Christmas Tree and Joshua

It cost a little more here,($13 for one strand of lights!), but we have a fake Christmas tree and have got to share the story through it to several cousins! From the star (virgin birth), tree (cross), lights (light of world), and gifts (greatest gift of all). I thought about it and cant remember sharing these things in the states but want to encourage you to do so.
Joshua also has taken advantage of the many visitors to our house lately by sharing the full story with his teacher last week as he walked her through his picture "book".

Merry but not too "Gay"

Not that i am feeling insecure, but the other day i was in line paying my water bill talking to a guy. The conversation seemed to be normal and we parted ways. Well after i payed my bill i saw him waiting on me outside. He appologized before he asked,(usually not a good sign), if i was gay! It caught me a little off guard and i told him i was married with children. But it did get me thinking if my accent is that bad or if the shirt i was wearing said more than i wanted!

Mother and Son Christmas Baking

This is mine and Joshua's Christmas Baking Master Piece. Joshua loves helping me cook. It was so much fun to make this Christmas Tradition together. And believe it or not we made some pretty good cookies to be in a foreign country!

Where's the White Kid?

Can you find Joshua? These are a couple of Joshua's school trips. I don't know what kinda parents he has (ha ha). Do you see any other kids with their hands in their pants. Don't think so! With that said, our kids are in a different world than the national kids here. They were born to be wild. We never see kids running around in resteraunts but our boys never sit down. Get the picture? Their daddy loves it!

Not too long ago we took a day to go to the park. This was our first time to go to this park. We had seen it driving by and it was quite a large park in the middle of such a big city. But it was just as we should've expected, nothing is ever as you expect here. There were big blow-ups there so we let them play and they were having a good ole time when the power cut off and the blow ups went flat. After about three times of having to pull them out quickly because they blow ups were going flat, we decided to move on to something else. We let them ride little battery cars, it was a mistake to put them on one together, they weren't on 2 minutes when Joshua slung Caleb off when going around a curve. We couldn't help but laugh but Caleb was not happy to say the least. Poor Jedidiah just sat in his seat and looked at his mesquito net the whole time but he was a trooper. The boys had a great time though, but they were exausted. I caught them both knocked out in their hats. What precious boys!

Basketball Update

For those of you interested in b-ball over here i will give you a quick run down. First of all the team i have been playing for and coaching played our toughest game of the year last friday and fell behind by 15 early. I was a little late b/c i was still at my other practice. we came back and played the best we have together and ended up winning by 10 or so. Although with about 5 min left i had to leave the game with a sprained ankle. So i have been a little hobbled this week.
The high school varsity team i am coaching has finished our first week and may it through tryouts successfully. i hate having to make cuts but really saw the Lrd at work through the process. i am real excited about the guys on the team as we have a mixture of ages and nationalities. (few seniors, few juniors, and few sophs) (4 americans, 4 koreans, and 4 Indos) We are young but pretty athletic and big for over here. I hear that we should compete for the city championship! (which is a pretty big deal considering this is a city of 5 mil. people) I guess we will see b/c right now we are still a long way off. Ill keep you posted.

Something about that Name

Well the rainy season is upon us....and i mean upon us always, everyday, in every way. Kinda like the great philosopher Forest Gump described it as side ways rain, staight down rain, big rain, small rain, stinging rain, misty rain, and even rain that seems to rise from the ground! We are getting used to it though and the positive side is that the rain knocks the pollution out of the air so my contacts dont burn my eyes any more. The flip side is with a country with no dryers it is a little tough to dry clothes or sleep in a damp bed. But it could be worse (like if we were clemson fans!)
So to the point of my story....The other day i was coming out of an office in the middle of a normal mansoon when i saw a homeless lately under the awning staying dry. I smiled and spoke a greeting and then saw her face. It looked as though she had been beat badly and there was no return smile. My heart ached as i got in my car and prayed for her. The Lrd moved me to get back out there and give her the equivilant of $100 for her. I told her that JC told me to give her a gift. She was a little taken by that and kinda shook her head. I then offered the money in a closed fist (not wanting her to see the amount) and she refused. I insisted it was not from me but from JC. She again resisted and so i placed the money in her bag and went to my car. She followed me to the car in the mansoon and through the $ in my car and returned.
I have never had anyone refuse money here before for any reason. Esp a homeless person whom me meet everyday. All i can think is that the name with which it was given was not worth the gift for her. I pry earnestly that she would recieve the greatest gift of all!

A Trip to a Safari

We took a trip to a Safari Zoo when my mom and nana came. It was a really cool experience. Not sure how safe, ha ha, but really neat! We drove through the "safari" and afterwards went to the "petting zoo". In America you might think of a petting zoo having goats, sheep, pigs, etc. Well here at this petting zoo there were tigers, lions, chimpanzees, quite a different story. Oh don't worry the tiger was on a chain, but was also trying to bite Josh's arm. There's no such thing as liability here, ha ha! It was ofcourse a blast for the boys! Having the zebras eat out of there hand and hearing the lions roar. What a life we live!

The Trip from Mom and Nana

We had the privilage of having my mom and nana here a few weeks ago. They came to see our new addition, Jedidiah, and the rest of us, ha ha. It was an absolutely incredible time! We kept them busy but they did great! It was a great gift from the Father that they were able to come. This is one of the first resteraunts we took them to. We definitely spoiled with the nicer resteraunts, but I have to say they also ate their share of fried rice. Love you mom and nana!!

A Little Startled

Jedidiah's still getting used to not having my belly to push on with his feet, so he got a little startled when all he felt was air. I just thought it was such a cute picture. Sorry he's upside down.

Our Wonderful Boys

It has been such a blessing to us to have three wonderful boys. Joshua and Caleb are such good big brothers to Jedidiah. We have so much fun as parents watching each stage of each of our boys as they grow.

Three Cool Amigos

The first day Caleb went with Joshua to school. A little scary for Josh but they all made it successfully to the school. And the boys absolutey loved it! I think it's one of the cuttest sites I've ever seen.

Jedidiah's First Outing

This was Jedidiah's first big outing. We decided to celebrate by going to a "western mexican" resteraunt. You've just got to sometimes, ha ha! No one was there, it was quite hilarious. It was such a treat, and the boys really enjoyed running around the empty resteraunt!

Daddy-Son Bonding

We've made a tradition of this picture. Josh had the same picture with Joshua and Caleb. It's a special daddy son bonding, nose sucking, ha ha!

The Lanford Boys

Mama's still the prettiest one in the family.

The Day We Came Home From the Hospital

Seems like just another normal day, bringing our new baby home from the hospital.

Little did we know we wouldn't walk into our house until about 4 hrs. from the time we left the hospital. We started out stopping by to get pizza to take home for lunch. We didn't find the pizza place right away so we took a little detour doing that. Well we finally got home after about an hour to realize we didn't have a house key. Our helper had locked the door with her key while we were in the hospital and our keys were still in the house. Well here it's just about impossible to break in (we have bars on our windows, ha ha) so we figured we had to go find our helper and get the key from her. So we leave the house and, oh I forgot to mention we don't know exactly where our helper lives and she doesn't have a phone. We drive to where we think her little village is and ask some people if they know her, but no one knew. We were quite puzzled, until we realized she didn't use the same name in her village as she does with us! Well we decide to drive down into the village a little ways (I don't think cars are supposed to go there) and Josh gets out to search a little bit. Finally he comes back and we're gonna go home, but...our car is completely dead!! At this point I wanted to shed some tears. Keep in mind all three boys and I have been in the car this whole time. Well, Josh got some guys to help him turn the car around and we had just enough room to push it off and it started! Praise the Father! We drive back home and Josh is trying to figure out how to break in but he's already broken shingles on our roof and he didn't want to do that again. Our neighbor happened to be out and she had some tools. I won't go through all the ways we tried to get in but finally Josh and an Indo man ended up taking our door off it's hinges. We were in our house! Don't worry the door is back in place now. What adventures our Father wants us to experience!

Our Three Precious Gifts

The boys are doing great with Jedidiah! They love him so much already. It's funny, we have to remind Caleb his name is Jedidiah because he usually just calls him "baby".

Jedidiah Is Here!!

Our newest arrival Jedidiah Lee Lanford was born Thursday Sept. 11th at 1am. He weighs 7lb. 3 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long. He is healthy and beautiful. The labor and delivery went smooth. He and Candace are doing really well. We can't believe we are a family of 5! We feel so blessed! Thank you all for lifting us up during this time.

Cicak Pajamas

Joshua and Caleb are sporting their new pajamas their aunt Erica sent them. They love them so much because they have the same thing on them that are always crawling on our walls, Lizards, better known as Cicak. They even have a cicak song they sing all the time. As many as they've seen on our walls they get excited everytime. So they love their new pajamas to say the least.

Trying to Look Like Mama

The boys were always fascinated with my big belly. They found quite funny trying to look like me, ha ha!

Joshua's First Day of School

This is a picture of Joshua's first official day of school. He has been going for almost a month now. He is doing so well and adjusting to a new and different enviroment. He continues to be a light. The other day, it was so sweet, he wanted to take the Word to school. He said he wanted to tell his friends about the Father. One little funny story: at his school they sing some songs in english and he comes home singing them but with the same accent the nationals sing them, ha ha! And it's also hilarious to hear try to pronounce his friends names! It's been a really unique and fun experience.

Trip to Paradise

Our last break from language school we went to the beach about 5 hrs drive away. Not the best drive, ok, it was terrible, Caleb ended up throwing up in the car. Fun stuff! It was the first time we had ever driven through the mountains to get to the beach, we actually never got out of the mountains. Here the mountains were on the beach. A little ironic, but beautiful. Anyhow, we made it and it was an incredible place. Different from any other place we've been to the beach. Pretty remote. In addition to stopping at the fish market, we brought all our food with us b/c there's no major store anywhere near. Each hut has a man that cooks the meals and cleans. True vacation! He cleaned and cooked our fish for us and it was obvious he had done it quite a few times b/c our meals were incredible. Everything cooked on a concrete grill. No oven. He served the whole fish, head and everything and we just picked on it through out the meal. It was really the coolest experience. There was nothing to do but go on the beach (although it was kinda funny, I can see why surfers come here b/c the waves were so huge we couldn't even swim in the ocean!) or to the pool, and just relax. The boys absolutely loved it. We were so grateful to the Father to have been able to go to a place like that and like I said, truly vacation.

Our Little Fishermen

We went to the beach a couple of weeks ago and on our way to the beach we stopped by the fish market to buy some fish to cook while at the beach. It was one the craziest sites we've seen or experienced since we've been here. They men were going nuts over our boys and ofcourse not thinking twice about handing them fish to hold. A little scary for a mom. The boys were loving it! We just put a lot of hand sanitizer on afterwards. It was a really unique experience to say the least but hey, we got some really good fish for a really good deal! We'll share more about the beach trip later.

Bathtime Boys

They're just having fun and being sweet after a bath together. Life is so much fun and entertaining with such great kids!

Trying To Be Like Big Brother

What's Behind the Racket?

Joshua has gotten serious with the game of Badminton.

Birds of a Feather

Is That Safe?

Not quite sure what we are thinking but a friend has loaned me this "Harley" and the boys love to go for a spin with Dad. They learn how to take turns (one cries while the other one rides) and Dad takes them on a big adventure (usually down the street and back)! Joshua took a loooong ride the other day and he swears we went to the "Jungle". On a serious note, lift up this week as I attempt to get a liscense here so that if and when i get pulled over they wont toss me in the dungen!

Proud Parents!

Joshua went to school Friday for a free trial at one of the local pre-schools. Mind you all the teachers are women of the national faith complete with head coverings and all. There is one other white girl that just started last week and the rest of the kids are locals. The school mixes the ages together, so Joshua is in a class with 3-6 year olds. None of the kids speak much English but all of the teachers do. Joshua is of coursed pumped about going and jumps right in playing with the kids. One kid about Joshua's age brought his pet with him to class, you guessed it a Monkey! (Not sure we will be getting one any time soon?) The playground is complete with the normal slide, swings, and two large Rams! (Dont worry they were in a pin) The class time began with singing, introductions, and prayer. When asked what song they wanted to sing Joshua's screams out J Loves Me! They tried to ignore him but he kept asking. They then prayed and Joshua prayed in the only name he knew to pray in and when they brought out the globe to show where Joshua was from Joshua told them that "J made the world!" Candace was observing in the class while i watched from outside. We both shared a smile and knew that our pryrs were being answered already that the Father would use our boys in amazing ways! Lift up Joshua as he will begin school starting in August.

Gamecocks taking Over the World!

So i'm sitting in the movie theater when a local friend sends me a urgent text informing me that the neighborhood grocery has a few S.E.C. plates and that four of the ones they have are the one you see pictured above. Needless to say it made my day! If that wasn't enough, two days later Candace and I are out shopping for baby stuff for Jedidiah and friends who are having babies over here and we are not supposed to be looking for clothes but just happen to look through this one stack b/c I saw a Redskins shirt. Just as I said to Candace "I would shed a tear if somehow the Lord would supply a Gamecock shirt for little Jedidiah," you guessed it the next shirt was the one above! I admit it caught me a little off guard and I did get a little emotional. Ask and ye shall receive. I'm sure the Father had a smirk on his face as I walk into that store. So is this a sign that this is the year of the Gamecock? I guess we will have to see!

My First Language Student?

One of the greatest ideas this new culture has is the c onstant flow of the American equivalent to "the ice cream man." My favorite guy that roams the streets every evening with his grill cart is the "sate guy" (grilled chicken guy). Every day about 7-8pm this guy comes around screaming sate, sate (grilled chicken on a stick). So the boys always want me to buy some even if we have already eaten. So i give him about $1 and he grills me 15 sticks of chicken! I luv it! While the chicken is grilling i talk with the young man and he always wants to know english. so i started trying to teach him and even give him "homework" assignments. He never does his homework so i'm not sure if i'm a bad teacher or if he is just trying to learn english b/c my indo is so bad he would rather speak anything other than my version of his lang.? For those of you looking for a new business venture in America, why not walk the streets with a grill screaming grilled chicken in your neighborhood, your sure to be a hit!

The Most Popular Sport

Badminton is a very popular sport here and ofcourse if it's a sport at all Josh wants to pick it up. He went out last week and bought two badminton rackets. Joshua also loves playing with daddy so whenever he sees other kids playing he wants to jump in. It's really neat to see him get brave. Here's a little friend he made playing badminton.

Life is but a Vapor

The last month we have known two different people in the same work here in Indo. as us that have gone home to be with there Father. One was an eight year old girl who fell off a ravine while bike riding with her mom. The other was a 29 year old fellow student at our school who got sick and was gone home in a couple weeks. He left behind his wife and 2 year old daughter. These two leave such a legacy and to see the faith of there family has been truly challenging. Pry that we all would live life to the fullest today!

23 Reasons

23 Reasons to move to Indo. Josh has been growing his gotee out for over 5 months now (David Crowder like). The reason he has not shaved it is b/c he said he must get under 220 before he can shave it. He came to Indo. weighing a plush (yet sexy)243 and after 2 months of eating fried everything, drinking sweet tea like it might be his last cup, and exercising a little everyday he finally got down to 220 (at least for the day!) So for all the latest fads in weight loss just come to Indo. and eat what you want (especially if you want street food!!) and your goals are sure to be met!

Little Travelers

We recently got back from Thialand. We had a great time at the conference and saw many friends. Here's our boys riding on our luggage cart in the airport. It's hard traveling with little ones but our boys are becoming pros now! We are now adjusting back to our life here back at home in full time language school. Fun, fun!

The Coolest Guys in Thialand

Enjoying the Thialand beachside pool. The boys absolutely loved it and both of them really advanced in their swimming skills.

Two Brains Are Better Than One

As if there was any doubt; Candace made an A on our first language exam while Josh made a distant B! Baby Jedidiah must be smart!

Anyone for a Circumcision Party?

Joshua and Caleb are giving there sympathy to there new friend. We were invited, by personal invitation mind you, to our first circumcision party. Who knew? After receiving the invitation we thought it must be to a wedding considering the decor and colors of the paper. Little did we know that the leader of our community, whom we seem to have favor with, just wanted us to attend this very special ceremony for his grandson.

This is an 8 year old boy hours after having a circumcision. Thats right, in the major religion of this country boys must be of age to profess the religion in order to then be considered a man and thus be circumcised (personally I'd rather just stay a boy!). But all kidding aside this party that was thrown (complete with decorations, food to feed an army, over 100 people, music, presents, and two big cakes) makes us remember why we are here. Not just to meet new people and go to there parties, but be salt and light. Lift us up as we ask for wisdom.

Divine Appointments/Neighbors

The neighborhood we live in has had the reputation in the past as being a tough place to be able to really get to know people b/c most work all the time. However we believe the father has opened up doors here that are just like him.
2 Examples:
The other day a guy comes walking by our house with a good looking dog on a leash (both rarities in Indo.). So as the boys approached the dog i began to talk with the owner (we will call him lamda). As we struggled through the little Indonesian i could speak, i soon realized he spoke a lot better english than i did indonesian. Come to find out he lived in the states for six months back in 1998. He was trying to go to college and came a semester early to experience high school in america before starting college. unfortunately the economy crashed here in Indo. in 1998 and he could not afford to stay and go to college. Here's the cool part, the high school he attended was non other than Greer High right there in South Carolina! Thats right, the only guy in Indo that has ever heard of Greenville SC lives on the next street over. Coincidence? I dont think so. Remember Lamda, his wife, and young son as we visit with them this week.
The only guy i have stayed in touch with from Indo. the last 2 years is a professional baseball player here. We have alot in common and he speaks english so our relationship can progress a little. Anyway we have met up a couple times here in Bandung and he has invited me to travel with him in August for a tourney in Bali (ok if i have too). The cool part is that his sister lives directly across the street from us! Thats right of the 6 mil people who i happened to meet and stay in touch with from 2 years ago, and all the places we could have lived, and all the places she could have lived, she lives across the street. Coincidence? I dont think so.
Remember "G" as our relationship grows and he hears the truth.

PUSH MOWER ANYONE?

I never thought I would ever say this but how i wish i had a push mower and a set of hedge trimmers! I mean the damage i could do for the good of man kind over here would be mind blogging (no pun, ok a little). That little pach of grass you see beind me is our front yard and it takes me about 45 min to cut with my "long knife". It is truely a sight to see me squattting (ok not sure its an official squat) and cutting every blade of grass with my samari swing. Believe it or not I actually enjoy it. The boys usually come out to "help" and Candace gets a kick out of watching me. Now the hedge trimming thing is not so much fun. Sure its kinda cool for the first 5 min. but and hour later when your on the same bush with the same dull clippers you start too wonder if the blades are dull enough to actually end ones life!

IBL Basketball Its FANTASTIC!

Saturday and Indonesian my age and I went to the third game of a five game series for the IBL (Indonesian Basketball League) finals between the local team Garuda vs Bartimai from Jakarta. The atmoshpere outside the arena took me back to college football excitment with people, traffic, food, and music everywhere. Indo rap was blasting outside as hundreds of fans waited in line for tickets that cost about $3. We decided to bypass the line and by from scalpers for $5 each. The game was very intense. An Indo. Camron Indoor if you will. The crowd of over 5,ooo packed out the open air arena and responded to every good or bad play made on the court. The play was very physical and extremely entertaining. Almost too entertaining! The game had an NBA feel from the standpoint of the league trying to "sale" their product. But it also had a street ball element with a running commentary of the game by a DJ over the loud speakers complete with music. Then again the frantic hustle and emotianal mistakes reminded me of good ole highschool ball. The tallest guy that actually played was about 6'6 and was a pretty good player. Each team had about three post players around 6'3 200lbs. The rest of the guys were 6 ft. or under and fairly athletic. The game went back and forth with one run after the next but the story/drama was with Garuda's best player (#22 Samurada) who was injured and had very little playing time in the first half due to battling the flu and a hobbled leg. With his team down 11 in a low scoring game #22 comes into the game with 4 min. left to the roar of the hometown fans. He scores 13 points, including the last shot of the game with 2 sec. on the clock that gave Garuda their first and only lead of the game.

Candace came with us on Sunday for the 4th game of the series. It was great to have her there and share in the excitement. Garuda came up a little short in game#4 and Bartimia claimed its 3rd straight championship! Garuda held there heads high considering this was only there 2nd year in the league. This was truely a great and unigue experience that could only be experienced in person and in Indonesia.

Oh yeah.....the jersey you see me sportin in the photo is (of course)#22 Samurada! I guess I'm a fan for life.

Joshua is Potty Trained

Yea!!! Joshua is almost officially potty trained! We are so proud of how well and fast he has done it, but the funny thing is how he did it. The past two weeks Joshua and Caleb have had diarea, so everytime we took Joshua to the potty he would go, ha ha, because his diarea was so frequent. So eventually he knew when it was coming and would tell us he had to go, thats all it took for him to become a pottying machine. They potty train a little differently here. They just let the kids go "free" and go the bathroom wherever they want. So we have found it humerous that everyday we come home from school Joshua is naked and says he pee peed in the grass. I guess that's what our helper thought best when we told her we were trying to potty train, ha ha! Anyhow, we are just really glad we won't have THREE kids in diapers, and for a few months we'll only have one! (Potty training made easy- Another reason to move to Indonesia)

Another Saturday Night?

I was tired of Candace having all the fun with the blogging so i decided to get in on it. Mine will probably be too long and not very many pics.
Last Sat. we get home from dinner w/ friends and a trip to the local super market to find a family of six on our street. They were well dressed and did not fit the usual beggar profile. The father tried to explain his dilemma to me in Indonesian but we weren't making much progress. After calling an interpreture i learned that he had taken a train with his family from a city a days journey away to visit his family whom he had not seen in 5 years. he did not call first b/c neither had a phone. upon arriving he learned his family had moved and the neighbors did not know where too. on his way back to the train station he was robbed on the public transportion (which has happened to us 2). So he got dropped off down the street from our house and needed help. During this conversation Candace had prepared food and treats for the family while Joshua had brought out cold drinks to all the kids (a beautiful sight). After asking Candace (of course!) we invited them to spend the night (it was after 9 already) and then take them to the station tom. But they declined b/c he needed to work the next day and the all night train was cheaper than the day one. So we gave him the needed funds and I got to give him a tract in the local language and simply explain the importance of the message. I also got his address and am passing it own to a co-worker in his city. A father with his wife and 4 kids (all under 5 years old )roaming the streets of a foreign city at the mercy of anyone who would help. PDL he "happened" down our street. For Indonesia, just another saturday night.

We have found an oasis, literally, in the middle of a very busy city, a pool! Our boys love it ofcourse so we make frequent trips to let them get some energy out.

Zoo Trip

These are a couple pictures of our trip to the zoo. It was a great zoo but you can get much closer to the animals (including the lions and tigers) than any zoo in America. So we really had watch Joshua and Caleb, ha ha! It was a wonderful experience. Ofcourse the elephant wanted to get a little sniff and Josh (picture) which scared us all for a second. We survived the zoo and look forward to going back again sometime.