We wrote what??

Monday, May and 6, 2024

Why buy a lawnmower when you have a goat? The neighbors let their 3 goats roam near their house and in the big abandoned lot. The goats call to each other nnnnneeeeeh most of the day as they graze.

W wants to try #Pipinos, a fusion cafe down the street. Surprise! I order the best ravioli I've had in Bandung ($3.25). It's high-fat with delicious cheese and pesto.

But I look across the table at W's gut bomb: a mayo-drenched croissant filled with coleslaw, deep-fried chicken, and maple flavoring. There's not one thing I'd order in that combo, but he says it's good.

These pretty crimson stems grow beside our courtyard table.

We take a shortcut down the hill between high walls of the kampung. Most neighborhoods are similar. Whether the walkway is 2 or 5 feet wide (600-160cm), motorcycles squeeze past as pedestrians flatten themselves against the sides.

The streets are busy: two guys carve away bricks and a cement pad with a chisel and hammer. I wonder what's going into that cavity.

Another group is cleaning the got (drainage ditches on each side of the street). Leaves, garbage, and food wrappers tossed by locals are everywhere, plus what washes downstream from elsewhere in heavy rains. There's not a garbage can to be seen; it's normal to throw the waste to the side of the street. It's cleaned up by private helpers or occasionally by groups like this. 

There's a growing garbage dump on our loop walk, not in the "real" disposal area, but in front of a beautiful weekend house. The heap of tossed bags contains home garbage: paper, food, plastic. It's disgusting. Every month or so, someone clears away stacks of rotting items. Once, someone hung a banner over the usual drop area: 'The ghosts will get you if you dump trash here,' and it cleared up until the banner was removed. Then it was back to people throwing things out from motorcycles and car windows.

Hurrah! hurrah! Finally my syllabus shakes loose from my desk and laptop and I'm making progress. There's a stack of 4 binders (from various classes I'm combining into one) and another pile of printouts.

Supper is a matter of clearing the fridge and catering to our tastebuds. These plates have a little bowl: great for dressing, yogurt, salsa, etc.

Tuesday

I figure out that my resistance to starting my academic work was mostly due to last month's flu. It shut down my brain, body, and drive. On a call with a friend, she mentions the same despair and depression. Wait - that whole muddle was from being sick? Thank God! that's over and I've come back to life. We pray for her healing as well.

Usually Tuesday is team day. Since the team celebrated and connected at lunch on Sunday, I give them the week off.

Walk. Nara breakfast. Writing. Syllabus work and class study. There's so much new information for the class. The question is what to include, what to shed, and what to pause. On the office desk, I leave behind what I've compiled. I spread the rest onto the table on the Porch.

It's a gorgeous sunny day. The rain has been tapering off, which means a warm afternoon. The helpers are hard at work. Outside, PakAD prunes jackfruit branches that have stretched into our eaves. Crash. Smash. The long limbs hit the ground.

Inside, dishes are being washed, pumpkin pies (from real pumpkins not cans) are ready for the oven, and bread is rising in the bread maker. My Turkish teapot steams away: a big handful of leaves steeps in the little top pot while water boils in the bigger bottom pot. I mix stiff tea and water, half and half. W finishes off what's left over with sparkling water, sweetener, and ice.

From the Porch, I smell roasting chickens. Yesterday, W and I popped into the grocer. Whole broilers were on sale for $2.25 so we bought several for the house plus one each for the help. PakG drove down the hill to pick up the heavy bags of groceries while we walked home.

Today I ask the kitchen helper: "Want to prepare the other fowl as you make our lunch?" It's easier if everyone takes home food that's ready-to-eat, rather than having to cook after they get home. Plus we have yummy spices and a real oven ... 

"Yes please!" Only two chickens fit into the turkey roaster at a time, so they are baking all day long. We try new foods when they come on sale and bought weird salty dried mango. It is magically transformed into a delicious fruit salad by IbuA, who is a genius with food.

Last week, I was browsing files for an upcoming class when I ran across a formatted-for-publication chapter. I had no recollection of writing it or what book that went into. 

Today, looking for a book, I find one that looks vaguely familiar ... and there it is? Ah, I vaguely remember writing it. Once my work is out there, it's out of my head. Margaret Shirer is the only Pentecostal mentioned in the book; she was a wild thing and an AG missionary to Africa and Central America.

Wednesday

After a walk, we stock up at the grocer's. Yesterday, making pumpkin pies and bread "ate" into our stock of eggs and flour. 

PakG points out the moving trunk of a tall avocado.

W gets a closeup of the writhing mass of caterpillars. 

"It's the normal cycle for avocado trees," says PakG. "They strip off all the leaves and the tree grows back healthy and strong for the next season. That will happen in our yard as well." Eh?! What a way to replace autumn and winter in the tropical garden!

My desk is a heap of binders, papers, art supplies, an aquarium, tissue box, toys and lamps from our last IKEA run, and even memory stones. (I draw my word-of-the-year on a stone and keep them on a plate as a reminder of God's guidance.) There's so much on the surface that I can't put my computer between. "That's it! Do something."

Clutter gathers when I'm ill, like during last month's flu. I'm ruthless about clearing what others leave in my office unless I'm sick or focused on a project. Hence, the heaps. In a mild start, I sorted books on the office shelf - and hey, today there's room for the class binders and texts in that blank spot. The other binders and books go back to the top shelf. DONE - lamps and toys head to storage as hostess gifts and play items for young visitors. 

W's kickstarter investment a few years ago keeps my tea warm as I tackle the paperwork that's left and write Sunday's talk and book reviews. I liked the book read to me overnight by the Kindle reader. (2X speed is about perfect for absorption.)

I'm chugging through an academic journal article, written by a well-known theologian. As I edit, my head begins to buzz with repetitions, run-on sentences, and prepositions. I write the new journal editor, "May I cut out some of this for the readers?" Let's see what he says.

The former editor offered me carte blanche and told me to quit highlighting my edits. "I trust you and I don't want to know what you did." That was easy. Now I'm trying to guess the new direction of the journal. Especially when the writer is famous.

After lunch, Lisa drops by for tea, pumpkin pie, cookies, and an apple to dip into yogurt. The cute plates were 50% off and called my name last week. The teacups are from my Seattle collection. I re-homed 50 or 60 teacups but kept some favorites.

We check in how the media is going for the weekend, send off some videos, and read through the Sunday talk for the first time. Learning is constant - as is connecting.

Read more:

*Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. Psalm 37:7-9

*Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. Hebrews 1:1-4

Prayer: Thank you for your salvation, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the inseparable One True God. Thank you that you come near to us when we accept your forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

In you, we are made whole. We are set free from the powers of darkness. We are heaped with your mercy and divine favor. Give us hearts to worship, tongues to praise you, and feet quick to do your bidding. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.