Preparing and Packing for Papua

How can I begin to describe the excitement and preparation for a trip to a part of the world most of us would never travel to, unless there was a very good reason to.  Our reason, of course is that a dear part of our family has made it their home. 

Indonesia is a nation made up of thousands of volcanic islands and home to hundreds of ethnic groups speaking different languages. The national language, however is Indonesian.  In past visits we have experienced some of the cultural aspects, enjoyed float plane flights over dense jungles and looking out for orangutans along a meandering river.

One of the first things we noticed was that Indonesians do not mind being in, what we would consider, our personal space. So if you are standing in a queue and feel someone breathing down your neck it is not considered rude. Another thing we learned quickly is that one has to be careful about which hand to use to pass or receive anything, as the left hand is considered unclean. It is rude to point with your left hand and rude to point with your index finger. One should point with the thumb and beckoning with the index finger has a bad connotation. These are just a few examples. They are not strange, because who's to say our way is the right way?  By now our children have adapted to the culture so much that it becomes natural and they just smile when we notice the differences.

Indonesia is a country that exports a lot of the clothing we buy here, but the same clothing is not readily available to people who live there. The main food staple is rice, often wrapped in banana leaves. Some of the foods we have enjoyed are satay ayam with chicken, grilled fish, roadside grilled corn on the cob and a lemon grass flavored soup called soto ayam. In the villages, many still do not have a refrigerator, so they buy what they need for the day at the market or roadside Warung,  Life in the more remote parts is about living from one day to the next.  It may surprise you that in the places we have visited, dairy foods are not available and people drink powdered or UHT milk. Their favorite coffee comes in little packages that include instant coffee, powdered milk and sugar. Many things that we consider staples are not so there. Not even coffee. 

So, the past few weeks have included getting vaccinations, prescriptions, the right mosquito repellent, phone plan or app and power converter, along with taking care of incoming email lists of what to bring ... things like favorite cereals, laundry stain remover, personal hygiene products, make-up, coffee filters, coffee (especially decaffeinated), videos, clothing for growing kids and toys or games they cannot get there. 

I removed a soft layer here so you can check out what is hiding in this suitcase.

Homemade strawberry jam has been one of the requests over the years
since it is difficult and would be quite random to find enough berries to cook jam.
It is a reminder of Canada.

Not sure if anyone reading this would ever have the need to send jam anywhere.

But, I have found that packing the filled jars back into the box
 that you buy them in is the best way.

The lids (which are larger in circumference than the jars, keep the actual jars from touching.

It is difficult for the glass to break if it cannot make contact with anything.

I cut as little as needed along the side of the plastic wrap that covers the box and when the

box is filled, simply stretch it back across the box and tape it along the sides

so that it's nice and tight.  If the jars come in a box that closes on top, I would make sure the

space is filled so that the jars can't move. 

And that is how I pack jam.

Our previous visits were to the island of Borneo.

This will be our first visit to Papua

and we can hardly wait to see where they have been for almost three years. 

A Rare Treasure

My parents vows to each other in September 1956

promised  a commitment to each other for life.

I can virtually see my mom as a beautiful, shy young bride

and my dad's boyish grin, knowing he'd found a rare treasure.

They were married 40 years when he suffered a massive stroke.

It changed their way of life 

as she cared for him for the next ten years.

Ten years have passed once more.

She has married and loved again,

a companion who now cares for her . . .

reminding her when it's time to eat,

time to take her medicine,

what to wear, where to go . . .

Last week, as I sorted through her clothes

I found something beautiful in the bottom of a drawer.

A treasure I did not know she had kept.

It looked like her wedding tiara

along with a matching broach and boutonniere.

How could this be?!

I looked up at the photo she still has in the room

and there it was . . . a moment hard to describe.

When I asked her about it, she did not recognize it,

hardly grasping how I longed for her to share the details.

Did someone make it for her?

Did she buy it? Who made her dress? 

It was all gone. 

Yet these simple pearls, strung into beautiful pieces

adorned with bridal fern on their wedding day,

allowed a glimpse into her world,

to a time when love was young and beautiful things were kept.

Several big moves with bare necessities,
and this treasure came along.
A symbol of love and hopes and dreams
that now rest in a life well lived
and in the heart of a grateful daughter.

The Blessing of Gathering 'Round the Table

It is always a highlight to eat together with friends!

Sharing food around the table is as old as time

and more beneficial to our well being than we would imagine. 

At Lovella's we sat at a table laden with beautiful little cucumber sandwiches, puff pastry bugles filled with egg salad, rhubarb scones, mango cups, chicken puffs, bruschetta tarts, fruit salad and scones with Devonshire cream and blackberry preserves.

And if that was not enough, for dessert out came tiny pavlovas topped with cream and fruit.

 We all have a fascination with and love of food 

that just goes with chatter and fellowship,
enjoyed more when shared.

This brings me to the question of,

what if food was just a necessity for survival?

What if there were no creative ways to enjoy it?

For many this is a reality because of famine or poverty,

but, ideally, this earth has been made to produce a variety of food that,

when used in the right way and shared,
is about so much more than just staying alive.

These thoughts have been going through my mind 

as I recently read an article about new ways to eat ...
or should I say, just good old fashioned ways to eat.

some basic principles:

don't rule out any foods completely (unless you have severe health issues) 

enjoy the variety without focusing on calories 

choose healthy starches - our body craves it for good reason

choose natural (with fat) dairy products 

load up on fresh and slow roasted vegetables 

enjoy a piece of cake when called for - celebrate

With new diet fads coming and going continually, the only lasting one is to build lifetime habits that are healthy and enjoyable, not a chore to stick to! Doing our own cooking and baking is still the best way to do this.  If this idea sounds too overwhelming, a good way to start is to change one thing at a time until it becomes a habit. I can relate to this way of making changes best. It happens slowly and as I look back over the past 10 years, I can appreciate these changes, hopefully for the better.

All this to say that food is a good thing.

It provides a way connect
whether in grief, in joy or just daily life.
It places value on the receiver.

It nourishes and strengthens.
It's a gift given to bless.

We never want to forget to give thanks!

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

I. Timothy 4:4

Tulip Time in the Valley

 

The day before it opened last week, we were invited for a sneak preview

of the tulip farm nearby, just in it's second year of operation,

If you happen to go down Highway 1 near Chilliwack

in these next few weeks,

you can't miss the colors,

  

 We walked the perimeter of the farm,

enjoying the rows on rows of tulips in such a perfect setting

with the mountain ranges and peaceful looking farms as a backdrop.

I can just imagine the rainbow of colors once they come into full bloom.

 I  bent low to get some close shots  . . .

when, after a while, Teddy asked if she could take some pictures.

I handed off my phone and smiled when I saw how she squatted near the blooms.

just like she'd seen me do it.

But what I did not see until I went through the photos later

was that several times she had focused on the lone tulips in the mud.

I almost deleted them before realizing this beautiful perspective from a child,
seeing beauty despite the circumstances,

  and a reminder to bloom where we are planted. 

Easter Joy

Something that never would have crossed my mind when when our kids were small
is that one day I'd be setting the table a day in advance in anticipation of coming together.
Not sure where time has gone, but I do remember how this longing began
and how in the weeks after the first one left for college
I'd go to set the table and my hand would automatically make that "five plate grab"
only to realize she was not coming.

One by one they took turns leaving and coming back . . .

eventually moving out and then coming back to visit . . . with additions.

If we'd all be together today, we'd be nineteen!

So it's my joy and blessing now to take the time on these special occasions,
even with some still missing, to arrange flowers, color eggs, fold napkins and

take time to fashion crudely made twig cross name tags . . .

Sunday afternoon, while dinner was in the oven,

the kids looked for Easter treats.
In my family, growing up and with our kids,
my mom and dad prepared baskets and hid them.
So this is how it's done here, for now.

They each found their bag hidden in the garden and then spread out 

on the patio to check out their loot!

I'm not a big candy girl myself, so I have fun looking for 

what I think I'd like more. 

Maybe some doll clothes,

a yo-yo

or a skipping rope?

Jade's thinking, "that's all good, but where's the candy?"

We found our seats around the table and everyone obliged me

for the photo before the food got passed from the buffet. 

Dessert and facetime with some "far aways" followed the ham dinner.

Learning how quickly things can change,

I had a sudden inclination to ask for a four generation photo,

Here we see where the brown eyes come from.

After dinner, with the weather so nice,
the kids were drawn outside again ...

a perfect way to finish off a family Easter. 

At the Cross

Life in the mid sixties, in a small town in Brazil was simple and yet quite idyllic.  Neighbors, church, school and family friends all blended into one large community in which we felt safe and loved. I do not remember having even a radio, never mind a TV or record player, (a thing of the past now) but it never dawned on me that we may be missing something. As kids, we easily memorized songs we learned at school or church and sang our playlist in our beds at night before we fell asleep. I also remember the great feeling when I learned to read and could take the  hymnal to my room to sing through every hymn that I recognized. My memory of choosing "On the Cross, on the Cross" as my favorite goes back to that time. (the words still sound better in German)

Recently someone in our MGCC group brought up the story of Fanny Crosby and with that we each started sharing a hymn written by her.  It is said that Fanny lost her eyesight at six weeks old, when a travelling doctor gave her the wrong treatment for an eye infection. Whether her eyesight would have been a problem despite the injection we'll never know, but what we do know is that Fanny Crosby lived her life to the fullest and did not consider herself handicapped. Her grandmother played a significant role in her life, teaching her about what she saw and encouraging her memorization of scripture. When she was almost fifteen, she began her studies at the New York Institute for the Blind where she eventually became a teacher. Fanny had a heart for the poor and addicts living in the Manhattan slums and spent much of her time ministering to them.

What I was hoping, when I started the thought about this post, was that I could credit her for writing my favorite hymn for this Easter season. After all, if she wrote 9000 hymns, there was a pretty good chance, right?  However, as I looked up her story I was surprised with something much sweeter!  I found out that, although Fanny spent years finding meaning in life through education, teaching and ministry, her true purpose came upon a personal experience  at the age of 38.  One night Fanny walked into a service at a Methodist Church where she heard the hymn by Isaak Watts, "At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light ... it was there by faith I received my sight ... " And it was this hymn that led her to dedicate herself and her writing skills to Jesus! The thousands of hymns she wrote were written after this experience.

It's humbling to us who can see, to realize how Fanny allowed the eyes of her heart to see even what we never may see.  In answer to people questioning her about wishing her blindness to be healed, Fanny was known to say that she considered her blindness to be a blessing, because the first face she would see would be that of her Saviour.

1. Jesus, keep me near the cross,
   There a precious fountain—
   Free to all, a healing stream—
   Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
   • Refrain:
     In the cross, in the cross,
     Be my glory ever;
     Till my raptured soul shall find
     Rest beyond the river.
2. Near the cross, a trembling soul,
   Love and Mercy found me;
   There the bright and morning star
   Sheds its beams around me.
3. Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
   Bring its scenes before me;
   Help me walk from day to day,
   With its shadows o’er me.
4. Near the cross I’ll watch and wait
   Hoping, trusting ever,
   Till I reach the golden strand,
   Just beyond the river.

Now that I know her story, I see this prayerful hymn penned by Fanny in light of her experience and going on from there to see the future through that same cross. The cross where love and mercy meet for every hope of tomorrow.

Sources:
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/fanny-crosby-americas-hymn-queen-11630385.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=XcZw6Yz0mxYC&pg=PT49&lpg=PT49&dq=fanny+crosby+hymns+for+easter&source=bl&ots=YFye_nhTQK&sig=wa8GxXpLP_WEOED2Cb_YcbNRFsE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEwKP32ZXTAhVYHGMKHSl-DOIQ6AEIOjAF#v=onepage&q=fanny%20crosby%20hymns%20for%20easter&f=false