MIDUK IS A SUPERHERO!

This afternoon we had an appointment at Scottish Rite to pick up the "body cast" that was custom made for Miduk at our last visit.  Kartika met us there to help with the translation, which was really helpful.  We wanted to make sure that Miduk knows that wearing this cast is not going to help heal his hip in any way; it is simply a diagnostic tool that will simulate what it would feel like to Miduk if he had the hip fusion surgery.

The orthotic fits his torso pretty snugly, with a bar down the side that restricts the motion of his hip and fastens around his thigh.  I think it's pretty safe to say that he wasn't crazy about it.  It was very difficult for him to sit down (as it would be if he were to have the surgery because the hip would be "fixed" at a particular position permanently).  They also placed an orthotic in his shoe, giving him an additonal 1 1/2 centimeters of length on the side where he walks on the ball of his foot because it's shorter than the other.  This also is an attempt to simulate what it might be like post-surgery.  Right off the bat we could tell the difficulty will be in sitting in a chair (at the dinner table, for example) and sitting on a toilet seat or squatting, tying his shoe.  At home in Indonesia they sit on the floor to eat, to watch TV, and to sleep.  Miduk continues to tell us that he has NO PAIN ("Sakit", our new buzz word that means "pain" in Bahasa)at all.  Even after walking the entire outlet mall for close to four hours, no pain and not tired.  He said his hip actually feels better here than it did back home.  We wonder if it might be because he is now sleeping on a bed with a mattress, as opposed to sleeping on the floor back home? And sitting on cushioned chairs and sofas instead of sitting on the hard floor?  Just a thought....

Miduk was a trooper at the fitting today.  Kevin the orthotics guy was very patient and did some shaving on the cast to make it fit as best as it could, but explained that he can't make it "comfortable" because that would not give Miduk an accurate feel for the limitations he would have if he had the hip fusion surgery.  I think at this time Shelby and I tend to lean towards not having the hip fusion surgery. Too many negatives that will impact Miduk's future in the long run.  But we will continue to explore all available options.  We plan to let Miduk wear the cast as long as he can stand it, daytime only-we will give him a break when he sleeps.  But we also agreed not to start having him wear it until after Christmas.  I want him to enjoy every minute of Christmas and not be frustrated or aggravated with the cast.

And notice the emblem he chose for the chest piece - a cross!  At the last visit he looked through a big book of lots of different symbols he could have put on the cast, and he immediately picked the cross and never considered anything else.  We told him he looks like a superhero!

GINGERBREAD HOUSES AND GUYS NIGHT OUT!!!

Ben and Miduk at the bowling alley

Wes and Miduk with their Gingerbread houses

Decorating Gingerbread houses in our garage!

Kasey, Kaitlyn, Miduk, Christian and Wes

Miduk loves Kaitlyn!  She is always very sweet to him. :)

Mitchell and Miduk at the bowling alley

Miduk had a great time bowling with Ben and Mitchell!

We have the best neighbors ever!  This past weekend our neighbor Ben planned a "guys night out" for Miduk.  Ben and his friend Mitchell picked Miduk up on Friday night and took him bowling with them for a couple of hours.  Is that great or what?  I don't know many high school boys that would even think of doing that!  Miduk came home all happy-clappy with a little spring in his step.  :)  And a big smile on his face!  You just have to know how that made his day....  Lately I have sensed that Miduk has been bored.  Maybe bored isn't the right word.  Unsettled maybe?  We have been busy doing things, going places, watching movies, all kinds of holiday activities, people have given him legos and things to play with - but I think what's been missing are his friends back home.  He sees Kasey going out and Wes staying out late, and although they include him from time to time in their activities, he does stay home quite a bit with Shelby and I and does his own thing (usually playing video games or watching DVDs).  Well as fun as Shelby and I are, (HA!) we are not 17 years old nor do we have the energy of a 17 year old,  and we are most definitely not the fun that Miduk is looking for!  Last week was a really tough week.  Shelby was not home from Monday thru Friday, Kasey worked most days after school until 7:00pm, and all Miduk had was me.  And Sugar.  That is a LONG day trying to keep a teenager entertained! He is like the Energizer Bunny!  Stays up late, gets up early, and just goes and goes and goes... We played cards,made Christmas candy, spent way too much time on youtube, watched movies, rode around on the go-go scooter, looked at Christmas lights, etc etc - and I was exhausted because I am not used to planning my day around someone else.  Don't get me wrong, I am truly enjoying Miduk - but in a way it's like having a young child around again who is dependent on me for a lot of things.  For instance, we want him to let us know if he is going outside to play in the front yard.  Yes I realize he is 16 years old but I feel like I need to know where he is at all times!  So when he went across the street and knocked on our neighbors' door to see if Ben could play without telling us where he was going, that was a bit unsettling. I don't leave him home alone, and I also don't feel comfortable going to bed at night with Miduk upstairs playing video games or watching a movie on TV.  I know that's weird, but I don't know if he will stay up til 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and that's something I never allowed my own children to do!  So we have been telling Miduk that it's bedtime around 11:00pm when we go to bed, but he doesn't like going to bed that early.  "Oh, Mom!" is what I hear and I can almost catch the eyes starting to roll.  Typical teenager!  My compromise is that he can stay up in his room and read or write in his journal or do something quietly but no TV or video.  (I know, I know!)  Now that Wes is home from college for the next 3 weeks and Kasey is out of school for Christmas vacation, I'm sure I will relax on the whole bedtime thing.  This parenting thing is hard!  Not that I didn't already know that, but we are sort of past all this with our kids and can trust them to follow the house rules and can go to sleep at night without waiting up for them.  So short story long, I have been asking Miduk what he does back home every evening between dinnertime and bedtime and he told me he plays Playstation with his brother Besli. Usually until midnight or later, according to Miduk.  And watches TV with his family, or plays hide-and-seek outside with his friends.  He especially misses his best friend Donna (a boy named Donna!).  Miduk says he and Donna play everyday after Donna gets home from school.  They ride bikes everywhere, climb trees and steal fruit from the fields (pomegranates!) We had considered getting him a bicycle for Christmas, but again I'm just not sure I feel comfortable with him riding around the neighborhood and me not knowing where he is.  I just can't do it.  We decided we will get a new bike for Miduk when he returns to Indonesia instead. (shh, don't tell!)  This morning I let him call his Mom again but her phone was out of service so we called Besli instead and he talked and talked and even put Sugar on the phone and had her howling for Besli.  Too funny!  Yesterday Wes took Miduk to Bass Pro and they did the shooting gallery and walked around.  Miduk says Bass Pro is his favorite store!  Then later on they made Gingerbread houses, then Kasey took Miduk to see a giant live oak tree that is completely covered in white lights, then Miduk hung out with Kasey and some of her friends for a little while. Surely this is more than he does back home!  Miduk occasionally leaves notes for Kasey to find on her lightswitch at night - usually it says goodnight Kasey, sometimes it says I love you.  We've had a little chat about how brothers and sisters show love for one another b/c we thought he was developing a crush on Kasey and maybe hugging on her just a bit too much; and he has been much better and less touchy with her ever since.  So anyway, I've learned that teenagers are teenagers no matter where they come from.....except this teenager has yet to sleep in! :) He is up with the sun if not before...I don't know how he  does it!





MIDUK WATCHING YOUTUBE VIDEOS

PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON TO WATCH VIDEO.  MIDUK LOVES WATCHING YOU TUBE VIDEOS AND JUST LAUGHS OUT LOUD AT ALL OF THEM, OR SINGS ALONG!

VISIT FROM GRANDMA AND GRANDAD

GOING TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNING

SUGAR IS VERY TOLERANT AND DOESN'T MIND BEING DRESSED UP

SHOPPING THE ALLEN OUTLET MALLS WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDAD

(GRANDAD IS A WHISTLER JUST LIKE MIDUK!)

AT THE CHRISTMAS DISPLAY IN DOWNTOWN GRAPEVINE

WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDAD IN FRONT OF THE MUSICAL CHRISTMAS TREE IN DOWNTOWN GRAPEVINE

SITTING ON MAIN STREET IN GRAPEVINE

BEING ENTERTAINED AT THE HIBACHI GRILL

SITTING IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE AFTER THE MORNING WALK

NAPPING WITH SUGAR!

MIDUK HAS DISCOVERED A NEW TALENT-BOWLING!

BUILDING WITH LEGOS THAT MY FRIEND SHERI LET US BORROW!

HE BUILT A BUNCH OF CROSSES!

My parents came for a visit last week and stayed four days.  We stayed busy with shopping and Miduk was able to keep up with us!  One night we went out for Mexican food and afterwards went to downtown Grapevine to look at the Christmas displays.  They have a giant tree with lights that are choreographed to Christmas music which are really cool!  Just a really quaint atmosphere downtown.  :)  Grandma and Grandad brought gifts which they put under our tree.  Miduk was pretty excited to see one with his name on it and kept saying WOW!  Did I tell you about the pickle ornament?  Every year we hide a pickle ornament on our tree (old World tradition), so we explained it to Miduk and let him put the pickle on the tree.  Guess who can't remember where he put it?  haha we may never find that ornament!  One night we took Grandma and Grandad to a Hibachi restaurant which was fun, I think Miduk enjoyed watching the chef do his tricks at the table for us.  I asked Miduk if he liked it and he said "I very very like it".  On that note, today it was thundering and lightning outside and he said "I very very no like thunder!" haha  I introduced him to YouTube videos the past couple of days, trying to keep him busy and entertained indoors.  I think I have created a monster!  He is having the best time looking up everything from Hummers to funny animal videos to music.  He plays the same Indonesian rock music so much that now I can sing along.  We are competing for the laptop these days so I  haven't posted on this blog in over a week!  I did take him to the movie theater to see "Arthur's Christmas" earlier this week, he liked the movie and I have to confess I enjoyed a light nap too!  This particular theater has a butter bar where you can put your own melted butter on your popcorn.  He was pretty fascinated with that!  Another day I took him for lunch at Taco Bueno.  After we finished eating, I said "That hit the spot" and he looked at me with the funniest expression so I had to explain myself!  Half the lights on his Christmas tree would not light up, no matter what I did, so we decided to take them off and put a new strand of lights on.  As we were taking the old lights off, I found an entire roll of Mentos that he put on the tree branches.  We had sampled Mentos at Sam's Club last week and the lady liked him so much that she gave him the entire roll!  I guess to him it was pretty special and he placed it on his tree.  I have to admit, I was clenching my teeth and not too happy about having to take the lights off with the ornaments falling off too, but to Miduk it was a lot of fun to decorate the tree twice!  I looked at it as an inconvenience, but to him it was a great time! :)  And he kept singing "Feliz Navidad", which we have heard on the radio repeatedly...This past week Miduk has helped me with stuffing our Christmas cards and putting stamps and labels on the envelopes. He wrote a letter to his parents and we mailed the card to Bryan in Medan, who will hopefully deliver the letter to Miduk's parents the next time he goes to their village.  It may not reach them until after Christmas, but better late than never, right?  Miduk has learned a new sport and it is bowling!  Kasey and her friend Zach took him bowling last Sunday, and said he was a natural at it!  Rolled strikes and spares one right after the other, not even needing the bumpers.  I wasn't even sure he would be able to take the steps and throw the ball, but he did!  And outscored Kasey and Zach, who were very impresssed! Is it beginners luck?  We are going to find out!  He wants to go again soon.  When my parents left on Monday, they gave Miduk a $10 bill.  Ever since Wes and Kasey were young, my parents always give them a couple of dollars at the end of their visit - "Coke Money" they always say.  When my mom handed Miduk the $10 bill, he wouldn't take it and kept saying "No Grandma".  Well she kept insisting (my mom ALWAYS wins these kinds of battles!) and he finally took it and put it in his pocket.  Later that day I told him it was his to do whatever he wanted - to save it or to spend it.  He told me he put it in his bible. To put it in perspective, $10 is what one of his parents would make in five days of full-time work!

DECORATING OUR CHRISTMAS TREE

Took this photo of Miduk with our Indonesian Santa

Decorating the Christmas tree

                                                       Finished at last!

Finally put up the Christmas tree in our living room.  It's kind of a two-day project by the time we drag it out of the attic, set it up, replace a few bulbs, fluff all the branches-then we're ready to decorate it!  I have collected ornaments for our kids since they were born, everything from Barney to baseball and Batman, and most recently the ornaments we collected while traveling overseas.  Miduk liked looking at all of the ornaments, especially the photo ornaments of Wes and Kasey when they were young. I'm glad that he and I enjoyed it! Shelby kept getting shocked by all the static in the air, and Kasey kept texting Wesley ("be glad you're not here; Mom is reminiscing about each and every ornament and it's taking forever!") Yep, it was a Norman Rockwell moment for sure.....

Today Miduk and I met Kartika and her son Daniel for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Irving.  It was really good (love that chicken fried rice!).  Miduk ate noodles with meatballs that Kartika recommended, as well as rice and pork.  He brought his appetite!  Kartika is so sweet and brought Miduk a big bag of Indonesian treats. :)  Daniel is a nice boy, 11 years old, and hopefully he and Miduk will get to see one another again soon.

Yesterday morning I let Miduk send a text message to his oldest brother Besli.  We were both surprised when Besli responded right away!  They texted back and forth a few times (in Batak-their dialect) which was cool for Miduk.  Then I made a major faux pas (that would be "fox paws" to my dad, haha) later in the day and accidentally sent a text message to Besli that was intended for my daughter Kasey!  Silly me, this is why I do not text very often.  Miduk and I were at Sam's, killing some time while waiting on our Christmas cards to be printed.  We walked all over the store, sampling food again (he loved the chocolate milk and the bruschetta), looking at all the nice coffee table books, getting a coke at the snack bar - and he SANG or whistled the entire time - the song "Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae".  Do NOT google that song unless you want it stuck in your head on a continuous loop.  I can't get it out of my head if I wanted to! but in place of the "LA LA LA" he would insert random words like "CA MA RO"(the car) or "ASH BUR TON" (our street name)  It was funny to me but I just let him go.  People just looked at him and smiled.  He was obviously just happy and enjoying the moment!  Too bad we all can't be that happy and uninhibited like he was being.  Anyway I typed a text that said "Miduk is singing his way through Sam's", and instead of sending it to Kasey, it accidentally got sent to Miduk's brother!!!  hahaha who knows what he thought when he woke up this morning and saw that message on his phone!  He did not respond!  Probably thinks I am a crazy woman...

It was freezing today ("Kasey like cold?") and we used the seat heater in my car and Miduk thought that was awesome.  He is now saying AWESOME because I say it a lot, apparently.  I've also heard him try out "oh my gosh" as if he were used to saying it all the time! I told him he was cracking me up because he was watching the popcorn pop in the microwave oven as if it was fascinating, and he got this weird look on his face, trying to figure out what "cracking me up" meant!  I had to use the google translator to explain myself on that one.

We put Sugar's Christmas collar on her this week (surely she is not the only dog with a Christmas collar?).  Miduk said their dog does not wear a collar, does not have tags, and just runs loose.  I bet we saw a thousand of those dogs when we were in Bali. They feed the dog rice.  We went to Petco and bought some assorted dog treats for Sugar - Miduk picked the doggy waffles for her for Christmas! :)

Back to Sam's, I really like the guy at Sam's who has been helping me with my cards.  He has been there a long time and is really helpful so we took him some homemade peanut brittle. I've never really noticed it before or paid much attention, but he walks much the same way that Miduk does, and when he stands still I could see that one foot was noticeably shorter than the other, as if he had a displaced hip perhaps.  I pointed it out to Miduk (discreetly of course!) and said "I think maybe he has a problem with his hip" and Miduk agreed.  It was definitely one of those teachable moments so I proceeded to explain to Miduk how this guy seemingly gets along fine and can hold down a job even though he may be at a disadvantage physically.  Thank you God for putting us in the right place at the right time!  Not only that, the girl behind the counter was chatting it up with Miduk and we learned that she used to have a roommate in college that was from Jakarta Indonesia! 

Last but not least, if you live here locally and see Miduk on a pretty regular basis - please know that I do wash the "Soccer Rules" sweatshirt that he insists on wearing on a daily basis! My mother-in-law got that sweatshirt for him at the thrift store where she volunteers, and he loves it and wants to wear it everyday, everywhere. He has a closet full of clothes and this is his favorite - with cargo pants.  It reminds me of when Wesley was young and went through a phase of wearing this same old baseball tshirt so often, that at times I would "lose it temporarily" just so that he would wear something else! :)  You choose your battles and I'm not choosing this one.



NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

This is what our house looks like on a cold rainy Sunday afternoon:  Shelby asleep on the couch (watching football with his eyes closed), Sugar asleep on a loveseat, Miduk asleep on a loveseat, and nobody is watching the football game!   Notice we have six stockings this year! (yes, of course, Sugar has her own stocking).  Miduk likes his Santa stocking!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Crunching acorns on our walk

We put up a Christmas tree in Miduk's bedroom

He decorated it all by himself!

Helping Dad hang wreaths on the windows

Making angel ornaments at the Advent Festival at church

I think Miduk is enjoying all the Christmas preparations.  He especially liked setting up a Christmas tree in his bedroom this weekend, and loaded it up with lights and ornaments.

Instead of leaving his lamp on when he went to bed, he left the Christmas tree lights on instead.  I walked into his room one time to find him laying on the floor, just staring at the tree.  I used to do the exact same thing when I was young!  (Okay I still do it...) Just put your pj's on, wrap up in a blanket, turn out all the lights, and fall asleep looking at the tree.  It's a peaceful feeling!!!  :)  The other day while driving around we spotted a car with those silly reindeer antlers attached to the car and Miduk thought that was hilarious!  He helped Shelby yesterday by holding the ladder while Shelby hung some Christmas wreaths on the windows of our house.  Of course Shelby waited for the coldest rainiest day to do it!  That's not child labor, is it? Where's Wesley when you need him?  Oh yes, he was at OSU storming the field after the bedlam game against OU!!!  What a game!  We watched it on TV, and after it started, Miduk realized he didn't have his orange shirt on and ran to change. haha!  He's got the hand wave and "Orange Power" down pat!

Kasey had her wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning and Miduk went with us. He was concerned about Kasey and wrote in his journal about her from what I could tell, and we said a prayer for her.  When we went into the recovery room to see Kasey, she was still pretty high on the drugs they had given her and was saying some hilarious things.  "WOW, wow, wow! I LOVE Christmas! I LOVE you Mom!  I LOVE you Miduk!"  He keeps teasing her about it now.

Let's see, what else?  I've been sick for the past three days with a bad cold so gargling with salt water (my dad made me do that growing up and I hate to admit it but it does help with sore throats!)  I asked Miduk what he does in Indonesia when he gets a sore throat and he typed into the translator "acid with water and sugar" but pointed to an orange so I'm guessing he means orange juice?  (darn that google translator)

We spent over an hour searching for his village (Aek Popo) on Google Earth.  Google Earth is pretty awesome!  If you haven't ever done it, trying finding your house!  Aek Popo didn't make the map, but we started in Medan (a few hours away from his village) and moved the cursor north and west and he was getting so excited!  We zoomed in on another village that was familiar to him and he knew the name of the road.  That was so cool!

As I've mentioned before, Miduk is an early riser.  Like really early.  Every morning I ask him how he slept and he will tell me what time he woke up and whether or not he was able to go back to sleep.  Sometimes he wakes up at 3:00 or 4:00am!  If he can't go back to sleep he usually reads or does a word search or writes in his journal.  By the time I get up, he is usally already dressed and has made his bed.  I have never had to ask him to make his bed! Ever!  Wondering if he could rub off on my kids???  He feeds Sugar every morning and gives her fresh water.  If I am unloading the dishwasher, he helps by putting away the silverware. Then he pops two Eggo waffles in the toaster and gets out the butter and syrup and some milk.  He's pretty self sufficient! And he's usually ready to walk by 7:30, which is way too early and way too cold for me!   I am still trying to open my eyes!  haha  One morning I made homemade waffles and he wasn't so sure he would like them because they were not Eggos. But after tasting them, he gave me a thumbs up! :)  Usually if he is not sure about something he will say "Kasey like?"  He always wants to know if Kasey likes something, from food to a song on the radio.  Sometimes if a pop song comes on the radio he says rather emphatically, "Kasey LIKE!"  He shares her taste in music and I find myself switching the car radio stations back and forth all the time.  He gets bored with my easy listening and Christian music, and I can only stand so much of all the techno stuff!  His current favorite seems to be "Party Rock is in the House Tonight" (alright kids, am I saying that right?) which if I listen to that more than once in a day, I cannot get it out of my head!

Miduk also has been playing his version of "hide and go seek" lately which is not a fun game for us Waychoffs.  He just disappears and doesn't respond when we call for him, which means we usually go looking for him and by the time we find him we are not happy campers.  He did this last week when Kasey was home with him (I had gone to the grocery store) and she called me panicking to say she couldn't find Miduk! One night at bedtime I couldn't find him and he was in his closet playing with a flashlight.  So we have had a talk with him about not hiding from us because it scares us when we cannot find him!

This morning before church we let Miduk call his mother for the first time.  We tried repeatedly yesterday but for some reason couldn't get thru.  She has a handphone but I don't know how good her service is since she is in a very remote area. And of course we have to factor in the 13 hour time difference!  He called her at 8:15 Sunday morning which was 9:15PM Sunday night for her.  It was so cute to watch him talk to her!  He was very animated and smiling and happy, and I heard him mention Sugar a time or two.  I would have loved to know what he was saying about life in America!  Probably that we are obsessed with American football...  We let him talk about 10 or 12 minutes and he was so happy.  He told me that his mother didn't know it was him at first!

After church Shelby took Miduk with him and they went to get haircuts.  I wasn't there but Shelby said Miduk acted kind of scared.  I know he has had haircuts before.  Maybe he was afraid they were going to shave his head?  I don't know!  But it looks really nice and not too short. Then Shelby took him to Bass Pro Shops and they looked around and also did the shooting gallery game, came home and made "Pigs in a blanket" which I had to explain to Miduk: sausage in a roll!  He was like "a pig in a blanket?" hahahaha

I was making a smoothie for Kasey and asked if he wanted to try it and he replied, "Smoothie?  I don't know smoothie".  He was a good sport and tasted it but did not like it!