More neighbors!

Quite by accident, we discovered that a restaurant where we love to eat is owned by our neighbors! Last Saturday, a small group from Jalan Kubah (our street) arranged to meet there for lunch. It was so much fun we'll be doing it again for sure. I'll take this opportunity to introduce you to three of our neighborhood families. First, our landlord, Mr. Tan (his name is too hard to pronounce much less spell) and his wife Bee. They're the ones pictured with baby Eshane. Next, SP and ST. Both names are difficult so they use initials even with locals! They have two children, An and Min. Finally, Emma and her boys Zharif and Siman. Emma's family has been helpful to us in so many ways.

Speaking of neighbors...

Like I mentioned earlier...gotta know our neighbors. I'll be mentioning them a lot. These are a few of our daily visitors. Ichmal, the boy not looking at the camera next to the girl, is a family favorite. He's just so darn cute and a great friend to the boys. Daniel, the one with his arm around Bennett, is another favorite. He's kind and loves to watch out for all the younger kids. Muslims here tend to have rather large families and often the grandparents and aging relatives live all together in one home. It allows kids to be able to relate so nicely to people of all ages and learn to help each other. Nice. The baby is our landlords daughter. I've mentioned her before. The boys adore her and so do we!

Flirt!

I'll start by saying that if you follow this blog, you'll need to start memorizing the names of our neighbors. Everything we do seems to involve them! Our neighbors, Zai and Najib, invited us to their house for their daughters engagement party. What an experience! Our boys were even invited to have a role in the wedding since they're a family short on boys (imagine that). I wonder what being in a Muslim wedding involves? We have until next September to decide. Anyway, during the dinner I found Ridge with Zai's nieces. At one point they were feeding him cake while swinging him! He, of course, loved the attention and called them 'the pretty ones'. They, of course, loved the attention and being called pretty. Zai and Najib lived in Thailand for nine years. They helped us plan our Christmas trip to Thailand and have helped us in numerous ways. Again, it's an incredible neighborhood!

Birthday party!

The boys were invited to a birthday party last week. They celebrated Roshni and Roshan's 7th birthday (twins) at a craft shop. The other kids in the photos are also from our neighborhood. I can't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but we have 30-ish kids, young kids, on Jalan Kubah 48/D. That's a bunch of kids! Each evening they ride around the circle or come to our house if it's raining. We've rethought our entire plan for arranging our house based on the volume of traffic. We love it, our kids love it! Our neighborhood is an amazing place to live. We're so thankful.

Mall

This is how my boys prefer to get around in the mall. I wish I weren't embarrassed to do the same. It looks like so much fun!

Soccer drill

Just thought this was cute!

Our corner roti stall...

I hope my posts give a better glimpse into our life here. Just a reminder that these posts are ONLY covering family life here. The primary purpose for my blog is so family and friends can see the boys growing up. At least weekly we have dinner at our local food stall. During our last visit, Bennett and Ridge were both invited to flip the roti with the cook. Bennett couldn't wait, but it was too hot for Ridge. It seems odd to have the boys picture taken with the stall owner, but everyone here wants to have their picture made with them. Odd, but true. We're often stopped for a photo-op. Jonas Brother have nothing on us!

Fish farm...fish farm...fish farm

Our neighbors, the Lau family, invited us to their family's fish farm. It produces organic-vegetarian fish, primarily tilapia. The story behind the farm made the visit an all-around amazing experience. After eight bouts of cancer, surviving each with a stronger sense of purpose, he started this farm. It's a true work of science. It cost nothing to run, except electricity for the pump. The labor involved is 15 minutes a day to drain and refill tanks! He shared a few of his secrets with us. Amazing! Since it's protein sources third world countries lack, the goal is to offer this technology and expertise to those that would use it for good. All this talk of helping the world lead to some great conversation about the problems with our world, religion and faith, human nature, and evil. What a man. We also ended our trip with some amazing fish prepared by ST's mom. My freezer is now full of the fish my boys caught! I prepared the first one last night...head, eyes, tail and all! Tonight I get a lesson in how to fully clean a fish. I hope my parents are proud!

Fish farm...fish farm

Fish farm

TANNER!!!

EIGHT MORE DAYS!!! We're all so excited to be together again! We'll drive to Phuket, Thailand for some time at the beach, then back home to KL to celebrate Christmas. The drive sounds as exciting as the beach!

The photo is of Tan in Seattle on Thanksgiving. The pretty girl is Lisa :-) Lisa's family, the Hansens, have been great to Tanner...even before Tan and Lisa were a 'thing'. They're a great family. Margaret, Lisa's mom, was Bennett's pre-school teacher so we feel connected in several ways. We're so thankful Tanner has the Hansens, Jablonskis, and all our Kent Covenant family in our absence. We love you all!

The boys want you to see this!

We visited a bird park with our neighbors, the Lau family, last week. The kids spotted this bird nesting with tin cans. Kinda sad, but they all found it interesting. The Lau family is worth their own post. I'll get some pictures together and introduce you to them. They're a highlight in our life here.

GIRLS!!!

Thought you might want to meet the girls in our neighborhood. They're so much fun to have around. As you can see they love to 'mother' Ridge. Everywhere he goes they follow. Fifi the one if the red shirt that Ridge is kissing, is our little favorite. She tags along with us everywhere we go. She's really creative and wants to learn to knit and sew. I can cover that! Photography is her next interest, Mike showed her how to use his new camera. I wish I had it on video...she was scared to even touch it! In return, she teaches me to speak Bahasa and ensures there is no wheat in Bennett's food when we eat out. Our whole family loves having her around.