Here's my boy

Here's PJ intent on something...not sure what. Notice the rain in the background of the picture. Even though our last day in Phuket was overcast and there was a bit of rain in the morning we still enjoyed this beach, known as YaNoi beach. It was our favorite spot to go to to enjoy the snorkeling, sand and surf.

PJ drawing trucks in the sand

Hermit Crabs Galore!

Of course Daddy always makes things quite interesting around our house by finding critters. PJ is fascinated most times with these finds. One night PJ and Paul went out on the beach with a flashlight looking for hermit crabs, and here you see one they found. We now have about 15 of them living in a cage in our living room. PJ enjoys watching them and I must admit Paul and I do too!

Drop bottom fishing

Paul had never fished like this before. Notice the "reel" in his left hand. All it was was a plastic circle with the fishing line wrapped around it. There was a hook at the end of the line and some bait. You drop your hook and bait in the water and let it go until you feel it hit the bottom of the ocean and then you wait. When you feel the fish you reel in the fishing line with your bare hands...needless to say, Paul got some blisters from reeling! Here he is with one of two fish he caught this way (neither were good for eating). The one pictured here they called a Dracula fish...sounds scary doesn't it?! By the way, Paul informed me that in Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea this how the man fished.

Paul's love of fishing realized once again

Well, we couldn't be around this much water and NOT go deep sea fishing. Here you see Paul pictured with the tuna he caught. It fed us that night (and we think later made us sick but since Paul ate so much of the tuna it really made him sick!). At any rate, it was a delicious piece of meat and Paul had a good time reeling it in too.

Paul in his snorkelling garb

Here is Paul finishing up after some time of snorkelling. On this particular day, it rained a bit so the snorkeling was not so great. On another day, however, Paul came right up on an eel...that scared him a bit as the eel curled up and got in the position to strike. Thankfully, Paul saw him in time and backed himself up!

PJ enjoying the sand and sun

Here's a snapshot Paul got of PJ after filling up a water bottle in the ocean. We went to Coral Island to do some snorkeling on this day. Again, the water was so clear and beautiful. PJ mostly enjoyed playing in the sand with toys and later in the week discovered that he could also draw in the sand...so we drew front-end loaders, bachos, cement trucks, dump trucks, tractors with plows...you name it, we probably drew it!

Where have we been?

Ok, many of you may be wondering what in the world has happened to us...no blogs and no emails. Well the truth is I ran out of time to let you all know we would be on vacation for a week. We decided that now was the best time to go before the new baby, the hot season, summer short term teams and moving to Bangkok, so we took the opportunity and went to Phuket. Yes, the island off of Thailand that got hit pretty hard with the tsunami last Christmas. We had a great time even though it rained quite a bit. The water was so clear and we even did some snorkeling. Here I am swimming off one of the other islands. You can see how clear the water was there. We are now back in Lopburi and back into the swing of langauge learning. While in Phuket it was a lot of fun to practice our Thai and the Thais there were so shocked we knew a little bit of Thai (most farangs don't know ANY!).

Some more Krathongs

A Krathong Float

Here you see a beautifully decorated float. Many communities pull their resources and make these floats and win money for the best float.

Have you ever seen an elephant in a parade before?

What about a whole slew of them? Well, for PJ they were a main attraction in the parade.

Loy Krathong

Ok, so yesterday was also Loy Krathong. Basically Loy Krathong is a holiday in which Thais make these beautiful krathong's out of bannana leaves and trunks and decorate them with incense and candles. Then on the night of the full moon of the 12th month (which in Thailand is November) they light the candles and release these krathong's on the waterways of Thailand. At our language center, the teachers always have special sessions during national holidays to explain to us the customs surrounding the holidays. So, on Tuesday, we had a special session on Loy Krathong...and we got to make a krathong. The sad part about Loy Krathong is that the reason most Thais release these krathong's on the waterways is to appease the spirit of the water. They ask forgiveness for polluting the water, etc and then ask for blessing from the spirit as well. Despite it's pagan origin we (our family and our fellowship group) wanted to join in the festivities and observe this holiday. We ate at the night food area where there are many, many food vendors and then we walked around a bit. Coupled with the actual krathong is a beauty pageant and here in Lopburi, a parade. An interesting point to make about Loy Krathong is that in some parts of Thailand Christians are redeeming this part of culture with their own version. They thank God for the rivers and place crosses on the krathong's instead of incense. They view it as having a fun time with friends and giving thanks to God, the maker of all ALL things. How encouraging it was to hear that many Thai Christians are seeking to transform culture to bring glory and honor to God alone. So, posted below are some more pictures of the festivities.

Like Father, Like Son

Are my predictions of PJ becoming a mechanic coming true? I don't know, but last night he sure was going to town "fixing" the brakes on this bike in our compound. Paul was adjusting the brakes on my bike so PJ took the opportunity to fix the brakes on this one too! He is always fixing something!

A Recent Purchase

Well, here you see it. Yep, our new motorsigh (that is how you say in it thai). Here are my boys with their very serious faces on as we were about to leave the zoo. Notice PJ has his own little seat mounted onto the motorbike. It's amazing how much this two wheeled vehicle has made life a lot easier here in Lopburi though we continue to ask for God's protection over us as we ride. 

A Very Happy Birthday to My Husband

So, here's the love of my life posing for a picture for me. We celebrated his 28th birthday with our fellowship group during the Loy Krathong festivities in Lopburi. We had a great time and our fellowship group really made the night special complete with bananna nut muffins!

New Thai Friends and Update on Soi Dog

The past few weeks have been very encouraging in terms of making Thai contacts. We started going to a church near our home where some other missionaries were attending. They moved to Chiang Mai just three weeks ago but before moving they introduced us to their neighbors. We weren’t sure if these neighbors would take to us but it turns out they have! They live the next street over from us, which is great and convenient. Anyway, we’ve been able to have the little girl (12 years old) and one of her friends (13 years old) in our home for a visit as well as taking them to church with us on Sunday. They like to play games with us (as hard as it is to explain how to play a game!) and they like chatting with us and looking at pictures of our families. It is a delight to see these two young girls desire to go to church. Of course there is a huge language barrier but for the most part they are pretty patient with us and just keep repeating things over and over again until we understand! Anyway, tonight just as I was about to give PJ a shower, the younger girl and her mom stopped by our house. Paul was on his way out to a meeting and yelled in at me that they were here. I was surprised that they had stopped by so late (it was only 7PM!). They didn’t want to come in, but they just dropped off a gift of fruit for us! The fruit is called durian and if you have never heard of it before now let me tell you a little about it. It has yellow flesh and the smell will knock you off your feet, but honestly the taste isn’t that bad. Thais love the stuff and most farangs won’t go near it! I, for one, am thankful for the fruit and am looking forward to eating it with my breakfast in the morning! Mostly, I was humbled by this gift. More and more I am finding the Thais to be so generous in just little ways like this. I can learn so much from them.
Please continue to pray for our relationship with these girls. I believe God has begun a work in their lives. Let’s pray together for their salvation and that they will grow to love and honor the true and living God. Also the church where we are attending has several girls their age that also attend. Pray that those relationships would be firmly established as well.

I also wanted to give an update on the dog issue. This afternoon as we were heading out to our favorite place to eat here in Lopburi, I spotted the dog that bit my shoe last week. The owners have muzzled the dog...so no more biting for that pooch. Thank you for your continued prayers for our safety here. I have been reading verses on fear and have been encouraged by our Lord that He is good and faithful and there is no need to fear. One verse in particular that really stood out to me was in Psalm 23...verse 4, "Even though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." Granted I don't feel like I am walking thru the valley of the shadow of death but I have found great comfort in God's words that He is with us and we have nothing to fear. Elsewhere the Bible says, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" Again I find great comfort in these words. If you have a verse on fear, please feel free to share it with me. Post a comment or send us an email. It will greatly encourage our hearts.

Afraid? Who Me?

Fear. In the States, most people are afraid of public speaking, snakes, roaches and other household pests, and probably dying. (Ok, these are my hasty generalizations of things people are afraid of). I really wasn't a fearful person while living in the States. I think I had a pretty good grounding in trusting God with fears but really I think mostly it was just about having a secure life there. The neighborhood's we lived in where nice, we drove our own car, there aren't as many motorcycles whizzing by to be super concerned about and we were living in our OWN culture. Now that I am living in Thailand, I am learning more about this terrible spirit of fear that Satan loves to ooze on us. If you are a fearful person reading this, I can finally relate. What happened? Well, a dog bite happened. No worries, I am fine and in fact God wonderfully protected my foot with my leather sandal so that the dog's teeth actually went into the sandal instead of my foot. But now I have fear. Here in Thailand street dogs are a big problem. And on our soi (street) there are many! Thursday I was leaving for class on my bike and right out in front of our house a dog ran toward me and bit my foot/shoe. I froze. I was so scared. I couldn't believe this dog bit me, for one and for two there were three other dogs nearby, one also chasing me on my bike, so I just didn't know what to do. After the dog released my foot I began peddling again and the dog started chasing me again! This time I whipped out the billy club Paul had mounted on the bike (for such a time as this!) and was determined if this dog was going to come near me again it was going to get a beating. Thankfully, a neighbor began yelling at the dog and the dog turned around and went home.
This incident coupled with the collision last weekend on my way back from Krung Theep has really put some fear in my heart when it comes to traveling and just living here in Thailand. One of Satan's biggest tactics here in Thailand is that of fear (fear of spirits, ghosts, etc)...and if he can get the missionary to fear then what kind of witness are we to the Thais that we know and are trying to be a light unto? Our lives are truly in God's hands, no matter where we are living. I constantly am challenged to trust God not only with my life but with the lives of Paul and PJ also. So, I guess I am asking for continued prayer for our safety here but more than that, that we would trust God and not fear...because fear is not from God.

Trip to Krung Theep

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment in Krung Theep (Bangkok). It was the one where they make you drink glucose and then draw some blood an hour later. Paul and I decided it would be best for me to go alone this time so as not to interrupt Paul's language study and I definitely wasn't taking PJ with me alone to the hospital. [By the way, I had my second langauge check Friday and did pretty well. I understood a lot but as always there is much to work on with my langauge learning...one area you can pray for me with is that I won't allow my English intonation to affect my Thai tones...big problem right now for me.] So, anyway, all is well with the baby and I haven't heard from the doc so I assume my blood test came back ok also. The baby is 1.3 kilos already and is moving ALL around. I left earlier in the morning so I could celebrate my langauge check by hanging out at a department store in Bangkok before going to my appointment. Would you believe I was able to find a maternity swimsuit that fit me and for only a fraction of the cost it would be in the States? Anyway, I do digress...I went to my appointment, hopped in a taxi afterwards and then hopped on the Skytrain to the Victory Monument stop and there I caught the mini-bus back to Lobpuri. This trip was going along like any other mini-bus trip until our driver slammed on his brakes so he wouldn't plow into the person infront of us stopped on the highway. Then, just as we were all breathing a sigh of relief, the truck behind us plowed into the back of the mini-bus! It didn't feel like a really hard hit, but it definitely had a jerk with it. My immediate internal response was, "Thank you Lord for protecting us." And for the next two hours we waited...for what I am not completely sure but I do know that about an hour after waiting two guys showed up to take pictures and get statements. The police were there right away and one policeman hung out with those involved. In total four cars were involved. As far as I can remember, I think this is the first accident I have ever been in. I just can't thank God enough for His protection over me. Also, about an hour or so after our accident there was another accident just a few yards up the road from where we were hit. It was unbelievable, and traffic was bad too.
So, if you prayed for our safety yesterday, God heard and answered your prayer. I couldn't help but wonder how many of the Thais in the mini-bus with me were thinking that the bus was unlucky or they were having an unlucky day instead of rejoicing that we were spared much. I also wonder if the owner of the bus company will now go and have that particular bus blessed by a monk.
Please continue to pray for our safety as we travel. One of Satan's biggest tricks here is that of fear and I am finding that I am becoming a more fearful person but I need to keep my trust in the Lord and keep my eyes focused on Him and do what He tells me to do...not what my fear tells me to do!

For the love of pork!

Ok, I had to take this picture at the market the other day. You just don't know what you are missing here in Thailand! Don't worry, I have never bought a pigs head and probably never will but I think it's fascinating that they are for sale in the market. By the way, this is the market where I buy our ground beef. That's right, no going to the grocery store and buying ground beef in nicely packaged containers. Actually, Big C (the major supermarket here in Lobpuri) does carry beef but it often is discolored and the meat in the market looks like a better quality and it's fresher. Anyway, I wanted to share this picture and give you just a hint of what it's like to shop at the market! All I can say is that I am glad I am not in the first three months of my pregnancy with all the smells and sights at the market. God's goodness to me is evident in that!

Public Transport in Thailand

Pictured here is what is known as a "song theow." A "song theow" is a truck with a roof over the bed. In the bed there are two benches (hence the name...song=two, theow=bench). It costs between 7 and 9 baht per person to take one of these trucks to where you want to go. There are three different routes in the area where we live in Lopburi. Pictured here is the blue song-theow #1. This one goes past our soy (street).