The latest pictures from our trip

Last week we went to Yogyakarta-

We visited Borobudor, a silver factory, and one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia.  It was a busy week of traveling and site-seeing.  Here's some of the stuff we saw!  Enjoy!

 After driving for about 4 hours, we arrived in Banjar.  We stopped to eat, and we took a few pictures.  There was a nice J40 Toyota Jeep across from where we ate, so I had to take a picture!  Later we went to a village at the foot of the volcano where there were a ton of Toyota and Willys Jeeps.

Here are some shots of us at Borobudor.  It's the most visited tourist site in Indonesia.  It was hot and there were a lot of folks everywhere.  But it was fun to be there and the site was amazing!

Everyone going to the temple had to wear the garments around the waist....  The temple was several levels- square at the bottom and 3 circular levels at top....

Next, we walked near the foothills of Merapi.  The volcano erupted in 2010, and over 300 people were killed over the month-long series of eruptions....

 The volcano is somewhere behind the cloud of smoke...





The foundation of a house can be seen in this picture- the flag indicates that someone was buried by the debris when the flow came rushing down the mountain.....

Here's a shot of Merapi from a distance.  We were never terribly close to the mountain, but we did walk around old roads, and previous pyroclastic flows.  Here's a picture of a house we walked by.....

 After the volcano in the morning, we went to a silver factory- where they made everything from earrings to horse-draw carriages from silver.  It was interesting to see how they worked with the silver, since we have often watched our Navajo friends make their jewelry.  They used silver wire to make everything, and I didn't see many stamps or bigger sheets of silver like we would if we watched our friends in New Mexico make jewelry.

The airplane was pretty amazing- the cockpit opens to reveal a silver pilot too! 

 On the way back home, we detoured to a beach.  (it was a slight 5 hour detour!)

The crabs made some cool patterns on the sand!

The beach was not very crowded, but it also wasn't the most beautiful sandy beach we had ever been to....  Apparently our driver did not want to take us there because of the prison island that was located a few miles away!  We were the only Bules (white person) around.

Our friends Amu and Hani on the boat--

The boys had such fun, chasing the waves, feeling the current, and simply messing around! 

We took a brief boat ride and then played at the beach.  The waves were kind of big, and it appeared that there was a drop-off, so we let the kids play near the shore, but not swim.  Everyone had a blast! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

I talked with a good friend today and he asked a great question.  I was talking about how different it was here and how we are all adjusting.  He asked, "If you could do it all again, would you still go?"  Without hesitation, I said yes.  He said, "Then you are doing the right thing."  While it is hard at times  to be here- especially around Christmas- we know this is what is best for our family right now, and we are convinced it's part of God's plan.  We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and tell you how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers!  Have a great Christmas break and New Year!

At Mason Pine, where the kids like to swim---

Jace being goofy at home!

Kadin on the way to his Christmas program at church- 

About two weeks ago, we had the staff Christmas breakfast.  The kids played games and we sang some Christmas songs.... Erin got this video of Jingle bells.

God bless and have a wonderful Christmas! -mekj

Maaf

Maaf is "sorry" in Indonesian. We didn't realize it had been so long since we last posted. Time sure does fly by! We have continued to speed along on this fast paced life style! I will try my best to catch everyone up on what has been going on this last month.

We will start with "the boys"...Jace is continuing to enjoy school. He especially likes his Mandarin class. His teacher says he is a great to have in class and that he enjoys telling everyone about Jesus! He enjoys playing in the puddles during and/or after a rain. Jace lost his two bottom teeth this past month too. The tooth fairy even comes to Indonesia:) A whopping 10,000 rupiah for each tooth (that's $1 USD)! A 10,000 rupiah bill just seems to be so much more than a $1 bill to a 4 year old.  Jace is enjoying his time here, but says he misses America and Great Wolf Lodge.

Kadin continues to go to school:) Unlike Jace, he does not have quite the enthusiasm his little brother does. This could be because he has much more to do in second grade:) He is continuing to excel in math and enjoys reading Star Wars books. Kadin looks forward to swimming and soccer lessons every week. He was sick most of the month of October with what turned out to be bronchitis. He was almost the first in our family to have an appointment at the rumah sakit (hospital-I actually was the first...) The hospital was actually very good. The staff was very helpful and friendly. We were fortunate that the doctor working in the ER the day Kadin went in spoke very good English.  He is so much better now. Please continue to pray for his adjustment to school, his classmates. and his behavior at home. "Boys will always be boys" as he keeps telling me!

Matt is kept very busy with school and other "outside" activities. He enjoys teaching his students and tries to challenge them daily with the Word of God. It is so neat that he can speak freely and openly about God's love. Matt continues to go with the guys from our block to play soccer every other week. He uses this time to build relationships and hang out with them. Most speak some English and none are believers. One of the gentlemen asked Matt the other day about Christmas and if it was really when Christ was born. This was really neat to be able to converse about this and about some of the other things that came up in the conversation. Matt has started meeting once a week on Wed with some men of the school at 6am for a time of study and prayer.

I am continuing to stay busy. I don't know where the time goes. I continue to take Bahasa Indonesian lessons twice a week. I am getting to where I can understand what is being said in conversation. I have been practicing with my helper and also with the ladies who live on our street. I keep telling myself that one of these days it will just flow from my mouth:) That is what I am praying at least! I have enjoyed meeting weekly with a group of ladies from school for a time of prayer and encouragement. I have also started to help out and volunteer with some functions at the school. God has placed many people in my path during these last couple of months-I am excited to see what He has in store for me!

We are continuing to go to BIC (Bandung International Church) in Bandung on Sunday mornings. They now have a full time pastor that is from Canada. They have been without a pastor for awhile. So this is a huge answer to prayer. The church has a good children's program. They will be having their Christmas program this Sunday. We have enjoyed worshiping there for now. We will see where the Lord leads as to where we end up.

There is so much that has happened and /or that we have done this month-so I will not go into detail, but will just "jot" them down for ya. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email any time. We love hearing from ya! Happy "past" Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for each and every day!!!

This past month- Matt drove a friend's car in the city and we are still alive to talk about it
-we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends
-we decorated our Christmas tree in shorts!
-I started my tb medication
-Matt and I had our first "date" in town while leaving the boys with a teacher friend.
-we started drinking hot tea in the evenings because the temps are actually chilly:)
-the rainy season is here and it rains every day (mostly at night)
-we spent many evenings outside our home building relationships with the neighborhood children and their families or helpers
-the boys had their first report cards and did great!

We miss all of you! May the Lord be glorified in all that we say and do! Love, mekj ( oh-we have been updating the picture page of the blog!)