All dressed up with no place to go....

New clothes. 

Growing up is so hard...!!!!

She'll get it figured out soon....

Sunday morning, the funeral

 

At the time of death, Saturday evening, the arms are crossed over her chest and the body straightened. She will remain in that condition until the next morning. On Sunday morning the body is taken outside to the car port. Neighbors begin to arrive to show their respects to the family. The body is washed in the carport by other women while screened from public view. After washing, the body is covered in white cloth, wrapped in strips of white cloth and taken to the mosque. After the religious ceremony the body is taken to the cemetery and lowered into the grave accompanied with readings from the Koran.  No coffin is used but boards are placed underneath and over the body to protect it from the soil. The grave is then filled accompanied again with readings from the Koran. Flowers are laid on top of the tomb and the family returns home. Every evening for he next 7 days they will pray for her accompanied with readings from Koran. Again on the 40th day they will meet again and have prayer and readings from the Koran. 

Jakarta Funeral Preparations Continue.

About 9:00 PM Jakarta time Saturday night, we start to set up chairs and the crowd begins to gather. 

Daniel and Naomi have already delivered cakes and other food. Other neighbors will make contributions as well. 

Our neighbor's wife passed away Saturday evening.

Jakarta is currently 12 hours ahead of Central Standard Time in the USA. 

The wife of our neighbor had been suffering with diabetes for a  long time. Last Sunday she also had a heart attack and just returned home from the hospital yesterday (Friday). She passed away this evening (Saturday). In the photo above the neighbors are helping to prepare for the funeral by buliding a shelter over the street in front of his house. The street will be blocked off all day Sunday and all the neighbors will help by supplying food and whatever else is necessary. This neighbor's house is right across the street from Connor House and he is also the government representative for our neighborhood. The street will be filled with people. Our own worship services will likely have to be relocated for this one day. 

April 2016 Newsletter

Note: Easier to read if you enlarge your browser view.

KOI - KIDS OF INDONESIA

APRIL 2016 NEWSLETTER

You can visit our website at KOI-kidsofindonesia.org

You can receive a our monthly emailed Newsletter by sending me your email address.

(stevecate@me.com)

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Wide awake....

Couldn't pass this up. Just had to share it with all of you. 

One of our smallest arrivals. 

Look at those big eyes...! 

Screen shot from FaceTime visit with Daniel this morning (bed time in Jakarta). 

Musings from my study this morning.

Visitors

New photos received just this morning.

The first three photos are of a family member of one of our kids. She's travelled 1000 miles to see how he's doing. My guess is that she wants to make sure he's not being held against his will and that he's not being exploited. Actually, he was placed wih us when he was about 18 months old by his mother who wanted to remarry. Later he was taken by the family and passed from one to another in an effort to control him. Finally he was returned to us because he continually cried and begged to be returned to us. We have no problems with him or his behavior. With us he is just a normal child. 

The other photos are more of the outing I talked about in my last post -- the kids day out at the mall. 

Another outing so no one gets "cabin fever"

A trip to the mall. A chance to get out of the house. New experiences. A day to remember and it almost always includes a special meal or treats - sometimes both.

(And...it doesn't cost an arm or a leg.)

Opa and his kids

Two more screen shots from my FaceTime conversation with Daniel this morning. This is a different baby from the last one I posted on this blog. Earlier in our conversation one of the older children showed up and talked to me but he didn't stick around long enough for me to get a screen shot of him.  It's obvious, however, that all the children love their Opa and their Opa loves them in return.

We are treating our most recent mother-in-waiting for Hepetitis B. Her medication today cost the equivalent of $260! Her baby will also have to have a vaccine inoculation immediately after his birth and two more in the months to follow. The vaccine should keep him healthy for the first 20 years and possibly for life; but, what does the mother have to look forward to??? And what about the individual that passed it on to her??? 

We do not have the funds to help everyone but we help the ones we can.  

Candid photo

Believe it or not, this is not a staged photo. It's called a screen shot. I snapped it while talking to Daniel using FaceTime (similar to Skype). Neither he nor our baby knew that I had taken the photo. I just had to take it because it demonstrates the love that she has for him and the love he has for her and for all our kids. 

All of our kids are being reared in a loving, caring environment.