Eclipse

I really really like it! They are getting better and better. I can keep using double double words too :0) Now granted they added in some Riley character that I don't remember from the books but it has been a while since I've read them. Was he in the book? I thought it was great, I actually understood the love triangle better watching the movie than I did in the book so that was cool. Anyway, really enjoyed it!

This is the church building here in Jakarta. It is much smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside...Trust me! It is very nice though, and we are just so grateful that the church is here. The grounds are beautiful as you can see by the children playing in the front yard. The other 2 children in the picture are Tillie and Gus Page, our Australian friends who are technically from Tazmania (Did you know they were near each other? I sure didn't! Yes Dad, I'm still pathetic where geography is concerned)

Welcome to the family Q-tip

Mike and I decided to get the kids a pet hampster. They've always wanted a puppy or kitten but since that is not an option here we thought this would be a good substitute. Poor little guy, they didn't leave him alone for more than 30 minutes today. He's a nocturnal creature but I'm pretty sure he'll be sleeping tonight.

Sometimes my kids are really terrific helpers, most times I'm unable to document those moments but Mike and I captured this one! Dallin is the awesome dishwasher, Marion is drying, and Emmalyn is helping me cook bacon. And where is Eden? She is mixing pancake batter in a bowl on the kitchen table. What a great evening! Breakfast for dinner is the best!

Marion's End of the Year Music Show

The last picture is the kids doing a "Singing in the rain song" which was adorable! Marion's favorite song of the whole show was "Beautiful Planet". She loves to sing.

Eden's 7th Birthday

Marion and Sports Day!

Sports Day for the EC2 kids at Pondok Indah Elementary! This was so much fun, Marion is one serious athlete, she gave those boys a run for their money! They even let Emmalyn join in much of the fun. All of the people in blue shirts were the Pondok Indah High Schoolers who came over to run the event...what amazing, mature kids! The elementary, middle school, and HS campuses are right next to each other so the schools are involved with one another often, what a great opportunity for those HS'ers as well as the little ones. The last couple of pictures are the EC2 teachers with their heads sticking through and the children got to throw wet sponge balls at their faces...brilliant! Marion clocked one of them really good!

Dallin's 9th Birthday

And then there's Eden...

So today we had a fun morning visiting with some newcomers to Jakarta who live quite nearby (5 minute walk) and on the way home Eden started complaining about her tummy hurting. After arriving home, she ate some lunch and about 30 minutes after that said "Mom, I think I'm going to throw up". Now here is the funny part...

About 2 weeks ago, Dallin went to a birthday party where he ate a load of junk food and then got carsick on the drive home at about 10:30 at night. He's walking up the stairs complaining very loudly "Mom, my throat feels really weird, mom! Mom! Mom! It really feels weird" so we say "go get a drink of water from your bathroom", so he goes in there and starts screaming that something feels weird and then he's screaming and vomiting in the toilet. Literally screaming and shouting "Mom!! Dad!! Somebody, ahhhh!!!!! Louder than Mike or I could possibly scream, meanwhile we are standing right there next to him helping him with a cold rag, flushing the toilet, etc. but he continues to scream like no one knows what's happening to him.

And then there's Eden..."mom, I think I'm going to throw up" so she calmly walks into the bathroom, kneels on the floor in front of the toilet, holds her hair back and vomits in the toilet. She then says to me, "mom, can you wipe my face?" and sobbed a little because as she says, "I don't like throwing up, it doesn't feel good".

Dallin was dying and the neighbors three doors down knew about it! Now, I know you should never compare your children, but seriously, apples and oranges people!

Learning the language

There are days when I feel awesome about my progress with the Indonesian language. I'll start speaking to somone and all of the sudden I think "Holy cow, I just understood what she said!" And then there are days when I think, "I'm delusional! What did you just say?!" Today has been one of those days. My guru (teacher) today said that I hadn't made as much progress since last week as she would like to see... sad. But my housekeeper said that I learn really quick and that she thinks I'm doing great... thanks Ibu Inem! All in all, after studying some spanish in HS, this is a fairly simple language I just need to learn a lot more vocabulary and I still don't quite get the sentence structure entirely but I will be victorious!!

The kids are totally thrilled to be out of school although I have them doing a rigorous summer study program here a home. We have actually hired a tutor for Dallin so that he can get a little more caught up in math. Marion and Emma are taking swimming lessons; Marion is doing terrific, Emma screams the whole time.

Off to the library!

In the beginning...

You know, this is why you should never swear...because you end up doing what you swore you would never do...have a blog for instance. I'm starting this so that all of you, our loved ones, can experience with us our foreign adventures and I won't get in trouble for not keeping everyone up to date. Isn't that how we American's like to do things?? Make it someone else's fault :0) Hahaha