Tea parties and cookies galore

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

A week from today is Christmas. The house smells of baking. Today the helpers make dough for another 1500 cookies and baking starts. The rest of the dough goes in the fridge for tomorrow and Thursday.

Mid-afternoon, the book group arrives for tea. It's relaxing to set out china and serving pieces brought from our life in Seattle. There's little chance to use it here since meals and events tend to be informal. I figure the women won't judge me for using good dishes and cloth napkins.

What You Are Looking For is in the Library is this month's book, a pleasant series of life-changing encounters with a librarian and books. It's a delight to discuss how each month's assignment affects group members. We have different personalities and backgrounds, which makes sitting around the table even more interesting.

They leave as W and Melvi come back from a birthday party at 6 PM. Food is put away and dishes are done within an hour. Whereupon I fall into bed with a book ...

Wednesday

W and I eat leftovers and drink hot chocolate for breakfast before calling our moms.

The Mastermind group, meeting online from around the world, gives me good counsel (guten Rat.) I follow up their advice immediately. What a relief to have trusted backup voices affirming what I know = some projects don't belong on my plate. Twisting myself into others' timelines for volunteer work is a wasted effort; neither the work nor the satisfaction are good.

Baking day. The house smells of peanut butter cookies and melted chocolate, spread on ginger cookies while the butter comes to room temperature.

IbuS and I work together though the bulk of the work is hers. I shove ChaChas (Indonesian M&Ms) into the tops of the cookies and put them onto cooling racks. They're stored in whatever we find - bread savers, cake domes turned upside down, and plastic boxes. Between, IbuS makes lunch: marinated tofu, egg sandwiches from yesterday, rice, and veggies. Pretty good.

Innumerable cups of tea get me through the day. A surprising hit yesterday was the Twinings Gingerbread Joy tea, a variation on chai flavors.

Thursday

Due to slippery conditions, rain, and Christmas proximity, the mountain hike is cancelled. Group members wish each other Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas, depending on the country of origin.

Instead of a hike, W and I walk along the river to Dalaraos for Sunda food. It's mid-morning as we eat but we wander up the hill before catching an angkot (taxi bus) partway up to our intersection.

The string needed to close our cookie bags is nowhere in sight, said an admin. Since hearing that, we've tried to find colored string in several shops, including this stationer.

From the outside, the stationary shop looks like a dark hole with graffiti sprayed on its corrugated walls. When you move to a new location, you get used to a different storefronts as well as sorting out what's available inside.

The beloved (or hated) durian fruit is ripe next door at the new fruit shop. Each spiny oval is 10-15" (25-35cm). The rack might be outside the shop, but you can smell the fruit from inside and from the street.

When we get home at 11 AM, IbuS and IbuA are baking and chatting. I remind IbuA that she needs to finish the chocolate dough for 1200 cookies today. She whips up 7 or 8 double-batches and bags them. In the last month, we've gone through at least 12-15 kg of butter, bags of flour, and more sugar than I could track.

While the mixer whirs, IbuS bakes cookie sheet after sheet in several ovens. The timers ding ding ding all day. I lift the cookies off the sheets onto cooling racks and put them away. The last batch is baked before they go home. The full bins and boxes are stowed in tubs, along with about 2500 other cookies, made over the last few weeks. Tomorrow we package!

Friday

W and I drop into the hall to check where the string is to close the bags. We've been told they're not at the hall so we ransacked our house, to no avail. This morning on the way home from the walk, we pop into the IES storage basement to root through all the bins. We check various rooms at the hall. Nada.

Before we go home in defeat, I decide on another look in the kids-classrooms. On the shelf is the colored string we've wasted time trying to find. It is in plain sight. We take it home and I cut the string before anyone arrives.

When everyone shows up, the assembly line starts on the first batch of 140 bags. IbuA has agreed to work an extra day and Alice helps us get this DONE. It's one task per person until you have capacity to help someone else. Then you hop over and help others catch up.

• open the bag and put in 2 kinds of cookies - IbuS
• put in a specialty (frosted) cookie and 2 more kinds of cookies - IbuA
• pull the string through a label
• close the bag with a bow and put it into the "finished" tub - Alice and I.

It's efficient and we finish the first run in record time. The second (120 X5 cookies) is packaged before the second batch of labels arrive. when they do, we add the labels onto the strings and tuck those away. The third run (+100 X4 cookies) goes even faster.

We've made 370 bags before 11 AM. The helpers wash the emptied storage boxes and the floor, make lunch for themselves and PakG, and leave for home by noon. They take the cookie discards for their families to enjoy.

SO... MANY... cookies.

W and I walk to Miss Bee to get away from the smell of baking. These flowers are worth a second look.

The shapes and colors are exotic.

Dead seed pods, split open by their fall from the trees above, look festive.

I order linguine, so rich that I can eat only half. W enjoys his fish and chips.

After work, we head to Robin's for supper. His home is an artist's showcase, with prototypes of his furniture and artwork. I like these end tables, designed for ships on a cruise line.

He shows us his grandma's recipe for Rösti, a Swiss method of preparing grated potatoes. 

And I learn how to make chopped chicken the German way. It's a taste of home at Christmas time, which is comfort to a soul far away from family.

Saturday

Fresh baking arrives from Dr I. W and I enjoy one each for breakfast and a second for lunch, along with yesterday's pasta leftovers.

After a massage to unkink my back, W and I head to the hall where the worship team is rehearsing. Back by noon, there's time to write the talk for the final Sunday of the year.

It's a 3-book Saturday. Before our walk, I finish a novel Her Sanctuary about the witness protection program. Managing Leadership Anxiety has come highly recommended by several trusted leaders. I listen to the audiobook while my body is being pummeled.

The final book is Still Alice, the story of early-onset Alzheimer's. My closest cousin died of that 4 years ago; how little I knew of her struggle and her family's loss, even when she tried to explain how her memory was failing. All three books are the kind I like to learn from: well-written and engaging.

The groomers arrive to clip poodle hair in time for Christmas. Our friend's little dog joins the pack while they're gone overnight. I wonder what our family and friends are doing this weekend. Feels like they are very far away ...

Read more:

*For justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. Psalm 94:15

*A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit..The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. Isaiah 11:1-5

*Jesus said, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” Luke 18:7-8

Moravian Prayer: Gracious God, we long for restoration on our own schedule, but we know your time is not our time. We have no doubt that you have heard our cries and will answer them. We thank you for your faithfulness. Amen.

Missing my dad's voice

Saturday, December 14, 2024

4 years ago from yesterday, my dad died. I miss him more this year than ever. I want to run ideas past him, hug his barrel chest, and hear his curt snap-back with an answer to any question we had. He was a quick and instinctive thinker who said what he thought without filtering words in case someone wanted to take offense. What a relief it was to call him for an honest opinion!

I miss his integrity. He warned me most often to be myself - to be the best self that God designed. He told me to ignore gossip and small thinking. He sure loved his family and his grandkids - and considered each of us his priceless treasures.

He said aloud what we both felt about management and gave me solid counsel: "Get the best executive admin and leave the details to that person. If you can't trust him/her with your money, your people, and your life, they're not the right fit. And when you find that person, don't let them go, no matter what others say."

He did that. He was a high trust person and a good boss who didn't hold a grudge if you failed. "Try again!" he'd say. "Failure is a lesson that cost only a blow to your pride or a chunk of your budget." He taught us that those could be recovered but you had learned something new and valuable. However, when someone betrayed or harmed others, that person was gone.

He let Mom run the home. At work, Patti ran the office. He handed her the administration, budgets, and office planning. So he worked at work and was home at home. I'd happily do the same.

In contrast, W grew up with a different level of trust. He manages our money and keeps personal things private. Because he wants things done the way he likes them, he prefers to do them himself. There's no way he'd hand the bulk of life's details to an executive assistant. However, he doesn't want fill his plate with most of the 101 details that an assistant tracks. So that stuff lands in my lap.

I'm stuck as my own executive admin, scribbling notes and sending them into the capable hands of others. "Did you get the social media up?" "Please create an announcement for the upcoming event." "Pls schedule the meeting. Check how many can attend at X:00." "Do we have resources for the volunteers?" "Can you check who is looking after ...?" It feels endless and exhausting to someone like me, who is wired to the big-picture.

I've seen leadership done and done well. And I've read that the best executive assistants love to pick up everything I'd happily drop. They run the world from behind the scenes. It's my fondest daydream to be able to sit down once a month with an executive admin to look over the quarter's budget and current calendar. I'd task that person to oversee social media, money, schedules, volunteers, resources, agendas, and more. 

I rarely have energy to cast vision or start new things. I don't mind occasional questions but wouldn't it be amazing to check off a day's meeting and tasks ... and still have capacity to think creatively about the year (or 5 years) ahead, setting something in motion (like Dad did) and letting others run it?! Dream on.

Today, my Dad would probably challenge me: "What's the matter with you? Why are you wasting your time on that?" haha I still hear his voice and feel his love.

I'd reply: "I know, Pop. I miss you, even when I can't follow your advice."

It's what it is. W and I have a satisfying life. I'm writing this on a tropical Porch overlooking a beautiful green backyard. That provides an antidote to the internal chaos of living strangely different from the way I'm wired.

Oops, hang on. Before I head out the door to that pre-meeting, let me write a quick note: "Are we covered for tomorrow's ...?"

Sunday

That morning pre-meeting pays off today. The team works together and knows their stuff. In the hall, Daniel has hung pictures of the IES family beside a tinsel tree for everyone to enjoy.

My new shoes had fit well in the stop. However, after wearing them for an hour I have blisters on my second toes. They also pinch the little toe on my left foot so hard that the pain is almost unbearable. I lift my foot every 10 minutes to release pressure. When I do, my whole foot shakes with relief.

It's a weird feeling to have no control of a foot flapping from the knee down. Hopefully no one notices. I remove my shoes during a meeting after the Gathering. And slide in with a different position afterward. Ah better - and even more relief when I take them off at home.

Our daughter shows me her solution for the ugly plastic pot under her Christmas tree: washi tape. Clever. Looks expensive and matches her coffee table!

In our yard, a clipping has rooted and is blooming in bright Christmas colors.

We walk by a mother hen with two chicks tucked under her wing. Another three peck at garbage nearby. We breathe shallowly and hiss at the chickens so they run out of the dogs' (harm's) way. For our one-mile loop, we endure a short stroll past the garbage dump before passing Bandung's 5-star hotel. (W reads their ad: "$300 instead of $600/night.") That's typical of the side-by-side contrasts in our city.

The Porch is quiet. The garden drips with rain - it's a miserable afternoon but we're under cover and the wind chimes are singing.

We eat lunch at a new place but nothing on the menu hits the spot. The ramen is warm not hot, without many noodles. My sandwich is grilled in olive oil = too much grease for me. But W like his sandwich and doesn't mind lots of oil.

The flowers from the hall are amazing as usual. We put them on the coffee table. Each week, Titik captures the beauty of the season in her arrangements.

"Flowers are hard to find," she admits. "Not much is available in flower shops right now." She supplements with plants from her own yard. What a gift of celebration she offers IES Bandung and us, week by week. When we visit hospital or others, we share the arrangement.

Monday

My friends and mentors teach me so much. Monday morning starts with calls. Work is work but the backdrop is festive when you work from home.

W and I head into town for most of the day, getting groceries for Christmas baking and events. He picks up the unrepaired weed-wacker (too broken to fix; he'll see if someone wants it for parts.) 

You know what a culture eats by what is stocked by their grocers. One entire aisle is 1-2 liter bags of cooking oils.

Another aisle is lined with ramen and other instant noodles.

When we get home, DrW has dropped off tea and cookies - she knows my favorite tea, which is only available in Malaysia.

At night, the lights glow.

Tuesday

This is my usual view on the neighborhood walk. W holds three dogs on one leash.

By the time the helpers come at 8 AM, I've relaxed by setting the table for afternoon tea.

The clotted cream is whipped, the marmalade is plated, and the butter and sugar are ready.

Today is baking day! The ingredients wait at room temperature on the counter as we pull out Christine's KitchenAid. W plugs it into the voltage adapter. There's no time to fool around with a hand mixer. I hear the familiar whir of the beater - we had a KAid in Seattle and it makes fast work of serious baking.

Today and Thursday, IbuA is making and refrigerating dough for +2000 cookies. IbuS and I will bake until all cookies are done. Angie has designed labels for the giveaway bags. Next week, Alice and crew will package the cookies for several events, making it a group project. The logistics are in place; we're praying for smooth sailing!

We confirm which guests are staying with us over Christmas and write Sunday's talk for the 4th Sunday of Advent.

The topic is PEACE. God's peace is much needed. And much appreciated. We hang the Advent ornament of the day on the tree. Each clear glass globe contains a verse and a Christmas item.

We wish you a wonderful season. There's one week left until Christmas. Please ensure you are not celebrating the birth of Jesus alone. Go to a church, meet with a group of friends, or gather with family. Make this the most special time of the year, whether it's been a year of joy or sorrow - because God is for you and his love is with you.

Read more:

*Love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Moravian Prayer: Understanding Savior, you are able to comprehend the message of our hearts, even when words fail us. We rejoice to be seen, heard, and known by you. Amen.

The Nutcracker and a feast with friends

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

JOY! It's the topic we're working on for next week's Gathering. There are moments when I laugh aloud, passing by a shelf or table. This ceramic bell brings a smile.

At sunrise, we can see the distant mountains. The night rain has cleaned the air.

We walk by the Padma Hotel with its Christmas display in the foyer.

At the beginning of the week, our entry is set in red, green and white.

Breakfast is toast and the nut butter brought from New Zealand a few months ago by my friend Lisa. I consult with a few scholars and check in with mentors before leaving the table.

We need to shop for Christmas ... and buy groceries for tomorrow's movie night. We go downtown to the wholesale specialty street. A historic building catches our eye, between concrete apartments and shops.

This little 3-wheeled pickup is loaded, waiting for the driver.

I'm happy to find the red berries I couldn't find elsewhere. I strip the long stem into 6 separate sections and weave them through the wreath on the office door.

Another wreath hangs on the kitchen door, ready to welcome tomorrow's guests.

I wrap 20 gifts for those who will forget the White Elephant gift exchange on Christmas Day. The ready-mades stack up at the back of the tree, leaving room for what others bring.

W and PakG set up the main room for movie night. We try a layout that requires less work for the guys. The furniture is left mostly intact instead of piled up in my office. IbuS rolls up the rugs; the guys bring chairs from upstairs to existing tables. Let's see if it works. We have almost 100 signed up - only 70 can come but as usual, the list sorts itself out up.

Today stays dry into the evening. Will the weather hold tomorrow? W writes the talk for Sunday and we discuss it together. We work at the quiet dining table after the helpers leave for home.

Today the women made hard-boiled eggs and baked hundreds of cookies: ginger dipped in chocolate and peanut butter. W and I replenished butter, flour, eggs, and sugar during our errands.

W orders supper: pho (soup) for me, a bun (Vietnamese sandwich) for himself. It's our comfort food on a cool dark evening.

Wednesday

At 5 AM, cooking starts, which means the food prep is done by 9. I wrap the huge pots in towels to keep them warm before setting out cutlery, trays for cookies, and tablecloths.

We pause with an early lunch at Miss Bee, which has just finished renovations. They built the first restaurant glass house in town, which has been copied many times since.

This year's color scheme is pastel.

The 5" (12cm) pods of the cocoa tree are ripening beside the staircase.

The helpers arrive at 3 PM to cut fruit and salad, cook rice, and bring supplies from storage. We start to reheat the food at 5:30. Indonesians don't care if their food is hot or lukewarm but expats do.

These two women are such a blessing. Our guests love to say hi to IbuA and Ibu S, too. By the time they go home about 10 PM, most dishes are washed and the garbage put away. They take leftovers to their families, sparing our overflowing fridge. 

Young people start arriving after 6 PM and it's a full house. Many have never seen a house decorated for Christmas or attended a Christmas party, which is fun. Various ones read a part of the Christmas story and we listen together. We pause at the middle of the film for dessert. (W nearly always finds a cliff-hanger to bring us to the break.)

Someone brings donuts, which I cut into pieces. Others bring cakes, fruit, and other treats. The rule for dessert is to limit the first round to "4 choices plus a fruit-and-yogurt," which most attendees honor. Everyone is welcome to come for seconds once the line has gone through. The sweets disappear in no time!

We combine home-baked treats with food gifts.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a story of good vs evil, of doing what is right when you don't feel like it.

On the screen in the house or on the Porch, the movie is well-received. It sparks discussion about leading change from our inner transformation. The last guests leave at 11 PM so W and I tidy a bit before falling into bed at 11:30.

Thursday

We head for the mountains at 7:30 AM. Much of today's trail is overgrown. We follow the dogs who run ahead, or the path disappears from view. We watch our feet carefully to avoid snakes or big lizards. The dogs clear the path with their 4-legged romps.

Most of the hike is shaded, which keeps the heat off our heads. It's the best decompression we could  imagine.

We pause for a picture, overlooking tea fields and volcanic mountains. The rainy season brings vibrant new growth.

Even 50' (15m) palm trees put on a show, like this one whose 4' (1.3m) "flower" mop hangs from its trunk.

Greens we used to barely keep alive as houseplants flourish in the shaded forests.

We eat at a place we haven't visited for years, saying goodbye-for-now to a few who are traveling for the holidays and "see you next week" to the rest.

The house is back in place. Oh that was easier. We'll definitely minimize moving the furniture next time. This layout worked well! We learn something each time we host an event.

Friday - W's mom's birthday

We call and wish her a happy birthday. We're thankful to have our moms!

With a few more tweaks, the house is ready for the next guests. Ruth sends gifts for us to distribute to her friends. I drop them at the hall and write everyone to pick them up Sunday. This cute birdcage lights up on the entry table.

It's time to stock up again. I make a quick trip to the supermarket - well, not that quick. Halfway down the hill,  I remember, "Oh, I need money." We turn around and are soon on our way again. We need butter and eggs to make next week's cookies!

I count the cookies in the fridges. Oh goodie ... we need another 1,400 cookies. (What?!) The women have 2 or 3 baking days left. Let's see if that happens.

This cute little Wuling parks beside our car at the grocer. The Chinese electric cars are cheap and efficient, perfect for negotiating narrow city streets. We see more and more of them in town.

I call our kids to check how their Christmas season is going. Then there is a tablecloth to track down.  "I think two tablecloths were borrowed for a potluck while you were gone in October," remembers the helper "and maybe one was returned?"

We share the hospitality items used for our own events. I occasionally rethink these loans. Getting things back can be a pain and time-waster. Stuff sometimes comes back with stains. Occasionally an item is broken or damaged by use. That's to be expected but who replaces it? Sigh. Time to get everything back for inspection before our Christmas guests come over.

There are letters and calls to check off the list, updates to write, chapters to edit, and more. It's a typical day when nothing is on the calendar but a to-do list writes itself as we go along. I edit this post and think, "JOY! it's coming up this weekend." hehe

Read more:

*Love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19

*Your sun shall no more go down or your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord will be your everlasting light. Isaiah 60:20

*And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

*For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Moravian Prayer: Light of the world, our lives are illuminated by grace. Your light goes before us, and your presence shines in all the good we do. We follow you, hoping to drive out the darkness of this earth. In your name, we pray. 

Understanding Savior, you are able to comprehend the message of our hearts, even when words fail us. We rejoice to be seen, heard, and known by you. Amen.