Our New Best Friend

Praying for Isaac

Urgent Prayer Needed

My cousin has a beautiful little boy named Isaac. He is five years old and suffering from very serious complications from Swine Flu. Right now he is in Dallas Children's Hospital struggling to get better. Please add him to your prayers and feel free to add him to your church prayer chains.

I thought it might be fun for Isaac to see who is praying for him. Here is what I am suggesting. Take a digital picture of your family holding a sign that says "Praying for Isaac in (your location)." For example I will be taking a photo of our family holding a sign saying "Praying for Isaac in Sumatra." Please email all photos to me and I will post them on our blog.

Feel free to forward this to family and friends around the country and the world. The more people praying for Isaac the better. Isaac's family checks our blog and I would love to have a ton of photos for him to scroll through. Thanks for helping me out. Lets lift this little boy up in our prayers. - Kathi

My email address: kathigetzinger@isriau.org

Soccer

This week the soccer season came to an end here on camp.  Kade really liked playing soccer which is somewhat ironic since I am not the biggest soccer fan in the world.  He actually was very good considering his only other experience came from his recess exploits at Stanwood Elementary.  Sydney also did soccer but is very glad it is over.  She can't wait for Basketball which starts up this week.   

Costume Parade and Trunk R Treat

Since our fall break starts at the end of next week Halloween was celebrated early.  The kids all came to school on Friday dressed up.  They were then paraded up on stage during an assembly so they could show off their costumes.  Brooklyn made a great princess.  Some of the pictures of Kade and Syd didn't turn out but Kade was Zorro and Syd was a Stanwood Spartan Volleyball player.  

Instead of everyone heading out trick or treating in the evening; there is a tradition here that is pretty neat.  All of the expat families bring their cars to one of the parks and decorate their cars in the Halloween spirit.  All of the school kids come out and go car to car "Trunk or Treating."  After everyone is finished getting their candy all the families have a pizza party and the kids run around all hopped up on sugar.  

This year a thunder and lightning storm required us to move it to the gym of the school.  It was a lot of fun anyway.  The kids all got there candy and pizza.  It was a cool experience to see the whole community hanging out and enjoying time together.  

Trip to Fire Station

Go Speed Racer Go

The Getzinger Clan had never participated in a Pinewood Derby before. There are several revelations we came across while tackling our first experience.

1. When the PTO spends $4,000 on the electronic timing track...this is not your Grandfather's Pinewood Derby.

2. The amount of time spent on metallic paint and artistic design does not necessarily increase the speed of your car.

3. When your car is slow the father's manhood is in question.

4. First timers are expected to have slow cars.

5. When you overhear several of the Chevron Dads talking and the conversation goes something like this:

Dad #1: Did you put graphite on before you came?

Dad #2: Yeah, we also polished the axles and lightly sanded the wheels to reduce friction!

Dad #3: Oh, yeah. Me to. I brought my router attachment for that reason.

You realize that:

A) I am not an engineer as these guys are, and,

B) This is getting a little out of control and that our cars are out of their league.

Even with all of that we had a great time. Kade's car made the finals but not the top five. Sydney's Banana car was by far the most original. It was a really neat set up for the event. The electronic timing was hooked up to computers which would display the times and places for each heat on a huge screen. It was first class all the way. I am definitely paying for the speed secrets off of the Internet next year!

Kade getting an award for the "Pointiest Car Design" Kade named his "The Red Lightning Bolt"

Yo-Yo getting the "Most Aerodynamic Award" She called it the "Green Machine"

The electronic timing mechanism.

The Finish Line!

Sydney's is the Yellow Banana car. She named it "Banana Bob."

"Gentleman, Start Your Engines!"

GROSS

The Heebie Geebies

Today we came home and our cook told us that we had bugs in some of our food in the pantry. Being unsure what that entailed I went to the pantry to survey the damage. There was an empty spot on one of the shelves. In the place where there had previously been some of our pasta noodles was a black pile of what looked like mud. That was where the little buggers had dove into the boxes of pasta. It was disgusting. I asked our cook if she had found any more. She said she had not. I checked behind a few boxes and I could not find any more. We sprayed the affected area with Raid and then I headed off to go get a haircut.

When I got home I told Kathi what had happened and we do a little more checking around. Sure enough there was another place where the suckers had found their way into. It was much higher then where our cook could have seen. We quickly called pest control which is always an adventure. Pest control here is more like varmint control. They deal with anything from ants to pythons and cobras, to monkeys and pigs. The problem is that they speak very little English. When the guy walked in to check our pantry I am not sure he knew what the problem was because he was carrying something that looked like a badminton racket. Not sure the reason behind it but I am sure if a badminton game broke out he would be ready.

Right away he said it was bad and that we needed to get all of our stuff out of the pantry so they could spray the Termites. OK so the only word he clearly said was "termites." The rest was more like Indonesian Charades but we got the picture. So my oh so helpful buddy Dave came over and helped me move everything out of there. It was a ton of work so his help was greatly appreciated.

So they are coming first thing in the morning to spray the crap out of our pantry. I am sure that what they are using is EPA tested...and failed to meet standard, but those suckers destroyed my Stove Top Stuffing so they can die a horrible death by fumigation.

Pinewood Derby tomorrow so we will be gone when they are eradicating those little turd balls.

Coming Soon...Pinewood Derby pictures and results.

Tomorrow, our Saturday is the big Pinewood Derby.  We will have an update on that in the next day or two.  

Thanksgiving in October?

Last night we were able to partake in our first Canadian Thanksgiving. Our principal and her husband are from Canada. She, along with the social committee, organized a Thanksgiving feast for all of the people (and their families) who work at our school. There was turkey (even some deep fried turkey that was amazing) as well as stuffing, sweet potatoes and yes, pumpkin pie.

It was awesome to get to have a real North American meal. I was a little disappointed there was not a hockey game shown since it was Canadian Thanksgiving. All of the teachers split up and sat at a table with national staffers. It made for some interesting dinner conversation depending on how much English they knew or how much Bahasa we spoke.

It was a lot of fun to see the families of the people we work with. We don't get a chance to socialize with them outside of school because they all live outside of the camp in either Pekanbaru or Rumbai. All in all it was a great evening.

Here are some pictures of the evening.

Hey! Look this way!
What is he looking at over there?
Sarah, Sydney, Trey, Kade, Trent, and Brooklyn posing for Kathi

The traditional Canadian Thanksgiving pose.

Earthquake Slide Show

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Chapel Slide Show

View more presentations from caltexschool.

Earthquake photo

Tonight's Jungle Sunset

We Need Your Help

Hi there! You have all been so great following our adventures and we have had such a ball relaying them to you all. We know that those of you who check in on our adventures are amazing people that we hold as dear family and friends. We appreciate all of the support you have given us over the past several months and years. Kathi and I would like to humbly ask for your help in the relief effort here in Sumatra for those displaced and suffering in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that hit on September 30th.

While you all know that we were unharmed here in our little neck of the woods I am sure you have seen on the news this was a very destructive natural disaster. Kathi and I have come to realize just how bad things are. Luckily in our lives we have not had people close to us directly affected by a serious natural disaster. Sadly that is not the case anymore. Kathi and I have quite a few people who we consider friends here affected by this recent quake. Many of the people who work here in Rumbai came from Western Sumatra, specifically Padang and the surrounding areas hardest hit by the earthquake. One of the people who works for our friends the Austins, brother lost their family home. Our school driver, Sadario, still has family there that he has not heard from. He was trying to sound upbeat when we talked to him but it is a very real possibility that they have perished in this disaster. That is only two of the stories of over a dozen we could relay to you about those here who are hurting and worried sick over this situation.

Kathi and I, along with the Austins, are trying to do our part to help this terrible situation. We have contacted Dave and Shannon's school in Stanwood, Utsalady Elementary, as well as Stanwood Elementary and Stanwood Middle School to see if they would hold change drives in the schools to give to the relief effort. Utsalady Elementary was on board immediately and will start this week collecting money. Kathi and I are still waiting to hear from SES and SMS on whether they will help. We are hopeful they will. We have also tried to contact people we know at the other Stanwood-Camano S.D. schools to do the same. I have also written a letter to the Stanwood-Camano News which I hope will appear this coming week asking for help.

Here is where you, our friends and family come in. (You knew it was coming didn't you? You couldn't shake the feeling this was a Time Share pitch could you? Buttering you up so we could hit you with the hard sell.) We need three things from you. If you could do one, two or all three of these we would be so grateful.

1. Pray for those affected by this. There are thousands of people here who need comfort through both material needs as well as spiritual needs in dealing with the loss of homes, jobs, and more importantly family and friends. Maybe this is the thing that pushes them into a relationship with Christ.

2. If you know of a school or organization that would be willing (or maybe needs a push) to take up the financial cause for this relief effort please see if they would be willing to help.

3. Donate anything you can to this cause. World Vision has a link in their website where you can directly donate to the relief efforts for this particular disaster.

www.worldvision.org

I know times are tough and whatever you can do is awesome and appreciated even if you can't give money. We really are very blessed to be surrounded by so many people who care for us. Your comments and e-mails brighten our day and make us realize how grateful we are to have you all in our lives. Thanks again for all of your support!

Love,

The Getzingers