grandpa baptized!

oh wow. another surprise.

my grandpa was baptized yesterday in the hospital. he will turn 90 this july. we just visited him the saturday before last. i want to write more... but no time at the moment. so leaving this note here first... ^_^

oh wow!

baptized!

we were late when we entered the church that wednesday night. five minutes past seven. the four of us, my husband, and the two kids. the mass has already started, the first reading was being read.

i could see papa and mama sitting in one of the front pews together with their catechism classmates, wearing white tops and black bottoms.

andi and i hovered around the back of the church with the restless kids.

then when the baptism started, there was a blackout! the lights went off with a loud sound (coming from the sound system that went off). so the baptism was done with candle lights in darkness. no microphone, sound system, nor any musical instrument. the choir just sang with their own voices. i thought that was how the first christians were baptized, and that was beautiful.

i remembered my prayers when i was younger and was pretty awed that God remembered my prayers even after i forgotten it. when my parents started going to catechism class, i was pretty surprised but still a bit skeptical. the realization hit full blast in the dark during the baptism. and i felt so grateful and loved and happy. :)

the lights went on after the baptism. so the anointing of the chrism oil was done in the light.

thank you, Lord.

goodbye engkong...

This morning, my mother-in-law's father passed away. We called him Engkong. While I knew him only for the past four or five year, this remarkable man had a tremendous impact on me. Let me share some memories that I treasured about him.

This note below was written in my journal on Saturday night, 24 January 2009.

He smiled his special smile again when I asked him the question. That smile always reached to his eyes and made them twinkle with some sort of warm glow. He answered by telling me his love story.

Engkong and Emak were married when he was twenty and she was fifteen. They had seven children. They had good and bad times and were together through it all. They lived in Lasem, a small town in the northern East Java.

Their children grew up and started to move to other big cities till only the two of them were left. After that they used to travel by car visiting their children. He told me smugly that he used to drive all the way from Surabaya to Jakarta in one go, just stopping for meal breaks.

I gawked at this! I used to go with my family from Jakarta to Semarang (and back) by car and I always felt tired after the 10-hour journey. And I did not even drive! I asked whether he felt tired or sleepy at all during the whole day-long car drive. He smiled, that smile, and answered like this: "As long as she was with me, I didn't get tired."

They apparently talked and enjoyed each other company so much that driving 725 km was a cinch!

Then in my note on 26 Jan 2009:

Engkong said that husband and wife had to support each other and be a good team in EVERYTHING. This is the key to success.

Emak died in 1992. A sudden death that shocked him. He told me in several occasions that after she died, he was like an empty shell, just waiting to die... waiting to meet her again. It's a pity that I've never met her. I would love to be able to witness their wonderful marriage. He said that their children had been planning to celebrate their 50th anniversary (in 1995), but she died...

During our stroll in a mall once, when I walked with him, he told me that he would always be the one gave in after every fight. He would do that before they went to sleep. It was easy to win her heart with a hug and a loving kiss, he told me with a chuckle. Ooooh, how I hope my husband inherited this trait!

Engkong always included Emak in every card that he gave his children and grandchildren. During Chinese New Year, he would put his name card inside the hongbao, and 'Engkong & Emak' would always be written there. When my husband was sick, he gave us a hongbao with the name card and a written get-well-soon note, from Engkong & Emak. Whenever he gave his blessing, like the one during our wedding, he talked in behalf of Emak.

When I received the news that he passed away, I imagined him smiling his special smile. At last the day he has been waiting for eighteen years has arrived... the day he would meet his sweetheart, his first love, his wife, his best friend.

It would not be easy for us, we will definitely miss him... but I'm sure that today Engkong is happier than ever.

Thank you Engkong. For being a wonderful grandpa, for being a huge inspiration in loving, for all of your attention and smiles and precious advices. I'm just beyond blessed to be able to know you and become your granddaughter even just for a few years. I love you. Be happy now, with the Lord, and with your sweetheart.

fourth prenatal check-up

We visited our ob-gyn this morning for another check-up. My blood pressure was normal and everything was good. We spent about an hour inside the office, mainly trying to find the child's gender (the baby got his/her thighs together, difficult to see the in-between), and chatting with the friendly doc. We are still guessing the gender, but that's not a problem at all. :)

Jovan is still kissing and hugging the bulging tummy about ten times a day. He mostly slept hugging the tummy now, most of the time asking me to expose the tummy. Sweet brother, uh?

My sister said that I wasn't being fair with this baby. In my first pregnancy with Jovan, I would take pictures of my tummy monthly, then wrote down my weight and sometimes the circumference of the tummy. But with this one, I never wrote down my weight and hardly had time to take a proper picture. Hehehe... But during previous pregnancy, my sisters loved to touch the tummy whenever I visited them. Now? Hardly. They're busy chasing Jove around the house. :) So it's really a good thing that Jovan always remembers to kiss and cuddle the little baby.

Jakarta is flooded, again

My husband and sister went back past midnight yesterday due to the flood. The flood caused traffic jam everywhere, . My in-laws' house was flooded too.

Oh well...

goodbye grandma

I was cleaning up in the new house with hubby and Jove when my youngest sister called hubby's handphone. She was crying and mumbling something about grandma. I took Jove and cycled as fast as I could.

Grandma died that Sunday morning, 20th January 2008.

My parents flew two hours after that. My two sisters followed in the evening. They made it in time to see her before they closed the casket. My sister said that grandma looked peaceful, just like sleeping.

God has called her and end her suffering. Now she is happy, healed, and whole again. But she will be forever missed by her six daughters, six son-in-laws, twenty grand-children (and five grandchildren-in-law -is there such a word?-), six great-grand-children, and a husband.

Hubby, Jove, second sister, father (who flew back to Jakarta on Monday) and I joined the big family on Wednesday morning. It felt weird to head straight to the mortuary from the airport. We met my two sisters, mother, two aunts, and the nurse who took care of grandma there.

The place was quite new, clean, and nice. Grandma's photo smiled at me in front of her casket. She has gone to a better place, I kept telling myself. I should be happy for her. She has lived her 83 years on Earth fully. She has given birth to six wonderful daughter, watched them meet and marry the men of their dreams, hold the twenty grand-children, even attended five of the grand-children's wedding! I still remembered, in awe, when grandma attended my dear cousin's wedding. Wheelchair bound, sick and weak, but she was there for all of us. A selfless strong woman my grandma was.

The days that follow were spent with my dear aunts, uncles, and cousins for the cremation and placing of her ashes in the columbarium.

Thursday morning, we gathered in front of the crematorium. We prayed around her coffin. So many people came to the last service. Some old ladies from Salatiga, including my grandma's 95 year-old sister, sang a sweet song about her meeting with Jesus. It was a beautiful moment. Then the coffin was placed inside the furnace. It was time to pay our last respect. One cousin brought fresh red roses that each of us placed near her coffin. Grandma loved flowers, especially the red roses.

We watched when the fire was lighted. Soon, the furnace was ablaze with burning hot fire. Grandma frail, old, weak body was slowly reduced to ashes. She needed that body no more for she already has a new one up there.

Saturday morning, we gathered there again to collect her ashes. The person-in-charge gave us the ashes inside a cloth pouch doubled with clear plastic together with two prostheses. We were shocked when we hold the prostheses (once planted inside her hips) they were so heavy! Maybe more than a kilogram in total. I could not imagine that all these time, grandma carried those heavy stuff around with her!

We carried her ashes to the columbarium grandpa has built for the family. The big family gathered there for lunch. I wondered if grandma joined us in the gathering, looking at the many people who loved and respected her. Or she could still be dancing with Jesus on her two feet in heaven!

Goodbye for now, Emak sayang. One day when we meet again, I hope I can say that I've lived my life at least as full as yours.

on his own

Jovan stopped walking on his own after he fell down a few weeks ago. Before that, he managed to walk a few steps forward for two days. He finally had the courage to walk on his own again on August 21st, in the afternoon. That day, he walked in straight lines for a few metres. The next day, he managed to turn right and left and even turn around without toppling down. I guess he really waited until he was sure he could walk before trying walking on his own.

Today he has covered the whole house and the front yard. He loves to walk to the water dispenser when he thinks that nobody notice (of course somebody is always keeping an eye on him). He likes to stand on the base of the standing fan, holding on the pole, and switching the fan on and off. He has tried to open almost every cupboard that he could get his hand into, climbing up and down the chair, and running out from the house when the front door was open. We got busier with him around now.

Last Friday, Jove asked for 'more' when he has finished his bowl of rice. And today is the first time he asked for his dinner! Maybe he was hungry and he asked me to feed him. Usually he asked for breastmilk, so it was a nice surprise that he could do that.

Goodness, I'm not really prepared for all these new developments of him. They happened in such a short time. Every single day he learned some new things or some new words and most of the times that happened my heart bursts with joy. :)

The picture above was taken this afternoon when we let him play on the grass again. Grandma put the flowers and asked him to pray, my sister took the picture. Parents should be thankful for digital cameras. I could not imagine how much money we would spent on films to take perfect (not blurred) pictures of the constantly-moving kid.

another trip to semarang

We had another trip to Semarang and Salatiga by bus. Jove was pretty cranky on the bus this time because he had a mild cold. In fact, the whole family except dad (two grandparents, three aunts, Jove, and me) caught the bug a few days before the trip. After the trip, everybody's health got worse, except Jovan (thankfully).

We departed on Thursday night, shortly after ten. I spent the whole night trying to sleep while cradling Jovan to sleep. He woke up several times and night and continuously asked for breastmilk. Both of my milk-tanks went dry by the time we reached Semarang at about one on Friday afternoon.

Jove was excited looking at his great-grandfather on the bus ride to Salatiga from Semarang and he got busy playing with great-grandpa's cane. Grandma was sleeping when we arrived, and when she woke up a few hours later, Jovan was sleeping. It happened the two times we went there, so Jovan didn't get to meet his great-grandma properly.

Saturday evening, hubby, Jovan, and I accompanied my grandpa back to Semarang in his car (with a driver). On the way, I thought a lot about my dear cousin, Rika, and whole day we've spent together in May. Miss you a lot, cousin dear! This trip will be more fun with you around. :)

Sunday morning, we headed back to Jakarta. Grandpa did not allow us to go back and made us stay for another two hours. We stopped to have lunch at a restaurant near the sea in Indramayu and look at how happy Jovan was! He was fascinated with the strong sea breeze and the waves. He kept on laughing while holding his hands up, trying to catch the wind. The water was brown and muddy and the scenery was not beautiful at all, but all he saw was the blue blue sky, the fresh breeze, and the sunny Saturday afternoon.


Grandpa introduced Jovan to the wet sand. It was not white nor clean, but Jovan and grandpa ignored those facts. He enjoyed the new texture of the wet sand and he was quite amazed when the waves licked his toes.


Children. Let them remind us of the simple beauty of this earth.

unspoken love

I uploaded the pictures from last May's trip to Singapore, Semarang and Salatiga in the web albums (link at the sidebar).

A few weeks after that trip, I found out something that made my eyes watery from my mom and sisters.

Whenever we stayed in our grandparents' house in Semarang, my father, husband, son, and I usually slept in the guest's room (which was my childhood bedroom). Mom and my two sisters would be sleeping with grandma, and my youngest sister will sleep in a spare bed in grandpa's room. Grandpa sleeps in the room connected to grandma's room. They have slept in separate rooms for about 10 years, I guess.

Anyway, grandpa is a stern person and his relationship with grandma was not romantic or sweet... in short, I could not see them as a couple that could fall in love and got married in the first place. At one time, I knew that grandpa and grandma stopped talking to each other for some months (or maybe years).

And one day while my mom, sisters, and I were chatting about them, I found out that every night after everyone was asleep, grandpa would walk over to grandma's room to check on everybody. He would go to each bed and straighten the blanket, check the airconditioning, then went back to sleep.

Now that my grandma stays in another town, mom wondered how grandpa must have felt when he woke up in the middle of the night and checked the other room.

But I thanked God I had the chance to know this sweet habit of him, checking on grandma every night. That's how grandpa expressed his love.

Miss them so much. Hope we can have another trip there in the middle of this month.

one sunny sunday

We were invited to swim in one aunt's condominium one Sunday morning. Jovan had a lot of fun with one great aunt, three aunts, one uncle, two cousins (and their two babysitters), daddy, mommy, cold clear water, bowls of spaghetti, slices of yummy bread, sweet ice cocktail, and a basketful of peanuts.

Actually posted on 31/07/07

ONE year old celebration

If we were to have three sons... it would take ages to have a proper family picture. Hee hee. All of them just could not sit still.

Serpong, Tangerang - 1 July 2007

blue blue sky

Glorious Sunday morning! The three of us went for a morning walk and enjoyed it immensely.


So the disciples went and did as Jesus had told them. They brought the donkey and the colt, then they laid their cloaks on their backs and he took his seat on them. Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in his path. The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed were all shouting:

Hosanna to the son of David!
Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heavens!

Matt. 21:6-9

in sickness and in health

I spent the whole day with my in-laws today and leaving Jove with mom. Dad-in-law had a stent procedure this afternoon. I kept mom-in-law company while he was inside the angioplasty room.

Three of us spent the day chatting in the ICCU (Intensive Cardiac Care Unit), something I've never done before. I mean, this time it was only me with them, no one else around. All of their children and the only son-in-law were working, I was the only person not working. It was good being with them. I got to know a lot of interesting stories from their youth, especially their love story.

I brought a thermos with ice packs and a bottle for pumping. Easily granted permission to pump in one of the unused obsevation room. I used marmet technique for manual expression. No hassle of bringing pump. :)

When dad was brought into the angioplasty room, mom and I waited (and prayed) in the waiting room. Everything was going on great. We were called to watched the video of the procedure and listened the explanation from the doctor. Of course, dad has to watch his diet more strictly now, but he can continue his daily activities as usual.

And so does hubby. Chubby hubby was ordered to check his cholesterol level first thing in the morning tomorrow.

When I got home, Jove cried and asked for feeding straightaway. He latched for hours. A payback for the missed feedings, I guess.

away from home

Today is my husband's birthday. We woke up slightly before 4 a.m., ate our breakfast cum birthday noodle at 4:30 a.m., then hubby left to the airport at 5. He had a morning flight to Singapore, two days one night business trip.

Happy birthday, Daddy!

gong xi fa cai

flood

Jakarta is flooded. Badly.

My in-laws' house is flooded up to an adult's thigh and they spent the almost the whole of Friday in the car trapped in a very bad traffic jam on their way to a relative's house. My father and almost everyone else could not work on Friday. My husband went to work in the morning, but went home shortly after because the water level was rising everywhere.

There were thousands that lost their homes, stranded with wet clothes and no food on the rooftops. Some lost their family members in the flood. Today, most of them started to get sick. Thousands of people also trapped in their houses with no clean water and electricity since Friday. The clean water and electricity were cut off in the flooded area to prevent water pollution and possible short disaster. Today, my sister-in-law and her family moved to stay in a nearby hotel. With two children under three, it was a wise precaution.

These past three days, watching the news about the flood gave me weird kind of feelings. I'm thankful that all of us are alive and healthy, can live well with clean water, electricity, and enough food. I'm horrified and sad knowing about those poor people losing their homes and cars and belongings. My heart's gone to pieces looking at those sick children and babies in the measly shelters. But I'm also slightly glad that my husband is at home and not working.

For precaution, we're staying in my parents' place again. My sister just got an sms tonight, informing that her lab session was canceled and those who has found the required kutu beras (rice flea or rice bug?) for the experiment, should try to keep them alive till next week.

another celebration

Dinand and Jove in the playpen. Dinand is one of Jove's cousin and is four and a half months older. Jove used to be terrified being near him (for reasons unknown), but not anymore! Everyone is having mixed feelings about them growing up (learning to grab, walk, run around, throw things... you get the idea), together with Dinand's three year old brother, they are capable of doing great (read:horrible) things in the house.


Anyway, here's a super yummy chocolate cake for Papi, my dear father-in-law. He turned 58 today and a very proud grandfather of his three grandsons!


Happy birthday Papi. We love you!

A rainbow for mom

On our way to my parents’ house this morning, we saw that beautiful seven-colored arc on the sky. The rising sun spread his pale gold rays through the soft clouds in the east and the sky was painted with lumps of golden clouds in the pale blue background. Rain drizzled softly on our side.

I told my husband, this was God’s birthday gift for our wonderful mom.

Happy birthday, Mama.

a christmas blessing

Grandma was on her bed when we got there, smiling. We rushed in and took turns showering her and grandpa with kisses. It felt so good to finally see them again, especially now. Little Jove, surprisingly cheerful after a 12-hour journey, laughed a lot and delighted the great grandparents. A wonderful Christmas day we had.

The next four days were spent remembering and creating warm memories with dearest grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Wishing we can have more of those moments this year.

puncak old and new

We spent the old and new in Puncak, a cool mountain-side resort town in Bogor, near Jakarta. Stayed in the private villa of my father-in-law's youngest brother.

Colorful flowers, clean cold air, fresh green vegetables, a lot of food, yummy fruits, and 180 degree view of spectacular fireworks filled our two days and a night stay there.