Dear Family & Friends,
School Break
Ramadhan is winding down and will be officially over on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday of next week are holidays, and most Muslims go home to their villages to celebrate the holiday with their families. The boys don’t have school for the entire week, and our household staff has the whole week off, too.
It seems like people have been crawling out of the woodwork to ask for a “Lebaran Bonus.” (Lebaran is another name for Ramadhan, and by law major employers – including Ford – must give their employees 1 month’s salary as a bonus). We gave our staff their 1 month’s bonus, which we expected, but then other people kept asking us to pay them a Lebaran Bonus, including our security guards (who are compensated by their company, not by us directly), the pool man, the bottled water delivery guy, and the neighborhood security / garbage man. We ended up giving at least a token bonus to most of these people because we figure it is better to give them $10 or $20 and keep them on our good side than to have them mad at us for the next year.
On Saturday we went with our friends, the Willis family, to a go-kart place by the mall, then just before the rain started we went into the mall to eat a late lunch and then to see the new “Zorro” movie. I just talked with my parents and they saw that movie yesterday, as well. Some movies open here at the same time as the US and other movies take months before coming to Jakarta. Movies are not in the theatres very long, though – only 2 or 3 weeks, so if you want to see a movie in the theatre, you’ve got to go as soon as you see it advertised.
Mallory’s Walking
I think we are officially ready to say that Mallory is walking now. She took about 4 steps one day this week, then each day she has gotten more and more confident – I think she is up to about 8 steps on her own now. Sometimes she is braver than she should be, I fear. So far she hasn’t fallen too badly, but sometimes Mallory is so excited to try walking on her own that she starts walking even before she has her balance. It is cute to see how excited she gets when she does it – she usually claps for herself and gets us to clap for her, too.
Halloween
Heidi took the boys out trick or treating around Pondok Indah on Thursday night. The school had arranged a list of homes to go to, so Heidi went out with the boys and I stayed at home with Mallory and handed out candy. It was fun to see these American families here and how they decorated their front gates. One of the greatest things was seeing all the Indonesian staff and security guards of these homes and how much they go into it, as well (at most of the homes, they were the ones who handed out candy). You rarely went to the door of the home, most of the time you just stopped at the gate to get the candy.
Developing Country
Not that I need a reminder or anything, but I have had two conversations recently that reminded me that we live in a developing country. Last week I was speaking with someone at work about sports (everyone from work got together to play volleyball one night last week). She said that in addition to volleyball, she really likes swimming. She then said she has liked swimming since she was a child. She said that she grew up in Kalimantan (the Indonesian province on the island of Borneo), and that her family lived by a river, so she and her siblings always swam in the river. She then told me that her house was actually built on the river, meaning that part of the house was built on poles or whatever, actually over the river and that it was very convenient because the bathroom didn’t need plumbing – it was just a hole in the floorboards that went straight down into the river. I confirmed with her that this was the same river that she and her friends always went swimming in.
The second thing that reminded me that Indonesia is a developing country is that Cartim (our driver) told us that when his brother goes to his village this week for Idul Fitri (a 9 or 10 hour bus ride from Jakarta), he is taking a TV to his parents. Cartim told us that his parent’s village got electricity only last year.
Trip to Jogjakarta
Well, we are really looking forward to our trip to Jogjakarta next week. It will be nice to get a little bit of a break from the hectic pace of Jakarta and to see some interesting Indonesian cultural and historical sites. We’ll let you know how it goes.
Millers in Shanghai
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Photos: 24 - 30 October 2005
A few photos from when the boys were still trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. These boys of ours give us so much good material. At some future point when we need to embarass them, it is going to be difficult to decide which photos to use.
The above shots are from the night the boys went Trick or Treating.
For lunch today Luke made himself a sandwich -- just your standard cracker, carrot, and cheese sandwich. In case you can't tell, it is supposed to look like a face. And yes, he ate most of it.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Letter: 23 October 2005
Dear Family & Friends,
Here are a few of the things that have been happening recently here in Jakarta:
Rainy Season
It is Sunday afternoon and it is absolutely pouring rain outside. The rainy season has officially begun. Jakarta has two seasons – rainy and dry. The rainy season lasts from the end of October / beginning of November until about March. The thunder and lightning are incredible. It stays the same temperature all year long, though.
Ramadhan
This month is the Muslim fasting month, and it lasts until November 2nd, followed by 2 days of celebration called Idul Fitri. It has been very interesting for us to experience how Ramadhan is practiced here in Indonesia. During the first week of Ramadhan, while we were on the way home from church we noticed about 10 guys on motorcycles with matching jackets. Our driver explained that they are a group of extra holy Muslims who go around to restaurants and nightclubs to make sure that they do not sell alcohol during Ramadhan (alcohol consumption is forbidden in the Muslim religion, but during the holy month of Ramadhan, some extreme Muslims try to make sure that it is not available to anyone).
As you probably know, during this month Muslims fast between about 4:30 am and 5:45 pm. They post the exact times in the newspaper every day (not sure exactly why it changes each day) if you don’t happen to hear the “call to prayer” being broadcast over the loudspeakers of one of the thousands of mosques in this city.
One night last week our company met together for a short prayer service then for Buka Puasa (breaking the fast dinner). We have had to make sure we are extra careful about what and when we ask our household staff do things. We need to make sure we don’t ask them to do anything between 5:30 and about 6:00 pm so they have time to pray and then go eat. Heidi says that the staff does their normal work during the morning hours, but that for most of the afternoon they are pretty lazy – the effects of getting up early to eat and then not eating the entire day.
One other Ramadhan comment – last week I was talking with some co-workers and we were joking around about something. One guy suggested that the other person should say something untruthful (not anything serious – he was just kidding around about something). She (also in a joking way) said that she couldn’t do that (tell this untruth) because she is fasting and Muslims aren’t allowed to lie while they are fasting.
Mallory
Mallory is still the cutest girl in Jakarta. Her bottom two front teeth finally broke through (after one particularly long, sleepless night). She is standing up on her own now, and has added a few words to her vocabulary (it is really cute to hear her call for Nash – if we are downstairs and yell upstairs for Nash, she will mimic us and call out her version of “Nash”).
Halloween Costumes
This is Heidi now. I went to the Jakarta Women’s and Children’s Clinic this week. I had read that the women there sew Halloween costumes to sell to Americans. The money they earn goes to supplement their family’s income. I decided to go to see what I could find. They had the cutest costumes -- not a huge selection but we ended up getting a super hero costume, two cowboy outfits, and we ordered a long scientist’s labcoat for Nash to be a mad scientist -- they took his measurements and said they’d make it this week.
The Halloween thing has been very interesting here. They obviously don’t celebrate it, but a couple of American Moms have set up Trick-or-Treating here in Pondok Indah for all the kids that go to the school so on Thursday I will stay at home and hand out the candy and Creed will take the kids around to the houses that signed up.
I had to try to find some Halloween candy and that was a trick, not to mention it cost me a small fortune! I found some imported bags of candy but they were $7-9 per bag!! I’m hoping we don’t have too many kids come or I may have to start handing out some of the boys’ toys.
Primary Program
The Primary program was today. All the children had to give their own talks and then we put the music in-between. I was thankful I brought the chimes so we had a little variety for the music. Everyone did such a great job.
A Little Culture
The Branch had a progressive dinner last night. We split up into 3 groups – our group met at one home for appetizers, our house for the main course, then the all 3 branches met at one house for dessert. It was someone’s 40th birthday so her husband had us all sing happy birthday to her and then he opened the door, turned on some music and in came some traditional Indonesian dancers. It was something else. We were amazed at their movements. The costumes were amazing. The culture in this country is really amazing.
Here are a few of the things that have been happening recently here in Jakarta:
Rainy Season
It is Sunday afternoon and it is absolutely pouring rain outside. The rainy season has officially begun. Jakarta has two seasons – rainy and dry. The rainy season lasts from the end of October / beginning of November until about March. The thunder and lightning are incredible. It stays the same temperature all year long, though.
Ramadhan
This month is the Muslim fasting month, and it lasts until November 2nd, followed by 2 days of celebration called Idul Fitri. It has been very interesting for us to experience how Ramadhan is practiced here in Indonesia. During the first week of Ramadhan, while we were on the way home from church we noticed about 10 guys on motorcycles with matching jackets. Our driver explained that they are a group of extra holy Muslims who go around to restaurants and nightclubs to make sure that they do not sell alcohol during Ramadhan (alcohol consumption is forbidden in the Muslim religion, but during the holy month of Ramadhan, some extreme Muslims try to make sure that it is not available to anyone).
As you probably know, during this month Muslims fast between about 4:30 am and 5:45 pm. They post the exact times in the newspaper every day (not sure exactly why it changes each day) if you don’t happen to hear the “call to prayer” being broadcast over the loudspeakers of one of the thousands of mosques in this city.
One night last week our company met together for a short prayer service then for Buka Puasa (breaking the fast dinner). We have had to make sure we are extra careful about what and when we ask our household staff do things. We need to make sure we don’t ask them to do anything between 5:30 and about 6:00 pm so they have time to pray and then go eat. Heidi says that the staff does their normal work during the morning hours, but that for most of the afternoon they are pretty lazy – the effects of getting up early to eat and then not eating the entire day.
One other Ramadhan comment – last week I was talking with some co-workers and we were joking around about something. One guy suggested that the other person should say something untruthful (not anything serious – he was just kidding around about something). She (also in a joking way) said that she couldn’t do that (tell this untruth) because she is fasting and Muslims aren’t allowed to lie while they are fasting.
Mallory
Mallory is still the cutest girl in Jakarta. Her bottom two front teeth finally broke through (after one particularly long, sleepless night). She is standing up on her own now, and has added a few words to her vocabulary (it is really cute to hear her call for Nash – if we are downstairs and yell upstairs for Nash, she will mimic us and call out her version of “Nash”).
Halloween Costumes
This is Heidi now. I went to the Jakarta Women’s and Children’s Clinic this week. I had read that the women there sew Halloween costumes to sell to Americans. The money they earn goes to supplement their family’s income. I decided to go to see what I could find. They had the cutest costumes -- not a huge selection but we ended up getting a super hero costume, two cowboy outfits, and we ordered a long scientist’s labcoat for Nash to be a mad scientist -- they took his measurements and said they’d make it this week.
The Halloween thing has been very interesting here. They obviously don’t celebrate it, but a couple of American Moms have set up Trick-or-Treating here in Pondok Indah for all the kids that go to the school so on Thursday I will stay at home and hand out the candy and Creed will take the kids around to the houses that signed up.
I had to try to find some Halloween candy and that was a trick, not to mention it cost me a small fortune! I found some imported bags of candy but they were $7-9 per bag!! I’m hoping we don’t have too many kids come or I may have to start handing out some of the boys’ toys.
Primary Program
The Primary program was today. All the children had to give their own talks and then we put the music in-between. I was thankful I brought the chimes so we had a little variety for the music. Everyone did such a great job.
A Little Culture
The Branch had a progressive dinner last night. We split up into 3 groups – our group met at one home for appetizers, our house for the main course, then the all 3 branches met at one house for dessert. It was someone’s 40th birthday so her husband had us all sing happy birthday to her and then he opened the door, turned on some music and in came some traditional Indonesian dancers. It was something else. We were amazed at their movements. The costumes were amazing. The culture in this country is really amazing.
Nash: 23 October 2005
Jakarta is very different from America. I am now used to the junk on the side of the road and many vendors trying to sell things to us.
My school campus is very big. It has about 25 classrooms in 7 buildings. Mr. Behse is my teacher. He is sometimes strict and stubborn. I have after school activities at my school. I was lucky to get the 3 activities that I picked, which are: computer class (Wednesday), Mad Science (Tuesday), and strings (Monday & Thursday). I play the violin. I am now comfortable enough with my violin hold that I can hold it without any hands – with only my shoulder and my jaw. In Mad Science we do many experiments, like making crystals. Me and my friend, Rish, are the only people who answer the questions. Everybody else is there for the explosions, not the knowledge. I love baseball. I am going to start being in one of the JIS little leagues. Grant is in the machine pitch league and Luke is in the t-ball league. I am not very good at pitching and I didn’t even hit the target board on the tryout test. On the machine pitch test, the ball came hurtling out at 50 mph with great force. One of the balls hit my finger on the bat, even though my hands were not too high on the bat. My finger started to swell and it turned purple. It really hurt! I am excited to start baseball and I hope to get better at it.
Rish came over last Saturday and he brought Crazy Frog. I doubt that you know what Crazy Frog is, but it is a band that plays “mixed” dance music. We bought the CD at Pondok Indah Mall.
I love to play computer games. Luckily, at Ratu Plaza (which means Queen Plaza), they have a computer store where they sell cheap computer games. For my birthday I got 2 computer games – one was Railroad Tycoon and one was Moon Tycoon. However, when I opened “Moon Tycoon,” it was actually Airport Tycoon. And Railroad Tycoon can be installed, but when I put in the disk, it says “Please insert disc 2” and when I insert the other disc, it says “Wrong Disk.” I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Airport Tycoon had problems on my computer. Those problems were: the mouse would not move when I opened a window and I did not understand the game because it was so slow. Luckily, downstairs on Mom & Dad’s computer, it works!!
I am adjusting well to this new life and hope to see you all when I visit you or when you visit me.
My school campus is very big. It has about 25 classrooms in 7 buildings. Mr. Behse is my teacher. He is sometimes strict and stubborn. I have after school activities at my school. I was lucky to get the 3 activities that I picked, which are: computer class (Wednesday), Mad Science (Tuesday), and strings (Monday & Thursday). I play the violin. I am now comfortable enough with my violin hold that I can hold it without any hands – with only my shoulder and my jaw. In Mad Science we do many experiments, like making crystals. Me and my friend, Rish, are the only people who answer the questions. Everybody else is there for the explosions, not the knowledge. I love baseball. I am going to start being in one of the JIS little leagues. Grant is in the machine pitch league and Luke is in the t-ball league. I am not very good at pitching and I didn’t even hit the target board on the tryout test. On the machine pitch test, the ball came hurtling out at 50 mph with great force. One of the balls hit my finger on the bat, even though my hands were not too high on the bat. My finger started to swell and it turned purple. It really hurt! I am excited to start baseball and I hope to get better at it.
Rish came over last Saturday and he brought Crazy Frog. I doubt that you know what Crazy Frog is, but it is a band that plays “mixed” dance music. We bought the CD at Pondok Indah Mall.
I love to play computer games. Luckily, at Ratu Plaza (which means Queen Plaza), they have a computer store where they sell cheap computer games. For my birthday I got 2 computer games – one was Railroad Tycoon and one was Moon Tycoon. However, when I opened “Moon Tycoon,” it was actually Airport Tycoon. And Railroad Tycoon can be installed, but when I put in the disk, it says “Please insert disc 2” and when I insert the other disc, it says “Wrong Disk.” I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Airport Tycoon had problems on my computer. Those problems were: the mouse would not move when I opened a window and I did not understand the game because it was so slow. Luckily, downstairs on Mom & Dad’s computer, it works!!
I am adjusting well to this new life and hope to see you all when I visit you or when you visit me.
Grant: 23 October 2005
This is Grant, I want to tell you a poem. It’s called WORLD, WORLD.
This is how it goes
The world is very different here,
But you don’t live very near.
I like my school it’s true,
Our colors are white and blue.
I miss having parks around,
I only have the school playground.
The food here is very weird,
And no one has a beard.
My friend Haneef is from Malaysia,
That’s another part of Asia.
My ceramics class is almost through,
A lot of my things were painted blue.
I miss you all very much,
Please remember to keep in touch.
Written by Grant with a little help from Mom.
This is how it goes
The world is very different here,
But you don’t live very near.
I like my school it’s true,
Our colors are white and blue.
I miss having parks around,
I only have the school playground.
The food here is very weird,
And no one has a beard.
My friend Haneef is from Malaysia,
That’s another part of Asia.
My ceramics class is almost through,
A lot of my things were painted blue.
I miss you all very much,
Please remember to keep in touch.
Written by Grant with a little help from Mom.
Luke: 23 October 2005
This is Luke. I love school. In two weeks I get to go all day. I can’t wait. I started my swimming class last Monday. We are learning to write. I got to bring home Tim and Sam (stuffed Dalmatians) and they have been doing things with me all weekend. I get to write about it in the class book. My best friend is Abbi. He is from Indonesia. I like to help Mallory walk and play. She has two teeth now. My Mom has an itchy rash on her arm. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting today for the primary program. I’m going to go trick-or-treating on Thursday. I had character dress up day this week. I dressed as a cowboy from the book about Bubba. I like that book. We had a book fair at school and I picked out five books. That’s all.
Photos: 23 October 2005
Grant and Luke reading one of the books they bought at the school book fair on our Javanese bench.
Grant dressed up as a cowboy, as well, for the school book character dress-up day.
Grant and his friend, Jonathan, having fun in the pool.
Mallory, smiling in her crib, right after waking up from a nap.
Luke is in the middle of the picture dressed as a cowboy and holding his book.
Photos: 23 October 2005
Luke brought home two stuffed dogs from his classroom for the weekend. He wanted to take them on a bike ride, and he insisted that we strap the dogs to his body using a belt. Luke, Grant, and I rode around the neighborhood for a while Saturday morning with Luke toting the dogs. Yes, people stared at us. Oh, and Luke decided to make himself a wig out of paper. You can see the tape he used to keep it on his forehead. You know, if Luke ever goes bald, all he needs is a piece of paper, a crayon, and some tape and you'd never even be able to tell.
House Photos: 23 October 2005
Some people have been asking about what our house looks like, so we took some photos of the kids around the house today.
Sunday, October 9, 2005
Letter: October 9, 2005
Hi, everyone,
In no particular order, here is what has been going on over the last couple of weeks since we last wrote:
Last week was the first week of Ramadan here in Indonesia, and it has been interesting for us to see it first hand. On Tuesday night, the night before it officially started, several employees from the office came in to see me to ask my forgiveness for anything they had done (they were going around talking to everyone in the office, which is apparently one of the things Muslims are supposed to do before the fasting month begins). I decided to forgive them this time.
Early Wednesday morning most Muslims woke up early (2:30 or 3:00 am) to make and eat a big meal before the first Morning Prayer of Ramadan. The only other main thing that we have noticed so far is that traffic isn’t quite as heavy in the morning on my way to work. Someone told me it may be because people sleep in and go to work later than normal because they have gotten up early to eat and pray, then they go back to sleep for a little while.
A week ago I went to Medan (the largest city on the island of Sumatra – population over 2 million) with 3 other people from the office for a work event. The Ford dealer in Medan had invited about 500 people for an event to introduce the new Ford Focus we just started selling here. I gave a short speech, then a couple of other people made speeches, then there was dinner, “entertainment,” (which was a group of 10 people dancing to various pop songs from the last 3 decades – I thought it was rather funny), the official dramatic unveiling of the Ford Focus, etc. We returned to Jakarta the next morning before the sun was up. It was a quick trip, but good to get out of Jakarta and to see another city and to get to know the dealer up in Medan a little bit better.
I’m not sure what to say about the Bali bombings you have all probably read about. The son of one of our Ford dealership employees was one of the 25 fatalities last week. I guess I would say that it has been a reality check for us – both at work and at home. At work we are making sure that we are all up-to-speed on our emergency procedures. Additionally, we are having our international security consulting company come to our house tomorrow (it was already planned to take place this month) to train our household staff and guards and to evaluate the security of our home. I went to the US Embassy on Friday morning for a briefing by the US Ambassador and the RSO (regional security officer). It was interesting to hear their reactions to the events of the past week and to get a general reminder of the precautions we need to take.
Two monkey sightings for you in the neighborhood: About a week ago our driver and security guard pointed to a tree across the street & river from us. High up in the tree was a monkey. We think it stayed there overnight, because the next day one of the boys saw it from their classroom windows. And then yesterday morning while Grant and I were on a bike ride in the neighborhood we saw a monkey at someone’s house. It was chained to a tree, though, by a leash.
Also on Saturday I took all 3 boys to the school to sign up for baseball – it is a community-run league that practices and plays at Jakarta International School. The boys haven’t played on a team before, but they are all pretty excited to get their uniforms and to start practices and games. Right after baseball sign-up our friends, the Willis family, came over. We left the kids at the house and Heidi and I went with Dave and Jenny to our favorite restaurant, Koi, for lunch, then we went to a Batik show at the Jakarta Convention Center. We picked up several inexpensive Batik items – a skirt and sarong for Heidi, a couple of table runners, and a plate, etc.
The boys had parent-teacher conferences this week, plus a half-day off Wednesday, then full-days off Thursday and Friday. I am told they spent most of the time with friends from church or school, including swimming quite a bit, of course.
Well, no photos for you this time. I just checked the camera, and the only new photos taken since the last time we posted are of the boys’ Lincoln Log creations. I think I’ll just leave it up to your imagination.
Mallory still has yet to sprout teeth. She loves to show her gummy smile to anyone that will look. She is 11 months tomorrow and we are all looking forward to her big 1year birthday next month. The boys can hardly wait. She is still the most popular person around. The house help all love her and smile and laugh at everything she does. Our maids walk endlessly around with her holding her fingers. She loves it. They are so good to climb up and come down the stairs over and over with her. She is in heaven when they do that with her. She has discovered that she likes to take out the matchbox cars from the bin and then if she puts them away we all clap so that’s her favorite thing right now. She’s just getting over a bad cold that wiped her out pretty much all week last week. It’s her first bad cold, so no complaints.
I (this is Heidi now) went to institute this week and taught the lesson. We just started having it since there are more women in the branch. We meet at someone’s house every other week and everyone takes turns teaching. We are studying Joseph Smith. It’s wonderful to study his life and realize what an amazing man he was.
I also went to parent/teacher conferences. There was a very glowing report about our family from Luke’s teacher. She kept saying how kind Luke was and how amazed she is that my boys all take care of each other. She nearly had me in tears. She said she can’t believe how much Grant watches out for Luke and that they actually want to play with each other when they have recess at the same time. She was very impressed and said some very kind things. It was a good ‘pick me up’ for me. She kept asking me how I’ve raised such kind boys. I so badly wanted to say, “Let me tell you about this church we go to.” But it really didn’t seem like the appropriate time. I hope to get a chance one of these days.
I was just watching Fox news and saw a report about the scare of the bird flu. We need to get on the waiting list for our flu shots here. I was told it’s pretty long. We are trying to take precautions but it’s hard when chickens just roam freely on the streets. The school does not serve any chicken at all and I’ve stopped buying it. We just have to keep praying that we’ll be protected. That’s the story of our lives here. Lots of prayers.
We are thankful for all of your prayers and we miss you all dearly. The boys talk about their cousins and grandparents often. We are already looking forward to seeing everyone this next summer. Happy birthday to Grandma Miller and Rosemary this week. I’m sure I forgot someone else’s birthday….if so, I’m sorry.
We love you,
Creed, Heidi, Nash, Grant, Luke, and Mallory
In no particular order, here is what has been going on over the last couple of weeks since we last wrote:
Last week was the first week of Ramadan here in Indonesia, and it has been interesting for us to see it first hand. On Tuesday night, the night before it officially started, several employees from the office came in to see me to ask my forgiveness for anything they had done (they were going around talking to everyone in the office, which is apparently one of the things Muslims are supposed to do before the fasting month begins). I decided to forgive them this time.
Early Wednesday morning most Muslims woke up early (2:30 or 3:00 am) to make and eat a big meal before the first Morning Prayer of Ramadan. The only other main thing that we have noticed so far is that traffic isn’t quite as heavy in the morning on my way to work. Someone told me it may be because people sleep in and go to work later than normal because they have gotten up early to eat and pray, then they go back to sleep for a little while.
A week ago I went to Medan (the largest city on the island of Sumatra – population over 2 million) with 3 other people from the office for a work event. The Ford dealer in Medan had invited about 500 people for an event to introduce the new Ford Focus we just started selling here. I gave a short speech, then a couple of other people made speeches, then there was dinner, “entertainment,” (which was a group of 10 people dancing to various pop songs from the last 3 decades – I thought it was rather funny), the official dramatic unveiling of the Ford Focus, etc. We returned to Jakarta the next morning before the sun was up. It was a quick trip, but good to get out of Jakarta and to see another city and to get to know the dealer up in Medan a little bit better.
I’m not sure what to say about the Bali bombings you have all probably read about. The son of one of our Ford dealership employees was one of the 25 fatalities last week. I guess I would say that it has been a reality check for us – both at work and at home. At work we are making sure that we are all up-to-speed on our emergency procedures. Additionally, we are having our international security consulting company come to our house tomorrow (it was already planned to take place this month) to train our household staff and guards and to evaluate the security of our home. I went to the US Embassy on Friday morning for a briefing by the US Ambassador and the RSO (regional security officer). It was interesting to hear their reactions to the events of the past week and to get a general reminder of the precautions we need to take.
Two monkey sightings for you in the neighborhood: About a week ago our driver and security guard pointed to a tree across the street & river from us. High up in the tree was a monkey. We think it stayed there overnight, because the next day one of the boys saw it from their classroom windows. And then yesterday morning while Grant and I were on a bike ride in the neighborhood we saw a monkey at someone’s house. It was chained to a tree, though, by a leash.
Also on Saturday I took all 3 boys to the school to sign up for baseball – it is a community-run league that practices and plays at Jakarta International School. The boys haven’t played on a team before, but they are all pretty excited to get their uniforms and to start practices and games. Right after baseball sign-up our friends, the Willis family, came over. We left the kids at the house and Heidi and I went with Dave and Jenny to our favorite restaurant, Koi, for lunch, then we went to a Batik show at the Jakarta Convention Center. We picked up several inexpensive Batik items – a skirt and sarong for Heidi, a couple of table runners, and a plate, etc.
The boys had parent-teacher conferences this week, plus a half-day off Wednesday, then full-days off Thursday and Friday. I am told they spent most of the time with friends from church or school, including swimming quite a bit, of course.
Well, no photos for you this time. I just checked the camera, and the only new photos taken since the last time we posted are of the boys’ Lincoln Log creations. I think I’ll just leave it up to your imagination.
Mallory still has yet to sprout teeth. She loves to show her gummy smile to anyone that will look. She is 11 months tomorrow and we are all looking forward to her big 1year birthday next month. The boys can hardly wait. She is still the most popular person around. The house help all love her and smile and laugh at everything she does. Our maids walk endlessly around with her holding her fingers. She loves it. They are so good to climb up and come down the stairs over and over with her. She is in heaven when they do that with her. She has discovered that she likes to take out the matchbox cars from the bin and then if she puts them away we all clap so that’s her favorite thing right now. She’s just getting over a bad cold that wiped her out pretty much all week last week. It’s her first bad cold, so no complaints.
I (this is Heidi now) went to institute this week and taught the lesson. We just started having it since there are more women in the branch. We meet at someone’s house every other week and everyone takes turns teaching. We are studying Joseph Smith. It’s wonderful to study his life and realize what an amazing man he was.
I also went to parent/teacher conferences. There was a very glowing report about our family from Luke’s teacher. She kept saying how kind Luke was and how amazed she is that my boys all take care of each other. She nearly had me in tears. She said she can’t believe how much Grant watches out for Luke and that they actually want to play with each other when they have recess at the same time. She was very impressed and said some very kind things. It was a good ‘pick me up’ for me. She kept asking me how I’ve raised such kind boys. I so badly wanted to say, “Let me tell you about this church we go to.” But it really didn’t seem like the appropriate time. I hope to get a chance one of these days.
I was just watching Fox news and saw a report about the scare of the bird flu. We need to get on the waiting list for our flu shots here. I was told it’s pretty long. We are trying to take precautions but it’s hard when chickens just roam freely on the streets. The school does not serve any chicken at all and I’ve stopped buying it. We just have to keep praying that we’ll be protected. That’s the story of our lives here. Lots of prayers.
We are thankful for all of your prayers and we miss you all dearly. The boys talk about their cousins and grandparents often. We are already looking forward to seeing everyone this next summer. Happy birthday to Grandma Miller and Rosemary this week. I’m sure I forgot someone else’s birthday….if so, I’m sorry.
We love you,
Creed, Heidi, Nash, Grant, Luke, and Mallory
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