Family is best!

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Our favorite day of the week. Today we're talking about shepherds who lead the flock (1 Peter 5:1-4). Scripture compares us to sheep who wander. "All we like sheep have gone astray" (Rom 3:23) - and yet Jesus says he is the one Good Shepherd (John 10) of the people of God.

It's Round Table Sunday, which means discussion around the table. Today the questions are: "What is required of a good shepherd?" and "What is required of good sheep?" We enjoy the lively interaction. After, we have a board meeting before heading home. W orders in burgers for lunch so we can rest.

Titik has created another stunning bouquet, which provides fragrance for the whole house as evening approaches.

In late afternoon, Melvi says she can't find the two big dogs: Juno and Anton. There are two houses behind a gate; at the other house, there's constant coming and going of young people editing videos, playing loud music, and producing films. Once again, someone from the neighbor's place leaves the gate unlocked as they exit.

OR, did Anton just figure out how to unlock the gate? It's possible. The CCTV shows Anton on his hind legs to peer out close to the lock ... before the dogs nudge open the gate and run out = 2 hours before we discover they are missing.

Even as I whistle for them, two men holding the dogs' collars return them from blocks away. Everyone sees us walking the critters and knows who they belong to. But Muslims are mostly afraid of dogs. To have someone willing and able to bring them back to us is a miracle. Thank God! W tips the guys generously.

Monday

The sun is up before 5:30 AM. When you rise before 5AM, you can get a lot done by noon. W leads a study and clears space in the room our daughter will stay.

Walk, meetings, grading, and writing a newsletter fill my morning. Each weekday, I must plan lunch according to how many people are on site. A helper cooks but it's so different from spontaneously cooking according to appetite. Food options are becoming more limited as we clear fridge and freezer in preparation for moving the appliances.

Writing the newsletter? Easy. Formatting it into new technology? Frustrating for me, a non-intuitive user who struggles with data instructions or locating hidden-to-me tabs online. We're reluctantly paying the least expensive mailer to send newsletters. This site doubles the clicks to upload photos and text, but the last one suddenly required an annual fee of +$400. Nope. For a tech-dummy like me, a new system is exhausting until I get the hang of it.

Lew comes to stay for the week, working on his dissertation. It's too wet to go outside so I make black pepper noodles, accompanied by corn, salad, and mangos. It's mango season and they are SOOOOO sweet.

Tuesday

I take Gypsy for a walk to the project. After he lies down for a nap while I'm in meetings.

Juno has had a nice romp through the yard, fluffing up curls by wiggling on the grass. Her tail thumps as I turn toward her.

At the project, I'm measuring to know what can go where.

The contractor has fixed old library bookshelves to the walls as top cabinets. We're leaving as much as we can (see those 90s glass tiles?) and updating only what we have to.

Team meeting is online due to rain around the city. Bandung has many zones - rain can be pelting in one area while other sides of the mountains stay dry. The yardman is making good progress in moving the garden from one yard to the other.

Kirsten flies in from Korea via Hong Kong, to be met in Jakarta by her dad. They stop on the way home for Mediterranean food.

Wednesday

Meetings online first. IbuS comes to give K a post-travel massage. She works the kinks out of me after I pleat more tablecloths for curtains at the project. We head downtown for chores and a delicious lunch at Ambrogio. 

Thursday

I am rudely awakened by something crawling across my face, neck, and arm. When I bat it away, it feels like a bug. I turn on the light and sure enough: it's a roach. I sweep it off the bed after it refuses to stay trapped under a blanket and starts to run across the mattress. I can't catch it. It disappears under the bed. Ugh. We don't find it so I know it's there somewhere.

Hiking day is close to our neighborhood. We walk along the river. Flowers peek through the fencing.

No money for a truck? How about a custom 3-wheeled pickup?

Someone is burning trash and leaves. As usual, though it's close to trees, nothing but the intended heap catches fire.

It's hard to see, but across the river, the painted village is a tourist attraction.

It's a new walk for some so we detour through the riverside park at the bottom of the hill.

Then we wander on Indonesia's premier university campus. The founding president was an architect. 

We check the timber work in some buildings.

We take a tunnel under the busy road back to the sports complex, from where we walk to lunch.

Dalaros has a tasty Sundanese buffet. Mine costs $4.

We snap the obligatory pictures before beating the rain back home.

It feels good to take a shower and a nap to make up for the interrupted night. The windows rattle as lightning flashes and thunder rolls overhead.

Read more:

* Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

* Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:15

* God is love. 1 John 4:8

Moravian Prayer: God of abiding love, hold us close to you as your most precious children. Nourish us; nurture us; wrap us in your care. Let us face each new day leading with love, as you have taught us. Amen.

Nuts to that

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

A day of buzzing about? That would be today. The morning is spent with mixed success, hunting down kitchen hardware, hot water heaters, and a shelf to fit around existing fixtures. A building supply store is the men's equivalent of a women's fabric store in the USA. Long slow lines, many pieces to the transaction, and lots of chatting. W patiently stands in line for 15 minutes. He has few items. but there are 4 people ahead of him.

 I edit W's academic writing along the way.

We try a new-to-us Vietnamese place on the way home. We even have leftovers ($15).

The rain starts on the way home. Afternoon meetings are cancelled due to weather, with water coursing down the hilly streets. Since shopping tires us out, staying home is not a bad thing. 

I'm not hungry at supper but I cut up an avocado, stirring it and orange marmalade into a homemade trail mix. It's weird and surprisingly tasty.

Thursday

A hike makes Thursdays the best kind of rest day (= hard physical work but easy on the brain.) When PakG walks to the car, the dogs come running. They're so eager to leap into the car that one of them bangs their head on the open hatch. "Thunk!"

It's mostly forest trails today. Parts of the path are slick from the ongoing afternoon downpours. Today the rain holds off until we're almost home.

Lunch is at a place favored by our hiking group since it's close to the mountains. Stomachs have been growling on the morning hike. Sidang Reret has reliably good food for a reasonable price. W and I have two meals left over.

It's a good group today, a mix of new and regular hikers, 5 big dogs, and 2 smaller poodles. The dogs snooze while we eat and visit. We pull over to buy mangos from the back of a pickup truck on the way home.

I take a quick nap after a shower. The helpers bake 8 more loaves, using up the bananas sent by Veronica. We'll share some with the hall on Sunday and pass others around. 

I nap after a shower. I snap the remaining curtain rings onto the fabric for the main room. W orders more - delivery is usually within a day or two. I'm not hungry for supper so just warm up lunch leftover in the air fryer. Meanwhile Lew and W head out to supper. It's wet misery out there. 

Friday

We have scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with Lew before he heads home for the weekend. After calls and business, it's time for some math. The 6 flat sheets are 7"/17cm too short for the window wall. W agrees to raise the curtain rod 12"/30cm since tacking a little piece of fabric at the top or bottom would look ridiculous.

Yay for hotel bulk buys on the sheets. Ross (USA) had 2 tablecloths on clearance. Wouldn't they fit if cut into thirds lengthwise? It's directional fabric, so which goes left and will goes right? I draw arrows, think about options, and choose.

"Sketch sketch think think." If I do a good job it will look simple and logical. Hmmm, allowing for hems, each finished tablecloth piece should be 19"/48cm long to land 1"/2.5cm off the floor. I hem the tablecloth centers to match the other cuts and sew them to the sheets. Finally, the sides of the sheets are hemmed to match the bottom width.

Calculations were quicker when I was in my 30s and 40s! It takes me 20-30 minutes to sew each panel after double-checking the sketches. I clip curtain rings to 4 sheets before running out; more are on the way. I make sure the rings face the same direction, pleat the tops, and W hangs the first 4 panels. It looks neutral with the leaf pattern.

I wonder aloud how anyone can afford 9' or 10' custom curtains to cross the long span. PakG explains that most homeowners string cafe curtains on the lower set of windows. That saves money and offers privacy from people are walking by. Never thought of that - but how do they block the tropical sun that fades everything?

Saturday

W goes out to a breakfast meeting while I work at home. A young couple drops by for an hour. They have wedding bells in their future. W and I work at the project and then get pasta from Nanny's. Then the rain starts. 

With a downpour, the project yard floods. There's improper drainage on the hill. Hmmm. Will have to find a solution for that ... here it's not as simple as calling the city and expecting them to take care of it.

The dogs are happy to come along and get out of the rain as we work.

Physical work takes the mind off other things - or frees the mind to think. It depends on how much mental effort is required. Several friends are in hospital, our daughter is traveling, and a few other things weigh on our minds. We pray over it all.

Read more:

* Thus said the Lord, “Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good fortune that I now promise them.” Jeremiah 32:42

*His dominion shall be from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. Zechariah 9:10

* Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!” Matthew 4:8-10

* Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation. 2 Corinthians 1:7

Moravian Prayer: Resplendent Nurturer, you entrust the caretaking of your magnificent creation to us. Yet we see how all too easy it is to conquer and exploit this gift. Help us turn away from the allure of greed and the promise of material reward and orient us towards the joy of living in harmony with your bountiful earth. 

Sometimes the disasters of the world are too much for our hearts to bear, O God. When hardship befalls us, you are there. When our communities are hurting, you are there. When we long to tear our eyes from the injustices of the world, you are there. Bring us steadfast companionship and sweet consolation as a balm to our broken hearts. This we most urgently pray. Amen.

Lizards, frogs, and curtain rods

Saturday, October 18, 2025

W's joining two long pieces shade cloth. What a lot of work. I help him spread it out but that's the extent of my involvement. He wants it spaced precisely and I'm no perfectionist.

Black window clips arrive so I try out a few. The tablecloths from USA Ross ($6.99 clearance) look good as curtains.

They match the seafoam-colored cabinets being repaired in the project kitchen.

As we head toward the gate, a large piece of silvered glass catches my eye, tucked against a fence. Ooooh - wouldn't that look cool over a painting ... add a touch of mystery?

Sunday

Sun's up after 5 AM. Titik the flower genius is away this weekend so I work with what's left of her beautiful bouquet from last week. When the structure is this good, a refresh is simple.

The roses are mostly gone so I pull them out and insert two kinds of pinks that are blooming in the garden. Her work is always formal and considered. Mine is messy and wild. Both can be good.

We take our usual photo of volunteers and prayer partners before the Gathering.

Bandung is muggy. "So hot the last few weeks!" someone moans. "After 10 minutes of walking, my skin is wet." Even the dogs are drooping when we come back home.

We don't go out to eat: too tired. It rains shortly after we get home. "Good decision," W says about staying in.

It takes about 10 minutes to cook noodles, sausage, and green beans. I learned to make quick suppers while teaching music as the kids were growing up. Sometimes there were only 15-30 minutes between lessons. Cook. Eat. Back to work while the kids clean up.

Monday

We take the first (used-)sheet-curtains to the hall. W mounts them to the conduit "rod" he's put up in his office. Voila, professional-looking, neutral window treatments for about $5 - on a 13' X8' window. W specifically requests that the hem is above the floor for easy cleaning, storing things under the window, or putting his feet under a desk without getting the fabric dirty.

Meetings start. I catch Mom on a call; she's excited to have our daughter visiting. A few more calls and then Della drops in for a chat before lunch. (I love that gal!) W does his group study on the Porch while we sit upstairs.

Modesty is highly valued here. The work crew worried about us swimming without privacy from the neighbors who overlook the yard. W finishes clipping the shade cloth. The cover goes on loosely at first. It's conveniently high overhead because the pool is be 4 meters/12' deep.

No worries; you can't see a thing from above the shade cover. It's far from elegant but what an effective solution for catching leaves, offering privacy, and passively heating the water.

Masses of frogs' eggs are plastered around the waterline. A little vole has fallen into the empty shallow end and is teased back up onto dry ground.

The architect added every little thing the original homeowners desired. There are quirks in many corners of the project. Those have decayed and need repair, just like the main building. We decide on what to leave alone and what will be useful in the future.

This morning I flipped though project photos from 2 1/2 months ago in early August. Wow, the builders have made good progress! The crew fixes a gazebo in the far corner. Light comes through the polycarbonate but we leave the middle shaded by original shingles that were in decent shape.

We talk over details with the foreman as usual. "Make it nice for the most reasonable effort," is our mantra.

Veronica sends up two hands of bananas for tomorrow's baking marathon. We trade with a banana bread baked last week.

Lew arrives from Jakarta a few hours before dinner. He's stayed here a few times before so knows the lay of the land. We have dinner together at #WarungEthnic.

I go through cabinets to sort items as well as rediscover what we have. What on earth is this?

Google tells me it's a rose thorn stripper. Every household needs one. (?!)

Tuesday

It's back and forth. We've walked 8000 steps between project to home by lunchtime and 11,000 by supper. Construction has resumed; the electrical is being finished, the kitchen rebuilt, and curtains going up. Which finials to use? W holds them up so I choose.

Dina drops by for tea and to pray for God's blessings at the project, especially in the kids space where she hopes to tutor in English.

Gum picks up more bananas from Veronica and the helpers bake 8 loaves of banana bread. Two are split between workers, one is for the team meeting in the afternoon, one is for breakfast, another is shared by the workers at the project, and the rest goes into the fridge for an upcoming movie night.

The yardman is lifting plants from the garden for transplant.  Many are packed tightly together because I love the look of an English border. Oh those interwoven colors and leaf textures! The hydrangeas, lavender, and dill move today.

There's a dead lizard in the driveway (a doggie gift?) and frogs are spotted around the yard.

Lunch is a "leftovers" soup with Rawon flavor. Very good - we're going through the freezer and fridge to empty what we can. It makes for an interesting hunt each morning as I plan meals. Typically, the helpers cook lunch for themselves and us. We eat whatever we find the rest of the day.

The team meets mid-afternoon. We'd planned in person but it's raining in parts of the city so we do a hybrid meeting. Fresh banana bread! helps the tea slide down easy.

We have an early pizza supper at #NaraPark. 

It's raining when we finish so W walks home with a Nara umbrella and brings the car. He hands over the umbrella as we hop in for the short ride back.

Read more:

* I will not let you go, unless you bless me. Genesis 32:26

* What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the 

human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

* Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. Matthew 19:13

Moravian Prayer: Comforter and Sustainer, we fix our eyes on you. While we travel on life’s journey, may we feel the shelter of your care. Bring the power of your hands upon us; let us walk forth in the world clothed in your blessings. Amen.