This is the last day of 2009.
I remember 10 years ago when we turned into the new millennium and Y2K didn't happen. My family was in Wichita, KS for the holidays and we were headed out in a week to return to Papua for my last year and a half there. I remember running outside into the snow in bare feet to see the fireworks when it hit midnight. I was wondering if my crush from furlough was watching the sky at the same time (oh sappy high school self, get a life!).
It's ironic that as a nation we were so worried about Y2K, when that would really be the least of our worries in the next 10 years. I think that while we still live immensely privileged lives, the last 10 years has been hard on the psyche of America. Beginning with 9/11 and carrying through to the current economy, I think America no longer believes we're at the top of the world. My question is - will we use that the humble us and get back to work, or will we spend our time moaning and making up conspiracy theories? I think the answer to that question may well define our next 10 years... that and the potential spread or stagnancy of militant Islamic fundamentalism worldwide.
In the last ten years I graduated from high school and then graduated from college, got married, rented my first apartment, owned my first car, had my first job, and life has changed completely. I am a very much changed person (not entirely different from who I was 10 years ago, but mostly different!).
I don't think any other decade will hold so much change, but I may bite my tongue on that, because if in another ten years we have several kids and are working overseas, who knows, I may feel like things have changed entirely again.
I've learned some things over the last 10 years.
- Though how I read scripture, what I think about the church, and the lifestyle rules I live by have changed immensely, the journey to knowing God remains unchanged and the central purpose of my life.
- Good friendship is worth the commitment, and with commitment, it lasts through time and change and growing up. Thank God for that!
- My family is incredible and I love them immensely, and in the past 10 years I have realized just how important they are to me. As a kid I took them for granted.
- Marriage isn't easy, but it is immensely fun and secure and loving and transformational when you're willing to not be selfish. It is the most humbling thing I've ever done.
- Turns out I still don't really know what I want to do with my life. I'm not that much further along with that question than I was 10 years ago!
- I still love Papua as much as I did 10 years ago. It is still my home. However, I have learned that you can love any place and people if you set your mind and heart to it.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Christmas at the White House
All of these are from the White House Photostream on Flikr.
I love the one below. Ohhhh the temptation of those colorful candy canes, but I'm sure mom and dad told them NOT to misbehave at the White House Christmas party.
That's the White House Dog - isn't he cute?
Robert Di Nero and Bruce Springsteen
I love the one below. Ohhhh the temptation of those colorful candy canes, but I'm sure mom and dad told them NOT to misbehave at the White House Christmas party.
That's the White House Dog - isn't he cute?
Robert Di Nero and Bruce Springsteen
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas 2009 in Indonesia - Pig Feasts
So I thought I was done with my Christmas series, but some friends posted photos on facebook of their Christmas in Indonesia this year, and they were just fantastic. So, with permission, here is a Christmas in Papua, an island in Indonesia that I grew up on.
Christmas Bakar Batu ("Blackened Rocks"), or Pig Roast
Step 1: Big rocks are carried from a fire and placed in a shallow pit. The density of the rocks keeps them hot for hours after they've been taken out of the fire.
Step 2: Big chunks of pork, corn, potatoes, and other veges are wrapped in banana leaves and placed over the hot rocks, and then wrapped into a big steamy package, where they cook for hours.
Step 3: The package is carefully unwrapped, and the tender meat and vegetables are divided up.
Step 4: Everyone sits in little groups with their "plates" of leaves ready for their food. In the tropics the umbrellas are more for keeping off the sun than the rain!
Recognizing the varying Western customs, the Papuans provide a table for the "orang asing" (people of the West).
It is SO so so so delicious. Tender, juicy, flavorful...
That's the traditional Papuan celebration meal. Here are a few more random Christmas moments in Papua.
One of my heroes, a true missionary maverick (he's been shot with guns and arrows, hiked everywhere, and has the most unbelievable stories. He spoke at one of my graduation ceremonies) making pancakes out of sago.
Prepping a Christmas meal with friends and neighbor kids. I love this, because I know many missionaries that keep their homes closed. I love it when people fellowship with the Papuans and Indonesians as brothers and sisters.
Guitar hero with friends and neighbors:
And, just because people ask me all the time what kids do for fun when you grow up in the middle of nowhere:
You go to the beach (That's my beach!)
And you hang out around town, or around school, which beats the heck out of your school campus:
You ride motorcycles around:
And investigate the cool things around. Instead of the pet store at the mall, you can check out the local wildlife up close, like this cous cous, a marsupial native to the area.
I do so love where I grew up. LOVE it.
Christmas Bakar Batu ("Blackened Rocks"), or Pig Roast
Step 1: Big rocks are carried from a fire and placed in a shallow pit. The density of the rocks keeps them hot for hours after they've been taken out of the fire.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Step 2: Big chunks of pork, corn, potatoes, and other veges are wrapped in banana leaves and placed over the hot rocks, and then wrapped into a big steamy package, where they cook for hours.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Step 3: The package is carefully unwrapped, and the tender meat and vegetables are divided up.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Step 4: Everyone sits in little groups with their "plates" of leaves ready for their food. In the tropics the umbrellas are more for keeping off the sun than the rain!
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Recognizing the varying Western customs, the Papuans provide a table for the "orang asing" (people of the West).
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
It is SO so so so delicious. Tender, juicy, flavorful...
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
That's the traditional Papuan celebration meal. Here are a few more random Christmas moments in Papua.
One of my heroes, a true missionary maverick (he's been shot with guns and arrows, hiked everywhere, and has the most unbelievable stories. He spoke at one of my graduation ceremonies) making pancakes out of sago.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Prepping a Christmas meal with friends and neighbor kids. I love this, because I know many missionaries that keep their homes closed. I love it when people fellowship with the Papuans and Indonesians as brothers and sisters.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
Guitar hero with friends and neighbors:
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
And, just because people ask me all the time what kids do for fun when you grow up in the middle of nowhere:
You go to the beach (That's my beach!)
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
And you hang out around town, or around school, which beats the heck out of your school campus:
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
You ride motorcycles around:
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
And investigate the cool things around. Instead of the pet store at the mall, you can check out the local wildlife up close, like this cous cous, a marsupial native to the area.
 |
| From christmas in Indonesia |
I do so love where I grew up. LOVE it.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Blog lag and a book review (the Unlikely Disciple)
My frequency of blog posting has dropped dramatically. This is for several reasons.
1. Isaac is finished with school. This means I get to hang out with him, which I'd take any day over writing a blog post.
2. Christmas. Christmas parties, Christmas baking, Christmas expectation that makes me unable to focus on anything for very long.
3. I am content. I am happy. I am busy and fulfilled. All of these things have led to me feeling less like ruminating on anything and everything and more like just hanging out and having fun. That's a good thing!
4. Reading. I've been reading like mad this year.
And, because #4 is true, I have a book to review.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
I picked this book up at a Borders last Spring, read the first chapter, and was totally hooked. The guy that wrote it was an agnostic sophomore at Brown University when he decided to spend a semester at Liberty University. Liberty was founded by Jerry Falwell, one of the bastions of America's Religious Right, known for saying things that embarass other evangelicals like me and being extremely politically conservative and opinionated. As an outsider, Mr. Roose goes to the one evangelical he knows for some basic lessons on evangelical culture, and then he attempts to fit in at Liberty and not let people know that he's not really one of them. His intent is to understand this evangelical subculture that is so foreign and crazy to him, and yet has held such sway in the U.S.
It is fascinating. I loved it. It was sobering and it cracked me up. Liberty is different than Moody (where I attended). Is is a little more conservative theologically (or, in my opinion, crazy and not well thought through!), some of their rules are stricter, and most of all they are extremely politicized. However, it's still a Christian school that was totally formed under the culture wars of 50 years ago, and the Christian sub-culture is very similar. I laughed so many times as Mr. Roose described different conversations or events that seem absolutely crazy from an outsider's perspective and yet are common and accepted on a Christian college campus.
I so appreciated his perspective. He doesn't believe what these people believe, but he really tries to understand. He's pretty intense - he joins a prayer group on his dorm floor, he gets a professor to mentor him, he joins an accountability group with some other guys, and even sees a Christian counselor. He builds real friendships with the guys on his floor and really tries to understand what they think and believe. He reads his Bible daily.
Of course, the things that he believes and the things that the school believe are irreconcilable at some points, most particularly on the issue of homosexuality. He grows to understand that while this Christian culture feels so foreign to him, the people in it are used to it and most of them are genuine, nice, and intelligent people. It's really fascinating, and I feel like he's very fair in his response to everyone, even the (in my opinion) crazy Jerry Falwell.
I think this book is helpful for Christians to see and understand how we are perceived by non-Christians that are really trying to understand us. It is an excellect critical look at our culture. On the other hand, it also explains the strange evangelical subculture to the non-believing world, and I believe his thoughts are fair and can be helpful to both sides. It was interesting to read his final thoughts on faith. He essentially says that in the end, he appreciates faith and its affect on people, but he doesn't believe what Liberty believes partly because he simply cannot accept the whole cultural package as it has been presented to him. There are some things about that package that he is absolutely against, and it seems as though it's all or nothing.
I found that fascinating and telling, because on the one hand, it's true that you can't pick and choose pieces of the faith that you like and don't like. Jesus makes demands on your life, and if you come to Him you're expected to lay down your life to follow him, even in the places that you don't particularly like. HOWEVER, many of the things that Roose dislikes about the Christian culture, I also happen to dislike and I think that they may have nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with a sub-culture that was developed during the culture war. I think the close association of that culture with faith does damage to both us AND others when we act like they come in a package.
Anyways. You should read it. It was excellent.
1. Isaac is finished with school. This means I get to hang out with him, which I'd take any day over writing a blog post.
2. Christmas. Christmas parties, Christmas baking, Christmas expectation that makes me unable to focus on anything for very long.
3. I am content. I am happy. I am busy and fulfilled. All of these things have led to me feeling less like ruminating on anything and everything and more like just hanging out and having fun. That's a good thing!
4. Reading. I've been reading like mad this year.
And, because #4 is true, I have a book to review.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
I picked this book up at a Borders last Spring, read the first chapter, and was totally hooked. The guy that wrote it was an agnostic sophomore at Brown University when he decided to spend a semester at Liberty University. Liberty was founded by Jerry Falwell, one of the bastions of America's Religious Right, known for saying things that embarass other evangelicals like me and being extremely politically conservative and opinionated. As an outsider, Mr. Roose goes to the one evangelical he knows for some basic lessons on evangelical culture, and then he attempts to fit in at Liberty and not let people know that he's not really one of them. His intent is to understand this evangelical subculture that is so foreign and crazy to him, and yet has held such sway in the U.S.
It is fascinating. I loved it. It was sobering and it cracked me up. Liberty is different than Moody (where I attended). Is is a little more conservative theologically (or, in my opinion, crazy and not well thought through!), some of their rules are stricter, and most of all they are extremely politicized. However, it's still a Christian school that was totally formed under the culture wars of 50 years ago, and the Christian sub-culture is very similar. I laughed so many times as Mr. Roose described different conversations or events that seem absolutely crazy from an outsider's perspective and yet are common and accepted on a Christian college campus.
I so appreciated his perspective. He doesn't believe what these people believe, but he really tries to understand. He's pretty intense - he joins a prayer group on his dorm floor, he gets a professor to mentor him, he joins an accountability group with some other guys, and even sees a Christian counselor. He builds real friendships with the guys on his floor and really tries to understand what they think and believe. He reads his Bible daily.
Of course, the things that he believes and the things that the school believe are irreconcilable at some points, most particularly on the issue of homosexuality. He grows to understand that while this Christian culture feels so foreign to him, the people in it are used to it and most of them are genuine, nice, and intelligent people. It's really fascinating, and I feel like he's very fair in his response to everyone, even the (in my opinion) crazy Jerry Falwell.
I think this book is helpful for Christians to see and understand how we are perceived by non-Christians that are really trying to understand us. It is an excellect critical look at our culture. On the other hand, it also explains the strange evangelical subculture to the non-believing world, and I believe his thoughts are fair and can be helpful to both sides. It was interesting to read his final thoughts on faith. He essentially says that in the end, he appreciates faith and its affect on people, but he doesn't believe what Liberty believes partly because he simply cannot accept the whole cultural package as it has been presented to him. There are some things about that package that he is absolutely against, and it seems as though it's all or nothing.
I found that fascinating and telling, because on the one hand, it's true that you can't pick and choose pieces of the faith that you like and don't like. Jesus makes demands on your life, and if you come to Him you're expected to lay down your life to follow him, even in the places that you don't particularly like. HOWEVER, many of the things that Roose dislikes about the Christian culture, I also happen to dislike and I think that they may have nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with a sub-culture that was developed during the culture war. I think the close association of that culture with faith does damage to both us AND others when we act like they come in a package.
Anyways. You should read it. It was excellent.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christmas Past, Part 3 (Christmas in Chicago, England, and South Asia)
Dating in Chicago was wonderful around Christmas time. We would walk and talk on Michigan Avenue, which is covered in gorgeous lights. We would go ice skating in Millennium Park and get hot chocolate on the way home. Chicago was just SO festive. Our first Christmas married was when Narnia came out, and the day we were going to watch it the skies absolutely dumped a HUGE fluffy wonderful snow on the ground. Our walk home really was in a winter wonderland, with quiet white streets and drifts that were feet high, and glowing street lamps that looked like the Lampost. It was wonderful.
Christmas lights in Chicago
(not my photo, click on it to get to more from the photographer)
Christkindlemarkt
This is a German Christmas market in Chicago. It's a little kitschy but so much fun - fun to go and wander around freezing cold, looking at the decor and food from around the world and just enjoying the festivities.
Millennium Park Ice Rink
This skating rink, surrounded by skyscrapers and playing Christmas music, is just so much fun as well. I don't even like skating that much, it's just the aura of it all that is fantastic.
Christmas in England
So I married a man that grew up in England, and his parents still live and work there most of the time. This is a VERY good thing for me, because it means I get to go to England, which I LOVE. Below is the fam sitting in Trafalgar Square in London and recovering from sightseeing.
Thus I have been introduced to all the random British and family traditions, like having Christmas poppers at the Christmas meal, which you pop open and out comes a little present and a paper gold crown, which everyone wears for about five minutes.
Random but fun. My in-laws always have clam chowder on Christmas eve. And my mother-in-law is an amazing cook in general, which makes the Christmas meal and really all of the meals extra-amazing. She always has stacks of cookie tins filled with cookies. These are called "just becuases" because we always have one after a meal, "just because".
The church that Isaac's parents have worked at since I've known them (which they just moved away from) has the most adorable children's Christmas plays on Christmas Day, and they sing the Christmas hymns differently at church, and it's so fun. They serve mince pies and tea after the service... Oh, and they use thick English cream to make the most delicious coffee ever.
It's always a little surreal doing Christmas in England, because my mother in law is is from the South (of the US) and her design themes are so southern/country/farm. To have that set in England is is sort of a contrast, but somehow it works beautifully. Check out our stockings. She cross-stitched all of them and they are GORGEOUS. Mine is best. ;)
Last year's South Asian Christmas with my family was singularly unique. You can read about it here. It was wonderfully fun.
Isaac and I haven't had a Christmas on our own, which is great, but we have created our own little traditions, some drawn from our families and some our own. We always buy nuts in the Christmas season, we love decorating the tree, we drive to see Christmas lights, and I always make a crock pot of my mom's hot apple cider. I love Christmas as a married couple - the celebrating TOGETHER is great.
- This year, we'll be in Cincinnati with the hub's family. Too bad we're not in England, but this is cheaper. :) We will be adding a new Christmas memory by having a murder mystery just before we leave to come home. Isaac and I are super excited.
For other posts on Christmas (it's been a theme!) see:
It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Growing up overseas - Christmas past
Successful Christmas recipes
Christmas at the White House
Christmas Pig Feasts in Indonesia
Christmas at the beach (in Indonesia)
Christmas in Pakistan
Christmas lights in Chicago
(not my photo, click on it to get to more from the photographer)
Christkindlemarkt
This is a German Christmas market in Chicago. It's a little kitschy but so much fun - fun to go and wander around freezing cold, looking at the decor and food from around the world and just enjoying the festivities.
Millennium Park Ice Rink
This skating rink, surrounded by skyscrapers and playing Christmas music, is just so much fun as well. I don't even like skating that much, it's just the aura of it all that is fantastic.
Christmas in England
So I married a man that grew up in England, and his parents still live and work there most of the time. This is a VERY good thing for me, because it means I get to go to England, which I LOVE. Below is the fam sitting in Trafalgar Square in London and recovering from sightseeing.
 |
| From childhood |
Thus I have been introduced to all the random British and family traditions, like having Christmas poppers at the Christmas meal, which you pop open and out comes a little present and a paper gold crown, which everyone wears for about five minutes.
 |
| From childhood |
Random but fun. My in-laws always have clam chowder on Christmas eve. And my mother-in-law is an amazing cook in general, which makes the Christmas meal and really all of the meals extra-amazing. She always has stacks of cookie tins filled with cookies. These are called "just becuases" because we always have one after a meal, "just because".
 |
| From childhood |
The church that Isaac's parents have worked at since I've known them (which they just moved away from) has the most adorable children's Christmas plays on Christmas Day, and they sing the Christmas hymns differently at church, and it's so fun. They serve mince pies and tea after the service... Oh, and they use thick English cream to make the most delicious coffee ever.
It's always a little surreal doing Christmas in England, because my mother in law is is from the South (of the US) and her design themes are so southern/country/farm. To have that set in England is is sort of a contrast, but somehow it works beautifully. Check out our stockings. She cross-stitched all of them and they are GORGEOUS. Mine is best. ;)
 |
| From childhood |
Last year's South Asian Christmas with my family was singularly unique. You can read about it here. It was wonderfully fun.
 |
| From childhood |
Isaac and I haven't had a Christmas on our own, which is great, but we have created our own little traditions, some drawn from our families and some our own. We always buy nuts in the Christmas season, we love decorating the tree, we drive to see Christmas lights, and I always make a crock pot of my mom's hot apple cider. I love Christmas as a married couple - the celebrating TOGETHER is great.
 |
- This year, we'll be in Cincinnati with the hub's family. Too bad we're not in England, but this is cheaper. :) We will be adding a new Christmas memory by having a murder mystery just before we leave to come home. Isaac and I are super excited.
For other posts on Christmas (it's been a theme!) see:
It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Growing up overseas - Christmas past
Successful Christmas recipes
Christmas at the White House
Christmas Pig Feasts in Indonesia
Christmas at the beach (in Indonesia)
Christmas in Pakistan
Friday, December 18, 2009
Christmas Past, Part 2 (Christmas at the beach and in the snow)
- One one of those village Christmases we couldn't find a place to hang our stockings, so mom and dad hid them and made us go look for them. This was so much fun that we kept it up for several more years.
- When we weren't at a village, Christmas was always a little strange. Listening to songs about white Christmases and sleigh rides and such was weird when you're in the tropics. Also, sometimes we had to take part in Dad's responsibilities as a government liason and spend part of Christmas morning visiting local Christian official's houses. We'd come home, open presents, and then take off for a day at the beach.
Beach Christmas:
Below - The Wiselys are some of my favorite people, and they joined us for Christmas in 1999. This is where we parked to get to the beach. If it rained at all inevitably someone would get stuck in the mud on the way home, which was always fun.
- I have vivid memories from Christmas of 1994. Matt was about two weeks old, and my parents had just discovered he had Downs Syndrome. I didn't know until later how hard that Christmas was for them, and the huge questions and prayers they asked over that vacation. I have much simpler memories, like getting a Michael W. Smith CD and listening to the song "Kentucky Rose" over and over again. I do remember baby Matt - he slept a lot and was adorable.
- Every now and then we were in the US for Christmas. One year my mom's entire family got together, and that's the only time that's happened. The highlight was the meeting of my uncle (a self-described black sheep) and his son, who hadn't seen each other in 20 years since the boy was 2. Quite a reunion. That was the last Christmas that I spent with that grandmother, who was in the middle of battling cancer.
- My first year back in the US for college I spent Christmas with my grandparents and a couple of aunts and uncles. Loneliest Christmas ever.
- We've had snow on Christmas a couple of times. When we have it, it's so fun. One year when we were road tripping around and it snowed JUST before we took off, we took advantage of the freezing weather and poured water over the broken joint of the side-mirror on our huge missionary hippie VW van. It worked. The mirror that usually hung from the side actually froze in place and for once dad didn't have to wake me up to let him know if there were cars coming up his right side as he needed to change lanes.
I know. You all wish you had a soft pink snow-suit just like me.
- I always chuckle when I think about the contents of our stockings when we were in Papua. Essentially it was usually our breakfast. We would find big oranges (the Indonesian kind are little and green) and big red apples shipped from somewhere other than Papua. We'd have little dry cereal boxes (also shipped in), hot chocolate packets, wrigleys gum, etc. It was all very thrilling. Oh, and toothbrushes. We ALWAYS get toothbrushes. Then after the stockings are open we all eat our newly-acquired breakfasts together, usually while Dad reads the Christmas story.
- My first college Christmas with my parents back in the US, we were all joyously together BUT finances were really tight for my parents. Living in the US is way more expensive than living in Indonesia, and their support actually dropped when they moved back. AND they had college and medical bills. I remember Christmas morning when our landlords showed up at our door with a car FULL of things - a whole ham, a coffee maker, tons of food and other kitchen items, as well as random present. They were santa, and my family was overwhelmed and blessed.
 |
| From childhood |
- When we weren't at a village, Christmas was always a little strange. Listening to songs about white Christmases and sleigh rides and such was weird when you're in the tropics. Also, sometimes we had to take part in Dad's responsibilities as a government liason and spend part of Christmas morning visiting local Christian official's houses. We'd come home, open presents, and then take off for a day at the beach.
Beach Christmas:
 |
| From childhood |
 |
| From childhood |
Below - The Wiselys are some of my favorite people, and they joined us for Christmas in 1999. This is where we parked to get to the beach. If it rained at all inevitably someone would get stuck in the mud on the way home, which was always fun.
 |
| From childhood |
 |
| From childhood |
 |
| From childhood |
- I have vivid memories from Christmas of 1994. Matt was about two weeks old, and my parents had just discovered he had Downs Syndrome. I didn't know until later how hard that Christmas was for them, and the huge questions and prayers they asked over that vacation. I have much simpler memories, like getting a Michael W. Smith CD and listening to the song "Kentucky Rose" over and over again. I do remember baby Matt - he slept a lot and was adorable.
- Every now and then we were in the US for Christmas. One year my mom's entire family got together, and that's the only time that's happened. The highlight was the meeting of my uncle (a self-described black sheep) and his son, who hadn't seen each other in 20 years since the boy was 2. Quite a reunion. That was the last Christmas that I spent with that grandmother, who was in the middle of battling cancer.
 |
| From childhood |
 |
| From childhood |
- My first year back in the US for college I spent Christmas with my grandparents and a couple of aunts and uncles. Loneliest Christmas ever.
- We've had snow on Christmas a couple of times. When we have it, it's so fun. One year when we were road tripping around and it snowed JUST before we took off, we took advantage of the freezing weather and poured water over the broken joint of the side-mirror on our huge missionary hippie VW van. It worked. The mirror that usually hung from the side actually froze in place and for once dad didn't have to wake me up to let him know if there were cars coming up his right side as he needed to change lanes.
 |
| From childhood |
I know. You all wish you had a soft pink snow-suit just like me.
 |
| From childhood |
- I always chuckle when I think about the contents of our stockings when we were in Papua. Essentially it was usually our breakfast. We would find big oranges (the Indonesian kind are little and green) and big red apples shipped from somewhere other than Papua. We'd have little dry cereal boxes (also shipped in), hot chocolate packets, wrigleys gum, etc. It was all very thrilling. Oh, and toothbrushes. We ALWAYS get toothbrushes. Then after the stockings are open we all eat our newly-acquired breakfasts together, usually while Dad reads the Christmas story.
 |
| From childhood |
- My first college Christmas with my parents back in the US, we were all joyously together BUT finances were really tight for my parents. Living in the US is way more expensive than living in Indonesia, and their support actually dropped when they moved back. AND they had college and medical bills. I remember Christmas morning when our landlords showed up at our door with a car FULL of things - a whole ham, a coffee maker, tons of food and other kitchen items, as well as random present. They were santa, and my family was overwhelmed and blessed.
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