Focus.

One thing I love about this time of year is focusing on Advent. Advent means "the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event." It is so easy to get distracted with routine to forget about the importance of what Christmas is really all about.

I felt that a theme the Lord was trying to teach me through many different things was to focus. Random things like the exercise videos I've been following. The series is called "Focus T25". In the middle of a session the leader says, " Think about it. When you slow down it forces you to focus." I have been revisiting that statement since I heard it in week 1, now 3 weeks later.

Another random thing: the road to the school has construction happening on it. Half the road is blocked off with signs posted that say "Pelan x2" which literally means "Slow Slow" which means "Slow Down" or "Proceed with Caution". This double warning, the times 2 part, made me think of the importance of the words. Slow down.

Then randomly at church, the speaker shared a challenge to slow down, connect less to email and social media and refocus.

Advent has helped us to build the anticipation of the arrival of a baby boy, who is the King of King and Lord of Lords, named Jesus. All these reminders have helped me to slow down and focus on the true reason to celebrate Christmas- the birth of Jesus.

Kate meet Mr. C

Let me give a little backstory of Indonesian history before we begin. Europeans first arrived in Indonesia in the 16th century seeking valuable nutmeg, cloves, and pepper in Maluku. In 1602 the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company, which eventually became the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch continued to expand Indonesian boundaries to its current size and remained in control until the Japanese invaded and occupied in 1942 during World War II. So the Dutch influence on Indonesian culture can be spotted throughout the entire country. One specific influence happens every year in December- Sinterklaas (St. Nick) and his servants 'Zwarte Pieten' (Black Peters) parade around town through neighborhoods waving, passing out candy, and chasing small children. (I'm not sure how the last part fits in, but the local kids love it!... I think.)

** I'm going to add a disclaimer here: We are not bad parents. We are normal parents who laugh at the normalcy of Kate reacting to life.**

It was a normal Saturday in our house. After Kate woke from her nap, we walked to the mall to do some grocery shopping and get lunch. On our way home we saw the truck full of Black Peters on our road. The lead car had a gigantic megaphone mounted on the roof of the car. They would ride around announcing the arrival of Sinterklaas and his servants. St. Nick wasn't ready yet, so we were asking the car full of people and the truckload of servants where he was. The car load of people proved not to be helpful at all because they were distracted with our adorable Kate (and honestly, I can't blame them because this happens to me all. the. time.) The woman that had the power to speak through the megaphone would answer our questions using the microphone, which was very very loud. Actually, now that I think about it, she wasn't answering any of our questions only telling Kate how cute she was and trying to get her attention with the gigantic megaphone. She and her car load were not helpful. Surprisingly, the most helpful was one of the Black Peters. He said Sinterklaas/St. Nick/Santa wasn't ready yet but would be soon. (I'll just say this here. Papuans, who already have black skin paint their faces, necks, arms and anything showing black. They also wear black wigs, even though they have black hair. Black Peters are very intimidating, so it makes sense that its their job to keep track of all children behavior.)

We continued our journey home, when we spotted him. There he was. Putting the finishing touches of his outfit together. We asked for permission to see him before he left to visit other children. There were no lines. Santa wasn't sweaty yet from wearing his cold weather clothes in the tropical heat and humidity of Papua.

Josh got the camera ready.

 I handed Kate to Santa....

and she freaked out. Just like every other baby that sees Santa for the first time.

Making small talk just saying to him." Don't worry if she cries."

The hand off- immediate crying

Making a run for it

 

Fairies are calmed and composed, while Santa practices his "Ho, Ho, Ho"

Loaded up

Still keeping an eye on him in the safe arms of Daddy

The truckload of very helpful, nice Black Peters

 

We bought some Santa hats at the store. I thought it would be fun to take a family photo together. Well, Kate's was way too big. It could cover her whole head, and she kept pulling it off. We did get a few shots that are far from perfect. This is the best one, and in this photo Kate found the inside of her nose. I still think it's great! :)

Red Light, Green Light

When I put Kate's shoes on everyday at 4 PM, I never know what the hour outside may look like. All I know is a bunch of kids will be there. Sometimes they rollerblade or ride scooters; other times they play soccer. A few weeks ago it seemed like the kids weren't really playing with each other. Almost like they didn't know how? I noticed these kids all standing around, and my head was screaming," Play with them!!!" So... I did.

I taught them the old playground favorite of "Red Light, Green Light". The rules are simple: run on green lights, walk on yellow lights, and stop on red lights. (This is an interesting concept here, because these traffic laws are only obeyed going one direction, which only applies when the power is on or when you feel like it.) We began our play using Indonesian, and then I thought I would teach them the words in English. Most kids are taught English in school and are eager to try it out with a real live English speaker. They caught on quickly and soon knowledge of the game spread through our street. When it was time to go home and make dinner, the kids were begging us to come back tomorrow and play. So... we did. We played "Red Light, Green Light" for about a week straight. When we weren't outside playing with them, we saw the kids running with big smiles on their faces.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This year Josh chose to participate in "No-Shave November". Josh started mid-way through October. I have a few theories as to why- 1. He lost his razor. 2. He wants to save some money, because razor are expensive here! 3. He wanted a head start to drive me crazy. :)

I was trying to be supportive of him in this endeavor. He did look quite handsome, UNTIL it started getting out of control. Honestly, maybe it wasn't out of control, maybe I just wasn't used to it and refused to become okay with this new growth. As the days went on, his hair grew... and grew... and GREW! At meals small crumbs would get stuck in there.

One day he came home on his motorcycle in a heavy rain storm. He got cleaned up a bit and sat down to eat. He still had little beads of water on his beard. I told him about it, and y'all he wiped his beard and a puddle of water formed under it! I couldn't take it anymore!! You're laughing, I know you are.

So a few days later, he had enough too. We took photos to share, because if you're going to grow a beard out for that long you have to cut in as many different ways as you can before it's all gone. We haven't laughed this hard in while. :)

 

 

I know what you're thinking- Why didn't we take ALL the photos in the tuxedo t-shirt?? The tux tee says "I'm formal, but I'm here to party."

He looks years younger without the beard. He also looks about a zillion times less creepy than all the other "looks". Kate didn't cry when the clean shaven Daddy walked in her room the next morning. I think he may have even gotten some extra snuggles and kisses.

First Birthday Party Day

I titled this "First Birthday Party Day" because that's exactly what it was. A full Saturday of parties. The supplies were purchased. The cakes were made. We did it all for the first party (yes, you read that right), and friends helped out with the second party.

First Party:
Location: Our house
Time: 11 AM
Guest: Children that live on our road.

The invitations were passed out two days before the party. In this country, procrastinators are guilt free because it's totally acceptable to pass out invitations to your party two days before the date! The girl next door went with me to each house that had children in it to hand them out. It was so interesting to observe how she would call her friends outside. In America, we can knock or ring a doorbell. Here there are gates that keep you from front doors and some have dogs behind those gates. She would almost sing her friends name... I've tried to replicate it but fall flat every time. We had a list of about 25 kids that lived on our road. I forgot that Indonesians have school on Saturday, so some would either come late or not be able to make it.

We made our own bucket of bubbles and wands. We cut the top and bottom out of a can so we could make large bubbles. We had cake and koolaid inside the house. This was a treat for our neighbors because they ate "American" cake (which is sweeter than Indonesian cake), they drank "American" koolaid (which wasn't as sweet, because we took it easy on the sugar), and they were invited to come inside the house. The inside of our house looks different than the inside of theirs... and I have the same reaction when invited inside their homes. I want to look around at everything, without seeming like I want to look at everything- but I REALLY do. All of the sudden it hit me, they want to experience American culture, so we did. We had activities that I thought kids like to do- bubbles, cake, koolaid, presents. I asked if we could celebrate like we would if we were in America. They were soooooo excited about that. So, we sang Happy Birthday in English, which they all knew. We shared a homemade cake, which they gobbled up. One kid had at least three pieces. One difference that I asked for permission to change was the opening of presents. In Indonesia the presents are not opened in front of the giver. In America, the present is opened in front of them. I asked if Kate could open her presents in front of them like we would in America, and they were so excited to see what their friends had given her. Kate couldn't really open the gifts, but we had MANY helpers. After that, they said thanks and went home by 12:30 PM.

 

Kate took a nap. We rested.

Party Number 2
Location: HIS Playground
Time: 3:30? hmmm... I can't remember. It was post nap time.
Guests: Kate's friends from soccer, playgroup, and some of our adult friends who are like family
A friend made a sweet cupcake-cake in the shape of a butterfly for the guests. Others brought koolaid. Some friends arrived early to help decorate and watch Kate. Another friend took pictures, so we could enjoy this moment.

Activities: We had bubbles. We colored. Each child had a coloring sheet that was the first letter of their name. They had a box crayons that they could take home, as well as a container of bubbles. We had cake. We sang Happy Birthday, and we watched Kate eat her own chocolate frosted butterfly cake. We opened presents.

 

We wrapped the party up around 5:30 and were home by 6- all of us worn out from the day. Yes, looking back I think we were a bit crazy. But would I change anything? Not one thing. I love our friends, but really I was more excited about the neighborhood party. This was the first time since we've lived here that we have time to build relationships. This party has opened the door even wider for meaningful relationships with the people that we interact with daily. I'm really excited about what's happening in our neighborhood!

Happy birthday, Sweet Baby Kate! We love you so, so, SO much!

Beach Buzz

Living near the equator has many benefits. Here are few:
 -The sun rises and sets at about the same time every day. For a person who appreciates routine, I like knowing when the sun will rise and set. We don't have to deal with daylight savings because... well we just don't, which is another perk of living here.
-It's summer all year round. This can become difficult and confusing when friends in America are posting photos of snow, Starbucks holiday flavors, and scarves.
-Because it's hot all year round, we can go to the most beautiful beaches in the entire world anytime.

I say that, and honestly, the last time Josh and I went to the beach may have been at least a year and half ago. We finally got to a point where we could make it through the day without having to pump 5 bazillion times, and she could eat a variety of solid foods. We decided that it would be best if went to a beach we could drive to, so we have the option to leave whenever we wanted- baby melts down, parents melt down...

Some sweet friends joined us for the day. It turned out to be a very busy day at the beach. Many people had the same brilliant idea that we did! So there was a crowd for much of the day. I hope the photos will tell the story better than I can.

First time touching sand

We blinked, and she ate it.

 

First time in the ocean

A little afraid of the waves

During the day she ate a TON of sand.

 

Made some new friends

 

 

Sweet friends

Lying in a hammock. She probably would have slept, but we wanted the
nap to happen in the car.

 

Fan club. After the 100th photo I have a hard time staying
polite, so I walk away.

Kate ate a massive amount of sand. There's just no way to keep her from shoving it in her mouth, especially when there is so much of it around. Many people would make comments before our beach trip of the type of poo she would have afterwards. In their mind perhaps that was funny, but in my mind I wanted to do everything possible to avoid this horrific poos that were going to happen. After experiencing the post-beach poo, I want to go back! Post-beach poos are so easy to clean up.

I know maybe this isn't the place to talk about such things, but I just want to remind myself that often times what other say that spark fear or anxiety in me turn out to be small, small things with no reason for worry.