Happy Chinese New Year

Each year on Chinese New Year I send an update to Brooklyn's orphanage. Here is this years photo update. Brooklyn picked out her own Chinese New Year dress this year. I can't believe how much older she looks in this picture.

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Happy 12th Birthday, Sydney!!

Thursday, Friday, Happy Days!

Our Technology teacher, Jan, celebrated her birthday this past weekend. We threw her a surprise "50's" themed party. She was as surprised by the party as I was with the fact we could fit a T-Bird inside our friends house. It was a fun time complete with a round on 1950's trivia and Root Beer Floats. Good Stuff!

Ballet Class

I have tried for over a year to get Brooklyn in a ballet class. Today I was finally successful. Brooklyn started ballet lessons at Wulan Dance Academy in Pekanbaru. The school is run by a former Chinese ballet dancer. She is a tough cookie and runs a pretty tight ship, which is perfect for our little ballerina.

Initially, the teacher was quite concerned that Brooklyn might be upset because the class is taught in Indonesian and Chinese. She went as far as going to going outside and getting my driver to explain it to me in English that she did not think I wanted Brooklyn in the class. Our driver just smiled and tried to explain that Yoyo would do fine.I told her I wasn't worried because Brooklyn could figure out what to do by watching. I don't think she believed me.

Brooklyn has always had an amazing sense of rhythm and body awareness. She loves to copy dances she sees on TV. Brooklyn had no problem keeping up with the class. The teacher was quite surprised how quickly Brooklyn learned the little dances. Overall, it was great experience for everyone. She can hardly wait for next week.

Care Packages

The kids were absolutely thrilled when packages from Grandma and Grandpa arrived today.
Getting mail here is a BIG deal. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Teacher Time

On a quiet Saturday night some of the teacher at ISR decided to hit the bowling alley on camp. This 8 lane beauty of a bowling alley hosted a highly competitive couple of games between some of the best bowlers ISR has to offer. Let's just say that we won't be hitting the PBA tour anytime soon. It was a lot of fun as we were the only ones in the place. Notice the Chevron logo in the back. We are sponsored wherever we go on camp.

Caught in the ACT

My suspicions of Brooklyn playing house with the kitties was confirmed today.
What tolerant kittens.

A table runner for every season

Halloween

Winter time

Happy Birthday

Valentines Day

Easter

We have the best sewing Ibu (women). She comes every Sunday and most Saturdays. Having her work for us is such fun. She can make anything. I mean "anything." All I do is hand her a picture of something I would like and like magic she creates it with no pattern. It blows my mind. Besides being a talented women she is a sweet lady. We all miss her when she is working for other people. These are a few of her latest projects. Remember my fabric choices here a pretty limited other than Batik which is made in Indonesia.What I wouldn't do for a JoAnn Fabrics.

New House Help

Creepy Crawly Catchers

In a hope to keep all jungle creatures like snakes and spiders out of the house we have employed the services of two jungle kitties. We are happy to introduce you to Clarabell and Holly. Clarabell and Holly have some unique features that are quite different from house cats in the States.

They have tiny little heads, huge ears and eyes, and super long bodies. They look a little like an alien. What they lack in good looks they make up for in personality. They have the sweetest personalities and have been really tolerant of the kids. Brooklyn had them as guests for a tea party this afternoon. There was also evidence that they had been wrapped in baby blankets. Brooklyn was scratch free so they must have handled it just fine.

Clarabell

Holly

2010 Christmas Card

Joy And Happiness Christmas 5x7 folded card

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View the entire collection of cards.

Pop Quiz

Q: What is there to do in Rumbai on a quiet Sunday Afternoon?
A. Help design a new table runner with scraps of fabric

B. Go for a walk and visit with some monkeys

C: Playing on a Slip and Slide

D. all of the above

Well, this pretty much sums up our day today. The answer was "D. All of the above. We spent our day hanging out with friends, having an impromptu neighborhood BBQ, going for a walk, enjoying the wild life, sliding on our slip and slide and enjoying handiwork of our amazing sewing lady. It was a great day. We hope you had a great day too.

Christmas Snake

On New Year's Day we get a call from our neighbor that they have a snake in the house and could I get pest control over to their house and then come over and help. It seems that as they were taking down their Christmas tree this little guy came out of it. By the time I had called pest control and got over to their house they had corralled him with this bucket. Pest control came after about 10 minutes and grabbed him and took him away. They told us he was not poisonous so that made them feel slightly better. Apparently on Christmas day they had another snake in their house. They told me that they were going to have Pest Control come on Monday and see what the issue is. I am glad it is their issue for sure!

New Years Eve

New Year's Eve in Rumbai is not so exciting as say, anywhere else in the world. We were just settling in for a night of watching movies when our school secretary calls our house at about 9:45 PM telling us that the alarm is going off at the school. Since our principal is out on vacation it fell to Kathi and I to go check it out.

Not knowing if the school was on fire or what the issue may be we headed over to check it out. We checked all of the rooms and found nothing out of the ordinary. Having never dealt with our alarm system I had no idea how to turn it off even when the security guard showed me the panel. He had no idea how to turn it off either so we had to call in the fire department. They show up with their big truck and we have to check each room again so they can finally turn off the alarm. Turns out is was an electrical issue. So while I am happy there was no fire at the school my New Year's Eve was a little more hectic than we had planned.