SUNDAY AFTERNOON DRIVE

On Monday night Kasey, Miduk and I went to a nursing home to play Bingo with some of the residents.  Actually, we don't play but we call the numbers and help them mark their Bingo cards.  Of course, I had to teach Miduk how to play Bingo first so he could help!  At lunch I drew out a picture of a bingo card and explained it to him.  We had about ten seniors playing, and Miduk helped a man who insisted on playing with six cards (he could only keep up with a couple of them!)

Miduk with a black Camaro

Miduk with a black Hummer truck

Miduk with a Mustang ("my favorite, Mom!)

Another Hummer

We were trying to figure out how Miduk would even be able to get up in a truck like this one!  It's HUGE!

Lots of Mustangs!

Shelby and Miduk with a SHELBY COBRA  :)

We took a Sunday afternoon drive to a few car lots in Grapevine so Miduk could look at some cars up close and personal.  (plus on Sundays the salesmen aren't there so that's good)  He gravitates to all the black cars, and loved the Camaros and Mustangs and Hummers.  He really wanted to see a Ferrari or Lamborghini (Lambor-genie he says) but I'm thinking we'll need to go into Dallas sometime to see the pricey cars!

Miduk went to three soccer games this weekend to watch our neighbor Ben play.  He really enjoys watching the games, and usually when we come home afterwards he heads out back to kick the ball around.  On Saturday night, my neighbors Pamela and Brian (Ben's parents) took Miduk to the championship game, then out to Mooyah for a burger afterwards.  Flower Mound won the championship game against crosstown rival Marcus High School, so everyone was in great spirits!

Miduk tried both a peach and a pear this week.  He liked the peach but not the pear!

And now I am buying two big bags of clementines (baby oranges) at a time; Miduk eats probably half a dozen of those every day!  He does not have a sweet tooth and usually refuses sweets.  But his favorite snack is a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos!

Miduk likes to make Indomei noodles for lunch (like our ramen noodles, he brought these with him from Indonesia).  I told him "a watched pot never boils".....that took some explaining!  Also had to explain to him what a "skyscraper" is, and that Flower Mound is to Dallas what his village of Aek Popo is to Medan.  He understands "what are you doing?" but one day I said "What are you up to?" and again got the confused look on his face.  :)

Song of the week was "Don't Worry, Be Happy".  We talked about not worrying and praying instead of worrying and giving it all over to God.  Not worrying about his return to Indonesia, not worrying about his dental appointment this week.  Easier said than done!  He did really well at the dentist for someone who has NEVER been to the dentist before and never had his teeth cleaned or x-rays of his teeth made.  I took him to my dentist who I absolutely LOVE.  Her name is Dr. McClellan and she is very soft-spoken and very gentle; she participates in mission trips to Guatemala with SERVING HIM ministries and as a matter of fact she and some of her staff are going to Guatamela in a couple of weeks to offer their dental services.  Anyway, all this to say, Miduk was brave although he obviously didn't enjoy the teeth cleaning and all the scraping of sixteen years of plaque off of his teeth and under his gumline (ouch).  He has eight cavities, four on each side in his molars-a couple of them pretty big.  We will be returning in a couple of weeks to have them filled, so I need to prepare Miduk for the shots of novocaine and the drill.  Maybe it's a good thing that he doesn't know what to expect!  How can he be worried when he doesn't know what to worry about?  Yeah, right-fear of the unknown!  

We had crab legs for dinner Sunday night.  Miduk eats crabs in Indonesia, but he had never seen the Alaskan snow crab legs which are much larger.  We have crab crackers (say that five times fast) to crack the legs, but he kept putting them in his mouth and biting on the hard shell!  Now that's got to be hard on teeth, huh?  His teeth are actually very straight and white, as if he has had braces.  I'm surprised none of them are broken....

Kasey and her friend Sam took Miduk to the indoor swimming pool at the community center this weekend so that Miduk could swim.  It has a diving board, and Miduk jumped and did flips off the board!  Unfortunately the slide was closed.

In church Sunday our new preacher was talking about his family still being in Kentucky.  I told Miduk that Kentucky is a state just like Texas is a state.  He said "I know Kentucky!  I like Kentucky!" And I'm like, what?  You know Kentucky?  And he said YES!  Kentucky chicken! I love Kentucky fried chicken! hahaha he had eaten KFC in Medan Indonesia before.

Last Sunday in church each family was given $10 of the church's mission funds, with instructions to use it to bless others with God's love, either by sharing it, combining it, building it, whatever!  A lesson in "Risk-Taking Generosity".  We have been throwing around some ideas of what to do with the money to help others.  Believe me, there is not a lack of ideas!  Kasey is in a class at school called Money Matters and her suggestion was to invest the money, watch it grow first, then donate it later.  Shelby jokingly suggested we buy a $10 gift card, then throw it on the ground for somebody to find (see previous post about Miduk finding a gift card worth $62!) Miduk didn't have any real suggestions other than give it to someone who needs it.  I was thinking maybe about donating it to Linley for her work she does in Indonesia.  She is not a non-profit organization and funds a lot of the work she does herself and relies on donations.  (By the way, is there anyone out there who might be able to help her set up an NGO?  A non-profit organization that she desperately needs and wants to do but needs help from someone who is knowledgeable about how to do this!  Let me know if you can help!)

Anyway, I can sense that we need to do something concrete and tangible in order for Miduk to understand what the money is used for.  So we decided to take the $10 from the church, add some more, and go to the grocery store and buy canned goods to donate to the SOUPER BOWL OF CARING.  This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday and at church we will be collecting canned goods with the goal of filling up a grocery shopping cart to overflowing.  I think that's something Miduk can see how it's put into action, especially since he's been to CCA to help in the food pantry and saw all the thousands of canned goods.  He told me he wants to buy tuna fish!  He tried tuna fish at lunch today and loved it.  Why didn't I think of that sooner?  He even stirred some tuna into his Indomei noodles! (ok yuck, but he loved it).  Gotta put that on my list of things to send back home with him b/c he said he's never seen a can of tuna before.  Also on that list is Williams Chili Seasoning packets since he loves chili and can use it at home with chicken or whatever meat he has.

I talked with Linley at length last Friday about preparing Miduk for his return home and discussing with Miduk about what he might do when he returns-preparing for his future and getting a job, knowing he has some options.  Miduk and I have been talking about that lately anyway, about things he has an interest in and things he seems to be good at.  About the fact that since he doesn't go to school he needs to think about what he might be able to do to take care of himself.  Something that he enjoys and something that hopefully he can sit down and do, rather than farming.  Linley told me she plans to be in Houston in a couple weeks, and will come to Dallas to visit us and plan for Miduk's return shortly thereafter.  So we are looking at a possible return for Miduk the end of February or early March.  I discussed all this with Miduk, he seemed to understand, I told him we don't have a definite date yet but a general time frame.  He seemed fine with it but then went silent on me.  For the rest of the evening!  He refused to talk, sat outside in the dark, laid on his bed.  We went to dinner with Kasey and a couple of her friends (Shelby was out of town) hoping to cheer him up but he wouldn't talk and wouldn't even look at any of us!  It was PAINFUL to say the least.  Then out of the blue he said "Mom, March too long!  I go back before Wesley birthday". (which is February 16).  And I was like, what?  You want to go back SOONER?  You don't want to stay until March?  All along I was thinking he was quiet because he wanted to stay longer, and here he was telling me he wants to go home!  Kasey said he has been telling her he misses his friends, and I know he is ready to see them again and be back in his familiar environment.  So I got out the calendar and explained to him that he can't go back until Linley is there in Singapore to take him back to his village.  She also wants to spend some time with him first, kind of helping him with that transition.  I know it won't be easy for Miduk no matter how much he might miss his friends.  In the expat community we call it "re-entry burns" when it's time to go back home.  My impression is that Miduk has mixed emotions about going back home and that was his way of dealing with it. "Just take me home now and get it over with" kind of attitude.  By Saturday he was better, no longer silent-and by Sunday he was back to normal.  He must have so much on his mind and so many emotions he's going through right now.  And really nobody except us to talk to about it!  We have tried calling his brother and mother several times this week but can't get through so we'll keep trying.

OK now fast forward to today (Tuesday) .  To make a long story short, we are having to have our hardwood floors ripped out and replaced because of the water damage that the leak caused.  It may be limited to the front entryway, but there's a chance they may have to remove all the hardwood flooring on the first floor of our house.  Today they came and checked the moisture level under the flooring and went to town ripping out the floor.  It is a disaster!  We are down to concrete in some areas, and have ten blowers and two humidifiers going.  Those guys were here for six hours today!  I was trying to explain all this to Miduk about the floors, and how they may end up taking all the floor out which would mean moving our stuff out including ourselves for a week or more.  But I don't really want to even think about doing all that while Miduk is still with us.  Too much hassle with workers here and us moving out and dealing with the mess, etc.  So I told Miduk we wouldn't do it while he is still here-he will wait until AFTER he goes back to Indonesia to get the new floor, and just leave it stripped down to concrete for a while.  Well when I mentioned "when you go back to Indonesia" he grabbed onto the door frame and said "I not go home, Mom.  I stay here!" and pretended like someone was trying to drag him away and he was holding on tight.  I said "I thought you were ready to go back home!" and he said No Mom I stay here, I not go back to Indonesia.......  Yep, mixed emotions here we come!  This could really be tough.  I've got a lot of mixed emotions myself these days.