Happy Independence Day!

I thought Americans were patriotic until we came to Indonesia. August 17 is Indonesian Independence Day and let me tell you they know how to celebrate! They don’t just celebrate with one day of food and fireworks they celebrate all month long! There aren’t just flags lining main street and a few of your neighbors houses, there are flags literally everywhere; lining every street, in front of every home, and anywhere else you could possibly fly a flag.


They repaint all the white lines on the roads (which is a really big deal here), many people repaint their gates and the fronts of their homes. They have neighborhood parties where they get together and clean up the neighborhood, and every neighborhood just has a party in general with lots of food and games! Oh, and as far as fireworks go, you can hear or see fireworks almost every night every night of the month!


We didn’t get any pictures of the neighborhood party, but we had a party at our language school and thought we would share a few pictures of the games we played. You may get a kick out of these!

The Beach

A few weeks ago we were able to take a quick trip to the ocean. It was a wonderful time to relax and see some of God’s beautiful creation! We had a great time just hanging out. Laken LOVES the ocean and talks about going back all the time! He is also fearless of the water which can be slightly scary to a mother!



It was amazing as we were sitting on the beach how God continued to show himself to us. Everything around us screamed “There is a creator!” When we got home I was on the computer and turned on some music. The first song to come on was “How Great Thou Art,” and all I could think of was how amazing the beach was and how Great our God truly is!

“O lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul my savior God to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art. Then sings my soul my savior God to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art!”