caterpillar on the flower

We found this caterpillar two days ago. It was sitting on a leaf in my neighbor's pink flower plant when I took Jove out to breathe in some fresh air.


I took a picture of it this morning. We visited the caterpillar often during the two days. But this afternoon, it was missing. This evening, when we waited for daddy outside, Jove said that the caterpillar was sleeping being cradled by his mother. I was quite disappointed when I found it gone. I was hoping to see its metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly.

Thanks to you, La, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Jove asked me to read the book to him after each visit to the caterpillar.

draw cars!

Jove is always asking us to draw cars and trucks and motorcycle and tractors (and the like) since he could talk. At first, we wasted lots of papers for the drawings and his scribblings. Then when the pen/marker/crayons started roaming to the sofa and the floor, grandpa bought him the magnetic doodle.

Jovan loves to spend a lot of time drawing. At first, just squiggly lines, wriggly circle, well... abstract drawing. Then one day, he started practicing to draw something, like a car. He would start with a horizontal line, then he would add two circles... like the base of the car drawn from the side. After a few days doing that, well, maybe a week or so, he dramatically changed!

One fine day, he surprised us all by really drawing a car!


He'll make a big squarish circle (most of the times in the shape of a van), add two wheels (or more), and a window. If he says it is a taxi, he will add something at the top (for the taxi sign), if it is a jeep, he'll add the extra wheel at the back. Trucks will be bigger with more wheels. Racing cars will be short and flat. It is amazing to watch him draw! :)

Children. Is. Amazing.

busy life

Whew.

I heard something nice from the radio yesterday.

God is fair. Everyone is granted twenty four hours a day. No more. No less.

If some people can be so efficient in managing their time, I should be able to learn to do so.

aspiration

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jove: A penguin.

That's my one-year-seven-month-and-two-weeks-old boy.

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 the road

We're on our way back from Semarang now. Somewhere in Tegal. Jove just moved to the other car to be with grandma, so I'm free to try this.