Up and Running!

That's right folks, we now have a phone line in our new house and we are now waiting to get dsl connected but dial up is better than nothing! I thought I would post some pics of recent events. Pictured to the left is Calvin enjoying a piece of Paul's birthday cake (Nov 16). Paul turned 29 years old! We had a nice night together as a family. I made lasagna and a cake to celebrate.





This is a picture of Paul and Andrew Bronson with some Thai friends. Most of those seated are from the campus (the guys he plays basketball with 4 or 5 times a week). The guy on the front left is "Me" and his girlfriend, Bow, is beside him.








And this is a homemade bread cornucopia that Jan Veldhorst (teammate) and I made last Monday for Thanksgiving. I must admit that Jan did most of the creative work on the project...I only helped roll out the dough! 

Frustrated, but thankful!

Well, I came to the office this morning all excited to post Thanksgiving pictures BUT for some reason my pictures from my camera won't download onto our computer. So, sorry. I tried! I will say Thanksgiving turned out to be a tremendous blessing. We had about 27 people total at our home for turkey, mashed pototoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, grits (yes, grits!), squash corn casserole, cranberry sauce, homemade applesauce, salad, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and even a few Thai dishes, pineapple and pomelo fruit. The Thais enjoyed the meal. They enjoyed the sweet potatoe casserole the most...so yippee for southerners who have shared their recipe with me! It was the first time I had ever made a turkey of this size (over 23 lbs!) and it turned out well too! The meal itself was a lot of fun. We shared why we celebrate Thanksgiving, the history of it for Americans and why we, Christians, celebrate. We told our Thai friends that in America people eat and eat and eat and eat and then they sleep, then they wake up and eat some more. They were amazed that a person could eat that much in one day! After eating we did a little karoake and then everyone started leaving because they had class or work to get to the next morning. We want to thank you for your prayers for us. We feel that God had exactly the people He wanted there. (We were not sure how many people would show). It was the perfect amount of people and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Please continue to pray for those relationships to deepen and for God to work in hearts.
I also want to say that Paul and I didn't do it alone. It was a joint venture with Andrew and Becky Bronson, along with our Canadian intern, Tori, and most of our Thai staff. It was amazing how manageable the whole day was because we each had taken a part in preparing and cleaning up afterwards. It was wonderful...words can't explain all the service I saw emulated over Thanksgiving. So, thank you to each of you who helped in such tremendous ways and made being part of a team a joy and a blessing!
Please continue to pray for us as we enter the Christmas season. Pray for many, many oppurtunities to share Christ and the TRUE reason for Christmas...and I want to encourage you out there to reach out during this season...don't just be focused on your family but look outwards too and see if there are hurting hearts around you and really try to minister to them. Christmas is a perfect time of year to tell others of God's grace, love and mercy.
Well, I should be going. HOpefully I can figure out what is going on with my camera!

Just a Quick Note

Hi all! We're still alive and kicking and I am sure you all have stopped checking the blog due to the lack of updates. We still do not have a phone line but hopefully soon! I am at the office trying to get caught up on emails and blogs.
So, here are some recent pictures for all of you. Pictured to the left is cousin Claire with the boys on the Duolos (the ship she sails around on.) We went one night and had dinner on the ship with her...PJ LOVED it! He was so impressed. Claire gave us a tour of the ship. On the tour we got to see the lifeboats that are hoisted way up. Claire was explaining to PJ what they were and how it works in case of an emergency. She said something along the lines of, "and if there's an emergency we get in the boats (which seat about 70 people!) and then crank them down to the water." When we returned home PJ kept talking about "cranker boats" and we were stumped as to what he was talking about but then figured it out...he meant the lifeboats!

On Thursday we went to a local mall where they have an entire kids section with rides. We went with Emmy and Rhianna Mills. Here you see PJ and Emmy very seriously driving PJ's favorite ride...the racecars! (Thanks to the movie, CARS). They had a blast. By the way, it's called Yo Yo Land.







And I can't leave out my dear little Calvin. He is growing so fast. He is very mobile now, getting into everything and having a blast doing it! He especially likes electrical cords and outlets...I think I see a career as an electrician in his future! His second tooth has come in and I think he might be working on a third.







After our trip to Yo Yo Land, PJ, Calvin and I went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. This was a special treat. PJ was a real tropper walking all over the mall and so I told him I would reward him with ice cream. We both enjoyed our snack!

As for Paul and I, well, life has been busy. Paul is seeing some interest in Christianity from a few of his Thai friends. Please be praying for him as he starts studying the Bible with one guy who is interested. Paul can now share the Gospel in Thai using a Thai tract! I am excited for him (I think he is excited too but he just isn't as verbal as I am!) Please continue praying for our Thai language ability to increase.
We are now gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas outreaches in our home and as a team we will be doing several outreach events. Please be praying for us in this busy season that we would keep our eyes on Christ and also that He would bring a harvest from this time. Well, I can't stay and chat long. Thanks for dropping in and I will try to update sooner than next month!!! 

Moved!

Hi all. Just want to say that we've moved. It went off well. No rain and lots of great people helping us. We wouldn't have been able to do it without our team (unless we paid someone to do it!) Thanks so much MTW Thailand for serving us this past week. It was a tremendous blessing.
(And when I say serve, I mean they really served. They mopped the floors, cleaned years of crud off the bathroom walls, washed windows, mopped the floor some more, swept the floors, mopped the floors some more, moved large boxes of books and clothing, mopped some more; the floors were really dirty. (I think we mopped them maybe 20 + times!)

I do want all of you faithful readers to know that we have no phone line at our new house so therefore, limited internet access. Please be patient with us as we get the phone line working. I should say we have a phone line but we can't call out from it...so what good is that?!

The boys are adjusting to the new house fairly well. PJ has been a real trooper this past week and has been very well behaved. Thanks to all of you who have been praying. He does continue to pray for his friends at our old neighborhood and I am hoping to take him over there next week for a visit.

Please pray thatt we will meet our neighbors in this new neighborhood and pray against any evil. Walking to the office today I realized how many more strangers are around this new house and it would be very easy for me to become fearful. (The house is very near to the university which means there are a lot of students walking down our soi to get to the campus.)

One other bit of news is that Calvin got his first tooth last Sunday!!! I think he's working on the second one now.

Thanks again for your faithful prayers.

Henry Hermits

Well, yesterday, Paul took some photos of our "pets." That's right, lest you think we no longer have our hermit crabs, think again! We have several and they are huge. Paul brought five really big ones back from Phang-Nga when he went there in July. So, he asked me to post some pictures of them on the blog. We picked up this piece of driftwood when we went to the Myanmar border during our vacation for 20 baht or something cheap like that. The crabs love crawling all over it and I think they are always trying to escape somehow. All in all, hermit crabs are incredibly easy pets! You just can't forget to water and feed them or they will die (we learned this from experience).
 

PJ

PJ got to hold our newest team member, Asa Jeffrey last week. He was very honored to hold the little guy...thanks Aunt Rhi and Uncle Tim!










Also last week, we had some guests over. Pictured with PJ is a little boy, Guitar. He is about three months older than PJ and they have a blast playing together. Usually they are outside riding their bikes together but this day Guitar came over and played inside our house with PJ's traintrack. They had a great time together. As you can see, Guitar made a classic Thai move during the photo! Guitar's mom will be having another son, his name will be Organ, in just a few weeks! 

Calvin Lewis

I thought I would post some recent pictures of Calvin. Calvin is often caught with some very funny expressions on his face. He was having some issues going to the bathroom but we've cured that with good 'ol prune juice! Everything's running smoothly now!


During this rainy September afternoon, PJ and Calvin were enjoying a Thomas the Tank Engine cartoon (in Thai) that one of our neighbors gave PJ.









I think this has to be the funniest picture yet of Calvin. After looking over our new home we all piled into the truck and I turned around to see how Calvin was doing and he was just sitting there making this hilarious face. What made it even funnier was that he stayed like that for over a minute! 

It's official...I can drive!

Yesterday found me, Paul and our teammate Kim at the transportation office here in Bangkok. Paul and Kim were hoping to renew their licenses and I was hoping to get mine for the first time. Well, Paul and Kim found out that their licenses have to expire before they can get them renewed (and they found out they have to have a few documents in tow as well before they’ll renew it.
So, anyway, I did get my license but of course it wasn’t without adventure and much confusion (not because the Thais aren’t organized but because I am not a native Thai speaker, so things are always confusing when doing business type stuff.) So, I got there and had to get my picture made for my license, I had to get several copies of different documents, and I had to get a clean bill of health from a local clinic. (The last item is what caused the most adventure for me!). Basically, we all went together in a taxi to the transportation department along with Calvin. Our new teammates watched our kids (hurray for Becky and Andrew Bronson!). So, when the lady asked me if I had a form from a clinic okaying my health I answered no. She said, “you can get on a motorcycle taxi and go to the nearest clinic to get a clean bill of health.” (all in Thai of course). So, I asked Paul and Kim what they thought and we all agreed it would be much faster and easier if I just hopped on a motorcycle taxi and went along…so that is what I did. I must say it was actually a lot of fun! He weaved in and around traffic and had me at the clinic within five minutes and back to the transportation department with in 10. (When I got to the clinic the secretary didn’t even check me, she just filled out some form, I gave her 50 baht and that was the end of it!)
So, I had to take some tests, four actually. One for depth perception, one for dexterity, one for color blindness and one for peripheral eye sight. I must say they weren’t the easiest tests I have ever taken but I passed with flying colors and now I can drive!!! Yeah!
Even though I can drive my dear husband will be taking me on some test runs to help me get used to motorcycles and other traffic that we don’t have in the States. So, I think the real test will come…if my husband will pass me! =)

As for what is going on politically here in Thailand. We are feeling very safe. Everything is running as it did before, you wouldn’t even know that there was a coup. We thank you for your continued prayers for us and for this country.

Also, posts have been few and far between lately because we’ve been super busy. We’ve welcomed one couple (Andrew and Becky Bronson) and one more short term intern, Tori. For those of you who don’t receive our monthly prayer emails, we are getting ready to move again. We will be living in the Ram 2 area where our ministry center is located. We are close right now but still far enough out of the Ram 2 community that no one from there really ever stops by. Our new home is right across from the campus and within walking distance to our office, interns, the market, university and lots of other stuff. Please be praying for us as we move again. Our move date is October 2.

Well, I just wanted to touch base. The Lord tells us, “Do not be afraid, for I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Isn’t it wonderful that when there is a lot of uncertainty, we can trust in His certainty and faithfulness to us?! To God be the glory!

For Wildwood PCA

This picture is mainly for Wildwood PCA. It was taken this morning (Sunday, September 10). Let us know if you have any problems getting it off of this site. =) 

Some more pictures

Well, just as we have songs about "hot-crossed buns" and "I'm a little teapot" the Thais have fun children's songs about making Som Tom...a very good Thai salad made from unripe papaya. Here they are adding the fish sauce!
Playing the guitar in the background in Rin and the girl in the striped shirt is Dang, both from Bangkok Bible College.






They also played the balloon game where you have to pop each other's balloons. Pictured in the orange shirt is Mot, another intern.










Here's Dan, Mot and Rin with their class of English students. The children each have been provided with a Children's Bible as well, in Thai, of course. 

Highlights from this week

This week was a fun one. Pawn, one of our Thai staff and her husband, Chai, are expecting their first child next week (the 15th!). When I was pregnant Kim had a baby shower for me and Pawn (who didn't know she was pregnant at the time) told Kim, "When I have a baby, I want a party like this!" So, we had a baby shower for Pawn and Chai and their little guy. This is not a Thai thing to do so it was a lot of fun to "shower" them with things to prepare for their new arrival. She got a lot of nice things.

The only thing non-American thing about the baby shower was that Pawn insisted on making the food. So, she and Yu (another one of our Thai staff) made yummy spicy glass noodle salad and a pumpkin curry.
Pictured from left to right: Pawn, Phim (the cleaning lady for the office), Yu, Irene (intern here for 4 months), Kim, Chai, and Jan (Dave's wife).








We also had a huge thunderstorm on Wednesday evening. I think it rained nearly three hours...maybe longer. Usually in Thailand rainstorms don't last that long. At any rate, this was the road in front of the office three days after the rains came...still flooded!














Yesterday we ended the week by going to Maahaathai slum. Our team leader, Dave, usually goes with the four Thai interns from Bangkok Bible College. (We have four Thai interns, two guys and two girls. They come every weekend to work with our team.) The interns lead the children in singing and some games and then they teach them some English while Dave teaches about four adult women. Yesterday Dave and his family had to go to Cambodia for a visa run so we filled in for him. Paul and I taught the adult women. We worked on some pronunciation issues. For instance, we would read "fly an airplane" but they would say "fry an airplane." We also worked on the "v" sound...Thais don't have this sound in their alphabet and pronounce it as "w" instead. It was a lot of fun to see the kids laughing and playing some fun games. Pictured here they are playing some sort of shooting game. I must admit it was hard to understand what my role was in this game at first! Eventually I got onto it though. 

The Border

We also were only about 15 KM away from the Myanmar (Burma) border. So, on Saturday before we left we went to this market that is located there. Behind Paul and PJ you see the actual border crossing. On the other side is Myanmar.
Because we were at the border there were also a lot of Burmese people walking about. Most of them had gold powder or something on their faces painted in squares. The men also wore sarongs. We only saw three other foreigners there, so you can imagine the excitement of the Thai/Burmese when they saw the boys.
They had lots and lots of plants and orchids for sale as well as an aray of different things.
And here I am standing outside a small shop but notice the sign that says Myanmar 1KM and the fat Buddha. As Paul and I looked at the Burmese language we said, "that looks incredibly difficult to read!" 

Dirt roads and fishing villages

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the dirt roads or the fishing villages but we did travel around about two hours on Friday morning in search of the perfect beach! It was so interesting though to ride around on these dirt roads and see the Thais knocking coconuts out of trees or watch them putting out sardines on these blue tarps to dry in the sun (millions of them). Of course, all of this was right along the beach or close to it. We say many, many fishing boats getting ready to go out. We finally found a beach that suited our needs and at this beach there was even a restuaruant right there. So, we ate some good Thai food and then played.
On Saturday, before leaving for home, we did two things. First, we stopped at this place that had two engines sitting outside of it. We told PJ we would let him see them up close. So, Paul and PJ climbed all around and checked out these engines. The second thing we did was we went to the Myanmar border (above). 

The guesthouse

The guesthouse, in my opinion, has a great set up. They have a swimming pool, beach access, a tv room, chidren's playroom, playground equipment, a lounge for reading, listening to music or playing games (games are also provided!), they also have another open room where there is a ping-pong table and some more tables and chairs for relaxing. Paul and I did play some ping-pong but I think I only beat him once! There are four hammocks hanging near the beach and several other places to sit outside. I think the best thing about it is that there is a daily laundry service and all meals are provided for you (all included in the price!).
There is also a trampoline! So, we all had fun bouncing on it from time to time. Of course, PJ really loved it but I think Paul had just as much fun as PJ did on it!
About 1 KM away from where we were staying was a really nice acquarium. Pictured here is a tunnel they had. There was a girl inside the tank in scuba attire feeding the fish while we were there. It was really neat. The great thing about this is that it was free! When we were in Phuket last year we went to the acquarium and it was not nearly as good as this one and it wasn't free. 

Prajuab

Well, we arrived safely home from a week full of restful relaxation! I think it was maybe the first time I really relaxed since being in Thailand...it was great! The only down side is that it really made us (Paul and I) really miss Florida and our frequent trips to the beach there.
PJ and Calvin both loved the Gulf and swimming in it. Last year when we went to Phuket, PJ absolutely did not like going in the water but this year it was hard to keep him out! Calvin also enjoyed being carried out to deeper water and playing in more shallow stuff. Pictured to the left is PJ eating an ice cream on one of the beaches we went to nearby to where we were staying. Oh, some other good news is that we didn't see any jellyfish (yeah!) and the water was crystal clear AND it only rained one afternoon/evening! We were able to spend two of our four days away at two different beaches close to where we were staying. The guesthouse where we stayed does have a beach but it's not the best for children and, of course, we like to explore, so we did!
This picture is Paul taking a walk on the beach in front of the guesthouse we stayed at. There are many islands dotted along the Gulf of Thailand, if you look in the distance of this picture you can see one.
These two pictures were taken one right after the other. On this day we went to a local national park that included this nice beach. In the background you might be able to see a small glimpse of two islands. Paul was hoping to snorkel at these islands (it looks amazing from the pictures the park has of it) but the cost deterred him. Appartently because it's the off season the price is more expensive...we were a little surprised at this. At any rate, we still had fun playing in the water.