Counting my blessings November 23, 2006

 It is waaaaayyyy too much to count my blessings. God has been too good to us. He always there for us. I cannot think of anything that doesn’t connect with God’s grace.
Start counting my blessings:

1. We moved from Grand Rapids, MI to Huntsville, AL. We have been trying to get out of Grand Rapids for a year and finally in God’s time, we moved.
So far it has been a pleasant experience moving here…. The boys like the school, I like the city and Sam likes his work.
So, thank you God.

2. I got to meet my friends that I know from IUC in the IUC Gathering in Dallas, April 2nd, 2006. So nice to meet my friends in person and I had a very good time.
Thank you, God.

3. I got my US Citizenship and I can say almost without a hassle. Although I had to transfer my document from MI to AL for my oath schedule but everything was smooth and didn’t take a long time.
Thank you, God.

4. The news of my dad passed away was sad and shaking me a lot. But I have a wonderful husband who supported me very much. He was in AL and after I told him that my dad dead he just got packed and came to see me in MI. I love you so much Honey…. Thank you and Thank you, God.

5. We got to see Grandpa Bernard in New Albany, IN. He is a loving and nice guy. I am so honor to be his daughter in-law. The boys like their grandpa so much and got to spend a little time with him.
Thank you, God.

6. On the way to AL we also visited Sam’s brother, Andy and his wife Janet in Indianapolis, IN. Nice to see them again.
Thank you, God.

7. We are in a good condition.

8. and many many more that I couldn’t mention here one by one….

God has been so good to us… Praise God…and Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.
Remember to count your blessings….. that is how you express your appreciation to God.

My Journey of becoming US Citizen November 17, 2006

Akhirnya….selese juga perjalanan menjadi US Citizen.
Pengalaman gue ga jelek2 amat. Ngefile N-400 bulan April 2006 (abis pulang IUC Gathering) tanggal 4 April 2006 dan dapet receipt tanggal 18 April 2006. Setelah itu gue terima appointment buat Firngerprint tanggal 26 April buat Fingerprint tanggal 4 Mei 2006.

Tanggal 17 Juni 2006 gue dapet appointment buat interview. Tanggal interview-nya 7 Agustus 2006 di Detroit, MI.
Gue kudu nyetir 3 jam ke Detroit, but worth it lah. Interview berjalan lancar dan gue jawab semua pertanyaan dengan baik dan benar. Setelah itu gue minta oath schedule ditransfer ke Alabama karena saat itu gue udah siap2 mau pindah. Banyak orang yang bilang kalau ditransfer tambah lama sekali dan kadang2 file kita ilang. Gue juga baca di message boards mengenai naturalization kalau kita minta transfer bakal ga ketahuan juntrungannya.
Tapi gue juga dapet referensi dari temennya Sam yang minta transfer cuma dua bulan di delaynya. So, dengan langkah pasti gue minta transfer. Soalnya ga memungkinkan bagi gue untuk tinggal di Grand Rapids, MI nungguin oath schedule. So, gue serahkan sama Tuhan aja dan dengan langkah mantap gue minta transfer dari MI ke AL.

Tanggal 17 October 2006 (2 bulan setelah interview) gue dapet Notice of Oath yang menjadwalkan gue buat Oath Ceremony di Birmingham, AL tanggal 16 November 2006. That was not bad at all. Padahal daerah juridiction pindah dari centernya di Lincoln, Nebraska ke Houston, TX….tapi ternyata prosesnya ga lama (menurut gue yang udah sering kena penantian tak terbatas dari INS).

Akhiranya hari Kamis mendung tanggal 16 November 2006 gue diambil sumpahnya di District Court Birmingham, AL. Si Sam yang anter dan jadi juru foto.

Bareng sama gue sekitar 60 candidates. Gue dateng jam 9:25 dan oath selesai jam 12:30. Yang lama cuma dibagian administrasi. Untung gue ga bawa anak2 (thanks to Tante Anita yang mau direpotin dititipin Jonah dan River dari pagi).

Judge-nya juga sampe terharu mengucapkan selamat pada kita….gue jadi ikut terharu biru.

Abis ceremony ya langsung cari restoran…laperrr berat.

For now, yang bikin gue excited yaitu gue bisa bikin paspor US….yippie…bisa pulkam…(walau belon ketahuan kapan…).

Just want to share……

Rabu ini November 8, 2006

Hari ini masih rada pusing, tapi ya gue keliling2 aja sendiri abis ngedrop anak2 sekolah. Daripada dirumah juga pusing….
So, gue ke Target, ke malls…. iseng2 berhadiah. Pengen beli hadiah natal tapi kok kayaknya masih dini banget..males dah.
Akhire membelikan diri sendiri aja deh.

Muter2 eh tau2 udah jam 12:00 langsung gue makan yang cepet aja ke Subway dan muter2 dulu di Walmart….nunggu anak2 sekolah bubar…setelah itu jemput.

Sampe rumah….mulai lagi ngebrowse..seperti biasa. Anak2 lagi tidur….. mayan dah, masih ada waktu buat sendiri sebelum sore sibuk lagi.

Oh well, ga ada yang istimewa….

Through It All November 8, 2006

This song inspired me a lot:

Through It All
Words and Music by Andrae Crouch

I’ve had many tears and sorrows
I’ve had questions for tomorrow
There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong
But in every situation God gave blessed consolation
That my trials only come to make me strong

Chorus
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
I’ve learned to trust in God
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word
I’ve been a lot of places
And I’ve seen so many faces
But there’ve been times I’ve felt so all alone
But in that lonely hour, in that precious, lonely hour
Jesus let me know I was His own

Chorus
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
I’ve learned to trust in God
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word
So I thank God for the mountains
And I thank Him for the valleys
I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through
’cause if I never had a problem
I wouldn’t know that He could solve them
I wouldn’t know what faith in His Word could do

Chorus
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
I’ve learned to trust in God
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
I’ve learned to trust in God
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word

Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus
I’ve learned to trust in God
Through it all, through it all
Through it all, through it all
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word

Yes, I’ve learned to depend upon His Word

Pusing Day November 8, 2006

Ga ada yang menarik buat diceritain. Lagi monoton dan sibuk ama kegiatan dirumah aja…walaupun rumah juga kagak diurus2 amat…. lagi seneng menghayal kali yeee. Hari ini juga seharian pusing…entah stress entah karena cuaca. Pokoknya pusing banget…. abis nganter dua unyil gue pulang dan tidur lagi sampe jam 12:00 siang…dan jemput anak2 jam 1 siang. Pulangnya ya mereka main sebentar dan tidur siang…gue ikutan tidur…gileee…sehari ini gue jadi putri tidur. Sekarang aja masih pusing…. wah nape yeee.

Palingan hari ini gue browsing internet, belanja2 lah…. males abisnya ke toko2…so, gue kadang lebih seneng belanja online.

Wah udah mau Natal lagi….kudu cari2 inspirasi buat kado2. Gue paling sebel kalau mau beli kado buat suami…bingunggggg… biarin deh taon ini dia sendiri yang suruh beli sendiri…mau ga ya… daripada gue pusing2.

Molor dulu ah….

Postcard….. November 5, 2006

I have been looking for Huntsville’s postcard since I moved here. I want to send it to my friends and families….. but no one knows where I can find it. Usually I just go to the drugstores (in other states) to get one…but here…NONE.
Wow…maybe I have to get Sam to take some pictures of Huntsville/Madison and print them with the postcard paper. Oh well…..

I just don’t understand why they don’t sell postcards here… I went online and I found out that many other people have a hard time finding postcard too here… oh well.

iTunes…a hassle for us November 4, 2006

I have been buying music from iTunes with the thought that it is cheaper to buy the song that we like and not have to buy the entire album. But it turned out to be a hassle for us. Mostly I bought the songs from iTunes on my laptop. I bought the songs with the expectation that Sam and I could share them on our iPods….but then because Sam’s iPod had already hooked up on his own computer and mine on my computer….it is not very easy to get the song from my laptop.
We have to go through some process to get the songs on my laptop to either Sam’s computer or the other computers…..sighhh…. well, we understand that iTunes try to protect the copyright of the songs….. but for us….buying one song only for one computer….sighhh….
But maybe there is a way to get the song from iTunes shared to our other computers….and to the two iPods without hassle? Sam has already given up…the process for transferring songs from my iTunes on my laptop to his computer/iPod is not easy….just a hassle.

Now we go back to the old school method…buying cds and just be done with it.

Train November 4, 2006

We live not too far from the railway…. and it is kinda cool. It reminds me of my everyday life when I was a college student at the University of Indonesia. I had to take a train every morning about 6:00 AM and wow, what a challenge. I had to fight with other passengers to get a seat..but mostly I gave it away anyway when I saw an old lady/man or pregnant woman. But hey, it is only for 45 minutes….not a big deal. But when I had to bring all my heavy duty French Dictionary (at least three of them, almost everyday) plus more big books…..wow….I can’t say that I was happy at that time….hehhehe

About 5 years I was dwelling with the train system in Bogor… I tried one time not to buy the ‘abudemen’, it is like a montly pass ticket for the train..and it was very cheap…. but then my friends said that some of them didn’t get any problem without it….so there I was, didn’t buy the pass. But all that month I was so afraid. I kept avoiding the ‘kondektur’ when he wanted to check the passengers’ ticket. Oh, what a nightmare…. the next month, I bought the pass again…gosh…..
It wasn’t worth it….being scared all the time only to yield Rp. 5.500,-.

I went though some train accidents and thank God I was never in one of them.. The biggest one was around 1992-1993…the accident in Citayam (between Bogor and Depok). Two trains collapsed and many many people died….and just scattered around the place. The day after I went to school…I saw many human body parts with blood all over the place….covered by newspaper and leaves….OMG.

So many experiences…..and I thank God for His protection….

Now when I see the train passing by….from a far…. it reminds me to be thankful….that my train journey was a safe one.

I am tired o Lord…. November 4, 2006

Save me o Lord….from my own evil heart.
Hold me o Lord…let me rest
i am tired o Lord…fighting myself
I want to follow you o Lord…will You take me?

I know you love me….
And sometimes I take it for granted
Please forgive Lord, make me new
i am tired o Lord..fighting myself…..

(cold November night)

Blogspot tambah oke November 3, 2006

Kemarin gue upgrade blogspot ini pake gmail…wow, keren sekarang…. makin gampang aja ngepost…jadi makin semangat aja… Maklum dah..gue nih sebenernya seneng banget nge blog…asal jangan digosipin macem2 (sok ge er loe Ne…). Lah namanya juga ngeblog…punya pribadi…mau pamer kek, mau curhat sih…silahkan dibaca …dan kalau ga berkenan dilarang protes… iya toh….?
Kalau mau bales…bikin aja sendiri…wekkekekkek.

Oh well…intinya gue seneng ngeblog…dari dulu emang gue suka cerita2….tentang apaaaa aja. Jadi rada tersalurkan ada wadah blogger gini…. emang cerewet sih.

Cuma mau seneng aja blogspot tambah oke….. thanks a bunch….