Sudah lama...

OR it's been a loooong time! You know it's bad when you start getting emails saying "Are you still alive?"
In the time since I've posted last lots has happened:
we got a dog and got rid of him (he like to chew the baby);
Caleb got a fever and rash, and got rid of it;
Matt got a staph infection, and praise Jesus, got rid of it;
Kelly got dengue fever, and praise Jesus again, got rid of it;
Kelly and Matt both got hair cuts, which they hate. I think they look fine, but my opinion means nothing in the face of a bad haircut.
We got a motor bike, but don't worry Grandma, Caleb doesn't ride it! I have even learned to drive it, but not on the big streets yet. I'm too nervous! What else...
I took a photography class in Indonesian and actually understood most of it. Caleb finally learned to crawl, then the next week learned to pull up and cruise around the furniture. He says "Dada" but not like Daddy, it's Indonesian for "bye-bye." He waves with it, and it's super cute. He weighs 22 pounds, but it feels like more because he's so wiggly when you hold him. He giggles a lot, but one surefire way to get him to laugh is to say, "Caleb, you're GROSS! YUCK!" It gets him every time, I'm not sure why. All the homeschool moms in our city started a homeschool co-op in order to get our kids out of the house. It's been nice so far, Jeremy is the gym teacher. That's all the family stuff I can think of. There! You're caught up.

These are ants from our mango tree- Matt called me out to take some National Geographic shots of them because we couldn't belive there was so many. They bite, too! After I took the picture there was much an ant massacre involving half a bottle of bug spray and a lot of dancing around.



Here's a fun story: my culture lesson for the day. My friend asked me to go to the hospital to see her sister, who had just had surgery. No problem, I'd just pick her up and make an appearance, home in time for dinner. So I go to her house, and she's changing. I sit with her mother in law and listen to all her medical problems from the last 12 years. Then my friend says, My other sister is coming too, is that okay? She's bathing but will be ready soon. Okay, no problem. Then two kids strip and bathe in the front yard faucet. Apparently they want to go, too. No problem. 20 minutes (and a loooong medical history) later, we exit their neighborhood onto the streets. My friend waves in both directions, and as if from nowhere, people appear and start piling into my car. 13 people and a lot of apologies later, we're on the way to the hospital. No problem! Two hours at the hospital, getting the third degree from one family member who then announced all my information to the rest of the folks in the hallway. No big deal. On the way to the car to leave they ask, Why don't you eat rice? It hurts your stomach doesn't it? No, I just don't like it that much. So you're afraid it's GOING to make your stomach hurt? NO, I just like potatoes better. So the rice hurts your stomach? Yes, the rice hurts my stomach. Whatever. Then, the question that tells me that these people know more about me than I will ever dream: "I heard you have a lot of straws at your house." I mean, if they have discussed the amount of drinking straws in my cabinets, what else have they talked about? I don't have that many, by the way. So then 13 people (many different than the ones I picked up) piled back into the car and said, Let's take Caleb to Udayana (the street where everyone likes to hang out at night) and he can ride the train. So we stop at Udayana. I was glad because I'd always wanted to stop there but never had. First Caleb rides a man-powered kiddie ride. You can see behind Caleb there is a man riding a bicycle. That's what makes the little animals go up and down. It's kind of ingenious, I think. Then, the nightmare train. They put him (with my friend) on this train that goes really fast and has a car alarm for the music. I don't mean the music sounds like a car alarm, I mean, it's an actual siren and honking noises. You can see in the photo that the animals on the sides of the train look a little horrified, as does Caleb. He was kind of stunned after that and ready to go home. Three hours later we returned home, a little worse for the wear but glad to help our friend and get to meet her family. Even if he did have to ride the nightmare train.