Merry Christmas to All of You

Merry Christmas, Selamat Natal, Shengdan Kuaile, Feliz Navidad

Joyful William Tell

 

Timothy's Winter Recital

playing William Tell and Joyful Joyful

Christmas Snapshots around the House

Plastic Wreath

Sophie's favorite Ornament

Beautiful Homemade Cookies from a Dear Friend

Ready for School's Christmas Party

Secondhand Friday

Goodwill $13

Once Upon A Child $7

Friday morning I had 2 hours 45 minutes alone
After shopping some needed craft materials for the kids
I went secondhand shopping, which was quite relaxing

Happy Lunch

Food prep under 15 minutes
light and clean protein
colorful
warm
makes me happy

hard boiled egg with salt and pepper
a slice of Asiago cheese bread from Panera
homemade vinaigrette
( a little garlic, olive oil,
white vinegar, sugar and salt )
red kidney beans, apple, cucumber
and  A CUP OF HOT TEA !

Happy Halloween

There has not been a carved pumpkin 
on our porch for about 11 years...
This year finally, there is one

Dani cleaned and carved the pumpkin

Tim drew a face

Ms. Pumpkin

Sophie's BFFs

1. ASTIKA

Playing, eating, snacking, riding, fighting, teasing others... together

2. BSF

bsfinternational.org

A free bible study program for mom and Sophie

It's hard for her to pronounce BSF, so it became BFF

" Yeay, we go to BFF ! " that what she usually says on Tuesday morning

Mom will go to her group for discussion then sermon

Sophie joins the children's program and meet Astika.

After bible study, they have lunch together

 MAY ASTIKA AND BFS ALWAYS  BE HER BFF

Different Modes of Meals

light and clean breakfast

lazy and easy lunch

heavy and indulging dinner

Under the Flowering Tree

With a little magic from Sandra, a tree grew on Sophie's bedroom wall

.

Picnic lunch under the tree

Building a house under the tree

Taking a nap under the shadow of the tree

Tante Sandra magic can be found here
www.mural2onthewall.com

Watching "Being Elmo"

Kevin Clash, is the man behind Elmo.
It started when he was 10 years old.
He took his dad's trench coat and made it into a monkey.
No body shoved the materials into his hand
and asked him making a puppet. He just did it .

His mom taught him to use the sewing machine.
His dad helped him to build the puppet stage.
His mom called Kermit Love, the man who built puppets for Jim Henson,
telling him about her son who was into puppetry.
During a high school trip to NYC, Kevin Clash met him.
Later, Kermit Love introduced him to Jim Henson, who brought him to Sesame Street.

One interviewee in "Being Elmo" said that Elmo is not Kevin Clash.
Elmo is Kevin's mom and dad combined.
Elmo represents love, said Kevin.

In mastering something.. was it training or talent ?
In Being Elmo, I saw that Kevin Clash initiated everything himself.
He did not take a course in puppetry when he was small.
He was basically self taught. His mom and dad helped him.

His passion is the key. Because of his passion , he was devoted to mastering the puppetry.

Of course not everybody could be Kevin Clash. Not everybody has that much talent.

Should somebody who has a little talent or a medium amount of talent,
ignored their passion because they could not make it to the top ? I hope not...

For someone who could not be a professional dancer in NYC,
there is a teaching position in a kid's dancing school
For someone who could not paint mural like Diego Rivera ,
there is always a child's bedroom wall to paint
For someone ( like myself ) who could not have their writing published,
there is a blog to write
For someone who could not make it into American Idols,
there is a church stage to sing...

I think fame is not worthy to pursue but passion is.

FAILED COOKING

Fried Shrimp and chicken turned into shrimp and chicken boiled in cooking oil

 

 

 

 

Garlic Potatoes Soup...turned into very bitter soup because garlic was undercooked

Fire Station

Sophie's preschool field trip to a fire station.
Glad that there were no emergency call during that visit.
Got a cute pink plastic helmet.

SHOPPING AT MY MOM'S CLOSET

I don't find shopping relaxing at all
Shopping is like hunting for me..
Checking, comparing, scanning , deciding,
fitting, another deciding, paying, hauling, driving, organizing. TIRING.

But of course, I like to wear something new once in a while.
In Jakarta ( due to traffic jam and laziness ) I shopped at my mom's closet

" Apa yang kamu mau , ambil aja, " She asked me to take whatever I like.

Of course I did what my mama asked .
It's more relaxing than going out shopping at the mall
It was late at night. The kids were sleeping.
I ransacked my mom's closet, trying the clothes, grabbing the bags.
We were chatting and enjoying ourselves...

Back to US, in a gathering, I wore my mom's white cotton blouse
My friend said to me ( who saw my mom when she went back to Indonesia ) ,
" You look nice in that blouse.But it looked kinda familiar, "

I knew I was busted.
" From my mom's closet, " I answered.

  " She wore this blouse when I met her, " my friend said.

Thinking about how full my mom's closet with good stuff
and  her letting me taking what I like,
Heavenly Father's gift closet came into my mind.
Ephesus 1 : 18 , I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you,
the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
and His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Those forgiveness, faith, love, joy, faithfulness, power,
energy, healing, purity, balance, leadership, wisdom,
organization, boldness, grace, contentment,
modesty, honesty, the lists go on and on.

James 1 : 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.

Someone I know, felt she was not interested to her husband anymore.
If she just followed her flesh, bitterness,
affair and divorce would be waiting around the corner.
Thank God, she prayed . She asked the gift of love for her husband.
Of course she was given that gift. She fell in love with her husband again.

This year I asked God to give me more energy.
By nature, I was a low energy person.
Well.. I also tried to improve my energy by doing more exercise.
Prayer and action, I thought.
Then I got a annual blood test result. I am pre-diabetic.
I should cut my refined carbohydrate.
After I did that, I felt that my energy levels were up.
So, my prayer was answered .
These days what I need is consistency to keep doing exercise and eating healthy...
And I will get that from my heavenly Father's gift storage.
I unlock that storage with prayer.
John 15 : 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you ,
ask whatever you wish , and it will be given to you. Amen.

The Peak, Hongkong

Another tourist attraction in Hongkong, the Peak

inside the mall at the Peak

Dusk

Bird Aviary at the Hongkong Park

The second day in Hongkong.
Still jetlag (especially the kids)
Colorful view to open our sleepy eyes

Hong Kong Park

An oasis in the middle of the city..

Remembering Ria ( 2 )

Several days before I went to Jakarta for vacation, I got a text from my cousin, Ria.
She asked me if I could buy her melaleuca cajuputi oil
( Indonesians love this oil. A remedy for common cold ).
I texted her back, saying I could . I asked her what brand that she liked.
She liked Cap Lang .

Little that I know , that would be our last contact .

On the night I left Jakarta, heading back to US, my mom called me.
Ria died on August 31, 2012.
Rafting Incident.

Oh Ria...Thank God, I was given a chance to spend three days with her together this year
( blog entry title .. Mama's Weekend Out )

She was my cousin from my dad's side. She was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She was a happy person.
Her nickname, Ria, means " happy " in Indonesian, really matched her personality.
She was very caring and generous.
She loved shopping.. also loved shopping for others. She loved outdoors.
She was energetic . She enjoyed life. So it was very hard for me to imagine Ria died.

I went to her casket viewing in Sausalito.  She wore a nice red dress that her husband picked for her.
I was touched to see how loved she had been by Chris, her husband and stepdaughters.
She had a good life with them..
I am thankful for the Lethems to have her as their family.They were her joy .

I was sorry I did not come to her funeral.. it was in Hawaii..
I heard that Amber and Cameo , her stepdaughters, performed a dance in her funeral.
Ria learned ballet since she was young until her twenties.
Later on when the ballet become difficult, she failed the exam ( if I am not mistaken, for several times )
That did not make her leave dancing.
She then quit the classic ballet, joined the jazz  instead.
She choreographed ballet dance for the church performance several times.
Once, a friend of ours who was into performing arts,
asked her to choreographed a ballet dance for a Christmas performance.
I believed she got paid for that. Her mom mentioned that she was very brave to do this
while she did not pass her ballet exam...
She did not let limitation got in the way of completing something..
With Ria, everything that needed to be done, will be done.
That was one thing that I learned most  from her.. Getting things done..

I believe she quit dancing when she continued her study in Swiss.

The melaleuca cajuputi oil  that she asked, were packed and brought to US .
I gave those to a couple of  friends instead.
Ria's memory, though, will always stay with me and those who love her
Life's is short.. Her life was too short for her and her family...

For several days I try to think or not thinking about her...
about how fragile we are as humans..
Sometimes I cried .. I imagined how hard it must be for Chris, Amber and Cameo..
Also to Alex and Priscilla,  to all our relatives in Indonesia..

Her story ended... the chapters in Ria's book ended. The end...
Sometimes good story made you want for more..
But it is up to the writer decide how long or how short the story is...

I believe there will be Ria's sequel in another dimension...
A friend of mine who got his phd in mathematics from Berkeley,
once said.. that according to math calculation, there is a tenth dimension...
which Ria maybe in right now

Rest in peace Ria...
 

Mango Mania

A dear friend from Dearborn gave me 5 big mangoes
Several days before, I also bought 2 huge mangoes from grocery
What should a girl do with 7 huge mangoes ?
I made mango pudding and mango popsicle

Basically I just made mango smoothie...
mix some mango chunks with sugar and skim milk..
put them in the blender..then blend everything well
put the mango smoothie in the popsicle mold or ice cubes tray ...Freeze
In the photo, I used the muffin mold .
 Later , there was a  metal taste or smell when I ate them.
Not gonna use them again.. Maybe a silicon mold will do better.

For Mango Puding.
I mixed 1 packet of Nutrijell (Halal gelatin product from Indonesia, made from seaweed )
and 1 packet of agar-agar mix with sugar ( about 1 1/2 cups )  ...
then added 4 cups of water and 1 1/2cup of skim milk...
put everything in a pan and boiled them together..stirred often..
( for Nutrijell and agar-agar the amount of sugar is about 2 cups ...
you can use less or more )
( the amount of combined liquid is about 7 or 8 cups .
 I considered mango smoothie a liquid ) 
Before it was boiled , I added 1  1/2 cup of mango smoothie..
stirred and stirred again

When boiling, I turned off the heat.. add lemon / lime juice ( from 1 lemon/ lime )...
 I pour them into the glass container/ pyrex/ plastic pudding mold...
Let them cool down into room temperature ..then put them into the fridge until cold

Enjoy !

SSSSnake......

Also taken in Taman Safari, Cisarua

nice necklace, Dani

Sophie got hypnotized

A Dolphin Named Justin

We went to Taman Safari in Cisarua.

My kids loved the dolphin show

The pool used artificial seawater .

After the show , they got a chance to feed and shake hands 

with Justin, the working dolphin.