Thanksgiving -- a Video Attempt

Here is our first attempt at posting a quick little video of our Thanksgiving feast.

We'll see if it works.

Much love to all!

Thanksgiving (#2) with Family

On Saturday afternoon we had 4 generations of family in our home. We crammed the turkey into our little counter-top oven (see picture below) and enjoyed everyone saying what they were thankful for. Among the highlights were the mind-boggling account of how we all ended up in Kuala Lumpur. There is certainly much to praise God for this year.

While Tracy made sweet potato casserole, cooked the turkey, prepared the stuffing, and put together a cranberry salad, we enjoyed Grandma Woodward and Grandma Ramona bringing fruit salad, rolls, and an apple pie. Grandma Ramona made her amazing mashed potatoes and we had Susan Fawver's chocolate pecan pie recipe to help our table. A bit of ice cream for dessert and all was certainly very yummy.

Thanks to Tracy's purchase of a larger table, we were able to all fit around our IKEA table once the two leaves were added in. Rania even brought "La-La" to the table -- her word for Elmo, the singing version which makes lots of "lah-la-lah-la" sounds.

In the morning, we went to school where they were holding a vaccination and immunization clinic. You can see Rania's band-aid covering her one shot; she was very brave and didn't cry. In a failed attempt to prepare Gabi for what was coming, we told her she would get shots to keep her healthy. Hence, the next hour was spent with lots of crying and angst in preparation, though the ice cream cones after the shots somehow made most of the crying go away.

Reeve and Gabi went to Grandma's for swimming and naps while Tracy got much of the Thanksgiving feast together. Reeve again made it across the pool on his own, and Gabi even made it 2/3rds of the way -- 5 whole breaths on her own! Nice to be able to swim outside on Thanksgiving day, though it is always sad to be away from friends and other family.

Unexpected Indiana & the KL Tower

On Friday night, we had a most wonderful after-Thanksgiving dinner celebrating Grandpa Levi and Grandma Ramona's anniversary. We had dinner reservations at the revolving restaurant atop the KL Tower. The tower is 421 meters (1381 feet), and the revolving restaurant has a towering view of the city at 283 meters (928 feet). We had incredible views of the Twin Towers, which you can see in the window behind us.

The buffet dinner was wonderful, but it was most interesting to hear Grandpa Levi tell tales of the winter of 1935, when his family was snowed in for a full month, or the year that there was an Iowa ice storm and they lost several cows because they would fall and couldn't get up. What a treasure to have Grandpa sharing some of his stories.
Though it was a bit hazy, we enjoyed seeing the sunset and then the city coming alive at night. There was even a full moon and some fireworks to add to the incredible nature of our visit.

In one of those "what a small world" moments, as we were leaving the tower, in the waiting room they had only one coffee table book -- and it was titled "Unexpected Indiana." We laughed as we flipped through pictures of Shades States Park, Turkey Run, and Indiana Dunes while being in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Christmas decorations (note the snowflake on the window in the upper right) were also quite a fun addition to our wonderful dinner together.

Thanksgiving (#1) at school

On Thursday night we joined many members of the ISKL middle school for a fabulous feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, and plenty of dessert. We sure left stuffed. The food was wonderful, and we had seven turkeys, compliments of many of the administrators on campus.

It might have even made our 19 for Thanksgiving last year seem like a petty number. Then again, we just had to show up, not prepare for all 70 some people that were there. It was also noteworthy as we think that this is the first time we've ever had to work on Thanksgiving. Somehow, even in Peru, Jordan, Kenya, and China, we think that we had time off on Thanksgiving day. So going to work, combined with the earliest possible date (the 22nd requires the 1st to be on a Thursday) certainly made Thanksgiving unique this year.

The kids had a fabulous time, enjoyed time with grandparents and quickly connected with some of the teenagers who ran around with them. A "capture that" moment was when Reeve and a friend, Olivia (4), were running around in circles around Rania. Rania would try to turn to see them, eventually get dizzy, and then fall down. . .. and laugh and laugh and laugh. It was a fun sight.

I must admit, though, the Thanksgiving (complete with plenty of candles to keep away the mosquitoes) ranks up there in the hottest Thanksgivings I can remember. Lots of sweat, and I think three showers over the course of the day. On Saturday we're hosting a smaller version of our own Thanksgiving here. We're hoping the Turkey will thaw in time.

Sweet Gig on Thanksgiving Eve

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we realized we had quite the sweet deal going.

Somehow, someway, in matters that only allow divine explanation, we are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia inundated with grandparents. On Wednesday night, the benefit of having 4 generations of Woodwards was immensely clear. While one set of grandparents (Doug's parents) watched our three kids and put them to bed, another set (Doug's grandparents) took us out to dinner.

So in addition to having great babysitters, we let grandpa pay for salmon dinner at an outdoor restaurant on the edge of the large fountains in the shadow of the Petronas Towers.

Gabi is pictured in her latest favorite outfit, which she generally tries to wear every day. After not wearing jeans for several months, she decided that the jeans that had a heart pocket and flowers on them were her FAVORITE.

A hilarious little story from yesterday. We had an alarm guy (and a plumber, but that's a different story) show up to upgrade our alarm. Gabi and Rania both went and hugged his legs. Gabi then said, "Dis is my sisa, Wania." He then answered, "Wania?" Gabi said, "No, WAANNNIA.. . . I can't say it very well." So throughout the rest of the alarm guy's visit, he kept calling Rania, Wania.

That's our middle born and her great enunciation. Our first born, meanwhile, has started swimming lessons at school and promptly raised his hand that he could swim all the way across the pool. Though he had only done it once (just this past weekend), he apparently made it all the way across! What a great relief after several weeks of hearing Reeve insist that he wouldn't go to swimming at school.

HS connections in KL

Soon after we moved to KL, we received word that one of Doug's high school friends, Marcus LeMaster was living in Singapore. More surprisingly, we found with his new consulting work, he spent much time traveling around SE Asia, and we might be get together.

So this past weekend, we reunited, trying to catch up on the past two decades. In high school, Marcus was a year ahead of me (Doug). We played water polo together, and swam together (well, okay, Marcus really swam while Doug flapped around in the water pretending to get in shape for water polo). I succeeded Marcus as captain of our swim team, and now, two decades later we are both in SE Asia.

We enjoyed hearing about his work, and enjoyed meeting his girlfriend, Velle, who flies for Singapore Airlines. Hopefully we'll get the chance to meet up again in the not two distant future, certainly less than two decades.

Rania is becoming quite the energetic girl, whose latest hobby is looking at "bebe" on the computer (meanings slide shows of various pictures). Her vocabulary includes bebe, birdie (which she uses more than anything) ba- (ball), aqua, water, daddy, mama, Ree (Reeve), ma (more), buk (book), uh-oh (including uh-oh bebe), aw don (all done), watisi (a tonal sort of question), hi (including hi daddy), bye bye, ca (car), as well as the very important name of our neighbors' maid, Caca (our neighbor's maid).

She also knows a number of sounds including dog (woo woo), baa (both horse and sheep), mwow (cat sounds). As she is on my lap insisting on seeing bebes, I'd better end this for now.

Reinforcements for the Zone Defense

As if our 4 on 3 (4 adults on 3 kids) zone defense wasn't great enough, Doug's grandparents arrived for a six week stay. So until Christmas, we should have 6 on 3 coverage for much of the time. Gabriella has been looking forward to Grandma Ramona's visit since the grandparents saw us in Indianapolis in June. At that point, Grandma Ramona promised to make an M&M cake when she came and visited us in KL.


Funny thing, Gabi hasn't forgotten about that and has brought it up numerous times over the past few months. So when Grandpa Levi and Grandma Ramona arrived no Friday afternoon, we went down to Doug's parents house and it was so comforting to see Gabi & Reeve rush into the waiting hugs of their great grandparents. The M&M cake was quickly on brought up! Over the next few hours, they enjoyed going swimming with great grandparents, playing the board game Sorry, enjoying a meal together, and even playing the fun "On the Farm" game courtesy of Aunt Lynne and Uncle Don. Gabi was so excited when she got money for her cows, and even enjoyed paying taxes when she landed on the appropriate square.

On Saturday morning, we had a delicious pancake breakfast with the whole clan and some more swimming where Reeve accomplished the incredible feat of swimming across the swimming pool ALL BY HIMSELF. We were ecstatic, and it is wonderful to have Grandma Woodward, a former swim instructor from her Newberg, Oregon glory days, as a private swim instructor for our kiddies! Reeve starts swimming in PE for school over the next few weeks, and has been quite nervous about it -- for reasons we don't understand. He expressed more confidence after making it across the pool, so we are hopeful that all will go well.

After a sleepover for Reeve & Gabi with the 4 grandparents (that was a full house), we met at church and then went swimming in downtown Kuala Lumpur, where in the shadow of the Petronas Towers (formerly the tallest buildings in the world), they have a huge park with a free kids wading pool, complete with waterfalls, fountains, and stepping stones. After a meal in the food court overlooking the park (pictured at the top), we returned for a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

Improved Zone Defense at the South China Sea

After Rania was born, we quickly realized that our one-on-one defense had to change. With three kids, we had to move to a zone; too often the gaps were exposed by our fussy kiddies.

Well, this weekend we sure discovered a new-and-improved zone defense. Instead of our 2 on 3 defense (2 adults on 3 kids), we went for a 4 on 3 zone defense. It is incredible what an improvement 4 adults can be. Imagine, while kiddies were asleep in our hotel room, Doug's parents could monitor any wanderings, and Doug & Tracy were free to hang out by the pool and get a piece of chocolate cake.

In addition to some yummy chocolate cake, we enjoyed a wonderful pool, and incredibly warm weather on the South China Sea. We drove about 3 hours across Malaysia to Kuantan, where we stayed at the Swiss Garden Resort & Spa -- quite the swanky name for a decent place. We felt we got a good deal because the east coast of Malaysia is supposed to be in monsoon season about now. Fortunately, we avoided most of the rain.

It was so fun to see Rania laugh and laugh as the waves came in over her toes. It was wonderful to see Gabi and Reeve frolicking in the pool for long hours at a time. Reeve enjoyed his first body-boarding experience; complete with a life jacket, he would let the waves take him in, then scramble up and go at it again. Gabi and Reeve enjoyed making sand castles and having the waves destroy them.

About the only drag was the traffic upon our return and the fact that Reeve ended up with quite a sunburn across his face. We felt like quite the negligent parents -- you would think we'd be more careful with sunscreen when on the beach right at the equator.

As we were driving up these hairpin turns into the mountains, seeing the mist rise off the jungle, it was evident we weren't in Indiana. Then, as Tracy pointed out, we also weren't enjoying any fall colors. I guess that is the trade off for weekend jaunts to beach vacations.

Halloween and NFL woes

The past weekend was full of several events, two of which stand out. On Friday evening, we had a Halloween progressive celebration with many members of the ISKL staff. Thanks to the incredible planning and immaculate decorations, we spent the tropical evening trotting around between seven different houses, dodging palm trees and sweating a fair amount.

Each home had its own special motif, with a re-creation of the Bates Hotel, funeral directors, skeletons, and much more. While it was certainly the warmest Halloween we've probably ever experienced, it was enjoyable to hang out with some friends and get to know others better.

Different groups had different themes, and we joined the "hippie" group. Clearly, our packing list for KL didn't include full costumes for theme dress -- so our pathetic attempt at fitting the criteria is slightly hidden by the better dressed folks. Some people, especially some of the other groups, went all out!

And, of course, being in KL has the major disadvantage of being a world away from the NFL action. With most of the US, and nearly all of Indianapolis focused on the Colts-Pats showdown, I tried my best to be involved. We get live Sunday and Monday night games shown -- and then replayed later in the week. Unfortunately the 8 am start time on a Monday morning has the surprising effect of interfering with work. Imagine -- work getting in the way of NFL.

So I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and got the audio feed from Indy, and listed to the first part of the game, cheering loudly as they described Joseph Addai's TD to end the first half. And by the time we arrived at school and the Colts had a 10 point lead, I was nearly giddy.

Unfortunately, as we all know, things soured -- just as I was starting class. Bummer. At least it isn't January, and we'll hope for a rematch when it really counts.

Friends from Afar

The past couple of weeks have had a couple of wonderful rendezvous with good friends from the past. This week, Connie Buford is in town for the EARCOS school conference. She is currently working with the State Department coordinating efforts to ensure excellent overseas educational opportunities for employees of the US government. Connie was Doug's first (real) boss after university, and Connie and her family moved to Kenya the same year that Doug's family moved (1988).

So it was wonderful to have her come to our home for dinner. Reeve showed Connie how his robot worked, Tracy cooked an amazing dinner, and we had a great time hearing about Connie's jaunts around much of Asia and Africa. As she is neighbors with Mark, Doug's brother, it was especially fun to see some pictures of cousins which she brought.

Last weekend, there was a sports conference at ISKL, where our varsity soccer teams competed against teams from Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, and Manila. In a totally amazing, shocking surprise, Erik Johnsen showed up in our classrooms -- bringing lots of hugs, great news, and certainly a few tears of joy. Erik and Stacey taught with us in Jordan, so it was so AMAZING to see Erik and hear his stories, as well as catch up on the past six years. They now have two kids, and we have three, so plenty has changed since we parted paths in Amman.

We have had a quiet week, but are looking forward to a 4 day weekend to celebrate Deepavali, an Indian holiday. The fact that Malaysia is so multi-cultural sure has its advantages in terms of holidays.

It has been fun to see our kids interacting -- a picture of Reeve and Rania illustrates a moment that could represent Reeve reading Rania a story, Reeve giving Gabi a hug and saying "it will be all right" or the three kids running around the house throwing balloons in the air. It was neat reading Sarah's (our good friend from Indianapolis) blog, and some of her comments resonate with our own experiences.

And I'll leave you with a shot of our budding photographer -- Reeve's efforts at photography. He isn't quite at Sarah or Elizabeth B's level of jaw-dropping pictures, but it will have to do.