Update on volcano eruption

The region is now breathing a sign of relief because Mount Merapi has finally produced magma and is creating a new lava dome. Apparently this is a sign that the mountain is again becoming stable and returning to normal. The pictures (from Thursday evening) are amazing, though!

I wonder how long the process will take for the mountain to become dormant again? The ash cloud eruption pictured below was labeled a "cough" and occured Friday morning.



There are no more lives lost reported in the news. Thankfully, people are staying off of the mountain like they should.

Please continue to pray for this country. I know many people are suffering from severe burn wounds in the hospitals here. Burn care anywhere is never easy, and especially painful and debilitating here.

In the western part of the country, hit by the tsunami, rescuers are still searching for survivors. 2 babies were miraculously found alive yesterday. Please continue your prayers.

Update on Volcano Eruption

The above photo is from 2006, the last eruption of Mount Merapi which lasted 7 minutes and killed 2 people. I haven't been able to find any photos of this Monday's actual eruption, perhaps because it happened as night was falling? I'm not sure. The eruption on Monday was a series of 3 eruptions over about 90 minutes, expulsions of hot air and ash. It was considered to be much more powerful than the 2006 event. Volcanologists are expecting more activity from the mountain soon, as no magma or lava has yet been released.

To date, the news estimates that about 30 people died in Monday's eruption.

A spiritual battle is also at play here. Mount Merapi is a spiritual focal point in this region. A spirit or spirits are said to live in the mountain. The mountain's spiritual gatekeeper, Mr. Maridjan (pictured below) died at his home less than 4 km from the top of the volcano on Monday. He was responsible for interceding with the mountain's spirits and for fulling the cermonials (including blood sacrifice). His death is one of the biggest stories in the local news. He chose not to leave the mountain as eruption neared, and was found burned to death with his body bowed in an attitude of prayer. People are concerned about who is successor will be, and who will help protect them from the mountain spirits.


Some of you are wondering about the safety of our family. We've received e-mails from you expressing concern, and our hearts are encouraged! We are fine. This volcano is kind of in our backyard, but Merapi is erupting to the south in the opposite direction from us. In addition, we are protected in large part by another dormant volcano, Mount Merbabu. (In the photo below, Merapi is on the left and Merbabu is on the right.) If Merapi were to erupt in our direction, it is likely that Merbabu would protect us from any lava flows and most of the heat from ash. None of our local friends and neighbors are at all concerned.



While Mount Merapi has claimed 30 lives this week, the tsunami on the west part of this country has killed many more. A small, remote group of islands was severely attacked by the 10 foot waves and over 300 people are confirmed dead with hundreds more missing. Aid ships and planes are arriving now and providing help.

Please pray for this country. Natural disasters abound and the spiritual needs are great.

Things that are different -- Erupting volcano is local news

About 3 hours ago, this local volcano erupted 4 times. It is less than a 3 hour drive from our home. The city we visited last week is now experiencing ash fall and ash rain. So far I have heard of no casualties, but information is still being gathered.

Known as Mount Merapi, this mountain has erupted at least 100 times since history began, so volcanologists say. Yesterday, we started hearing rumors that it was expected to erupt, and we looked on the internet to find the rumors were true! Nobody in our town seemed very excited about it, since it was predicted to erupt in the opposite direction from us, to the south. So we didn't get very excited either. It last erupted a few years ago, so this is nothing new.

The government attempted to evacuate 40,000 people from the immediate area of the volcano, however not all complied. Many stayed behind to take care of their animals and fields.


In other news, there was a tsunami in the western part of the country today, far from us. It was the same fault that caused the tragic tsunami in 2004. So far, 110 people are known dead with many more missing. Rescuers are traveling even now to a group of islands 12 hours out from the mainland, to see how the people fared with the waves. Please pray for those who have lost loved ones, and those who have no hope because of this disaster.

Ancient History -- Borobudur

The first quarter of the school year was punctuated by a very nice week off called "October Break" around here! It's a lot like Spring Break, except in October!

We were thankful to be able to get away from town and visit a neighboring city for a few days. We also went on our first family sight-seeing expedition! We visited Borobudur, a massive, ancient Buddhist temple. It used to be called one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but I think it was demoted after several terrorist bombs damaged it. It has been "restored" and is a very popular tourist site.

We visited the temple at 6 am -- a smart choice considering how hot it gets here even in the middle of the day, and how many vendors try to hawk cheap goods at you. Jonathan rode up the temple on his daddy's back. Also for some reason we thought we might need the stroller up at the top (actually, I think we were afraid somebody might steal it if we left it at the bottom). We paid these 2 eager men to carry it up for us. I felt a little silly about it, but as Dave always says, "We're supporting the local economy."




Just one more picture to tickle you -- a stereotypical family "we were here" photo almost at the top of the temple.

Hair cuts!

Jonathan is 11 months old today!

We love, Love, LOVE Jonathan's baby curls! We weren't even going to consider cutting his hair until he's a year old -- but it is so hot here that he wakes up from his naps with a sweaty wet head and crying. As much as we'd love to keep his hair long and curly forever, it seemed like that would be a selfish decision.

We put it off for at least a month. Finally, after memorializing his baby curls with many pictures, the day of the hair cut arrived. To entertain Jonathan during the procedure, we downloaded a 9 minute Teletubbies video off YouTube. Turns out it was in German, but he didn't care. He survived with no tears and no injuries.

The results: He looks so different! To be honest, Dave and I were a little solemn to behold him.
Soon, however, he started crawling around and laughing and then fussing -- we realized he was still our Jonathan Isaac.


After 24 hours, I'm starting to get used to his new look! He's a cute little "big boy!"

(By the way, yes, that is a bruise on his forehead. Head vs. door if I recall correctly.)

I've been putting off a haircut, also. Since we came to this new country, I've had my hair in a pony tail every day. It's practical but boring.

One of my Indonesian friends took me to a stylist she knows, a Christian stay at home mom who works out of her own home. It felt so good to feel the heavy old locks of hair falling to the ground! So here we are, the both of us, after our makeovers!

Dimply knees!

Look at the dimples on those knees! Jonathan is doing well with his weight. On Friday, we went to the neighborhood Posyandu (monthly baby clinic) and he was 9.6 kg, which is 21.1 pounds!

Things that are different -- peanut butter

Peanut butter seems to be an essential food our family can't do without. It's just such an easy, hearty snack ingredient. Personally I (Jennifer) have never been a fan, but Dave loves to have peanut butter toast and I send a PB & J sandwich to school with him every day. Jonathan hasn't tasted any yet, as it's not recommended for babies, but I imagine it will be one of his favorites too.

There are some local peanut butters available cheaply -- they contain sugar, oil and mystery ingredients. I've chosen not to partake.

We can also get some very nice imported Skippy. It's about $4.50 for a small jar. Unfortunately it also has a lot of sugar in it. At that price I wanted an alternative!

Raw peanuts, however, are abundant here and very inexpensive at about $1 a pound.

So I purchased a Chinese meat grinder for $9 and we make our own peanut butter now! You can also make peanut butter with a blender, but it will probably break the blender in short time. (Yes, we use the meat grinder for meat, too -- but we bleach after every use.)

The result is not quite like that nice peanut butter I used to purchase at Andy's Market in College Place. It's not quite like Adam's either. It's kind of crumbly and hard to spread. I'm still perfecting the technique though. Dave thinks it's great!

Lunchtime "ministry" continues!

A month ago, I reported how Jonathan has a ministry at school, encouraging the students at lunch time. At first it was all the girls who wanted to hold him all the time, but last week he was eagerly sought after by the junior high boys! In truth, I feel ministered to when I see Jonathan being cared for so much.

Things that are Different: Cockroach control

I'd like to start a series in this blog called "Things that are Different" about our life here, compared to our life back in the states. Today I'll focus on cockroach prevention.

Our home had a lot of cockroaches when we moved in. After we had been here a week or so and plugged up their main entrance hole, their numbers decreased dramatically. However, quite a few of our kitchen drawers and bedroom cupboards were still inhabited. It was freaky and nauseating to open a drawer and see fast skittering of long wavy antennae and thorny legs. These guys are frequently 1 1/2 inches long.

One day I went to war and almost completely dismantled the dish cabinet, removing shelves, pulling out drawers and completely flipping the large piece of furniture upside down. I won't tell you what I found underneath, but it felt very satisfying to clean it. Everything was scrubbed with bleach and many roaches died under my broom that day. While waiting for the wood to dry I did some research on Wikipedia about cockroaches.

Here are some of the less than appetizing facts I learned:
1. A cockroach can survive submerged in water for 30 minutes.
2. He can also survive without food for 1 month.
3. He likes dark places only inhabited by many other cockroaches.

But there was a good thing too! I read that in Singapore, the taxi drivers use an herb in their car to keep the roaches away. You see, there are many roach sprays and poisons available here to keep the roaches at bay, but I don't want to have those in the same house with my infant. So sure enough I found out this herb, called pandan wangi, is available in our local market! It's used in curry dishes and only costs 50 cents a bundle!

So we've been using it for over a month now and so far no roaches in any of the places where we're using the herb! Amazing! And thank you Lord for creating a natural, non-poisonous solution to our roach problem!

Here is a picture of the fabulous herb, pandan wangi! Oh, and it smells wonderful too!