Lizards, rats, a tropical trip, and a Christmas tree

This morning there's a lizard in the glue trap. The helper also put a glue trap on the kitchen counter while we were away. She caught the rat that had ripped into bread bags, taken apart all kinds of storage, and chewed its way out of a welcome. Ibu S graciously sent me a picture via WhatsApp, the message service everyone uses here. Ugh.

We are back from several days away, rat-free for now.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
We get to the airport in plenty of time. And then we have plenty more time. The plane from Bandung to Jogjakarta is 2 hrs late. Before landing in Jogja, we circle over the city a few times. Like Bandung, Jogja shares its airport with the military - we're on a budget budget budget flight that gets last priority for takeoff and landing.

There's no time for the art market date we hoped for. But supper with colleagues is fun.

W's the king of travel deals. It's as cheap to stay at the Hyatt as to get a regular hotel. What a beautiful stay, much grander than our usual stay-overs.

 

It feels like paradise - but this is a working trip. In such a setting, walking from our room to breakfast feel like a luxury vacation. (Then it's off to work!)

There's a beautiful spa enticement on a lobby table - 1 hr of massage for $15. I don't see it until we're pulling our carry-on luggage to the grab car for the airport, though.

Thursday

By 7am, I'm in an early online call - always great to meet up with advisors, even if it's long distance. W has breakfast with colleagues and is working on the talk for Sunday. He's speaking on the book of Revelation, hardly am easy topic to understand or discuss. He's making progress though.

W is in meetings all day so Jhan, Iris, and I catch a mid-morning taxi to the art market. (Which turns out to be an empty parking lot with a sign.) The driver is puzzled by our destination. He takes us to a street a little way off with shop after shop selling the leather goods Jogja is famous for. I don't find anything I can't live without among purses, belts, shoes, jackets, and giftware. I'm not in the mood for leather.

I even leave behind a statement rattan and leather purse (@$15 feels like too much, though it is beautiful.) The economic scale shifts here. At IDR220.000, it seems like way more than $15, doesn't it?

Friday
We're in meetings all day. It's great to meet new coworkers, who are being introduced to Indonesia. Our hosts make sure we have meals, snacks, and tell us to order coffee if we want it. I ordered a tea earlier, but there's a mixup and it never comes - good thing I have my thermos full when I get there.

When we get back to the hotel after supper and conversation, the staff at #jogjahyatt is amazing. They don't miss a detail. The rooms and public spaces are clean and fresh, no small feat in the tropics.

Saturday
We head out after a nice breakfast at the Hyatt. There's another 2.5 hr delay at the airport. We finally board from the back of the prop plane, I pop in my earplugs, and turn on my Kindle. W falls fast asleep.

On the way home from the airport, we stop to pick up 2 camping mattresses and a little guest safe (so light it will have to be screwed down.)

We arrive home to a burst of flowers on one fence ... and the pollution of Bandung. It hasn't rained since we left. The grass starting to emerge after rainy season is back on "pause."

We unpack the treats from Jogja and decide what to leave in our suitcases for next time. One of the core mandates of the team we work with to bring snacks to share from our travels. Yes, we have some oleh-oleh from Jogja for everyone's enjoyment.

I like the movement of seasons throughout the house. I love Christmas, so the Christmas ornaments are up: I decorated the tree before we left.

W did a wedding a few weeks ago: the groom's family brought chocolates from Denmark. What you might not know is that every country sources and mixes its chocolate a bit differently. Way to go, Danes. These are delicious. And way to go, W - for sharing with me. The chocolate looks beautiful on the batik linen fabric I bought for the dining table a few years back.

And the lights on the tree and in the vases bring a soft glow to the public spaces. So soothing.

Sunday
We get a late start - W has some last-minute touches to put on his talk. Before he starts, he asks people what they think when they read the last book of the Bible. "Scary." "Judgment." "Awful things." "Catastrophes." "Worship." (... for me, "Excitement.") I love the supremacy and orderliness that God brings to the chaos we continually create around us. Some day he will renew the universe with a New Heaven and New Earth - and come to live with us. That's great news.

When W is done, most people are sitting in surprise and not yet ready to share their takeaways (the way we usually end a gathering). W says this is God's story of redemption and glory, not a book of doom-and-gloom. It's a book of celebration, which we see every time God overcomes the drift to evil by his righteous judgments.

The day is full of meetings and lunch with a friend. I fall fast asleep for a few hours at home, and then play around with a homemade gelatin plate (printing with acrylics). It's very bad art. It's also relaxing. When I'm done, there are few pages that will be the base layer for better work.

I've downloaded about 30 books from the publishers and start working my way through reviews. This book is hilarious and reminds me to keep life in perspective. I recommend it. (You can read the reviews here.)

Read more:

*When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech. Proverbs 10:19 

With the tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. James 3:9-10 

Moravian Prayer: Father God, from our mouths should come blessings in your name. Please help us refrain from cursing, and be an example of your love and blessings. Amen.

MicroShifts Transforming Your Life One Step at a Time by Gary Jansen

★★★★★ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
If it's too hard to make big changes, what happens when small changes are repeated over and over again? Life transformation or big changes in trajectory can be a result of tiny decisions day after day. Jansen encourages the reader to accept challenges by moving toward them incrementally. The stories, examples, and incentives mentioned make transformation seem not only possible but attractive.

Move forward, one small step at a time. Start by reading this book.

Why? What Makes Us Curious by Mario Livio

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
What's the first question you remember asking? The curiosity that drives innovation and exploration is unique to humans. Livio explores the qualities of asking "why" that compel us to seek answers. No matter what work we are drawn to - science, art, mathematics, literature ... we want to know why and what and how, when, what for, and what ways things work.

A fascinating look at the inner life and outer workings of curious minds.

Stand Out Networking A Simple and Authentic Way to Meet People on Your Own Terms by Dorie Clark

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Relationships built up over time are valuable and can change the course of life and work. Rather than manipulative name-collecting, Clark advocates for - and explains how to - genuine networks that are of mutual and expansive in their reach.

Clark says, "Rightly understood, networking is a way of living your life with integrity, helping others, and benefiting in proportion to the mount you do and the way you navigate the world." The longterm investment of self in other people brings lifelong benefits and opportunities.

The core mindset of kindness and looking out for others is explored with how-tos, suggestions for maximum effectiveness, and encouragement to become part of a global network that brings mutual and widespread advantages.

Well worth consideration.

The Grumble Free Year by Tricia Goyer

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Imagine challenging yourself and your family to a year of no grumbling! That's what Goyer did - and then she wrote about their experiment. She offers suggestions and steps on how the family faced the challenge and took the opportunity for transformation. An interesting practical look at how life thrives with appreciation, honesty, and no grumbling.

Well worth reading, whether you are single, married, or have a family. This book will give you opportunities to change your trajectory from grumbling to gratefulness.

Thanks, everyone!

Sunday, November 3, 2019
It's Volunteer Appreciation Day - we invite all the BIC volunteers over for a BBQ after the Gathering.

Josh and Ish whip up a fine stand of steak and chicken. There's nothing like having South American chefs when it comes to meat! Ish jokes that the real miracle is to see an Argentinian and a Brazilian cooking together.

Many guests bring a treat along to share. One long table outside groans with savory food, while the dining table inside is heaped with fruit and sweets.

It's amazing to see how many people are involved in making an organization thrive. We love and appreciate the talents and gifts each one shares. Probably 60 or 70 show up, including some happy kids. The kids run upstairs to raid the toy box and make the space their own.

"Help, we're being invaded!" they cry when a few adults go up to check things out.

We celebrate each other and the good times we have working together. Each one is an important part of the community.

The rain holds off until we've eaten. Then the heavens open up and the water gushes down. Everyone moves away from the garden half of the porch. The roof is about 10 cm (4") too short so the rain falls in streams onto the edge of the porch. It splashes onto furniture, tiles, and everyone in its path. The ledge where people have been perched is suddenly deserted.

"I can help," Daniel offers. He can? With movie night later this week, we would love to get rid of the waterfall!

One group leaves with the first pause in the rain, but most stay until a second downpour subsides. The last guests close the gate about 4pm.

I go into the kitchen and thank God for the helpers who are cleaning up. With that many guests, it would take W and me until midnight to wash and put things aways. The women take leftovers home for their families.

Monday
Our first guest arrives at 6:20 while the rest come around 9:30. The porch is a great place to hang out and rest, especially for those who live in the middle of the crowded, polluted city. "It's like being on a retreat," said our last houseguest (who lives in a small apartment). We agree - it's the gift of God to everyone who enters.

The study is wonderful as usual. This one's led by DrHanna, who always researches the topics thoroughly.

Dennis from Uganda remembers climbing the trees at home for fruit. Before we know it, he's leaped onto the trunks of the big tree beside the porch (above) and is plucking guava. His smile says it all.

W and I have lunch at Maxi's before heading back to work, he at home, I in the office.

Tuesday
Out the door at 6:30, I drop my gear off at the office and walk around the neighborhood. In the morning sunshine, a lot of motorbike riders are already taking kids to school and shuttling others to work. GOJek is a big brand here - most people will call a motorbike to get them from point A to B, unless they use the little angkot (shuttle vans).

W comes to the office from his breakfast meeting, laden with the cutest boxing gloves ("Playtime with grandkids?") and another treat bag from the 1-yr party for Patricia that we missed on Sunday. Happy Birthday, little girl - may God bless you all your life and make you a blessing.

After a team meeting in the morning, I zoom over to the next hill to pick up a small, almost-new sectional sofa for the hall stage. We were looking for seating for Christmas selfies, but also for regular weekends. This one's almost a steal. (Almost.)

I'm back to the house for a late lunch, though the helpers weren't expecting me. I like to make my own lunch anyway. I boil and drain spinach noodles, glop some plain yogurt, a mashed avocado, and savory spices into a bowl, and mix it all up with a few leftover steamed green beans. Unexpectedly delicious.

On the porch are 4 big bags of fruits, picked this morning: 2 huge rice sacks are full of avocados; 2 are filled with parkai or "stink bean." Instead of asking for money from the local pickers, we have arranged to keep half the harvest for distribution between two households, our neighbor Jez and us. The crew take the rest.

 Jez, always concerned about nature, has asked that fruit be left on the trees for the wild animals. "I watch the civics, squirrels, and monkeys play in those trees every morning," he says. "They've been checking if the fruit is ripe."

They're waiting for the free harvest, just like we are. It's win-win: everyone is happy. The helpers, yard workers, and their friends will all benefit.

Daniel's here today as well - he's extending the lip on the roof over the porch. (See him way up there?) The extension will make the outdoor seating useable during the 6-7 months of rainy season. Usually when we hear the rain, we push all the furniture away from the yard, pop up the cushions, and rush our guests inside before we get soaked. As the water gushes off the roof-tiles, onto the ledge and the concrete railing, it floods the floor tiles.

This will send the run-off from the enormous roof into the garden. The house is built Dutch-style: it has a huge sloping roof that wicks the heat into the high gable of the upstairs to cool down the main floor. We save a lot of electricity by not using air conditioners, even in the hottest days of summer. (Mind you, on those hottest days, everyone walks barefoot on the first floor where the old stone tiles  can cool our blood.)

 The flowers from Sunday are wide open. And drop-dead gorgeous.

On the street, the enormous trees and hedges are in bloom, too. 

Read more:
*For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. 1 Chronicles 29:15 

*Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” John 14:2 

Moravian Prayer: Alpha and Omega, you are always with us. You have set a place for us on earth and in heaven. We praise you as we remember that one day we will be in our heavenly dwelling place with you. Amen.

Take a breath

Saturday, November 2, 2019

It's a quiet creative day - I'd call it "anti-busy." I'll have something to show for the day, but it's not academic, pastoral, or focused. It's silence and solitude, which are life-giving for me. Every once in a while, my soul needs a "maker" day to reboot my mind.

I pull out my old Bernina 930, a relic that keeps on clicking. Fabrics are stored by color in clean pizza boxes. For a while, I've considered making pillow covers for the BIC hall. (It's easier to clean a pillowcase than a pillow, right?)

This morning I don't even open my phone for messages. I'm feeling creative and the digital barrage puts a damper on ideas. I haul out a few blue pieces from my stash to make 10 assorted cases.

Pak Gum goes to the florist for the flower arrangement for the hall (thanks for those each week, Ibu Fenny). He takes the pillowcases along, to leave on the stage.

Eki has created the center art for November's November bulletin board, a soft graphic of the leaves falling at Green Gate. Love it! That will go up tomorrow as well.

For the past 2 months, I have been drying roses from Sunday floral arrangements at BIC. My energy is still high so I sew 10 sachets  from scraps. There are enough dry petals to stuff about half of them. I pluck lavender sprays from the garden and add them in, too. W and I found two lavender plants last year in Lembang - one French (bee) and one English (the long flower stems). They thrive during dry season; the leaves and flowers can make everything smell better.

Between heavy rains, there are a few thunderous episodes. Gypsy wants to be inside the house, but he's wet - and so inside the crate he goes, along with his comfort animal (Cocoa the standard poodle.) The dogs settle down with a playlist from Alexa until the atmosphere clears. Lucky dogs.

In the afternoon, I wander into the garden for leaves and a flower. In a copper cup, the snips of dill, mosquito shrub, purple vine, red-stemmed coleus, and a cone flower look cheerful.

The stepladder is coming out of the kitchen today, W promises. The gusher of rain yesterday landed on a plugged balcony drain. That resulted in a flooded balcony that leaked into the house. Water poured into our kitchen via an adjoining wall and though the spices shelf. What a mess. How glad I am that I spotted the drips on the kitchen counter early. Otherwise, who know how much water we would have shoveled and swept out of downstairs as well as upstairs!

After a 36-hr fast to settle Thursday night's unhappy stomach, I'm eating again. Ilan (our tour guide in the Middle East a few years ago) was right: "Stay away from food, drink lots of water, and let the body sort itself out." W urges pills but I'd rather try a natural solution first. (And it works.)

In the afternoon, W returns from a few appointments just before our friends Annette and Andrew arrive for a spot of tea.

Read more:
*Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered. Psalm 105:5 

*Taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled. Matthew 14:19-20

Moravian Prayer: Divine Chef, we thank you for the simple pleasures of eating, and for all the ways you refresh and feed our spirits—through beauty, through silence, through friends, through ministries. Remind us that we and others need both kinds of bread. Amen.

The start of rainy season

We get some funny pics of the grandkids, which reminds me how far away they are and how grateful I am for technology.

It's clear that rainy season is upon us, which is supposed to happen in late October or early November. It does. But before the rains hit, it's very hot and stuffy. Gypsy our yard dog hates the thunder. "No dogs in the house," is suspended. He takes literally our commands (sometimes), sleeping just outside the sheer curtain but still inside.

We've become comfortable speaking together, though getting the talk together is still sometimes a challenge. We approach scriptures and life from different viewpoints. Someone sends me a snap from last Sunday.

Tuesday

The landlord comes by an hour later than planned, which is not extraordinary for this culture. We take some fun pictures - he's all dressed up in the most beautiful batik hat and sarong. He's the descendent and current prince of the Sunda sultan. He jokes that he dressed up just to sign our lease.

He asks for a picture with us to prove we signed. When he leaves, we have an agreement to rent this place for 3 more years. I woke this morning thinking about moving everything into a new space. Nightmarish. So it's good to be staying put.

Our team meets and has lunch together at our place. We miss the intimacy of a team eating a home-cooked meal: sitting around a table with snacks isn't the same. Our talk isn't ready - we're scrambling to get things up to speed again.

W and I are working on separate projects, catching up on administrative things. I have moving parts while planning Christmas, Easter, and check on items week to week. We go back and forth all week on a program cover - the artist in me is unsatisfied until it's done. And I'm writing the BIC Enews again - it's the end of the month.

Wednesday

It's date day, which we start with a visit friends in the cool hills of Lembang. After, W keeps asking what I want to do, which is exhausting; we've already talked about it. So we end up with something entirely different. I get a Happy Hour foot massage while he goes back up the hills to retrieve the purse I've left draped over our friends' chair. 

We get home tired. And go back to work.

Thursday

I was debating whether to walk or not. I'm out of shape. So while I dread it, I need it more than ever. It's very satisfying to be out in the hills. We walk from and back to a neighborhood meeting point.

 The green paint covers an entire hillside, mosque, school, and orphanage.

 The Maj remains an unlivable apartment that's not been inspected for safety. We watch it from a distance.

2 weeks ago, hillside burning resulted in a few fires in the dry brush below our house. The fire departments put it out, but we see curls of smoke from garbage being burned today.

The ground is dry and the weather is hot. We have lunch at Miss Bee.

Someone points out that the new house being framed in our neighborhood has only beam-to-beam welding and no cross-supports. That can't be good.

The helper has left us a chicken supper, which I microwave. We have friend from the neighborhood over, a comradely gathering around our table. After supper, we eat the brownies brought by Christine, a hit. Dr H has brought mangoes and I add some honey-sweetened yogurt to the dessert.

By 9pm, I'm alternately throwing up in the sink and sitting on the "throne". W is fine but there's been a stomach bug going around. It's bitten me, for sure.

Friday

I'm fasting, trying to stop of the stomach heaves. Hopefully none of our guests got sick. I spent much of the night in the restroom. And rest during the day.

Rainy season has started - I go into the kitchen for water and see a stream running down the wall and through the open shelves of spices. The helper is due to leave for home, but the rain is so strong, she's messaging on her phone. W come to look and sees that the balcony drain is plugged upstairs. The old teak parquet is under 1" of water.

W clears the drain, then we scoop, push water out, and put fans in place to dry it up. IbuS helps mop the mess away as the rain tapers off. She works an hour extra so W gives her another day's pay. I have spice jars all over my counter. We'll wait until the shelving dries up before putting them back.

W's working on financial reports while I try not to let my stomach erupt again. Success all around.

Read more:

*Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! Revelation 7:10

*For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Psalm 25:11

*In Jesus Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7

Moravian Prayer: Lord God, thank you for all your saints, past and present, whom we have been blessed to know. Just as your love did shine through them, let your love now shine through us. In your son’s name. Amen.