instagram upload...

instagram photos from the past many weeks... 

future album cover.

serenading the wendy's workers

my little artist 

luke at the driving range... he managed to have three men hand him their clubs and balls to have a turn

super papa giving luke a bath (one of many!)

mary doctoring mimi

so thankful my parents could come again! 

our little family (this is our street)

mary's people made it to breakfast with us in malaysia

and luke taking advantage of the hotel breakfast... shoveling chocolate cereal with two hands

mom of the year: kids strapped in, video on my lap, and me in a massage chair

mary, ready to roll

one of many amazing things i received because of my amazing packing team (karen, kim and sandra)  :)

his second album cover

playing peek a boo in my covers.  i love his face.

luke helping me sweep a friend's house 

at the market after school... do you see the hand going in for the cheek grab

yes, he usually sleeps with his guitar

date night!  danny ate of his pasta and saved the bacon for the end.  kind of sick, i think.

date night away.  fabulous!

fresh cut pineapple... amazing!

a few things that got missed in the crazy schedule of life.  one of them is that my parents came and went... and worked endless hours helping us get settled and our house decorated (or livable).  i can't say it enough, i'm so thankful for their visits here, the friendship that we have with them, the hours they serve us and the way they are involved in my kids lives.  

and, i know that i have about two times more pictures of luke than mary.  a few reasons... first, mary is in school more so I'm with luke alone more.  also mary isn't always fond of the camera (or phone pictures) and luke doesn't care.  and lastly, luke is just such a ham right now he's always doing funny things out and about... he knows people love him and he works it for his advantage.  we will work on that as he gets older, but for now i'm enjoying how comfortable he is with the people we live among!

first day of school!

mary started school this week.  she has been in playgroup the last year and a half here but this year she started "real school", as real as school is for a four year old in a class full of kids that speak another language.  :)  she started the first year of kindergarten (it's two years here).  it's 3.5 hours a day and five days a week... a little more than i wanted but it's okay.  i was kind of nervous about her starting school again... we faced many tearful goodbyes the last year and this is a totally new school so i was expecting the worst.  but something clicked this year and she loves it.  she has been excited to go to school every day.  she gets out of the car and runs in with her little backpack bouncing up and down.  it has been such a relief to know she is enjoying it.  

mary's first day of school was tuesday, PE uniform day.  they didn't have shirts her size ready so she wore the only yellow shirt she has (the color of the uniform shirt).  she was pumped to go to school and excited about her amazing outfit.  the amazing hair accessory was given to her by our friend in our neighborhood... a must have for the first day of school.  

and our after first day of school celebration... ice cream bar at circle K. 

this was the second day in her amazing uniform that she wears three days a week.  i think it's hilarious! mary was actually excited about school and okay with the uniform... it was me taking a picture of her that caused that overly joyful expression on her face.  :)  

a bit about her school... it is a christian school that seems to really believe in discipling children to have Christlike character.  it is a small school (10 kids in her class) with a very warm feeling... but it's also kind of serious academically.  it's weird to me, but academics for four year olds happens here.  there are two reason we are sending her to school... two help her learn indonesian and to help her learn to socialize with indonesian kids.  she is the only foreign kid at her school and though her teacher does speak some english, the kids don't.  we're really praying this is a positive cultural experience that grows her love for the country and it's people and gives her a desire to learn indonesian.  i'm sure she's often confused, but she doesn't seem to mind at all.  :)  

luke also started "school" as we call it.  it's a government playgroup program here to get young kids to socialize, have fun and learn a bit.  it's just down the street from our house and only 1.5 hours twice a week.  the moms stay with the kids, though many of them don't participate with the kids activities... of course i do.  luke won't let me out of arm's length yet... unless he's playing soccer with his new buddies during the free play time... so i lip the songs (note to self: learn more indonesian kids songs) and follow the motions to encourage luke's involvement.  here he is on the first day, before we got his uniform.  yes, the playgroup has uniforms.  indonesia loves uniforms!  

walking to his second day of school in his uniform.  umm, i love him and i secretly love that he has to wear that uniform!

i really wanted to take pictures of luke at school but i was too embarrassed to pull out my camera.  i snapped one with my phone just so that people can see the cuteness in the room.  i mean, these kids are adorable!  the little boy looking at luke is rashya... he's a little bigger than luke and they instantly connected.  rashya is a very rough and tumble boy and his mom kept apologizing for him being too rough with luke... i assured her that luke has a very tough side and he would be fine.  they played soccer together forever and had so much fun!  it was so cute!  after that, rashya became a little possessive and protective of luke.  if someone would come close to him he would tell them that luke is his friend.  if someone tried to take luke's ball or run in front of him, he's say "jangan adik!" meaning "don't kid!"(kind of awkward to translate).  i loved it!  this is luke's first little indonesian friend (he doesn't really have friends yet, he's two).  

he seems to love it so far!  i love it because it gives me a very natural way to interact with the moms in our neighborhood and i'm learning a lot about the majority religion culture here.  we're the odd balls out for sure!!!  :)  but the moms are so welcoming and helpful as we learn the songs and what playgroup is supposed to look like.  i'm so thankful for this opportunity in our neighborhood!

luke and his sweaty head after a lot of playing at "school"

penang, part 2

and this is pretty much what we did in penang... 

and this is a good picture of how mary is sometimes... the moods are out of control.  i'm praying it's stress from all the transition that our family has been going through... but we're dealing with it nonetheless.  :)  she was mad i was taking pictures and not in with her.  

and this was a stop on our walk to chilis... yum, chilis!!!  it was nice lighting and i have so few pictures of us with our kids so i decided to pull out the pocket tripod and give it a try.  i would set the focus and the kids took turns pressing the button, so it was like a game!  the first time they liked taking photos.  though many are very out of focus because a little finger trying to press the button can move the camera around a lot!  oh well.

love these boys!

silly faces!

this was mary showing another wonderful mood... probably because i wanted to take some pictures.  

then i may have mentioned ice cream (yes, i bribed) and she was ready to pose... though i much prefer a more natural look to the amazing asia pose she has picked up.  :)

penang, part 1

last week we went to malaysia.  we thought that we would be getting our new work visas but it turns out they weren't ready.  but, our old visas expired so we had to leave anyways.  all that to say, we will be going on another short trip in the next few weeks assuming our visas come through.  if you think about it, please pray that they do.  we are really ready to settle, know that we have a longer term visa to live here and not have another out of country trip looming over our head with a few days notice.  pray for our friends here too... their visa journey has been much more difficult than ours. 

so, here is our vacation in penang, malaysia.  it's a little island off the mainland, is very modern and relatively touristy.  we did a lot of swimming, eating and walking (our hotel was about a mile from the nearest mall/eating area).  we saw some of the sights too.  it was a relaxing trip with little planned so we just enjoyed our time as a little family.  

danny and luke watching some kids play basketball... luke later joined them momentarily.

luke is loving silly faces these days and this particular one is his favorite.  he loves to do it to strangers across a room when he knows they are admiring his cuteness, he also loves to do it for pictures, when he facetimes family and when i'm about to discipline him.  sometimes i still have to bite my lip to contain my laughter.   

these are his admirers that he is making the funny faces for.  and do you see the hand that just finished the indonesian cheek grab.  they can't resist his chub.  

i tried out the timer feature on my camera... not something i'm awesome at.  but, we got a family picture... with very genuine smiles from everyone.  we love each other.  

we went to little india and the night market and did a few other touristy things.  but, i think that my kids are just too young for those kind of sights to be enjoyable.  they aren't stroller friendly (at all!) and usually don't have sidewalks so most of the time i'm fearing for my kid's life as we walk down crowded streets window shopping.

i don't have much else to say about our time in penang expect that there is a chilis that we ate at twice and it was amazing!!!  and they had an auntie ann's pretzels in the mall... and we ate there twice for lunch.  our kids totally don't appreciate the amazingness of western food.  they also have amazing indian food that we ate quite a bit.  basically, we look for a swimming pool and good food options when we travel these days.  penang had both so it was a win!  

a look at indonesia

 life has been crazy here... we just got back from a trip to malaysia to renew our visas.  hopefully we will settle into life in surabaya before too long and get back to "normal" life.  

but, for now, here are some photos of a mosque that i visited a few weeks ago.  a little look into indonesian culture and religion... and my first attempt at photographing something other than people.  i have a lot to learn.  :)

and we are moved to surabaya...

saying that we've been busy would be an understatement.  we've moved cities (not an easy feat here!), had two different overnight guests, my parents in town for a few weeks (which has been unbelievably helpful!), had fever/stomach bug, gone to another island and back for a conference, and tried to deal with every detail of moving into a new house in a very different world.  so, rather than describe every detail, i'll do a quick photo update.  the last few weeks in photos... 

this is our moving truck.  it has taken me a few weeks to blog about it, well, because every time i looked at the picture i got mad again at all of the furniture that is so banged up.  i'm over it now.  so, here it is.  i mean, can you even imagine!?!?  

but luckily, mary's tribe of people made it safely and were set up day one.  :)

our room... it was almost two weeks before we actually slept in it.

we get a dining room table tomorrow... i may like it better than the red craft table  

what happens to book shelves when you live in indonesia?  they become helmet racks 

mary is so excited to be sitting with papa on the airplane

luke looking for the traditional balinese dancers...

mary loved that safety information card!

after having so many ants i tried an ant poison my mom brought from america... the ants came from everywhere and ate it all night.  you can not imagine the joy and victory i felt as they scurried to the poison from countless holes in the wall/cabinets.  i haven't seen one since that day!!!  i win, ants. 

and then i bought danny a new suit.  hello husband! 

and tonight luke jammed on his guitar with some guys across the street.  luke heard them playing guitar and ran to get his so he could play with them.  he was out there for about 45 minutes.  it was really cute!  luke is doing really well culturally... maybe because he's realized that everyone thinks he's cute and funny so he can get anyone to smile at him.  he's going to be in for a shock if we come back to the states and people aren't gawking at him at every corner.  :)  

so, until i have more time to grab my camera... here is our crazy last few weeks via my phone.