Happy 90th birthday, Mom!

Thursday, July 31, 2025

It's a productive working day since there's no hike. We go for a walk before making a long list of to-dos. We're involved in various things and every once in a while, I capture and organize what's floating around on every side = unfinished but underway.

There are open spaces tucked around the project. Could this one be a private workspace with the addition of a chair and table?

Doesn't this look like a fun spot for kids to do activities and learn English? The sculptures are crumbling off the walls but we'll keep what we can.

After an early grocery run, I pull out the class PPT and notes for next week's course. I like teaching online. Between screen sharing and recording, an absent student get extended access to class material. The breakdown in online learning is that the class misses an absent student's participation.

The plan is to wrap up all pre-session work today. I pause for lunch and knuckle down to work. The mosquitoes show up about 4PM. DEET repellent usually wards them off. 

I'm 80% done when someone breaks my focus with a question. I'm tired; another half hour and the work would have been finished. It takes 15-30 minutes to get into a flow state and I don't have the energy. I close the documents. I'll guess I'll resume tomorrow. Grrr.

PakG gets news that his mother has passed away. What heartache each time we pray for families who lose loved ones. He will be gone until next week. Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours so the family must hurry home to honor those who are lost.

We send condolences, knowing that she will be missed. No one loves a child like their mother does, no matter what the stage of life.

Friday

We stop by the project, where tiles have been installed in the wrong direction (lines front to back rather than side to side). Oh oh. We don't have extra tiles and will leave it as is since it's not a permanent place ... but I ask W to caution the contractor. If it were a high end remodel, he would have to rip it out and redo it at his expense. What a good color for the space, though.

I take pictures of the laundry corner in the back. Planning a layout is best done before shifting items, especially for appliances that need water or electricity. The dirty floor brings up a memory of Mom's efforts when I was a teen. We were moving into an old Victorian house in Chilliwack. I remember her shoveling piles of houseflies into the garbage from behind the washer and dryer, tears dripping down her cheeks as she cleaned up the mess. (She kept it spotless while we lived there.)

Ibu Ade comes to relieve my tired back with a massage. "Sakit, Bu," she says. ("It's ill, Ma'am.") My muscles stiffen due to hours of sitting during the past weeks. They're less tight by the time she leaves. Thank you, Ibu!

My class prep wraps up after lunch. I happily indulge in a reward: a coffee-chocolate cookie from Keelee's @QuietWatersBakery.

I've started to sort household items for our move next year when our lease expires. Unused stuff can be passed on to others. One of our "finds" (someone else's giveaway) is a green, beige, and rust-colored rug. It was dumped in my office when the guys couldn't get it up the narrow stairs to storage. Today I've had enough of stepping on and around it, smack-dab in the path to my file cabinet.

We roll up a smaller rug and cart it upstairs. Then we unroll and vacuum the ugly freebee. After changing the cushion covers, the dark rug settles in, even on this overcast day.

Here's the "before."

Between everything going on last month, (teaching in Bhutan, conferences, passport renewals, houseguests, and more), I forgot to write the monthly update to friends. I spend an hour on that before bedtime.

Saturday: Mom turns 90

Two of my brothers, family members, and many friends celebrate Mom's 90th - a milestone birthday. Sandy has planned a wonderful celebration for her.

One of the hardest things about living far from family is missing such legacy moments. You aren't part of the memory or a historic photo of the event. I obtained a 2-week leave in February to visit Mom. With our annual month of itineration in autumn, we can't go back to Canada now.

We're 14 hours ahead of her time zone, so we're a day early in wishing her "Happy Birthday." I say it anyway when I call on our Saturday morning (August 2) and her Friday night (August 1). Can't hurt to celebrate her longer than 24 hours.

2 guys arrive via motorcycle to groom all the dogs. It takes 3 hours and $30 (including buying them lunch.) We're satisfied and the dogs know when they look good.

By noon, the class notes are in a binder. We walk up the hill to a late lunch at Nara Park. Anton wants to come so he jumps up, sticks his nose through the gate, and watches us leave.

I'm in the mood for creamy pasta.

Waldemar orders a spicy smoked beef - so good. We practically inhale our food since it's 2 PM. We had breakfast before 7 AM so we're hungry. No supper for us though. Maybe a snack before bed?

The dining room is elegant. The dinner party with reservations won't come until later so we have it to ourselves. Windows are swung open, allowing a breeze through from one side to another.

It's fun to watch kids playing at a birthday party. They're blowing bubbles, flying toy planes, and running around the big yard.

This juxtaposition of flower and structure catches my eye as we walk home. Flowers will grow as they please, even across barbed wire.

It takes an hour to create an inventory for our next home. The yard and interior start to take shape in my mind. I write down a list of garden plants, just in case there are not enough to take along. (There are enough. No need to buy anything.)

We walk over to talk to the contractor. The process is going smoothly so far. The dogs love to romp through the mess and dirt. Juno rolls in the loose mud before snuggling up to be petted. Fortunately dirt sheds off her pelt within a few minutes.

We cherish a quiet evening before a busy Sunday. What to do for flowers for the hall tomorrow? W goes into the yard and grabs two palms. I wrap the plastic pots in Bali sarongs and that's that.

Sunday

We call Mom early in the morning as she's wrapping up her birthday celebrations. They had a wonderful time and she feels honored, especially because she got to pray for all her guests. Cousins and friends I haven't seen in years say hi, passing around Mom's phone.

The Gathering is always a pleasure. We worship God together, discuss life with each other, and consider how we can express God's lovingkindness in the world.

IES Bandung is an international community, rich in cultures, friendships, and faith. After the Gathering, we hang around to talk, eat, and pray for each other.

This week, friends have completed a 4-month land-journey from Indonesia to Hamburg, Germany. Their truck is being shipped back to Indonesia from the German harbor. We eat lunch together at #WaroengEthnic and get a taste of what they're experienced. We schedule a community potluck at our place in a few weeks, where they can share details with more people.

The dogs get their Frontline tick application when we get home, and we get a rest. God is good.

Read more:

*Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the Lord. Isaiah 59:12-13

*For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. 

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

*If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1

Moravian Prayer: God, your love for us burns so strong that you sent your son, Jesus, to heal and forgive. Help us to express radical love for one another as Jesus surrounds us with his love and grace. Amen.

Embassy paperwork, great views, and a plethora of decisions

Monday, July 28, 2025

We eat a quick breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express and walk 20 minutes (2 km) to the USA Embassy. It's easily recognizable with metal bars across all the windows of the high-rise. It's faster to renew our passports here than in the USA.

W has completed the paperwork so it takes less than an hour before we're walking through the Heritage Building on the embassy grounds. We learn that the USA helped Indonesia gain full independence after WWII. Indonesia declared its independence from Dutch colonialism on August 17, 1945. There were still battles; we sometimes hike up to the Dutch forts and can imagine the terror of the young men who were sent to fight each other.

The USA threatened to withhold funds to the Dutch government if the country did not relinquish their hold on Indonesia. It worked. In 1949, the Dutch signed away their claim on the islands.

W has read that we can't take electronics including phones, watches, etc. into the embassy. Most people check their electronics at the front desk but we have left ours in the hotel. I forget about the tracker in my purse and get #46 for pickup after we're done. It's strange not to use the GPS to get there, not to check our phone for facts, and to sit without clearing messages. Luckily there's a state-by-state video playing on multiple screens so we do a visual tour of the USA while we wait.

We head back to the hotel for our watches and phones. W researches locations for errands and meals. Dim sum is good at our favorite place. Someone said it turns into a den of iniquity at night. But during the day, families and business clients enjoy outstanding food and exceptional service.

We try the okra in oyster sauce, a hit with me but not so much with W.

During the afternoon, we run "big city" errands including some at a building supply mall. (Please take me there +20X for every time I have to go to Nordstroms!) There's so much potential: lights, tiles, and pylons. The translucent hoses are practically begging to be made into serpentine chandeliers with twinkle lights inside, don't you agree?

It pours twice during the "no rain forecast," each time as we are leaving a venue. We grab a taxi for $3-5 to the next place. The evening meeting is helpful for networking and setting our course for the future. We say a prayer together before it begins and another when it ends.

This motorcycle taxi driver describes our feelings on the way home. Ready for zzzz.

There's one last meeting at 9 PM, discussing a new crowdfunding platform for global projects. If you're want an easy way to help us promote it, PM or email me. It's going to have a big impact on worthy causes around the world.

Tuesday

We eat an indifferent but colorful breakfast in the hotel.

The Canadian embassy waiting area feels more "guest room" than institutional. The furniture is comfortably modern, the colors are warm, and the flag of Indonesia flies companionably beside the Canadian flag.

The staff is helpful and friendly. They offer options for getting our passports back. When we tell them we are hoping to catch the morning train, they hurry the process. We make it to the station 30 minutes early. Hurrah, O Canada!

The views from our train carriage are stunning. Modern life mixes with traditional farming on Java.

Burning dry rice stalks contributes to pollution.

We pass the train graveyard and consider what fun it would be to put an empty car in the yard. Wouldn't kids LOVE to play in it? For that matter, wouldn't adults love to create an office inside?

The flat plains of Western Java are flooded for rice fields.

Soon we have left the flatlands and are rattling along on tracks stretched across deep mountain valleys.

In the distance, the toll highway forms a backdrop to terraces where farmers work by hand.

Rivers flow between rice paddies.

Some of the harvest is in but the fields get replanted a few times a year. There will often be a shade hut where workers rest and eat out of the glare of the tropical sun.

At the railroad crossings, motorcycles stack up and pedestrians wait for the trains to pass. Footpaths, muddy trails, lanes, and roads crisscross the tracks where they disrupt normal village or city traffic. The train whistle is persistent and frequent.

Occasionally we see the towns that line the tracks. Red clay tiles are the most common roofing material.

The closer we get to Bandung, the more rubbish heaps are piled up. "Out of sight, out of mind," is a common attitude. Many Indonesians toss their garbage on empty land or along the roads if there's no reliable sanitation pickup.

We know we're almost home when the traffic increases: see the pillars overhead for a new "flyover" highway?

We are hungry by the time the train gets to Bandung. It's after 1 PM when we stop at a trendy restaurant we haven't been in for years. My Sunda curry is delicious. The rice comes with a festive hat.

The restaurant has amusing monkey lights in the bathroom stalls.

Our friend is having surgery and so we drop by the hospital to see how he's doing and pray for success and healing. His sisters and family are there - and afterward, he begins a good recovery, thank God!

Wednesday

We're up early to call our moms and walk. The dogs romp the property while we check in with the electrical contractor. To measure where the lights go, a young worker climbs up the stepladder, standing on the top platform, tiptoeing !yikes! to hook the end of his tape measure on the moldings. Aaaaaah (what balance)! We hold our breath and he easily scrambles back to earth.

We drive downtown to see if we can find matching tiles for a serving counter. Before the pandemic, we purchased 4-packs of tiles from the discard section at a building supplier. Two 2'X2' (60cm square) tiles have been used on the kitchen counter. When one broke, we placed the pieces behind artwork: see the "wave" on the wall? One is hidden in W's office.

Will we find 4 more tiles with the same non-glossy sand-colored finish ... after 5 years? We're told there are no more but we root through the sale section anyway, getting dusty and dirty. Hey hey! Look. One last box leans between other patterns in the discount clearance pileup. The chances of finding a match are so slim that we consider it a God-bonus for the day.

We come back up the hill to pick up DrW, our favorite neighbor. She's taking us to #WaroengEthnic's new restaurant downtown. They have renovated a 1926 heritage building that belonged to a friend's grandma. 1926? We wonder if they'll host historical theme parties. 100 years ... a long time.

The renovators stripped layers of stain off the original doors and knocked paint off the hinges. They saved as much as "history" as they could. The 99-yr-old Dutch floor tiles are in great condition, too.

My $8 tenderloin is delicious. W helps eat the steak and takes my fried potato rolls: he likes tater tots.

DrW orders fish and chips while W gets his usual rösti champignon (hash browns with chicken and mushroom gravy.) The plating is colorful and appetizing, while the wait staff is attentive and friendly.

The company at the table is wonderful of course. We predict that #EthnicAceh will be a hit, especially with #EthnicBandung's well-trained servers and excellent cooks.

After dropping off DrW, we make a last stop at the project to meet the contractor and drop off the tiles. He says he now has enough for the sink and surround. Yay.

Renovations and building projects require innovation. We've just begun making the 1001 tiny decisions. We can tell that we were 30 years younger when we designed and built our two houses (in the USA).

Back home, we fiddle with the DIY light in the corner. A fancy bulb from our Jakarta trip creates a circus tent effect in the corner. It's not bright enough to illuminate the dining room but might be cool as a night light.

We put back the regular LED bulb for now.

Thursday

Another "no hike" day but we walk the neighborhood loop with the dogs just after 6 AM. 

This 'bird' shape is from ? No idea, but it catches my eye on the pavement.

After two meetings, we go to buy groceries. I find a favorite cheesy snack, not always in stock. We're home by mid-morning with schedules synched for the weekend and coursework waiting on my desk.

Read more:

* The Lord gives strength to his people. Psalm 29:11

* We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:20-22

* [Jesus disciples asked him, ] Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

* God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Moravian Prayer: God, we are stronger together than we are on our own. Help us to be in harmonious community with one another, encouraging and supporting each other, so that we can do the work you have called us to do. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Wooh - hoo (for a train ride)

 Friday, July 25, 2025

Our friends join the morning walk with the dogs. The locals are astonished that 2 young girls can walk Gypsy and Juno, both big dogs. 

We refresh the fish that died when the big pond sprang leak. The mosquito-eating tropical fish got moved to the old bathtubs at the back of the yard, but didn't thrive. We take the girls and their mom to "fish street" and the bird market 2 km further. The sharp beaks of our lovebirds and budgies have worn out the old ladders and exercise toys.

We meet Jojo, their dad for lunch at Mike Pizza. He's attending an Allstate Insurance conference this weekend so he heads back to work after we eat.

I grade papers but it's not a focused day. My desk is cluttered with notes for the next teaching session. 

Saturday

We do a brisk walk at 6AM with the dogs. The kids miss us by a few minutes - we're already out the gate. I make crepes for breakfast - and we pray together over the day. The kids run around the yard - Anton is loving having them to roughhouse with him.

A 2-hour meeting with a mentor brings clarity and peace. "Compartmentalize," is my takeaway. With so many things in motion, it's healthier not to throw everything into one whirlpool. 

Sunday

We talk about holiness and love - most rule-keepers seem to get sourer and sourer in character, but God promises that being set apart to him (holiness) will make us more loving. Afterward, we open the house to a group that has come to meet and eat lunch on the Porch.

We finish packing and leave for the train station and have lunch kababs at our usual place. W offers to split a Magnum ice cream bar but gets to eat the whole thing when it looks like this...

The ride to Jakarta is smooth and uneventful.

Old trestles built by the Dutch still stand.

But the scenery ...

Here's what happens when you favor a cowboy hat but have to wear a hard hat to work. (The guy in the back is wearing a baseball cap under his hard hat.

Beside the old railway line, men are digging holes and building forms by hand for pouring cement.

I scroll my phone and see a statistic that's hard to believe, given the current noise in the press.

A Bluebird taxi ($4) gets us from the train station to the Holiday Express Inn. Traffic is a mix of walkers, horses, three wheeled , motorcycles, cars, and trucks. Oh - don't forget the sellers pulling their handcarts through it all.

Artwork in the lobby is a vibrant collage of colors and shapes. W has gotten us 2 nights for $76, a 20-minute walk from the USA embassy. 

We walk to #LittleArabia nearby. Our meals are excellent ($12 for both). We'll definitely come back if we're in this part of Jakarta.

Night falls as we eat. I like the landscape lighting strip along the road.

We've come into the city for an embassy appointment first thing tomorrow. Sleep tight, everyone!

Read more:

*Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy. Exodus 15:1-6

*The Lord brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:19

*[Paul writes:] By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:10

Moravian Prayer: Amazing God, you delight in us! Our imperfections aside, you genuinely love us just as we are, and you delight in meeting us where we are. We may be in the darkest recesses of our own hearts, or we may be frolicking in the fields of joy. Either way, your grace abounds! Amen.