house.  You want to play trains with him and you promise you will share.  When I say we don't have enough money right now you say "You can have my "bank bank" to buy plane tickets".  You are so sweet.  You can keep your "bank bank", I promise to get you back soon.  You miss Pop-o giving you marshmallows in the morning, you miss sitting in Memaw's lap as she whispered sweet nothings into your ear.  You miss marching with Aunt Hannah and being loved on by Aunt Elysisisisbith.  You talk about riding on your Uncle Paul's shoulders like crazy because you just aren't quite as tall when you are on Papa's shoulders.

You, my love, enjoy art.  Again, you are not much like me.  You ask me to draw you stuff and I have no idea where to begin.  So you just do it yourself.  You have been drawing circles since before you were two and now you are drawing triangles and squares and people and trees.  You never cease to amaze me.  

You talk in two languages fluently and you speak bits of Spanish and Javanese as well.  You go between them with ease and you can even translate.  You know who to speak "glish" to and who to speak "nesia" to.  You talk all the time.  If no one is close or paying attention to you, you just talk to yourself.  I honestly think that you are never quiet.  Something is always coming out of your mouth!  Usually it is some song that you are making up as you go.

You are smart, you are beautiful, you love people, you love to smile.  You, Big C, are our Lala, our joy, our daughter.  

Merry Christmas, 2010

Love,
Your Mama K and Papa D

riding on shoulders

I remember riding on my dad's shoulders often as a little girl.  The view was so different from my normal one that I had on my own two feet.  I'm sure Dad's shoulders ached but onward he would march with me in tow.

Now I'm old enough that I have my own daughter on my shoulders.  I know now for sure that Dad's shoulders ached 25 or so years ago as he carried me.  Big C is full of glee when she is riding high on Mama K or Papa D's shoulders.  The view is so different for her.

Sometimes I long to ride on the shoulders of God.  I long to see the view from up there.  Perhaps I would see that Big C's tantrum phase is really only for a moment or that Baby C will eventually stop all of her drooling and a tooth will come.  Perhaps I would see just how much I should enjoy each day because each day that passes will be a day that I don't get back.  I am sure that on God's shoulders I would be full of glee.

You know sometimes I think I am on God's shoulders.  Sometimes, through prayer usually, my perspectives do change.  God does lift us up and allows us to see the greater view that God sees.  When this happens I am reminded of just how full of joy my life is.

It's Thanksgiving again.  I have had 31 Thanksgivings.  I am thankful for that.  I am thankful for this moment, right now, when I can reflect and see the view that I most often miss from being too focused on the details that are right in front of me.  I am thankful that God can pick me up and allow me to see just how great this creation is and that no matter what problems we are facing our lives can still be full of joy as we look out at the view from the shoulders of God.

Does that make sense?

Our Life

I'm sorry for the long silence.  We have had a lady from Charleston, SC out here for the past month putting fish farms up at many of our sites in Kalimantan to help the sites produce more income for their schools and what not.  She was an absolute blessing to me.  She is exactly one month younger than my mom.  We had almost an instant bond however because of that friendship I had a hard time taking time for the blog.  Well we put her on the plane today so I am back.  I love my faithful readers, sorry if I let you down.

Anyway, we had Starbucks drinks today when we were in the big city.  I was alone with Caroline in Starbucks for a bit and was looking at all of the Christmas decorations and mugs.  Before I knew it my eyes were teared all up as I was flooded with memories from last Christmas.  Last Christmas I was preggers and in America.  I remember shopping with my parents one day and then stopping off at Starbucks.  The smells and the decorations today were the same as that day.  I am always amazed at how smells can bring on such strong memories.  I miss you parents.  We had such a good Christmas with you last year.

While our "fish lady" was here we went to the safari again.  This time Clara had the courage to ride the pony.  She has ridden the elephant 6 times in her 2 years of life but has always wanted to ride the pony but has been too scared.  I know, backwards right...Well she did it this time!  Caroline also had some fun with a chimp, she even had her picture taken with the chimp!