I meant to add this to the last blog....video of Ian trying his first piece of cake on his birthday! Complete with commentary by Elise and the Perez kids.... He sure dug into it!

Our 1 Year Old!

We had sort of a day-long celebration for Ian's birthday today!  It was a fun day.  We had a party for him with some of our Indonesian friends this afternoon.

If you are curious how Indonesians sing Happy Birthday, then watch the video below!  We sing Happy Birthday, then they sing "Panjang Umurnya"...or "long life."

Earlier in the day we had invited our MAF friends who have kids to join us at a local indoor playground, for a play session to celebrate Ian's big day!

It's a fun place!  Indonesia is big on having places for kids to play.  It seems every shopping center has a kids play place.  This one is conveniently located right next to one of the town's best "supermarkets,"  so sometimes one of us lets the kids play while the other does the shopping we need to do.

On Ian's actual birthday one week ago, we did have a party, but it was an impromptu thing as we had gotten home from a week in Jakarta the day before.  Our friends the Perezes joined us that night for cake and ice cream.

Mommy and Elise worked hard to make Ian's cake. 

 He sure enjoyed having his first piece of cake!  He woofed it down.  Strangely....he didn't want anything to do with his second cake.


Random pics from the last several days....

I've been taking a few more pictures than normal over the last week.  I cleaned the mold out of my camera lens....

Notice the whitish spots forming on the surface.  That's something you have to think about here in the tropics, and apparently I didn't pay enough attention.  I thought it was going to have to be junked, but a you-tube tutorial taught me how to open my lens and clean it all in about twenty minutes.  Like new again!

In addition to that, I have been having a little fun with a used telephoto lens I bought from one of our language school teachers.....

Elise with our friend Jared.  Elise really likes Jared!  A while back Jared had knee surgery to repair a broken ACL, and Elise is always sure to ask him how his knee is doing.  She is a compassionate little girl!  Jared and his wife Teresa have a dog named Ada (below).

Dogs are not common here, so it is a treat to see Ada once in a while!

My friends Jon (left) and Ben (middle) (also MAF folks) playing soccer.  Every Wednesday they play at the international school.  Sometimes I join in.  It's a great way to get some exercise and hang out with the locals.

Ian doing his signature point and "ooohhh!!"

At a "cultural expo" at a local college with our friends Aaron, Katie and Andrea (in the background).

Lastly, we decided to make the jump of turning Elise's afternoon nap into a "rest time" where she can sit in her bed, read her books, and play with her stuffed animals, etc etc.  The other day, we went in and saw this......

First Easter in Indo

Happy Easter everybody!  It has been fun trying to explain to our three year old a little bit about the meaning of Easter this year.  I am not too sure she gets it though.  The conversation usually goes something like “Elise.”  “What Daddy?”  “Did you know we are celebrating Jesus rising from the dead today?”  “Yeah, and then we get to go eat easter eggs and candy right?”

Elise and Ian today in their Easter gear

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I am so glad that, not only did God create us with a need for proof in order to believe things, but he honored that need in a major way on that first Easter.

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Then they remembered his words. "
Luke 24:  7-8

Several years back I learned a lot about this.  Even the staunchest of historical critics that oppose Jesus agree on a few fundamental and irrefutable facts about Easter and Christ rising from the dead.

The agree he definitely died on the cross.

They agree the tomb was found empty on Sunday morning.

They agree that Christ made appearances to many after he rose from the dead.

They agree the group of his followers were radically transformed after those appearances, going from a scared and scattered group among whom only one was present when Jesus' life was withering away on the cross, to a motivated and visionary group who saw thousands join them almost immediately.  Out of the 11 remaining desciples, 10 were said to have died as martyrs for Christ.

With those things being in place, it would take more faith to believe some of the rumors that were created, like the disciples stole his body out of the tomb while nobody else was looking, that Jesus actually came to in the tomb, dusted himself off, was able to nurse back to health and make his appearances.  Or my favorite, that it was actually someone else on the cross not Jesus, and that people were mistaken.  With the historical evidence in place, all these options take a lot more faith to believe than the story we read in the Bible.

To read in better detail about this (ie where in the world did I get this) click here.

So Ian didn't hunt for eggs today, but big sis shared some of hers!

And of course, a group shot!

Everybody knows one of the best parts of Easter is dressing up your kids in cute clothes and watching them hunt for easter eggs!  Elise and Ian enjoyed an easter egg hunt after church today. (Elise got a little practice the other night at our language school's Easter party/egg hunt too!)  Well Ian watched, while Elise gathered up some plastic eggs (full of yummy treats)!

Heather and I were trying to remember where we were on the past few Easters.  We've realized that the four Easters we have spent as parents have all been in different places.  Last year Easter was two days after Ian was born.  We celebrated Easter in the hospital in Boise.  We were still there because Heather had a C section.  The hospital photographer happened to come on Easter day.

Ironically, Ian celebrated his second Easter today, but still hasn't celebrated a birthday yet.  That will be on April 22.

So last year's Easter Egg hunt took place both in the hospital room in Boise, and on the neat playground they had.  Elise was the only contestant.  She had a blast.

There she is sitting on the floor in the hospital room, enjoying some of her loot!  It was the first time she grasped the concept of an Easter egg hunt.

The year before, we were in Arizona visiting.  Elise and cousin Isla got together on Easter for some cute pics!  

That's my twin sister Kelly and husband Joe with little Isla on the same day.  (ironically we both have baby boys now too, almost the same age.  It must be a twin thing)

And finally....Elise's first Easter (2009) we spent in Grand Rapids Michigan.  We lived there for over three years and we miss Michigan!  We had a lot of family visit us from Missouri on Elise's first Easter weekend.  Elise was only four months old.

It's amazing how time flies, and how fast they grow!  Next year we will be in yet another place.....Papua.

Sunday drive

Today was just a good day!  We visited our friend Denny's church.  He is a local guy who helps with a lot of things for MAF families, like doing home repairs and building futniture.  We call him "Pak Denny."  Denny happens to be the guitar player at his church.....and has been the guy doing that for over 20 years!  That means he started in his young teens.  Here is the church building....

The pastor rides a bus in from Semarang...a big city about an hour away.  The "band" consists of Denny playing by himself on the electric guitar plugged into a big amp.....and somebody showed up with a tambourine a little ways into the service.  Denny is great at playing those songs....and I bet he has hundreds memorized as he doesn't use any sort of music.

For church we normally go to a "fellowship" in English.  Sometimes we like to visit services in Bahasa Indonesia or "Indonesian."  I am encouraged to feel like I am understanding more and more....today was the first time I felt like I really got the sermon!  And it was very encouraging.....it was over a passage many of you are probably familiar with...1 Corinthians 13.....the old "love" chapter read at many weddings!  You know....love is patient, love is kind....etc., etc.  It is one of my favorite passages so I was excited to listen today.


So because Indonesians like to have church a little earlier than we are used to....we got done with church much earlier than normal, and had some time on our hands.  We did something I have been wanting to do for a long time with Heather and the kids....we just went on a drive!  There's a really pretty road with great views of rice fields and neat little towns I have wanted to take them down....so that's where we went!!  Heather took a bunch of pictures as we drove....so here are some of the sights (and sounds) of rural Java Indonesia from our trip today!

First here's a video she took.....

Elise in the back seat enjoying her snack.

Oops...I guess it didnt auto un-rotate!

Heather spied a "petani" or rice farmer bringing his oxen down the street.

Or maybe they are called bison...or water buffalo....I forget.  They are used to work the rice fields.

Worker in the muddy "sawah"...rice field

A little food stand

Elise by our car.  We got it after being here about two months when we realized we weren't comfortable taking all four of us on a scooter.  It has been such a blessing, not only to be able to go places together but also to help friends.  We've gotten to help some of our new MAF friends when they arrive here.  Most importantly I've been able to take our neighbor and one of our MAF friends to the doctor with urgent medical situations.  I guess I will be doing that more often next year....using an airplane!  Our plan is to sell the car before we move in August.

When we got back from our drive, we wanted to explore a resort here in Salatiga.  We've driven by it many times, and curiosity finally got the best of us.  We were amazed at how nice it was.  They had a restaurant, and they had really good food!  So for the same price as lunch at Applebees back home, we got an awesome Chinese/Japanese meal today.  What a treat.  

You can barely see our table there....and you can see the pool out in the distance.  Too bad we didn't bring our trunks/suits!  So if you come visit us, you can stay at this pretty amazing resort for 54 dollars per night!

Elise got to try chopsticks for the first time...she did a good job!

Ian LOVED his chopsticks.  We brought them home for him to play with.

They made an amazing ice-cream creation for us.

As we explored the place, Elise enjoyed the amenities!

We found this sign by the check-in desk.  If you've ever visited Indonesia, it makes perfect sense!  They don't want people to eat the infamous fruit "Durian" (some people call it stinky fruit) in their hotel rooms....because the smell is so strong that it sticks around.

So we got home from our lunch/adventure mid-afternoon...both kids napped at the same time (rare)....and so did we....while enjoying the sounds of a tropical rainstorm.  What a glorious day!