AUTUMN

Autumn or Fall

This is the subject for a whole unit in our ESL classes

(English as a Second Language).

We really enjoy this time of year,

especially since we spent so many years in the tropics

and didn't get to see the leaves change

like they do in the States.

HOWEVER,

since we are blessed with many, many trees in our yard,

we are also blessed with jillions of leaves in our yard and on the deck!
It makes for a big job.

BUT life is all about change, isn't it?
Nothing stays the same.
About the time I get used to some style or circumstance,
everything changes.
Which means the need to adjust.

Thank God, He never changes. He is the one constant in our lives.
My stability is in Him.
He is the same all the time, no matter what mood I'm in.
While everything else changes, and often for the worse,
I know He is the same.
And He will walk with me through my adjustments to the changes
going on in my life.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

EMERITUS WEEK

It happens once in every 5 years!

September was the time and this was our first. We were excited to

go to Ridgecrest. There were 6 going from our church, so we traveled

together to Houston, then flew to Atlanta, and on to Asheville, North Carolina,

and then a bus ride up the mountain to RIDGECREST.

Emeritus Week is a celebration week to honor those who've served

with the IMB for at least 15 years.

There were over 1100 IMB retired missionaries there, with the
accumulated total years of  28,929  served around the world!

We had general meetings like this every day! We got to hear IMB president

Tom Elliff preach (he's terrific and uses storying in his messages).

We met up with so many old friends, and then got to meet new ones as well.

Of course, we met up with our Indonesian family.

Can you Norwood kids name these folks?

Or these?

 

We gathered all the folks who have ever served on the SAPIM/LEAD Team

for lunch one day. There were 22 of us.

We got to connect with lots of our friends from the Philippines also.

Here are Phil and Retha Brewster, Trudy and Jim Crittendon,

Glen and Marvella Thompson and me.

Lots of good fellowship was done in the dining room.

We were thrilled to run into so many from our original "orientation" group

of 1972. So we got together and caught up on the last 40 years.

It was a great week.

But is took awhile to recover from all the travel and excitement!

Those years on the field were great years.

How thankful we are that the Lord led us in some surprising, rough, happy and

blessed paths, and for that week of memories with old friends.

During the week we were challenged to "keep on".  We're not home yet!



GRANDKIDS ARE GREAT

While Noel and Molly were in San Diego

we got to keep Elliott with us.

Noel was attending seminars concerning his work at the hospital here.

Molly went along and enjoyed some time to herself, a change from

her hectic busy life at home.

Johnathan and Carl were kept busy with school and work and tennis, so were

able to batch it at home.

But 5th grade Elliott came to stay with us.

We really enjoyed having him with us. We spent lots of time

playing Catan (when he wasn't in school), the board game we learned while visiting

Jana and Kris and their 3 boys in Indonesia.

Cookie was especially glad to have Elliott at her house every day!

Elliott started Upwards flag football the week he was with us.

This is on the new field our church has put in.

That's Elliott in the grey shirt, getting ready to catch the football.

Elliott is now taking violin at school.

Cookie was fascinated with the sound when Elliott practiced!

We had a fun week together.

COOKBOOKS

I've always loved cookbooks.

I read them like novels, and have been known to

go to bed with a new cookbook to read.

This love, of course, led to a habit of collecting cookbooks.

As my collection grew I drug them all over Asia (for 35 years) adding more
as we went along.

When we retired, I unpacked them, pulling out the most important ones.

And continued to collect.

I stuffed them into a neat, little rattan book case at the end of the bar between

kitchen and dining room.

Eventually,

I realized I was only using the books on the top shelf.

All the rest were simply "stored" on the bottom two shelves.

Hmmmm......

 Time to clean that out and make better use of the space.

Johnny was teaching a seminar on this particular Saturday morning, so I decided to tackle this job.

Out came everything in the shelves.

How the memories began to flood into my mind.

Like finding these two cookbooks, the ones I began our marriage on.

The title of the one on the left grabbed my attention

and I perfected the Tuna Puff Casserole therein during

our years in Seminary.

And then we went overseas.

These two cookbooks were great resources, and I used them for

years, as is testified by the worn covers and damaged/repaired spines

(result of usage and a leaking kitchen ceiling during monsoon season in Indonesia).

Learning to cook from scratch, with no available convenience foods to be had,

I had to re-learn how to cook. So I bought blank books and started pasting in

recipes I came across, or writing down shared recipes
from friends and fellow expats overseas.

One of the most important recipes is this Nasi Goreng (fried rice),

dictated to me in Indonesia from Sophia, a dear friend and our cook for 15 years.

During a 3 1/2 year period of our career, we were blessed to be the dorm

parents for the So. Baptist missionary high school kids who were attending Faith Academy in Manila, Philippines.

What did I know about overseeing the well-fare and stomachs of 15 hungry

highschoolers?  How do you do that? And kids do not like the "same old thing"

served day after day. 

I had plenty of cookbooks by now, but how can I organize

and get at those recipes easily?

Then I read this nifty idea in a Christian women's magazine:

Get a 3 ring notebook and list your favorite cookbooks there, putting

an abbreviation by each title.

Make dividers that pertain to your needs.  For us, it was: Main dishes, Starches, Vegetables, Salads, Bread, Sandwishes, Breakfast, Crock pot, Desserts,

Unexpected guests.

Then list the recipes (no need to copy them) and where to find them (book title and page number), under each label. This made meal planning for me easy.
I haven't used this method with our family, but it was extremely useful during those busy years of being the dorm parents to so many kids.

I was amazed at how many church cookbooks I had gathered or
were sent to me over the years.

Here are a few of them. My favorite one is the yellow one on the right. It is from

my home church, Hampton Place Baptist Church, in Dallas, Texas. My

Mom helped put this together, and of course, I know the women who submitted

their favorite recipes.

And also there were quite a few cookbooks put together by missionaries on the field,

From Afghanistan, to North Africa, to Asia.

Oops - our church's newest cookbook seems to want to be included here

(top right).

And then there were files upon files.

Entitled: Food, Recipes, Light Cooking, Bread, Chinese, Mexican, Breakfast,

Sweets, and Christmas etc.

Currently, my favorite cookbook is this one.

Because I like it easy and good and with only a few incredients.

This is for the crockpot, and I use it often for family, guests, small groups and large.

I love this little book, bought on a trip through Tennessee and Kentucky.

ANY IDIOT CAN COOK

Tends to give me hope!

One of my most practical cookbooks. This little tome was published by

Broadman Press in 1969.

It was written ".... for those women who dash in from church each Sunday,

hat leaning precariously, Bible and purse in hand, to answer the question, 'Mother, what are we having for dinner today?'"

A great little book with great homecooking recipes.

 

And my newest cookbook:

SPICE OF LIFE (from the spice islands of Indonesia)

subtitle: Home Cookin' in a Hot Kitchen.

Our daughter, Jana, pulled this book together for the folks serving in Indonesia.

What a treat it will be to discover new dishes from friends and colleagues of

our daughter's.

 

How sweet are the memories of these various cookbooks, taking me back to

the years of my early marriage (when I wasn't a very good cook); through

the years of learning how to cook real food out of the market, rather than

out of a can or box or neatly wrapped package from the meat department of my

super market; and on to the years of running a highschool dorm full of

starving teens; and through years of intertaining collegues and friends; and

now into our retirement years, when we find ourselves still

intertaining many who come into our home and put their feet under our table.

This is one segment of my history.

Maybe someday, one of my descendents will come across

the container in our attic marked "cookbooks" and be interested

in the old books and handwritten notes found inside.

But best of all, are the stories that go with each book, even each recipe.

If no one else should ever find this container,

still today has been a wonderful day for me

to remember and be thankful.

COUSINS

It has been a full and fun month in Palembang, Indonesia.

We have many memories and tons of pictures to help us remember

these good times.

One of the fun things for us has been to watch these 5 grandkids

together. With all our grandchildren scattered over 2 states and 2 countries

they don't often get to be together.

Especially, the Stateside kids don't get to see the "overseas" cousins

in their daily living situations.

But as soon as the 5 got together, they immediately bonded and

were into great plans of all kinds, from running through

the neighborhoods, planning a family talent show, playing games together,

or just hanging out and talking. They have

thoroughly enjoyed each other.

Here are a few of the pictures to portray these 5 cousins.

At the movie theater lobby, waiting for the movie to start.

Kayla

Aaron

Seth

Shelby

Joel

The Luptak and Kelley cousins.

This will be a summer they won't soon forget.

FEET

I had heard about this from the TV. While it seems gross on the one hand,

it really is helpful on the other!
These little fishies eat away the dead skin on your feer or legs,
leaving your appendages nice and smooth.

Do we have these in the States?

This one is called "Fish Spa and Therapy"

and is at the local mall here in Palembang, Indonesia.

While this is a blurry picture, it will show you the set up.

It is set up in one the hallways of the mall.

After washing our feet, the "operators" led us to sit

on the bench and put our feet into the water. They suggested we not

swish our feet around in the tub, because that stresses out the fish.

However, it is really hard not to once the fish start to work,

nibbling on your legs and feet, 

as seen in the faces of our granddaughters!

Here, they're holding hands to help each other keep their

 legs still, while their squeeling.

You see the fish working on mine and Johnny's legs.

SPEAKING OF FEET.......

I was noticing our grandson, Aaron's feet. He is 14 and starting

highschool this week in Penang, Malaysia. (He's so excited).

Look at the size of his foot now - compared to his Dad.

Kris' foot on the left. Aaron's foot on the right.

Now let's compare with my own foot:

Aaron's foot on the right, my foot on the left.

How tall will he end up being?

As I write this blog, Aaron is being enrolled in the

highschool in Penang, Malaysia where

many of the Asian missionary kids go for high school.

It is a beautiful campus located on the beach.

It has a rich and long history. We're

all excited for this new adventure in his life.



GROCERY STORE

Going shopping with Jana has been amazing! I keep comparing life today in Indonesia, to

life 40 years ago, when we were raising our family in the village here.

Progress has been made!

The times have changed! No longer is there the muddy, dirty open market

with hunks of meat hanging on hooks and baskets of local vegetables where I shopped.

Take a look at the local super market where Jana and many of the locals shop.

Jana handpicking her eggs.

How wonderfrul to have beautifully cut and packaged meats ready for you!

I miss all these fresh tropical fruits!

And lots of wonderful vegetables.

People here love their food spicy, so there are plenty of hot peppers available.

And wonderful, unique things useful in the kitchens that

we don't usually find in our own supermarkets.

Useful baskets used in various ways.

And the colorful buckets found in all sizes and for all purposes.

Grocery shopping in Indonesia has vastly improved!

RELIGION

There can be little doubt that this is a Muslim country.

In fact, it is the largest Muslim country in the world, population-wise.

Most of our time here this time has been during LEBARAN, the month of Fasting for Muslims.

Because Muslims are not to eat during daylight hours, the restaurants put up curtains,

so as to shield temptation from those who choose to fast.

It has been interesting how many people we see inside these restaurants, behind the curtains

that are enjoying their noon time meals!

Other evidences of the Muslim majority here is the headcoverings of the women,

and even the little girls.

A Muslim shopkeeper and  Muslim shopper.

Chatting with a Muslim lady in the grocery store.

A little girl dressed in Muslim clothes.

A neighborhood mosque.

And another.