new friends and old friends… our neighborhood.

this week the rain has let up and we are celebrating!  we've spent our afternoons outside with neighbors… and sometimes strangers, like these girls.  a funny story about these girls provides a little look into the odd life of normal people living in a foreign land who are all of the sudden considered totally awesome.  haha!  if they only knew… 

luke was in the blow up pool and i was sitting on the street taking pictures of him (yes, the blow-up pool is basically on the street too).  these girls passed and i snapped a picture of them and smiled.  well, i think that was their clue that we are friendly, and not aliens, so they wanted to come take a closer look at us.  

luke was playing in his pool with nenek mul and these girls huddled around them.  surprisingly he wasn't upset, just really quiet.  they just stared, for awhile… like 15 minutes.  it was awkward.  

then, they asked for my autograph!  ha!  there is a first time for everything, i guess.  this cute little girl was getting out a pen for me to sign her notebook.  i tried to tell them that i was just a normal lady but they insisted… umm, ok.  

nenek mul and luke.  she lives across the street and is one of the sweetest ladies… she just laughs and giggles as she plays with the kids on the street.  we love her!

back to our new friends.  they left luke and went slightly down the road to find mary having a picnic with khansa.  the school girls huddled around them for at least 15 minutes and also surprisingly, mary was okay with it.  finally Mary walked home and told me and nenek mul that she felt awkward and just wanted to have a picnic with khansa.  nenek mul handled it and the girls happily walked away.  i thought that might have turned them off to us… but two days later i came home to six bikes and six little girls waiting outside our house to play again.  i guess we have some new friends.  :)

those "star-struck" instances still happen when we're around new people that haven't seen us before.  but one of the things we love about our neighborhood is that that doesn't happen often.  we are as close to "normal" as we'll probably get in our neighborhood.  our kids play like normal kids, we chat like normal moms, and we're nothing special.  we will never be indonesian but we feel a part of this neighborhood.  we love having a place my kids feel comfortable and accepted for who they are and not considered "other" because of their skin color.  when we prayed about where to live we felt a real peace from God about this specific house… so thankful that He led us to a place that we can enjoy life with our neighbors.

here are some of the neighbors that stopped by later that afternoon… we haven't seen these particular ones in awhile because the rain keeps people inside during the normal afternoon play time so it was really fun to have the group together.  i'm so thankful that we have a few weeks of dry season before we head back to the states for a few months.  this afternoon play time is one of my favorite things about living in indonesia!  

indonesian kids are adorable, aren't they!?  

Kartini Day

last weekend we celebrated Kartini Day with a little parade in our neighborhood.  Kartini Day is the remembrance of a woman (Raden Ayu Kartini) who fought for women's rights in Indonesia.  The day is usually celebrated by school children wearing traditional clothing and looking all too cute!  :)  Not sure where the connection is between women's rights and beautiful attire, but that's how it's done.  

the neighborhood playgroup that Luke was a part of last year held a little parade for playgroups from our area.  Basically we all just walked around the neighborhood and then each group did a song at the end.  It was so fun to see all the cute kids and beautiful teachers in their ornate outfits and beautiful head coverings.  i love the deep and unique cultural traditions in Indonesia.  

Mary, Luke and Khansa (our sweet neighbor) walked hand in hand most of the way.  Mary wore an outfit from Java, Luke was a man from Madura (obviously, he even has a mustache!) and Khansa wore bright Bali attire.  

i can't believe how big (and beautiful) she looks… make up and all.

and here are some photos of the other cute kids there… including our little neighbor friend, adik fahri.

some of the teachers from another school.  look at those outfits!  i love them! these are called kebayas, the traditional fancy clothes here that are worn for most occasions.  they are so beautiful!  mary has been asking if i could get one made for her.  i secretly love that she loves these bits of indonesian culture.  :)  she may just show up to church in america in a kebaya!  

i thought this little girl was so beautiful!  i finally asked her mom if i could take a few photos of her and the girl anxiously agreed… 

and here are tired, hot and sweaty mary and luke coming home.  

most of the make-up on both mary and luke had been washed off with sweat by this time… but look at those fake smiles and luke's pose.  so funny.

Mary is SIX

on April 15th we celebrated our baby girl turning six.  she seems so big these days!  i kind of would rather keep her tiny forever… but i love the conversations and independence that is coming with age.  

the celebration started with a little party at school.  the birthday girl stands at the front, the kids sing to her and she sings a song to them also.  last year, she would hardly sit in front of her class… this year she was proud to sing to them and was so excited she busted out in awkward, white girl dance a few times.  that's my girl.  :)  

a student is asked to lead the class in prayer for the birthday girl too.  sweet kids.  

then all the kids come up and give her their present and a hug.  except two little boys gave her kisses on the cheek!  it was hilarious!  i don't think she knew what to do… we haven't really entered the world of kid crushes or anything like that so luckily, she just giggled and we moved on.  i'm so glad i was taking pictures because her face (and the happy boys' faces) were hilarious after the kisses.  :)

family picture.  

these are the teachers from the two kindergarten classes.  mary absolutely loves school and a lot of that has to do with these fun and kind women.  so thankful for great experience she has had with them!

then, i'm not sure what happened but something funny.  i just love this little series of their interactions.  they fight quiet a bit, but they are the often the best of friends.  i love it!

then we had a little party at our house for neighbors and friends.  the pictures are terrible (our house is so dark and small that it's not easy to get photos in a crowded room)… but here are a few.

that weekend mary and i went away for a girls night.  she was so excited!  we got a hotel room, put on make up, ordered room service, did a lot of swimming, talked and watched a bit of disney junior.  she loved it and felt so big and special.  i loved it too!  

mary, we love you so much!  

the boy who is always in a battle.

luke's imagination has taken off lately… and i LOVE hearing him play.  he has always been bound to playing in mary's pretend worlds… so he has played a lot of baby and school!  but something changed in the last few weeks and he is pretending more and more by himself (he's definitely an extrovert so playing alone is NOT his strong suit).  i love watching how he can turn anything into a battle… his sound effects, his expressions, his funny battle conversations… i love them.  

yesterday i just sat and took photos of him as he had a car battle.  

here some of the mean battle faces we see all.day.long.  

having a boy is so much fun… 

except for time (mid-writing a post about how much fun it is to have a boy) he swung the sword at me and we had to have a long "talk" about anger, self-control and honoring mommy.  :)  

come to Me

I am the Lord your God, I go before you now

I stand beside you, I'm all around you

Though you feel I'm far away, I'm closer than your breathe

I am with you more than you know

I am the Lord your peace, no evil will conquer you

So steady now your heart and mind, come into my rest

Oh, let your faith arise, lift up your weary head

I am with you wherever you go

Come to me, I'm all you need. 

Come to me, I'm everything.

Come to me, I'm all you need.

Come to me, I'm your everything.

I am your anchor, in the wind and waves

I am your steadfast so don't be afraid

Though your heart and flesh may fail you, I'm your faithful strength

And I am with you wherever you go… 

Come to me, I'm all you need.  

Come to me, I'm your everything 

Come to me, I'm all you need.

Come to me, I'm your everything

Don't look to right or to the left, keep your eyes on me

You will not shaken, you will not be moved

I am the hand to hold, I am the truth, I am the way

Just come to me, come to me because I'm all that you need.

bethel music, the loft sessions

puddle time!

we are in the middle of rainy season…. and it's a lot of rain and puddles.  my kids love to play in the dirty puddles and i love that they have fun doing it.  we don't have a yard so this is where we play.  

this is luke's face when he was "asking" me if he could just go ahead and sit in the puddle.  it's his mischievous smile and he does it a lot. 

after they joyously ran through the puddles over and over again (and luke sat in it) we discovered that it was full of worms that came up from between the cracks in the brick road.  SICK!  we moved to the puddles of pavement and were free of worms.  

then we went and picked up luke's buddy, alif.  we love him. 

i'm learning a new way to focus my camera when the subject is quickly moving… so i've been practicing of my running and jumping kids.  more to come…