PJ

The next three posts are all about the kids...we've had some fun days lately..and full, but fun, none-the-less. PJ has immensely enjoyed spending more time with Emmy lately because Emmy is thru with pre-school and so her schedule is now freed up some to see PJ more! Woohoo. Well, it goes without saying that Emmy is PJ's best friend. We recently had a sleep-over for the two of them (and Rhi and I got to scrapbook) and they had a blast. I don't think they fought once. Now, don't get me wrong, they do fight like brother and sister sometimes but usually they are thrilled to be together. As Rhianna often reminds me, it is such a blessing that they have each other and that we (Rhianna and I) have each other too. Ok, enough about me...





PJ loves to draw. Lately, he has been filling his days drawing or playing with tigers, lions and other animals. He also enjoys looking at animal books and learning all kinds of facts about different animals. He also enjoys making up new kinds of animals and drawing them, such as a sabre-tooth shark- have you ever seen one before? Sounds pretty frightening, huh?! PJ has also been persevering at learning how to read since January. We are half way thru the curriculum for beginning to read (I am using "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) so we have a long way to go, but he is doing great. Some days he needs a lot of encouragement and others he zips right thru.

Picture #3 is of PJ and Emmy and the monster that I found in my oven the morning after the sleepover. It's called a monster pancake and when I screamed and said there was a monster in my oven they both came running in to see what I was so upset about! Needless to say, I got them good! They enjoyed eating the monster pancake with his bananna nose, eyes and mouth.

















The night of the sleepover I decided to make English muffin pizzas, but here in Thailand you can't just go to the store and buy Thomas' English muffins...so I made them from scratch! They were really yummy and we decorated them with carrot eyes and broccoli mouths. The kids enjoyed it and so did we. PJ helped me put on the cheese and then Emmy arrived and that was the end of that and I was left to decorate the eyes and mouths for myself.

Calvin

We've had some fun in the local swimming pool as of late. Calvin has recently graduated to using swimmies and a float ring. Though, he'd much rather perfer not using any sort of floatation device he has agreed to use them...we'll see what happens as he grows!









Our swimming buddies (Asa, Emmy and Aunt Rhianna) make swimming a whole lot more fun, too. Here are Asa and Calvin enjoying banannas for a poolside snack.












Calvin continues to spend much of his days playing with trucks, cars and trains. He makes some really fun noises and I often wonder where do little boys learn to make these sounds?











Calvin also got smeared with Song Khran powder today. Not sure if he got any water on him or not.

Little Miss...

Adele is getting big. She will be six months old on the 21st! It seems like we brought her home from the hospital just yesterday and now she's nearly six months old.
She enjoys smiling, chewing on her fingers and tongue, playing with toys and grasping anything that comes within reach of her small fingers.

She continues to love her brothers and lights up when they talk to her and play with her. She is enjoying tummy time and is rolling from tummy to back but has yet to master going the other direction.

The first picture is with Rhianna (one of our teammates), rarely do we get pictures of Adele with such a big smile, I'm too slow with the camera!



Today, Adele celebrated her first Song Khran (Thai new year started today and will go thru Wednesday) and the Thais made sure she got a little bit wet and also got some powder smeared on her cheek and forehead! She welcomed the water, as it was super hot today and didn't mind the powder smearing either. Notice how red her face is from being out in the heat!

He's back

Hi all...thanks for your prayers for Paul. He returned last night (or this morning) at 3AM. They lost three out of four games and Paul came home with a sprained ankle but all in all, it was a good trip. Good for getting to know some of the guys and good for Paul to share about why he's here. A couple of the guys wanted to come home last night which is why they got in so late/early. Paul was hoping to hang out a bit more in the area but it wasn't meant to be. Thanks again for praying...please keep it up!

Sports and Ministry

Unfortunately for you, dear reader, you don't hear from my dear husband a whole lot and that is due to a couple reasons...1)he's busy, 2) he doesn't like to write so between the two you have to rely on me to keep you updated about him...in which I generally do a poor job. However, let me share a little bit with you about some of Paul's ministry here in Ram 2.
For nearly two years now, Paul has been going to the university campus to play basketball. I don't think when we came to Thailand Paul ever thought he would be doing "sports ministry" but really, that is what he is doing. This type of ministry is one of the best ways to meet Thai men. Many Thais exercise in the early evening hours. You can go to any park nearby (or the campus for us) and see pick-up games of soccer, basketball, and takraw (a game thais play with a little woven ball and you can only use your feet to get the ball over the net), badmitton and walkers and runners. Generally, Thai men are not the easiest group to meet but because of Paul's faithfulness and persistence in sticking with these guys, he is starting to get to know them and be welcomed into their group more and more. He has been playing with the same group of guys for these past two years and has gotten to know Mii quite well (pictured with Paul). Paul considers Mii his best Thai friend and they have done much together from celebrating New Years last year together up north in Mii's hometown to studying Scripture together. And next week, Mii, Paul and six other guys are going to eastern Thailand to play in a basketball tournament!!! Mii invited Paul last week and I must say we are both excited about this opportunity. They will only be playing a few hours out of the day and so that leaves the rest of the day to talk and get to know one another. Please be praying for Paul and the guys during this time. Pray for traveling mercies as Paul will be driving six hours to get there, but mostly pray for God's Spirit to be at work in and thru Paul and in the lives of these 7 guys. Again, who would have thought God would use basketball...and yet He is and does use whatever He deems necessary. Please continue to pray for the campus ministry team as they seek to reach the lost at Ram 2's campus. Pray for many opportunities, thru sports or otherwise, for the team to proclaim the Gospel.

She's HERE!

Dear readers, we said goodbye to Grampy, Grammie, and Josh Friday morning and welcomed Rachel Fastenau this past Friday night to our team for an 11 month internship. We are SOOOO excited that she is here and we already feel like we're family due to all the church family we share in South Carolina. Thanks for sending her here! She has already found two friends in Calvin and PJ. =)




The day Rachel got in, we had her for a lasagna dinner at our home. We invited her roomies (Melanie and the Thai girls) and by the time supper rolled around we had four more. A fun time was had by all and I am just so thankful I made a whole lotta lasagna!


pic #3- Calvin and Adele after church on Sunday before their naptime.
PJ and Calvin enjoyed a little splash time in their "tub." We generally use this kiddy pool as their bathtub (we do not have a bathtub in our house so we had to get creative!) but I decided to take it outside the other day for them to splash around outside. It's been VERY hot here (the hot season has definitely come) and so I thought this might cool them down. Of course, they had a blast but I am not sure how "cooled down" they got as the water never turned cold that I put in the pool. (we have a tank under the house that gets warmed all day long that our water comes from). They enjoyed it, none-the-less!

PJ-ism :
Mommy: PJ do you think you will be a missionary when you grow up?
PJ: I already am a missionary.
*Silly me...of course he is!

For Josh's Momma!

I love you Grace! Here are some pics of your son...we want to keep him!

The Henrys and the Mills

Easter Sunday

We had a special treat this Easter Sunday. Not only did we celebrate the Risen Lord (as we do every Sunday) but we worshipped with a brass quartet for two songs! It was so wonderful. Paul's dad and the Veldhorst children led us in Crown Him with Many Crowns and Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Paul's dad also played a prelude to our English service.





After the English service, we celebrated Easter in our Thai service. During the Thai service, both Calvin and Adele were baptized and Emmy and Asa Mills were also baptized. It was such a wonderful day of rejoicing and claiming God's promises for our children.
Natee, our dear friend baptized our children. Afterwards we had a fellowship meal complete with a beautifully decorated cake that Rhianna and Jan made.

The last two pictures are of Adele and Calvin being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

beauty

Pic #1: View from our bedroom window...pool and then the ocean.















Pic #2: Some of the long tailed boats that belonged to the Sea Gypsies who happened to have a small village right on the beach where we were staying. They slept right out on the sand at night with half baskets to give them a shield from the wind.


Pic #3: The guys on their way to a day of snorkeling several islands. PJ went along on this trip. Paul tethered PJ to himself and he just floated around on top while Paul snorkeled. This boat is a long tailed boat operated by a Sea Gypsy.
The island to the left is Mosquito Island and the one of the right is Bamboo Island. The guys snorkeled both.

Getting to Phi Phi

And here is more of the story of our trip to Phi Phi Island. We got on a speed boat at a port in Phuket (another island here in Thailand). We took the speedboat for about an hour and then we came a lone dock and up a small hill was debris and some houselike buildings. We weren't sure what was happening. We thought, surely we are staying here (See second picture)! (there's no beach, only rocks). So, our boat driver called somone and told us that they were coming to get us. We look and coming up over the hill is the truck shown in picture #2. We all laughed, as you realize quickly in Thaliand, things are not as you expect them to be! And, yes, dear reader, this was our trasportation to our hotel....which was on the other side of the hill and absolutely beautiful.
The third picture is of the family climbing the steps off the dock onto a bridge type structure.
And the last pic is the truck. It took about 5 seconds for it to get into gear once the guy changed gears...it was really great! Classic Thai!!!

Ko Phi Phi

Paul's folks and his 17 year old nephew arrived a little over a week ago. We headed to the beach, a small island in the Andaman Sea called Phi Phi Island, the day after they got in. It was beautiful. The only bad thing was that most of us were sick at some point during the four days we were there! Thankfully, we were still able to enjoy the beach, the ocean and the big boys enjoyed snorkeling at several different sites...and from what I've heard it's been the best in Thailand, so far!










Here is Calvin sitting in a beach chair.

























And, Paul and PJ enjoying a fruit shake in the pool. Notice the beach is just beyond the pool.













And, as usual, the search for hermit crabs was on...and we were not disappointed. Here are Grampy and PJ with one of their finds.

Nap time

Adele in her crib before naptime. I love how the sun shines in her room in the afternoon...the first pic is with the flash off and her room looks that color. She's playing with her tongue...her favorite thing to do to pass the time away!








Getting ready to fall fast asleep with her bink and her froggie and dolly nearby


Good night, Little Miss