Stop and sit - on autopilot?

Saturday, January 24, 2026

"Raining? Again?" That's what my brain processes first thing. I head out to feed the dogs with a mild drizzle going on. No need for a raincoat. Whatever dog comes first to the leash gets to walk this morning = no surprise: Juno and I walk the neighborhood and say hi to our former neighbors. This dual-toned flower comes in two colorways: red and pink / white and red. Cool.

The rain pelts and abates so that I'm only mildly damp when I get home. The African pen stand makes me look twice. Nope, that's not a creature outside the window by my desk, just a carved piece of wood my parents brought from Kenya or Tanzania in the 1970s.

I head for the kitchen, now fully in use. It's a comfortable space; the library bookshelves are fixed overhead and the former cabinets were rebuilt under the old marble countertop. The enamel paint on the cabinet doors still stinks. We always open all the doors and air it out overnight. Gradually, the smell is fading.

I'm hungry for a sweet potato. Paired with a Costco apple/chicken sausage, it's a perfect breakast.

I see this breadfruit branch, loaded down and breaking. It reminds me that seasons of over-production can bring burnout and breakage.

W's knee is sore from carrying his heavy office boxes down the stairs at the old place. His article on women in Christian ministry leadership has been published. Click here to read it. 

W puts up kitchen shelves. We got a bunch of secondhand shelves in the months before we moved. I'm almost done figuring out where they go. I take a before -

and an after picture. Well, it's after today's work. We run out of the proper screws and have to wait or them to be delivered. The antique rice bowl sits beside the flowers.

When we return the dogs in the evening, 15 motorcycles are parked at the airbnb down the street. I'm glad we don't live across from that!

The hedge, which has bloomed continuously for months, is glowing in the dark.

Who knew? these microfiber cloths (Daiso) are perfect for face cleaning (first side) - and foot cleaning (second side) - no soap, no creams ... just a quick rub and everything comes off the skin = clean. Another shortcut. Hurrah.

Sunday
The creatures are happy to see us every morning, but it's been dark the last few days when we feed them. The season is changing. We get to sleep in a half-hour longer until 5:30, shifting the walk to a bit later. I pray around a finger labyrinth and enjoy the moments of quiet before we head off to work and worship. 

The bouquet at the front stretches high. (Good work again, #TitikBadudu!)

The tables are set with lovely little bouquets.

I like the matching batik cloths, too.

It's Round Table Sunday, a time to reflect on the Holy Spirit with those gathered. Several of our young adults are back from studies or back from their countries for further studies here. I'm wearing earrings made for me by Sarah, who studies in Australia. Happily, she shows up today on her school break.

We have lunch at Maxis with friends who are traveling and evaluating investments in SE Asia.

Monday

Kristi joins us for a loop walk. It's raining and I'm wet enough to need a change of clothes after getting home. W and Kristi attend the morning study. After a few Zoom meetings, I'm off to Toko Setiabudi for eggs and milk.

I've started writing a physical letter a week to the grandkids, addressed to "Name" + family. How do you connect to a 14-year-old, or an 8-yr-old? When I dredge up memories from those seasons, it's amazing how much expectations have changed for childhood and teen years.

With dogs guarding the yard the past ten years, we haven't had break-ins or robberies like many of the nearby homes. The animals are big, swift, and loud, running from one end of the yard to the other in seconds. The dogs bark at strangers, but mostly they run up to see what's going on with guys they've met before. 

Our first neighbours lived in the next house for over a decade before we arrived. They were quiet and courteous. They liked dogs and the critters liked them. The people who moved in a few years ago were a different story.

First a family arrived. Then various groups of young adults started living and working there. Their early morning phone alarms ring for a half hour or more. Their music blares at all hours. Night and day, motorcycle traffic zooms through the shared gate that opens a few feet from our (old) house.

This morning, W gets an angry message that the dogs have ruined the gate separating their property from ours. oh oh. We've seen their guests leave their gate open or badly latched many times. Their gate has disintegrated; I've tied the center posts shut with twine when it's been left open or leaning, just to keep the dogs in our area.

In the meantime, the animals have figured out how to get into their yard. Juno goes in, chases down a cat, and rifles through their garbage, making a mess. Ugh. It's not a good point in our mutual forebearance.

Then at midday we get a message from another neighbour: "Your dogs are loose outside." Like most local Muslims, many LIPI residents are afraid of dogs. We try to be good neighbours because the dogs are walked through the neighbourhood several times a day and we need them for security.

Oh oh. They only get out when the next-doors leave the gate unlocked, usually at night and when we are traveling. (Then PakG must chase down and return the dogs.) Once again, PakG finds the dogs and puts them back inside the yard. 

W checks the security cameras to see what happened. Some young guy walked over to the gate, unlocked it and took the lock, and even lifted the drop-bars. Of course, Anton, who often stands on hind legs to look out of the gate, pushed it open and went wandering with the others.

W replaces the lock and sends the security footage to the responsible party, along with a heads up about the new lock. Happily, our lease ends in a month. Probably the next-doors feel the same relief that we do :-). 

I'm hungry at 4:30 and W wraps up an hour later. We walk uphill to #Homeground for something spicy. We bring a dog to the Project as satpam (security guard) helper. The rest guard the other house as usual.

Tuesday

I send a video hello to Mom before Kristi joins us on a walk. I take Anton for a training day: W usually walks him but I'm tired of his pulling ahead on the leash. He's a smart boy who needs quick and consistent commands. (Herding 4 kids toward adulthood is good prep for dog training; you notice right away if something is off.)

Today Anton and I do lots of turnarounds, along with abrupt stops with "sit" until good behavior is automatic again. He does very well, resigning himself to no pulling. He almost ignores the cats we pass with a preemptive "leave it!" and post-operative "good boy!" When he lunges at a kitten, I keep going. We turn in a loop, walk by it again, and do a third round for good measure. "Good dog."

A new kind of bulb is blooming at the neighbor lady's - looks like freesia but has no smell.

In the stuff brought over yesterday is a box of lace given us 11 years ago by someone completing a fabric design course. I post it on Yard Sale and have 3 hopefuls right away. I choose the bride first; if she doesn't want it for the dress she's creating, others can pick it up.

There are bags of high-quality lace in the box ... but no use storing it.

After talking to Kirsten and the grandkids online, Kristi and I enjoy scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then it's time to get to work. The sermon doesn't write itself.

The yard man is here, plucking weeds from the flower beds that are perpetually re-greening. W picks up a small used fridge for the conference room and food for tomorrow's recipes. The team agenda arrives for a meeting this afternoon. Hopefully, by then I will have finished cooking the sauces for tomorrow's potluck.

On the calendar, the last meeting of the day ends at 9PM. How about a nap between tasks?

Read more:

* My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? Psalm 42:2

* So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:6-7

Moravian Prayer: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. We thirst, and you provide a spring of water gushing with eternal life. Quench our spiritual yearnings with the Savior’s presence and peace. Amen.