The Intern

Although our life isn't quite as funny as "The Office" we still have interns from time to time. Anna came & stayed with our neighbor friend named Lilis during her time here in Nov. & Dec. We were still cameraless at this point so all these pix are a big thanks to her!

Right around Thanksgiving time this year was when our neighbors were celebrating their yearly Sacrifice Day. Here Lilis (left) & Yuli/Alden (right) are busy with preparations for Hari Qurban. The fun part of this holiday for us is the cookie baking and sharing while visiting friends. Preparing & eating on the floor here is normal :)

Alden! He already looks so different now - the last weeks have flown by.

Anna's housemate Lilis teaches English at a local jr. high. Anna was able to join in on several occasions which they love 'cuz of a native speaker.

Same gender public affection is normal, just cross gender is weird here!

The 8th of every month women & children can come to the Posyandu (local health center) to have their kid weighed up 'til 5 yrs old, basic shots & sometimes even a health lesson and/or nutritious meal.

Here our neighbor Neli has put Epa in the scale as Syola watches on. E's trying to convert kilograms to pounds in her mind.


Syola's turn:

And last but not least, Lij

Elijah's probably the only white head that's peered out from this weigh station!

Here's what we refer to as "The Pink Book." It has each child's records in it - monthly weight, shots received, etc.

These faithful ladies come & give the shots, fill in the books and/or give the health lessons.

Jah loves books of all shapes & sizes. He even pitched a little fit when he couldn't have this lady's book.

Also really took to the baby scale, playing in, on & around it.

This time the kids were given water & an egg with broth & rice. Jah's trying to drink from a straw but wasn't very hungry as he'd just eaten breakfast.

Sitting together while the kids eat...


This year was our 1st Thanksgiving in Aceh. We decided to celebrate with lobster as we hadn't gotten in before thinking it was pricey. Turns out each lobster was only about $4 a piece! We got 2 great lobster recipes from Anna's Dad who evidently is a gourmet cook in his spare time. Jason made a fabulous Thai mango lobster soup. Here's our "recipe book & stand" otherwise known as our laptop on the washing machine.

Jason searched all over Calang to find these beauties!

J was the lobster slayer & E couldn't even watch for posterity's sake.

From plastic bag to pot...

Prep & more prep:

Elijah had his Thanksgiving feast first...

Here's our spread (eating Indo style of course) - had a few traditional foods like corn pudding, etc. but the lobster & quesadillas were a very fun treat for us here where nobody understands Thanksgiving!

Lij had a front row seat behind his baby gate so he wouldn't snatch all our goodies.

Finished off with apple crisp & ice cream (which has only come to Calang since we've been here) - yum!

Anna was sweet & brought us window clinger Thanksgiving decorations. We dressed Elijah up in his VA Tech Hokie outfit from Mom & Dad J as it was the only "turkey" thing we could think to put on him :)

During Anna's time J & Jos took a truckload of ladies up to visit the village where CAMA's irrigation project is in full swing. Here J takes one of his favorite stretch breaks pointing out elephant dung.

Anna in front of the irrigated rice field:

Anna took a few pix of everyday life here in Calang. It's fun to see her perspective too as these have become normal to us now. Like the awesome bay view from our office where the cows come home from the beach from the left...

And E arriving to the office from the right, not phased in the least by the cows on the path ;)

Tsunami warning sign:

Our neighbor kids Gilang (left) & Ebaal (right) playing with a new kitten.

The ever present sound of roosters crowing which we hardly hear anymore:

Our friendly neighborhood monkey who likes to steal food...

And Lilis & Anna's mode of transport:

Right before Anna took off for home we wanted to take her to one of our favorite beaches which we've dubbed "Burton Bay" in honor of finding it with our friends Andy & Tyler.

Here Lilis holds Lij before we hike the steep descent down the mountain to get to the more remote beach.

Taking Lij in our baby backpack is helpful for more rustic fun :)

And a fun family pix - thanks again Anna!

Happy Birthday Jason!

So we're celebrating J's 32nd here in Bandung. We just got our cameras replaced & so J's enjoying taking pix again :) We'll post them asap!

One Last Stand

Why the title? Well Jason accidentally got so excited to swim that he forgot our little point & shoot was in his pocket...so these are the last 2 pictures for its last stand. We're super thankful that the card still worked from the camera to get pictures off of even after several minutes in the ocean!

We enjoyed a trip to the beach with our teammates Jos, Yuli & baby Alden. It was Alden's first time so we wanted to make sure to document it :)

Here's E & e before we hike up a big rock to get to a secret cove we like to swim in.

Video Magazine Team

Was exciting to have a video/photo crew in to capture a bit of our lives/work in Aceh. They even did a "day in the life of a kid" which we're pretty excited about too - will let folks know when the final product's ready!

Beach Outfit for a Beach Baby

New outfit from the g'parents, Lij really enjoyed chewing on the tags ;)

Cold Treats in a Hot Place

On a trip out of Aceh we stopped in a McD's to get an ice cream cone. Turns out they had little hats that fit Lij too :) Ice cream tastes SO much better when it's hot outside!


Enjoying a fresh watermelon & limesicle @ home...mmmm!

A Few Firsts

This post will mostly be for the g'parents who want to stay updated on all the "firsts" in Lij's life :) Posting on 12/11 especially for Pop!

Angel food cake is J's favorite & evidently Elijah was too full to enjoy it this go round...does tasting really count as a first then?!

First attempts @ crawling:

First bath sitting alone (while we were traveling 'cuz no bathtub @ home!)

First time we caught him snoring: (in our friends' car/car seat in Bandung)

This definitely wasn't the 1st time we heard what sounded like a growl coming from Lij but the 1st time we captured it :)

One of the 1st times drinking from a cup...

Learning how to stand...

Just for Fun

Here's a random compilation of pix/videos from the last couple months...

When J & Jos make their trips up to the mountain community we work in we usually take the car seat out to make room in the truck - & Lij always seems to enjoy the temporary addition to his room!

One of our friends named Lily has had her baby since this pix was taken - too cute!

This video's only for dedicated Lij lovers 'cuz it's sideways - oops!

During our last stint to Bandung we stayed with our good friends G & M. They still have many of their kids' old toys which Elijah had fun getting stuck in :)

Couldn't resist this hat stand in Bandung...

Lij playing alone, making his own fun...

And we think this frog rode his way to our shoe rack from inside J's shoe - what in the world?!

Lij playing with Dad:

Elijah has this little snort thing going on when he gets excited that our neighbor's call the "goat smile."

Last but not least - I'm so glad we caught this on video 'cuz for a couple months this was one of Elijah's favorite things to do. He would throw himself backwards, thankfully laughing ahead of time to give us a warning! This is before he could crawl as you can see our car battery was still on the floor in the background to power our fans when the frequent power outtages happen ;)

August Catchup - Birthday Box & more

Seeing as it's now December we thought it might be good to catchup on Aug ;) Here Elissa is opening our package (delivered right to our door btw!) Mail is such a fun thing stateside but it takes on a whole new level when you live overseas - thanks for loving on us Mom, Dad & Becca 'n fam!

Even Lij enjoyed the birthday box, just in a different way :)

Lij climbing out of the box...

Not only was E's bday in Aug but so was Mom & Dad J's anniversary. We'd put together a little clip of Lij in a VA Tech Hokie outfit just for them (both Hokies).
It's taken awhile to catchup on posting pix/videos 'cuz the camera cords were stolen during our robbery. Finally got the cords reordered & shipped to us...we're thankful to have the ability to post again! Happy belated Anniversary M & D :)

Celebration!

So fasting month is pretty important in these parts. The day before the big month began probably at least 100+ friends & neighbors took boats out to a little island in the bay where we live. It was our first all-day hang out event here in Aceh :)

Here's a pix from the trip over on one of the boats...

Closeup of Bunga (flower)- so cute!

And Syola being held safe by her Dad...

Video version:

Once we arrived, Elijah was fascinated by the feel of sand in between his little toes.

Here's Syola sleeping in a baby hammock.

Love this video showing how babies are rocked to sleep - she's speaking Acehnese :)

Here's a group a young guys that live nearby us...

We've known this one in particular (Ball) since we first moved here. He lost his father in the tsunami.

Our neighbor gal Ipa loved playing around the trees & vines & beach...



Here's a panorama of the shore starting with Ipa standing & watching & scanning across a pickup game of soccer to folks swimming, enjoying hanging out!

While Ipa's Mom held him, Elijah seemed to really want to meet another friend :)


Good Dad & Jah time too...

Breaktime to eat.

Lij & Mom pix!


A full day of connecting with folks - good memory :)

Front Porch Fun

Here's a set of pix taken from our front porch...

We have a gutter which is a little weird for folks here but the kids love it when there's a rainstorm! They race to the spout - here's 3 little gals that frequent our place :)

Here's another set of gals who come by often (almost daily) - lots of little girls around! (L-R Bunga (means flower), Indah (means beautiful), Syola (who's carrying her stuffed rabbit like women carry their babies here, head covering 'n all! & Ipa, our local tomboy :)

Here's Ipa's mom up way at the top cutting branches off with the girls looking on. Brave!

Oops!

Forgot to add the video for our most recent post 'til just now so if you already saw the pix, check out the video when you have a minute :)

Daddy's Little Helper

After Elijah poured dish soap all over himself & slid around the kitchen 'til Elissa could finally grab him we decided we needed a way to contain him a bit! J was so great & went to his friend's place (who also happens to be a carpenter) & used leftover scrap wood to make a gate that works GREAT! Whatta guy :)

Here Lij was wanting to see what J was doing with the drill...

And enjoying every moment along the way!

Final product-go Dad!

And a video to boot...

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!)