Camping, Conference and COLD!

I forgot my camera so I am challenged to give you all the details well enough to keep your interest! We traveled to Atlanta, GA and Chattanooga, TN at the beginning of the month. We were gone about a week all together. We camped, mostly, but thankfully, some new friends and some old friends also each put us up for a night here and there. I must say that the camping part of our plan wasn't planned out so well. Neither of us remembered how nasty fall can be in north Georgia...rainy and cold and it turns out the weather is quite similar in Chattanooga! However, by the weekend, the weather had turned to sunshine, though still quite cold at night. We managed and I can say that I am glad we ALL went on this trip. It was worth it to see so many friends (P'Khiaw and P'Pawn who came with Miss Mary all the way from BKK along with Tim, Dave, the Bronsons and all the newbies...). It was also a blessing to reconnect and chat with those who are friends of Thailand...those folks who LOVE Thai people...and also love us and even a few who love us enough to listen and pray and encourage us through our tears and our weakness...thank you! And, of course, there are those friends whom the Lord has given us in past ministry that we got to catch up with and meet new children and hear what God is doing in their lives. It is amazing how He weaves His tapestry and how that tapestry seems ever connected as we go through life!

The kids enjoyed seeing the change of leaves though, admittedly, wasn't spectacular, it was still beautiful. We enjoyed sweet fellowship with the Cunningham family on our trip home who labored in Thailand 6 years with MTW and are now called home to the USA to live out their calling here. It's amazing to me to hear my 7 year old (who was 4 when the Cunninghams left Thailand) inform his brother that we were going to visit Gracyn who is one of his best friends! As Third Culture Kids those bonds go deep. The kids also attached themselves quickly to P'Khiaw and P'Pawn...as if we had never left Thailand. They were completely comfortable with them and immensely enjoyed being with them.
Looking back on our trip, I am so thankful for it. For the ways God has richly blessed us with relationships that are beyond time and space with our eternal Lord in the very center. He is the glue that binds us together, praise His name!


*pictured above, P'Khiaw holding Adele and Calvin the week we left Thailand*