Happy 90th birthday, Mom!

Thursday, July 31, 2025

It's a productive working day since there's no hike. We go for a walk before making a long list of to-dos. We're involved in various things and every once in a while, I capture and organize what's floating around on every side = unfinished but underway.

There are open spaces tucked around the project. Could this one be a private workspace with the addition of a chair and table?

Doesn't this look like a fun spot for kids to do activities and learn English? The sculptures are crumbling off the walls but we'll keep what we can.

After an early grocery run, I pull out the class PPT and notes for next week's course. I like teaching online. Between screen sharing and recording, an absent student get extended access to class material. The breakdown in online learning is that the class misses an absent student's participation.

The plan is to wrap up all pre-session work today. I pause for lunch and knuckle down to work. The mosquitoes show up about 4PM. DEET repellent usually wards them off. 

I'm 80% done when someone breaks my focus with a question. I'm tired; another half hour and the work would have been finished. It takes 15-30 minutes to get into a flow state and I don't have the energy. I close the documents. I'll guess I'll resume tomorrow. Grrr.

PakG gets news that his mother has passed away. What heartache each time we pray for families who lose loved ones. He will be gone until next week. Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours so the family must hurry home to honor those who are lost.

We send condolences, knowing that she will be missed. No one loves a child like their mother does, no matter what the stage of life.

Friday

We stop by the project, where tiles have been installed in the wrong direction (lines front to back rather than side to side). Oh oh. We don't have extra tiles and will leave it as is since it's not a permanent place ... but I ask W to caution the contractor. If it were a high end remodel, he would have to rip it out and redo it at his expense. What a good color for the space, though.

I take pictures of the laundry corner in the back. Planning a layout is best done before shifting items, especially for appliances that need water or electricity. The dirty floor brings up a memory of Mom's efforts when I was a teen. We were moving into an old Victorian house in Chilliwack. I remember her shoveling piles of houseflies into the garbage from behind the washer and dryer, tears dripping down her cheeks as she cleaned up the mess. (She kept it spotless while we lived there.)

Ibu Ade comes to relieve my tired back with a massage. "Sakit, Bu," she says. ("It's ill, Ma'am.") My muscles stiffen due to hours of sitting during the past weeks. They're less tight by the time she leaves. Thank you, Ibu!

My class prep wraps up after lunch. I happily indulge in a reward: a coffee-chocolate cookie from Keelee's @QuietWatersBakery.

I've started to sort household items for our move next year when our lease expires. Unused stuff can be passed on to others. One of our "finds" (someone else's giveaway) is a green, beige, and rust-colored rug. It was dumped in my office when the guys couldn't get it up the narrow stairs to storage. Today I've had enough of stepping on and around it, smack-dab in the path to my file cabinet.

We roll up a smaller rug and cart it upstairs. Then we unroll and vacuum the ugly freebee. After changing the cushion covers, the dark rug settles in, even on this overcast day.

Here's the "before."

Between everything going on last month, (teaching in Bhutan, conferences, passport renewals, houseguests, and more), I forgot to write the monthly update to friends. I spend an hour on that before bedtime.

Saturday: Mom turns 90

Two of my brothers, family members, and many friends celebrate Mom's 90th - a milestone birthday. Sandy has planned a wonderful celebration for her.

One of the hardest things about living far from family is missing such legacy moments. You aren't part of the memory or a historic photo of the event. I obtained a 2-week leave in February to visit Mom. With our annual month of itineration in autumn, we can't go back to Canada now.

We're 14 hours ahead of her time zone, so we're a day early in wishing her "Happy Birthday." I say it anyway when I call on our Saturday morning (August 2) and her Friday night (August 1). Can't hurt to celebrate her longer than 24 hours.

2 guys arrive via motorcycle to groom all the dogs. It takes 3 hours and $30 (including buying them lunch.) We're satisfied and the dogs know when they look good.

By noon, the class notes are in a binder. We walk up the hill to a late lunch at Nara Park. Anton wants to come so he jumps up, sticks his nose through the gate, and watches us leave.

I'm in the mood for creamy pasta.

Waldemar orders a spicy smoked beef - so good. We practically inhale our food since it's 2 PM. We had breakfast before 7 AM so we're hungry. No supper for us though. Maybe a snack before bed?

The dining room is elegant. The dinner party with reservations won't come until later so we have it to ourselves. Windows are swung open, allowing a breeze through from one side to another.

It's fun to watch kids playing at a birthday party. They're blowing bubbles, flying toy planes, and running around the big yard.

This juxtaposition of flower and structure catches my eye as we walk home. Flowers will grow as they please, even across barbed wire.

It takes an hour to create an inventory for our next home. The yard and interior start to take shape in my mind. I write down a list of garden plants, just in case there are not enough to take along. (There are enough. No need to buy anything.)

We walk over to talk to the contractor. The process is going smoothly so far. The dogs love to romp through the mess and dirt. Juno rolls in the loose mud before snuggling up to be petted. Fortunately dirt sheds off her pelt within a few minutes.

We cherish a quiet evening before a busy Sunday. What to do for flowers for the hall tomorrow? W goes into the yard and grabs two palms. I wrap the plastic pots in Bali sarongs and that's that.

Sunday

We call Mom early in the morning as she's wrapping up her birthday celebrations. They had a wonderful time and she feels honored, especially because she got to pray for all her guests. Cousins and friends I haven't seen in years say hi, passing around Mom's phone.

The Gathering is always a pleasure. We worship God together, discuss life with each other, and consider how we can express God's lovingkindness in the world.

IES Bandung is an international community, rich in cultures, friendships, and faith. After the Gathering, we hang around to talk, eat, and pray for each other.

This week, friends have completed a 4-month land-journey from Indonesia to Hamburg, Germany. Their truck is being shipped back to Indonesia from the German harbor. We eat lunch together at #WaroengEthnic and get a taste of what they're experienced. We schedule a community potluck at our place in a few weeks, where they can share details with more people.

The dogs get their Frontline tick application when we get home, and we get a rest. God is good.

Read more:

*Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the Lord. Isaiah 59:12-13

*For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. 

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

*If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1

Moravian Prayer: God, your love for us burns so strong that you sent your son, Jesus, to heal and forgive. Help us to express radical love for one another as Jesus surrounds us with his love and grace. Amen.