Crabb'in on the inter-coastal

Paul and PJ introduced our family to a new past

time...well, I think it will become a new past-time! We were at the beach over the weekend with Paul's parents and we all loaded up in our cars and drove to a nearby park with a boat dock and pursued our adventure. A few weeks back Paul had taken the boys fishing with him at this dock and they met a family that was crabbing. The little boy, Robin, educated my boys (especially PJ) with the ins and outs of it all. So, when we went the other evening, PJ was full of information for me. I learned that the way to tell a male from a female Blue Crab was by looking at it's underside. If there is a rocket shape then it's a male, if there's a pumpkin shape then it's a female. Simple enough. Before going, Paul looked up any state regulations on crabbing and learned that if there are eggs in the female's sacks, then we had to let her go. The males are always fair game. So, we set out on our adventure. All you need to crab is some fishing line, some sinkers and some fish (we used mullet), a big net and a bucket to put the crabs in once caught.

Here you can see PJ dropping the line into the water. The fish is attached to the line. You wait a while and very slowly pull the line up...if there's a crab on the fish, you get your net ready and let him drop in it. You gotta be fast and you gotta be clever!

Can you see the blue crab?

Grampy, PJ and Calvin inspect to see if they got one.

A rare family photo in which everyone is looking at the camera! Isn't the inter-coastal beautiful?

We were hoping to boil the crabs and devour them but we waited too long and had to offer them up to the gulls. We haven't had much "luck" (for lack of a better term) in eating the crabs we find. Hopefully, third time's a charm!

Napada Handicrafts

Napada Thailand from MTW~Thailand on Vimeo.

Napada Handicrafts is a ministry of the church planted by MTW Thailand. If you are interested in buying bags to support this ministry, let me know, we are going to have some sent our way very soon!

We spent the week in Orlando last week. Paul was taking a pastoral counseling class (which he thoroughly enjoyed) and the kids and I enjoyed our friends. We had a full week of visiting and haning out. Sorry, no pictures...I forgot our camera. =) Our little church that we attend is moving in two Sundays to RTS's fellowship hall. They currently meet at a middle school cafeteria and have done so for six or seven years. Everyone is super excited and we are traveling down to worship with them over the 4th of July. We are also looking forward to being with them on this special day.
It's been hot here...and nearly everyday there have been rainshowers or threats of rainshowers in the afternoon. I am homeschooing through the summer and it works out well since it's very hot here in the afternoons...although I don't homeschool during the hot part of the day. I guess I should to get used to it for our return to Thailand (and go outside to do it too!).
I've been reading the Thai blogs (to the right) and others linked from those from the right, and I find myself missing it a lot. I long to return, I wish we could go back tomorrow (well, maybe next week!).
We are going to see Catherine this week sometime. We're looking forward to that. She works with our team in Thailand.
This coming year I am going to introduce Thai language study into our weekly school schedule. I think PJ is ready for it and I need to keep it fresh. =) I speak Thai to them as it is, but having a consistent program of study will hopefully be very beneficial to learning new vocab and such. I would like to begin Latin with him but I will probably wait a year or two to do that. What a privilege to homeschool.
That's all for now, folks...

life in these parts...

It's been awhile. For those of you who have been around and know the story you know why there's been quiet on the blogging front. For the rest of you, let me fill you in!
About 6 weeks ago we smelled mold in the house we were renting. We informed the landlord and shortly after we discovered the culprit...water in the cupboards that had leaked from the dishwasher. We had no idea and we still have no idea how long the leak was going on. So, the entire kitchen was gutted and even dry wall was ripped out. In the meantime, we found out that our support account is not in good shape. So, we asked the landlord if they would agree to terminate our lease. They declined. And, this coupled with the mold issues in the home we were forced to moving out and terminating the lease, with hopes that the landlord and property manager will not "come after" us. We found out upon talking with a lawyer that the mold addendum that we signed in the lease was a sure sign that there was mold in the home before we moved in and they never disclosed that information to us. SO, it seems their mistake got us out of our lease...though it's not the way we wanted it to go. One VERY important lesson learned...DO NOT SIGN A LEASE WITHOUT A LAWYER LOOKING AT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, we are moved in with Paul's parents, waiting on God to provide for our needs. This summer Paul is raising support and he is also taking a class next week at RTS. We would appreciate your prayers for our family during this time. We are thankful that we had somewhere to go, and a place that is quite familiar to our children. They are doing okay...having cousins closeby helps, but we have definitely seen the transition affect Adele the most. I am beginning to learn that she does not do so well with changes in her little life, but her adjustment is getting better.

Paul and I want to thank all of you who prayerfully support us and who have continued to give financially as well. We are humbled by God's grace and mercy in our lives. He has surely grown us in the past several weeks and has brought us closer to Himself as we face these trials. For that, we are thankful.