Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Today we're celebrating our daughter's birthday. She has been God's gift to us. She's a lovely woman and that makes it hard to live so far away. At the beginning of COVID, we happily spent 11 months together in Bandung since she was unable to fly out to her next destination. Those months were a divine gift and left happy memories.
Happy Birthday, dear Kirsten!
"Money comes and goes. We are the richest people on earth because our children love God," my dad often said. I agree.
The rain begins as we head out with the dogs but we finish our loops. W takes down a bright LED strip from the Porch. We're considering where things will go.
Undeterred by the rain, Anton fetches until I make him take a break. He's soaked but happy. The Porch is a mess from his wet and muddy dog prints. In contrast, the older dogs are glad to take a break.
Anton's breeder lets us know that 7 new Standard Poodle puppies have been born from the exact same stock. If you live in Indonesia and want an Anton lookalike, PM me and I'll pass your info to Elizabeth for consideration. Here they are, strong and healthy pups a few hours old.
By the time calls and writing are done, it's almost noon. As we schedule our annual fundraising trip, many details await confirmation. I'm working on a book about global workers and their relationships to parents. It requires so much focus that I can only stop and start in bursts rather than doing protracted work.
If you're working abroad and have some advice about how you deal with parental expectations and stay in touch, please message me! I'd love to include your observations.
Supper is leftovers made into a salad: chicken, mac and cheese, acar (cucumber salad), and more. So yummy.
Wednesday: Kirsten's birthday again!
It's a pleasure to have a daughter. We think ours is extra-special. It's wonderful to talk to her after she has a birthday day supper far away. We're a half-day ahead which makes calls to family tricky, time wise. It means that we get to celebrate those we love for a day-and-a-half, though 😊.
After our walk, the dogs greet the yardman with loud barking as he starts to cut the grass. The usual process is squatting on heels to cut with a machete. W bought a mower years ago to make the chore easier for the last yardman but the guy quickly broke the mower. This yardman works at a nursery and is more skilled. He buzzes the lawn with the new weed-wacker. W replaced the last one that burned out.
It's too loud to work outside so I cloister in an office piled high with things to be moved in a few months.
As Kirsten notes, "Mom, by the time you're done, the place will have a unique foreigner's decor." If only she were here to lend her creativity!
It's a day of good memories! I call Mom (now 90 years old) after finding old photos of her playing peek-a-boo with the great grand-kids a few years ago. She and I talk about God's faithfulness, his lovingkindness, and his generosity.
Across the street is a pasta shop. W orders a lasagna swimming in cream sauce.
It's dark and starting to rain when we head home.
I dream that my mom comes to visit, knowing she's bedridden. Then Grandma D shows up - and I know she's dead. We have a lovely visit, looking forward to a reunion in heaven. I wake up feeling so happy and peaceful - what a blessed Hope for the life and death of the follower of Jesus.
After some morning calls, we pick up Veronica on the way up to a hike in the Lembang mountains.
The grasses sport multi-colored blooms.
Flowers peek out on every side.
Some plants have finished blooming and are fruiting. These 7" (15cm) "beans" emerge from a frilly-leafed shrub.
We duck under trees or climb over the ones have fallen across the trail.
Mushrooms in various colors grow on the felled trunks.
The rain brings fresh greens on each side of the trail. W stands under the lower leaves of a towering fern.
All manner of ferns, lichens, and moss grow on the damp tree bark.
Sap collection is forbidden in the pine forest but happens anyway. After the bark is dug away many times, the 25 meter (75') tree will collapse. In one area, new saplings have been planted to replace the thinning canopy.
Some grasses are very tall. It's a mostly overcast day, perfect weather for hiking, whether we're in the trees or not.
We leash the dogs before a collection pond in a valley. They have their own dogs and we don't want ours running off. As soon as we're past, the dogs are off-leash again.
Of course when the trail goes down down, you have to come up up. My watch counts a total ascension of 21 flights of stairs, not counting valleys between. Someone has kindly built a cement staircase in the middle of nowhere. Up we go. Then it's back to leaf-covered mud.
It's not raining but dew collects on the tips of the moss. The droplets glow like pearls.
The trail wanders through grasslands and forests. In some places, the path is wide and flat. In others, it's narrow, cut into by motorcycles, or slick from wet clay. Multi-colored leaves make it prettier.
Near the end we spot a two-eyed monster (a cutout tree trunk).
This thick moss-covered trunk resembles a giant snake.
Lunch on the way home is at Sidang Reret, a resort where multiple groups are feasting on custom buffets. W orders oncom (fermented tempe), rice, and meat.
The traditionally roasted sweet-salty peanuts are good, too.
The dogs have a great run of 3.5 hours. They rest while we eat and are happy to head home where they eat and then fall asleep on the Porch.
W's off to a men's meeting. I'm glad to stay home this afternoon.
* His eyes are on the ways of mortals; he sees their every step. There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness, where evildoers can hide. God has no need to examine people further, that they should come before him for judgment. Without inquiry he shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place. Because he takes note of their deeds, he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.
He punishes them for their wickedness where everyone can see them, because they turned from following him and had no regard for any of his ways. They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.
But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he is over individual and nation alike, to keep the godless from ruling, from laying snares for the people. Job 34:21-30
* Make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. Isaiah 12:4
* [Jesus told his disciples,] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20
Moravian Prayer: Lord, make us bold witnesses in the world. Guide our words and deeds to reflect your love and truth. May our lives draw others to you and glorify your name. Amen.
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