Nothing like a Tropical Downpour

Yesterday evening, we so much enjoyed sitting out on our porch, enjoying the cool weather as a thunderstorm came passing through. Reeve and Rania started running out into the rain, and giggling and giggling as the rain would drip on their heads.

Soon the momentary bursts into the rain turned into full fledged assaults on the huge rain drops -- with Reeve and Rania running back and forth, laughing hysterically as they got soaked from the thunderstorm.

The refreshing downpours and torrential thunderstorms have certainly been a fun part of our lives in KL.


The other three of us enjoyed the spectacle from the (dry) confines of under our porch. But it sure was fun to see the smiles and laughter from little tots enjoying a chance to play in the rain.

The Sunday Scene

We have settled on a church in Kuala Lumpur and are enjoying the fellowship of worshiping with others. It is always hard to leave our wonderful church community from Indianapolis, and it is too easy to compare beloved places that are so much of our hearts.

But we are enjoying meeting at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. It is a colonial building that is about ready to celebrate its 90th anniversary. A throwback to the colonial era, it appears as an anachronism -- a remnant of the past while much of Kuala Lumpur has exploded around it.

It has beautiful, lush gardens on its property, but is surrounded by high rise buildings not far from the heart of downtown. Often, after church, our kids enjoy playing on the equipment that sits in the shadow of the KL tower.

The pastor, a kiwi (from New Zealand), is relatively new and it has been wonderful to sit under his teaching. We've been enjoying the beginning of his sermon series on The Lord's Prayer. The Sunday school program is also excellent, and was a big drawing point. Gabi has enthusiastically played the part of Queen Ester during the past two weeks, telling us the stories while showing off her crown and other crafts that she has made.

Another big plus (we thought) was the wonderful nursery staff where Rania could enjoy playing. Unfortunately, the nursery is right off the sanctuary, and Rania has decided that the nursery is only fun if one of her parents remains with her. Her screaming is quite evident throughout the small, adjacent sanctuary, so we've had to take turns missing much of the worship service.

Since Rania largely has one-on-one (two-on-one if a parent stays) attention during the early service, we are hoping that she will grow accustomed to playing by herself in the nursery, but that has not been the case the past few months.

Sigh. . .

The Elusive Bunny

Sometimes it feels like we are living in a different universe from our kids. This past week, Gabi went and saw a bunny in one of our neighbor's homes. Now Gabi is determined to have a bunny. She cries every night, 'I can't wait to get a bunny. I really can't wait.'

She's even decided that the bunny will be black & white, and that its name will be "Blackie/Whitie."

After many tearful pleas about wanting a bunny, Tracy told her that when she was 7 and saved up money, maybe she could get one if she took care of it.

So now she tells us how she has saved up so "many monies." Believe me, we are kept up to date on her financial portfolio. Today, Gabi announced she now has two more "monies" in her piggy bank -- to total 26 -- an odd assortment of different currencies. She thinks that when she gets 100 monies, then she'll get the bunny. Add that to 'I can't wait anymore. I want to be 7 right NOW!'

Neither money nor time seem to concepts that the 4 year old mind can grasp when it comes to wanting a bunny.

Oh my, for two pet-phobic parents, we'll see how long we can avoid the pet scene.

Last month's flavor (pet) of the month was a horse. A bunny has to be an improvement, right? Gabi insisted that she could keep a horse right outside and would feed it. There was plenty of room right next to our fence, she insisted. It was only after Grandma Ramona told her about zoning laws and needing to have permits to keep horses and ponies did she seem to drop the issue. Any bright advise, Grandma Ramona (or others) on dealing with the bunny fascination?

A "Snow Day" in KL

Somehow, someway, we enjoyed quite the respite in the middle of the week. Due to a Hindu holiday, Thaipusam, the government announced a public holiday. So basically at the last minute (Monday afternoon), it was announced that we would have Wednesday off.

Nothing like a holiday to break up the middle of the week. So in typical fashion for a "snow day," we got on our bathings suits, headed to the grandparents and had a nice afternoon swim to cool off from the heat and humidity.

After a delightful evening meal (spaghetti) with grandparents, we will prepare for the remainder of the week (only two days). It is somewhat of a running joke that only on rare occasions do students attend classes for five days in a given week at ISKL. Alas, next week is scheduled for a full 5 days. And there might not be too many unusual holidays that might be announced at the last minute. Sigh. Oh well, then we'll get a 4 day weekend for Chinese New Year the first week of February.

Our other travail that made the holiday nice was the fact that 2/3rds of our electricity is out in our house. Someone came today to look at it, brought it up to 2/3rds, and hopefully tomorrow they'll check one of the 3 lines coming into the house and get us going.

Farming out the Kids.

We sure discovered the magical benefits of sleepovers this past weekend. On Friday evening, Reeve spent the night with his grandparents, where he greatly enjoyed bowling (twice) as well as swimming, and a yummy pancake breakfast. He spent most of the day Saturday with grandparents.

Meanwhile, Gabi enjoyed her first sleepover with a friend. Our neighbors, who have a daughter, Nina, who is 7, invited Gabriella over for a sleepover. It was quite funny, as Gabi was already in her pajamas, and just jumped the fence and spent the night with our amazing neighbors. The next morning she was treated to breakfast at McDonalds, and a visit to the day market -- complete with a new toy to bring home. Wow!

So we enjoyed a much quieter than normal Friday evening and Saturday, with Rania all to ourselves.

Then on Sunday, after church, it was discovered that all three kids wanted to go home with grandpa and grandma. Finding a car all to ourselves, we took advantage of the solitude to visit KLCC (the massive mall at the foot of the Petronas Towers), enjoy a very quiet lunch together and continue our search for some key electronics (a coffee grinder for Tracy).

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and now we are back to school this week.

Feeling Blue (Colts Blue)

Today they replayed the agonizing Colts debacle against the Chargers. I had gotten up on Monday am our time at 2 am to listen to the broadcast -- since it wasn't live on TV. And then, in some twisted form of Malaysian torture -- I watched the game as it was rebroadcast this afternoon.

How did Marvin Harrison fumble?
How a ball fall through Kenton Keith's hand and get picked off at the goal line?
Couldn't the defense force a 3 and out?
How can you give up a first down on 3rd & 15?
Or a personal foul to give up another first down on the Charger's game winning drive?
Couldn't Tony Ugoh get a key 4th down block to give the Colts a chance?

Augh. It was agonizing to see how many opportunities the Colts had to seal the deal and win the game. Time and time again, one play could have done it. . .but alas. Somehow the replay of the game ended up with the same sorry result as when I listened to it live.

So this week has been quite blue.

I suppose I should look on the bright side. We're healthy. Kids are doing well. We've been so blessed. When I read about our friends fighting illness or another friend staying in the slums to minister to the poor, it helps to put things in perspective.


Still, it is sad that my Colts couldn't pull it out.

At least we had fun at the pool this past weekend. Reeve is improving in his swimming, even making it across the deep end of the pool once. Rania of course is plenty photogenic!

Reeve's B'Day Party Circuit

One of the things we've discovered at ISKL is the number of birthday parties that Reeve gets invited to. Each one is at a different setting, but game centers, aquariums, hotels, craft centers have all been part of the birthday party gatherings, which are considerably more sizable than what we were used to in Indianapolis.

It has been a wonderful experience to meet some of the other parents in Reeve's class and it is so exciting to Reeve joyfully playing with some of his friends.

The latest birthday party was at a play center called MegaKidz in a nearby mall. Reeve has decided that he doesn't like the clown shows. This is great in his father's mind since the volume on the microphones in the clown/ magician/ superhero/ princess acts is way too high. Hopefully this is the reason Reeve opted out of the clown act.

Reeve had quite a bit of fun playing with his friends, and also enjoyed eating the snacks and the cake.

As we get back in the swing of things with school, we've gotten back into a routine and the kids are enjoying riding bikes with neighbors, playing our playground, going swimming, and other parts of our lives in KL.

Rania, for example, certainly enjoys eating her pasta and generally making a mess.

"When Rania's an adult. . ."

Here's Reeve's view of getting old:

Reeve: "When Rania's an adult, me and Gabi will be grandparents."

Tracy: "No, not really. . ."

Sometimes he can seem so old, like when we were discussing supernovas and the solar system. Other times. . .

Butterflies and Birds Galore

Before heading back to school, our family made a visit downtown to the butterfly park and the bird park. Reeve had seen the pictures of Gabi & Rania with all the birds and heard about the bird that could ride a bicycle, so we thought we would do a bit of sightseeing before getting back in the swing of things.

So on Thursday, we made our way to Lake Garden, a park area downtown where there is an orchid garden, butterfly park, and bird park. We first stopped at the butterfly park. Due to the rains from that morning, most of the butterflies were waiting to dry out, but it was still fun to see the beautiful creatures.

A highlight was feeding the fish that were in the ponds. They also had an exhibit with quite a few spiders, beetles, and frogs.

Then it was on to the bird park where we were inundated with parrots during feeding time! Rania and Gabi couldn't get enough of all the parrots climbing all over them to get to the sunflower seeds! They had so much fun feeding the birds with Rania yelling "Birdie! Birdie!!." There were lots of smiles watching the parrots climb all over us.

We also managed to see the bird show again -- in addition to the parrots riding bicycles and driving cars, the birds of prey made their dramatic entrances.

After a delightful morning and lunch, we came back with some weary kids -- all falling asleep in the car.

With Monday quickly approaching, we'll be getting back into our routine as school starts again.

A New Year!

It was a bit funny watching the ball drop on CNN -- at 1 pm in the middle of the afternoon. As we were getting ready for a nice swim to cool off, we saw all the hats, coats and mittens from the revelers in North America.

But we are off to a good start of the new year. Doug's parents are heading to Cambodia for 4 days, and we have a list of things to get done before school starts up again on Monday. We might even get a bit of sightseeing in, but there is plenty to do.

We start the New Year incredibly blessed by the events of 2007 and excited to see the growth and changes of 2008.