Just another manic Monday...just kidding!

Mom's Group was a lot of fun this past Monday. We had a small crowd...three women (minus missionaries/staff) but it was still fun. We made homemade pizza with the women! They LOVED pressing the dough into the pans and learning how to make pizza. We had an asortment. Thais LOVE seafood, so we made a seafood pizza, we also made a bbq chicken pizza (my personal favorite) and a Hawaiian style and lastly a regular old pepperoni and cheese. I was asked what pepperoni is made out of (what kind of meat?). Does anyone know? We all decided, for the time being, not knowing was better than knowing!!! =)

P'Pawn shared about God's love and we also talked a bit about Valentine's Day...what we do for those we love. And, as you can see from the pics, we made a heart shaped pizza too!

So, how 'bout you? What do you do to show the ones your love on Valentine's Day?

We give thanks...

It's that time of year...when life gets crazy busy because of all the wonderful opportunities we have to share Christ Jesus with those around us! This morning we had Mom's Group and I just want to thank GOD and thank all of you who faithfully pray for this ministry. We always have such a good time together and I just love that God is forming this group in His way and in His time. We give Him the glory for it. So, I made some pumpkin pies on Saturday for today (the first pic, sorry that it's such a bad shot, but hey, I do my best!). And, since I was the one "in charge" for this week I decided to do a Thanksgiving theme. We asked each of the women to bring a side and we would supply the Som Tam (spicy papaya salad), so that pretty much translated as everyone brought fruit, drinks and two women brought a yummy Thai dessert.









Once we all gathered we got the fruit cut up began to eat our meal. I shared that today was special to Americans because we were going to share with them about our holiday of Thanksgivign and then P'Bee prayed for the food.

We ate and ate and ate (!). And towards the end I began to share the story of Thanksgiving using the book you see in my hand for a picture aid. I then asked them to each write what they are thankful for and why on a small leaf cutout I made and then we shared. I thought they all of them would say they were thankful for their families but a couple of them surprised me and said that they were thankful for Mom's Group! What a blessing to hear...and I know, they might have just been saying it to be nice, but I like to think they really meant it. One lady said that she loves being around Christians at our office and at Mom's Group. So, please KEEP praying! God is doing something in these women's lives and I am just in awe at His work.

As we wrapped up the day of giving thanks I shared with them that it's important to thank God especially when we aren't feeling like our calling as wives and mother's is that great. I am not sure they totally understood but hopefully, one day they will. Their leaves are pictured there. Praise God with us as we see Him at work giving these women desire to be in community with us.

Please pray for our next meeting (December 1). P'Pawn will be leading us in Christmas card making. Pray for her as she prepares to share some of the Christmas story as well as this craft. Pray for our friends' hearts to be opened and that they would also attend our Christmas outreach thru the church and that they would hear the Word of God and believe.

Thank you!

And, on the note of prayer, please continue to pray for us this week. We have another Thanksgiving "get together" for the campus group here at our house Friday night. Pray for all of our preparations and pray for many to come, taste and see that our Lord is good. Thanks so much.

Making "Som Tam" (Spicy Papaya Salad)

Well, folks, we met again for Mom's group yesterday and this week the ladies decided we were going to make "SomTam" or Spicy Papaya Salad for you English speakers. They also brought the goods to make Khanom Jiin with Kaeng Khiaw Waan (noodles much like spaghetti with Green Chicken Curry). It was a lot of fun but I was sad they didn't let me help a whole lot. These women just went to town chopping and cutting and frying and cooking and beating. It was SOOOO good (sorry, Kim and Rhianna, I don't want to make you miss this good food too much but it was really good!).
So, how does one go about making Spicy Papaya salad? Well, it takes a lot of ingredients that might seem weird to combine to a American but they all come together in this Thai style "salad" that once you taste it you crave for more and more and more...right Mom Henry?! First, you need an unripened papaya. If you were thinking ripened papaya...you thought wrong! And, then you peel the skin off of the papaya. You then cut it with a knife about a million times and then scrape the part you've cut into a bowl (see the 1st picture with P'Bee...who is expecting her second baby!!).











Some other ingredients you need are tomotoes and limes (pictured to the left). The small eggplants you see pictured are for the Green Curry.





You also need some peppers. The small bird peppers in the picture were for the salad...and the crabs. =) There are three ways to eat som tam (more really, but basically, three). There is Isaan style (Isaan is the NE part of Thailand where the salad originates from) and they add crabs to their som tam. Then there's Thai style and they add dried baby shrimps (sorry, no pic of those) and there's farang style...sans seafood of any kind! In som tam they also add garlic, fish sauce, sugar, MSG (not always) and another paste of something that I couldn't really get the low down on WHAT it was exactly. The bird peppers are truly what make it spicy. And, in our group yesterday we had from three peppers to 10!!! There was only one woman in our group who likes it that hot...the rest are 3 or even 5. You also throw in a healthy dose of peanuts and beans and then you beat it all together in the crock...as demonstrated below by my friend, Naa. Usually, you eat this dish with sticky rice and fried chicken or fish...and that is just what we did! Mmmmm...so good!


I also learned another Thai superstition yesterday as we sat around and ate. One woman (the one who likes 10 pepper in her salad) is one of nine children! She is the only girl. She is GREAT. I love her...she's so easy to talk to and nothing, and I do mean, nothing, phases her. She is also the second to youngest (I think...but she might even be the youngest). So, she was telling us this story. Her family had all boys (before her, obviously) but their next door neighbor's had all girls. So, the families exchanged crocks and low and behold our friend's family had her and the neighbor's family had a boy! And, they truly believe it's because they exchanged crocks! Pretty funny. They asked if Americans have superstitions like that and I said yes, but I couldn't think of any...can any of you think of things Americans would do in a situation like that? Or any other supersitions?

Thai Dessert

We gathered again this past Monday for our mom's group. Thank you to those of you who are praying. I feel that we are starting to get a core group (after three months!). Anyway, one of
the women wanted to teach me (and Rhianna, but Rhianna is back Stateside for a while) how to make a Thai dessert...which I have forgotten the name. Many of you should be able to order it at a Thai restuarant near you..if you dare. It's really good, though, so I encourage you to try it. It's basically taro balls in coconut milk. We also mixed some pumpkin with some flour and added that to the taro. It was YUMMY! and SO easy to make. The first two pics are of us making the smaller balls that go into the dessert. Everyone helped roll them in their hands. Many hands make this dessert much faster and easier to make!

Then, you heat up some coconut milk, add lots of sugar and some other plant that we don't have in America and boil it for a while.













Then you enjoy with friends. As we ate our dessert we discussed questions from our "Question Jar." Each time we meet, those who are present write down a question they have about family and then we answer them the next time we meet. It's a neat way to discuss a range of topics with a little bit of structure. Please continue to pray for this ministry. Pray for God to encourage each of these women in their role as a mother and wife and pray for us to have an open door to proclaim the Gospel.