The school year is winding down. The boys are thrilled and I will be happy not to have to be up by 6:00am to be able to get everyone off to school by 7:00am. Although, those of you that have visited us here know that it’s not possible to sleep much past that time. The birds and the street vendors outside make sure of that.
Nash went on a week long field trip to a resort just past Bogor, about a two hour drive from here. It is an extended learning program. They were able to go on several hikes and study the environment, do ropes courses and learn about the local nature. He seemed to have a pretty good time. His roommates weren’t the easiest to get along with, but in typical Nash style, he made the best of it. Next year, the seventh grade goes to Bali for a week and he’s already looking forward to that.
Grant is getting ready for the Elementary school play of Aladdin. It involves the two elementary schools for JIS and is quite a production. They have been practicing since December. There will be four performances the weekend of May 18. He’s pretty excited and so are we.
Luke is the family photographer. We are always surprised when we download the pictures to the computer and see when Luke got a hold of the camera. We included some of the great shots of himself in the blog. Nice, Luke. He and his friend, Dhivyen have finished their poster for the science fair this week. They will be showing their experiment and are quite excited about it. Grant and his friend, Leonard, are also going to have something in the fair.
Mallory has discovered pony tails for her hair. I tried putting them in her hair one day and now she wants them everyday. We are surprised how much older it makes her look. Our new nanny/maid, Arti, started working this week. I was a little nervous how Mallory would react since she is ultra clingy to me. It took a couple of days but now she wants Arti with her all the time.
Creed is doing fine at work. His new boss started last month and Creed seems to be a little less stressed out now that he isn’t having to make all the decisions in the office. They just launched some new vehicles and are hoping that the market picks up here.
A family from Zimbabwe was just baptized into our branch last week. They are a great family and we are so excited to have them. They have two sons. One son is in Primary and is just like a sponge. It’s been amazing to watch him. He just can’t get enough information.
We received a letter last week from the school of a high school girl that is doing a program called Operation Backpack. We have wanted to find something to do to help people here but have been at a loss at what to do. We read the letter and decided to join in. This 10th grade girl has teamed up with a charity organization that Creed has worked with. She has asked families to sponsor elementary-aged kids to go to school. Education here is not free and most families can’t afford the $150 fee plus uniform. If the families cannot afford that (and many cannot), the kids just don’t get any education and end up poor just like their parents. We talked to the boys and they each donated some money and we sponsored two little girls to go to school next year. Creed went with the boys to a party to meet the girls and played games with all the kids. It was a good experience for the boys. We wanted them to see what their money will do first hand. We are hoping they will have a better appreciation for the many blessings they have and in return share those with others.
Along these same lines, we have seen these young boys, about ages 9-13 hauling heavy mortar and pestle sets along the roads here. They are made out of stone, so they are really heavy and they can barely walk. The first time I saw them it broke my heart and I started to cry in the car. We see them sitting in our surrounding neighborhood almost everyday. There was an article in the Jakarta Post about them. There isn’t a school in their village, so they left their families and came to the city to try to make some money. The six of them live in a 6 square meter rented room. They earn $3 from each set that they sell. However, people are not lining up to buy mortar and pestle sets – in fact we have never seen anyone stopping to buy one from them.
Yesterday while Creed and I were in the car, we saw them standing in the pouring rain, just standing there on the side of the road. They were soaking wet. We couldn’t stop thinking about them all day. What can we do? We want to do something to help them. I can’t stand to see them and think of what their future has to offer. We are hoping to come up with something to do. Again, we are reminded at how blessed we are.
We are really looking forward to our home leave in June. We are also looking forward to Heather and Miles coming in a month. We can’t believe how fast the time is going by here. We are grateful for the opportunity that we have had to live here in Indonesia even though it has been, at times, incredibly difficult, we have also grown.
We can’t wait to see all of you in a month or so. We hope you are all well.
Nash and his friend sticking their hands in the shark and ray "touch pool."
Nash and some patients being filmed by a local TV station - notice the excitement on Nash's face when he learned he might be on TV.
Nash, Luke, and Mallory (being held by Arti) in front of our house talking with some kids on the street. Actually, Nash was entertaining them with his very limited Bahasa Indonesia.
Mallory's hair is long enough now to put into braids.
Nash figured out that tupperware floats, so he enjoyed the last of the watermelon in the pool.
Mallory getting ready to work out.
Teaching some Indonesian kids how to hula hoop and how to play musical chairs.
