Happy Easter!

Our Easter Morning table-thanks to an awesome package from the Royal Oak Missionary Church Pioneer Girls we had little Chinese take-out box-style Easter baskets and Easter candy! 

Happy Easter everyone!  A day late, but that’s okay!  We celebrated Resurrection Day by getting together with MAF friends for worship songs and reading of the Easter story in the morning and later having brunch with the whole MAF gang followed by an Easter Egg hunt for the kids.  It was chaotic and fun with lots of yummy food! 

This year I was rejoicing not only in our risen Lord, but also in the fact that I could enjoy Easter somewhere balmy and full of new life as opposed to the often snowy, and usually chilly, gray Easter in Michigan…although I think this year it was actually quite nice there…still, I was loving wearing a spring skirt and short-sleeved top without a coat!

After the brunch Chris and I relaxed at home-well I relaxed, Chris finished transferring his written flight logbook to a digital logbook, a project that has taken him 30+ hours!  He was so happy to get that tedious work behind him, now he just has to maintain the log by entering his flight hours weekly and he’s all set.  A job well done!

The only other thing that is notable since my last post is we attended a wedding about a week ago-our first Indonesian wedding!  The bride was the long-time house helper of one of the MAF families, so we were all invited.  Since the bride has become so close with the MAF family she works for, she had the pilot, David and his wife, Natalie, take part in the wedding by walking her down the aisle (I guess it was quite the procession with the bride, her parents, David, Natalie and the groom all walking down the aisle together) and sitting on the stage at with her, her husband and family members during the reception.  It is customary for family to go to the wedding ceremony and then friends to join them at the reception, so Chris and I didn’t see the actual wedding vows. 

The reception took place at the house of the groom’s family.  Chris and I drove our motorcycles to the reception, (side note, I would NOT recommend riding a motorcycle in a knee-length dress and high-heeled sandals…helmets don’t do wonders for the hair either) not quite sure where we were going, but when we got closer there was no question where the party was!  A large cluster of people was visible from the road as well as countless motorcycles and cars parked every which way.  People crowded under a homemade archway, slowly moving toward the brightly lit tent, stage and tables of food.  As we were enveloped by the mass of wedding guests and waited on a narrow, rustic wooden bridge over a drainage canal I prayed that the logs would hold up under the weight of so many people…it would have been quite a fall!  Luckily, we made it to the other side safely (everyone else did too), and were immediately corralled into line for rice and various meat and vegetable dishes.  We then found a seat under the tent, ate and looked at the bridal party.  The food was delicious, the music was loud, and the bride and groom looked very nice, although rather solemn and very hot!  Traditionally brides and grooms don’t do a lot of smiling here-a wedding is a more formal occasion…plus after the long hot day of getting ready, the ceremony and time with family, they are probably exhausted!  The bride (and maybe the groom, I’m not sure) is Torajanese from the island of Sulawesi, so the bride’s sister and some other ladies did a traditional Torajanese dance.  Sadly, we were stuck in the middle of the crowd trying to get in when the dance was going on, so we missed it-I was bummed about that.

After we finished eating we watched the wedding party and the crowd for a little while, then made our way onto the stage, shook everyone’s hand, said “congratulations”, dropped our money gift in the bucket on the platform, and headed home.  All in all the whole process took less than an hour-so different than an American wedding, but that is how they do it here.  It was a unique and fun experience, although I didn’t get any pictures because in the flurry of getting ready I forgot my camera at home-grrr!  Her are links to Natalie’s blog and Dave's blog, which have great pictures and more description of the wedding.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and are enjoying the beauty of springtime-flowers, new leaves, birds chirping-such a special time of year. 

He is Risen-Alleluia!