A Man in the Making

Willing to branch out and try new dishes and drinks! He loves Mei Goreng (fried noodles) and although they like the coconut drink, the novelty is in the "cup"!

We discovered these ice cream sandwiches on the Fourth of July!

Doing the famous Michael Jordan pose as he jumps in the pool!

Where did the years go? Almost 13 and entering 7th Grade!

There has been quite a discussion around our house lately on what it means to be grown up, to be a man, and thereby earn more freedoms. So in honor of that, I am devoting this post to a few thoughts on this topic. Certainly I am no expert on raising teens. Even after being in Student M*n*stry for about 15 years, we are only now about to enter the territory of having one of our own. However, armed with the wisdom of the Manual, and having watched many of those who have walked this road before us (some by wisdom and others by folly), we will boldly tackle this phase........hopefully with lots of love and laughter on the way!

Here are a few books that I recommend:

Do Hard Things by Alex and Bret Harris http://therebelution.com/

Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz

Created for Work by Bob Schultz

Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo

Not an exhaustive list for sure but enough to get you started! Here is an excerpt from Boyhood and Beyond:

"There is not a set day when you become a man. It's not a
matter of age. Manhood is built within you little by little. Each
time you accept one of life's responsibilities as your own, you take a step
toward manhood.

When you begin to see the needs of others and feel the urge to
meet those needs, you're becoming a man. When you develop a useful skill,
gain wisdom, or protect someone that is weak, you are moving toward your
life purpose. Every time you act the way "the CEO" would act
toward those around you, you fulfill His hope for you. You are living like a man.

Developing in manhood is a process. It comes with small
daily choices. Every time you obey "the CEO" instead of your own
selfish desire, you're growing in manhood. Whenever you give up your
comfort to bring comfort to another, you're changing from a boy to a man.
Though it is a process, you have the opportunities today to advance toward the
goal. You can be more of a man today than you were yesterday and farther
along tomorrow than today. It's your decision. Regardless of your
age, you can still begin to act like a man in the areas
you understand."

I also gave Marshall , Do Hard Things to read right before he started school this year because I knew this year has been and will continue to be difficult for him. He left everything he has ever known, all of his friends and family, and began attending a private international school for Jr. High. He has done really well considering, but we are very mindful that this is a critical age for him to be making so many changes. As we had hoped, he has taken to the book and has even taken the time to send the authors an email! We also purchased him a "Warrior of El Shaddai" ring as a reminder of who he is, and how he is called to be different. http://generationsofvirtue.com/

All of his life he has never had a teacher who did not comment on how there was something special about him. I don't know what the CEO has for his future but I do know what He expects of us as his parents and please lift up that we will be found faithful!

A Day in the Life - Buying String

The random musicians who come by the house playing for money!

One of my "teachers" who loves playing school at home!

The other "teacher", they are really into these maps right now!!

The subject of todays post, the string; the hat is just to fly the colors since football season is almost upon us.........well, not us but for those of you in the US!!:)

Yesterday, we were on a mission. Barry and I decided that while we had time before the kids were out of school, we would try to find the string Campbell needs for a "mobile" book report. Now, let me say that for all the times I hated going to Wal-Mart to get needed items, I never fully appreciated being able to find most items I needed at one location. It is a blessing.....trust me on this one!! :)

We walk up and down the crowded street, and although we have passed a few stores with office supply items, we cannot find string. Finally we go into a store that looks like having string might be a possibility. We go up to the counter and, using our handy electronic dictionary, ask for "tali". Seems simple enough, so the man behind the counter nods and leaves to enter the back room. When he emerges he is holding a rather large spool of Raffia! Uh....."lebih kecil" we say (more small). He again nods and comes back with a large spool of nylon cord similar to a shoestring....and it is bright red!! By this time we are furiously typing into the little dictionary all kinds of words that we might could use to explain what it is we wish to buy. At the same time the man has disappeared and reemerged with a smaller spool of nylon cord, it felt and looked like the material you would use to make tassels. In fact it felt just like the tassels that were hanging from our living room curtains when I was a child.......although it was not gold in color!:)

Barry has now come up with the word for cotton, "katun". Believing this word will be the key to finding what we want we proudly announce, "Kami mau tali katun." (we want cotton string) A girl then ducks down behind the counter and emerges with....you guessed it......string!! We nod our approval and they kind of just smile and nod adding up our total while we are standing there feeling proud of this great accomplishment.

However the story does not end there. Today we are in class and like every day we have to stand up and tell our experiences from the day before in our new language. It's my turn. I stand up , tell how many people from Machiatto that I spoke with and begin to recount my day. When I get to the part about buying string, my Pelatih says, "Apa kata tali?", kind of like "what are you saying?". So I then use English to explain, he nods and I go on. After we are done then he goes to the board to make any corrections that might be necessary and, it's always necessary!

He says, "bukan tali, tali is rope", so I asked him what would I say for string, that was all I had in my dictionary! To which he replies, "Apa kata untuk (the word for) string is.......STRING!! Can you even believe it?? The people at that store must have cracked up at us!! I laughed so hard because.......who knew? Obviously not us!! Just a reminder of how you really have to be able to laugh at yourself and just keep trying, eventually you'll get it! You just have to talk like a two year old until then!! :) So next time you go to buy a random item and you are blessed enough to know right where to go to get it (and how to say it!), thank the CEO for just another simple but huge blessing in your life!

Ping vs. Pong part III "The Championship"

"D" and I after the game
"J" and one of our Pelatihs "A"

Notice how Campbell is not even opening her mouth and how easily Hudson could take a bite if he wanted to!! :)

When it was all said and done.......I won the championship in the women's bracket!! "D" and I were about at the same playing level but I was able to win both games to take the title!! We had so much fun, it was a great stress reliever since we played our games during our 20 minute break between our four hours of classes. Thanks for all of the encouraging notes and emails, it was fun to share this with my friends from all over the world. You guys crack me up! Apparently we all have a little bit of competitiveness in us!! :) Katrina, thanks for all of the Wii tennis practice.....I think it helped! :) Sorry, had trouble loading it so no video!!

In the men's bracket the Australian, "J", also won both games over the Pelatih. Again, wow, were they good! Friday evening we celebrated Independence day with a flag raising ceremony and singing. All of the language families came and we had a great time of fellowship. Many of the children go to school together at the International school so they enjoyed seeing their friends outside of class. The Pelatihs presented us with a framed certificate of our win and also gave one to the male student soccer team who also won over the Pelatihs and security guards!

Now about these games.......one game, as you can see from the pictures, was trying to be the first one to eat the snack off of the string, while they snapped the string they were hanging from!! But, let me tell you, these are called shrimp crackers and I am not lying when I say they taste a lot like Styrofoam! At best they are similar to a rice cake, which I am not real fond of either, I guess I just prefer to eat things that don't remind me of cups at a fellowship!! :P The lady who won wasn't sure whether she was proud or embarrassed of the win! The next game involved hanging a gourd around your waist from your back and trying to navigate it without hands to hit a ball across the finish line! Needless to say.....I didn't win in either of these games which I actually find comfort in! Barry was unable to play that game because they didn't have string cut long enough, not that he was complaining!! Hahaha When my kids played they were cracking us up because they took one bite of the snack and their faces said it all.........after that they were totally faking like they were playing, they were not about to take another bit of that cracker!! We ended the evening sharing a meal together. It was a great evening and we feel very blessed to be in this school with these Pelatihs and these students. We will certainly miss them next year when we move from this island.

On a side note, Marshall has joined the school's soccer team. He is really excited about it and so far has put in the long hours of practice after school with no complaints! He is not in most of the pictures because he came later after practice. Everyone is still enjoying school, so thanks once again for all of the talks to the CEO, they truly make a difference!! Have a great weekend!!