Grant’s Baptism
Grant had his birthday yesterday and turned 8. He was so excited to be baptized. The night before, he told us that he was so happy and so excited that his whole body tingled. We had the baptism at the church and many people from our branch came. We all participated in one way or another. Nash gave a wonderful talk on Baptism that he wrote himself, Luke gave the closing prayer and I spoke, as well.
After the baptism we had a little luncheon in the primary room with ham rolls, fruit, chips and cookies. It was a really nice morning and Grant was so happy.
When we came home from the baptism, we sent the boys up to change their clothes. Luke was standing on the stairs waiting for Grant. Grant walked past him and Luke looked at him totally studying him. He then said to Grant, “You are cleaner! It’s like your sins are totally washed away. You’re so clean!” I laughed to myself realizing Luke thought that Grant physically looked cleaner.
We continued to celebrate Grant’s birthday for the rest of the day. We came home and Grant opened his presents and then we all went to an early dinner at an Italian restaurant. When we got home we sang happy birthday and ate Grant’s choice, a chocolate cake. It was a nice day.
Just a side note. We didn’t have any white baptismal clothes for Grant. The branch doesn’t have any and we were told we might be able to see if the mission home had some but it’s difficult to round them up. I was told we could buy all white clothes at a store called Pasaraya. Pasaraya sells just about everything Indonesian. They have an entire floor that is just Muslim clothes and that’s where everyone gets baptismal clothes. Grant thought that was a bit strange, but we assured him it was fine.
School
The boys are all doing well. Nash had a big Valentines and Chinese New Year Party (they just finished studying China) last night. A girl in his class invited the entire class and several other kids. He was out very late, but apparently, had a great time. He was able to see some Chinese performers and ate a lot of good food.
Grant is enjoying second grade. A woman in our branch was his substitute in school on Friday. I ran into her as she was leaving school and she said, “Hey, I taught one of your boys today. That Grant is so smart!!” She told me how quickly he finished his math homework and that he had the answer to every math question before she did. He doesn’t get that from me!
Luke is reading up a storm. He started reading the Magic Tree House books this weekend and is very proud of himself for finishing so many chapters in just a couple of days. He really enjoys reading.
Mallory is growing fast and has a great sense of humor. I taught her to tell me a ‘secret’. She just whispers babbles in my ear but she thinks it’s great. This past week I was changing her and I leaned down and said, ‘tell me a secret’. I put my ear to her mouth and waited. She didn’t say anything for the longest time and then she suddenly yelled ‘BLAH!!” It scared me to death and she couldn’t stop giggling.
She continues to dance if she hears any kind of music whatsoever and loves to put her shoes on and stomp around the house. She is all girl, a strange thing for me to deal with. I’m constantly amazed at the differences between girls and boys. She will often sit quietly for several minutes reading a book or talking to her stuffed animals. If you give her a wet wipe or a dish towel, she likes to clean things. I should keep that interest peaked! That will come in handy in a few years piqued.
Interesting things here
I had a very strange experience this week. I was getting ready to go to the gym and was just cleaning up Mallory after breakfast so I could get her dressed. I looked out the kitchen window and happened to see our guard and another man looking into the river. Soon our guard motioned urgently to our gardener to come over to the river. I thought, “Hey, I bet there’s an animal in the river or something.” We just had a rainstorm and there are often strange things floating down the river after a big rain. I ran upstairs to Nash’s balcony so I could see. My maid, Ajis, was out there as well. Soon several people had gathered around and Ajis said to me. “Orang, orang.” which means person. I looked at him and said ‘Apa?” (What). He told me there was a person in the river. I saw something wrapped in a large burlap sack with rope tied around it. It was stuck on a bunch of trash in the river. We stood out there for quiet a while watching several men try to get it out of the river with large bamboo poles. I thought to myself. “Holy Cow! There is a dead person in the river across from my house. Worse! I’m standing here watching!” I was getting sick to my stomach as they were finally able to pull it out of the river and up onto the bank. My driver was there and the neighborhood security and several others. They prodded and poked and finally opened the sack. I saw some kind of figure and my stomach just turned. I noticed everyone was laughing and I truly didn’t understand. I do know that the Indonesians laugh when they are embarrassed or ashamed. They actually laugh at just about everything except what they’re supposed to laugh at. I thought this was very strange though and was getting disturbed by the fact that they were laughing at this situation. A person in the river tied in a sack was not very funny to me.
After a few minutes of poking, they all started to walk away, still laughing, might I add. My stomach was in knots and I decided I just needed to go to the gym and forget about it. Although, I was very bothered that they were just going to leave it there in plain view. As my driver was coming back across the street, he looked up and said to me, “Don’t look. Just don’t look.” I said, “Too late. I already did. “He started to laugh again. Okay, I really don’t understand these people.
I came downstairs to get my shoes on and went outside. I got in the car and said to Cartim, “I think I’m going to be sick Cartim. They can’t leave it there!” He started to laugh again and said, “Not real. You know, like at the mall?” I then realized what he was saying. It was a mannequin! He got a good chuckle and so did I….later. That would explain all the laughing.
Later that day, I noticed the mannequin was gone. I asked Cartim what happened to it and he started to laugh and said, “Back in the river”. I said, “What! So some poor soul will see it and think it’s a person?” He said, “I guess.” Let me just say, I’m so glad it wasn’t real. I would have preferred seeing an animal like a python (which I am told are usually floating down the river after a huge storm).
Never a dull moment here.
The strange life we lead in Indonesia
Our oven broke on Friday night as we were making cookies for the baptism. I was stumped on what to do. It’s not as if we could run to the store and pick up something. We ended up ordering something from the caterer that lives near us and hoping it would be delivered in time. It was delivered at about 8:00 am the next morning, in time for us to leave for the church at 9:00!
The other thing was our oven. We woke up Saturday morning realizing our oven didn’t work and I couldn’t make Grant his birthday breakfast. We were in too much of a hurry to worry about it. When we got home from the baptism I started to wonder what I was going to do for the next couple of days without an oven. I walked over and tried it and it worked! Our househelp had already fixed it.
When we came home from the baptism we all went to change. Creed said, “ I guess I should go put the food away.” We brought a full cooler home from the baptism. I said, half jokingly, “ Don’t we have people that do that?” We started to laugh. A few minutes later, Creed went into the kitchen and there were our maids busily putting all the food away and washing the dishes. We do have those fairies I always heard my mom say she wished would come and clean up!
