Special Guests

There is a special reason why I did not blog for a whole week. We have special guests from my home country!!!
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Dommy and Murni are my friends and fellow missionaries. We met when I was just started learning and getting involved with the work in Indonesia. They visited us for 3 days and we had wonderful time catching up after 6 years not seeing each other.

This trip was Murni’s first time being in States so her husband said that she had to try some different kind of food pretty and experienced the cultural differences.

So we took them to Chipotle after picking them up at the airport.
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Dave had to work and our oldest daughter had to go to school for the first 2 days but they were able to enjoy the time together in the afternoon when they came home. Since I cannot drive alone yet (driving student in training…) my mother-in-law and grandma-in-law were able to take us to see some interesting things around where we live, like they got to see the big Ohio River and Portsmouth Mural Wall.
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They also had a chance to share what God had been doing in the country through the ministry they do among the people.
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And it was the week when almost all the leaves changed color in our area, so we tool them to Shawnee State Park to have lunch and see some colors.
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And the last night they were here we had a cook out (hot dogs and chili) and s’mores for dessert. It was a perfect night!
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3 days just gone so fast! We had fun time together, encouraged each other with stories and testimonies, most of all we thank God for what he has done in and through their lives.

We dropped them off at the airport and they went to their last destination before going back to Indonesia.
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It is not a “Good Bye,” but it is a “See you soon in the country!”

Thankful Thursday

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I have 2 gifts I am thankful for today…. First, I am thankful for my little sister, Gisella. She is celebrating her birthday today! Hip Hip Hip Hooray, Sis! Though she is so far away from me but she is always close to my heart and thoughts. And…. I heard my mom reveal to me her secret! A BIG SECRET! I won’t tell you today but maybe with her permission, next week 😀

On her special day, I made this very special card just for her…

Batik Happy Birthday Card, By Helen Gullett

Supplies from CTMH: Beautiful Friendship (B1400), Joyful Birthday Stamp Set (B1419), White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Gold Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder, VersaMark inkpad, Gypsy inkpad, Pacifica inkpad, HollyHock inkpad, Craft Heater, 3×3 Acrylic Block, 2×6 /12 Acryclic block, Adhesive. Not CTMH supplies: Xyron Max, Velum

I found one awesome YouTube Tutorial from Catherine Pooler how to create this pretty batik background using background stamp, embossing and watercolor. Check out her tutorial here.

And second is that today we are Indonesians celebrating National Batik Day. Batik is:

Batik (Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian: [ˈbatɪk]) is a technique of manual wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂantiŋ], also spelled tjanting), or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap (IPA: [ʈ͡ʂap], also spelled tjap). The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired. (source Wikipedia)

We had a chance to go back to Indonesia visiting my family in 2010 and took our family pictures. All of us wore Batik clothing 🙂 Hopefully one day we go visiting again and will have additional on the pictures. And now we have 2 daughters, so we need to have four of us wearing Batik.

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Thankful Thursday

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This week I am thanking God for his amazing gift in our lives, my husband’s and mine. The gift of opportunities to serve the Him and the bringing His word to the Bibleless people groups in SEA*

We are amazed by how He put the desire in our hearts since the beginning we started this journey to go to the people of SEA* and it is all God and God’s works alone we declare!

It was 8 years ago we saw and heard the needs of Bible Translation in SEA*

It has been 6 years we are waiting to go back there and serve the Lord.

It has been an amazing journey of building our partnership team to go since 2012!

We have seen how God have provided our needs in miraculous ways. Each day we feel for sure in our hearts that this is God’s calling in our lives and family to go the people of SEA*.

And we are thankful for the opportunity God has opened for us to serve with Wycliffe Associates this year. God is preparing us to go and hoping by next Summer we will be on the field (click here to find out more about what we’ll be doing and how you can join our team).

Today is the second day we are at WA Headquarter office for orientation and training for what we will be doing from home remotely while we are in States and once we are on the field. Such an encouragement to know how God has been working amazing things through this organization to accelerate the work of Bible translations in SEA*.

Let me take this moment to THANK YOU ALL for all you have done to support and encourage us since the beginning we started this journey. THANK YOU and we never stop thanking God for all of you!!!

God’s blessings are too wonderful for words.

Thankful Thursday

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! (‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9‬:‭15‬ NLT)


Counting God’s blessings in our lives is one way to remind us what God has done and who He is to us. Every gift He gives to us is too wonderful for word.

I love spending every day at the end of the day, after I put the girls to bed, to just sit and think back what God has done for us. I write them down in my 1000 gifts Journal to remind me that no matter it is small or big thing has happened in that day still I give thanks to my God, the Father, who loves and cares for us.

Last weekend, we spent our Labor’s Day weekend with my brother-in-law, his wife and her family. They hosted us for 3 days and we were so blessed!

We got to see God’s goodness in their lives and we could spend time to enjoy each other companion.

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On Saturday evening, they took us to see Bloom Music Concert and it was totally a blast! The girls super excited because it was their first open concert and they played Disney’s songs, including Let It Go. At the end there was fire works.

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On Sunday, we had time to hang out with Dave’s brother and his wife. They also took us to see the Blue Angels air show. And in the evening we spent time with the whole family.

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Then we left to spend a night camping at Geneva State Park. That is one pretty town by Lake Erie. And on the way back home on Tuesday, we stopped by a beach to enjoy some fun time at Lake Erie.

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I am still working on more pictures from the trips, hopefully I will be able to put some on my Facebook album next week 🙂

Did you all also had a fun Labor’s Day with your loved ones? What is your favorite thing to do on holidays?

DIY Back To School Sign

Our oldest daughter is off to Kindergarten this year. She has been waiting for this for a while, talked about it for weeks!!! We are thankful to know that she loves the idea of going to school. Our prayer that she will experience what God has stored for her this year at school and He’ll show her favor and love through her teacher. We pray also that she’ll learn to share and love her friends. This Mama is thankful, happy and worry at the same time. This is not only a journey for my daughter but also a journey for me and my husband to put trust in God to take care and protect her while she is away from us.

In the mean time… I get to spend time our second daughter at home, start teaching her one on one and having fun while her big sister at school. She misses her big sister A LOT!!!

To celebrate her first day going to school, I made her a sign… It was a big surprise for her at 7 on Wednesday morning! She cannot stop giggling and reading what’s written on the sign 🙂

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I found a black foam display board at home and cut the shapes using my Silhouette Cameo. The cutting files I used are: the girl with backpack is from Patty Young Designs, the big titles “Off To Kindergarten” and stars are from PPbN Designs, and banner pennant is from Samantha Walker.

The alphabet for her name is from Basic Grey chipboard sticker. The butterfly on the girl’s hair, I punched it using Martha Stewart monarch butterfly punch. I also added some sequins on the stars 🙂

Then I made a scrapbook layout also for this special moment. I used Pixelily Designs new Collecting Moment August kit (available on Ginger Scraps and Gotta Pixel):

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I pray for all of you, Moms! God is with your kids at school, fully protect and help them every single day at school.

Blessings!