Independence Day Ceremony

Our neighbor is good at helping us know what to do and when to do it! She loves our kids!!

These are the ladies that cooked the tasty beef and rice soup, we aren't use to the snacks yet!!

These are some of the elders of our neighborhood, the young guy is a friend we met at the Sup Buah stand and later found out he was our neighbor, he was the MC.

The children LOVE to have their picture taken and then they run to you so they can see! It was a mini stampede, seriously!!

This is when the elders came forward and they are presented with a mountain made of rice with the Machiatto flag stuck in the top. They prayed, and prayed......for a long time......Barry has nothing on them!! Hahhahaa (sorry couldn't resist!)

After the prayers and a reading of the Independence story they cut off the top of the rice mountain and gave it to the eldest male. The plate was then passed to the other men and onto Barry as a sign of him being an honored guest. Haddon almost fell asleep, which accounts for the lovely hairdo she is displaying in the first picture, and the boys were making hand signals (acting like you can remove your thumb, etc) and shadow puppets with the little boys in front of us who grew tired of sitting still!

I also attended my first neighborhood Women's Meeting and was treated very warmly, they also chose to accept me as a member. I have no idea what it would have been like if they had not, glad I didn't worry about that ahead of time.....awkward!! But as I sat among them, unable to understand all that was being said, my eyes started to well up in tears as I thought of them. Most were "cousins" and I saw them through my father's eyes. Please continue to mention these people to the CEO, our heart aches for them to know the Truth!