mimi and papa in indonesia!

mimi and papa came to indonesia!  they have actually already left (tear) but i haven't been great about blogging so i'm just getting to their visit.  we had a great time, we just wish it was longer!  

it's like mary and luke have their own play buddies 24/7.  my parents are so fun with them and obviously really treasure the time they have with them. 

they play along with everything… even when mary asks to eat dinner "around the fire" like little house on the prairie.  danny and papa decided they could have chairs around the fire.  :)  

mimi and papa came with a lot of new books for the kids (something we love getting here!) so there was a lot of reading to be done.  mary could easily sit with mimi for an hour and listen to her read.  luke… well, he was in and out a bit more… probably going to hit papa a few times.  he rarely went more than an hour without giving him a good punch.  :)  

this was our big accomplishment of the trip.  we put a basketball hoop up in our neighborhood.  it's so fun!  it's not exactly up to american basketball court standards but it's exactly 10 feet (which we consider a minor miracle after watching the way they put it up).  

papa basically schooled all the young guys the entire week.  they are still asking about him.  i had so much fun playing with my dad again.  i grew up doing it and it's fun to get to do it again.  danny and i went and played last night for the first time since they left (it's been raining a lot in the afternoons)… it's so fun to have a place to play.  basketball isn't super popular here so i didn't know how many people would come out to play but there are actually a ton of kids that come play.  we also put up a 5 foot hoop for luke and he loves it!  

here's my little man.  he loves being at the court, he loves watching the big guys and helping them get the ball when it goes out of bounds.  it's so cute how excited he gets.  he used to sob when i played but now he likes to watch me play with the big boys.  :)  

in action  :) 

 mimi should get an award for coming to the court every afternoon.  she went back and forth on the motorcycle with the kids, keeping them occupied so we could all play.  thanks so much mom!  i loved getting to play with dad!  

and while they were here we celebrated a special birthday… papa!  

i can't believe i never took my camera out and took a few real photos of my kids with mimi and papa!  next time… which hopefully won't be too far away!  :)  

thanks for coming mom and dad.  i know we didn't do as much as we wanted but we really loved having you!  thanks for just jumping in and going with the flow of life with little kids.  can't wait to have y'all back here again.  

project 52-- week 9

ISO100, 1/125, f 2.8, 50mm

mary playing dress up at a friend's house.  

our kids are in such a funny stage… mary is a thinker and the things that come out of her mouth these days crack me up.  they may be better in person (and if you can "hear" her say it) but i'm going to write a few so i don't forget in 5 years, or 5 days.

today we were at the mall.  she asked for a barbie as we walked by it.  we don't do barbies yet… no judgement if you do, we just don't at this point.  she asked why she couldn't have one.  i said something like, remember how we talk about looking at the inside of a person to find beauty instead of the outside… barbies have a lot of outward beauty that isn't realistic (heavy for a 4 year old, i know).  she said something like this, "i have an idea!  you know how i always pretend with "my people" that there is Jesus and that He heals them and stuff.  well, the barbies can have a pretend Jesus and they can be with him.  then, when i open them up and look into their hearts they will be pretty on the inside too, mom!"  it was much longer than that and had a lot of thoughtful pauses and deep breaths.  i almost wanted to give in because i was so impressed with her logic.  almost.  

tonight i was cooking dinner.  she asked if she could be the philistines and act kind of mad.  i was half paying attention and said sure.  her face turned into a scowl and she said yelled angrily "hi mom!" i said hi.  "how was your day?", continuing in angry mode.  i said fine as i stirred our dinner.  then she looked at me with her angry eyes and grumbled "thanks for making us dinner, mom!"  i couldn't help but laugh.  she's sweet even when she's being "angry."  

as i was putting her to bed we had a long conversation about praying.  loves the bible, bursts out into spontaneous worship songs for things she's thankful for, etc… but she does not want to pray.  i'm trying to be okay with it and just talk about it with her.  anyways, tonight as i was putting her to bed i was reading a book about a little girl praying (thanks, carolyn!) and we had a long talk about talking to God.  she told me she felt funny, and i said it was okay.  i would just pray.  as i was praying she said she wanted to also… i felt like it was a real victory for her because she decided she wanted to.  she prayed for our baby we're waiting for… she prayed that he/she would be filled with joy today, that baby would have peace in his heart, she prayed that we would be a good family and that she and luke would be a good sister and brother.  then, she said "i pray that our baby will have courage to come into our family and have a new mommy, a white mommy."  she stopped praying and explained to me how some of her friends who don't have mommies are darker and they might be afraid to have a white mommy like me.  wisdom.

so thankful for my funny, thoughtful girl. 

project 52-- week 8

ISO 400, 1/320, f3.2, 85mm

a boy and his pigeons.  there is this "game" they play here with pigeons.  i actually don't really get it but occasionally you see guys stop in our neighborhood on their motorcycles with boxes.  inside are their boxes are pigeons.  they through them into the air and look where they go.  sometimes they are training them so i think they come back… but i think the goal is to have them deliver messages.  like train them to go somewhere with a message.  clearly, i have a bit to learn.  i'll have to get some more info on the situation.  anyways, this boy was in the middle of a rather busy road with his dad letting their pigeons go.  i walked up right after they threw them into the air (so sad i missed that shot), but here he is watching them fly off.  yes, luke, you may have a pigeon backpack when you're 12 years old also….  :)

random happenings...

random update with pictures so it's not too boring….

my parents are here!  we love having mimi and papa here.  mary and luke especially love having mimi and papa here!  they called them "mom and dad" the first few days they were here… easy kids.  

we put a basketball hoop up in our neighborhood last week.  it's a hit!  we've been playing every afternoon this week and we've been pleasantly surprised with the players that have come out.  we're getting to know neighbors and playing ball together.  win, win.  and it's especially fun to have my dad here to play with us!  in his fifties and he still has it (more than anyone else on the court)!  :)

adoption update:  we're waiting.  for real, we're on the waiting list!  that's progress.  we invite you to pray for our child with us. pray that our baby's daily physical needs are provided.  ask God to provide one person to love our child while we're not with him/her to do it-- someone to hold our child while they are fed a bottle, look at our baby's eyes and talk or sing to him/her.  on a more practical note, our finger prints have failed again (2nd time)!  which means we have to do criminal background checks for the last five years.  pray especially for that process in indonesia.  lastly, we will begin applying for grants again-- please pray with us for God's financial provision through the whole process.  

lastly, danny and i are taking 2 nights away this weekend since my parents are here and are graciously agreed to watch our kids.  we're taking the train to Jogjakarta, another city on our island that is considered the center of javanese culture.  we're really looking forward to the time away together and to see some sites.  thanks, mom and dad!  

project 52-- week 6

ISO 200, 1/320, f2.5, 85mm

today i'm featuring my friends, leslie and phil.  our family and leslie moved to indonesia at the same time and we've been close neighbors the last 2.5 years.  she went home to America a few days ago to get married to her wonderful fiancé, phil.  i did a quick 6am photo shoot the day before they left.  

i took leslie to the airport a few days ago… as she walked off i began to cry (obviously, she's one of my dearest friends here).  i felt this pit in my stomach of being alone.  i'm far from alone here but i will really miss the friendship i have had with leslie.  we share a lot of common interests and have a really fun and deep friendship.  i thought, who will i text when i have an "oh my gosh!" indonesian experience to share!?!  it's fun having someone know the culture and appreciate the humor in the daily things we encounter here.  honestly, that was my first thought.  my really fun friend was gone.  

leslie is so much more than a fun friend to us, she has become part of our family.  danny and i deeply care about her and have so valued her friendships and partnership in our lives here.  we love having her in our house and just being part of the family.  she loves our kids well and intentionally spends time with them.  she took mary on "leslie dates", which were often the highlight of mary's month.  :)

she has lived a "YES" life in indonesia.  honestly, life can be difficult here, but she consistently sought God and said yes to Him.  she was selfless, caring and sacrificial on a daily basis, enabling her to make deep friendships and bless so many of the people God brought into her life here.  she was humble before God and others, seeking to grow and be changed by God.  

leslie, we love you!  we are honored to have walked with you this last season in life.  thank you for being gracious, loving and fun.  we miss you deeply!  and now i'm going to cry so… 

and just want to mention, we think phil is great too, he just hasn't been in indonesia for a few years with us… yet.  ;)  but we did have him as a house guest for a few weeks and really enjoyed getting to hang out and

Project 52-- week 5

ISO 200, 1/400, f1.8, 85mm

this project 52 deal is a bit harder than i imagined.  i had my camera out for all of 6 minutes this week… maybe not even that long.  here's luke sitting outside of our house where we often hang out with our neighbors. he's in his PJ shirt, undies and basketball shoes.  it was 4:45pm.  mom of the year, here.

that's his pretend mad face because i was taking pictures.  our sweet neighbor (who we call "grandma mul") had just stepped out of the frame because she didn't want to make the photo ugly… she's actually adorable!  their interaction is exactly what i wanted to capture.  so thankful for our neighborhood.

Instagram Upload

Here's instagram upload, with a few comments from Danny (since Lisa left me with the task of posting this).  **danny didn't do his assigned task so i'm back finishing up the clever comments.  can you guess which ones i wrote and which ones he wrote?  :)

homemade hammock… luke and alif

buds.

Our kids think that Santa is a short Javanese man.

proudly wearing her kabaya… a traditional javanese outfit

Decorating Christmas cookies.  I wish we would have gotten a picture of Luke sneaking off with the sprinkles .

Reason #489 Luke will need therapy when he's older.

thank you God for technology.  we used FaceTime to be a part of our big family christmas celebration!

christmas eve

We had an infestation of flying termites; here are some who recently left for termite heaven.

Mary's first sleepover with her friend, Maya.

luke lead me in worship one morning… loved it.

Without Danny, of course.  (Not to be a punk, but I'm pretty sure Lisa took the pictures of the kids, which by definition means they are not selfies.)

"Open the gates and seize the day!" (5 Bonus points if you get the reference.)

elephant camp in thailand… i didn't want to get any closer to those ugly creatures!

Luke sleeping with his Sword of the Spirit.  Two of them, in fact, for the double anointing (ah, a little Pentecostal humor).

morning snuggles.

not thrilled by the people who keep grabbing at them.  luke looks ticked, huh?

Luke discovered Reese's in Thailand.  We all gained 5 lbs.

Who needs to bring activities on the plane when you can just give your kids the Emergency Instructions?

quality time with some friends.