Elijah's 1st Bday!

So on Lij's bday (Sept 28) we were in the capital city of Jakarta to deal w/ visa stuff. Just before that point we'd been robbed & J's camera had been stolen. Our colleagues & friends Jon & April were great enough to take pix of our celebration at a beautiful mall nearby the guesthouse. Thanks J, A & Edai for celebrating with us while we were away from home!

We decided to go to Cold Stone Creamery 'cuz they give you a free ice cream on your bday if you signup to receive their online coupon. We were shocked they actually took the U.S. coupon in Indo but nicely shocked that is :) Cold Stone is setup in the mall right next to Krispy Kreme so J & A got him a doughnut for his cake & we got him an ice cream cupcake. Then we let the show begin...

We haven't been giving him anything w/ straight up processed sugar at all so his bday was quite a buzz for this little dude!

Although kinda confused at what that round thing may have been, he seemed to warm up to the idea quick enough.


Then he went for the cupcake which we didn't realize had a solid chocolate "puck" at the bottom.

When he got to the bottom he really didn't know what to do w/ himself but just indulge!

We found out that you can give your kid a bath w/ baby wipes when necessary...Happy Birthday Elijah!

Pea Pod

While we're eating Cinnabon equivalents, Lij gets pea pods:) He doesn't look too thrilled in the pix but the video tells a different story...

Cinnabon

Well thanks to U.B., Elissa tried her 1st Cinnabon about 20 yrs ago in Spokane, WA & has been a fav ever since. We actually had one real store (not a knockoff like can happen here - Papa Ron's for instance?!) here on Sumatra (hr flight from us tho) but it closed awhile ago. So, E found a recipe online for some really good equivalents...here's to all Cinnabon lovers out there!
(Oh yea, notice J's favorite cranberry hibiscus tea, also called Roselle tea. He 1st tasted it in Africa & we just found some in Indo after searching specialty stores all over the U.S. for 3 yrs- yes!)

Visitors

Here's a couple pix of folks that have stopped by our place recently...first, Elissa's closest friend here Liana :)

And then another family that we met when their father came over to talk with J one day. Their boys really took to Lij!
In the video the one little guy keeps saying "A-deck" meaning "little brother" - very cute.

Isn't it Ironic...

This is the office of animal husbandry, etc. so obviously it makes sense to house water buffalo as well...?!

J tries to explain in the video (when he says "cur-bow" he means water buffalo)

Since we're on an animals being in weird places theme, here's a video of a crab J caught under his motorbike...

And lest we have a post w/o Lij, here's a random funny pix (taken thru his mosquito netting) of him half out of his diaper...not sure if the velcro's going on our cloth diapers or he was messin' around before falling asleep!

Oh the Places We'll Go...

Once Elijah could finally sit up (enough!) on his own, we wanted to try him out in the Aceh version of a baby bike seat. He got his new to him Craig's List helmet all warmed up in his walker first ;)

We're not sure how he managed a gang sign pose in this one but it sure made us laugh!

Strap fascination first...

Here's a clip of Lij tooling around the house in his new helmet, trying to grab the camera.

We'd brought a water noodle over from the U.S. & J ended up using it as a buffer on Jah's new rod iron seat. He doesn't seem to bothered by the funky style ;)

Preparing to ride...

We're off!

And the video of E & e riding - we saw a babi hutan (wild boar) but couldn't catch it on the video clip...

Here J's trying to pump up this old bike's tires. We borrowed this from our friends w/ FHI here in Calang & Elissa rode this all while she was pregnant. Ended up that the tire went flat & so we rode VERY slowly together to try & get it fixed (never found a place).

Now E's upgraded to a bike that can hold Lij too on her jaunts into town. Since these pix/videos were taken, J had a mountain bike given to him from MAF friends when they left Aceh so we'll have to do a post from our 1st "real" ride together later!

Anniversary & Bday Celebration

So mid-August was our 6th anniversary & E's bday so we decided to trek (& yes it ended up being more "trekkish" this time!) our way up to Banda Aceh (BA) for a change of scenery & a place to celebrate. We took a wrong turn @ some point (road signs are unclear or nonexistent @ this point!) & ended up taking the mountain route after a hard rain...wow.
Here we are sliding our way to BA...

Shortly thereafter a truck in front of us got stuck & a bunch of guys were out rocking it back 'n forth 'til it finally came lose.

With the rain, the river rose enough to cross the road @ one point.

Right after crossing the river we saw that a huge truck had gone off the road the night before in the hard rain. The folks gathered @ the spot said that the driver survived thankfully.

The next couple pix/videos weren't on this particular trip but also going to/from BA. Here's a big monitor lizard on the way to BA that J decided needed a little company.... unfortunately (or fortunately?) the lizard didn't share the same sentiments.


We saw these white water buffalo on one of our trips to BA. Can't decide if really their skin is pink or they just get sunburned like us, j/k :)

Once we arrived after our 7ish hr trip we enjoyed taking a little time for some R & R!

This was one of the few hotels that had a pool in Banda, so great for celebrations! At the pool there were these turtle statues all around - we thought it would be funny to have a family pix w/ them but E's covering "her" mama turtle in the 1st pix ;)


Tried to capture the fact that Elijah finally had enough hair to "mohawk" it but it's not super clear in the pix...

But a little more obvious in the mohawk video! We didn't realize how much Lij would like splashing around 'cuz we don't use baths in Aceh so it was a new experience for him...




Enjoyed going out to our fav restaurant in town (they serve Italian, pretty shocking!)
And Lij lookin' all coy 'n stuff :)

Lij @ E's bday dinner enjoying playing with his diaper cloth. Had just found out our good friends the Littletons had their 2nd son on E's bday, very fun! Forgot that we were filming sideways, oops.

Here's a random pix of Acehnese boats in BA, gotta love all the colors!

Here's Elijah enjoying a bit of mango juice @ the hotel restaurant.

As we headed back home right outside of BA we took a little stretch break before we hit the road that's too narrow to stop on...

Here we are about to get on a ferry on our way back from BA:

Jah enjoying himself making "bumpy rd sounds"

And last but not least, nursing break with a view :)

4th of July Indo Style

We got together w/ friends on the 4th & grilled out by the beach, yum! Obviously we're behind in our blogging;)

Quick clip of enjoying some apple pie...

Sitting around on a mat to eat is pretty normal here...got a quick snapshot of the crew here & especially our newlywed friends Hengki & Berta who are expecting in November!

Here's Yuli, Monik & baby Alden :)

Elijah trying drinking from a cup...

Celebrating Father's Day

So after Bali we stopped over in Jakarta to keep working through visa stuff. It fell over J's 1st Father's Day & since he loves ocean animals so much E planned a trip to Indo's SeaWorld. Was fun to watch Lij watch the fish, etc., exciting to think what'll be like when he can talk about his thoughts!

Maybe someday Lij can ride a live sea turtle, E's actually seen one in the ocean not far from our home. Unfortunately @ "our" beach the fishermen like to sell their eggs for eating.


Gotta love those tunnels where you're riding through a lifesized aquarium.

Now here's a whopper! Whatcha think of this one Pop?! :)

Took this pix & video especially for Lij's Aunt Crissy - he's so interested in looking @ this dugong!

Broken Record..!

Happy to be a broken record because there is good reason to say yet again, read our "In More Detail" link for well, more details :)

Bali

Wow are we overdue on posting! We also just posted a great story on our "In More Detail" link, email us if you want access to the site.

So here's a blip from our time in Bali. Most of our time in Bali was spent @ our yearly conference (no pix from the mtgs, would be too boring) however Jason was in charge of organizing the youth trip this year so they went white water rafting :)

The place was called Sobek Falls...

Here's the crew grabbing a bite to eat:

And of course we had fun moments as a fam too (gotta love that laugh!)

This clip was taken the same night - Lij trying fresh mango juice (as well as drinking from a straw) for the first time - yum!

A final clip on the day we left Bali...

Random Compilation

We're not sure exactly when these snapshots/videos were taken exactly, just as we saw Lij in a fun pose or when the mood hit us right!
Trying out finger foods...

Thanks J & B for this great chew toy!

Didn't stage this one, 2 of his favorites: "beary" & his blue blanket.

Just enjoying his walker...


Getting more handy w/ his bottle as weaning continues:


Fun shot w/ Dad!

Our sweet next door neighbor named Winda - she just loves Jah :)

Didn't realize how well Lij has gotten his roll technique down 'til the other day...


Here Elijah grabbed his playgym & it got stuck on his walker. He seemed happy enough to haul it around though ;)


Failed attempt @ trying to combine 2 shorter naps into one long one...asleep @ the dinner table.

Saved the best video for last...

Pit Stop

OK, back to our normal posting...once we got to Banda Aceh we made a quick ferry trip over to a nearby island called Sabang. The only other time we made that trip was for Valentine's last year when E was just pregnant & feeling nauseous. It was so much nicer to carry Lij on the outside this time!!

We wanted to check out retreat possibilities for fellow workers here in Aceh. Here's a couple pix from a yummy fish dinner that we had after meeting some fishermen on the beach & buying their catch...

Whatta Hubby!

Well J made a really sweet video that originally had audio problems but now is fixed so if you watched the soundless version, try again when you have a minute :)

Anniversary and B-day

Hey E,

So glad God made you and gave you to me! This is a little video to celebrate you.

Heading Out of Town

Our internet's been down for awhile but we're up & running again so we'll pickup where we left off... So in order to get to our yearly conference we took a 7 hr. drive to the capital of Aceh (Banda Aceh), flew from our island (Sumatra) to the island of Java & after 2 days of traveling we got there (a little late!) Here's the 1st leg of our trip, the beautiful drive up the coast of Aceh.
In this video J's referring to our favorite "warung" which means cafe :)

And we get to cross bridges like this free of charge! (Notice the box to the right before crossing for donations to fix it...)

Settling In...

Well, this'll be a hodge-podge of things but basically sums up the few weeks we had home before we headed out again for our yearly conference in Bali...

First thing we did once getting back home was to head over to see Jos & Yuli's new baby named Alden. We're so happy w/ Jos & Yuli! He was born while we were having to deal w/ visa stuff in Jakarta.




When we got back home folks also stopped over to see Lij (not really to see us!) ;)

Here we enjoyed dinner on the seawall outside our home/office with a few friends. Elijah got all bundled up in his Indo cloth carrier to ward off mosquitoes.


We also enjoyed a beach trip to our favorite "secret cove" with our friend & intern Joel as well as some of our national buds.






A couple times a month we like to get together w/ likeminded folks across different organizations. Here's one of those meetings in our livingroom. Look @ our prego friends Lily on the left & Berta on the right, so cute!




Here's Elijah enjoying his "Johnny Jump-up" on our front porch (our office in the background) as well as taking parts off of his walker to eat them...


Every morning behind our home as we eat breakfast we see fishermen (like our friend Bal here) pass by from the ocean back home - sometimes they're carrying fun things like hammerhead sharks or stingrays too!

Another fun random pix, J trying a temporary fix on the hole that our neighborhood cat made in our screen door (Lij looking on w/ great interest ;)

Lij trying his new sippy cup!


Which evidently wore him out...;)

We're enjoying reading books with Jah these days - every once & awhile kids in the neighborhood like to listen in too (the translated version of course)


And us just hanging out :)

Ahh...Back Home

Here's a couple videos & pix of hanging out with our next door neighbors...


And a final snort from Lij makes everybody laugh :)

Baby dedication ceremonies here are important - notice the gold on this baby's wrist, a family's way of saving.

Everyone wanted to hold Jah (or actually Yusuf, he's called by his middle name here)

A Few Furry (& not so furry) Friends

So this post is dedicated to the ever present animal life around our home, some more amusing than others! One morning E saw a cow in our backyard that had gotten into our neighbor's trash can. Wasn't long before a quick back scratch put this guy on his way to a trash can lid free day.


Here's a video of an especially friendly goat that ate a mango seed of ours like a piece of candy...

So these next pix aren't exactly around our home but rather on the way up the mountain to the village where we're working - here's J's foot in the middle of an elephant footprint.
As well as our friend Arifik's hand...great guy.
Wouldn't want to leave out the pix of the motorbikes in this spot where it looks like the elephants were dancing...


This pix was an attempt to capture a new find for us - lizard eggs in the keyhole, oh brother.
While visiting our teammates Jos & Yuli & their new son Alden, we got a chance to show Jah some cute chicks. Why do we feel our life is like one big petting zoo...?! Ha :)

And a couple videos to fill in the details...



Since we're on the "animals on the porch" theme, thought we'd post our fav animal clip in awhile:

In the cows (slight) defense, here's a quick clip of what a storm looks like (hence they run to our porch!)

Jakarta

So after Bangkok we had to return to Indo's capital for 2 wks. to process our new letters of permission to stay. Here Elissa is trying to help Elijah sit up for his "oh so cute" pix :)

Now that we were official 'n all, we were able to get our driver's licenses...w/o a test, hmmm. And yes, there's 3 cards - don't worry Lij wasn't able to pass the hoops too, just J has to carry a separate car & motorbike license.

After waiting @ the license bureau, Lij had his naptime on the go...

We stayed at a team member's home during this time. They have this great bird that loves people. Here's E's trying to balance the bird & Lij continually leaning in to get a closer look, hence the "crained neck look!"

We took a trip to the local mall & Lij needed a nap so we used our Indo baby carrier as a portable darkness maker yet again...

Afterwards we caught a couple clips of a kids celebration day there @ the mall, too cute. Evidently these little guys had a basketball theme going on for their dance...

The teens on the other hand were...well, teeny.

Saw this sign in the mall & had to snap a pix:

With our "longer" stint in Jakarta, we finally started figuring out the busway, a big relief to our wallets.

While in Jakarta, we found out our friend Edo had passed away in a motorbike accident. Here's his wife Lois with their 1 yr old little girl at his burial site.

Here we are on the way to the hospital after Jah had thrown up quite a bit - why the pix you may ask? We were stuck in traffic & about to go crazy...! Here's to more of the "real" side of life!

Elijah also began learning how to sit in a high chair during this time - use #248 of our Indo baby carrier, tie Lij into the high chair. (clearly he's not that thrilled)

And to finish off, here's Lij all smiles & then gets startled by a noise & has a quick change of thought...

Final Thailand Pix/Videos

Ok, so this'll be a longer post but it'll finish up our time in Thailand. We've been on a little bit of a hiatus from good internet so are trying to catch up on some blogging while we're out of Aceh...heading back in later today!
We caught a 3D movie which Jah seemed to enjoy as well even w/o the glasses:


Luke & Levi - Jah wanted to say a quick "hey" as he saw this "Thomas" shirt which reminded us of you!

Found a fun pillow which Lij had to feel...

Sticky rice & mangoes is one of our fav Thai treats - here's what it looks like when sold on the street :)
Went to SE Asia's biggest market, just up the street from the guesthouse where we stayed. J & Jah enjoyed looking @ the puppies of course.

We came across some Thai guys playing bluegrass..what in the world?!

And this dude was painting a shoe in the "art district" of the market.

Here's a 360 view of the market...

Here's our transport when we left the market:

Had a little downtime in our room as well where Lij enjoyed his new book from the Stables - thx so much guys!!!
And a salmon meal out - Thailand has some pretty amazing, cheap food.

After our meal, we caught a couple minutes of Jah playing & a few laughs! :)

We heard a place called "The Train Restaurant" had great Thai but wanted to capture some of the inside for our train-lovin' pals :)

A quick clip of the train station across the street after we finished dinner (a little weary by that point) ;)

Enjoyed running into our friends Dave & Jim unexpectedly!


And leaving Bangkok back for Indo:

Back to Thailand

So in order to pickup our new visas, we had to return back to Thailand. Here's a few pix/videos of the 1st time we've flown out of our town to the capital of Aceh (Banda Aceh) as a fam.

Pretty soon after takeoff we flew over "our" bay - there's a little island in the video clip - that's the one that shows up in all our pix of the bay from our home with the island out to sea...

Here's a look out the window of the 9 person plane we flew out with:

We turned our papers in right away & then it was just a waiting game 'til we could head back to Indo. We decided to make the most of our time in Bangkok beginning with a trip to the grocery store...hmmm, veggie cereal.
We couldn't believe our eyes, Reeses!

And the world's smallest ice cream cone...
What an appropriate name.

And trying dragonfruit, yum!

Happy Father's Day J!

Love you Daddy!

Plus the Videos...

When we last posted we didn't have the internet "umph" to post some of the videos that went along w/ the pix...so, here they are!

Lij in his walker...

Lovin on his favorite (well, only) stuffed bear - thanks Aunt G!

Yet another adventure of J wrangling wild beasts around our home...ok, maybe it's just a big lizard.

And lizard catching part 2...

While home we took Lij up to the village where we're working. Here's the car ride up (notice the safety measures to keep Jah's head semi "in place" during rough patches in the road :)

We hung out in the village chief's home for a bit, here's a clip of his daughter's room while she & her friends hung w/ Lij.

And last, but certainly not least, his diaper explosion episode (lest we forget the not so exciting parts of our day)

Home Again Home Again

So our friend Jeff K came from VA to check out the possibilities of partnering with the work here. It was great to get to hang out with him & we're so thankful he hauled a whole suitcase full of stuff for us - thanks Jeff! Among the stuff was a baby mosquito net 'Lij is modeling for us here on our front porch with J.
We've had a couple "firsts" in the mean time - a new walker...
Asleep on the job...As well as more solid foods bringing a whole new aspect to our lives ;)

Heading Home...

So after our stint in Jakarta waiting out the elections, we headed separately back into Aceh. J went ahead of E & e 'cuz we had a guest coming in from VA. Elijah & Elissa stayed the night in Medan & 'Lij got himself a little stuck...

And here's the pix after he gained his freedom :)

Waitin' Out Election Time in Jakarta

So there was some unrest in Papua @ election time but not in Aceh thankfully. We got a few video clips & pix in the mean time - in no particular order:

Caught him about a day after he learned to roll over...
We grabbed a bite to eat & Lij tried his new flip technique on the bench seat...(pix taken from under the table)

He did a little better in the chair:

E enjoyed her heart-shaped foccacia...welcome to the big city of Jakarta!
Our friend Becca says we don't post enough "real" pix so we tried to simulate what it looks like when we're angry w/ each other but we ended up laughing & the flash in the pix kinda hides us...o well, we tried.

Also while we were waiting to head back to Aceh E met up with a friend who used to work in Aceh also, now working as a teacher in Jakarta. E went & met up with a couple of the classes there who decided to help raise $ for Aceh - fabulous! Here's our friend Meisi & her hubby-to-be Fabi.
And here's Meisi's class w/ E, Lij & Meisi in the middle...

Made a trip to the grocery store & saw an orange almost as big as Jah's head - hormones much?
We thought this brand of diapers was particularly funny - the kid on the pack looks so excited but the name brand is "GOON" go figure.
One final pix w/ J feeding Jah during our few days in Jakarta.

Great Wall Marathon

So tomorrow, Saturday, May 16, 2009 E's sister running a heck of a marathon - we're so proud of her - go Crissy!

Dam Break in Jakarta

Right before we got to Jakarta there was a huge dam break that was reported to have killed over 100 people & made thousands homeless. Here's some of the footage J took while he & others with our sponsoring foundation were trying to assess the needs to see how best to help.

From Bandung to Jakarta

So here's our train trip down to Jakarta - had the privilege of riding w/ one of J's former Dalat teachers, Tommy Tompkins.


While we were in Bangkok our visa was supposed to get finished in time for us to pick it up but there was another delay so we decided to return to Indo...it could be days or months before it was ready. We'd already spent a couple days in Bandung (earlier post) & then headed to the capital (Jakarta) which is where we found out it was granted & were seriously in shock since this has been over 2 years in process!

So, we ran & got our pix taken Indo style (red background) - 'Lij was so cute letting J hold him in place for the shot. Afterwards we celebrated @ Chili's since the only one we know of in Indo is right around the corner from the guesthouse where we were staying. In the last pix J's trying to show the huge amount of cheese that was on the nachos he ordered & then explains w/ the video too. Is this normal in the U.S.? We were totally grossed out by the gobs of cheese & salt...shnasty!