Goodbye, hello, and catching up

Saturday, May 24, 2025

After the dawn walk, I'm hungry for pancakes. But when I start cooking, I decide on crepes. All the batter needs is more milk. I heat 3 little frying pans and before long, dozens of crepes are heaped on the serving dish.

Jenn and Adam L have been here for the past week-and-a-half. I invite them down but they had a big supper last night and decline ... until they smell the crepes. We have a nice breakfast together. Then we wander over to a nearby house to pray for God's favor. The dogs romp through the yard while we imagine what the future may hold.

The flowers for Round Table Sunday are bright and cheery. The garden is fluttering with yellow and purple blooms but I am in a red mood when I roam the flowerbeds. I ram the few flowers I find between maidenhead fern fronds. PakG takes 12 bud vases to the hall and helps Alice's team with tomorrow's setup.

And just like that, before noon our friends wave goodbye. It's been a pleasure having them with us - a time of healing and joy. They take the shuttle to the Jakarta airport, heading to a vacation in the islands tomorrow.

All the dogs get groomed by 2 guys who arrive on their motorcycle, complete with their gear. We probably couldn't afford to have poodles in the States. The duo charges 1/10 the USA price (1/20 for Anton) to clean and clip the dogs. A bonus is that we don't have to go to the groomers; they come to us.

Bailey gets a weird "helmet head" cut so I take him into my office and cut a round cap with a Teflon scrapbooking scissor.

Better. While I'm in the mood, I cut 1-3" off my own hair to neaten it up. (But I use salon scissors on my own head.)

Talman drops by in late afternoon. He was a faithful movie night "son-of-the-heart" before he moved to live and work in Turkey. He's back for a short visit. We're delighted when he makes time for us.

Jenn and Adam arrive safely at the Jakarta airport and check out the new Grand Anara Hotel. It looks good. Thank you, God, for traveling mercies.

Sunday

Mom and I talk at 4:30 a.m. and my rib is still aching from Friday's wipeout. W takes Anton and Juno for the early morning walk. It's the first walk I've missed since A arrived a month ago.

Anton is a happy boy with his new haircut. He loves the fenced yard and probably knows every inch by now. He plays endless games of "fetch" and plows down plants and pots to find the ball, no matter how long it takes. Oh oh - our garden is becoming a wreck; I'm an indifferent thrower and the ball often rolls into the flower beds.

There's a good team serving together today at IES Bandung.

My heart is immersed in the generosity of God and his love for his creation. How good he is to all of us. He invites each person out of the kingdom of darkness into his glorious kingdom of light. I am sometimes overcome by wonder at his goodness and patience.

W orders Mike Pizza for lunch. I sit outside and admire the green garden; it's nature's reward for the past few weeks of overcast skies and rain. It's unusual to have such a long stretch without sunshine most of the day, less like Bandung and more like Chilliwack where we grew up.

We put away our Sunday gear and change out of our Sunday clothes. Then we unpack the dozen bud vases from the hall and spread the flowers around the room. Something in them smells wonderful.

Last week's bouquet is still going strong in the entry.

I love reading on the Porch when there's time to rest. The serene setting soothes the busy mind. An endless "fetch" game keeps the energetic youngster occupied. We're debating whether the nickname acquired by chewing flip-flops will stick: Monster. He's big and active enough to pull it off.

I come inside when I'm in danger of being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Their larvae thrive in the wet pockets of the garden bromeliads and ferns. We sign an agreement for the future of our work. It is the result of 4 years of questions and negotiations.

Monday

The newsletter for next month takes shape in the early morning hours.  Might as well write while things are quiet. This week we need to finish several major projects, in addition to our normal schedule. 

W checks if he has a meeting this morning. While I wait for him, I color my hair with a DIY kit from the USA. We can't buy "blond" color here most of the time. (Not doing a color change, just roughing its texture for more body.)

There are many ways to survive if you're creative. One popular option is to rent a costume and ask for money along the streets. This guy is on the bandwagon.

Tract housing is the most common building style in the neighboring city of KBP, where we're headed. We have a few bedding options to check out and W picks up some storage baskets. 

It's wonderful to hug Claudia's neck - and have lunch with Josh. Catching up on what our friends are doing provides direction for prayer and connects the hearts.

IKEA has nothing for us in the AS-IS section, which is our first go-to when we get in the door.

Back home, the fridge is full. W's baskets corral some odd-shaped bags of food.

IbuS has changed the linens in the guest room and set up for the next arrivals, whoever that will be. We have food packages left from a previous order so there's no cooking today.

Tuesday

After a 3-mile walk, we make some calls and get to work. Today the helpers have a marathon of baking. First comes 7 loaves o fbanana bread - thanks for the sweet bananas, Veronica! They bake 5 pumpkin pies with the little pumpkins we got last week at the fruit stand. They send lunch to a friend along with some loaves ... the whole yard and the house smell of fresh-baked goods.

We need eggs, butter, and vegetables so it's off to the store. Two American young adults must be "fresh off the boat." Standing on the store steps, they look only at their peers, chatter and laugh loudly! and seem unaware of anything but themselves. Passersby avoid eye contact, though a smile and "good morning" are a normal greeting.

We send lunch downhill to our friends. V sent up bananas; we return the favor with banana bread. The team comes over to discuss our work over tea, fresh pumpkin pie, and banana bread. What would we do without IbuS and IbuA?! They leave mid-afternoon but I freeze a counter-ful of baking after it cools down.

Wednesday

Walk. Call the son with a birthday? He's a wonderful man with a good family. He'll be busy with them when his birthday rolls around on his side of the world. 

Our prayers for blessing are that our kids - including Timothy - are blessed = so they can bless others with streams of the Living Water that Jesus promised his followers.

Anton's in a mood! He prances, dances, and riles up Juno, a true feat of energy.

Back home, I heat up yesterday's leftover tea and hit the desk for more editing. This book is a slog: the topic is generally covered in the introduction so the rest is details and case studies. My mind slides around the words and ideas. I remove repetitions and clarify a few things but they could have published it without my help. (Yes, it will be better with help.) The hoya flowers smell heavenly on the Porch.

W and I read through Sunday's talk (his writing this week) and head out the door for lunch. We skipped our date breakfast today to talk to our moms and get to work. We both need a break by midday. Look at this unassuming little bloom. I love finding things like this when we walk.

The yardman had typhoid fever for the past weeks but he's back on the job. The lawn-ish plants have grown in his absence. The weed-whacker drones on and on; we go inside and close the doors to focus on work. Outdoor maintenance is a must-do chore if you don't want snakes and other critters migrating into the house.

Read more:

*Only you know the human heart. 1 Kings 8:39

*Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart

    —they do no wrong but follow his ways.

You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.

Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!

Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.

I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.

I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me. Psalm 119:1-8

*When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” John 1:47-48

Moravian Prayer: Omniscient Lord, God, and Spiritus, creator of each of us, we are yours by your will if not our own. Give increase to our leanings to find you and to be found by you. May we be kind. Amen.

Day by day ...

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my troubles here. That old song rings through my heart. (Click here to hear it.)

We get news overnight that a friend has died of a heart attack. We begin to pray and inform Ray's friends of his family's loss. Everyone is shocked: he was in his 30s.

W and I walk before our breakfast date at #narapark. This young man carries bags of ice to the restaurants at Nara. We can't imagine how cold his arm and shoulder must be!

We walk to the office to sign an MOU for next year's rent and finish other business before noon. We're participate in a global-expat prayer group online, which settles our souls. God knows each name and each place. He is at work all around us.

In the garden, the poinsettias from Christmas have settled in. It's nature's way to renew and be renewed in cycles of life and death, growth and harvest.

It's a whole day of meetings and care. W heads for the men's study at a coffee shop. After supper, we join Ray's family and friends online for his funeral.

Thursday

After a short and restless night, we're off to the mountains to refresh body and soul. W and I join 3 young and fit hikers for "Mariska's Trail," named in honor of our Dutch hiking friend when she repatriated some years ago. Five walkers, five dogs.

We start with a 24-storey climb to the pine forest. I have to stop a few times to let my post-Covid heartrate slow to 140 beats/min.

The trail is always full of interesting plants and wildlife. We sidestep a piece of monkey-tree that's fallen on the path. It initially looks like a snake.

We descend to a series of ponds. The dogs go for a swim under the waterfalls. The series of crude bridges is renewed every few months as they decay in the stream. It's a rough setup this time around. 

Juno gets swept off her feet in the water but Alexandra (below) throws herself prone on the bridge and catches her. Juno braces herself on the rocky bottom (with A's help) until a young man fishes her out. He pulls hard against the current to release her. Then Juno scrambles across the bridges like the rest of us. Her daughter (Skye) walks calmly across with Alex.

We're all relieved Juno wasn't swept downriver. She's a good jumper and probably wouldn't have trouble getting on shore downstream, but she's aging and the rains have sped up the currents in the shallow stream below.

On the other side, we walk the muddy paths to the tea fields. Many new irrigation pipes along the last kilometer of the trail are leaking. We have a choice: slog through unknown mud where the trail used to be or balance on the slippery PVC pipes to the next patch of solid ground. We mostly walk on the pipes, which hardly helps the leaks.

From across the river valley, we can see the tall pines where we started. At this point, we're about halfway up the side of the second mountain.

Juno's having a bad day. Her second adventure comes when she jumps into the canal beside the trail for a drink and swim. She has a hard time scrambling back over the +1.5 meter (4.5') wall back to the path. I pat the wall at its lowest point and she climbs up.

Gypsy hears the chatter of monkeys, his nemesis. Eva catches Juno by the collar but Gypsy has already hurled himself across the channel and up a steep slope. The monkeys chirp and scold, while we yell and whistle for our dog. Eventually Gypsy tires of the chase and comes down another way. W clips the leash on him. Gypsy doesn't seem to mind: he's tired from so much fun.

Luckily we're not far from the meeting point with the cars. We're all dirty by the time we reach them. W and I slip out of our filthy shoes and don flip-flops before hopping into the car. Bailey's not as lucky. He waded through most of the muck. Happily, PakG gives him a wash when we get home.

"What good time we made!" says the hike leader. We've cut an hour off our usual time. We stop for brunch at Mandarin in Lembang, the city between the hiking trail mountains and Bandung. One of our favorite dishes is a beef-and-spinach hotpot.

I have time for a shower and change of clothes before going back to town. The Book Group celebrates 4 January birthdays. The quiche is tasty. (No need for supper, that's for sure.)

The greetings are warm. Most of the women have known each other for decades.

On the way home, PakG patiently waits in traffic for 4 tourist buses to make U-turns. They go back-and-forth through a narrow opening, changing direction from one 2-lane side of the road to the other. Note how motorcycles and bicycles squeeze by in the spaces around the bus. Everyone knows to negotitate moving objects and stays out of their way. Barely.

Friday

They trimmed the poinsettia tree at the neighbor's to a multi-pronged stump. After a few weeks, it's grown new leaves. The red color and bracts will show up again after a month when the days are shorter than the nights.

Another neighbor's hedge is being enveloped in a creeping parasite.

The bright yellow-green vines take over unless they are pulled off. Once established, they're hard to eradicate completely.

The stump that's been decaying on the side of the road is half the original size. Suddenly, it's sprouting multiple trunks from the shrinking wood. Left alone, there will soon be another tree guaranteeing that the road cannot be widened. Sundanese try not to cut down tall trees in case they "disturb the spirits" of the tree.

It's a neighborhood of contrasts. As we walk, I turn to take pictures behind us: the garbage dump and a parking lot for shuttles and tour buses.

A block in the other direction are houses, little food carts, and a 5-star hotel.

A publisher contacts me to ask for a pre-publication review. I've been meaning to read this book anyway, written by an Indian-American comic. She is smart and funny, but brutally honest about her values and expectations, both from her past and as an immigrant mom, wife, and business person. This American Woman is a moving and hilarious retelling of her of cultural expectations, even with its raw and gritty street language.

As the child of an immigrant and an expat since my late-20s, I recognize many of #zarnagarg's feelings and her caricatures of life as a perpetual stranger. Moving away from our first communities means making constant adjustments as we learn about our host culture.

Another review is due for a book on memory. "Don't think it's abnormal to forget," says the researcher. "Your brain is constantly sorting and overwriting memories, so changes are that details you remember have been overlaid many times and the most recent version is not true."

I'm known more for what I forget than what I remember - my memory files are full. "Write a journal since you will forget most of life otherwise," she write. That's what this blog is about. I go back a few years to remember people we've met, experiences we've enjoyed, and ways we've served.

I write to several organizations, requesting permission to customize a survey to collects data for an upcoming book. Editing and sending those initial requests takes the bulk of the afternoon. Judy sends some resources my way as well.

After everyone goes home, the rain moves through the trees. Soon the wind splatters a hard downpour across my feet and forces me off the Porch. The birds crouch in their cages and flap off the raindrops as though in the shower. The lightning is too close for comfort.

Saturday

It's a gorgeous sunny start with high clouds. In the cool of the morning, we walk around piles of plastic and other refuse, washed onto the wet pavement from where it's been tossed on the roadside.

PakG comes up with a solution for the shallow basin that holds fish in the tall flowerpot. "Some fish jumped out of the basin and into the lavender. How about using a deeper bowl?" Smart idea.

We check out several options from the kitchen: a deep food-grade pail ("too heavy" if filled with water) and a salad prep bowl ("too pink!"), before he finds a black pail. Its rim is the right size. The white mollies and red swordtails gain 8" (20cm) of swimming depth. The plant's shade prevents the water from getting too warm.

The frogs on the waterlilies in the big pond chirp to each other. The canary is in full cry this morning, too. Voices drift up from the village below and the university sports fields.

The budgie bitten by a rat last week (while in his cage) succumbed yesterday. PakG found 2 birds to replace it ($12 for both). We can't put just one in an existing cage or the old budgie will fight with it. It takes a few days for everyone to settle in.

But PakG remarks that the two males are fighting. He suggests getting another one and makes two more bamboo "houses" so each bird has their own. He found a wide stalk of bamboo in his neighborhood, cuts two lengths, and attaches them to the cage. The birds find shelter at night and when it's windy or cold (below 70F or 21C).

While I make calls and work on the Porch, W enjoys writing in the shade outside his office door. We never tire of this weather.

Read more:

*Do you think you can fool God the way you fool others? Job 13:9 GNT

*Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope. Psalm 119:116

*Jesus said, “Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24

*Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.” Luke 16:15

Moravian Prayer: O Lord, you have given us the promise of eternal life through your son, Jesus Christ. All you ask in return is to trust in you. Hold us to this covenant relationship; guide us on the path of faith.

God of grace and God of glory, we try to fool you and we try to fool ourselves. When we lift ourselves up, feeling the need to justify our actions to others, humble us. Let all we do be done in love and service to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.