family basketball time

our most frequent family activity.  basketball at the outdoor gym.

sometimes mary gets over playing basketball and does things like feed her babies.  do you see her bowl and yellow spoon at the bottom of the picture?  she was feeding a baby.  :)  she also frequently makes pretend food, sweeps and stares out the window.  but, i must say, her dribbling skills are improving... she is even dribbling without looking at the ball (sometimes).  

and since we're capturing real life on this blog... here is luke being very luke.  not sure what he was upset about but he can melt into full tears in a matter of moments... and be laughing just as quickly (usually).  tonight mary caught danny and i hiding our laughter as luke came sobbing to me after danny kindly asked him not to push mary.  it was funny.  :)

all of this basketball playing pays off though.  i think it's safe to say that luke is possibly the only 2 year old with actual perfect shooting form.  he has a one handed shot and flicks his wrist to get the back spin.  it doesn't go very far yet... but it will.  :)  his dribbling skills are still pretty astonishing for a two year old also.  every time someone sees him they try to convince me to post it on youtube.  i'll start with the blog.... video coming sometime soon.  (done bragging now... it just makes me so proud as a basketball playing mama).  :)

he is risen!

HE IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!  

this is mary yelling "He is risen!" 

we had a nice and quiet Easter this year.  we attended our early morning church service, had a time of refreshments afterwards, a little easter egg hunt and then headed home for the day.   mary knows the real reason we celebrate Easter from us (and her Jesus videos) so we did a lot of role playing Jesus in the tomb and rising from the dead in weeks leading up to Easter.  it made for an interesting Easter service because she recognized so many of the words/phrases being sung or preached... and she asked a question about every single one of them!  we eventually had to pull her out because she was so loud about her questions.  she was really excited to celebrate "He is risen!"  our kids aren't really exposed to easter eggs, bunnies and lots of chocolate because it just isn't really celebrated here.  but, she has seen a veggie tales video that mentioned eggs and bunnies so she was excited about the Easter egg hunt.  luke, not so much.  he wasn't really into the eggs this year.  

here are the kids after the hunt.  notice their Easter baskets?  yeah, being the awesome, prepared mom that i am an Easter basket never even crossed my mind.  luckily our friend just happened to have to extra is his car.  so, there is mary with her cute dress (thanks, mimi!) and a camouflage easter basket.  she didn't care.  luke of course loved his soccer basket and did more kicking than collecting.

when it started i immediately picked up an egg and showed luke the candy inside, thinking it would motivate him to pick them up.  i put the egg in his basket and encouraged him to look for more.  he grunted at me, took it out of his basket and threw it back in the bushes.  i laughed.  sometimes that kid's mood can really kill a situation. :)  luckily i had a little brother that was just like that, and he's wonderful now so i'm not afraid of luke's cranky moods.  and, luckily luke has a big sister that is beyond sweet to him (sometimes), just like my little brother had.  ;)

we are so thankful for this time to remember the death and resurrection of our Lord... and that He is victory of sin and death and that we have the promise of life with Him forever.  

an unplanned reunion!

another fun surprise in bali was that we got to see our good friends from boston!  bethany emailed a few weeks ago and asked if we could make it to bali in march because they were planning a trip (they moved to australia a few months before we left for indonesia).  i was thrilled when i realized that our conference that was already planned were the same dates they would be there.  then, the day they arrived we realized we were staying in the same hotel and didn't plan it.  so fun!  

it was so fun for me to be with a friend from my boston life!  our kids are about the same ages and really connected and loved playing together.  it was especially fun for us mamas to see our kids becoming friends again.... they had already forgotten one another (tear), but picked right back up!  

mary and izzy contemplating life as they look out to the beach.  :)

the kids were really into these duck floaties that this man was selling on the beach.  we did not buy one but they entertained the kids for a bit.  

and then the woman selling meals from the box she carried on her head walked by... and you remembered that though bali is full of modern things and many, many white people, we are still in indonesia.  :)  

this is a terrible picture but i just had to document luke and myla.  luke got so excited to see myla each time we were with them.  it was so sweet.  she is a doll!  and, another thing in this photo is evidence of the constant cheek grabbing.  do you see that random blue and pink sleeve above his head?  you can hardly see it, but her hand was behind his ear and she was about to go in for the cheek grab, without luke even knowing she was near him.  i'm sure what followed was a protest from luke.  he's not to into random people grabbing him these days.  :)  

i was so surprised and thankful that we got to spend so much time with our friends!  we thought we'd just grab dinner one night but since they were in the same hotel we had a few breakfasts together and late afternoon swims.  it was so refreshing to be with their family.  definitely a little gift from God.

jumping the waves

we went to bali last week for a regional conference.  it was such a great time to get away, be fed and encouraged by the Word and have fun with our family.  honestly, luke was pretty terrible most of the time.... as he has been for about three weeks.  he sobs if i leave his side and sometimes he sobs and i have no idea why.  so, i went in pretty drained and had some low moments there.  he would wake up and sob for 15-45 minutes with no obvious cause (accept that i later discovered he had three new teeth).  i would lay with him and try to comfort him but the crying and thrashing didn't stop.  i was at my end and unfortunately it often showed in my attitude towards him.  

this conference wasn't about strategy or anything concerning indonesia, it was solely for the care of our souls.  and it was so refreshing for me.  it's been a long season of unknowns and cultural difficulties and it was topped off by a few very rough weeks with luke.  God spoke His peace to me, He spoke words of encouragement, He gave us a new vision for the day to day difficulties we've been facing.  we're in a battle and we need to cry out to the One who is always victorious.  it was a perspective that we desperately need as we look forward here.  

He also spoke to me about luke.  i have a Father who is slow to anger and abounding in love.  God knows that these days aren't easy and He is merciful and compassionate towards me in them.  He also enables me to be merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love towards my kids... because that is who He is to me.  i know these things, but sometimes i just need the Holy Spirit to say it again to me.  

i don't really know how to photography scenery at all and this picture doesn't do it justice.  it was beautiful!

our kids went to "school" most days (thanks child care workers!!!) and we went to our sessions.  we had a great group of people from tx come to share with us.  we also did a lot of fun things in our free time....

we went to the beach.  danny started jumping the "waves" with our kids, which was a huge hit.  do you see that massive wave that mary and danny are jumping?!?  that is a pretty good picture of mary's level of love for adventure... :)

we had dinner on the beach

luke played balinese music every morning on our way of out breakfast

we did a lot of swimming, which i have no photos of because i was in the pool... but here is us ready to go swimming.  :)

danny had a plate of bacon every morning.  bacon is hard to find (and really expensive) on our island because it's primarily muslim.  but, bali is primarily hindu so the bacon is plentiful.  :)

we also went to a water park... which i intend to not do again for another 5 years.  it's just not that much fun for our kids, since they prefer to not have their faces splashed with water.  :)  

...and finally luke crashed.  i love sleeping babies.  i mean, i love them when they are awake too, but i love holding him while he sleeps.  :)

tomorrow i'll post more about bali... some of our good friends from America just happened to be vacationing at our same hotel!  a gift from God.

monyee the monyet

this week it was mary's turn to bring the class mascot home.  

meet monyee the monyet (monkey, in indonesian)

we were supposed to take pictures of monyee around the house doing normal things with mary (i think?).... and that is what i did.  i will print them out soon and she'll report to her class.  thought i'd share our time with monyee on here.  

eating cereal with monyee

kissing monyee on the back porch

this is the best one.  what are mary and monyee doing, you wonder?  oh, just guarding the tomb of Jesus... until He rises three days later.  that wooden thing on the stone (read booster chair) is the sign that says keep away.  her new thing is role playing the resurrection story of Jesus.  usually, she's the soldier, but she always assures me that she's a good soldier.  we read the Bible almost every night, but i will say, i think a lot of her Bible knowledge/obsession is from her nest entertainment videos.  

reading at night with daddy.  that's the Bible we read and we really love it (if you're in the market for a new kid's Bible).  it's the Big Picture Story Book Bible.  through all of the stories it weaves the promise of a Savior, the restoration of the people and place of God and God's promise to bless all nations of the earth.  

mary reading to monyee.  this is a Bible too... which i would not recommend.  but, mary actually calls this her "schedule book" and usually looks to see when her guitar practice or school time is.  where did she get that idea?  not sure.  but usually guitar practice comes right around 8pm.... bed time.  :)  

mary, luke and monyee helping me make zucchini bread.  i hope that they still want to "help" in the kitchen when their "help" would actually be helpful.  :)  usually takes me four times as long and twice the mess... but they LOVE pulling the chairs up and helping me.  i look it as an activity for the kids, not something i have to get done quickly.  :)

there's life with mary and monyee (which by the way is what luke has called mary until about 3 weeks ago).   :)

dirt play

dirt + water = fun

luke kept filling up that little tea pitcher over and over again... and each time about half of it landed on the floor.  but, look at those chubby, dirty hands.  i just love them. 

they were planting seeds, serious business.  

after they played in the dirt they wanted to play dress up.  i resisted taking pictures of eli is his tutu (for you, ben) but i will gladly share luke showing off his pink.  we have many pictures of my little brother dressed in dresses, bonnets, and jewelry... and he's very manly now.  luke has enough basketball skills and hits mary enough to prove his manhood.  :)

mary gazing affectionately at the peanut butter on her finger.  a girl after my own heart.  

what fills our days...

here's our life as of late... i have been lazy with the camera but the good old cell phone is always around.  so, here's everyday life by the phone.  

i don't know where she learned that licking the beaters was okay?!?

mary hanging out with the basketball girls... my kids love these girls!

he's a stud.  that's all.  

train time!

love these two.

luke hiding behind mary when he heard the motorcycles come.  i was right there to provide protection but he chose mary.  cute.  

an afternoon walk on our street... 

luke petting the rooster... we go looking for chickens in the little neighborhood behind our house on most of our walks.  we also buy crackers from the sweet little lady that sells them out of her house.  

craft time before dinner.  i have to confess, it was a genius idea.  they loved it.  the beauty of it was that it is a new activity and that i was there on the floor with them the whole time... so i'm save this for those "special" times (read: exhausting parenting days) when i need a mood booster for the family.   

happy birthday to our favorite friend, vera!  

my kids love having her around our home and we loved celebrating her.

an update from the last post regarding the need of joy.  we are doing better around the pierce home, but still not fabulous.  today the electricity was off from about 2-5pm (it's dark inside the house by that time during rainy season because it's so overcast).  that makes for hard afternoons.  i needed to get out of the house and get luke into a different scene to snap him out of his terribly pathetic mood.  the boy wakes up on the wrong side of the bed after naps sometimes... and it makes me crazy!  i took him on a run in the rain and he loved it.  he loved getting wet and he loved looking at the "bee-yuck" (that's "big trucks") that pass us.  it was a win for us.  then, after dinner the attitudes shifted down again so danny played trains with luke and i read to mary for 45 minutes.  the girl loves her some books and now i know more about spot than i ever wanted to.  all was well again and we had a good evening!   thank you, Jesus!