Taman Sahabat (and other glories of my life) -- QM

This morning Ethan and James went out and about and left Dorie and me at home. While I was on the computer in our office, Dorie appeared in the window and said, "Come here Mom, I have something for you"!

Look at that lovely cake that my daughter had made for me! Yum. After this feast we decided that since Dad and James were out having fun (paying for the car and shopping), we would go out too. So we packed snacks and drinks and went for a walk to Friendship Park. Here is our walk, in pictures:

That's Dorie, in front of our house (We live on the left side). Today her umbrella was a parasol--shade is much coveted around here!

Friendship Park (or Taman Sahabat) is a recent gift to Malaysia from China. The Chinese Malaysians are a minority here, but it seems everywhere I go I hear the local Chinese dialect spoken. I love trying out my little bit of Mandarin here! Our temporary house is about three blocks away, and I love to jog there in the mornings.

Our picnic spot overlooked the reflexology path; many believe a walk over these stones is good for your health.

Anyone barefoot and ready to try it out? I like it, but can only take a few minutes of the 'massage.'

What a fun morning!

 Here are some random pictures taken sometime during the last two weeks:

Ants are everywhere! From the fire ants that swarmed all over Dorie when she climbed their tree, to itsy-bitsy ants that will find any speck of food on the floor, these little creatures are a force to be reckoned with!

Dorie found a friend at a nearby food-court. Incidentally, this little girl's parents make the best Singapore Chicken and hot sauce we've had! Her dad even gave me the recipe for the sauce!

James and a snail behind our house. It wanted to get away, as you can see.

 And now, for your parting shot...

Dorie and James hanging out in the wet kitchen. Yes, there was some risk involved.

Oh, and Happy Father's day! Dad, I realized that with the time difference, I could wait to write you a Father's day email until Monday morning and still be on time, and that is probably what will happen because we are going to the beach tomorrow. :)  Love you lots!

To Do -- E.

• move into temporary house
• buy car
• find new house/apartment
• begin to learn Bahasa Melayu

As you can see, our initial to-do list is coming along okay.

A video of the temporary housing is on Facebook.

A picture of our new car (hopefully not so temporary!) is right here.  I am so happy with our little 2001 Perodua Kelisa.  What you can't quite tell from this photo is that the Kelisa is narrow.  Very nice for city driving and city parking.

 

Now that we have our own vehicle, it's time to start looking around for a place to rent.  Say a prayer!

As for Bahasa (Malay language): the idea is that we begin serious language learning after we've taken care of the basics of moving in.  I guess that means that finding a home is more urgent than learning to speak Bahasa. 

For the time being, we are getting by with English and Queena's Mandarin Chinese, as most of our neighbors can speak at least one of these languages.  But there are exceptions!  Last Saturday, the lawn service guy showed up at our gate, and this man knew no English at all.  When he had finished trimming our lawn and was hitching his weed whacker back up to his motorbike, I tried to pay him.

Well, I did pay him -- but probably too much.  I knew I wasn't in a good situation when I found myself standing outside my gate with my wallet open, pulling out 10-ringgit notes one by one and saying, "This much, or more?"  He didn't know the word "more", but he got the idea.  He finally held up four fingers so I paid him 40 ringgit.  I'm pretty sure that was a little steep, but I was in no place to argue.

After he drove away, I went inside, grabbed the English-Malay dictionary, and turned to the 'Numbers' section.  Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima . . . .

The Masts are in Kuching! (and we like it here) --QM

Moving Day--Those eight pieces of luggage are all 50 pounds each, and are the sum total of what we brought with us...plus our carry-on luggage, which somehow expanded during our flight over. I really felt like an American with my many bags to carry through in the airport! At least the children had lots of books and toys to keep them quiet--they traveled so well.

This picture was taken just before boarding our flight from Singapore to Kuching. After 38 hours in flight or in an airport Ethan and I were feeling like these two were looking. It was so good to get to the hotel!

This is the view from our hotel window. We are staying here for a week, until our temporary housing is available.

Here is part of the lawn of the house we will be staying at for two months. Our temporary housing is such an example of God's provision for us...it is furnished, and is larger (and more affordable) than anything we have lived in since getting married.

My first time driving in Kuching...its a little crazy driving on the left side of the road! This city is chock full of cars; there is no public transportation to speak of, which baffles me because cars are so expensive here.

My Dorie girl checking out our drinks at a street-side cafe. This is the city of a thousands beverages.

Dorie was having a hard time tonight with the food; she started to cry and asked to go to a different restaurant. Then the vendor brought our order of Satay to the table; once she bit into the skewered meat, Dorie couldn't stop grinning and talking about how much she loved the chicken.

Two tired kiddos say goodnight.

I'm feeling the jet-lag, so this post might be a little choppy and unpolished, but I would like to end with some prayer requests.
Praise: Traveling was a good experience.
Praise: Our teammates are such dear and special people, we are so excited to get to know them better and to be a part of this team.
Praise: The housing seems like a little miracle, praise him.

Pray: For a car...it is such a necessity in this city, but I'm feeling a bit of whiplash at the difference in quality and price. We will be looking for a car tomorrow, so this is a fairly urgent request.
Pray: For long-term housing, that we would be led to the right neighborhood.
Thank you and goodnight (as I fairly drop from my chair)!

Saying Goodbye in New York--QM

James love puzzles but he loves his Omi even more!

Dorie and her Uncle Samuel--and her Uncle Sam's shades

Trampoline fun! L to R: Omi (Esther), James, Rhoda, Phoebe

Fishing at the family pond

Dorie caught a little trout!

Occupy my Calendar -- QM

Occupy our Calendars
Our times are in your hands:
But we count our times for us;
we count our days and fill them with us;
we count our weeks and fill them with our busyness;
we count our years and we fill them with our fears.
And then caught up short with your claim,
Our times are in your hands!
Take our times, times of love and times of weariness,
Take them all, bless them, break them,
give them to us again,
slow paced and eager,
fixed in our readiness for neighbor.
Occupy our calendars,
Flood us with itsy-bitsy, daily kairoi,
In the name of your fleshed kairos. Amen.
Walter Bruggemann
From his book  Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

Last week we decided to write our to-do list on post-it notes and put them on our wall. We pull them off as they get done...and our children needed to get in on the action!

I feel the need to be both productive and restful during this busy last month before we move to Malaysia, and to model for my children Walter Bruggemann's prayer and the word kairoi--allowing my time to be the place and space where God can act.