Next Week's Summer???

Yesterday I was telling my 6th grade students about their math exam. I explained what was going to be on it and when it was. I also started explaining to them the special schedule we will have for exams and that they can go home at 11:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday. I told them on Thursday we have an all day, all school field trip planned and Friday is a half day back at the school to say goodbye and wrap up the year.

When I was done one of them raised their hands and asked, "So next week's summer?" I slowly responded, "Yes, I guess it is." It caught me off guard for some reason. Perhaps because I have been so caught up in the many events happening recently that I haven't even thought much about it. Or perhaps because I had not realized it was next week. Or perhaps it feels that it is coming way too fast.

Regardless of the reason it surprised me, the fact remains true that next week starts summer for us here. We officially finish June 5th with students and have one last teacher work day on June 8th. Some friends and I will be traveling one last time together to enjoy the beach and some sea turtles from June 9th-12th. Then I'll be packing up and flying home on June 14th. Right around the corner! I will be in Pasadena from June 15th - August 1st (with a quick trip to Memphis from June 21st - July 3rd).

I would love to see many of you while I am home. You who have been supporting me from afar and praying for me have been so crucial to my time here. You may not even realize that it has been your prayers that have helped me through this year and all that it has held. I hope we can find a time to get together and catch up. Sometimes it has been hard to keep this blog updates and there are lots more things that have happened over the course of the year that I would love to share.

Lastly, please pray for me over the next couple of weeks as we end the school year. There are lots of events planned and things to do that will keep us very busy. This weekend for example: Friday is graduation, Saturday is a Student Council recognition dinner along with one last "after-party" with them, and Sunday is a farewell party for one of my good friends, Jennie, who is leaving Bandung to move to a different city in Indonesia. The following week the students will be taking exams, going on an all day field trip around Bandung, and saying one last goodbye together before summer begins. That next weekend we'll have our staff banquet to say goodbye to those leaving and celebrate a great year together. The following Monday is a work day to clean up our classrooms and get all our check-out work done and papers signed. After that we'll be driving our motor bikes to the beach. Please pray for safety! And for a relaxing time together before we all take off and go our separate ways. Then please pray for me as I leave June 14th from Jakarta to fly to LA. Pray for safe and smooth travel. It's a long flight back and this time I will need to spend the night in the Kuala Lumpur Airport along the way.

Thank you so much! You are such a blessing to me!

Put Your Hand to the Plow

That is exactly what our high school students did earlier this semester. The high school science teacher got the idea to use the land that will eventually become our 50 meter swimming pool and turn it into a rice paddy. While we wait for the money to build the pool, she figured we might as well be good stewards of the land God has given us and so in the meantime use the land to grow rice. She consulted with a local rice farmer who she had watched plant his crop on the other side of our school. He was so excited and told her everything she needed to know about rice farming. As a field trip of sorts the entire high school spent the morning plowing the field and planting rice. They had a blast! They got dirty, worked hard, laughed, and loved the memories they made with each other.

Here are the small rice stalks ready to be replanted into the field.

Jessee enjoys the baby rice before it gets uprooted to be planted
where it can grow into a rice crop.

Mud fight! They also enjoyed flinging the fertilizer at each other.

One of the high school students found a fish in the mud.
The elementary classes came out to watch throughout the morning.

Once the mud fights were over and the fertilizer scattered, Wesley was in charge
of making the grid for the rice planters to follow when they put the stalks in.

Everyone had a job and was busy throughout the morning.

The rice is supposed to be planted in neat rows, equally spaced apart.
The students didn't quite meet the farmer's standards on that one.

The kids kept getting stuck in the mud!
They would try to walk but couldn't move and would end up falling in.

They got so muddy in the process!

Despite getting very muddy, they were still smiling in the end.

I love this picture because you can see our school building in the background. We are so
blessed with a beautiful, huge new building and with lots of land and room to grow.
This day was just another reminder of how blessed we are as a school.

Stayed tuned for pictures of what the rice looks like now :)

You Gotta Love Middle Schoolers

We had our middle school retreat way back in March. However, just this week I was looking through some pictures and found these and had to share them with you. Looking at them made me smile. Middle schoolers are so funny and unique. I love them!

We enjoyed a weekend full of games, singing, and learning about our Identity through God's Word. Once again we had a photo scavenger hunt on this retreat where the middle schoolers had to go out and take pictures that fulfilled different categories. Here are some of my favorites:

Lots of people in a small space:

Leap frog:

A picture taken from an unusual angle:

A photo that could be an album cover:

Some other favorites:

The group of girls I hung out with in small group for the weekend. They are great and I really enjoyed our time together. They wanted their picture taken with all of them in the tree. :)

A group photo of all middle schoolers and leaders who were at the retreat.

Celebrating Life

One of the things I love about living in community with other believers is getting the chance to celebrate major milestones in life. Last week we got the chance to celebrate two new little ones that have joined our community and BAIS family. We had a baby shower for Noah Jacob Ransom and Larasati Rimbun Trisna Simanjuntak. Noah is the third son of Josh and Abigail. They came to Indonesia in January and Josh teaches art at the school. Larasati is the first child for Hendri and Indri, two of our Indonesia staff. Hendri works in the office with immigration and government paperwork and Indri is one of our teacher's aids.

The family of God is a beautiful thing. A messy thing when we get intertwined in each others lives and sometimes get on each other's nerves. But it is a beautiful thing none-the-less. I'm always reminded of how cool it is that we have a community behind us when we get the chance to celebrate life and the big milestones that occur along the way.

Abigail with baby Noah. He's so happy to be at his baby shower. :)

Indri with baby Larasati and Abigail with baby Noah

Some of our BAIS staff women who were there.

Isn't she cute!?!

I'm not sure she likes me...

Praying for these two moms, their families, and their new babies.

Beach Day

We had a great team on this year's Sea Tribe trip. There were 16 students varying in age from 9th - 12th grade. About half of the students had been on the trip before. Some of them were close friends when we started, while others didn't know each other at all. We had 7 adult leaders- about half of whom had also been on the trip before. We were diverse in our culture, age, and life experience, however, we came together and became a unified team for the time we were on the islands. We loved each other and our love for one another spoke of the Father to the islanders.

One of our favorite memories as a team is of "beach day." On the first island we heard that the island was famous for its mini sail boat races. One morning we all gathered on the beach to watch. Some of us sat around and talked with the ibu-ibu (women), some played with the little kids in the sand, some of our guys were asked if they wanted to try the sail boat racing and so they jumped into the water and gave it a shot, some took pictures, while others sat by and watched and prayed. Regardless of what each person was doing it was cool to see our team spread out across the beach, all involved in different activities but at the same time all working together with the same love and same purpose.

Our women leaders and some guides sitting around at the beach,
having fun talking and laughing with the island women.

The mini sail boats racing toward the shore.

Playing with kids in the sand.

Some kids found a sea cucumber and were very excited to show us.

Group shot of two of our girls with the kids on the beach that morning.

My favorite place to sleep

Along with many highlights of our trip, one of my favorites was getting to sleep here:



On the first island all of the houses were inland. We didn't have the option to sleep outside over the water. It was SO hot and stuffy. At night the house where we stayed closed up all the windows to not let any mosquitoes in and keep all fresh air out, of course.

So when we arrived on the second island and were shown to our home, a beautiful place built over the water, I began begging our guide to ask the host family if we could sleep outside. She felt hesitant to ask and so I reclined to just sleeping in the small bedroom they had offered us. The family had a nice long dock that extended out over the water where they enjoyed relaxing and fishing at night. They served us tea and snack outside while we sat and talked the first afternoon.

After a little while our guide found the opportunity to ask the host family and they were delighted that we enjoyed their back dock so much that we'd want to sleep out there. So as the sun set and we got sleepy they gathered some mats and pillows for us and we made a nice bed outside.

I loved sleeping outside where it is cool, listening to the sound of the water hit against the shore, and looking up at the stars as I drifted off to sleep. The nights that we were there the moon was really full and bright. Oh how I love the moon... it's my favorite. And then to wake up to the early sunrise painting colors across the sky, I couldn't wait.

We were all sound asleep when we were suddenly awoken by a voice, "mau hujan." It was 4 am and one of the sons had come to tell us that it was about to start raining and we should go inside. The lightning and thunder were getting closer, so there was no way to protest and brush it off like it wasn't going to happen. We got up and gathered our things and went inside to get at least a couple more hours of sleep.

The next night we were going to try again. It started raining after dinner and so we thought that all was lost and we weren't going to get a second chance. But eventually it did stop raining. We got our bed set up and sat outside with some of the younger people living in the house. We told stories and they showed us how they usually fish from the back dock by throwing some fishing line in the water with bait on the end. They insisted that they normally catch fish every night. I was very excited because my dad has passed on to me a love for fishing :) and so I was determined to catch a fish that night. I tried for hours and no fish. Eventually all the girls fell asleep and the guide and I were still up waiting for the fish to bite. Finally I fell asleep too and when I woke up I noticed that the line was still in the water. All night fishing, but still no fish. However we did get to wake up to an early morning sunrise over the water, even better.

Let me explain...

If you've looked at my Picasa Web Album at all you'll notice that I don't have any comments on the pictures from our Sea Tribe Trip. I haven't had time to sit down and comment on each one, but there are a few that need a little explanation. Such as these two.

These were taken the last night we were on the first island. The island was holding a big perpisahan, or going away party, for us. The women in the house where we were staying got all excited and picked out just the right outfits for us to wear. They lent us their best clothes and we tried them on to make sure they would fit.

But they also got so excited to do our make-up. As the time drew near for us to join the rest of our team at the perpisahan, a whole bunch of young women showed up at our house... most of whom I'd never seen before. They brought all their own make-up and set to work on us. Each of us had our own special make-over and when they were done none of us recognized each other. :) Then they did our hair- each one different. I especially like Jemma's with the antennas sticking out. :)

Although the outcome was kind of scary (I am still a little frightened to look at these pictures) we had fun none-the-less. I was so proud of how well the girls in my house took the whole thing. They didn't complain or really even hesitate. When asked if they liked that color of eye shadow, they quickly said "sure I love it." I told them that Lena would be wanting the same color lip stick as me and she just smiled back at me. :)

It was so fun being in a house with these girls for 4 days. They were very willing to jump in and try anything. We ate tons and tons of food. Each meal we were served lots of rice and tried to eat as much as we could so that the Ibu (mom) of the house would know we enjoyed the food and thus enjoyed their culture and the people. One meal I remember turning to Lena and we both agreed that the food was SO good. We were full but we didn't want to stop eating because it was so good. We also enjoyed bathing at the well with the women in our household, letting them do inai to our fingers (a type of henna that is popular on the islands), and learning to play their traditional drum instrument.

More stories to come...