Christmas Stockings -- Christmas Eve and Jonathan's is done!

Well, it is public now -- we are expecting Our Little Miracle #3!  We are so happy and excited!  We were hoping this would happen, but I really doubted it could since Jonathan is still a very frequent nurser, even at night.  So we feel God has given us a miracle -- Thank you Lord!

Other than some (a lot!) exhaustion, I am feeling well.  No nausea.  I am more sensitive to smells, so Jonathan's dirty diapers are now being stored in the back of the house instead of our bedroom.  I've had a little light-headedness from time to time.  I almost wish I felt more symptomatic for reassurance that the baby is getting the right hormones ....but I just have to trust God to do what is best for us.   The exhaustion reminds me that I am indeed pregnant and so I have prescribed myself to rest when I feel winded and to nap when Jonathan naps since such amazing things are happening inside and apparently the new baby needs that energy.

So, since I am Soooooooooooo tired, all of the time, my expectations of what will be accomplished for Christmas have fallen drastically........but I did finally finish Jonathan's stocking today.

In the year after Bethany died, I cross-stitched her stocking.  Somehow, filling in this simple picture, pixel-by-pixel, was so calming and so healing to me.  I needed to have her presence recognized in our home each Christmas, to proclaim to all who enter that she is an important member of our family.  As for it's function, it will not be filled with gifts for her.  Instead it will have a small gift FROM her and a few words for each member of the family.  This year, just little notes actually. 

Bethany's stocking

So now the goal is for each member of our family to have their own stitched stocking.  I don't work on this every day, but it does take me about a year to complete one project.  I already have the designs and materials for Dave and I's stockings, but haven't started on those yet.  (I have some felt to quickly throw together something for Dave and I for tomorrow, but if it doesn't happen, I guess we'll use athletic socks!)  Some of you will remember seeing me stitching away from time to time .....here is the finished product!

Jonathan's stocking -- finished in the nick of time!

Merry Christmas everybody!  We miss you and love you so much!

Update on Volcano: Merapi Stars and Human Trafficking

I wanted to do a special post about this ornament on our tree -- the Merapi star.

Actually we have 5 of them!

This star = hope and employment for victims of the Merapi volcano

Many of the refugees from Mount Merapi returned to their villages a few weeks ago and are slowly rebuilding their lives, but this is not the case for all. Some villages are completely destroyed and the land will be uninhabitable for at least 3-5 years. Those villagers are still living in uncomfortable refugee camps. Others have returned to their villages to find their fields covered with ash and volcanic rock, their homes severely compromised, and water systems destroyed.

It's impossible to build houses or grow food on this land.

The people in the camps are vulnerable, without employment and becoming more desperate. Human traffickers are targeting them already, offering employment either locally or abroad. People will sign up, eager for a chance to raise money for themselves or their family, and be transported. Most will end up in forced labor or sexual exploitation. It is also not unusual here for families in desperation to "sell" a child into sexual trafficking. It breaks my heart as a mother to write those words, but it is true. They do not choose because of selfish reasons but for their families to survive. We can not judge because we will never be in this situation to understand the heart of such decision making.

These Merapi stars are one way that God's people here are providing employment and hope for Merapi refugees, enabling funding to rebuild their villages and combat human trafficking. The refugees hand-crafted these intricate star ornaments, made from recycled paper, wire and beads. They were personally paid 2500 rupiah for every star they completed. The stars were then sold for 10,000 rupiah each (about $1.10), with the additional 7500 rupiah returned to the crafter's village for rebuilding projects and continuing the new bead making business.

The first 2000 stars made sold out locally in 3 days -- raising over $2000 for the villages and for the business. Now the crafters have moved on and are learning how to make different kinds of beads from pop cans, banana leaves and other materials. They are exploring designs for jewelry and bags and other things. Hopefully this will just be the beginning of sustainable employment and safety for these people.

If this work of God moves you to want to give to it financially, a special fund is already set up for donations with 100% going toward helping the Merapi victims. Give to OC International, PO Box 36900, Colorado Springs, CO 80936. Merapi Star Account # 440030.

Baby Problem Solving: Evidence of a developing Mind!

Every day it seems like Jonathan is learning and experiencing new things.  More and more we see that his mind is at work, thinking about things, figuring it out, how life and people work.  Although he can't yet talk, he's starting to do some sign language ("eat, more, enough") and often will imitate our vocals sounds -- whispering, coughing, blowing out a candle, smacking his lips. 

Dave says "What are we going to do when he becomes smarter than we are?"  I wish I knew!  I just answer "We have to pray hard that he loves the Lord and wants to obey!"  We pray for God's wisdom how to raise up this little developing mind.

Here he is at Pizza Hut last week.  I had gone with a friend to the big city for a doctor appointment, which means we also get to eat the good food there!  Jonathan was on my lap and I guess he was thirsty.  He reached for my glass and accidently dumped the water all over the table and onto my plate.  No problem for Jonathan, all the better!  He just slurped the water out of the plate and quenched his thirst!

The Pizza Hut slurp -- you should try it!

Here's another example that showed us that he is starting to think -- he's starting to modify his toys.  The green sticks are just about his favorite toy -- they are from a plastic shelving unit that we are not using.  They make excellent drumsticks, trumpets and stirring sticks.  Anyhow, the other night in the bathtub, he made THIS (drumroll please............) !!!

I call this "Molecule by Jonathan"

Pretty cool, huh?  Well, we were impressed. 

Walking like a Pro!.....almost

We never realized there are so many stages of learning to walk, and it's exciting to watch Jonathan hone and develop his skills. We're exploring the outdoors now, which means learning to keep balance on uneven ground and also enjoying the distractions of grass, sticks, leaves and rocks! Hope you enjoy the video!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I just thought it would be nice to share a bit of the Christmas season -- what we've been doing at our house so far!

We started the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is the first Sunday of Advent. We got out our Advent wreath and our Christmas tree. We are so thankful that artificial trees are available here!

We have a lot of stars in our Christmas decor, to remind us of our sweet Bethany, because she had this very special star in her footprint.....

Bethany's special star footprint inspires our Christmas decor

So this is our Advent Wreath, shaped like...... a star! Every evening (okay almost) after dinner, we light the appropriate candles, and recite John 8:12 "Jesus said 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'" Then we sing a Christmas carol together, read Scripture and a little devotional. Jonathan enjoys watching the candles, although we sometimes have to cut the hymns and readings short to be kid friendly.

Jesus said "I am the light of the world." John 8:12

When we were putting up the tree, Jonathan of course wanted to be involved. We decided to go for the tabletop tree as we didn't think it would last very long on the floor!

Jonathan is an excellent helper, but has to be instructed not to eat the lights!

And not to try and wobble the table so much that the tree falls off! He's got some muscles!

We added some decorations. We brought some special ornaments from home ......

Remembering our firstborn

And our second blessing from the Lord!

And the greatest blessing of all -- Baby Jesus! (Yes, my friend, I still have this, and it came around the world with us!)

Our last vacation deserves to be on our Christmas tree forever!

Then we added a few batik ornaments that we bought here locally....

And last, we needed a tree topper. Fortunately my neighbor had a good idea for this!

Aluminum foil + cardboard + toilet paper tube = WOWSA tree topper!

You won't see it in Martha Stewart magazine, but our Christmas tree helps us to celebrate the Christmas Spirit!

Things that are different: Asian problem solving -- what would you do?

I wish I had a picture for this post ....but I just don't.  But perhaps it's for the better!

So today we had a deluge rainfall, right at lunchtime when Jonathan and I go to school to socialize with the students and eat with Dave.  I put Jonathan in the baby backpack and we carefully headed to school under a big umbrella.

What would YOU do if you were driving along on your motorcycle and it started raining REALLY hard?  No poncho available.

Why, you simply stop by the side of the road, take off your outer clothes and stash them under the bike seat.  Then you continue driving in your underwear until you reach your destination, towel off, and put your dry clothes back on!

I saw this today at least twice!  It doesn't work for women, though.

Things that are different: Neighborhood baby clinic

One thing that is special here is that each neighborhood has special ways of taking care of it's own.  It's a government system, but it works very well.  There is a neighborhood man (elected but unpaid) who heads over 15-30 families.  Everyone who moves into the neighborhood or even visits for more than 24 hours is supposed to report to him, just so he knows what is going on.  We also have a neighborhood guard duty, made up of men from the neighborhood, who patrol every night to make sure all is well and safe.  The women and the men in the neighborhood each meet monthly to take care of business.  Each group has it's own bank account, from which members can take out small loans if needed, or get some money for medical care if someone is sick. 

All neighborhoods also have "Posyandu" or neighborhood  baby clinic, every month.   I used to help with the Posyandus when I was single working as a nurse in Kalimantan.   The Posyandu here is quite abbreviated compared to the ones I used to work with.  It goes like this:  On the 15th of every month, at 4:30 pm, all of the mommies in the neighborhood pack up their babies and toddlers (up to age 5) and head over to the house where Posyandu is.   A lady with a bar scale and a sling weighs all of the babies and the weight is recorded.  Baby and mommy are given a snack (a banana or candy or cake or soybean porridge), and then they head home.  Babies that are not gaining weight properly are referred to the nearest government health clinic.  A couple of times a year, mega dose vitamin A is administered to prevent vision problems. 

So Jonathan and I have been attending for several months now.  It's nice to be able to keep track of Jonathan's weight, and to get to know the other mommies in the neighborhood.  At his last weighing he was 9.9 kg (21.8 lbs).  His birth weight was 7.3 lbs (7 lbs 5 oz) so yep, he's tripled his birth weight in a year.

Here's a couple of pictures of Jonathan at Posyandu

A bar scale (like what they use in the market to weigh goods) and a sling are used to weigh every child in the village under the age of 5.  Here Jonathan is taking his turn.

Close up view:  This is fun mom!  (Note: this kid has got a lot of teeth!)