Misc. Stuff...

Here are just a few things that have happened this last week....

Gavin got a Principal's Award for being the most caring in his 2nd and 3rd grade class. He was a little shy about receiving the reward.... Ohhhhhh, what a sweetie pie!

This next picture is how some things are done here.... The wire is holding down the board, that is holding up the temporary metal wall, that is blocking off traffic, on the road by the school.
But what do you expect??? The guys who are putting on the new addition at school, are DIGGING the ground by hand!! We are a major mining company, with big machines... and little ones, that dig holes in the ground! But the guys are using shovels and muscles to get the ground level!
Like Chris says.... You just can't make this (beeeeeeeeep) up!

Friday we had some friends over, and they have a one year old boy. All the kids had a ball with him, and I must say that Ethan went home without any bumps and bruises!!

For Teddy, the best part of the night was rocking Ethan! What a natural....

Next is my illegal cake! Yes, ILLEGAL! I made this cake for my friend's daughter's 13th birthday. Well, my friend had the party at the Lupe. So Chris drives me and the cake to the restaurant. While we are there, we decide we should make reservations for our kids birthday parties. (They are all coming up in the next two months!) So we are talking to the guy in charge, picking out the food package, discussing decorations, and then he asks me about the cake. Well of course I am going to make my kids cake! So I tell him that and he says... I CAN'T! WHAT?????? (OK, part of me is really happy inside because with the humidity here, it is quite a pain in the "you know what" to make a cake. I can do it, but I can't use all the tricks I know because it's too wet!) So I proceed to ask the guy why I can not do this when I just made the cake for the party upstairs! He said, "Oh sorry Ibu, big mistake! Ibu Michelle got lucky and is an exception because we did not catch it." (Read that as I am talking with an Asian accent. :) So secretly I am ok with that, but I just had to ask him if he could make an exception for me and my next four birthdays..... In the end, he won. But I do have reservations all squared away! :)

Here's the final product....

And last but not least..... Gabrielle lost her second top front tooth today!!! She only cried for a little bit as I held her down and pulled it out with a pliers! :) Ha ha ha.... Just kidding!

Well, that's it for this week. Maybe something more exciting will happen this next week!

God's Blessings to you all!

Robin

Indonesia's Independence Day

August 17th was Indonesia's Independence Day. We had all intentions of going early in the morning to get in on some of the festivities. But it just so happened that I needed to stay home for a very important phone call from the States. So needless to say, we missed about the first two hours. But here is what we did see when we finally got there.

We did catch the chopper, with the flags, on its trip to the soccer field, where the celebrations were being held. I believe Gabrielle took this picture! :)

When we got up to the soccer field, right in front of us were all these guys in brown PTFI jackets. And just for one second in time, I thought I had spotted Chris..... but he was suppose to be at work! Then it dawned on me that everyone and their dog has one of those coats! :)

This was about the last performance of the celebration that we saw. Under the tent are the drummers for the guys dancing in the picture below. They were doing some kind of performance with whips!

As we were leaving the celebration, these were the clouds that were painted in the sky. I am serious, they looked like they were painted! It's not a trick of my camera. I am not that good! ;)

Here is just a little slice of life here in Tembagapura. The Indonesians go all out for their Independence Day. Wish we could have seen a bit more. Oh well, maybe next year....

Robin

1st Day of School, 2010

Well, I was actually the third day of school...... We were in Australia, Monday the first day. And because the choppers didn't fly on Tuesday, due to rain, we got to spend the second day at the pool in the lowlands. Which was perfectly fine with me. :) So on Wednesday, August 11th, we choppered up to Tembagapura, dropped our bags at home, and took the kids to school.

They were all very excited to go and see all of their friends. They also all have new teachers this year, so they were excited to meet them. It's nice not to have to drag them to school every morning!

It's been two weeks.... Already! ....and everything is going great! I am back to my routine, which is sitting around eating bon bon's, so life is good! Hopefully now I will be more attentive to my blog, so my "fans" don't get testy with me. ;) .....Yeah, you know who you are! ;)

Love you all!
Robin

Heading Back to Indonesia...

We headed back to Indonesia, after a fun filled summer in South Dakota, on August 6th. It's a two hour drive to the airport and on the way we saw the sun rise. It was a beautiful ball of fire, and so bright. The pictures don't do it justice, but you can just imagine....

After we do some shopping, to pick up a few last minute things, Grandma Schlomer took us to the airport. What a beautiful picture of everyone!

We will miss all the Grandma's, Grandpa's, family and friends that we saw (and didn't see) this summer! But the months will fly, and we will be back before you know it!

God Bless you all!

Robin

PS This is just a funky picture Mersades took, from the plane, of the sunrise. I think she should have turned off the flash.... Better luck next time! :)

Gabrielle's Appendectomy

July 31, 2010

Well, let's back up one day to July 30. This is where the story begins.

Friday morning Gabrielle wakes up with a tummy ache. No big deal right? She just woke up, probably has to go to the potty. So she goes, and her tummy still hurts. Still, no big deal. I just figured she may have eaten something yucky, or she is getting the flu, or whatever. We have been around a lot of people this summer, she probably picked up something from someone. I just thought to myself, IF she is getting sick, I hope all the others get it and get done with it fast because we have to catch a plane back to Indonesia in SIX days.

So Gabby sits around all morning. All over her tummy hurts. But no fever, no throwing up.... YET, anyway!

Two o'clock p.m. comes around, and the vomiting begins. What great timing! My parents are having a party at the lodge for a cousins 25th wedding anniversary. So Gabs lays around the whole time.... puking every half hour. But thankfully no fever.... YET! Eighteen pukes later, it's 2:00 am, Saturday morning!

We finally get some sleep. Four and a half hours later we wake up because some cousins, who were staying with us, left to head home. So I go ask Gabrielle how she is feeling..... really hoping she is doing better... no throwing up for four hours! The worse is over right?? Nope! Gabrielle says her tummy still hurts. Oh Great! So I go and touch her head... A bit HOT! Really Great!! I am thinking at this point... She must have the flu. Super Great! Chances are one of the kids will be puking on the plane, have a fever going through security, and we will get stuck in quarantine because security will think they have the PIG flu!!!

So I start my day.... Its going to be a long one! But I go to my trusty ole computer to write a blog post for my fans.... ;) While I am sitting there, I start thinking about a time when we thought Teddy had appendicitis and the doctor told us that if we ever thought one of the kids had it, make them jump up and down. He said if they have the flu or gas, it will be uncomfortable, but they will be able to do it. With appendicitis, they will NOT.

I go out to where Gabrielle is sitting and tell her to stand up and jump up and down. Well she stands up and instantly grabs her right side! She now can pinpoint the pain. OH GREAT! She now has a fever, and can tell me exactly where it hurts!

I am still not convinced that it is her appendix, so I tell her I am going to go take a shower, and I will talk to Grandma when she gets back from her walk. Then we will decide if we should head to the hospital. Mom and Dad both agree that I should take her in. (BTW (That's "By The Way" for those of you in Glenham.) Dad called it, Gabby having appendicitis, the night before!)

Now remember it's Saturday morning. Going to see the doctor is now an emergency room visit... A few years ago, I had been here with Teddy, and they sent us home because he had a very bad case of GAS!! ...So I am not looking forward to this at all!!

We get to the hospital and see the doctor. They take Gabrielle's blood, and she is crying a lot!! Thankfully the surgeon was already at the hospital. Both he and the doctor, after doing the exam, instantly think appendix! Her white blood count is elevated. The surgeon tells me that he thinks the appendix has already ruptured! They will do surgery right away. Gabrielle is now scared to death because she is hearing the "surgery" word thrown around!

We are now transfered to a hospital room where the nurse starts an IV. The anaesthesiologist finally comes in and gives Gabs a bit of "feel good" medicine. She finally starts to relax! Now she is all hooked up and off to the operating room.

One thing nice about small town hospitals, and knowing a lot of the people working there, is you get to do things they would never let you do in a big city hospital! The surgeon and nurses let me ride on the bed with Gabrielle, back to the OR. I then stayed in the room with Gabs while they were putting her out. ....After that experience I know I would never have made it as a nurse, surgeon, doctor, or anyone connected with a hospital! That room gave me the willies!!!

So almost one hour after we got to the hospital, Gabrielle is in surgery. One hour after that, we are told she is out of surgery and is doing fine! Thank Goodness!!!

Here is Gabby with uncle Quintin and Q-2, Friday, when she was first sick.

The surgeon came out and told me all was OK with Gabby. I had asked if I could see the appendix. So he brought it to me! Normally this type of thing grosses me out, but I must admit, I was a bit fascinated! I was HUGE! The doctor called it "hot". Which meant it was close to bursting.....

Here is Gabby a few hours after surgery. She was really doped up here.

And a few days later, she was looking and feeling great!

So we are really thankful this happened when and where it did! Can you imagine, if it was a week later, and we were flying across the ocean, on a 747, loaded with people, what a nightmare that would have been to convince someone that this child was really sick.... (After all, it took me a full 24 hours to be convinced!) ....And finding an island in the middle of the pacific ocean to land the plane on....... All I will really say is...

Thank God for watching out for all of us!

Robin