First off, I have to mention how excited we are that the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl!!! I have missed not being able to watch the games this season. Even Ellie who doesn't follow football is missing the camaraderie surrounding the big games. There are rumors floating around that there is going to be a Super Bowl party for all of the football fans here in Salatiga (there are actually quite a few Seahawks fans here). We sure hope we can watch the big game, though to watch it live we will have to get up early on Monday morning!
For Thanksgiving Ellie transformed our living room into a cozy Fall oasis as we hosted the whole MAF team for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought their favorite Fall foods and it really was a wonderful time. Nobody else wanted to take home the 2 turkey carcasses to make broth with, so we did it all ourselves and we still have gallons of frozen turkey broth in our freezer!
Christmas was unique and lots of fun. Blake was able to understand the birth of Christ this year and was really excited about that. On Christmas morning I (Matt) went to the town square at 4 am for a city-wide interdenominational worship service. What an amazing thing it was! There were thousands of people packed into the square...sitting or standing on the grass...praising the name of Jesus. It was a fun and unique experience for me. I made it home at 6am in time to see the kids wake up and run out to see the presents under the tree!
This year Ellie and I started Unit 6 (out of 9) of language school. Hard to believe that we are nearing the end of language study.
Ellie's parents are coming to visit in mid-February and you can sense the excitement at our house! Her parents are also putting the final touches on our crates (that have been sitting in their garage for these last 7 months) and those will begin their long slow journey to Tarakan next month.
We had some wonderful Indonesian friends over for a nice long visit last weekend. He invited me to begin playing badminton with him and a group of his friends at 6am every Sunday morning. I happen to love badminton, but haven't played in years. I'm nervous because this isn't an ordinary backyard badminton game...they take badminton very seriously in this country! Indonesia is regularly one of the top competitors in the world in this sport, so I'm expecting a tough, but fun, experience.
Below are some fun pictures of what we have been up to. Enjoy!
For a dollar you can ride these fun electric 4-wheelers once around the town square. The kids loved it (and so did we)!
We had the privilege of watching a friend's daughter get baptized recently.
We got to go out to dinner with Pak Bangbang, Ibu Agnes and their 3 girls. Ibu Agnes watches Callie and Eva while Ellie and I are at school. She's incredible and we couldn't survive language school without her!
Beautiful children watching us ride the 4-wheeler around the town square.
The International School here has a large playground that the kids call "the park." It's a great place to get some energy out and meet with friends.
Eva is always an instant celebrity.
Waiting for our order of "sate" at our favorite sate place. Sate is barbequed beef or chicken skewers served with rice and a delicious sweet peanut sauce. It's cheap, fast, and oh so delicious. This place has become a regular stop for us on the weekends.
Gee, Matt and Ellie sure have lost a lot of weight living in Indonesia...
