JKsteffen

A Legacy of Obedience

2012-01-29T20:51:00.002+08:00

I (Jonathan) recently had the opportunity to go into the mountains of northern Thailand with my 85 year old grandfather, Don Schlatter. When he visited these same villages for the first time almost 60 years ago, he had to hike the mountain trails for days. Things have changed, and for this trip, we got to drive in a nice air conditioned pickup truck.

We drove through the town where my mom spent much of her childhood and up into the Lawa villages my grandpa would visit to teach and encourage the believers there. He told me stories along the way of good times and bad times and how God led all the way. They chose a simple life devoted to hearing, obeying, and serving. In his grace, God chose to use them to do some very significant things. We visited two villages and in each, roughly half the people were following Jesus. These are only two villages of many where lives have been transformed by the gospel as a direct or indirect result of my grandparents' lives of obedience.

We also spent two days with the families of the key Lawa church leaders as they fellowshipped, strategized, and heard the Word taught by my grandfather. It was really special to be with these leaders, young and old, and see the impact they are having on the Lawa people. They too are striving to live simple lives of hearing, obeying, and serving, and in his grace, God will use each of them in significant ways.

One night we stayed at the NTM training center for tribal lay leaders where my grandparents served for 20 years after serving directly with the Lawa. We met young men and women who have heard the call to draw closer and learn more about God to better serve him. We also met the American and Lawa teachers who are listening, obeying, and investing in these young people. The cycle continues.

As I contemplate the legacy that my grandparents leave, I am struck with a longing to have the same results under my belt when I am 85. I recognize the pride in this, and it begs the question, "How do I measure success as a follower of Christ?" Is it number of disciples? Churches? Schools? Grandchildren following Christ? And another question haunts me. "What if they had served in a different place and had only a handful of believers to show for 60 years of work? Would that be a success? A legacy?"

If success is measured in terms of accomplishments, then perhaps not. But I believe that success is measured in terms of obedience. Any act of obedience is a success for a follower of Christ, no matter what the outcome. Likewise, a life of obedience is a legacy no matter what the outcome. I want to live every day, every minute in such a way that I am able to hear and obey the promptings of the Spirit in the little things till they add up to a life of obedience. My legacy, unlike my grandparents', will likely not look like much on the outside, but by God's grace, I pray that I will pass my own legacy of obedience on to my children and grandchildren.

Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma, for this glimpse of your legacy of obedience.

A video tribute with more images

2011-11-28T21:12:00.000+08:00

As you may or may not know, we have been on a team serving a small fishing village (Gertak Sanggul) here on Penang Island. We have been taking Dalat high school students down to teach ESL to 60-70 village kids on Saturdays, and we have a big party once a year. One of our team members writes news stories about life at our school and he wrote this about the party. The story features a Malay family.

Face in the Crowd
by Chance Edman

Living is hard in Gertak Sanggul.

Take the looming towers, air-conditioned malls and busy streets of George Town and imagine the opposite. Small shops, community markets and a laid-back lifestyle make up the small Penang town that sits far from major roads and cities.

Ah Loong and his youngest

Many people here fish for a living. Others like Ah Loong, manage to provide for their families by running a small restaurant. “Barely” is a good way to describe life for Ah Loong. His kids attend school, they have clothes, food and other necessities, but barely. There is no room for extras.

For two years, Dalat students have been teaching English classes in the village. Ah Loong’s four cute kids attend regularly. Last week, the Dalat students teamed up with Care & Share, Dalat’s outreach program, to host a massive carnival for the entire community of Gertak Sanggul at the town’s small, weathered school.

About 200 children laughed and screamed their way through the various carnival stations Saturday evening. Total, about 400 people attended the carnival. Dalat students and staff members ran games and contests where kids could earn tickets, which could be redeemed for candy or small toys.

Teaching English on the beach

Ah Loong came with his wife and four kids. The kids were shy and took a while to join in the fun. Eventually, the older two threw wet sponges at Kenji (a Dalat student), played the ring toss and got their faces painted just like all the other kids. The whole ordeal was free for everyone who attended.

After an hour of games, all 400 people got in line for a free KFC dinner with coconuts from Joez Coconuts. Choosing a meal that would fit the various cultures in attendance took some planning from Dalat staff members, but they finally settled on fried chicken – a meal that tastes great in every culture.

Ah Loong’s kids enjoyed every bite. This was a real treat. Ah Loong is an excellent cook, but fried chicken is not on his menu. His curry and satay are among the best in the business, however. He has also perfected sun-baked jello, crystallized sugar on the outside and pure jello on the inside.

Students and staff from Dalat worked for weeks in preparation for this carnival. They secured donations for a lucky draw that took place at the end of the festivities on Saturday. When the time came, all the village kids pressed closely around the table full of items to be given away – board games, mosquito killers and plenty of toys.

From somewhere in the back, Dalat staff member Jonathan Steffen hopped on a bike way too small for him and rode through the crowd. Another gleaming mountain bike was brought out as well. The kids’ eyes got big and a ripple of enthusiasm swept through the small mob. As various items were given out, most eyes stayed locked on the shiny new bikes. These were the grand prizes.

Three special faces in the crowd

The event was intended to be a blessing to the community. Dalat is fortunate in many ways, so staff and students feel it is their duty to give to those who have less. In this case, they were able to raise funds and donations to pass along to the village of Gertak Sanggul.

As the first bike’s ticket number was called out, Ah Loong emerged from the crowd, holding the winning ticket. With his littlest boy in his arms, the oldest boy and benefactor of this prize at his side, Ah Loong pointed at the bike to make sure he heard correctly. He doesn’t speak much English, but the look of gratitude in his eyes needed no translation.

Opportunistic Education

2011-11-01T16:27:00.000+08:00

What do you do when a MOSTLY dead, 11 foot Reticulated Python with full grown goose in its belly is brought to your school?

You study it! All the Dalat students (including Elliot) got to observe and study this beautiful creature.

The high school Biology classes got to dissect it to the delight of the many big and little observers.

What a cool and unique learning experience!

Off to a great start!

2011-09-04T17:29:00.001+08:00

The second year of the Kids' English Club in the small fishing village we call GS is off to a great start!

We took a team of 22 from Dalat down to the village. We worked with about 50 village kids, and expect more to join in the next weeks. The team from Dalat is mostly high school students, and they write their own lessons for the village kids. It is so encouraging to watch them engage the children and see the relationships build. We are excited about the opportunity to share The Love in this very special place.

The day ended with some excitement! The groups meeting out by the beach were interrupted when a wild boar charged into their "classroom". They all had a great laugh when I told them the wild boar was actually tame. It had been adopted by a villager, and was very friendly to everyone. Though some still decided to played it safe...

More pictures HERE.

2011-08-28T16:29:00.003+08:00

So, the end of our summer break was a whirlwind, and it seems that we are just now getting caught up with things. We visited some friends on an island near Bali, Indonesia, and then spent almost a week on Bali itself. Jonathan was working as an educational consultant at a conference there. The kids got to be part of the children's program, and Mommy got a mommy vacation.You can see some more pictures here.

When school started back up at Dalat, Elliot was a first grader! Micah has also been going to "school". He is going to a daycare a few hours a week so Kari can do some publications work for the school. It's crazy how time flies!

Elliot enjoys writing books! Here he is reading his book about nomads to his class. Photo by Lillian Chan

Micah likes to eat. Here he is raiding the fridge.

2011-07-09T18:02:00.000+08:00

I put together an album of our Hong Kong Trip.
You can see it here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150245503279836.339927.761129835&l=6fc776bdf7

I also put together a 360 panorama view from the hill on Lamma Island where you can see Hong Kong Island.

Exploring Lamma Island

2011-07-02T22:29:00.000+08:00

We have really enjoyed exploring the island that Uncle Jon lives on. It is covered in mountainous jungle and grasses and filled with all kinds of creatures. We hiked up to see the only commercial grade electricity generating wind turbine in Hong Kong. We also enjoyed a nice swim at the beach (no pictures because the photographer was swimming).

Another Day In Hong Kong

2011-07-01T20:50:00.001+08:00

Thursday we took the ferry from the small island we have been staying on and went to Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong is a beautiful mix of traditional and modern, East and West. Being under British control for so long has had a big impact on Hong Kong. Now, as part of China, it still maintains it status and role as a major international hub with a great infrastructure and modern feel.

We spent the afternoon shopping and hanging out in a children's play area and arcade. Micah made some new friends and had a blast!

Elliot enjoyed the games and the challenges of bowling and air hockey. He won enough tickets to get a "Matchbox" double decker bus like we ride here.

We found a Toys R Us with some great prices on hard to find items in Penang. We might be visiting that store again before we leave:)

For dinner we ate at a strange restaurant that featured Thai and Malaysian food... and a large giraffe! Elliot wanted to know if giraffes like sprite.

They do.

The ferry ride home was great! The sun was going down and the lights of the city were coming on. What a beautiful place!

First Days in Hong Kong!

2011-06-27T22:14:00.001+08:00

We arrived in Hong Kong Saturday night and made our way to Uncle Jon's place on a secluded island. We passed over huge bridges, under the harbor and through mountains in tunnels and finally on a small boat to the island. There are no roads on the island, so we walked to his place. Micah was sick so, we had a few restless nights. On Sunday, Uncle Jon, Kari and Elliot went to Hong Kong Island for a movie and some shopping. Monday, Uncle Jon went to work, and Kari and Elliot explored the island a little while Jonathan and Micah stayed home again. In the afternoon, Uncle Jon came back, and we all went on a walk to the village on the other side of the island to have dinner. Of course we had to stop and explore. We had fun on the beach near the village. We are looking forward to what the next days will bring!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T22:23:00.000+08:00

It's fitting that on Father's Day, I finished my dad's book "Mystery In Life; Learning from our Spirituality".

This collection of short stories and musings served to gently challenge me to consider and thrive in the spiritual reality of my life.

Using stories from his experience being unemployed and as a hospital chaplain, my dad is able to bring a sense of reality and relevance to otherwise ambiguous topics such as joy, pain, fear, prayer, and motivation. His intent is to help the reader become more aware of the spiritual nature of our lives, and motivate the reader to experience the richness of that spirituality in the here and now.

Personally, God has been teaching me the importance of relationship over task. God calls me to himself and others and the act of following Christ into these relationships will bring me through a path of service, but the service is not the goal, the relationship is. Reading this book confirmed some of these themes for me and helped to broaden my understanding of what it means to spiritually experience and engage God through everyday life.

I know that the writing of this book helped my dad keep his sanity during his unemployment, but more than that, I believe this book will serve to encourage many to explore and embrace a neglected spiritual side of their lives. Well done, dad.

-Jonathan

Find the book on Amazon

Kindle version at Amazon.co.uk

Catching up

2011-06-06T20:29:00.000+08:00

What a crazy few weeks this has been!
We had sickness and injury, end of school festivities, and a very special visit from some friends from Indonesia. We are ready for a break!

All the graduating seniors gave the director a tie as they received their diploma

Demolition

2011-05-22T13:57:00.000+08:00

As many of you know, we (mostly Kari and Micah) lived with destruction and construction going on in the apartment above us for about six months. The destruction took the longest because they basically jackhammered all the tile off the floors and walls and took the everything down to bare brick and concrete. They even came through our ceiling in one spot, and the jolting created hairline fractures in our ceiling that then leaked water on us as they mixed mortar on the floor above us. If you have never had a jackhammer going all day above you, then you will never really appreciate what Kari put up with, but I thought I would share this picture with you to help you get a better idea of what we are talking about.

We are able to see the apartments on the other side or our building from our place, and the other day, a crew showed up and started demolition on one of the apartments. Our hearts go out to the poor people below this apartment. -Jonathan

All Dressed Up

2011-05-16T20:40:00.000+08:00

Tis the season for dress up occasions. At the end of the year we have lots of concerts, banquets, and ceremonies that require some fancy duds. Most times Jonathan has to go alone, so he takes the bike.

Makes for an interesting sight.

Elliot's Birthday Dinner

2011-05-04T22:43:00.000+08:00

Today is Elliot's birthday. We had a party a few weeks ago, but tonight was the real celebration! We went as a family to the revolving restaurant in downtown Penang. Elliot has been dreaming of visiting this place for a long time.

The restaurant makes one revolution per hour and you get a great view of downtown as the sun sets. The food was great. The lounge singers took Elliot up on stage and sang and danced with him. They gave us complimentary deserts including a candle lit piece of cake for Elliot. It was a great evening.
You can see more pictures HERE.

Fleeting moments

2011-05-02T20:48:00.000+08:00

Future paleontologist?

2011-05-01T16:44:00.005+08:00

Elliot got a great gift from an insightful friend. The "bones" of a T Rex embedded in a block of plaster. We (mostly daddy) spent hours chiseling, scraping and brushing away till the bones were revealed and we could put them together to form a complete model of the T Rex skeleton.

Happy Birthday, Elliot

2011-04-26T20:38:00.006+08:00

It is hard to believe that Elliot is turning six! He is growing into a little scientist with great faith in The Creator. We celebrated his birthday with one of his friends in a joint party at our pool. The theme was colors, and kids played games with colored balloons, made sand art with colored sand, and ate cupcakes and cake with rainbow colors. It was a great time! Happy Birthday, Elliot

The Dawn

2011-04-25T19:54:00.005+08:00

No posts since October? Seriously? We can blame it on Facebook. Most of our updating has been done there. Unfortunately that doesn't cover everyone interested in our family. Sorry about that. This is me trying to get back on track. The dawn of a new day on our blog, if you will.

-Jonathan

Early morning from our balcony.

There's a monkey in the building

2010-10-28T14:07:00.000+08:00

Imagine my shock at realizing 2 months have passed since the last post. Wow. I've gotten really bad at blogging! Life is just flying by too quickly to document.

I actually thought about posting a blog about our adventures in this apartment recently... We currently have a monkey on the loose in the building and have to close our windows and doors. I feel sorry for the poor thing, which can't figure out how to get back to its "home." Or maybe it's found a food source here. Who knows. It's been jumping around on different balconies and window ledges for a few days now, and has even made it up to the 15th floor, which is the top of the building.

Earlier in the week we got to deal with the possibility of our bathroom ceiling caving in and water leaking everywhere. The apartment above ours has been doing major remodeling, including major drilling to remove tile from the floors and walls. Imagine a jackhammer right above your head. It's about the same sound level. So for more than a week we would have to leave the apartment from about 10 a.m. to about 5 p.m. daily. The walls were shaking and your head would hurt from the sound. On Monday, we discovered that water was coming from several places in the ceiling in the bathroom (there had been intense drilling above). We had a plumber come look at it and inspect what was going on upstairs. Found out they mistakenly drilled through a pipe and thought they had shut off the water - but had not. So the water was shut off and we parked a fan in front of our bathroom for 2 days to dry it out.

THANKFULLY, drilling has now stopped upstairs. The quiet is an amazing thing.

Getting well

2010-09-01T11:10:00.000+08:00

We've just gotten through a week of ucky illness in the house. First Micah had a fever/sore throat for a few days, followed by a couple days of rash all over his body, then Jonathan followed with a bad cold. Thankfully Kari and Elliot never got it. So it was a pretty slow week here. Micah learned to complain and give his best fake cry, as seen below (already posted on Facebook, as some of you may have seen). You may need to link to the blog to see the video if you're getting this by email.

We also sadly heard an accident near our apartment last night, and when we looked down to see what happened, we could see a woman holding a limp baby surrounded by a crowd of people. So heartbreaking. Someone must have called an ambulance, but it was about 30 minutes before it arrived. By that time, someone had already taken them by car to a hospital. (We've learned that ambulances here are actually not a good idea to call: the "medics" aren't trained and traffic doesn't necessarily open up despite sirens and flashing lights.) We have seen and heard SO many accidents right in front of our building, it's amazing. We probably see one every week or two here. But there is not much we can do from our vantage point on the 7th floor.

Yes, we are alive

2010-08-21T21:23:00.000+08:00

We have made it back to Malaysia, despite our lack of communication! The past few months have been a complete blur, especially the time spent in the U.S. We had a great time there...stayed in a lovely house in Grabill, IN, borrowed a huge, wonderful van, and visited with as many people as we possibly could. We were either guests or hosting guests every day with someone! It was wonderful to see the many people that we miss so much while we're in Malaysia, but we were also very glad to get back to a routine here in Penang and feel settled again. Kari was about to pull hair out because we kept losing things around the house. Now she know where everything is (mostly!)

When we got to Penang, we basically hit the ground running here. We spent about 3-4 days unpacking, then Jonathan went back to school to see what shape his office was in. He was sad to find that the library he had spent the previous summer putting together was now taken apart, with books placed in huge piles around the office because the walls had been painted over the summer. So we spent a couple days depressed about that. But then some people offered to help put things back together, and Jonathan spent a solid week getting things back on the shelves, and now it's much better - not done, but better.

Elliot has begun kindergarten, which we were very nervous about. It's full day and pretty intense here. But he seems to be flourishing, which is far beyond what we had prayed for in his life. He really loves it and is learning a lot. His maturity really leaped ahead this summer, when he learned how to meet lots of new people and handle new places. In the past, this was a really difficult area in his life, but he handled the challenge very well and grew from it. It seemed to prepare him for all of the new things he has faced at school. We are really very happy to see the special boy he is growing up to be!

Micah is doing well too and has become very mobile and curious. He is now into everything and mom has to have one eye in the back of her head. We are experimenting right now with using a babysitter for two mornings a week. During that time, Kari is able to do some work for Dalat. She can even do some projects for her previous employer, IPFW, which has helped pay off some bills from the summer. She dove head-first into a huge project for IPFW a couple days after returning from the U.S., and has just completed a first draft.

We did take some time one afternoon to have family time at a special kids' playground place, which has a few huge slides. Once again, Elliot surprised us and went down the steepest slide in the building (which mom won't even go near!!). Micah made a special friend while we were there:

From Adventure Zone

We're baaack!

2010-06-17T02:04:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the lack of postings! We have actually touched down in the U.S. We arrived last Tuesday and have been adjusting and settling in this past week. The jetlag was a killer this time around! Our little Micah kept insisting it was DAY when it was the middle of the night. So we all were zombies for a few days. But we have been enjoying all of our time back seeing people we love, places we missed, and enjoying food we sometimes longed for. We've been eating a lot of cheese, milk, and ice cream. Hope we can fit into our clothes when we leave!! Actually, we'd be happy if Elliot gained a few kilos while we're back. We just don't want to join him in that!

Kari's computer completely died a couple weeks before we left, which was pretty heartbreaking and unexpected. Finishing up some projects and communicating with people here in the States became a challenge at the time when we really needed to do that. Plus we had to face the expense of buying another computer. Our collective blood pressure definitely went up a few notches. But all has worked out...Kari received the new computer a day after getting back to the U.S., and Apple even had a deal where we got a free iPod touch with our order. She is also hoping to complete a project for IPFW in the near future that will hopefully cover the cost of the computer. Now we're just dealing with a lack of internet access where we are staying. We have to use the public library's WIFI next door. So sometimes the connection drops or moves. Arg.

Just want to say that the kids have been fantastic with all that they've experienced in the last few weeks. They both did very well on the airplane, with no meltdowns. Only woke up someone once during the entire 34 hours of travel. It's a miracle, really. Elliot is enjoying taking everything new in here in the U.S. He has no memories of growing up here, so everything is amazing and different and special. He immediately noticed carpeting on all of the floors, that no one takes their shoes off inside, and that everyone speaks English. Wow. And the monster size of stores like Walmart has made a very big impression.

We are staying at a wonderful house provided by Grabill Missionary Church - very roomy and more than adequate. Elliot has greatly enjoyed the laundry chute to the basement. Micah is learning to dig his toes into the carpet to scoot himself around the floor. And we have a really lovely minivan lent from some friends at our home church. It is really much nicer than we imagined it would be, and will be a blessing during our long driving trips to see family here.

Elliot's view of things...

2010-05-14T23:27:00.000+08:00

We are gearing up to come back and visit everyone we haven't seen in so long!! Just about 3 more weeks.

Meanwhile, Jonathan has put together this really amazing blog with great pictures that show what Elliot's life is like here. This was done for his cousin Sailor, who sent a "Flat Stanley" (or "Flat Sailor") over to us for a school project. It's a paper replica of Sailor that Elliot took around with him during some of his daily life here in Penang. Jonathan created a photo story from Flat Sailor's visit here. This is a really good glimpse into the life of a Third Culture Kid. This is Flat Sailor below:

Almost 6 months

2010-05-01T22:27:00.000+08:00

Close to the end

2010-04-27T09:34:00.000+08:00

The school year here is starting to go into wrap-up mode. We will have a good-bye dinner next week for all of the staff leaving. Last day of school for Elliot is May 28 and graduation is June 2. It's soooo hard to believe we have been living here now for nearly 2 years. The time has flown by, and we've loved nearly every minute.

Elliot will also be turning 5 next week (birthday is May 4). We're planning a birthday party for him and another classmate, and will invite the whole class to our place. We are using a fish theme, and may actually let the kids take home live fish. (Not sure what we will do with ours while we're in the States!!)

We have a schedule tentatively set for the summer. Roughly, this is what it is:
June 8 Arrive in Fort Wayne
June 21-26 trip to Missouri
July 7-14 trip to Wisconsin
July 27 Return to Penang

Countdown

2010-04-05T15:52:00.000+08:00

It's hard to believe we'll back to the States in about 2 months! Elliot has actually forgotten 99% of what his "homeland" is like. Most of his memories are based on stories we tell him or pictures we have. So he will have to get to know many of you all over again who knew him as a toddler.

We just enjoyed a lovely Easter weekend, including a sunrise service at the school. Seven students were baptized in the ocean right in back of the school. It was really good to hear their explanations for why they wanted to be baptized and their understanding of it. Elliot actually announced that he wanted to be baptized too, but we are sure that he needs more time to understand what it all means. It was really cute to hear him say it though.

It's also been really encouraging to see the Awana program here grow so much in the last few months. The school calendar is really different from the U.S. one here, so Awana just began a new season to correlate with the school year. The program is being offered to ages 6-12 now. It looks to us that at least 50 kids are participating and around 8 visitors (new kids) came last Saturday. At the same time that Awana is happening, parenting classes are being offered to those bringing their kids. So the church is maxed out completely for space on Saturday morning. We have taken a break from leading anything at this time because of the arrival of Micah, but Kari misses it very much. Elliot is still involved (a small program is given for 3-5 year olds if their parents volunteer.) and really likes it, so Kari goes to his class and helps out whenever possible.

We also have 2 bits of news: we just bought a fantastic used van to replace our very inconsistent car. This is soooo cool because we feel much more confident to travel around now. And our other news it that we have some pictures from our wonderful vacation a couple weeks ago in Pulau Perhentian (Perhentian Island). We drove out there with a dorm parenting family here, and had a fantastic time. This is our attempt at a family photo there:

From Perhentian 10

Like I just said...

2010-03-15T21:30:00.000+08:00

These were recently exchanged photos.

Yummy...

2010-03-13T22:02:00.000+08:00

Elliot demonstrates the sourness of a homemade mango smoothie:

From Random Family shots

Can you see his sense of humor starting to unfold?? Like his dad's, I think.

Religious snapshots

2010-03-04T14:42:00.000+08:00

From Nine Emperors Festival

Since moving to Penang, Jonathan has worked very hard to develop his photography skills. He has some amazing photo collections now, some of which are online. We have a very diverse religious environment here, with a variety of ethnic groups with differing worldviews. Jonathan has taken photos of two different religious festivals here in Penang - Thaipusam and the Nine Emperors Festival. The first is Hindu, the second is Taoist (similar to Buddhist). He also has a photo collection of Good Friday flagellantes in the Philippines, which he took last Easter. This is a Catholic tradition, though it is not sanctioned by the Catholic church in the Philippines. WARNING: Some of the pictures are quite graphic and disturbing, so you shouldn't view these around children or if you'd prefer not to see those kind of images.

The most striking thing about these traditions is that, although they are practiced by people of vastly different religions, there are huge similarities in some of the rituals that are done. All three include some self-abuse to gain merit or favor by a god.

Getting bigger...

2010-03-02T21:07:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures of Micah in the last few days. He is close to 4 months old now, so you can begin to get a taste of what he'll look like. Most people say he looks like Elliot, but not sure if he looks like mom or dad yet. We think he looks like Micah. :-)

Jonathan is back!

2010-02-09T22:49:00.000+08:00

He's been back for 2 days. Still trying to get back into the routine of things.

Here is a video of part of Micah's dedication (around 2 1/2 minutes):

If you receive this blog by email, you'll need to go to our blog site to watch it. jk steffen.blogspot.com

One more day to go

2010-02-06T22:35:00.000+08:00

Jonathan will be home in less than 24 hours! It's been a long and exhausting week for us both, I think, although we were able to touch base only once. Jonathan sounded pretty tired over Skype.

On this end, we had visitors over to our place EVERY DAY this week. I think that is a record. All of us introverts are quite tired here! (Mom and Elliot are...not sure about Micah yet!) But I purposely invited friends to visit us so that we didn't get too bored or lonely this week. Picture below is from Wednesday night when Elliot and guest watched a video of America's Funniest Home Videos - one of Grandma Steffen's presents last December. (It was a bit of culture shock for our guests to watch!! Why do Americans think this stuff is so funny??)

I also learned today that two of the girls on Jonathan's forensics team made it to a final round of the very competitive tournament in Kuala Lumpur! Jonathan will be so happy to hear this unexpected news.

We did have Micah's dedication at church last Sunday, and I will try to post some video of that soon.

Off to Thailand

2010-01-31T21:10:00.000+08:00

As I type, Jonathan is on an airplane to Chiang Mai. He'll be gone until next Sunday and very busy the entire week with loads of work. He and other consultants are administering over 90 tests. And even today he was getting requests from people to test their kids!!! (The deadline to sign up was a LONG time ago.) He'll have some follow-up work to do when he returns, but we're hoping life slows a little bit after all this. Jonathan's forensics club team is also competing in a major annual tournament in Kuala Lumpur this week - Jonathan is missing it but had to do most of the logistics preparation to get everyone down there! It's been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least.

So this week Kari is on her own for the first time with both boys. A bit daunting, but I'm determined to do it successfully!! The major hurdles are getting Elliot to school in the morning and shopping at a grocery store. Going to the market is no problem; it's the fancy grocery store that's a pain!! The problem is that shopping carts here do not fit the removable car seats. So what do I do with a baby that can't sit up in a cart?? I've been getting more and more reliant on my Baby Bjorn carrier, which someone graciously lent us. For those who don't know, it's a carrier that lets you strap the baby on your chest. So much easier than using a stroller too, since there are few ramps (rather than stairs) and good sidewalks.

12 weeks

2010-01-27T21:50:00.000+08:00

Micah is getting close to the 3 month marker...this Sunday he will be 12 weeks old and we're hoping to have him dedicated at church here. We're finally starting to feel like life is settling into a rhythm. Still haven't found a so-called "routine" yet for the little guy: he seems to hate napping even though he loves night sleep, so there is no pattern to the 15-minute catnaps he takes during the day. Makes it a bit difficult for mom to get anything done! But I can't complain since I'm sleeping pretty well at night.

Jonathan is gearing up for a trip next week to Chiang Mai, Thailand. He is coordinating testing for around 90 kids during a family conference for homeschooling families. It's a HUGE job and he's really busy planning for the needs of each kid. At the same time, there's lots to do at Dalat with all of the regular activities going on. Somehow Jonathan is still able to carve out time for family stuff though, which is quite amazing.

Our boys

2010-01-23T09:36:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how much change can take place in 6 weeks. Micah looks so different and is starting to look a lot like his big brother.

All smiles

2009-12-23T20:19:00.000+08:00

(Micah at 5 weeks)

We are enjoying a peaceful holiday here...it's not quite as in-your-face as Christmas is in the U.S. But those who celebrate Christmas are much more social at Christmas here than back home - we've been invited to several parties and gatherings - a big change for us from our small family get-togethers we were used to. So we've had to take special care to carve out some time just for the family on Christmas Eve.

(Now there are 4...waaaaa!)

Tomorrow we'll have a really nice breakfast prepared by some special friends here - this is a huge treat, no such thing as IHOP here. And Christmas Day we have a church service then a nice meal in the afternoon together with some Canadian friends. We miss home but are getting used to - and starting to like - Penang Christmas too.

Penang Christmas again

2009-12-20T22:27:00.000+08:00

We are enjoying the Christmas season here again, with school finally out for the holiday break. There are actually signs of celebrating here, with Santa being the most prevalent theme. Once in a while we do get thrown by hearing a Jesus-themed Christmas song in a public place though.

We just enjoyed a short visit by Jonathan's parents. Mom left last Tuesday after about 10 days here. Dad left the previous Friday. It was their first visit to Penang...still wondering what their impressions were. :-) We think they had a pretty good time here. Particularly the food was a hit. Also a big reason we love it here too!

Micah is growing in leaps and bounds, much more quickly than Elliot ever did. So this is another sign of God's grace on his life. He is more than 11 pounds now. We're still not sure who he looks like in the family. He looks somewhat like Elliot as a baby, but has much lighter hair, which seems to be falling out!

Here is a lovely Christmas greeting to all of you featuring the kind of music we regularly hear at our barber's shop. If you get this by email, you'll probably have to go directly to our blog on the web to see the video. It's worth it!

Bringing Micah in the world...

2009-11-26T15:38:00.000+08:00

I (Kari) haven't posted in a very long time, so I thought I'd finally share some of my experiences here in the last few weeks. These days I feel like a new woman after a tiring, hot, uncomfortable pregnancy. Not sure why this baby was harder to carry than the last...was it my age or the heat & humidity here?? I don't know. But as soon as Micah came into the world, I felt a thousand times better!

Labor went really fast: I thought maybe something was up since my back hurt off and on all day. Around 9:45 p.m. I began feeling contractions that were timable, and they started off at about every 3 minutes! From there, everything went FAST. Our friend and neighbor came quickly to stay with Elliot, we finished packing, and took off to the hospital, getting there at about 10:45. I was still hoping to have an epidural, but it was too late. The nurse gave me laughing gas - horrible stuff that made me gag and feel really dizzy. I also had some kind of injection for the pain, which did little-to-nothing. With all of the pain and delirium from the laughing gas, I had a very hard time understanding the nurse's accent. Plus I didn't feel like I could do what she was asking. So I was bit difficult and yelled at the nurses more than I should have...but hey, it's forgivable, right?? The doctor was sooo late getting to the hospital; the nurse tried to stop me from pushing but I couldn't help it. Finally the doctor got there and Micah arrived within minutes! He came around 11:45 p.m. on November 8.

Everyone tells me how blessed I am to have had such a short labor, but anyone who's experienced this knows how excruciating it is!!!! Thankfully my recovery was also really fast in the few days after delivery.

Unfortunately, Micah didn't do as well. He seemed OK, but we noticed when we got home that his skin had taken on a yellow tint - jaundice. We didn't think it was a big deal because Elliot also had a mild case of it, which went away by itself. Micah had a follow up dr visit about 4 days after delivery, and the hospital tested his jaundice levels. We learned that the jaundice was extremely high. It was actually a very dire and dangerous situation. His jaundice levels were only a few points away from requiring a complete blood transfusion. We were told that if we had waited a few hours to come to the hospital, we would have had to completely cycle out his blood. There was also already a likelihood of damage to Micah's brain.

Micah was checked in immediately and given plasma and placed under phototherapy lamps. He was also extremely dehydrated and received an IV. I was able to also stay in the hospital as a lodger so that I could continue feeding him. I was put in a general ward; there were 5 beds in the room with really no privacy at all. This was really hard at first because of course Jonathan and I were in complete shock. Jonathan had to return home right away to take care of Elliot and I was an emotional wreck. In fact, for 3 days I couldn't control the emotions very well. We had no idea what the outcome of the situation would be. So it was hard to share a room with so many other people and not be able to hide well what I was feeling there.

We didn't really share the true situation with very many people because we didn't feel like we knew enough ourselves. We just asked a lot of people to pray for Micah since he had jaundice. Thankfully, Micah's jaundice levels came down quite a bit within 12 hours and then 24 hours. He was able to come home after 4 days, which we felt was a miracle in itself. He still had jaundice, but the doctor monitored it over the next week, and it continued to go down.

Our biggest concern in the middle of it all was: what will we be facing with our new son? What can we expect in the future as a result of this? The doctor has told us that he doesn't want us to be anxious about this because Micah's jaundice was treated so quickly and responded so well to the treatment. He feels that it's very unlikely for Micah to suffer any consequences from this. For this, we are thanking God and believe that it's only because of His intervention that we came to the hospital at the right time and got the treatment so quickly. But we also know that no matter what happens in the future with Micah, as long as his life glorifies God in some way, we can handle whatever challenges turn up. This belief has given us the hope and peace to get through this situation even in the hardest moments.

Thanks to those of you who prayed for our family...it has meant more than you know!

Two Weeks Old!

2009-11-21T16:49:00.002+08:00

It is hard to believe that Micah is almost two weeks old!
He has been home from the hospital (second admission) for almost a week!
We have really enjoyed having him home.

He looks so healthy and is eating and sleeping very well.
He has gained a lot of weight (this is somewhat of a mystery when considering the amount of diaper changes he needs).
We truly feel God has worked a miracle in Micah's life, and we thank you for participating in that miracle.
More later...

2009-11-12T21:42:00.003+08:00

I (Jonathan) trust you have all heard the news by now. Micah Lewis Steffen was born at 11:45 PM on Sunday November the 8th. He weighed 3.8kg (8lb 6oz).

From Micah as a Newborn

He is so cute and cuddly.

Even big brother Elliot thinks he's pretty cool.

Unfortunately, Micah showed signs of jaundice, so he was re-admitted to the hospital for light and plasma therapy. As of this writing, he was improving and we hope to have him home soon!

More pictures HERE.

2009-10-17T15:27:00.004+08:00

Well, it has been while...
It is not that we aren't doing anything interesting, it is just that we have neglected to let you in on any of it. Sorry about that.
Here is something interesting:
This week I (Jonathan) got to tag along with a Dalat high school World Religions class as they did a guided tour of some of the churches, temples and mosques in the down town area. It would take days to tour them all, so in just a few hours we were only able to visit a handful. I have posted my pictures in our photo album HERE. I was asked to take pictures of the students, so most of them are in that category, but I was able to snap a few of cultural interest as well.
Here is some of the diversity we saw:
This is St. George's Anglican Church (1816).

This is the Taoist Temple of the Goddess of Mercy (1800).

This is a small Hindu shrine on the side of the road.

These men are praying in the Kapitan Keling Mosque for Indian Muslims.

There is a dizzying diversity of religions here. And to make things even more confusing, people do not stick to one religion. It is not uncommon to see an Indian man stop to say a prayer in front of a Taoist temple, or like this Chinese lady, after burning incense in the Taoist temple, cross the street and burn candles at this Indian shrine.

From World Religions Class Tour

I think it might say something about the spiritual fear and confusion in the hearts of the people here.

Malaysian 107-year-old wants 23rd hubby

2009-09-15T12:13:00.002+08:00

Love this story!!

107-year-old wants 23rd hubby

September 11

2009-09-11T21:15:00.002+08:00

It's so odd to be overseas on Sept. 11 - the day of the 9/11 attacks, which we vividly remember. We almost forgot about that until checking CNN online. There are a lot of things like that - holidays and special events - that have just dropped from our radar here.

What is on our radar - Ramadan, the Hungry Ghost Festival, a local holiday called Merdeka - celebrating Malaysia's independence from Britain. There are so many religious festivals and events here because of the sheer number of religions/beliefs practiced. Sometimes those religions blend together, so it can be confusing to figure out who believes what.

We are doing well...very busy with school these days. Kari is starting to wind down from some obligations to have more rest time. We are now at week 31 in the pregnancy. Two more months to go!! We've had a few extra unwanted pregnancy-related symptoms, and in fact spent an overnight in the hospital a couple weeks ago. It turned out to be nothing too serious - just a wake up call to slow down. So Kari is trying to do that.

On the serious side...

2009-08-24T20:26:00.003+08:00

Here are some interesting articles about a recent court ruling for a Malaysian Muslim woman who was caught drinking a beer. It's a complicated situation because there are two legal systems here - an Islamic one and a civil one. Muslims account for around 55% of the population here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57N0FI20090824

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSKLR53275120090824

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/08/24/amid-furor-malaysia-delays-womans-caning/

Malaysian humor

2009-08-17T22:40:00.002+08:00

Once in awhile a commercial or TV show is in English, and we get a taste of the local humor. The commercial below is a good example. Enjoy...

We made it!

2009-08-15T19:57:00.004+08:00

The new school year began this past week. Our entire family routine has changed...Jonathan is super busy this year as more homeschooling families are signing up to join Dalat's distance learning resource center. He's hardly been home this week with everything happening there. Elliot started preschool, which is every morning. He's still adjusting but seems to really enjoy it. It's been a bit tiring for him to be active all morning every day - he is sick with croup this weekend. But he's excited when he's picked up at school and talks about all the different things he gets to do. Here is the first day picture with Elliot in his new uniform. I (Kari) took about 20 pictures, and none of them are completely in focus! This is the best of the bunch:

Here is his class and one of Elliot's best friends from the past year:

I have been busy this week too with a new work schedule for Dalat in the mornings. I go in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while Elliot's in school. It's been great to have something to work on rather than being alone at home. But it's also been very tiring for this pregnant mama! Both Elliot and I typically need to rest when we come home after lunch.

drumroll...

2009-08-08T21:53:00.002+08:00

And here it is...what Jonathan has been hard at work on all summer!

It's a resource center for homeschooling families. Wish you could have seen the piles of books around this room at the beginning of the summer. Families can now come and check out books and materials here, and things are much more organized than they were last year. Or families can contact Jonathan and have things shipped to them.

The next phase of the project is to create an electronic library so that families can go online to see what's available. This is really needed but takes a ton of work.

the latest...

2009-08-03T16:07:00.002+08:00

Wow, we are behind on the blog! In the last month we have spent a few days in the mountains, worked on Jonathan's resource library for homeschoolers, hosted a new Dalat staff family, hosted a guest from the U.S., and spent a couple of weeks sick (Kari). Here is a pic from the mountains:

From Cameron Highlands 09

Cameron Highlands is one of the few places strawberries and other delights can be found here in Malaysia. It was actually cold - we all needed jackets. (Cold, meaning around 60 degrees F at night.) We were among the clouds! It was a lovely, short vacation with some other friends who were here in Penang for the summer. We also got to play Dutch Blitz and drink hot chocolate in the evenings. Just like winter in the States!! OK, maybe not quite...

Jonathan got a lot done this summer...he was able to work efficiently and with little distraction, since 99 percent of the staff had gone back to their home countries. School is actually starting back up in one week, so all of the staff have returned in the past few days. Elliot begins preschool this year!!! Wow, what a shock this will be for mom. :-) He'll be in school every day from 8:20 a.m. to noon. Kari will work two or three days a week at Dalat in the mornings until the new Steffen arrives in November. After that, we'll see... Have we mentioned we're having another boy?

Back from holiday

2009-07-02T16:09:00.004+08:00

From Perhentian Islands 09

We have finally finished sorting through many photos of our vacation in the Perhentians! What a beautiful, peaceful place. The whole trip was really fun for us, since we haven't ventured off of Penang hardly at all since we've moved here. We feel like we got to know the mainland of Malaysia slightly better on our long road trip.

We took a small leap of faith driving our car six hours across highlands...We haven't talked much about it, but our car has been a source of frustration for the past year. We've had to replace A LOT of stuff on it and Kari experienced a breakdown in the wee hours of the morning. So we were kind of nervous about expecting it to make it across a bunch of mountains. So our drive to the east side of the peninsula was a little nerve-racking with all the little "surprise" noises we kept hearing. But - alas - it made it! (Although we found out after our trip that there was hardly any oil left in the car.)

The drive was amazing - most of it was through a chain of mountains, some of it on government land. There were virtually no people, no houses, no towns. So we had to time our gas supply well!

The last leg of the trip was on a boat that was a teeny bit violent. Elliot enjoyed it immensely - mommy, not so much. We discovered there's actually a string of other islands out there.

Perhentian was so beautiful and the place we stayed at (called Bubbles) had its own small beach. There were about 10 employees there and about 10 volunteers doing environmental work. They mainly work with sea turtles, which really like this place. Three turtles live in the waters right around Bubbles (we saw one of them), and many females lay eggs on the beach. We witnessed one turtle do just that while we were there. We couldn't take pictures because the flash is confusing and distracting to the turtles.

We also got to do lots of snorkeling, which Elliot experienced for the first time. He especially loved the Nemo fish.

From Perhentian Islands 09

We loved the other wildlife, too. Saw a small snake, several monitor lizards, a forest rat, lots of hummingbirds, etc. We met a few people too. :-) Many of the other guests were mainly there to go diving, so we were left alone on the beach lots of times.

We were all sad to leave after three nights! A much-too-short vacation.

From Perhentian Islands 09

gone fishin'

2009-06-17T15:22:00.002+08:00

From Banding Lake

Jonathan went fishing last week and took a bunch of lovely pictures of the lake at the link above. You can see that we live in a beautiful, beautiful country. He caught a bunch of huge fish, but - alas - all got away. He and some guy friends drove about four hours to this site, and we'll be driving that way again next Monday when we go on vacation next week. We'll be going to the eastern coast of the peninsula to some islands called Perhentian. "What??" you might say..."They live on an island. Why are they vacationing on another island??" Well, we want to be able to swim in the ocean. We don't feel so free to do that here since the water isn't so clean. And you definitely can't go snorkeling here - the water isn't clear. Perhentian is one of the best places to snorkel, dive, etc., and there are sea turtles, too! Wow. We are really excited to go out there. Can you believe our hotel there will only cost us about $35/night???

In the meantime, Jonathan is busy working on his resource center at Dalat. School is out, but he has a big stack of donated materials to weed through and add to his library. He's also taking over the role of testing coordinator for AERC - the regional educational consulting group. So he's getting a lot of student files, reviewing them, and getting a grasp on what will be involved in this job.

Kari has lot of projects, too, for different entities. So we're keeping quite busy.

If you've read this far, we wanted to share with you a link from another blog of a dorm parent here. They are leaving after having a very, very difficult year at Dalat. But this blog entry explains why it's so challenging yet so fulfilling to work with the kids here. Made me (Kari) get a bit teary-eyed. And another note...this particular blog had a big impact on our decision to come to Penang, and that was long before we met the writers in person. Tim and Shauna, we pray for blessings and peace in your lives. You'll be missed.

beach party

2009-06-05T14:23:00.002+08:00

From End of Year Party 09

Elliot's enjoying the ocean here in Penang at a goodbye party on the beach. (Although it took a lot of work to get the sand out of his shorts afterward...) We said farewell to a number of Dalat staff who are leaving permanently as well as most of the staff who return to their home country for the summer. It feels like half of our good friends here are gone! So the summer will probably slow us down a bit. Graduation was this past Wednesday, so summer has officially begun here.

end of the school year

2009-06-02T13:56:00.004+08:00

We've been plenty busy with lots of end-of-the-year activities here. Dalat has numerous traditions to honor seniors and help them have closure before they leave Penang. Some return to their home countries, and others move to yet another culture to begin college. So this is a huge time of transition for these kids. Graduation is tomorrow and then there are a couple more staff days.

We've had a couple of other adventures too in the last couple weeks. Kari experienced a flat tire for the first time here due to poor parking skills. You gotta be a good parallel parker to make it here! Our car's tire hit the sharp edge of a curb and popped. Jonathan came to the rescue and changed the tire while taking care not to fall into a drainage ditch right next to the car. Wish we had taken pictures, but we were a bit stressed in the moment.

We also helped a bit with a ministry our church has begun in a slum area on the island. They've already begun a preschool and are renovating a library for the people living in a huge apartment complex. We came in one day and helped clean off books that were in terrible shape and organize them into general categories. The books are sadly outdated and most are textbooks because they're the easiest type of book to donate. There were very few fiction, Christian, or basic skills books, such as learning English or Chinese, which would be extremely useful. Jonathan is checking through his book stash at Dalat, which is also donated, to see if he has any appropriate books to add to what they have.

Jonathan also took this picture at the apartments of a car whose unfortunate owner overshot the parking lot and lurched over a drainage ditch. It looks like the car has since been stripped.

Baby Steffen

2009-05-23T18:40:00.003+08:00

Here is our baby on the way! We got this ultrasound this past Thursday at 15 weeks. The doctor asked if we wanted to know the gender, and of course we said yes! So he took a good look and said, "It looks like a X (we aren't revealing what he said)." But then he said, "The umbilical cord is in the way, so it's hard to know for sure." And then, "So it's likely an X but can't say definitely." How is that for leaving things up in the air?? So we have to wait four more weeks until the next ultrasound to get another shot at finding out for sure what we're having.

Thankfully everything has gone well so far. Kari is feeling more tired than the last pregnancy with Elliot. Maybe the heat here compounds that. And she started feeling the baby move around 12 weeks!! Every time we've had an ultrasound, the baby has been very active. Is this a sign of what the future holds???

Launching Awana

2009-05-14T21:06:00.003+08:00

We haven't mentioned much about Awana in any posts, mainly because we didn't know if it was actually going to happen. But, in fact, it HAS happened...and the first meeting was this past weekend. Awana is a weekly discipleship program for children that speaks to kids in their language. (Awana = Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) So kids learn about God at a level they understand. Thanks to our good friends Choon and Janice, whose kids experienced Awana when they lived in Japan and really missed it, we've now launched the first Awana in Penang. Right now we are inviting kids ages 5-8, and soon will add a younger group too. By default, we have several younger kids already, since many of the volunteers (like us) bring their kids along. Last week 25 kids total were in the program. Here are some pics (yes, you can see Elliot is one of the Awana kids):

Birthday! and other news

2009-05-06T21:22:00.002+08:00

From Elliot's fourth

We celebrated Elliot's 4th birthday on May 4 with a party! It was our first organized kids' party, so we didn't know what to expect, but it turned out great. Elliot was in heaven. Our normally shy child was running around singing and playing with the other kids. We were able to have a pool party and some games too. Some more pictures are here.

Our other important news is that - if you haven't heard - we will be adding another Steffen to the family! :) We're now 13 weeks along...due date November 11. We seem to have found a great doctor here (still getting used to the wait times to see the doctor). An ultrasound is done at every appointment here, so we've already been blessed to see the tiny-but-fully-developed little one. At the last visit the baby was very squirmy!

Back in Penang

2009-04-17T11:53:00.004+08:00

It's been some time since we last updated the blog... Since the last post Kari experienced being stuck on the other side of the island with car problems at 5:30 a.m. AND fell and injured a foot and badly scraped a knee. We also went to the Philippines and returned! Wow. We had a lovely though short trip. Kari's parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law were all there as well, so it was a small family reunion.

We had a good time re-experiencing our coming-of-age years there. Some time was spent at Faith Academy, where Kari completed nearly all grade levels from Pre-K thru 12. Jonathan also attended there grades 8-12. This is the school where we met. Kari also got to visit the neighborhood she grew up in.

From Philippines 09

We also spent a day at Corregidor, a significant site in World War II. Another day was spent at the church Kari grew up in and of course a huge Manila mall. Malls in Asia are much bigger and flashier than those in the U.S. And we saw the American Cemetery, where there are rows and rows and rows of marble white crosses of soldiers who died in the Philippines in WWII. It's an incredible site.

From Philippines 09

During our visit, it happened to be Easter weekend in the Philippines, which is a huge holiday for this very Catholic country. It's not the U.S.-style Catholicism we know, though. The night we flew in we were stuck in mobs of thousands upon thousands of people making an all-night processional to the small town where Kari grew up. People of all ages walk to a church in the town to kiss the feet of a variety of statues there. The statues have been kissed so much that their feet are mostly worn off.

On Good Friday, Jonathan and others in the family went to see the flagellants - people who cut and whip their backs, carry crosses, and even get crucified to earn merit. Kari and Elliot stayed back with Grandma to avoid all the blood and gore. It's quite gruesome and, in fact, Jonathan's clothes are ruined from his trip that day. Officially the Catholic church in the Philippines doesn't condone this, but it's very widely practiced and accepted culturally.

Interestingly, we found a Hindu holiday here in Malaysia (Taipusum) to be very similar to what the flagellants do in the Philippines at Easter.

From Philippines 09

Obviously things are different from when we grew up. Our old school was much more developed structurally and had a really different ethnic make up. The city was bigger, with more highways and a train system and just tons of people everywhere. The road system seemed to have improved significantly with far fewer potholes.

But some things hadn't changed. Still had fantastic mangoes - green and yellow - which we ate enough times that Elliot broke out in a rash on his face. Traffic was pretty bad, and we spent hours on the road. And the people are still so warm and friendly, and those who remembered us welcomed us graciously.

From Philippines 09

Kunming, China

2009-03-29T16:59:00.003+08:00

So it has been a week since I (Jonathan) returned from China. It is about time I posted something about it.

From Kunming

I flew into Kunming on a Wed and had a bit of trouble getting local currency through the ATM. I had some US cash with me for this very reason, and for a hefty fee, was able to get enough for my stay. English speakers in Kunming seemed a very rare breed, and my taxi driver was no exception. The directions I printed off helped, but it still took a while to find the hostel that was tucked back in an ally.

From Kunming

I had traveled to Kunming to serve at the Family Education Conference. About 20 families who are serving in China attended the conference. We brought in speakers to discuss various topics such as language acquisition in education, bilingualism, college and career choices, TCK issues, curriculum choice and many more. The parents were exposed to a lot of information and all were very grateful. My job was to help administer academic assessments to 12 kids. After the assessments were complete, we wrote the reports and then met with the parents to discuss the results and give support for any adjustments needed in their homeschool program. It is such a privilege to be able to tell parents that they are on the right track. The needs of homeschoolers in China are often very different from the families I work with in this region, so I really learned a lot in our conversations.

From Kunming

So, how did I like Kunming? I was a bit more prepared for China than the average American because Penang is mostly Chinese, but the culture in Kunming was different and more pronounced. For example: In Penang you see quite a bit of red decoration, but in Kunming, red was everywhere. Red is a very good color for Chinese, so they use it very freely. There were also a large number of security people around. It felt like no matter where you were, there was always someone in a uniform nearby just watching life happen. I did not take any photos of this phenomenon (that is why I am safely back in Penang). Toilets... I didn't see any squat pots like we have here (this does not mean they don't use them, I just never saw them). But the plumbing in the buildings that I was in was an afterthought, and so you can see PVC jutting out of exterior walls. While indoor plumbing was a blessing, the downside was that it could not handle toilet paper. Every toilet had a garbage can next to it to deposit the used paper (the nice cans had lids). During the conference someone forgot this rule, and the bathroom flooded filling the place with a wonderful odor. Speaking of odors; the food was fabulous! Lunches were seven courses of all kinds of veggies, soups, meats and tofu (none of it spicy) shared by eight people around a lazy susan. Everyone had a very small bowl for rice and some chopsticks. I was too busy eating to take pictures.

From Kunming

Street life was different than Penang. Traffic patterns were even more fluid and unstructured than Penang. There were many scooters, but they were all electric, so the road noise was significantly less. I saw a lot of people doting on either a child or a very small dog. I really noticed the single child family model and the resulting child centered parenting that appeared to be a paradox between smothering with attention/indulgence and smothering with expectation/drive. To paint a very broad picture, you could say that the little kids were lavished with whatever they wanted, and the older kids were practicing something.

From Kunming

Well, this is getting very long. I will end by saying that China was very intriguing, and I hope that I get a chance to visit again. Enjoy the pictures. Click here.

2009-03-09T20:55:00.004+08:00

This is Jonathan writing this post. Two things...
First:
I want to give some clarity to an apparently confusing photo. I take no offense from the confusion since it is warranted by Divine design. Take another look at this photo from our Butterfly Farm album:No. I did not take a photo of a giant, half eaten leaf with Elliot in the background. That is, in fact, a giant leaf insect (phyllium giganteum) with Elliot in the background. Here is a close-up of this highly camouflaged insect's head as proof:If you think that is creepy, you should check out the glowing scorpions in the photo album.

Second:
I just wanted to point out that I have uploaded some pictures of my time in Bangkok at the homeschool week. You can see them here.
These are few of my favorites:

From BKK HSW09

We had a great time learning about the wonders of light and color. These kids were from OMF families from Thailand and Malaysia. It was really great to be with MKs from different home countries. I think I was about the only American. We had at least ten languages and variations being spoken. There were three other teachers helping with the various subjects and activities of the week. It was good for me to teach again, and as you can see from the pictures, I even got to do some fun drama with the kids.

This was a new age group for me to teach. I worked with ten kids from 6-11 years old. We played with flashlights, shadows, mirrors, prisms, lenses, magnifying glasses, and other fun stuff. We built periscopes, kaleidoscopes, and rainbow makers, but the most popular activity was fire art with magnifying glasses and wood!

It was a great chance for these homeschooled kids who were coming from more isolated places to work together in collaborative groups and larger class structures.

Dalat's 80th birthday

2009-03-04T21:18:00.005+08:00

This picture is cool...Dalat is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. So they had the students and staff (and some parents) pose for this picture. Elliot & Kari are in the upper left of the 8. Not sure where Jonathan is.

Jonathan also sent these funny pictures from his homeschooling camp this week in Bangkok. He's been giving the kids science projects, which they really seem to enjoy.

another trip

2009-03-01T21:44:00.003+08:00

I (Kari) am proud of myself for driving Jonathan all the way to the airport and returning home without getting lost today. It's about a 45-minute drive one way. Jonathan is off to Bangkok to teach at a homeschooling camp all week. He'll be giving the kids a lot of hands-on stuff to do with light and color - stuff they can't do at home.

So yesterday we had some family time and went to the Butterfly Farm. It was sooo cool!! Yes, there were lots of butterflies all around us. But they also had other exotic wildlife, like beetles, centipedes, lizards, etc. We had a great time. Here is Jonathan next to a giant rhinoceros beetle (not real, of course).

From Penang Butterfly Farm

You can click on the link to see more of our visit.

2009-02-26T20:53:00.005+08:00

About 10 days ago, Jonathan led a team of four students to Kuala Lumpur to compete in a forensics tournament. What is forensics? you may ask... We wondered this ourselves when we got here! It is the "art and science of public speaking," as Jonathan eloquently wrote for the Dalat weekly news bulletin. Here is his write-up:
(One interesting point is that the students are from four different countries: Iran, China, Tanzania, and the U.S., and the other coach who accompanied Jonathan is from South Africa!)

On Wednesday of last week, a small but determined team of four public speakers traveled from Dalat to compete in the annual South East Asian Forensics tournament hosted by the International School of Kuala Lumpur.

Representing the more dramatic end of the Forensics spectrum, Jessica (U.S.) and Marieth (Tanzania) prepared dramatic readings of literature for the Oral Interpretation category. They also teamed up to present a powerful Duet Acting scene about immigration in the USA. This performance was very well received and advanced to the semifinal round of the competition.

Anna (China) and Golnaz (Iran) both competed in the impromptu completion in which they were given one minute to prepare a five minute speech on one of two topics drawn from an envelope. They also teamed up to compete in the tournament’s marquee event: debate. In the value debate competition, teams are given a month to prepare to both support and oppose the validity of a moral statement. The team was able to easily win two of the first four debates, but was stopped from advancing to the semifinals by the silver medal team.

The forensics coaches are very proud of how the team represented Dalat in this ferociously competitive tournament. As a testimony to the team’s attitude of determination, they spent the ride home excitedly discussing how to prepare for next year’s Forensics tournament.

Jonathan also got to sample some Iranian cuisine while in KL...his Iranian student took the group to an Iranian restaurant. Jonathan particularly liked the kebabs. Shown below is dough (pronounced "doog"), a salty yogurt drink.

More festivals

2009-02-13T19:36:00.004+08:00

The religious festivals appear to be never-ending here. And we're also learning that Penang is a very spiritual place. People here seem to want to believe in something. So last weekend into Monday about 250,000 people were in processionals for Taipusum, a Hindu holiday. This is a pretty extreme event, with people making sacrifices to gain "merit" from the gods. By sacrifices, I mean they hurt themselves. Some put huge hooks in their skin or pierce their body. The more pain, the more merit. We didn't really want to go see this kind of thing, so some friends went and took pictures:

This looks like something out of National Geographic, but it was here last weekend!! Amazing. This festival is especially big here in Malaysia, even though Hinduism isn't the predominant religion. More than a million people turn out around a famous temple near Kuala Lumpur (the capital).

Happy Chinese New Year (a bit late)

2009-02-05T15:04:00.003+08:00

Technically, everyone is still celebrating Chinese New Year. But it seems the celebration is on the wane. From what I (Kari) understand, the holiday lasts 15(!) days. We were invited to a couple events, and pictures are below. For those of you who are like us, having never experienced a Chinese New Year celebration, suffice it to say that it's as big as Christmas in the Western world. Red is the color of luck, so houses that are really into the holiday are decked out in lots of red decor (tinged with gold). People give oranges for the holiday and children receive "ang pao" - a red envelope with a bit of money inside. Things are given in even numbers. Schools are out for two weeks, although Dalat was only off for two days. It's also a time when people rid their homes of "bad spirits" by cleaning them from top to bottom and placing incense in their doorways.
Our friends graciously invited us to join their family for a holiday meal:

A tradition is that, before eating the meal, everyone mixes up this salad with their chopsticks. Yes, our hands are in there too!

We also witnessed a lion dance at a restaurant across the street from our apartment. The lion dance is done to get rid of bad spirits and summon good luck. Two people are inside the costume, and in this particular dance, they performed on some ceramic pots.

Elliot received some ang pao:

back to Penang

2009-01-24T17:09:00.003+08:00

We returned to Penang late Wednesday this past week and are struggling a bit to get back into the swing of things here. Thailand was absolutely beautiful. It was Kari's first visit there (Jonathan's been a few times since his grandparents lived there for 50+ years). We were in Bangkok a couple days then on to Chiang Mai, a city in the north part of the country, for the rest of the trip. Culturally, things were quite different there. The food was fantastic:

From Chiang Mai with the Aspinwalls (Thailand '09)

And we enjoyed the beauty of a couple parks, an elephant camp, and an orchid farm, which we were able to see with family members in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

From Bangkok with the Famas (Thailand '09)

From Chiang Mai with the Aspinwalls (Thailand '09)

From Elephants, flowers, and butterflies (Thailand '09)

The main purpose of our trip was to participate in a Family Education Conference and bless the families that attended, who work all over Asia and homeschool their children. Jonathan tested a number of children to ensure their education was on track. More than 100 families came to the conference, and more than 200 kids participated in a special program just for them. Workshops included topics such as: Teaching science where there is no laboratory, Handling anxiety in your children, Adoption and multicultural families, Teaching your child a second language, etc. There were also forums on homeschooling and national schools, which allowed parents to share challenges and ideas with one another. These parents face a unique set of issues as they homeschool in a different culture, and it's quite difficult to make connections with other parents doing the same thing. It was a great opportunity for us to deepen our understanding of what these families are experiencing day to day so that we can do a better job helping them.

chocolate confections & more

2009-01-07T13:25:00.002+08:00

We're preparing to leave to Thailand in a couple hours, so scurrying around today with errands. We'll be gone for two weeks on a very full trip - two days in Bangkok to visit Jonathan's aunt, then on to Chiang Mai. In CM, Kari will get to attend a small Joyce Meyer conference for a day. Then we'll see more family who live there, then we'll have another family conference for several days. Jonathan will be doing more testing and will be getting additional training. We'll have very little down time, so we're a bit concerned about how Elliot will handle it all. Hope he can go with the flow. He struggled a bit with our trip to Indonesia.

Kari (me) had a nice birthday. Jonathan made this incredible, amazing cake! One of the best I've ever tasted. It was called flourless chocolate cake - made with just dark chocolate chips, eggs, and butter steamed in the oven. Yes, it's as decadent as it sounds!!! We had some nice chocolate chips sent from Jonathan's family a couple weeks ago.

We may be unable to blog for a bit...but please keep us in your prayers during our travels!

A new year

2009-01-02T10:38:00.003+08:00

New year's was quiet for us - noisy outside. We have a public beach in front of our apartment building, which is the site for parties and other gatherings. At around 11:30 we looked outside to see hordes of people coming and going. Traffic was busier than it usually is mid-day. At midnight a hotel that's a few buildings down from us set off a nice series of fireworks (shown above), and we could see that the beach was packed with people! It was amazing. Jonathan stayed up till past 2 a.m. and lots of people were still coming and going. We closed up our windows and turned on AC again so we could get some sleep.

A couple days earlier we helped our church with a Christmas party in a local community hall. Over 500 people came, and the church did a nice job of entertaining and feeding the crowd. They did a candle dance, some flag dancing, and a local "Christian pop" group sang in Hokkien (local Chinese dialect). It was a neat cultural experience for us. It was also a nice way to share the true meaning of Christmas - none of those attending were practicing Christians.

Christmas Malaysian-style

2008-12-27T21:24:00.007+08:00

Christmas has been lovely here. It's been so different from how we've celebrated in the past. But good. The Christians (and some nonbelievers) here are much more social on Christmas day than we were back in the U.S. - i.e., they treat Christmas as something to share outside the family. So we listened to fireworks and partying on the beach in front of our apartment building much of the night Christmas eve. Gave us an excuse to close the windows and turn on AC for our own family celebration. We did this Christmas eve night since we had some get-togethers on Christmas day.

We made the day extra-special for Elliot by taking him to a nice playground for a couple hours in the afternoon, then ate at Chili's for dinner. Yes, there is a Chili's here! But it's quite pricey, around the same prices as the U.S., so it's a special treat to go there. The food is very Western, which is also a nice treat sometimes. So we had quesadillas and burgers there, and Elliot fell asleep in his chair right in the restaurant! He was so tired from playing, playing, playing! Then we went home and created our own Christmas atmosphere - turned on special music, turned on the tree lights, made apple cider (got some of these items from special packages sent from friends and family - thank you!!). Then we got to open our presents. Elliot really enjoyed the "build up" this year, so it was extra-special.

He really was attached to a "glow stick" thingie we found at a mall and a music player sent over by grandma. It was like a sight n sound show for him. Jonathan had set up a tent in our guest room for Elliot to play in, so he turned off the lights, went in the tent, and we didn't see him the rest of the night!

On Christmas day, we attended a Christmas service at our church in the morning, and they also had lunch at the church. Then in the afternoon/evening, we had a gathering with a few other friends and kids. So much fun - somehow somebody got a turkey! So we actually had turkey and other Western-style food there. Wow. Then played some games together and just had a good time celebrating our Lord's birth.

Today (the 27th) we helped a friend move to a new place. And we are gearing up to help with a special dinner our church is preparing for people in the community to attend. It will be in a community hall tomorrow evening. We are simply helping with "greeting" the guests (more than 450 of them), and feel a bit inadequate in being able to help in any way, but we're excited to be part of it. It will be a traditional Chinese 8-course meal with a special Christmas presentation. So we'll take some pics and try to share them with you.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We miss everyone so much! We appreciate some cards and phone calls we received in the last couple of weeks - it meant a lot to us.

holidays

2008-12-16T22:58:00.002+08:00

OK, I (Kari) have been corrected regarding local holidays! In fact, Christmas is a public holiday here. So schools are closed that day. I was surprised by this fact, so I looked up all of the public holidays of this past year and learned something interesting. Malaysia follows the major holidays for Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and also Christmas for Christians! Isn't that incredible?? And they also celebrate three new year holidays: New Year's Day, Chinese New Year, and Islamic New Year. These are all of the Malaysian public holidays of 2008 (for you Westerners, the day is listed before the month here):

1 Jan New Year's Day.
10 Jan Awal Muharram (Islamic New Year).
1 Feb Federal Territory Day.
7 Feb Chinese New Year.
20 Mar Mawlid al-Nabi (Birth of Prophet Muhammad).
1 May Labour Day.
19 May Wesak Day (Birth of Buddha).
7 Jun King's Birthday.
31 Aug Merdeka Day (National Day).
1 Oct Hari Raya Puasa (End of Ramadan).
2 Oct Hari Raya Puasa holiday.
28 Oct** Deepavali. (Hindu major holy day)
9 Dec Hari Raya Qurban (Feast of the Sacrifice).
25 Dec Christmas.
29 Dec Awal Muharram (Islamic New Year).

Christmas season

2008-12-15T12:42:00.003+08:00

We are quickly approaching Christmas, which is difficult for us to really focus on here. We don't have the bombardment of snow, cold weather, Christmas music only on the radio, decorations everywhere, people shopping like crazy, etc., etc. There are definitely some signs of Christmas here: the mall we visit sometimes has a big Christmas tree and lights hanging everywhere. And you can buy some Christmas-themed decorations here and there. We haven't found anything with "Jesus" or "Christ" on it! Everything we've seen is related to Santa or snow. So that's kind of sad. But we are relieved to escape the over-commercializing of Christmas in the U.S. People don't really celebrate Christmas here, unless they're practicing Christians. So people will go to work or school as normal on Dec. 25. The international schools are the exception, and Dalat is out from Dec. 19 to Jan. 19.

We've been able to enjoy a number of parties recently - birthday, going away, etc. So here is a video of a recent party for one of Elliot's friends who turned 4. They turned a tarp into a slip n slide using baby soap and a hose!!!

Thanksgiving fun

2008-11-29T22:28:00.004+08:00

Some fun with a few of our Thanksgiving guests (+Elliot) using the special effects on the web cam:

We are so thankful!

2008-11-27T23:13:00.002+08:00

We just enjoyed a fantastic Thanksgiving meal tonight with a bunch of dorm kids and a friend visiting from the U.S. this week (who is also staying with us). What a great time! Although we didn't have turkey, we still enjoyed some really good food thanks to the cafeteria staff at Dalat. They made up Thanksgiving meals, which we were able to pick up and bring home to eat. So we'll have a picture or two from that shortly.

We're also regrouping from our trip to Indonesia, which was really neat and eye-opening. We took some pictures of some of our experiences there, shown below. If you receive this post via email, you'll probably have to go directly to our blog page to see this slideshow. Or you can go directly to our online photo album. We were unable to take photos of the conference we participated in there because of privacy/security issues with the families attending. But it was a great time of encouragement, discussion, and providing help. All of the families at the conference live and work in Indonesia.

parties & travels

2008-11-15T08:54:00.003+08:00

Last couple nights have been interesting...On Thursday we got to "enjoy" Chinese opera at the Buddhist temple down the street - without leaving our apartment!! It's difficult to explain what it sounds like over a loud speaker. From what we've been told, the opera is performed with a whole bunch of chairs set up for a "spirit" audience. No flesh-and-blood human ever sits in the seats.

Then last night Elliot was up with croup. We thought he had grown out of this. It's been over a year since he last had it. Today he woke up sounding better but has progressively gotten worse all day. He seems to have a temp now. It's hard because early tomorrow we leave to Bandung, Indonesia, for a conference. A number of families doing ministry in Indonesia are coming together there. It's especially for those using homeschooling, national schools, etc. Jonathan will be testing a number of kids there to assess their learning & grade level. We're excited to be part of this, but it'll be difficult to travel with a sick kid.

A week ago we also got to experience our first Malaysian birthday party. It was quite an extravaganza. The birthday girl turned 4 and all of the kids attending got to swim in an amazing pool, play games, receive gift bags, and watch kid videos. There was also TONS of food. Beyond what can be described. More and more food kept being added to these buffet-style tables over a two-hour period. The nice part of this was that we were able to sample a lot of local fare that we hadn't seen before, and the cooks were there to explain what the food was.

Treat parade

2008-11-01T20:36:00.003+08:00

In lieu of Halloween, which no one celebrates here, Dalat organized a "treat parade" for kids to wear fun costumes. We debated on whether to include Elliot, mainly because we didn't know how to put a costume together here. But at the last minute we did this:

Of course, Elliot had a blast and got some candy for his efforts (holding a fishing pole and having plastic fish hit his ankles while he walked)! And here's mom with another friend in our own costumes:

fish spa and botanical gardens

2008-10-26T09:22:00.005+08:00

We've had some interesting experiences in the last couple of weeks to remind us we are definitely not in the U.S. anymore. First, Kari got to go to a "fish spa" (some of you on Facebook have already seen the pictures) with some other ladies from the international church here. We've since learned that these are outlawed in the U.S. because of bacteria. It was really strange and intense - very, very ticklish. The fish like to eat the dead skin on your feet. There were six fish tanks, which started with tiny fish then went up to bigger and bigger ones so you could get used to the feeling. One of the tanks was deep enough for you to get completely in the water. I don't know WHO would want to do that!!??

Yesterday we went to the botanical gardens here, which are well-maintained and free. There's a lot of really neat wildlife there and many monkeys. A huge of family of monkeys with about 25-30 members walked right next to us. One of them was a bit annoyed at us and growled and lunged at Jonathan a bit. We've been told that we should always keep a stick to ward off aggressive monkeys. So we used a long umbrella for that purpose and we were fine. Apparently the monkeys often steal food if you keep it out in the open. This one seemed to be protective of a female with a baby (see second picture below). We also saw a huge centipede and millipede.

Catching up

2008-10-11T20:22:00.004+08:00

We are sooo behind in updating our blog! It's really hard to keep up with everything we're experiencing here. This past month has been especially busy. Jonathan hosted staff meetings at Dalat for AERC (Asia Education Resource Consortium) a couple weeks ago, and we had a fantastic time getting to know the other representatives for this group. They came from all over Asia (China, Philippines, Thailand, India, Singapore, Vietnam). This group is focused on giving educational options to families in ministry throughout Asia. This is the "other side" to Jonathan's job here. Some pictures here of the AERC ladies. (All of the other AERC reps are women!)

We got to celebrate Jonathan's birthday (on Sept. 26) with a bunch of people. Some Dalat teachers did a great job of embarrassing him - they serenaded him all over campus:

Then Kari's dad and brother came to visit for several days this past week. We had a fantastic time, and they got to experience a lot of wonderful food in Penang! Also got to go kayaking, and a good friend of ours hosted a dinner for us too. Time flew by way too quickly. Some pictures here and here.

Grandma Dwyer sent along a bunch of goodies, including some matchbox cars. Elliot revealed his observations of Malaysian parking garages here:

There are plenty more pictures on our photo album, if you're interested!

Our school

2008-09-17T10:45:00.002+08:00

To help you get a flavor of our school and its fantastic diversity, here are some interesting statistics:

In 2007, Dalat student passport holders included:
38% from North America
31% from Korea
9% from Malaysia
8% from Taiwan
2% from Australia/New Zealand
2% from Japan
4% from other Asian nations
5% from Europe
1% from Africa
2 students from the Middle East
1 from Latin America

The 425 students attending here come from these countries:
AUSTRALIA
BRAZIL
CANADA
CHINA
GERMANY
DENMARK
HONG KONG
INDONESIA
INDIA
IRAN
JAPAN
KOREA
MALAYSIA
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
PHILIPPINES
PORTUGAL
SRI LANKA
SINGAPORE
SOUTH AFRICA
THAILAND
TAIWAN
TANZANIA
UNITED KINGDOM
USA

Our first package!

2008-09-09T20:54:00.005+08:00

We got our first package from Nadia on Monday! We knew it was coming but had no idea what was in it. This is the condition of the box:

So we hoped it was nothing breakable...and it wasn't! It was just some stuff we were craving. Kari told Nadia we were craving milk and cheese - so that's what she sent!!

Elliot has been begging for mac n cheese at every meal ever since he saw the box. We are telling him it's "special" and we're saving it, which works until the next meal comes along. :-)

THANK YOU NADIA!! We loved the card too.

a day in the life

2008-09-06T11:06:00.005+08:00

Yesterday Elliot and Kari drove by themselves for the first time to a local mall, which was a few kilometers away. (Yes, we now have to think in terms of kilometers, celsius, centimeters, grams, etc., etc.) This was a big step for me. We purchased a few items for home:

We are lucky to discover that we can buy Playdough here, and it works very well in the humidity. It doesn't dry out at quickly as it can in the States. So we got a few tools yesterday to make noodles and other stuff in the clay.

We also got some "body wash," which seems to be a very popular product here. I thought it might be amusing to some of you who have lived in Asia to see the particular kind of body wash I got:

Tamarinds are a very sour kind of fruit (?) used in Asian cooking. It was very funny to see this in a soap product! But after smelling it, Elliot asked to eat it! This is what real tamarind looks like:

Yesterday, I also attempted to make granola in the oven to save money on cereal, which is expensive here. In the picture below, you can see on the right how my oven variety turned out! There seems to be something wrong with the temperature dial on the oven. So I reverted to using a wok, which was much quicker anyway!

2008-09-01T12:39:00.002+08:00

Last week Jonathan went with the seventh grade class to the Penang National Park. Here are the highlights of the trip:

To see the bigger version, click here: Penang National Park

Jerejak Island

2008-08-31T20:32:00.002+08:00

A few weeks ago, Jonathan was able to go with the Dalat Middle School on their retreat. Here are some of the highlights:

For the large version, click here: Jerejak Island

Haircuts

2008-08-15T22:27:00.003+08:00

School started this past week, which has dramatically increased our busy-ness here - in a good way. Jonathan is very involved in learning his new job and figuring out how to help parents that are homeschooling. A number of families trying to do this here in Penang have already come in to see him. There's a lot to learn! Today he is on an overnight retreat for middle school students on a nearby island called Jerejak (spelling?). He also meets with 8 middle school students every morning at Dalat to help them begin their day and pray with them. So already there is a lot to be involved in at the school.

The school has also asked Kari to help with some writing to promote the school. To begin with, she'll be involved with alumni communication and writing some ads and feature stories about the school. This is an area that's been lacking at Dalat, since the staff is so busy with other things.

Today Elliot had his first haircut here at a barbershop across the street from our apartment, and we took some pictures of this fun event and resulting hairstyle:

The little things matter

2008-08-10T21:04:00.002+08:00

This was Kari's lunch today at some food stalls after we visited a church. It was just so striking that the egg was cooked in the shape of a heart. Such a nice touch! We realized, too, that our comfort level in eating at the food stalls has gone way up since we first got here. We are starting to learn a few Malay and Hokkien (local Chinese dialect) words and can recognize some of the signs advertising different dishes at the stalls. This particular dish was Tom Yum fried rice (Tom Yum is a Thai flavoring usually in soup), and came complete with some "bilis," which are little fried fish, on top. The bilis are salty and crunchy and quite good.

We also uploaded some other pictures of our trip to the Taiping Zoo, which is about 2 hours away on the mainland. Also have pictures of our new car and other stuff. Click here to go to our photo album.

Mmmmm...yummy

2008-08-06T22:09:00.001+08:00

Elliot loves jellyfish satay (grilled jellyfish on a stick)!

rainy season

2008-07-25T15:25:00.002+08:00

Apparently we arrived during rainy season. Everyone tells us there's been very little rain lately, but when it rains, it REALLY rains. This picture, which is from Elliot's room which faces the street, shows how you can actually see the rain a short distance away before it hits right here. They don't seem to experience sprinkles of rain here, so much as downpours.

The building with the pillar on top is the Hindu temple. We've also figured out that a few buildings over is the local Buddhist temple as well. It doesn't seem quite as active as the Hindu temple. The blue roof on the right is the market, where Kari gets veggies, fruit and most of our meat. It's quite a bit less pricey than going to a conventional grocery store.

We've had a few interesting/funny experiences in the past couple weeks...got locked out of our bedroom overnight because the door locked and the wind slammed it shut and we had no keys. But we had a couple mattresses in our extra bedroom, so we were able to sleep OK. Then the wind blew over our fire extinguisher and hit the pin just right so that the entire tank emptied in our apartment. We had 20 pounds of yellow powder covering EVERYTHING. We were cleaning for about 4 days afterwards. But both of these events could have happened in the States, so we just had to laugh.

We have just finished orientation at the school for the past 4 days, which was really helpful. There was a lot of discussion about culture shock and adjustments in the first year, which everyone experiences. It's definitely a process that you have to give yourself and each other a lot of grace to go through. We have been doing pretty well in general, although once in awhile one of us will feel really disoriented or miss how "it used to be" in the States. When you first arrive, you just don't realize how deep the cultural differences run, and how much there is to get used to.

We are sooo grateful for Skype and Vonage, which we've been using a lot. We really appreciate the calls we've gotten - they make us feel not quite so far away from everyone we love.

Surreal moments

2008-07-14T22:22:00.004+08:00

We've had more than a few surreal moments here. Here we are eating at the "red chairs" food stalls. A bunch of food vendors surround this eating area with numerous plastic red chairs, thus the name. The food on this island has been REALLY good and quite cheap too. We can typically buy a really nice meal for our entire family for under $12. If we pay attention to the prices when we order, we can get the bill even lower. Today we had lunch for just over $5 for all of us.

The crazy thing is that groceries are actually pricey here. Maybe around the same as what they cost in the States. Of course, we're still learning where to get things cheaply and how to fix the local fare. Our grocery bill may go down as time goes on.

We have learned that inflation has hit Asia really hard in the past 6 months, and prices in Malaysia have generally doubled. So people are suffering everywhere with higher prices.

We've had some other funny/strange experiences here too. Jonathan discovered a snake skin on our balcony, and some locals identified it as a possible cobra skin. So we went throughout our apartment checking every corner and hiding place. There were no signs of anything out of order, so we're hoping it may have been old. But it was a wake-up call that we can't assume we're alone way up here on the 7th floor.

Today we were in a store and a Muslim woman in a burka came in behind us - she ruffled Elliot's hair very affectionately. It was really sweet. Just another indicator that this is a new world here.

Some pictures

2008-07-08T15:56:00.008+08:00

We finally have a few pictures to share with you from our first experiences and impressions here. Of course we were initially struck by how beautiful the ocean is here...

But now we're focused on learning how to navigate an Asian city.

We have quite a few more pictures with captions at our photo album.

And here is a picture of roti, to elaborate on our last blog:

We'll try to also take some pictures of the market at some point soon.

Penang, at last!

2008-07-06T21:11:00.002+08:00

We made it here! It's been nearly a week already, though we were just able to get our Internet up and running in the last couple of days. Our trip here went very well, with no delays or major problems. None of us slept very well, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise - none of us suffered with jet lag.

It's been really nice to have some background in Asia, and that has really helped adjust this first week. What may appear chaotic is actually organized in its own way. Take driving, for instance. It seems to be a free-for-all at first, but then you realize there are definite patterns to it all. Kari's already been able to drive a couple of times, although it will take awhile to get used to driving on the opposite side and weaving freely in and out of lanes.

We've been incredibly blessed to have a host family assigned to us from Dalat. They picked us up from the airport, gave us a tour of the school, helped us get a local bank account, taken us shopping at grocery stores, a wet market, and department stores, etc., etc. We would have been lost without their help. We're hoping to be able to help another family in the same way next year.

Some of our first impressions:

- This island is a true cultural melting pot! People of different faiths and ethnicities live and work together here quite well. When we opened our bank account, we were greeted by a Malay woman with an Islamic head covering, then assisted by a Chinese woman, then talked to an Indian women. We tried to figure out what languages they were speaking to each other...seemed to be more than one. All were able to speak English to us.

- A Hindu temple is across the street from our apartment building. We haven't seen many people go in and out...someone there rings a bell for a long stretch at about 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Our assumption is that the temple is mainly for the local Indian population.

- Most of the people we've met in our apartment building are Chinese. Many Chinese are Buddhist, though some are also Christian here. A couple of the churches we're planning to visit nearby are Chinese.

- Bugs, lizards, and snakes are plentiful here, though we are lucky to be away from them up on the 7th floor of our apartment. A monitor lizard lives right next to our apartment building...Jonathan spotted it from our balcony and thought it was at least 3-4 feet long. Eeg.

- The heat is a major adjustment for us. It's really hot especially mid-afternoon. Elliot already has some heat rash in several places. It can be quite draining when we're trying to get work done around the apartment or need to run errands.

- We've tried lots of different kinds of food and everything has been really good. There are little restaurants and food stands everywhere, so there are lots of opportunities to try new things. We've had breakfast a couple times at the food stalls by the market, which was very experimental - roti and eggs one morning and Chinese pancakes with eggs and nuts rolled in another day. People here love Milo, both hot and cold, so that's available anywhere you eat.

one more day

2008-06-27T11:04:00.002+08:00

Yes, we are here in the States for just one more day. No, it hasn't sunk in yet. This past week has been a blur of packing, cleaning, throwing things away, seeing friends, taking things to Goodwill, repacking, and repeating that process a few times. We've said goodbye to many friends and have a few more to go tomorrow. Several people are joining us at the airport before we leave. We've been staying with good friends of ours for the past few nights to help us get rid of every last thing in our house, and that's been a huge help. There are still a few things left to move to Uncle Phil's house, which will get done in the morning. Our flight leaves just before 6 p.m. We are keeping our U.S. phone number, thanks to Vonage, so you can still call us. Just remember that we'll be 12 hours ahead of Eastern time. We would love to hear from you. Hopefully our next post will be from the other side of the globe!

on our way

2008-06-21T05:52:00.002+08:00

We bought tickets today to leave a week from today (on the 27th)! Doesn't seem real yet... Elliot has been reminding us each day that he needs "to go to Malaysia." We are more than ready to go!

soon-to-hit culture shock

2008-06-20T09:50:00.002+08:00

Plane tickets are still not finalized...hopefully tomorrow. Got this insightful info below about the culture shock we're about to face from another blog (eventually we'll also face the reverse culture shock):

Culture shock: not knowing how to say or buy cereal in a foreign country.
Reverse culture shock: walking down the monstrous cereal aisle in my home country.

Culture shock: riding in traffic with "flexible" rules without cussing out another car.
Reverse culture shock: being cussed out for slowing to let someone in during rush hour.

Culture shock: trying to commisserate with the broken, lonely, and hurting of the host country.
Reverse culture shock: realizing all the broken, lonely, and hurting in my native country.

Culture shock: comparing everything in Indonesia to "how good it is in America."
Reverse culture shock: comparing everything in America to "how simple it is in Indonesia."

Culture shock: paying for things in denominations of multiples of thousands.
Reverse culture shock: paying multiples of thousands for everything.

Culture shock: avoiding street riots over $1.25 gas in a third-world country.
Reverse culture shock: nearly causing a parking-lot-riot over $3.93 gas in this country.

green light

2008-06-19T04:22:00.002+08:00

We are excited to share that we've been given the green light by our mission to buy plane tickets and leave the States!! Woohoo! We are in the process of finding the best & cheapest flights ASAP. One possibility leaves a week from Friday. We'll try to post again when we buy tickets.

Our closing is now indefinite because we must complete some repairs on the house before the buyer's mortgage company approves the purchase. So it looks like we'll probably miss our closing. We still plan to move out of the house in the next few days so that we can get rid of the last of our furniture.

We are always on email, so please continue to communicate with us! Thanks for praying.

Nearing the end

2008-06-12T11:25:00.003+08:00

We're realizing that we're using a lot of metaphors for death when we talk about our not-too-distant move to Malaysia...our time is coming to an end here, we're getting close to the end, etc., etc. It's kind of funny, but maybe also reveals how hard it is to let go of our life as we know it here. Ironically, we also worked on a draft of our will today with a lawyer.

We're getting a lot of other "lasts" done: vaccines, doctor visits, moving finances around, giving lots of stuff away, finding places to store some precious things here in the States. Elliot is down to about 5% of his former stash of toys. We are amazed at his ability to adapt and, in fact, not even notice stuff disappearing almost daily from our house.

We had a commissioning service this past Sunday at our church, which was emotional for all involved. Leaving Northpoint (just physically - not in our hearts!) will be one of the most difficult steps we take. It's an incredible phase for the church to be in...sending not only us out but also another dear friend who will be in the Middle East. It's really amazing and awesome, but so hard to let go of our family there.

We'll probably be closing on the house on June 25, and with the timing God has had throughout the past months, we believe that it won't be much later after that date that we'll be on our way to Malaysia. We'll be working with our mission on some things early next week to see what the possibilities might be in terms of buying plane tickets. Thanks for remembering us in prayer.

Invasion of our personal space

2008-06-01T09:48:00.005+08:00

We went camping one last time this past week and were invaded by several overly curious raccoons. Their behavior really bordered on stalking. They weren't nervous at all except when Elliot chased one of them up a tree. :-) We woke up several times during the night to see raccoon silhouettes around our tent. Freaky.

See more camping pictures here.

House sold!!!

2008-05-23T03:06:00.002+08:00

Yes, our house is sold! We just signed the agreement today after negotiating over a few days. We just need the house to pass inspection, and we'll be done. We are amazed at God's perfect timing on this. The closing is scheduled for about 5 weeks from now, so we're kind of hoping not to be here then. Our agent tells us that we can overnight papers from Malaysia, if necessary.

We are now down to 28 shares. A number of people have shared their desire to be part of our ministry, so our dream is that the funds will be coming in very soon. Our apartment in Malaysia will be available in June, so everything is set for us to get over there!

Tomorrow we'll be holding our last yard sale and will sell or give away almost everything that we can't store here or take with us. We still have a lot of stuff!

PLEASE keep us in your prayers as God brings everything together according to His will. We want so much to focus on the work we'll be doing in Malaysia and all that we need to learn to do the job well.

Packing up

2008-05-17T02:42:00.002+08:00

We are now spending our energies on getting ready to go to Malaysia at the drop of a hat. We just have 29 "shares" to go, so we want to be on a plane within days of getting it all in. This means we have to live as if we're going to leave within a few days. So we are whittling our stuff down to this point. Jonathan has already filled four suitcases/duffel bags, which leaves us with two more for everything else! We're amazed at what we're willing to give up as each day passes. We're hoping to have one more garage sale, probably next Friday, where we'll sell a bunch more toys, kitchen stuff, clothes, and other things we've decided we can live without for awhile.

Depending on how funds come in next week, we may move out of our house shortly. That way we can get rid of the furniture we are now using, like our couch, bedroom stuff, TV, dining table, etc. We have scheduled just one more church visit for this Sunday and are trusting God to continue working on our behalf beyond that.

We're also working on a will, which is an interesting process. There's a lot involved with it, more than we realized. We actually have to think about funeral arrangements for ourselves and what to do with Elliot, which can be tricky when you live in another country.

It looks like we'll be living in an apartment in Penang that's just down the road from the school. The building is right next to the ocean, and we'll be on the 7th floor. So Elliot will have his own endless sandbox on the beach. People rarely swim in the ocean water in this part of Penang because of the jellyfish and some pollution. But it will be beautiful. It all seems so surreal right now.

festivities

2008-05-08T09:54:00.003+08:00

Elliot turned 3 this past Sunday and has been enjoying singing the birthday song ever since. We were in Peoria, Illinois, and Elliot was given a birthday bear at the church we were visiting. We would've spent the rest of the day on the road, so we decided to spend the night in a motel with a pool. On Monday evening we got together with family to have a party for the birthday boy. Yes, there are 6 candles. As you can see, he had his pick of birthday "cake."

Bittersweet

2008-05-01T11:19:00.002+08:00

We made our final trek to Missouri and family there last week. It was the longest visit we'd had down there in quite awhile. It was really good to spend quality time with everyone in Jonathan's family and imagine what all the kids will be saying and doing when we come back in a couple years. The realization hit that two years is really a long time. Elliot will be 5 years old when we come back. So it was bittersweet, having to say goodbye to people we love. In fact, some pangs from childhood goodbyes resurfaced a bit. Thank goodness for Skype and digital cameras.

We also stayed a couple days in Indianapolis, staying with old friends and meeting new ones at a church that supports us. We got some family time at the Indianapolis Children's Museum, evidenced by the last post. What an amazing place. Probably more fun for Jonathan & Kari than the little guy.

We are in this difficult in-between stage where we ask ourselves: Do we keep scheduling church visits?? Will we be leaving by the end of May?? What's going to happen now? We are sooo close...but still far enough away from our goal that we could be here a couple more months. Jonathan's mentor in Malaysia will be leaving mid-June, and then our opportunity for training at Dalat will be lost. It's a hard spot to be in.

We were at the Indianapolis Children's Museum on Sunday!

2008-04-28T09:31:00.004+08:00

(That's Elliot in the porthole.)

Blessings

2008-04-15T11:16:00.002+08:00

We had an incredible weekend in the middle of Michigan, about four hours away from here. The family we stayed with took advantage of country living, and we got to experience a taste of that while we were there. In fact, we got stuck while going mudding on a trail behind the church we were visiting. We thought the weight of about 6 people in the back of the truck would give the tires some leverage, but it seemed to have the opposite effect! Wish we had pictures. The truck was still where we had left it when we came home last night...hope they've gotten it out by now. Elliot also got to float across a ditch in a miniature motorized toy jeep. We are missing out on so much in the city!!

We are also so grateful for a couple other things: We were able to sell quite a few things at our church's rummage sale from Thursday to Saturday. It would've been a huge amount of work to try to sell these things piece by piece, so that was a major blessing. It was a little painful to give up some of this stuff...Jonathan's guitar, a small TV in our bedroom, some pots & pans, a bunch of Elliot's toys. But we're nearly ready to just pack up and go. So we believe that God provided this opportunity for us. We're also thankful to finally be on the payroll at World Partners. We made it by a hair today, and we're going to receive a partial salary and health insurance now. The insurance was especially needed this month.

Smiles

2008-04-11T07:29:00.003+08:00

Jonathan bought a portable "spa" some time ago, which goes in a regular tub and makes excellent bubbles. Elliot loves it, as you can see. This will probably be his last bubble bath for awhile since we're about to get rid of it.