A GREAT weekend!

To those of you who were faithfully praying for us, THANK YOU! Our weekend was full of fun (sunuuk) and also good teaching. I guess I should back up and let those of you who didn't know that the MTW Thailand team hosted an English Family Retreat at Cha'am Beach. It was wonderful. We had about 100 Thai folks join us and everyone really seemed to have a lot of fun. I had several Thai people ask me if we do this every year! We hope to. To the left you see a picture of Paul judging some beach games. We did the old baseball bat game where you have to put your head on the top of a baseball bat and run around three times and then run back to your team. Instead of baseball bats, however, we used pvc pipe. It worked just as well, if not better! We left on Saturday morning (around 7AM) and arrived around 11. Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings had English teaching sessions. Because it was a family camp (by the way, the first time we had ever done a FAMILY camp!) we had people from all different levels of English language proficiency. I taught the Adult Intermediate along with one of our interns, Sarah. I REALLY enjoyed teaching. I had women ranging in age from 16 to 47. It was a delight. I was also able to connect with some other mom and and in fact this morning one of them called me! I was so excited and surprised. Paul mostly was invovled with the games and watching our children while I was teaching. He also was able to meet some guys who attended.
Pictured to the left is PJ playing in the sand with his friend Sinai. Sinai is almost 2 1/2 and a sweetie. His mom works with our team.











Here is Calvin with another Thai worker, Pawn. Pawn is due to have her first child the end of September! Everyone wanted to see Calvin and everyone was googly eyed over him. Almost everyone commented that he has such a good personality.
Pictured here is an entire family that attended. This family was so sweet (the mom and oldest daughter were in my English class). They LOVED PJ and Calvin. Please pray for them. They live very close to our office and the mother attends New Community for English classes. 

kitchen, living room, dining room

Another blessing with this house is that it came mostly furnished which means we didn't have to spend extra money on things like a table, chairs, beds, a couch or closets, etc. By the way, in Thailand closets are not built into the room, you have to have them installed or buy a wardrobe, etc. We have been blessed with LOTS of closet space...which is just really wonderful.
Pictured you see our kitche, then our living room which has doors that open up onto that front porch and then the dining room. The downstairs is in an L shape.  

Long Awaited Pictures of our NEW home!

I know, I know, everyone has been dying to see pictures of our new place here in Bangkok. Here is an outside shot from the soi. It is a step up from the house in Lopburi...we have actual glass windows (!) but there isn't as much room to play outside as we had in Lopburi. O well, can't have everything. We are very thankful for the playground down the street a little ways.






This is our "front porch." You will definitely get wet if it happens to rain while sitting on it but I like it. Paul and I both feel like this house has a definite Florida beach home feel to it...in fact this morning as I was hanging laundry out (below) there was a slight breeze and several water birds flying about and I thought, "I feel like I am in FL" except of course I NEVER once hung my clothes out to dry in FL!




This is the "gravel pit" where PJ spends a lot of time playing with his trucks. We really don't have a nice grassy yard but he doesn't really seem to mind. The tree in the background is a mango tree and the tree in the foreground is a jack fruit tree! We have yet to receive fruit from them, but hopefully soon the mango tree will produce. We have been told by our neighbor that the jack fruit tree should give fruit in Nov/ Dec.
And this is our back porch. You can't tell from the picture but it is actually slopping quite badly. Well, maybe you can tell from the picture. You can see our washing machine and "drying machine" and our trusty bike. Notice the wall on the right side of the picture. This wall is what protects us from the water buffalo and goats that graze on the other side. There is some water on the other side too which is why when I was hanging out clothes this morning there were water birds flying about. It's nice to have a little bit of country here in the city! 

The Boys

Here are Calvin and PJ, all pictures taken today. The pics of PJ are of him making silly faces, so don't be concerned that he looks a little abnormal, he's supposed to! I made hamburgers tonight with real groud beef (this is something we didn't eat much of in Lopburi because it was out of the way to buy ground beef). Anyways, tonight as we were eating supper PJ took his hamburger out of the bun and ate the bun alone and then ate the hamburger, picking it apart...not the greatest table manners. I thought it was pretty funny though.

 

No More Blogs?

Well, I just have to admit that after writing my last post most of you regular readers were probably concerned that I would no longer be blogging (and with my absence in the blogging world the past few weeks, I was beginning to wonder myself!). BUT, no, I have thought about giving up the blog in reference to my previous blog on idleness but then I realized that this blog is not an idle use of my time but that it's purpose is to encourage our supporters and also give you a glimpse of our life here as well as help you know how to pray. I think that is happening and so until the Lord shows me that it's no longer happening and that I am just wasting time I will continue to blog. So, there you have it!

So, how to sum up the past three or so weeks in a single blog entry is an impossible feat that I am not really going to try to do. Our new home is definitely up and running. We received our washing machine and stove/oven two weeks ago (that was nice!) and our water is finally getting delivered without any problems too. We have sorta had a routine the past couple weeks but not really. I start back with language on Monday so the past two weeks have been a lot of just having fun and meeting our neighbors in our new neighborhood and hanging out with teammates. Paul, of course, has been working with the five intern guys that are here for the summer. He usually leaves around 10:30Am and gets home around 9PM. He seems to be really enjoying the ministry with these guys and with the Thai students he's meeting at the university.
Perhaps the biggest thing that has been happening in this wonderful country is the celebration of the king's reign for 60 years! It has been amazing to witness how much love the people of Thailand have for their king. He is deeply loved and adored. It's really been a neat time in the history of this country and I am glad to have witnessed it. If you'd like to know some more about it all check out my friend Beth or Kim's blogs...they have covered the topic well.
I have been trying to get out and meet our neighbors. PJ and Calvin are HUGE draws in this department! There is a small playground in our neighborhood and we try to go there in the late afternoons/early evening to meet people. (This is when everyone is out.) Probably those I know the best so far (and it's VERY surfacy right now) are our two neighbors who live across the street. The wife of one family is old enough to be my mom and she told us to call her Khun Paa which means "aunt" and the other family that lives right next door have a little girl who is eight years old. She LOVES the boys and plays with them a lot. She actually came in to our home the other day, it was great. Her name is Faa. Her mom is Khun Noi and I didn't get her dad's name. Please pray for these neighbors. They have been very helpful and friendly.
There is JUST so much to share and I really don't know how to share it all. How do I paint a picture of life here? Maybe I will just have to go out with the camera some day and take pictures!
I will say one really, really great thing about our neighborhood is the fruit truck that drives thru every afternoon to buy fruit from (!) and the "som tom lady" who drives thru on her motorbike/food stall and sells a northeast dish called "som tom" which is unripe papaya salad with peanuts and peppers (and REALLY good!). There is also another truck that comes thru around 7AM that sells Thai soups and veggies, I haven't bought anything from that truck yet becuase I am not really in the mood for a really spicy soup at 7 in the morning. And PJ would probably tell you his favorite vendor is the ice cream motorcycle that comes thru. So, even though we have no market close by we have the next best thing! It's truly great and a blessing.
At the end of our soi about a kilometer away is a fairly large mosque...yes, that is right. I haven't noticed any Muslims in our neighborhood yet but I keep my eyes open. The women are usually veiled here. Only 4 percent of the Thai population is Muslim and most of those live down in the southern part of Thailand. So, when we are at the playground in the late afternoons we can hear the call to prayer and we can hear it at other times of the day too if we listen closely.
The boys are growing quicly and seem to be doing well. Calvin had a doctor appointmet last Friday and he weighed in at 8 kilos! He is a big boy.
As I mentioned earlier I am starting back with language on Monday. PJ, Calvin and I will be traveling to our teammate's house (they have a little girl PJ's age) and we will take turns caring for children while the other is with the Thai tutor. I am planning on doing some very light homeschooling with the kids during this time. I am looking forward to starting a "schedule" with PJ and have been looking forward to this time for some time now. Speaking of homeschooling, I am reading RC Sproul Jr's book "When You Rise Up" and it's getting me even more excited about homeschooling and the WHY of homeschooling. It's good to get our priorities right. I will stop there...another blog on that later!
Well, this is long enough. I will try to post some pictures of our surroundings and our boys! Thank you for your faithful prayers for us...

"...the bread of idleness..."

Since we have moved to Bangkok we now have ALL of our beloved books at hand…and it’s great! I never realized how much I miss picking up a book and reading a few encouraging words (most of our books are spiritual growth/how to raise a godly heritage type books and reference books). I started reading Doug Wilson’s book “My Life for Yours” the other night. I know there is much debate out there on Doug Wilson but I am not going to go into all that here. In the book, Wilson goes through each room of the house and relates it to Scripture. It’s pretty neat, actually and it has caused a great deal of thinking in my little pea brain. Then two nights ago in my proverbs reading I read Proverbs 31. If you are familiar with the Bible then you perhaps may have heard about this “Proverbs 31 woman.” I have heard MANY a sermon on this woman (and I have read MANY a book on this woman too!) and I think every Christian woman desires to be THIS woman and every Christian man WANTS a woman like this. Verses 10 thru 31 paint a picture of the godly woman, the woman who fears the LORD. In my reading the other night verse 27 REALLY stood out to me. It reads (New International Version) “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” And then I continued reading. Then, I believe the Holy Spirit of God stopped me and had me reread the verse, “and DOES NOT EAT the bread of IDLENESS.” “Whoa”, thought I. “Is that me?” thought I. “God are you saying I am sinning in this area?” And, yep, the nasty truth is that I am found wanting, I am oftentimes idle with my time. The great thing about God’s Spirit and His Truth (the Word) is that once God hits us over the head and gets it into our little pea brains we want to obey and please Him in that area though it may be a struggle to do so.
Then on Sunday we watched another DVD sermon from our home church. And Pastor Phil preached on Romans 8. The most striking thing (for me) in that sermon was when he exposited verses 5-8. He talked about our mindset and what we think about when there is nothing else to think about. What kinds of things fill our minds? What kinds of things fill MY mind?? Good question and lately there hasn’t been much down time but as I have been pondering that question these past days I am realizing that it is VERY tempting for me to turn on the TV. (I am not saying the TV is an evil and vile thing in and of itself but I waste time in front of it when I could be doing something that will bring greater glory to God i.e serving my family and neighbors).
It continues to amaze me how God puts all these things together to bring me to understand more of what He wants from me and to expose to me more of my sinful habits and ways. His Word is so powerful and His Spirit so amazing. I do digress…
So, the past two days I have tried to fill the days NOT being idle. I will think, I should turn on the TV while the boys are napping but instead I have not, I have ironed the pile of laundry from the previous days’ load. (And just so you know I COULD justify turning on the TV because it’s Thai TV and there is SOME good in watching it for language ability!). This passage also ties in nicely with the book I am reading by Doug Wilson. He talks about the wife’s domain (the house, just in case you didn’t realize that fact!). So, I have been challenged to have the house in order and clean for when Paul gets home. These three points have come together beautifully and though I am still not perfect (waiting for GLORY on that one) I am much more aware of my time and how I use it.

Last Look at Lopburi Part Two

Khruu Wan taking her turn with Calvin.
PJ having a moment of the packing blues. He has often asked when we are going to "our other one home?"


Last Tuesday was PJ's last day to go to Shiloh and play with his friends there (Shiloh is the name of the OMF Guesthouse and where PJ was babysat in the mornings). I decided to make his last day special for him and for his friends so I made cupcakes for them all to enjoy during their "tea time." It was a hit and PJ felt VERY special. 

Last Look at Lopburi, Part One

Well, it's sad to say the least, but we have officially moved out of our humble little home in Lopburi and are now adjusting to life in the "Big Mango" (as our teammates would say!). Here are some pictures in review of our last five days in Lopburi.

Pictured above is my last teacher at LLC. Her name is Tum. She is the sweetest and best! I LOVE her and I WISH I could have brought her to Bangkok with me. We had lots of fun these past three months.
On our final day of class (the 20th of May) Paul and I bought a cake and some other sweets at the local bakery and took them to the school for our teachers and fellow students. Here are several of the teachers at LLC enjoying their cake and Calvin too!

Khruu Ann, Khruu Toy both take their turns holding onto Calvin and saying "goodbye."

Getting Settled

I am sure most of you have noticed I haven't posted for awhile. I am also sure most of you regular readers are aware that we moved this past Wednesday from our home in Lopburi to our new home in Bangkok. We have been busy this past week cleaning, packing, unpacking, cleaning some more, shopping, and buying and did I mention cleaning?! It seems in Thailand you can never clean enough. It's always so dusty and dirty. Anyway, I have lots of pictures to post but I don't have the time to do it right now. Please be patient the pictures are on the way soon...I promise.
As for how we are doing? Well, we thank you for your continued prayers for us. We have truly felt them. PJ's adjustment has been quite smooth and Calvin doesn't even seem to notice we've moved locations though I think both boys (and mommy too) miss Phii Lina VERY much. We hope to have her visit us soon. We would appreciate continued prayers for us as we adjust to a new rhythm of life here in Bangkok.
Well, I will post some more later, until then please keep praying and THANK YOU! God is good and blessing us with His guidance and assurance.

PJ's Friends

The following are a few pictures of PJ with his friends here in Lopburi.

 

Saying Goodbye

In the past days and weeks I have been thinking a lot about our time here in Lopburi. When we first arrived here and I wondered how I would survive the hot season without a/c throughout my whole house and I wondered how Calvin’s birth would go with me traveling two hours to see a doctor (by choice) in Bangkok. I wondered how my relationship with our house help would go and would I ever be ok with her loving my children as her own? I, obviously, was concerned about my language ability and truly was under the assumption that after a year of fulltime language study I would be fluent in Thai, it didn’t take long to figure out that that is NOT the norm nor the case for me! I was somewhat annoyed that our house here in Lopburi only has one sink to wash our hands in, wash our dishes in and brush our teeth in. Yeah, kinda gross, right?! But, after 10 months of living here, I have adjusted to all of the above and have even found much comfort in our life here. It’s really bitter-sweet to have to say goodbye to it all. From our wonderful house help who is also a friend to the quirkiness of our home here, I will really miss it all. I have found great satisfaction and freedom in jumping on my bike to get to the market or to the local coffee shop to have a coffee with a friend, but in Bangkok, I won’t be jumping on my bike as a means of transportation. Life is really going to change in another week and I am really excited about the changes but I think it might take some time to get used to it all. In some ways we are entering a totally different world in Bangkok and yet SO much is the same.

Last night was our last fellowship group. We spent much time in prayer for the various teams and ministries that the LLC group represents. It was very encouraging to hear the hearts of our friends here and their desire for God’s will to be done in their lives and ministries. A highlight of the night was that Jan and Jose (remember our Dutch neighbors who moved to Bangkok just two months ago) came in from Bangkok. Jose has a language check today. It was great to see them again and tonight we will be eating supper with them.

I think, perhaps, one of the hardest aspects of leaving is the fact that PJ is really going to miss his friends here too. He loves going to Shiloh (where he is babysat in the mornings) and loves interacting and playing with the kids there. I thank God for the opportunity PJ has had here this past year, of being introduced to the Thai language in a very natural way plus interacting with children from different cultures than his own. He is the ONLY American in the group and so it’s been good for him to learn to play and get along with others from other cultures. I thank God that there are other children on our team that he will be playing with in Bangkok but he will also have to make new friends again in our neighborhood and I foresee that being a huge transition for PJ. Please pray with us for God’s Spirit to be upon PJ as he says goodbye to all that is familiar here and will be learning along with us all the new stuff in Bangkok.

Often when I am about to move on from a place that I have lived I do a lot of reflecting and regretting. I realize things I should have done that I didn’t do and things I did that I shouldn’t have done. I always think, “I should have done more for the Lord.” Paul says I am too hard on myself and that I set very high expectations for myself. He reminded me I need to live each day by grace. I agree that this is true of me and I know that it’s not my works that make God happy but it’s the joyful obedience in serving Him that pleases Him; however, I still need to be disciplined with time and energy to be available to serve Him when He opens that door. I am looking forward to a fresh start in Bangkok. I am looking forward (albeit it will be hard at times) to having an open door policy with our home and Lord willing having Thai friends dropping in to see us often. It will be exciting and at times heart-breaking to see what the Lord is going to do not just through our family but through the other families on our team as well living in community with Thai people. Something Paul and I have realized is that we could very easily be so family-oriented that we forget about the lost and hurt world right outside our door. We need to keep the right balance of the two. We don’t want our children growing up to resent us for always being involved with everyone else except them but we are here to proclaim the message of Christ. Please pray for wisdom for us as we seek to strike the right balance. The Lord gave me this verse the other day during my devotions, I will leave it with you.
“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” (Proverbs 24:3-4) Please pray that our house would be filled with wisdom and understanding. Thank you for your prayers!

Babies, Tailors and Haircuts

For those of you who know PJ, he loved (and still LOVES) his "night-night" or pacifier or binky (whatever you like to call it, PJ coined the term "night-night" when he was just a little guy). We are down to PJ only having his "night-night" during naptimes so we are happy about that. It seems, however, Calvin prefers his fingers. Here you see him almost ready to fall asleep with his night-night out of his mouth but a few fingers in. This is a little disturbing to me because you can't just cut off a finger or two when you want your child to stop sucking them...what's a parent to do?!
Earlier this week Paul surprised me with my anniversary present. (We have been married 6 years yesterday!). Anyway, Thai silk is very beautiful here and it is very cheap to get clothes tailor made, so he said he wanted me to go get something dressy made with real Thai silk! I was so excited. So, yesterday afternoon, Phii Lina and I went and picked out an outfit (I will have to show you a picture once it's made) and the fabric. I picked this pretty pink for the shirt and a dark purple color for the pants. I can't wait to get them! You can see in the background the large selection of silk they had and all the colors to choose from! It was a nightmare for me because I am so indecisive but it didn't take TOO long to pick some colors out.



And here is the lady who is going to make my new outfit. I will be picking it up next Saturday. This lady is our landlord's aunt! She has been making clothes for over 50 years! I think she knows what she is doing!
On a final note, this afternoon Paul is giving PJ another haircut. I think the kid eats something to cause his hair to grow. Anyway, Daddy is getting quite good at cutting his hair. This time, I asked if he could do it OUTSIDE instead of inside (less mess!). He concurred. =) 

News

This post is for those of you who don't receive our monthly prayer email (if you would like to receive it, please let me know). We were supposed to be here in Lopburi until the end of July but it seems God is directing our steps to leave about two months sooner than we had originally planned. So, we are moving in about three weeks! Paul went to Bangkok on Saturday to look at some houses and found one for us to live in. We are really excited about it because it is in a great location. It's very close to our ministry center and if you remember from a previous post (January '06) we stayed near a huge park, well that park is just down the road about five minutes! There is a swimming pool and other fun things to do there at the park. Thank you for praying with us for God's leading.
We are going down early to help the team with several interns and a short term team coming. We will continue langauge learning...we still have a long way to go in that department but we are looking forward to serving and getting to know our Thai neighbors in Bangkok. Please pray for all of us as we transition into a whole new world.

New Neighbors!

Let me introduce you to Doyo (the wife) and Morgy (the husband). They are the sweetest couple from Mongolia. They have been living here in Lopburi nearly a year (in June). Doyo is pregnant with their first child due the end of August. I remember when she asked me back in September or October to pray with them that if it be God's will that He would bless them with a child. When I found out their great news, I was so blessed that this sweet couple would be having a precious baby. Ok, so they are not here as missionaries but Doyo is teaching English at a local school. The people at the school decided not to renew her contract but she really wanted to stay in Lopburi to have her baby. So, once again, we all started praying that God's will be done. Just last Thursday she was given another teaching English job and started today. So, how did they become our new neighbors? Well, they had to move out of the house they were living in near the old school (that school provided housing for them) and there happens to be an apartment building (only with three apartments in it) right across the street from us. They called about it and the price is right. So, today they moved in. They had been working all day moving in and getting their house in order and so Paul and I thought it would be nice to invite them for supper. They were delighted that we asked and joined us for a supper of scalloped potatoes, meatloaf and apple crisp! They really seemed to enjoy it too. I was a little concerned with them not being Americans and all if they would really like American food or not but they seemed to like it ok. 

"fanta" to go please

After our swimming time this morning, I walked to a nearby store that sells drinks and snacks. I got an orange fanta...and in Thailand you will most often receive your drink in a plastic bag like this with a straw and ice. It's very convenient when riding a bicylce or a motorcycle. It is hard though when you want to "set" it down... you have to hang it instead! 

staying cool

I think today was maybe the hottest day yet...so we packed up and went to the local swimming pool (it is our day off). Of course, we are crazy foreigners who go swimming mid-day which means we were the only ones there except for some other foreign guy. (Thais go swimming in the evening when the sun is going down or has already set so as not to get "black" from the sun. You might have guessed we are living in a culture that believes it's crazy to sun yourself and get "black"). We had a good time though and PJ had from jumping from the step.

Three months already

Almost smiling (I wasn't fast enough with the camera!). 

"I want my mother"

Here's our new little friend with his mouth wide open waiting for some food. I forgot to mention that this nest was built between two hanging orchid plants off the ground about four or five feet. Also, we think it's some sort of sparrow type bird. It's pretty neat to see God's creation...to look at this creature (I'll admit it's not very cute) but know that God created it and formed it and brought it into this world. It's amazing! 

birth-day!

Here is a new arrival...it happened sometime today! I was so excited, PJ was really excited to see the little bird too. As you can see, there is still one more that needs to hatch. 

Signs of new life

At our neighbor's house we found this bird's nest the other day. As you can see from the picture there are two eggs in there. We have been checking the nest everyday waiting for some action...