Our Family

I meant to post this entry at the very beginning of the blog... but I never went back & posted it.  I have updated the ages (since Miss O and I have had birthdays) & a couple of other things.  Here it is:

I think on this blog, I will be a bit more discreet about our family.  I won't mention Dano's job.  I don't plan to use our last name.  Also, I don't plan to use our children's names, but I will use their initials along with their ages.  However, I will post pictures!  So as stated in our profile, this is what you can expect:

Our family:

Fearless Leader - Dano

Wife and Mother - Melinda

 Oldest Daughter - Miss O10

Oldest Son - Mr. D8

Next Daughter - Miss E6

Youngest Son - Mr. W4

Youngest Daughter - Miss V2

The Whole Gang

All ages are in years.  I will not include mine & Dano's ages on every post, but for the record he is 40 (for a few more months) and I am 39.

Feel free to let me know if you plan to be reading along (or have been).  You can let me know by commenting below.  Many of you have subscribed to our blog via e-mail or read posts on facebook so you may not actually "visit" the blog.  BUT if you get a chance, drop by the blog to comment every once in a while to let me know you are along with us on this journey... and the blog comments will stay with the blog entries as a type of diary for us.  If you have trouble signing in to leave a comment, just click anonymous, and you can include your name in your comment.

Thank you for being interested in our journey & family!  =0)

Blessings!

Pictures by K.G. Photography in Middle Tennessee

REWIND - Jet Lag!

In case you've ever wondered WHAT jet lag looks like, here are some pictures of our kiddos experiencing it!  (These are pictures inside the VERY NICE temporary house we stayed in for 2 weeks.)

The day we arrived in country.  It is a little after 4 pm in
Indonesia... but that means a little after 4 am at "home."
This was after 30+ hours of travel.
We could NOT wake them up!  

About 30 minutes later & Mr. W4 joined them.
Miss E6 was wide awake.  She had slept well on the plane!

An hour later... still snoozing... couldn't wake
them to feed them!  Unfortunately, they woke
up around midnight, I think, starving.  =0( 

The next day after nap we tried to wake Miss V2 and
brought her downstairs... she would NOT wake up.
All of the kids had passed out WITHOUT eating supper
AGAIN!  It would be another midnight supper!  These pictures
were taken around 8:30 pm new time... so 8:30 am at "home."  

This time even Miss E6 had passed out!  

THIS is tired!  

I've always heard in order to overcome jetlag, you need to start functioning in your new time zone ASAP.  If it is daylight, when you arrive... stay awake.  If it nighttime, go to bed.  I've also been told that if you have kids, it usually takes 1 day per hour of time change before they will be adjusted!  Well, we had traveled 12 time zones EAST... so we were looking at a 12 day adjustment period???!!!!  

After being picked up at the airport, we were driven about 3 hours to our temporary house (with a stop at KFC).  After the lunch stop, one by one the kids passed out and eventually, I did, too.  Dano can't remember if he did or not!  After arriving at the house, the kids just moved locations and stayed passed out!  Dano & I were awake, but decided to take a nap despite "advice" to stay awake til bedtime, but the two guys here to help us did suggest we nap!  I'm so glad we did since the kids eventually woke up & were ready & "to go."  

I don't remember much about the day by day play of what was going on, but I do remember being BUSY making the most of our time with the 2 guys who had come to help us get settled.  We did start functioning in the new time zone, but the kids kept passing out before eating supper... so we just started eating supper earlier!  Unfortunately the middle of the night wakings continued for several more days... but overall, I think the adjustment came quickly!  I'd say in 4 days, Dano & I were adjusted.  It may have taken about a week for the kids.  I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful it did NOT take the 12 days we were expecting!  Some people say that flying EAST to WEST (instead of WEST to EAST) helps you get over jetlag faster.  This is what we did... I'm not sure if that had anything to do with our fast adjustment or not.  Some people say when you fly 12 time zones... it doesn't really matter which direction you fly!  =0)  Whatever it was, I am THANKFUL!  

Stay tuned for "Our Home - part 2" coming soon!

Our Home - part 1

The front of our house.  The area on "this side" of the gate is the road!
Our house is VERY close to the road... the very busy, noisy, dusty road!

Many friends and family have asked to see our house.  I've been debating on how to best do this.  I finally decided that I would do several posts focusing on different sections so you can see WHERE we live. 

I'll try to describe each picture the best I can.  This is the house we live in.  It is kind of like a duplex.  Our family lives in the main part, but the family we rent from lives in another section of the house.  We each have our own entrances.  The door that connects the two parts on the inside is behind our refrigerator and it is covered with thin pieces of wood on both sides.  When you look at the picture above, the section to the left that is forward is our part of the house (and it continues pretty deeply into the back).  The part on the right that is set back is the section our landlord's family lives in.  They are living in a very small portion of the house.  It is three rooms (four if you count the bathroom):  a kitchen & two bedrooms (one doubles as the living room).  They spend a large majority of their time outside.  Before we moved here, they lived in both sections of the house.  How many live there?  The mother & father, their 13 year old daughter, & their 2 young sons (9 and 7 years old).  They have a 17 year old son who now lives next door with his aunt & uncle and his grandparents & two cousins.  

I'll describe the inside of our house later... preferably with pictures!  =0)  

Our "teras" which sounds a lot like terrace...
but you have to trill the "r" and the "a" sounds more like a short o.

I thought I would add a close up of the front porch (aka teras).  It is a great outside place.  It is white tile like the entire inside of our house.  During the dry season (which we are currently in), it gets so dusty and dirty so fast.  Of course the chickens that leave deposits don't help either!  We have our helper sweep and mop it in the morning and again in the afternoon before she leaves.  It is important to keep it clean!  Also... another teras note... every night, as soon as it gets dark... you MUST turn your teras light on & keep it on til morning.  Why?  I don't know... but if we forget, our neighbors come tell us!  =0)  I have been told they think it wards off evil spirits.  

You may find the unusual colors of our house to be... hmmmmmmm... how can I say this... less than desirable??  A couple of years ago, I probably would have, too!  However, when we first pulled up to this house to look at it, I had tears in my eyes?  I knew it was the house for us!  You may think that is odd... but you see, this bright green has become one of my most favorite colors.  It is the color for Lymphoma Cancer Awareness.  In October 2010, my father passed away as a result of Lymphoma.  He had planned to come to Indonesia with us to help us with the kids and just to come along... because he was that kind of Daddy!  So whenever I look at our house it makes me think of my Daddy... and in some ways, he IS right here with us!  So... I LOVE the color of our little green house!  

Our street (unusually calm) looking down to the left.
You can see the sawah to the right of the picture.
This is the same sawah we have had in other posts.

Our street... looking to the right.  Again... unusually calm.

Again, looking down to the right.  I zoomed in so that you could see a
 little more of the village down the road. You can also vaguely see the
mountain and the sun beginning to set.  

Next time... I think I will show you the rest of our outside area before we move inside or around the neighborhood... I hope you'll visit again!  Be sure and leave a comment!  (If you don't know how to sign in...you can be anonymous then just sign your name in your post if you want to.)

Crossing the Street

The above video is a typical street in Bandung (the city about 30 minutes away).  Actually, this is kind of a "light traffic" road.  I took this video just after I crossed this street.  The traffic NEVER stops.  It is a continual flow.  There is no crosswalk.  There are no lights at this intersection.  If you want to cross the road, you just step out in traffic and hold your hand out similar to what a traffic cop might do if he wants you to stop.  THEN you just keep walking with authority!  Don't stop... don't question your right to be there... just keep walking!  

Yeah, sounds pretty scary and ridiculous to me, too!  Actually, on this day back in May, I still wasn't brave enough to do it on my own!  Thankfully, another brave individual came along and I "tag-alonged" beside her!  =0)  Amazingly, this is just the way it is done here... and cars and motorcycles tend to slow down!  Shew!  =0)