Catching up on history as we chart the future

Saturday, July 12, 2025

So good to be home! The creatures are happy to see us, though Lyong has done a marvelous job taking care of them.

When we arrived home, there was a new-to-us sofa in the entry. W helps me position it across from our existing one. Two faded black pillowcases, casualties of windows that admit tropical sunshine for the past 10 years, match the dark grey upholstery. Perfect size and color. We pop them on the couch for a more finished look.

We walk out to breakfast, admiring the fruiting shrubs that line the lanes.

At our favorite breakfast courtyard, orchids are tied to branches.

We love to sit in the open air to eat.

The server brings a pot of tea while we decide on breakfast noodles.

DrG sends over a delicious cheesecake. The delivery motorcycle, complete with little fridge, meets us at the entry to the neighborhood and hands off the treat.

It's catch-up time, but what better place to sit and work than overlooking the garden? The green is restful for screen-weary eyes.

After a day of preparation and settling back in, we walk up to Homeground Szechwan for a spicy supper.

As usual, groups are lining up for selfies.

Sunday

The Gathering is such a blessing. We rehang artwork by David, who lives in Japan with his wife Georgina and their two kids. In the short time they were with us, David produced some lasting beauty in the hall, including the mural.

IES supports Indonesian families in Berlin and Taiwan, too. The latter family joins us and Ps Kornel speaks. We host them and our team for lunch at Nara. The kids love all the animals: owls, hedgehogs, tortoises ...

They walk to the project with us to pray a blessing over those working there, as well as the renovations. A group is picnicking under the trees. What a great space.

Monday

We walk a short few blocks, taking Anton out for the first time since his tick infection. He's pulling like an alligator again. We return 20 minutes before our meetings start. That's enough time to cook a plate of crepes. W and I enjoy them at the table on the Porch.

It's our last lunchl with Vieiras, good friends and coworkers with Alice and us. They move to Panama later this week. We've watched their teens grow from little kids. Josh gives us a copy of his method book, a labor of love.

Clau passed her dissertation defense Saturday - so is now a Doctor of Architecture. Hurrah! They understand hospitality and the kindness of strangers as we do. We drop past the project with them to pray a blessing on the spaces and people who will come and go.

A door has been knocked through a wall to provide access to a room. We are amazed at how easily and quickly spaces can be amended here.

Tuesday

Our morning walk is beautiful and uneventful - the best kind.

There's a great variety of blooms today.

This two-toned plant opens little mouth-shaped pods with white "teeth" inside.

Renovations of the #PadmaHotelBandung are going full steam ahead. Construction crews are erecting temporary housing and offices in their parking lot.

It's a people day. Dyna and her two boys come in early morning to hang out on the Porch.

We need new passport pictures so over the noon hour, we head for #JonasPhoto downtown.

School pictures are not taken at the school but at a photo studio. 

Some high-schoolers pose on the staircases for selfies. Giggling and pushing, they examine the knicknacks in the shop before their teacher walks them back to school.

The team shows up in early afternoon for conversation, tea, and baked goodies. As they're leaving, a good friend from Jakarta arrives. Tirza tells us funny stories of college days with our son.

Alice joins us for a spicy Szechwan dinner at #HomeGround just up the hill. Darknss falls while we eat; the cafe windows glow as we walk back to our house.

Tirza and I discuss the utter joys of leadership as women. There can be challenges in male-dominated settings, too.

"People automatically turn to my husband with leadership questions," I tell her. "It doesn't matter that I'm actually leading the team." I've become used to it. Typically, a man - including W - doesn't even notice when it happens.

I think about the common obstacles women face as leaders. Most are called "bossy" or "demanding" when they participate equally, so they must gauge when it's safe to show up as fully present. It's distracting if we're ignored when we are responsible for charting the future and making decisions for a company or team. Sometimes it gets downright weird.

Women around the world (and across cultures) have observed to me that guys rarely notice when women are sidelined. Typically, when a man is addressed when his female team leader is also present, he jumps in with a response rather than referring the question to her. It can also be frustrating to be excluded when the boys' club heads out together, assuming a female leader won't want to join. Sigh. Human interactions are complex.

Wednesday

W and I take Anton on his first full loop with the other dogs. He's bouncy and eager but sits immediately when we stop. "Good boy."

The dogs are happy to come home and sleep off the walk.

W and I make some big decisions (plans for next summer, cabin repairs, and renovation updates) before he heads to a meeting. In the backyard, I spot massive plants against the back wall. The leaves are 3-4' (+1 meter) and the blooms are 6-8" (+15cm) long.

Tirza and I enjoy breakfast on the Porch. I make scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage. Later, we walk down the hill for lunch, passing more beauty. This strange little plant catches my eye along the curb.

These contrasting colors and shapes can't be missed.

Ethnic serves a good tenderloin for $8. No rice for me today!

When they came to NU, Tirza and Kristi were the first Indonesians we'd met. We thought if every Indonesian was as nice as they were, it must be an amazing country. (It is.) Tirza shares a photo of their first autumn in Seattle, when we took them to Snoqualmie Falls.

She catches the high-speed train back to Jakarta and home in the afternoon.

There's one final meeting at 8 PM and then it's time for sleep. It's been an active and busy week and I think I need the hike tomorrow more than ever!

Read more:

* Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Psalm 25:4

* Lord my soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. Isaiah 26:9 NIV

* But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them come, if they can save you, in your time of trouble. Jeremiah 2:28

* In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35

* My beloved, flee from the worship of idols. 1 Corinthians 10:14

Moravian Prayer: Compassionate God, we often find ourselves slaves to our possessions, our money, our jobs, or our own wants, forgetting that these things are temporary. You are permanent, everlasting, and eternal. May we always remember this. 

O God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to save us and to show us how to love and offer grace to others. In the morning, in the evening, and all day long, we are reminded of your steadfast love for us. With gratitude, we pray. Amen.

Naming a hike: Angie's Walk

Sunday, May 12, 2024

When I lay down for an afternoon nap, I crash into 3 hours of solid sleep. After, I bake some easy power bars. They're just right; not too sweet. With an unstoppable ant parade in the kitchen, we store our baking in the fridge.

The 5-ingredient POWER BAR recipe (to which I added a pinch of salt):

• Blend 12 dates and 1/2 c peanut butter into a thick paste.
• Stir in 1 1/4c oats, 1 c. smashed almonds, and 1/3 c seeds: sesame, chia, or poppy, etc.
• Pack the dough into a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes at 350oF (180oC). 
• Cool 5 min in pan before cutting.

Eki and Lyong stay over - they have a peaceful night.

Monday

I am up 3 hours at night. Sometimes something comes into the house after a crowd. It disturbs the peace and restfulness of the house. We pray and it leaves. When I wake at 6:30, W's already taken the dogs for a walk. We make breakfast and eat together. 

I call Mom for Mothers Day in her timezone. She epitomizes this:

We're happy to chat every day. I also call my brother Norm to howdy.

Between scheduling appointments and answering messages, we pray for our friend Alice who is in surgery. It is a success though the recovery may be painful.

The rose from Mothers Day is opening. I sleep another 2 hours after lunch.

Tuesday

I take the second morning meeting in the nook and knock over a big mug of tea. It's fortuitous. I spot frass on the tile as we wipe up the spill. When I lift away the bench in the nook, there's frass on the carpet, too. The pellets signal that there are termites in the wood - and you can see the holes the bugs are eating into the wood. Yum yum.

W gave up on the top of the bench and fastened a strip of thin Tri-Plex over the holes. We spray when we see the pellets on the floor ... but the termites keep coming back.

I find another comfy (and dry) spot to continue the online meetings, relaxing on the sofa with my feet up on the glass table. Technology makes global connections easy.

The garden is massed with growth. The ground is wet from overnight rains but the sun is out in full force by day. These candy-cane blossoms are seeded from pretty weeds along our walk.

A neighbor planted bulbs along her fence. They bloom all year and today's stunner is a Porsche-red flower.

This little vine, just outside the gate, is new to us.

The fish fry are growing in the glass cylinder atop my desk. Growth is a natural progression. Why is it so hard for us to sustain growth? And why do we fear death, when that is the normal rhythm of life? Somehow the human soul knows there is more; we yearn for freedom and eternal life that animals never long for.

Team meeting is mostly in person. Nowadays, we end up with hybrid meetings (online and personal) because of scheduling issues. Daniel is leading the talk Sunday so he does a dry run for us. Very good. 

Wednesday

At #NaraPark, the servers know what I will order: spicy noodles and an extra hot pot of oolong tea. It's the only place I eat the same meal every week.

After our date breakfast, we're in a mandatory organizational meeting online. The subject is conflict resolution.

Next, I meet Nancy to debrief on the past month. Then it's off for a skin checkup. Living under the hot sun, it's a good thing to check in every few years (5 years for me ...) as a healthy preemptive routine. The Executive Clinic doesn't accept our $10/mo insurance but that's ok. The full checkup and blood tests are about $60 per person.

We check in on Alice, who is asleep. A return trip to the hospital later in the day takes us past a parade of wheelchairs outside the entry.

On the sidewalk, a frog has desiccated itself by landing in the sun and not finding his way back to shade.

The neighborhood tree-cutter chopped an enormous Benjamina ficus back to bare trunks a few months ago. It has  begun to regenerate.

Oh oh - when I pull out a bowl, it's another casualty of stone counters and sinks. Chip. chip.

Thursday

What a beautiful hike. When a beloved walker repatriates, we've begun to name a trail after them. Today, "Angie's Walk" is named; she returns to Germany in 2 weeks. As a measure of her friendship, it's a big turnout: 16 walkers today, plus 7 dogs. "Doggie daycare," mutters someone. Yes, the dogs love to run around.

This hike includes a descent and climb back up - but the waterfall at the base is worth the hill. The dogs splash in the cool water. The shiba yelps without pause whenever she stands in water - it's ear-piercingly loud. Two dogs get to close to the little lip and get swept into the pool a few feet below. We pull them back onto the mossy rocks at the side of the stream.

It's hot in the tea fields but slightly breezy while we're in the forest. Most of us wear hats and slather on sunblock against the sun and heat.

Angie brings us to a cafe she and Amy discovered in the tea fields up the road.

Veronica (hike leader) had a brainwave. She and her daughter Tessa made a photo collage of the hikers of the past years. They included the names of the places where we've tramped.

Everyone signs the back of the frame.

This should provide Angie with a few memories. She'll be missed.

We cruise around a winding mountain road, looking for the hydroponics store. It has closed. However, after crossing the hills above the city, we're on the opposite side of north Bandung. We can drop Melvi (our passenger) near her apartment. No need for her to order a GoJek motorcycle home.

Read more

*Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord. Jeremiah 31:16

*Jesus said, “You have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:22

[Here's the definition of true LOVE:]

*If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13

Moravian Prayer: Our God now and forever, we believe that when we die, when pain and troubles are over we will be with you for eternity. Until that day, while we are on earth, remind us that you are still with us, even through pain, tribulation, and grief. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.