Sungai Sungai

Sungai (Soon-eye) is the word for river here.
To make a word plural, all you have to do is double it.
So "Sungai-sungai" makes "Rivers".
That's us.
The normal bbq-ing, swimming, playing in waterfalls, driving in mud, etc. happened again today when we went to the sungai.
Here are a couple of things unique to this particular day in the jungle.

First: Kak-Sharon (older sister Sharon) brought a tube...
I was SO popular for about 20 minutes:



Then Ka-Sharon decided to ride the tube herself.
Ya know. Show all the kiddies how we do it in B.G. on the River O' Peace...

The sticks aren't as sharp in the Peace River...neither are the tubes as plastic.
Killed the fun real quick...but at least I did it to my own tube.
And unlike in B.G., no one had any duct tape to remedy the problem.

Second: With any given 7 year old there's bound to be teeth loose.

I must say, I've heard of the fabled "string around the tooth" extraction method, but never actually seen it done or believed it was possible.

I dedicate this video to my best friend Cara, who possibly did the same thing this week to children in Honduras...
(Those queasy around blood should not watch this. If you do, at least have someone near you as you watch in case you pass out at the computer all by yourself in your house. Safety first kids.)



Then his dad made him this necklace out of the string he pulled it with:

This lead to us asking our friends if they knew about the tooth fairy.
When they answered in the negative, we realized just how deficient our language is in describing fairies who take your tooth from under your pillow and leave money, why fairies would want a crusty old tooth in the first place, and that it's not really a fairy but parents.
Then I found out that Anthony and Justin got $1 for every tooth, whereas I only got a few coins. I explained that we had a little 'tooth pillow' with a pocket sewed on it and that's probably why my parents only gave a few coins.
Then Justin said he had the same pillow and he still got a dollar.
Wha?
So two things burst today: my tube and my memories of generosity from my tooth fairies.
(for all you die-hard blog readers out there... still no leeches)

Kelip-Kelip

There's a new picture at the end of this post for those who have already read it.

Kelip-kelip (kuh-leep kuh-leep) is the word for "lightning bug" or "firefly" here. Our country is famous for them, so we decided to take a trip.

Here's what happened.





And it's not even the rainy season...



Always time for an American Idol impression...
Since the kelip-kelip can only be seen at night in trees along a river, we decided to kill some time until sunset...



What you didn't see was all the folks staring at the 4 white people...





Before boarding the boats we had to remember safety comes first...



And now for the big moment...but "shhhhhh!" no talking allowed...



Hope you're not disappointed...Sony cameras are not as sophisticated as the human eye.. but this is about what it was like, except less electric guitar...


EDIT: For those dying to know what the fireflies we saw really look like, I found this picture:

Now imagine this many fireflies in every other tree on a completely dark river. And they all blink at the same time. We've already decided we're gonna make this a Christmas tradition.

FINALLY!

We were beginning to get worried about you guys back in the USA. Someone text a couple votes for Blake for us - we see Idol about 3 days too late here to do anything about it.

Not-so-Amazing Race...

"The Amazing Race" came to our city!
Our language teacher canceled today.
So we thought it would be a great day to see some sites, and
afterwards make the greatest blog post ever.
Ever.
An Amazing Race theme.
Our "tasks" for this leg of the journey...
1. Pet the "mouse deer"
2. See the famous bird park (and identify the famous "Horn bill")

Then we would have finished the blog with us posing in front of this same house at the Pit Stop...
...this post would have been so cool.
You all would have been SO impressed.

So we set out to find the house behind these folks.
We knew about where it was downtown
(think Central Park NYC, but on a mountain and HOT tropical weather...the bird park and mouse deer petting zoo are all around the same area)

This post would have blown your mind.
But instead it was one big "Road Block" and "Yield" after another

First when we arrived we parked and attempted to find the bird park and/or the Big park that the AR-House was in.
There were no signs directing us.
No clues.
So after climbing, I'm NOT lying, a billion steps, we found something...

The Planetarium.
Cool- as in it had AC- but we were on a tight schedule and we set off- after getting directions from the locals' pointing- toward the bird park.
On the way we passed Stonehenge.
Not a bird
not the AR-house
not a mouse-deer.
It was so hot I had to talk Anthony into doing something 'funny' for this picture.
Then we kept walking...
We saw no monkeys, but this picture is fun.
And I could stand in the shade while I took it.
Did I mention it was 46,000 degrees outside?
Because it was.
Then we found it.
HALLELUIA!
We were pumped.
But then we found out the entry price was RM30.00 per person.
60 Ringgit for something without rollercoasters? psha.
After an unsuccessful attempt at getting a discount price,
we found out the "Orchid and Hibiscus" garden across the street was free.
Aunt Danny...ever considered something like this to display your orchids?
There were tons, but we'll only bore you with one up-close flower picture.
The Orchid Gardens had hills to climb and not a lot of shade.
And there were no mouse deer or AR-houses
But it did have the largest orchid species in the world.
"Whoa!"
The Orchid park had one trick up it's sleeve that we weren't expecting.
Yes, that's a snake eating a frog.
The poor frog was making squeaking sounds.
Very sad.

But as standing on the surface of the sun wasn't on the agenda,
we decided to set out for the big park that held the AR House and the mouse deer.

After criss-crossing the orchid garden a couple more times,
asking directions from 3 or 4 more locals,
getting closer to dehydration,
and walking another 9,000 Kilometers,
we found the Park!
We wasted no time looking for the mouse deer...
(only had about 45 minutes left before we had to leave)
We got directions from 2 more locals.
Walked a few hundred more kilometers and finally found the mouse deer petting zoo.
We were not happy.

By this point we were so deep in the park we had NO idea where we were.
And we only had 30 minutes left
(finding our way back to the car was included in the time frame).
We then abandoned the Amazing Race House search.
So all we had to show for our day out was 4 pit stains.

Don't get us wrong.
We used our language.
We saw some "National Geographic" type things.
We worked the calves and the hamstrings.
But instead of giving you a really cool "Amazing Race" blog post,
it's more like we were "eliminated."

We'll be back in the All-stars round.
So stay tuned...

Friday the 13th!

These are my (Sharon's) parents. (well, Anthony claims them too)
And Today...Friday, April 13th 2007 they have been married for 33 years.
Did you get that?
33 YEARS!
Way to go you two.
Bruce and Janice sittin' in a tree...
or in this case
Bruce and Janice standin' on some rocks...

They've birthed and raised 3 FABULOUS girls.
One of which they outlived and is in heaven waiting for them there.
The two that aren't in Jesus' presence (wonder what she's seeing right now?)
got married to AMAZING men.
Both of which were approved by these parents and they happily call them both "Son."

They've traveled to several countries together.
Served in church together.
Gone to Disney world like a million times together.
The first of which was 33 years ago on their honeymoon...
I know.
They're SUCH Floridians.

Since this picture was taken, they've lost about 70 pounds together.
Bruce 40
Janice 30
They do a lot of stuff together.
My mom even goes out to the pasture to help my dad move the cows "off the rye."
Cute huh?
And she still laughs when my dad gets angry at the cows.
"Stupid Cows!"

He supports her in her van ministry at the church.
She loves the Mexican kids she picks up every week.
Her happiest moments are when one of them gives their heart to Jesus.

She supports him in his music ministry at the church.
He loves playing keyboards and leading worship.
He gets so thrilled when he sees the people at FBCBG really worshiping.

It hasn't all been good.
He does shake the salt packets at McDonald's in a way that drives her nuts.
But I can't remember very many times,
At least not between the two of them...

I do however remember my spankings and getting up on Saturday mornings to help trim the hedges or do something else 'not fun' when I really just wanted to watch "Muppet Babies."
I also got grounded.
And I was a good kid.
But they...TOGETHER...parented.
They couldn't be divided.
If Mama said "no," Daddy said "no" and vice versa.
But now I know respect and appreciate the authority figures in my life.
So thanks.
Even though I thought you were ruining my life by grounding me or making me be home by like, before sunset, and didn't let me talk on the phone after 9pm, and wouldn't let me tie my shirt up at cheerleading practice (I thought that one was particularly lame)...
Thanks.

Thanks for being awesome married parents.
Married parents that loved the Lord, and loved each other, and loved me (and Heather and Veronica....and now Zach and Anthony).
You rock.
And yes, Daddy, I'll be sure to save up for one of those sweet massaging recliners for your 35th in a couple years.
Maybe we can get y'all matching ones?

Happy Anniversary!

This week in photos...

This week we took a trip the highlands once again.
We went there for Thanksgiving so we didn't take many pictures.
But here is the view from the hotel we stayed in...The only thing cooler than the strawberry & honey roti we ate this week was our niece Katelyn turning 1 year old! (This Katelyn is Katie Black, not to be confused with Kaelyn our other niece or Kaitlyn aka K5 who is our adopted niece here, or Kate Durrance our cousin who is also turning 1 this week...yeah just try and keep it straight!)One year old birthday party pictures are the best! Nothing better than a cute chubby baby getting to smear icing all over their face... every year after that the pictures are of the mom trying to prevent that very thing from happening.
Happy Birthday Katie! We wish we could have been there to see your cute icing-face in person!