AyamQu

"AyamQu," served quickly, kosher and healthy. It is a popular restaurant. Funny thing is, after only being open a few months, it changed its name. Why would a new restaurant, that had already built quite a large clientele, change the name and look?

It goes something like this:

One day a man and his little girl came to eat at this very popular chicken place. The little girl looked around at the long metal tables, surrounded by chairs and happily eating patrons.

"Daddy?" she said, "Why is there a little naked man jumping from table to table?"

What?

A tuyul, a mischievous little spirit that people believe can steal and in other ways harass humans.

Really?

Well, the restaurant owner had "no other choice" but to change it's name and look in hopes that either the tuyul would go away, or that the patrons would think that, under "new management," the spirit was bound to depart...

Right?

This story might seem likely in some jungle village or remote tribe. But we live in a city of over 1 million people. It is one of the large cities on the island with bustling malls, streets full of nice cars and a zillion motorcycles. But many of the people are held captive. They are held captive to fear. Their fear is of spirits, among other things. If they do not have the Holy Spirit, then they certainly do have reason to fear.

Pray for people who are held captive by fear, that they will believe in the Greatest Spirit of all, the one Who can save them and make them live in victory over fear!

PS Since I wrote this, the name of this little restaurant has changed again.

Puzzling Pictures: Spoon

It just makes me feel better, you know? To know that my kitchen utensils are food safe.  Thanks for that assurance!

The Museum is NOT Closed...Or is it?

Today we took my sister and her family for a "cultural day" downtown. First we road a boat on the Musi River. Then, hot and tired, we went to the museum. It is a lovely building and we were looking forward to some air conditioning! We walked across the parking lot and up these winding stairs to the doors at the top. When we got there, we were met at the door by a lady who seemed to not want to let us in. She was very sweet though! She leaned her scarved head out the door and smiled at us.

"Is the museum 'tutup' (closed)?" I asked, picking up on her non-verbal cues.

"Oh no, it's not TUTUP," she said, "But the electricity is off so it is very hot and dark."

"Oh, I see," I replied, and turned to translate this for everyone else. Standing on the balcony of the second floor, it was shady and breezy and felt quite nice. We stood there to try to decide what to do next. The lady at the door seemed nervous by our not leaving.

"It is not tutup, but there is no electricity," she repeated, "so you can't see anything inside."

Standing in front of the not closed, closed museum.

"Yes, ok," I smiled at her. We continued to try to make a "plan B."  Should we go to the market? Should we go home?  So far the museum lady had been speaking Indonesian. But this time she broke out in very carefully spoken English, "It is C-L-O-S-E-D!"

I smiled again. "OK, thank you!" We finally decided to walk to the market. Before leaving, we stayed just a bit longer to enjoy the breeze. But as we did, the flustered lady finally shut the big gates on the entrance doors to the museum.

I guess the museum was finally closed in all spoken and non-verbal languages!

Nail Salon

I am enjoying "bonding" with my nieces.  One night, Kayla and I had our own nail salon.

After trying, with no luck, to get my son to let her practice on his fingernails...Kayla paints my thumb nail.

And paints a little more...

And a little more...

Using her really cool nail painting tools.

She paints some super cute froggies on my thumbs.

And helped me add some dragonfly decals to my index fingers, because who wants hungry frogs?

And here I am feeding my frogs.

And here are Kayla's awesome nocturnal frogs.  See the starry skies on her other fingers?

Here's to more fun bonding time with my family!

Dear Hannah

If you could talk to any character in the Bible, who would it be? I've thought of different ones I'd like to talk to, but lately, I've been thinking of Hannah. Of course, I'll never talk to her until we meet in heaven, but suppose I could write a letter that went back in time...here's what I'd say...

Dear Hannah,

I've known you for a long time, from a distance. I read your story when I am praying for someone who is childless. I am blessed to read of your husband, Elkanah's love for you and also touched to read your very raw feelings and grief over being childless. I am so encouraged by your prayer to the Lord that day in the temple, and by the peace that God gave you after you prayed.

But today I am thinking about when you brought your little boy, your very precious first-born child, and left him at the temple. I am wondering about the raw feelings you felt then. You see, while my first-born son is already 14 years old, I am getting ready to take him far away and leave him there. I knew this would happen, and we have been working towards the day for a while now. I suppose you probably were working towards that infamous day too. My son is excited and ready to go to boarding school for his freshman year of high school. My husband and I know this is the right thing, that this is in the Lord's will. But, oh my, did the Lord's will hurt this much for you as well?

The other night I could bear the sadness no longer. I can't imagine family life without him around. I cried. I asked the Lord, "Please, is there any other way?" Did you ever ask the Lord that? Did you ever ask Him a question, even though you already knew the answer? I also asked God for a word, a verse, something... anything! And that has been my prayer for many days now.

Well, this morning I read Ephesians 3:14-18. "When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." (NLT)

I just knew, this was now my prayer verses for my son. This is what I will be praying for him this coming school year. As I read the words, "your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong," I realized that my son going away to school is part of HIS story and journey with the Lord. Were I to hold him back, when he needed to go, I would be stunting his own spiritual growth! I admit that as a mother, I have often been tempted to overprotect my children. Sometimes God has to wrench my hand a little, when trying to get to my kids. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to free my son and his Lord to go on their journey together. Yes, I suppose even if it means that at the end of the summer I'll be waving goodbye for a little while.

So, I just wondered if you felt that way? Did you dread the approaching day? Did you struggle with your promise to bring Samuel to the temple and leave him there? You probably never dreamed that your story would land a spot in the Old Testament! But it did, and I find encouragement from your life testimony of faith and of following through with the Lord. I am hoping that, when the summer is over, and my son goes to boarding school, I can say, just like you did, "My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong." (1 Sam. 2:1a)

23 Years...and 2 Years

It's been 23 years since my older sister has been to Indonesia, our home for 16 of our childhood years.  Tomorrow she is coming "back home" with her husband and daughters!  To say we are a little excited might be just a tinge understating it!  It has also been two years since our families have seen each other, so it is a reunion for us as well.  As I write this, they are en route, probably in the Taipei airport, or getting ready to land there.  In about 14 hours (yes, that's 4am tomorrow morning) we'll head to the airport to pick them up! But the trip is not done yet, we are actually in the capital city at the moment, so we'll pick them up at the airport and then we'll all fly back to our home in Sumatra.  I can hardly wait!

Home Again!

We're back home again!  We went from the slopes of an active volcano to the shores of a beautiful tropical island.  We enjoyed yummy food, excellent friendships and received quality Bible teaching.  We survived ice cold splash baths, an almost broken arm (Aaron), very little sleep the first week, and no one got sick!  We camped out, roasted hot dogs, hiked, played capture the flag, did crazy relays, sang, flew on airplanes, walked on the beach, went to a water park, spent time with friends, spent time in prayer, hugged a lot, worshiped, posed for crazy pictures, watched a baptism in the swimming pool and paid a lot of money to eat some crazy good cheese cake.  It was a great 2 1/2 weeks.  

I didn't take very many pictures, which is unusual for me.  But I couldn't resist this picture in the airport.  There was an "unattended bag" in the waiting room...does it look suspicious to you?  LOL

And then we came home.  Our cat was so happy he meowed himself hoarse and didn't get his voice back until the next day.  Now it's time to get ready for summer guests!  My sister and her family arrive in 6 days and my parents arrive in 13 days...WOOHOO!  I am trying to clean the house up.  I was aiming for neat and clean, but I think my style for house decor is "Early 21st Century Clutter" so I'll just have to embrace the inevitable and put my efforts into things like laundry and keeping the dishes washed.  

So, if you rummage through items in your shelves that you haven't looked through in awhile, what do you find?  Dust?  Maybe a little bug like a cricket or silverfish?  Well, now, how about hatched lizard eggs?  That's what I found.  Awesome, lizards are setting up homes in my shelves.

Perhaps I need to say that my home is "Early 21st Century Clutter with a Jurassic Twist."