Christmas vacation

I just wanted to give you a picture of how we are passing the time for our Christmas vacation. We haven't ventured far from home. Normally, we would go to the big city, Surabaya, two hours north of us for a few days. This year, we're saving the money and doing things just in Malang.

On Saturday, we went bowling, even though the kids have to roll the ball granny style. Notice the Greco-Roman ruins on the wall. It's like going bowling at the Coliseum.

Then we stopped in at a wedding reception over in P-town. Pak Mardyono above is the community leader for about 700 families in this part of P-town, where we have the learning center. His son got married last week and they held a reception for the couple on Saturday.

Receptions in Indonesia can be lightening quick. Often times you're only invited to the reception, as the ceremony is for close friends and family. We showed up, had our pictures taken with the bride and groom, went through the buffet line - for some fried rice, sweet and sour fish, chicken, vegetables with "hot dogs", and then went on our merry way all in about 40 minutes. If they had been close friends, we probably would have stayed longer. This reception was more like an open house.

Then we topped off the day with a hot cup of European style hot chocolate. Because of Dutch rule in the early 1900's, there are many cultural holdovers from that era. This is one of them, and, mmm-mmm, are we glad for that.

All I want for Christmas . . .

. . . is my two front teeth.
We've just been calling Ethan "fangs." It's not the most flattering picture, but we couldn't get him to show his missing front teeth any other way.

But these guys are all I want for Christmas. I am a blessed man!

Top YouTube videos for 2008

Denny Burk lists his top ten favorite YouTube videos of the year. You can click over and view them. There are some good ones, but Kim and I love this one from Johnny and Chachi.

The Don't Song

Christmas Quiz to do in your extra time today

Here's the Christmas quiz that Christianity Today has online. I got 3 out of 7.

HT: Johnathon Bowers

Merry Christmas!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with our friends at the English service. It is one of the highlights of my year. I think it's because one of my favorite parts of the story of Jesus' birth is the shepherds. There they were, in the middle of the night, a regular night just like all the others, warming themselves by the fire, propped up against their favorite rock, and then the stillness was broken and the darkness was pierced with a burst of glory. The angels arrived and announced the birth of Jesus and then they are gone, leaving the shepherds stunned with the weight of the experience. They were eager to prove what they had learned, and immediately left to find the baby. I love to imagine every aspect of that event . . . the fear, the wonder, the awe, the joy - and the Christmas Eve service is the perfect place to help do that.

It's also a great time for the kids to get involved. For the third year in a row, they played hand bells, this year singing "Do you see what I see?"

Brienzi and her friends led us in worship with the song "This is Our God!"

We hope wherever you are today that you are able to take the time to revel in the good news that came at night:

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Book give away

Trevin Wax over at his blog Kingdom People is giving away his top ten favorite books for 2008. You can go to this post for details if you're interested or to this post for his own review of the books.


#1. THE REASON FOR GOD - Tim Keller

#2. CULTURE MAKING - Andy Crouch

#3. SURPRISED BY HOPE - N.T. Wright

#4. WHY WE’RE NOT EMERGENT - Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck

#5. HOW PEOPLE CHANGE - Timothy Lane & Paul David Tripp

#6. THE BIG PICTURE STORY BIBLE -David Helm & Gail Schoonmaker

#7. JESUS MADE IN AMERICA - Stephen Nichols

#8. RESIDENT ALIENS - Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon

#9. WORSHIP MATTERS - Bob Kauflin

#10. The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries - Jeffrey Greenman, Timothy Larsen, and Stephen Spencer

Plus, an ESV Study Bible. (All together, this is $260 worth of books!)

Thoughts from John Piper on keeping Christ the center of Christmas gift giving

HT: Zach Nielsen

Christmas music recommendation

If you're looking for a new Christmas album to add to your collection, I highly recommend this one from Sovereign Grace Music.

Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man

This has become one of our all time favorite Christmas albums. The music is very well done and the lyrics provide much food to chew on during the Christmas season. Each song focuses on different aspects of God taking the form of man in order to deliver us.

Our favorite song is Sleep Jesus Sleep, especially at night, lights out, Christmas tree lights on . . .

Sleep, Jesus, sleep, we’ve come to see
You who never closed Your eyes
Watching over earth and skies
Now in frail humanity must sleep

Sovereign One, born as Mary’s son
Prince of Peace
One day You’ll deliver me, deliver me

Scripture Memory

In the December Good Stuff I posted some helpful tips on memorizing Scripture. Here's more food for thought from Ryan Ferguson, as interviewed by Tim Challies, who has memorized portions of Scripture and dramatically recited them for his church and at conferences . . .

I often hear people say, “I just can’t memorize.” In some instances that statement may be true, but I have started asking people questions to show them how well they do memorize. I will ask questions like the this, “How many lines from movies can you quote?” or “Tell me every phone number you know” or “Tell me the names of every sports team you know” This list of questions could go on and on. We all can memorize. Much of memorizing depends on where you put your attention.

You can read the entire interview at Tim Challies' blog.

Here's Ryan Ferguson reciting Psalm 22.

Father - Daughter talk

I pulled Brienzi over and told her that one day, she's gonna be interested in boys and they will be interested in her.

"Ewww!," she said, squishing up her nose.

"I know. It's way to early for that, but it will happen," I said. "And when it does, here's a good thought to remember."

This comes from John Piper as he wrote about his daughter.

I wrote to my 13-year-old daughter (who is attending a funeral with her mom in Georgia) that the new “signature” at the bottom of her emails has made this dad very glad. It says,

"A girl should get so lost in God, that a guy has to seek God to find her!"
~ Dannah Gresh, author.

Open House for the P-town kids

I've mentioned before that the Bhinneka Language School staff have been developing a new program to teach English to kids. Most of this staff's time has been spent teaching Indonesian to foreign workers living in Indonesia (where Kim and I learned Indonesian). After the success of the P-town Learning Center, they have been eager to create something similar to add to their program.

Here's the Language School crew. Pak Harun at the far left is our family's visa sponsor. The staff and I met for a planning meeting today, and we took a field trip to the Learning Center, which was having an end of semester open house.

Ibu Wenny (right) is explaining the program to Ibu Enny (left) and Ibu Kristin (middle), the lead teachers at the Language School.

At the open house, the kids presented the projects they had been working on this semester. They were able to practice their speaking skills and show what they've been learning. The Language School staff came away impressed with the courage and clarity these kids had.

This is Yoga. He's one of our special kids. Due to some unique dynamics in his personality, his teacher at the local elementary school has not allowed him to come back to school. He has also presented us with some unique challenges; often screaming, crying, causing fights, disrupting class when he doesn't get his way. However, he is very intelligent. The Learning Center staff has been very patient with him, showing him love, and helping him keep up with his studies as much as possible. Here he's showing off his vehicle of the future, since the theme this semester was the history of transportation.

Where spoons go to die

Ethan is teething.

"I'm dreaming of a karaoke Christmas"

Last night we gathered down at the "Happy Puppy" with several other families to sing Christmas songs, and a few other songs, karaoke style.

Of course, the kids can't resist getting their hands on microphones that have VERY LOUD reverb.

With a big screen and rows of plush seats, we had room for an army of very loud yuletide kids.

So the next time you want to come and visit us, remind us to take you to the "Happy Puppy".

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain

We have two seasons in Indonesia - rainy and dry.

Guess which one we're in right now?

Seven inches in one day! Floods all around our house, but thankfully not in our house. We do have leaks all over, including one in Aidan's room which keeps shorting out the electricity - most likely because the wires have been exposed due to rats eating through them!

Ethan crawls

Ethan laughs

Aidan's show and tell

Aidan: (at 5:30 in the morning - on a holiday) Dad, I think I've got a blister on my finger.

Dad: (bleary eyed) Don't worry about it. Go back to bed.

Later, after we were all awake, we realized it was no blister but a spider bite . . . Yikes!

Idul Adha on the other side of the world . . . from us, that is

Check out these pictures from the Washington Post showing how Muslims in the DC area commemorate Idul Adha.

A good friend gets married

This morning, we woke up early to get ourselves to a 7:00am wedding ceremony. Mas Wahyu, who has been a close family friend almost since we arrived in Indonesia, married Mbak Lusi. The ceremony was at a little kampung church (a kampung in Indonesia is like a village in the city. Houses tightly built together, no yards, narrow streets/alleys that are maze like).

And it was just part of the Sunday morning worship service, something that we love. It makes the whole event very Christ centered. Everyone in attendance came for the usual singing praise, praying, and preaching. The only difference from the typical service was that the couple sat up front in two chairs that were front and center.

After the service, the wedding party traveled for an hour and a half to Mbak Lusi's village where her family awaited for a large traditional ceremony. We weren't able to make that, but look forward to hearing and seeing pictures from Wahyu when they return.

The Day of Sacrifice

The sign reads, "For Sale: Animals for sacrifice - Goats and Cows."

Tomorrow is the Muslim festival called Idul Adha. It commemorates the obedience of Abraham to follow God's command to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. Instead of sacrificing him, God provided a lamb in his son's place.

All over town, little stalls like this one have been popping up throughout the past week. The animals will be purchased by those who have means, and then after the sacrifice in the morning, the meat will be divided up among the poor.

Brienzi and Co raising money for Christmas

Today is St. Nicholas Day! For the last several years, as a family, we've been reading about St. Nicholas and how he helped a close family friend in a time of trouble by dropping money in through their window. The money landed in shoes and stockings that hung by the window to dry. He loved the anonymous giving so much that he began the tradition of making and giving wooden toys, among other things, but only in a way that no one knew it was him.

The traditions of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Sinterklaus, Kris Kringle (Christkind, or Christ child which Luther used in opposition to the Catholic focus on St. Nicholas), all derive from St. Nicholas.

So in the tradition of St. Nicholas, and in lead up to the celebration of Jesus birth, each year we try to think of ways that we can focus on giving to those in need. This year, Brienzi came up with her own idea: sell jewelry at the international school Christmas bazaar to raise money for a family near the P-town learning center. Their roof is falling apart and they have no money to fix it. So at the bazaar yesterday, they had a steady stream of kids and were able to make $25 (which will cover a quarter of the need). I know it doesn't sound like much, but it really will go a long way and it was awesome to see the joy that this brought for the girls involved in putting it together. Kim and I praise God for his grace at work in their hearts.

Kim shares Thanksgiving with the mothers

Once a month, the mothers of the children at the learning center are invited to a special time just for them. Every month is a different topic. Last month, they had a guest nutritionist come in from the US. She shared on good hygiene as well as how to cook healthier (and since almost every food is drenched in oil here, this was a very good topic). It's an attempt at helping the mothers build relationships, learn a craft that maybe they could make and sell on their own, and to share the glory of God.

Yesterday, Kim and Lisa, a friend from the US, shared on Thanksgiving. Lisa gave a history of how it is celebrated in the US. Then Kim gave a testimony about her thankfulness for God's protection and provision during her pregnancy and then the birth of Ethan. She shared from

Psalm 57:2-4 - "I cry out to God Most High . . "

Psalm 34:5-7 - "Those who look to him are radiant . . ."

Psalm 59:16-17 - "For you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love."

Then they all learned how to make sachets of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg (all fresh ingredients - this is the spice islands after all).

The beauty that's around us

Our city is nestled in between several mountain ranges and on clear days, the view brings awe at God's creative beauty.

The peak in the distance is Mt. Semeru, the tallest mountain on Java at over 12,000 ft.

It is actively puffing smoke every ten - twenty minutes, raining ash all around us (you can barely make out the puff in this picture. It's usually a huge plume, but on the day I chose to get a pic, it didn't cooperate). Some days when it gets thick, and especially at night with the car headlights on, it looks like a light snow coming down.

Update on Jackson

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for Jackson. He has been improving a little bit each day. After he had another echo cardiogram, we received this from Kim's mom earlier today:

Results were good....heart function improved even more. All other indicators are also encouraging. This doctor doesn't think Jax had Kawasaki since that disease has distinct characteristics and Jax's illness has had too many other complications. But they aren't sure what it is. They are decreasing meds, decreasing the amount of air/oxygen going into the ventilator so he is breathing more on his own [but still sedated]. Signs are all looking good but, because he is still in ICU, he is still considered a very sick little boy.

Praise the Lord for this improvement. Please keep remembering Jackson as well as Rick and Sarah, and his older brother Max (5).

Yup! Ethan's keepin' us busy

He's on all fours and starting to scoot around. Uh oh . . . we're in trouble.

Getting the kids involved in Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures of the kids with friends on Thanksgiving Day.

Brienzi with Katie R.

Aidan and Delaney with Josiah R.

After the big meal, the kids and I headed outside to rehearse a short drama about the pilgrims journey to America. Then our traveling troupe performed for the crowd.

Of course, we improvised with a number of modern day weapons.

Afterwards, we each read a verse from Psalm 136 which repeatedly sights the works of God followed by "and His faithful love endures forever." And then we followed that with our own testimonies of what God has been doing over the past year, every now and then stopping to say, "and His faithful love endures forever."

Our Thanksgiving crew

Thanksgiving quiz

Fresh off of Thanksgiving Day turkey and all the fixings? Take this Thanksgiving quiz from Christianity Today to see if you know more about it than just turkey.

Pray for Kim's nephew, Jackson

Kim's nephew Jackson was admitted into Children's Hospital in Minneapolis on Wednesday with a very high fever along with a number of other symptoms. The doctors think he may have Kawasaki disease or a very strong virus, but they can't be sure about either of those yet. He had a very rough night with his heart expanding 4 inches and his heart pumping capacity dropped from 70% to 38% in 24 hours. They did manage to stablize him, but he is still not out of the woods.

Pray for God's healing hand on Jackson. Pray for the grace of God to comfort his parents, Rick (Kim's brother) and Sarah, and that they will see Him in new ways.

Squanto, the sovereignty of God, and Thanksgiving

Chuck Colson tells how the providence of God guided the life of an Indian named Squanto to help the Pilgrims during their first years.

According to the diary of Pilgrim Governor William Bradford, Squanto “became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . He showed [us] how to plant [our] corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities . . . and was also [our] pilot to bring [us] to unknown places for [our] profit, and never left [us] till he died.”

Then Colson writes

Who but God could so miraculously convert a lonely Indian and then use him to save a struggling band of Englishmen? It is reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph, who was also sold into slavery—and whom God, likewise, used as a special instrument for good.

This happened even though Squanto had been kidnapped, enslaved, and lost his entire tribe to small pox.

Read the rest of the article. It's awe inspiring to follow Squanto's life and to acknowledge that the God who guided Squanto also guides our lives. No matter what befalls us, His plan is good.

HT: JT

Happy Thanksgiving!

This afternoon, we're getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, on Friday. We're going to have about 25 people over to our place.

We managed to get a turkey from an import store in Surabaya, the city two hours north of us. Kim ordered it last week and the company delivered it to our doorstep. How about that for service? We can't complain. Our friends in Sumatra called last night and said they were able to get a turkey too. A LIVE one that she had to kill, de-feather, and gut on her own (though I think she had some help with the slaughter). Yeah! We lucked out on that one.

All the gang coming over is pitching in to bring the usual mashed potatoes, party potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, home made bread, green bean casserole, corn, apple pie, pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin pie, sugar cookies. Woohooo! We are very thankful that we can whip up most of this even though we're thousands of miles away from home.

Some English funnies!

Some funny Engrish. Careful. Don't drink coffee while reading these!

















Here more the Engrish funny that stuff. (Beware. Some are a bit colorful.)

IndoGadget

This morning I stumbled across this AfriGadget web site/blog. It reminded me of something I took a picture of at a hotel we stayed at in Bali last July.

Who needs Home Depot when you can drink a bottle of water, poke a few holes in it, slap it onto the end of a hose, and voila - you've got yourself a sprinkler.

Final two weeks of classes

These are the last two weeks of classes at the learning center for the year. After that, we'll be preparing for a festival where the kids will be able to show off their work from this semester.

While the kids have been focused on the history of transportation, character and skill development, I've been working with the teachers in helping them teach English. It's been a semester long experiment, as last year I did all the English teaching. Tomorrow morning, the teachers and I will be planning how to assess the students' (and teachers') progress this semester compared to last semester. Then next week, we'll assess the kids. I'll let you know how it goes and what we come up with. I'm very encouraged, though, by the progress.

It's a football weekend

Aidan and I joined some friends to watch an AREMA soccer game today - our first one in all our time here in Malang. Arema is the local soccer club and they have some of the most fanatic fans (they've been banned by the league from wearing the team colors or carrying team flags to the games for two years because of a riot they caused at another city's stadium last year). While there were thankfully no riots today, it was plenty raucous.

You can barely make out what's going on in the above video clip. If you look closely, you will see a slight pulsating, which they were somehow doing just with the palms of their hands.

Father and son self portrait.

Stephen and Josiah R with Aidan.