Love.2019

Love. It's going to be my word of the year. I kept forgetting my word for 2018 but I think I can remember this one. I don't want that word. It feels like a huge effort for something that should be natural.

I've resisted for a while but give in. There are so many ways to go with ... love. Love you. Love it. Beloved. Lover. Loving that. Love handles (nope, not that one.)

I'm willing to give it a try. I'm not very good at love: better at showing than feeling, at doing than relating. The challenge feels like a gauntlet, honestly. Maybe if I approach it as listening rather than speaking, as waiting rather than plunging ahead, it will be easier to experience. (See, already task-focused. Lord have mercy.)

Sunday
W and I are at BIC early - we're speaking together. This week, I wrote the talk and W edited - we trade off so the temperament and type of talk changes, depending on whether he writes the original draft or I do. When we speak as a duet, there's a lot of back and forth and a few read-throughs before Sunday morning.

There's always a lot to do before people arrive at the building. The musicians are warming up already. The chairs have been set in stern straight rows - lots of them - instead of left in the open curves of Christmas Eve. We probably won't have a big crowd today; people are traveling. We pull out a few rows out entirely, take some chairs out of the rows we leave, and have just enough for the morning.

It's a pleasure to pray over Daveena, who is leaving for school in Germany. Her family and friends gather around and speak words of affirmation and grace over her. I forget to record the prayer as I usually do.

We're asked to take some pictures with a family. Indonesians love being in pictures and several people come into the photo with us. What fun.

We have lunch with a few friends. The back gate  of BUMI is open so we can walk straight across the street. nice! Usually we have to go around a long city block for lunch.

The lovebirds are happy to see us at home - they're W's Christmas gift to me. Their chirping and jumping from perch to perch cheer me up. it's so relaxing to watch them.

Monday - New Year's Eve 2018
This week, the office is closed. We meet friends for breakfast at Two Hands Full. Our first pick is an Indian restaurant. The website says it's open 10-3. But no.

"They open at 11. Always have," says the security guard. W is a Google Maps editor so he corrects the listing. We end up nearby. The food is delicious - plus it's so much fun to have a non-working lunch with Josh, Clau, their kids, DrH and Alice.

We've invited our neighbors to an open house. We put our old sign on the gate but tuck under the time from last year: this year it's 5-7pm.

On the way home from breakfast, we stop at the store for 5 little chickens. They're cute and still pink - on ice. As usual, we don't know how many will show up so better more food than less.

The helpers come in the early afternoon to cook Sundanese food: rice, vegetables, fresh sambal (spicy sauce), and chicken. Their instructions are to "make whatever you think the neighbors like to eat." And they do. Their food gets rave reviews. (I'm pretty sure that's better than me cooking Western dishes.)

The cook finds a package of sweet rice in the food stores at the back of the house. She whips up sticky rice and coconut cream. It's so good that I go around and ask our guests for the recipe - until she tells me, "Hey, I made that." Oh yum! Please make it again, I say.

We love our neighbors - they have been unceasingly kind to us. A few grandparents bring their kids and grandkids along. W gets a chance to demo a 3-D printer - a teaching moment.

The last guests leave after 8pm. The helpers wrap up food,which will be tomorrow's New Years feast for their families. They help us clean up for another hour or two. I tell them they have given me two special gifts: First, when a huge roach scoots from under the oven and tries to find refuge under my feet - eek eek eek, I dance - one of the helpers crushes it dead with her foot. Then, a few minutes later, W mentions that there's a rat in the trap outside our bedroom. The other helper dispatches it with a smile and tosses it in the garbage. Awesome helpers! I give them a hug.

We don't bother with a New Year's TV show tonight; the fireworks are crackling around us throughout the wee hours of the morning. We push in earplugs, trust the dogs to wake us if someone breaks in, and fall fast asleep. That's our last planned event for a while - we have no other obligations this week. Thank God for it all. Including rest.

Tuesday - HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019
What a treat to sleep in. (I'm up 1-4am, so I sleep in until 8:30. Wow!) We call our families, have tea and stollen (marzipan sweet bread) for breakfast, and walk a few blocks to the office to return a flower vase. It's the last day for Christmas ornaments, I think. Our tree is full of cards and meaningful memories.

Then we stroll to the main street, catch angkots (little buses) to town (2 busses and a 500 meter walk). We make a hospital visit to a friend with dengue. He has someone sitting with him - so we read Psalm 91 and W prays with him before leaving.

A friend has raved about a Rawon soup restaurant near the hospital. W's tried it but I haven't yet, so we walk down the street. Yup - there's Toko You.

My head is still pounding from sleeping in. The hearty black beef soup hits the spot. It is delicious! We sit under a tiled roof, open walls, breezes blowing through, and surrounded by enthusiastic eaters.

Just as I'm about to combine my tea and mango ice cream, W intervenes. "I don't want a float." Hmmm. He'll have to eat the first half next time so I can play with my food. The ice cream by itself nips at my headache. My head ceases to pound a half-hour after the food hits my stomach. Ramon soup is a  perfect cure for what ails me, I think.

We make it home in a Grab car (private taxi) before the afternoon rains hit. "So expensive!" grumbles W. "How much?" I ask - it's almost $2US. Wow. That's a lot? Guess we've acclimated in more ways than one.

Read more:
*Surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. Psalm 54:4

*Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. Psalm 148:13

*A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. Proverbs 15:13

*The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

*Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Jude 24-25

Moravian Prayer: God, like a grandmother, gather us up when we are hurting; hold us tightly when we are filled with sorrows; dust us off, and kiss our souls, and send us off with your love to enter the world again. With gratitude, we pray.

Supporter of our souls, hold us through the day, and all the temptations it brings us. Hold us through the night, and all the fears it begets. Hold us through the years, for you keep us always inside your love. Amen.