Thai Mother's Day

Joy Kids...

Jane, the girl pictured in the first shot with little Asa Mills took off with our camera this morning and captured most of the pics for this blog...and she did a pretty good job of it too! Jane has two younger sisters and if often left to look after them as her parents are out working.
Pictured second is none other than Miss Catherine with Diw.
In the third picture some of our Joy Kids girls prepared special songs for today. One was Thai (sorry, I don't know the name of it) and the other was an English song that goes..."Let us pray, let us pray, every where and every way, every moment of the day it is the right time..." What a blessing to see these children proclaiming God's love for us before their parents and grandparents. To God be the glory!
And thirdly, the Joy Kids did another special song.

Outreach

Two Sundays ago, our team hosted a neighborhood BBQ. We invited everyone on the street our ministry center is located on and we also invited friends who live in the area. In the first picture you will see my two friends from the park, Jum and Tum along with Miss Aunt Becky Bronson (as PJ affectionately calls her!). In the second picture we have three of the girls from Maahaadthai, and then we have Tang and Pawn keeping tabs on the fire in the grill...and lastly we have Mot (BBCS intern) pictured with some of the young men from Maahaadthai.

We have another exciting opportunity coming up this Sunday, August 12. Please be praying for our Sunday worship service. It is Thai Mother's Day this Sunday and we are having a special service with the Joy Kids singing special songs and we've invited lots of families to this worship service. Afterwards we will be sharing a meal together in celebration of our moms. Please pray for the Spirit of God to move thru the preaching of His Word. This will be the first time many of them will hear the Gospel. Pray for the Spirit to be at work. Thanks be to God for the work He is doing here! And pray for us to not become weary in doing good.

bound to happen

It was bound to happen that someone would get their head stuck in our homemade baby gate...and sure enough, PJ did! I laughed so hard and then said, "Hold on, I gotta take a picture." Poor kid. =)
And Calvin has been enjoying CHERRIOS!!! Yeah for Grammie and Aunt Catherine for sending/bringing them. Calvin has immensely enjoyed this treat!

St. George and the beach

We spent a few days this past week at Rayong Beach...about three hours East of Bangkok. The country in this part of Thailand is absolutely breathtaking...it helps that it's the rainy season. Everything is SO green and lucious! This part of Thailand is known for its fruit...especially Durian and Pineapple. yum, yum. Ok, the durian I could pass on but the pineapple? yum, YUM! The boys, of course, had fun playing in the sand and PJ and Paul had fun jumping waves...they were actually rather big for the Gulf. It was nice to get away for a few days before the craziness of throwing a third child into the mix. =) And, our fall schedule is so jammed packed on top of throwing in a baby! But, we thank God for the many, many opportunities He is giving us and our team to minister His Word here.

You might remember a long time ago (January '07) I had made PJ a red cross shield out of cardboard. Well, the shield bit the dust a few weeks ago due to an upturned milk bottle that leaked onto it....and I didn't catch it until 3 days later...so we had to "ting" it (throw it away). Well, I decided to make a new one for PJ to go along with the yellow balloon sword he got at the hospital that day. I decided this time, though, to equip Calvin with a sheild as well...and then Paul decided to equip Calvin with a cardboard sword! So, they've had lots of fun running around the house fighting each other...and needless to say, cardboard swords actually can inflict some pain! PJ was quick to point out that Calvin had to be "the bad guy." Of course, PJ!

Basketball Boys BBQ

Thank you to those of you who prayed for our evening of BBQ with the basketball guys from campus. We all had a really good time of karyoke, eating, laughing, chatting, and eating some more! This time we had a couple new faces and some who were here way back in January when we last had a Basketball Boys BBQ. This time, we were much more prepared with a LOT more food..thanks to Bow (Me's girlfriend) and Paul made sure we had enough shishcabobs (not sure on the spelling on this?)...I think he said there were 125!!! Bow made a really yummy fish soup that you eat with this white spaghetti like stuff called Khanom Jiin. When she asked if I wanted to try it, I wasn't too keen on the idea but it was delicious! I had seconds...soooo good! Oh, I also made chocolate chip cookie bars and they were gone in no time! Taa told me that I should sell them...hmm, maybe I will, in my spare time, right?! They were all telling me they were the best in the world..so thanks to Betty Crocker...oh and I even messed up the recipe. Instead of putting in 1/2 tsp of baking soda I put in baking powder. Pretty funny! I think there were about 14 of us all together, including two girlfriends and two Bangkok Bible College interns (Tang and Ying) who work with our team. Pictured above is Ton, Paul and Me messing around!

Pictured above here is Taa (on the left) and Boy (R). These two were SO funny singing karyoke. We laughed SO hard at them and with them. It is truly amazing to me how outgoing Thais are when it comes to karyoke...they are not ashamed or shy in the slightest!

And above is Taa's twin brother, Jay (on the right), Brandon (the American in the middle who works with YWAM) and Nut....showing off their cabobs.

And pictured above here is Ying. Ying actually was an intern with our team last school year but just graduated in June. She is now working with our team until December at which time she is hoping to marry the love of her life and move up north to be a missionary to tribal people. She and Tang, both, are such servants. They came to our home at 4:30 and didn't leave until 10PM! It was so great having them here to talk to the girlfriends that came. Ying and Tang came over last Saturday also and helped me out as we hosted a dinner party for a couple of my English students and their families. Again, it was so nice to have native Thai speakers who love Jesus available to aid in conversation and be a source of general encouragement. Thank the Lord with us because He has give us such great girls to work with here! Ying's older brother also works with YWAM and plays basketball frequently with Paul but he wasn't able to come last night to our BBQ.
So, thank you for praying...please keep praying for these guys and pray for Paul and me to continue to be faithful witnesses. Our prayer and hope is to see this group of guys gathering around God's Word, praying and studying together and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord...please pray this with us. Oh, and Paul hurt his knee the other day, please pray for God to heal it and for wisdom for Paul to know when to play "bas" and when to take a break and pray that he wouldn't over do it on his knee.

Khruu Awe

Well, I am very sad to announce that a dear Christian sister and friend and co-worker here on the MTW Thailand team is moving on. I am sad (as I said already) but I also know God is taking her onto another great opportunity at the International Christian School (ICS) here in Bangkok and so I know His will is being done in her life. And though, I won't see her as often, several of the children on our team will be having her as their Thai teacher at the school. (Not to mention Catherine, our friend who teaches music there) will see a WHOLE lot of her!
We had a farewell lunch for her on Friday at our office building. It was so neat to hear story after story of how Khruu Awe has been a constant source of encouragment and understanding to each one of us...both foreigner and Thai alike. I will say Khruu Awe is always the FIRST person we call when we have a problem...and her absence will be greatly missed. We love her though and we are excited for what God will do thru her at ICS with her students and their parents.

Prayer

Please be in prayer for us Saturday morning (EST) as we will be hosting a BBQ for the university students Saturday evening (BKK time!). We are really excited to do this again. Please pray that our relationships will be deepened and that many of these guys Paul plays basketball with would want to know more about Christ. Pray also for the girlfriends that will be joining their boyfriends...and pray for me and two of our Thai Christian sisters as we converse with these girls.

Thanks, in advance, for praying!

good friends and birthdays go so well together

Right before lunchtime, PJ's good friend, Emmy and her mommy and brother, Asa, stopped by to wish PJ a happy birthday and give him a gift. He received a really cool tool set along with a hard hat. Thanks Aunt Rhianna, Uncle Tim, Emmy and Asa!

And here are the younger two enjoying each other. Calvin likes to look at Asa and Asa likes to touch Calvin's eyes...they are quite cute together...and we have great hopes that they, too, will be good buddies as they grow together.

More 4th Birthday Pictures

Here's a better picture of the cake. I found the design at FamilyFun.com.

Pictured above is Daddy holding the matchbox car holder that hangs on the back of a door to keep all PJ's matchbox cars in...thanks Nanny and Pappy! PJ especially liked all the cool cars to put in the door hanger!

And even Calvin got a couple gifts...thanks Nanny and Pappy for thinking of me too! (Notice the peanut butter and jelly smeared all over his face...oops!)

And Grammie and Grampy always find good books to send our way...here PJ is pictured with "A Hole is to Dig." Can't wait to read this and the Nutshell Library that you got him! Thanks SO much to all of you for making his day so special. We celebrated PJ's birthday during/after lunchtime so he would have the rest of the day to play with all his new toys.

3rd and 4th (TODAY!) birthdays

"When I was one, I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I awas four, I was not much more."
A.A. Milne

Pictured above is PJ at his 3rd birthday...still had a bit of a baby face. He has definitely thinned out, gotten longer and grown up so much in the past year!

Below, 4th birthday...PJ is blowing out his birthday candles. I made him a race track birthday cake and thanks to Grammie and Grampy for the really cool candles and thanks to Pappy and Nanny for the cool race cars to go on the cake...PJ thought the everything was really neat!

More legos...thanks Grammie and Grampy!

Paul and PJ assembling the castle we got for PJ's birthday...over 250 little pieces...what were we thinking????!!! (But, he's a happy and well entertained little boy!)

From the Archives (Birth to 2 years old!)

"You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb." -Psalm 139:13
Pictured above is my absolute MOST favorite picture of my infant PJ. My father-in-law snapped this picture when PJ was only three days old! It's hard to believe he was that little at one time!

Since the day he was born, PJ has not celebrated July 16th (his birthday) in the United States of America. I guess that goes along with the territory of being an MK (missionary kid). His first birthday we celebrated in Ghent, Belgium with several other missionary families. Upon return to the States, however, there was a huge celebration at my parents house in August! This picture was taken then by my parents pastor and the pastor I grew up under for most of my life, Dave.

And three weeks after landing in Bangkok, we celebrated PJ's 2nd birthday at the Cunningham's home. Once again, trucks were the big hit for PJ (can you see them around the cake?)

Basketball and Ice Cream

Because Paul plays basketball just about every afternoon, PJ has a fascination with anything involving slam dunks, basketballs and hoops. So, to add fuel to his fire, Paul made this make shift basketball "net" even though it is made out of cardboard! The boys have lots of fun trying to make "baskets" now.

Last week PJ requested that we should buy some ice cream cones sometime and have ice cream in them. So, when we headed to the grocery store I picked up a box of cones. PJ picked out chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks (really good!) and we filled up the cones. Both boys (and mommy) enjoyed this special treat! At first, Calvin wasn't sure what to do with the cone but he quickly figured it all out.

The past five days have been quite rainy here in our part of the world. Thursday to Friday it pretty much rained non-stop. I know many of you out there are not rain-lovers, but I really enjoy the break from the sun! In Thailand when you have a rainy day it's like having a snow day in PA. There's lots of time for cuddling and reading good books, playing games and even watching Winnie the Pooh. Maybe some of you Floridians out there know what I mean! Unfortunately, when it rains here they are no trips to the park or really anywhere because NO ONE wants to get wet. (And when I say NO ONE I don't really mean we foreigners but mainly the Thais...I think they are afraid of the rain!) When it rains here it also means that my kitchen is a bit cooler for cooking which makes me even happier! So this past week we had things on the menu such as macaroni and cheese, lasagna, stromboli, Italian chicken, etc, not to mention the apple crisp and applesauce for dessert! So, in my opinion, bring on the rain! Dibble, dibble, dibble, dibble, dopp, dopp, dopp. =) Can anyone guess what Dr. Suess book that come (correction...comes) from???!!??