Rewards

To mark their momentous year of enduring and learning at Charis, we celebrated with a few gifts.

 We were able to refurbish a couple of old bikes for Aidan and Delaney.

Not sure what Ethan had to endure for this reward, but we got him training wheels for the kids' old bike that they all learned to ride on. Though, he has to wear Delaney’s old Barbie helmet.

And Brienzi got her ears pierced. Something she’s been begging us to do for years. 

Congratulations Brienzi, Aidan, Delaney! Job well done. May the Lord continue to grow in you joyful, happy endurance through all circumstances.

School's Out!

. . . and the kids survived their year at Charis National Academy! June 16 was 6^th Grade Graduation, which marked the official end of the year. Most Indonesian schools only get a month off before they begin again on July 18. Our kids, though, have to go with us to meetings the first two weeks, so they get a bit longer. And Kim will most likely return to a more normal schedule of homeschool with electives at Charis and Indonesian tutoring. Although, that probably won’t be a normal schedule either. What is normal, by the way?

  Delaney her her teacher, Dede, on the right, and the teacher's assistant, Leney, on the left.

Aidan and teacher Do'an.

Brienzi and teacher Elok.

Delaney and one of her classmates dressed up for a drama on the last day of school.

Gettin' around on a motorbike

After years of protesting, Kim finally relented to me riding around on a motorcycle here in Indonesia. Well, actually, I’ve never really wanted to get out and risk my life on one of these either, so she hasn’t had to protest very hard. But for the past year, as Kim and the kids have had a crazy challenging schedule with schooling, my getting around to the learning center, training meetings, and other events have become more and more difficult. So throughout the year, I’ve been hinting . . . at the possibility . . . that I may need . . . to get a motorcycle.

My good friend Mike O has been touting the “freedom” that comes from having one of these. Both in terms of getting unchained from the kids school schedule and also being able to weave through traffic and get to the head of the line (something all car drivers wish they could do as they curse the motorcycles that are moving ahead of them like ants swarming the opening out of their lair). So with Mike O in the US during the school break, I’m borrowing his bike to see if I can figure out how to do this and how easy or scary it is to get around on. And to my amazement, as well as to Kim’s, it’s been very easy to learn to get around.

I started out with just taking the kids around the neighborhood. Within three weeks, I’ve graduate to getting across town. I’m still taking it very slowly, as my friend Bambang can attest. I followed him to the bird market this past week, but I could see him chomping at the bit to speed ahead of his inchworm partner. At any rate, it’s a start. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do when Mike gets back in August. I could be hooked!

Blackbeard . . . Arrrgh!

One of three anchors belonging to the Blackbeard’s ship Queen Anne’s Revenge was pulled out of the ocean the other day. And we found this pirate roaming about the house:

A new kind of Ice Skating . . .

. . . wax skating. Yes, you read that right. Skating on a rink that’s layered with a sheet of wax. Instead of the ice cold zambonie machine coming out and smoothing down the surface, they bring a gigantic iron out that melts the wax and smoothes it off. We had never heard of it before, but here it is in Indonesia – guess it’s too hot here in the tropics for an outdoor ice rink.  

Trick my Office

For my birthday, Kim was inspired to trick my office, which was desperately in need of a makeover. It’s great! And after watching “Trick my Truck” – can you believe we actually get that over here - I learned how to show complete surprise when it was unveiled. Thanks Kim! This place is awesome!

Off to the waterfall

The Coban Rondo waterfall is one of our favorite places to go for a few hours of hiking and enjoying Indonesia. Well, it’s actually been years since we’ve been back there, even though it only takes us about an hour to drive up there. But over the spring break, we took the day off and hauled ourselves up the mountain (driving first, then hiking).

 The view of our city down below is beautiful.

 There are even wild monkeys along the way that love to come out for food . . . or steal it from you.

 Get in close to the fall and you definitely get soaked from the mist.

And one of our favorite Indonesian treats, especially to help warm you up after getting all wet, is grilled corn on the cob.

Ethan is 3

 This year for Ethan’s birthday he wanted Bert and Ernie riding in a car.

And all over his face!

Big Sis Brienzi made a pin the cookie on Cookie Monster’s mouth for his party. Way to go Brienzi!! (and Ethan does a great Cookie Monster – or as Ethan calls him “Monster Cookie” - impression of stuffing cookies down his mouth).

 Giving Brienzi a big hug and kiss for a great party.

Kuala Lumpur ala Lego

After visiting Kuala Lumpur last year, Aidan just came out of nowhere with an idea to build a mini Lego replica of the city. I was amazed at his memory of the city. It’s a really good likeness to the Petronas Twin Towers and other landmarks.

Delaney's first lesson!

Getting in on Delaney’s first piano lesson. Her teacher is part of the teaching staff at Charis, where Brienzi, Adian, and Delaney go to school. We’re very thankful to have Sharon here in town and working with our kids.

Marble Coaster

Like almost every boy, Aidan is enthralled with building. He could build something out of crumbs if he had nothing else. So for Christmas, we got him the gigantic Ultimate Building Book (I think it took a tanker to get it over to Indo, it’s so big) along with a tool box of toothpicks, popsicle sticks, glue sticks, paper clips, straws, Q-tips, and a bunch of other things you can build with. We then set out to build Aidan’s Marble Coaster:

 Straws used for tressels and paper towel centers cut in half for tracks.

S - U - M - O

The other day at the table, we started talking about what the word Sumo means. Well, that got us on one of our favorite pastimes . . . acrostics:

Super Unusually Miniscule Outfits

Swollen Undeterred Men Oscillating

Some Unclothed Massive Ones

Sweaty Underdressed Marshmallow Olympians

Somewhat Unmotivated Man Ogres

Seriously Uninhibited Mushy Orbs

Well, you get the idea. Once you get on a role, you can lose sleep trying to think up new ones. Give it a try! And while you’re at it, here are a few pictures to get you motivated.

 We were introduced to an awesome playground that included the chance to find out what Sumo wrestlers feel like. Brienzi and Preston T were eager to try it out.

Aidan and Joshua T. Aidan is definitely proving the S in Sumo stands for sweaty.

Ahem . . . would that be Kim and Patrick? I'll tell you this, once you go down, 

you can't get up unless they help you up!!

Tree Tops

At the end of last year, we traveled with a group of friends to do a ropes course. They had five levels of difficulty. All the kids did great, but Brienzi was impressive getting up to level three – VERY high up in the trees.

Laney getting started on the beginner course. She went up to the next level with dad, but that was all she wrote for this first grader.

Aidan was tearing up the course on the zip line, or also known as the flying fox on this side of the planet.

Brienzi and her friends getting started on their first trek around the forest tree tops.