Zbpost

Fear

2011-09-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

I have been working with my daughter specifically on some fear issues. I feel determined to teach my girls to push on through the fear and not let fear keep them from moving forward in an area. Just recently we read 2 Timothy 1:7  For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  As we are memorizing this verse and walking forward, the Lord reminds me that some of my former fear issues tend to raise their ugly heads.

What do I fear?

*I fear working on this language but still not being able to communicate with those around me. (ie. Carry on basic conversations)

*I fear being alone and not having friends to hang with.

*I fear getting fat.

Ok, I said it. Right now, those are some of my biggest fears—yes, and I recognize that 2 of them are vainly selfish and related to me. (I won’t even go into the fears related to my children at this time)

Psalms 32:3 says, “When I kept things to myself I felt weak deep inside me.”

So, instead of not putting a name on it like I can tend to do when I am going about my busy days, I will put a name on it and confess it. I know this fear is not from the Lord, so I am going to confess it to him (and to you). If I am not careful, I can start to feel dread, hopeless feelings when I don’t put a label on my feelings.

Isaiah 41:9-10 New Living Translation (NLT) says
  I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

So, now, I have a choice. Am I going to practice what I preach or am I going to give into fear?

What do you fear?

Pushing through the fear in His strength,
Jamie

God Be Merciful To Me

2011-09-05T05:25:00.001-07:00

What a whirlwind of a few weeks! God has been faithful. He has been good. Started language back today and was reminded after just one day, how much language takes out of me. It makes me a little less willing to engage with my family, a little less likely to want to look for those contacts, missing PE shirts, etc. I’m making recordings that I store on my computer in ITunes and they play in a loop. After the last one played the next track to play was Jars of Clay, “Lord Be Merciful To Me,” and I thought it was very timely! I need his mercy to make it through my days esp. when I am in language study!

Here are the words:

God be merciful to me on Thy grace, I rest my plea
Plenteous in compassion Thou
Blot out my transgressions now

Wash me, make me pure within
Cleanse, oh, cleanse me from my sin

My transgressions I confess
Grief and guilt my soul oppress
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face

I confess Thy judgment just
Speechless, I, Thy mercy trust

I am evil born in sin
Thou desirest truth within
Thou alone my Savior art
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart

Make me pure, Thy grace bestow
Wash me whiter than the snow

Gracious God, my heart renew
Make my spirit right and true
Thy salvation's joy impart
Steadfast make my willing heart
Steadfast make my willing heart

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice

From my sins, oh, hide Thy face
Blot them out in boundless grace
Now, you might ask….”What sin are you confessing?” Well, since you asked…. :>

I’ve been reading in Numbers lately, about the Israelites complaining in the wilderness. (Why do I have to be in language study AGAIN?) I must confess that tends to be me! Nope, I don’t tend the have the optimistic outlook of Joshua and Caleb, but instead tend to see what are hard, needs to be changed or fixed about a situation. At one point in the story Moses says, “I wish the Lord would give his spirit to all of them,” and then I think: “I HAVE His spirit. There is another time in the story that the Lord says to Moses, “Do you think I am weak? Now you will see if I can do what I can say.”

Last wk, riding in the car K and I were having a conversation. I was trying to get him to understand the seriousness of this menopausal brain lag and confusion and I was complaining about not being able to remember things. K looked at me and said, “honey, I think this is going to be one of those times when you are going to have to rely on God and his faithfulness. His faithfulness to help you remember.”

Gracious God, my heart renew
Make my spirit right and true
Thy salvation's joy impart
Steadfast make my willing heart
Steadfast make my willing heart

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice

From my sins, oh, hide Thy face
Blot them out in boundless grace

God be merciful to me on Thy grace, I rest my plea
Plenteous in compassion Thou
Blot out my transgressions now

New School yr

2011-08-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here we are again at the beginning of a new school yr. It is hard to believe. Malia is a junior, Savannah a sophomore, Noah in 8th grade and Sage in 7th. This is the beginning of the 2nd week of school. The sun is shining right now but it's been a very rainy week. Kel and I have decided to do something different this yr. We are taking a course at Hope in Ft. Worth early on Monday mornings. It is a counseling course...or rather a living in community and helping those with serious problems type of course that we hope to be able to incorporate into our ministry here.
Please pray for us. I am still in jetlag so feeling a serious slowness after getting up that early this morning but we are committed and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of something Hope related. It's been a long time. Modern technology makes it possible and the commitment and hard work of Sallie and Randy to make it happen.
I'm still unpacking and reorganizing the house and am putting off getting started this morning. i just do not know where to put all of the things. :> We are considering moving the boys upstairs but are not sure if that is the best thing to do or not. We need to sell our elliptical along with 2 beds. I would like to clear out more books but it's really hard for me to do that, esp, since it is so hard to get books here. The Kindle makes it a little easier to do that.
The ATM machine ate my card on Sat. so I need to call and find out what is up with that. I, also need to go up to the school at take a check for Malia's ACT. Tonight for supper we will have meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. Kel is still getting all his tickets together for his travels this weekend. Pray for him because the Thai Leaders training he has been so excited about starts on Sat.

A New Sis!

2011-04-05T21:39:00.001-07:00

Prov 8: 34-35 "For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death.”
Finding life…..this is why we are here and this is why we are doing what we are doing. God continues to amaze us. Last night, the ladies went back to visit a couple of the girls they met last week and S was very excited to see them. She was like an excited child when they shared with her that Jesus is not dead…..”He’s Alive!” She jumped up and down and shouted, “He’s Alive!” Then she told them she really, really wanted to pray and believe and after they prayed with her she said, “I believe, I promise, I promise!”
A few blocks away we were sharing with another lady in a bar a few blocks away. She had never heard the name of Jesus before and didn’t have a clue the difference between Christianity and Buddhism. She did not want us to pray with her or even share a blessing with her. She enjoyed visiting with us, though and would not let us pay for our own drinks (her husband owned the bar). Pray for her and for her to continue to remember our conversation. On our way back to the car we met two other girls that we promised to come back and visit next week.
Now we will follow up with S. Please continue to pray for her and pray for us to have wisdom as we disciple her. Keep praying that we are able to locate the two believers in the foot massage places near the Empress. One of the girls and I will go this weekend and try to find them.

What???

2011-04-01T00:26:00.001-07:00

God continues to amaze us. He has brought us to people who have been involved in the ministry before—one has even decided to join us. He has confirmed our leanings for the purpose of the group not to be getting the girls out but to take them the good news. This past week two ladies had some exciting conversations. They prayed that God would go before them and give them opportunities to talk with the girls. They also asked God to confirm we are going in the right direction. God answered their prayers. One of the ladies noticed some of the “girls” reading tracts. It seems like someone had come before them on that day, sowing the seed. She was able to encourage them to read them. They ended up at another place—saw the same tract and were able to have some good conversations with two ladies about the tracts they were reading. Some of the conversation went like this:
"Did you know that you don't have to give money to God? He will help you even if you don't pay him." She responded. "Really?"
One of the girls mentioned that she was having difficulty praying to God because her English wasn’t very good. She was encouraged that God could hear her Th-ai prayers and she could pray to God in Th-ai. This was also new to her.
Please continue to pray for God to lead and direct us. We have heard about two Christian ladies that work in the area that we want to try to find. Pray that God will lead us to them. Also pray that God will continue to guide each step that we take. It has been a surprise to see God using the different strengths and gifts of the ladies to work together in this ministry. It is truly a pleasure and privilege to be walking this path together.

What does she look like?

2011-03-05T03:15:00.000-08:00

What does a bar girl look like coming to a conversation class? What form of transportation does she take? What is she wearing? Does she always look like a bar girl? Or does she sometimes look like a student? As I stood outside the hotel and waited for someone to show up I pondered these questions. I’m guessing they don’t come in tuk tuks or taxi’s. Those are too expensive--Probably not in vans or cars either. I’m fairly sure she is not the women with a scarf on her head. There sure were a lot of them today. I’m pretty sure she’s not the middle aged over dressed woman or the younger nicely dressed one for that matter. Could she be the one in jeans who walked by with that young man who had the oversized purse? Could she be the two that walked in dressed in red lace and white satin painted to the hilt? I watched them walk in. Possibly. They never came back out. Their clothes didn’t exactly match the normal clientele of the hotel. Would it be the young woman in short shorts running across the walk way? I noticed a baby bottle in her hand. I’m pretty sure that is not one of the girls we talked to. What does a bar girl look like coming to a conversation class? Well, the answer to that question is yet to be determined as we didn’t have one show up for Coffee and Conversation today.

What did we learn from this? Perhaps we are on the right track considering taking things slower than faster. I think it’s quite telling that we didn’t even really know what to expect them to look like. We need to get more information about what their life is like outside of the bars, as well as inside of the bars and what their needs are. Thankfully, he is providing opportunities for us to do this. The more I hear and understand about this ministry it doesn’t sound like it has been that successful in this city in the past. Am I discouraged? Maybe a little bit. A teeny, tiny little bit. Because I know God has called us to do this and we are taking one step at a time in obedience to him. I trust that he knows where they were today. He knows the number of hairs on their head. I am grateful to him. Why didn’t they come? Maybe the hotel we picked was too nice for them to come. We can trust him to make clear our next step---Just our next step forward. That’s what we are asking for. I'll let you know when I find out what they look like. I'm guessing she's a lot like you and me.

Moving forward....

2011-03-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

We continue to move forward with these girls in fear and trembling. I laugh, as I thought about the other night. There I was....at 10 pm at night--walking down the streets in CM--without my husband, trying to engage people. For those of you who haven't been around me in a long while, I know it's hard for you to imagine that after 15 years of living in Asia and not being able to communicate like I would like with those around me, I have become an introvert. Not only am I an introvert, but I am a Morning introvert--which basically means I get up early and am pretty much down for the count by 8:30. (that means pretty useless) I had a long day of basketball so we were unable to go out until 8pm. The week was full so we decided we couldn't wait for time on the schedule we were just going to have to do it and so 8pm was the time. We needed to follow up with the girls we had taken the gift bags to.
Six of us went out this time. We spent time before praying that God would lead us to ONE person. This time we took small cards inviting the girls to Coffee and Conversation at a nearby hotel on Sat. afternoon. I have to say when we planned on Coffee and Conversation on Sat. our thoughts were one or two people might come. We decided on the hotel because it was easy. We knew the girls would know it and honestly, I didn’t have time to go down there and scope around for another place. We decided on 3pm because I may have another child playing in a basketball tournament until later in the day—probably not—but may.
Three of us stood around the corner praying while three of us went back to the first bar. (never thought I would say that in a post, did you?) We recognized some of the girls as we talked to them. While we were talking, one girl was coming out with someone and tried to come and talk to us. She was one of the ones we had met with before. It was encouraging to us that she wanted to talk to us again. One of the other girls seemed very open and gave us her name and seemed to want to engage us more. We hope she will come on Sat.
We then went back to join our Pray-ers and regrouped and prayed some more. Then we walked down the street, mapping out the place and looking for others. In an unexpected turn of events we were able to invite a larger group who seemed surprised that we would offer this to them. She went inside and asked permission to come and told us they all would be coming.
We also met a lady boy on the street and were able to pray with him for his new business. It was an interesting turn of events when he told us he is a Christian—or was one in university. We need prayers regarding whether to follow up there or not. He gave us his telephone number.
So, here we are….getting ready for Sat. We are planning to meet in the hotel coffee shop because that was the original plan. We will be thrilled to have one show up—remember we prayed for ONE. :> (I know, O me of little faith!) We had to pull some others in to help us since only two of us can be there on Sat. just in case we have more than that. We have a tentative plan but will adjust as needed. We are focusing on conversation…hoping to make it more like an English club than an actual class. Most of these girls have had some English instruction.
One of the other things I keep asking God about is that we are all mom’s-- with other jobs with very little time-- to put into this kind of ministry. We can’t think about it, plan and focus on it all day because we don’t have time to do this. We send up SOS prayers, spend hrs in the middle of the night praying, pray before, during and afterwards and just ask God to move. Not to mention the fact that none of us has studied the language full time or really have very good language. Several of us can spit out words and phrases and one of us can carry on a decent basic conversation. What are we doing? Right now, we are just being obedient, moving forward one step at a time. We know he’s told us to move forward so we are just doing the next thing that we know to do.
Please pray for us on Sat. Pray for the girl(s) who are coming and pray for wisdom and direction for how to share with them. Pray that God communicates clearly through us. Pray that God will already be stirring their hearts and drawing them to him. And, then pray that God will make it clear the next step forward.

Basketball Ending

2011-03-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week with basketball tournaments. The JV girls won their tournament in a tight match with CMIS for the final victory. It was a night we will always remember since they lost this same game last yr and had to fight hard to win. It wasn't easy for us mamas sitting on the sideline to watch the girls shooting free throws with tears streaming down their faces.

They were asked to be the fill in team for the Varsity tournament this weekend and will play Grace Varsity girls in the morning semifinals. They had a fun time last night in the last game they played and decided to "play for fun" because they didn't really want to win so they could play our girls in the semi's. They want our girls to win the varsity tournament and did not want to play them in the final game. The varsity girls are better in skill and formation than we are but we hope to give them a run for their money in speed and determination. Last night they did a few funny antics like Starfish during the game. You can ask Savannah about it if you are curious. It was nice to see them playing for fun after the intensity of their last few games.

Our boys won their tournament on Wed. also. We had a big upset with CMIS where we came from behind to beat them. Our boys were not playing in their best form in that first half. One of the guys scored 3 3 pointers in the last quarter. This is Under 13 yr olds! We were astounded! Our Noah got back in his groove the 2nd half of the game and their tall guy only scored 2 points the second half of the game. (Noah plays center) Sage went on to really show his skills in the last game of the tournament. I'm pretty sure his position is point guard. He's the one who takes the ball up and down the court for all of those lay ups.

This basketball gives us a fun, free source of entertainment a few months every year. The boys will have to work really hard to make the team next year since they are moving up to the JV category. There is much competition at that level.

Achilles Heel

2011-02-22T03:36:00.001-08:00

My sweet friend asked me today….”What is your Achilles heel?”
Wikipedia says
“An Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall
strength that can actually or potentially lead to downfall.”
She said, “You need to know your Achilles heels so you can bring them before Jesus recognize them and place them before him when they appear. There is nothing new under the sun—Satan is going to keep going after you in the same ways. Recognize them for what they are and let Jesus speak to them.”
What is your Achilles heel?
What keeps going through your mind again and again that cause you to feel unfit for ministry? What keeps going around and around in your head that make you feel like a failure at being a wife and mother? What keeps going through your mind again and again that makes you feel like you’re not a good friend?
My friend is very special to me because she’s not an old friend. No, she’s not one of these that have been around for years and years and no she probably isn’t going to be one that will be sticking around for years. God has brought her into my life for a season. What I most appreciate about my friend is that she has some of the same spiritual gifts that I have. She is also a truth seeker and truth speaker….like I tend to be. She’s older than me. And she pursues God with every fiber in her being. What a treasure this friend is to me.
Could it be living something other than moment by moment repentance? (yes, and that’s a quote from another friend!) :> “Conviction calls us to Repentance, Not shame.” How do I avoid living a cross less life? …….Moment by moment repentance and taking a good look at my Achilles heel(s). Repenting and resting in Christ’s work as I confess my sin daily and ask for his forgiveness and grace. As I do this, receiving a Godly self-forgetfulness and looking at Christ—not my sin. As this happens I receive new energy, joy, gratitude, hope, perseverance and purpose.
Sometimes I like to just kind of ignore my weak spots, my places of weakness and just kind of pretend they are not there. Or maybe confess them but that often turns into a type of ruminating of them that leads me to shame and despondency instead of conviction and repentance. They usually are not new weaknesses. They are the old ones rearing their ugly heads again and again.
I am having opportunities to live joyfully through my Achilles heel. Will I continue my quest for joy and thankfulness during the midst of it? I am thinking more on this topic and will write more later.
In the mean time….prayers are being answered. Patti recently wrote:
“My friend said that her maid wants to open up a bakery
and she really wants to teach women. The maid is a strong believer,
an incredible cook and also wants to disciple women???
My friend had no idea at the time why I was asking about her maid.
So now, we have a lead on a national partner! God is good.”
This was the day after we asked you to pray for a national partner. We have other M women here who want to be a part. Continue to pray for wisdom and direction. Pray for my partners who are meeting with another expat this week to get more info. Patti and Ann are also going back to visit the girls this week. I won’t be able to join this them week. But, God knows his agenda for me. I am hoping and praying to be back with them next week.
Blessings!

2011-02-16T00:34:00.000-08:00

This is what Ann wrote about today:
“Long story short ... Our small team planned to distribute gift bags to the entire bar girls in our city (over a period of time). But we had no budget to do so. Last night on our walk I told Joe, "I'm just going to be George Mueller and trust that if God wants us to give gift bags, then he'll provide the funds." This morning I woke up early and prayed again that God would provide the fund if this is something he wants us to pursue. Just before lunch, Joe walked over to my office with the news. We received a very substantial financial gift from a donor we've never met to address child exploitation in Thailand. Yes! God is still moving and working.”
Yes, I have numbly been moving forward in this. There are three of us and we laugh because two of us are introverts. The other one accused us of wanting to sit in the car while she delivered the bags. And, I will admit, at first I was tempted….but when I actually spoke to the girls, gave them the bags and told them that God loves them I didn’t want to go back to the car. I just wanted to sit down with them and talk.
Yesterday, we attended a seminar led by someone nearby who is involved in this type of work. (not this country) Afterwards, I was a bit overwhelmed and said, “God make it clear to us if you want to move forward.” Today, we found out about the gift given for this ministry. We have many requests but here are a few:
-Wisdom in how to move forward from here
-partners from this culture who want to work with us
-The right information we need to know so we can put together a strategy to reach these girls
Next week we meet with a lady who has been involved in this ministry in a different city. Thanks for praying!

Am I A Dweller?

2011-02-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

First posted on Friday, June 23, 2006

Am I a Dweller?
Eph 3:14-19

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Dwell….(katoikea from kato-down and oikeo-to dwell…has the idea of settling down or dwelling inside.)

How many times have I said to my husband, “I want to settle…I don’t like this endless roaming around….I NEED to settle…” ;> He cringes when he hears me say it. Then you can imagine how this makes me feel…. Guilt…I’m not trusting enough…. Or Anger…he’s expecting too much (God is too!) However, it’s not me that needs to settle. It’s God who needs to “settle down inside me,” so that I may comprehend (katalambano-mentally laying hold of God’s love—a full understanding of it)

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. “ This love is the foundation of all we do….as he dwells, we become rooted and grounded in love….as we know this love…we are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…or another translation says, “then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

How I long to be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

So, it’s Christ that does the dwelling. However….

1 John 4:15-16
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives (dwells) in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

Ps 90:1
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

Our refuge…our fortress…our settling down place.

In the Old Testament when it talks about the time of peace under King Solomon, “ During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety,(dwelt) each man under his own vine and fig tree.” (I Kings 4:25) The phrase “under his own vine and fig tree,” expresses a time of quiet and security (Barnes). They were at peace….not under any apprehension or danger from enemies. They were happy…”safe and willing to think themselves so…” Able to dwell safely under the shadow of the vines by the sides of their house.

Wonder how long it took a vine to grow up by the side of their house??? (for more info re vines go to http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/groundcovers/hgic1101.html)

Not only were they safe but they were “willing to think themselves so.” This is the dwelling I long for.

Recently I was at a bible study and one of the ladies was sharing about being sooo homesick. The ironic thing about it is that she is Thai and had been with her parents the previous week. And then she said…” I realized I was homesick but it wasn’t my earthly home that I was homesick for, but my heavenly home.”

So many times I feel homesick….yearning for my heavenly home…in my dwelling….with vines growing up along the side of the house that I planted.

2011-02-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

MY Soul Talking

2011-02-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

First published Saturday, April 09, 2005

My Soul Talking....
I found out today that a friend has returned to the States. This is a lady that I have not known for a long time but I instantly bonded with. I knew that she had gone back before because of suffering depression here. We had not known one another long enough to talk about that. I had shared with her some of my struggles. She could relate and had shared a book with me about fear and depression. It seems our hubbies ran into each other in the BKK airport yesterday and spent hours talking. It was probably good for K to talk with someone else whose wife struggles. Deep struggles....intense struggle.... Wanting to return to the States type of struggles. I have mixed feelings about how much I should write about this here. I want to live an honest and open life before others and that is fine when there is not so much struggle. It has been a little better lately. Maybe because I'm so busy I don't have time to think about it. But the down days still come with a vengance.

Larry Crabb says, "I've always been suspicious of talk about joy. Most of it seems to encourage denial. We pretend we're not hurting. And most of what we call joy depends on blessings. Get it right and life will work. Then you can be full of joy and praise God for his goodness." Then he goes on to say that this is religion that leads to pride and despair....not the brokenness that comes with true revival of the heart. "Religion keeps the power of God merely trickling through our lives, like water through a twisted hose. Only brokenness straightens out the kinks.Then revival comes. Living water gushes. Passion flows. What is most alive within us, a passionate desire for God himself, comes pouring out. As Habakkuk waited for the Lord in touch times, he saw how he had not yet abandoned himself to God's vision."

What would it mean to abandon myself to God's vision? I like what Habakkuk 2: 1 says, "I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the Lord will say to me and how he will answer my complaint." I am so full of complaining. My spirit is complaining.....

"Brokenness precedes revival.... but what precedes brokeness? .....unmanageable vision....When we see a vision that we simply cannot achieve we are humbled. but when we aim so high we are forced to face how inadequate our adequacies are, we fall flat on the ground and realize our need for spiritual power....and we admit we don't have it....even though others may observe us thriving ....there's no power coming out of us that stirs someone's appetite for God."

I am inadequate. Inadequate to live this life. I should be teaching others...able to show them God's power. My "little" sins get in the way of spiritual power flowing through me toward spiritual vision. The sin of wanting MY way, my comforts, not wanting to take the time or the effort it would take to learn the language and get into the culture. Just wanting to operate in "my" world. Not wanting to be embarrassed because I don't understand how I offended without meaning to. Wanting to just hole up in my house on my couch...dreaming that I was somewhere surrounded by family and friends.

I am inadequate.

Dear God, I need you to change my heart and fill me with your adequacies. My sinful heart doesn't want to change. I don't want to put the effort into it. Hosea 7: 13-14 says, "How terrible it will be for my people who have deserted me...I want to redeem them but they have only spoken lies about me...my complaining....They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts, instead they sit on their couches and wail..." Have mercy on me, O God and fill me with your adequacies! Bring me Revival!

posted by vcitywife @ 2:07 PM

Where did the time go?

2011-02-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

Malee has been accepted back at GIS for her junior yr. (next yr) Where has all the time gone? It is amazing to me that two yrs ago we decided to take her out. We are so encouraged by the independence and motivation we have seen in her this past yr. She has matured and finally taken an interest in her school work. True healing has occurred in her heart and in her body. I enjoy hanging out with her so much. I will really miss her when she goes back full time.

My girls are back in the same room. We didn't like the distance that was coming between them and had such fond memories of the best friend days when they shared a room together. We decided they each had character issues that would benefit from sharing a room again so we put them back together. It will also help tremendously with our electric bill in the hot season. Difficulty is the room is small and there wasn't much to be done about the close quarters. How did we make it their room and not just Malia's without spending a bucket of money? We prayed and asked for wisdom and unexpectedly we found 2 loft beds (used) for a very good price a few days ago. I still questioned and wondered if this was a good plan but decided to go ahead and get them and we could always resale them if they did not work out. The interesting thing is that when we first moved back to CM I wanted to purchase this type of loft bed--no frills, basic Index type furniture--but could not find this basic model anywhere. We purchased HUGE ones that did not fit in the small bedrooms we have and ended up getting rid of them. Now---5 yrs later we end up with exactly what I wanted in the first place. Is this as case of not waiting on God? I'll try to post a picture when we get them set up. We will need to figure out how to make them semi-matching bed covers and what to do about the dark purplish curtains that Savy doesn't really like.

Trying to start a new ministry with some friends here focused on red light district girls. Wondering how God will continue to lead and direct us when the three of us have limited time to put into this and very little language. Pray for wisdom to know which steps to take and how to move forward. I'm also substitute teaching in health class this week. We will be talking about pregnancy and issues involved with this.

I have lost almost thirty pounds in the last 6 months. I intentionally dieted and now am faced with needed to change my diet on a permanent basis. There are some food in-tolerances I'm dealing with. I need wisdom and discipline to discern how to move forward from here and what foods to eliminate. I know that milk products give me a problem but now I'm wondering about bread. I don't think it's gluten because I seem to do ok with other foods that have gluten in them--it just seems to be the bread issue that I have the harder time with. I would like to lose more pounds but don't want to strictly diet again. After all, rounder middle aged women look younger, right? :>

My boys are growing and changing. I have one very much man/child. It is so much fun watching this process. The other little one still has a ways to go but I am so thankful that he is still boyish. I'm thinking he doesn't quite believe that his time will come. His feet are bigger than mine. I keep telling him he will be bigger than me. Both of them are enjoying sports and enjoying friends. Enjoying school? Now that would be another issue. The younger one said to me, "Mom, Asian parents actually like for their kids to do better in school than in sports." Ha. What have I communicated to this child? Hopefully, I have communicated to him that I LOVE who God has created him to be and I LOVE that he enjoys sports so much and I am OK with who he is academically. We've been discussing who makes the best grown ups--good sportsmen or good academia's and we've concluded there are wise men who are in both categories.

2010-05-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

I don't pretend to have a clue about what actually is happening here politically. I used to think there were two main parties. Now I read all about the red shirts not wearing red, the multi colored shirts, the black shirts, the blue shirts, etc. and I am profoundly confused. I do know that for the most part this is a peaceful society so this unrest is rocking worlds. I do know that the way Americans understand democracy is not the way it works here and there has been more and more dissatisfaction with this. I do not know much about Thaksin--I thought he was good and welcomed by the people but I guess that is because I have lived in the north. I had no idea there was another side to the issue. Yes, I knew he was an Asian businessman and ran the govt very much like an Asian businessman would. Isn't that pretty typical?
Now there is so much uncertainty and since I am from a diff culture, I can't predict what will happen. IF we were in America, I would have a better idea...afterall, it is a high value in American culture to exert independence and stand up for rights and ideals but in this culture, I don't think that has been valued. There are other values that are more important....

2009-12-09T21:12:00.001-08:00

Wow....where did this semester go? One more week and the kids will be off for Christmas break. We are getting into the holiday's here. We've decorated, done some baking and have more to do.

I guess the most eventful unusual thing that happened this fall was that Latte had puppies! She had 4 boy puppies and this week they have all gone to their new homes. It has been much more delightful than we expected and not that much of a bother, although it was time for them to go to their new homes. We will not forget, Sprite, Pico, ScampJack, or Princeton Sarsi. May they bring lots of blessing and joy to their new families!

Homeschooling has had it's up and it's downs. All in all, it's been a good move for our family. I think it has been good for Malia and enabled her to have some success in her school work. She still hates school and I'm not sure what we can do about that. I have grown in my understanding of how to not push too much but not push too little either.

The other kids have had good semesters at school. The boys rec league basketball team was once again undefeated. The tournament is next week and they are all out to get us. Savannah is in basketball try outs currently. Malia is in Chonson, chapel team and she has a good part in Smike (the spring musical).

I have dealt alot with home sickness this past yr. I think it doesn't help knowing that it will be a while before we ago to the U.S. again for any extended time.

I guess that's enough for now.

Week Recap

2009-08-28T20:37:00.001-07:00

Two weeks down.....How many to go? :> We made it through week two. Malia is settling into a routine and so are the others. It takes a couple of weeks to get hers established since at school, she rotates each week the days she goes to choir. One week she will go M, W, F, and the next week she will go T, Th. She also goes for NILD, Choir, Chapel team, Chapel and swimming. Now, she is on the Chapel retreat. We've been praying for her alot--since there are very few 9th graders on the chapel team she feels like she's heading into a group of high schoolers with little support. I'm praying that God will use the time in her life to help her build relationships and gain confidence in relating to high schoolers! For some reason the kids at Grace seem to be very grade oriented and usually prefer relating to only those in their grade. This is very different than our normal family culture (probably due to homeschooling).
The boys seem to be enjoying school--Sage always enjoys it--and on Monday this past week I asked Noah, "how was school," and before thinking, he said with lots of energy and enthusiasm...."GREAT!" He realized what he said after he said it and tried to backtrack a little but I think he is enjoying 6th grade so far. Another thing the boys are really enjoying is playing "Spy, Stealth" like games. There is a dorm near us that was framed up and abandoned due to lack of funds, and they have found it extremely entertaining to play in this huge mansion, esp. in the dark. I know, I know, we mothers shudder and think "should they be doing this?" But we have allowed the dad's to examine it and make the choice on whether or not it is ok for them to do this and they seem to be much more lenient than we are! They have made weapons and equipment out of Pvc pipe and other such equipment an I have to say, Noah, esp. has really gotten into this and likes to play outside everyday if we let him. Sage usually wants to play outside every day, but the activity must be very entertaining to hold Noah's interest for this long. Sage made the futsal team this week--for those of you who don't know....futsal is like soccer, but you play it on a basketball court instead. The ball is a little different and the rules a little different but it is similar to soccer. Sage will start Rec league soccer next week (a parent led league). Noah decided he wants to focus on swimming and basketball this yr.
Savy is doing well--she focused on two speeches this week. One was on teddy bears and the other was in science. (I'm not sure of that topic she didn't spend as much time on it. The only friend she has that is in all of her classes (except one) is a young man in our house church. In the past they have "acted" like they weren't friends at school, but this year, they have come out of the closet, so to speak and are talking to each other in class. She also seems to be working really hard at reaching out to more girls around her than her little five friend "clique" and we are proud of her for that. Again, it's not always easy to do this in the Grace environment--which tends to be a closed environment in which newcomers sometimes have a hard time breaking into.
We've had a couple of meetings the last few weeks with the adults in our house church trying to figure out the format of hc for this yr. There seems to be a bit of a difference for some regarding children/teens and the parenting philosophy about whether or not we should provide a place safe for their same age peers--because after all, they need to be with their peers, or an all age, family type atmosphere, expecting them all to relate to each other and not being that concerned with the same aged peers. It is a difference in parenting philosophy and personally, I believe, children take their cues from the adults around them. If the adults around them are constantly concerned about them having to have same aged peers, then the children feel like they have to have them. If the parents are more like, "we include everyone and we're going to all play together," then the children seem to be ok with that. Some say that as the teens get older, they want to be with their same age peers more. I don't have older teens (my oldest is 15) but I think it goes back to the same thing....what the parents emphasize. I understand seniors wanting to be with other seniors--there are significant events they are all going through but at the same time, I'm not much for leaving others out, no matter what the ages. I'm guessing I may be in the minority regarding that. In adulthood, you tend to have friends in all age groups. Well, as you can tell, I've been thinking about this matter alot this week. If you think of us, please pray for our house church....that we will come to an agreement that all will be satisfied with. Pray for me, specifically, that I will be kind, loving and not forceful in my opinions. God is showing me in many ways that there is freedom in many circumstances where we tend to criticize and judge others too rapidly.

Sad day....

2009-08-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

It's a really sad time for our school community here. Many of you do not know but we have been involved in a lawsuit for the past yrs and we have lost the law suit. The put it succinctly, we have been targeted by someone here who doesn't like us and has decided he wants us to leave. Unfortunately, he has high connections and in a turn of events that are too difficult to comprehend, we lost the law suit. We are appealing but unless God does a miracle, we not only have to lose our property but we will have to pay to have the building restored to it's original condition (impossible, some of it was in shambles) and pay back rent to the person who has brought the suit. Not to mention, buy property elsewhere and build a new school. Makes you wonder what God is thinking about all this. Through it we have determined to do our best to love, show kindness and mercy to those around us. May God use this for his glory.

Blessings and Joy!

New School year

2009-08-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time. We are fine here. Going into the 09-10 school yr. Everyone seems happy after the first week of school. Our big change is that Malia is homeschooling this yr. After much prayer, seeking and counsel we felt G leading us this direction. We made the decision mid July and then quickly found the materials needed. Homeschooling a teen is definitely different than hsing a 5th grader! So far, so good....I love it! I like challenges and trying to to make things "fit" the learner. Savy has Mr. Cole for her main core teacher (although he is in the U.S. and won't be here until Jan). S. Hackett is filling in. Sage has Ms. Oswalt for his homeroom teacher and Noah has Ms. Gaskell.
The picture I have posted is from a M trip we took a few weeks ago through the Eastern part of where we live. We had a great time with friends here and a team from the states. Probably around 500 or so heard the good news. Pray for those who heard and were interested.
Well, when trying to download the pic, I got a very interesting notice that said the website I was trying to upload had been closed by Thai police. Wonder if that means I can't upload any more pics onto blogger? Wow!

2008-11-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

One week down and less than a week to go. It's been a good week. We will be ready for K to return. Or rather, we were ready yesterday....smile....but we will be patient and have good attitudes this week while we wait.

Latte continues to bring us much joy. She is a mess. Sometimes she gets all riled up and wants to stay riled up. We have to put her in the basket to make her calm down. She's doing ok at night. Getting up in the middle of the night isn't as bad as I expected. I guess I'm just thankful she is letting me know she has to go to the bathroom and she is going quickly. I don't know how we will rearrange things when K returns.

The highlight of the week was a couple of things that happened in Savy's life. First, she made the JV basketball team. There were 12 girls who made it. Savannah had mixed emotions about trying out since she is older than most of her friends and they are on the younger team. She has increased greatly in her skill this yr. We will see if she is basketball'd out at the end of the season after spending 4 afternoons a week practicing. Pray for her.

Also, she went with some parents and other classmates down to the night market to do evangelism with folks that come there. She said, "I've been made to do this." She really enjoyed her time and looks forward to going every week. When she was a baby my prayer for her was that she would help many folks come into the kingdom. I am thankful that she has opportunities like this.

2008-10-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

TGIF! I am glad to have the school week come to an end and a weekend with family. K leaves for his trip on Sunday so we will make the most of these two days we have with him before he leaves.

Yesterday was an exciting day as we found out that both boys made the U-11 basketball team. They were excited and relieved. They have worked hard to get to this place. I look forward to seeing how the season goes. Savvy tries out for JV basketball on Tues/Thursday this week. She is nervous about trying out. She is still having some difficulty with her knee but the Dr. thinks it is scar tissue damage and needs to be strengthened. She does much better when she wears her knee bandage esp. when playing basketball.

This past week was spirit week at school. The girls wore different outfits daily to show their school spirit. The boys on Wed/Fri. Just to give an example of how different the girls are: On Thursday it was group day. They dressed up with a group of friends a certain way. Malia's group was rock stars so she left the house in black and with black eyeliner around her eyes. Savy's group was waitresses. She wore a skirt with an apron. Sage's group was break dancers and Noah's group was soccer players.

Kel, Noah and Savy are fighting off colds. Pray that they feel better quickly, esp. for K who travels on Sunday.

Blessings!

Brisinger

2008-10-27T05:57:00.002-07:00

Kelly is finally reading to the children the long awaited sequel to Earagon and Eldest. The children have been waiting a long time. Sage is still a bit lost but he is trying to keep up.

Savy, Sage, Noah and Kelly practiced basketball after supper. The boys will have U-11 tryouts on Wed. I hope Noah makes the team. He will be disappointed if he does not.

We had a huge supper. I made chicken Parmesan, potatoe salad, green salad and broccoli. Sage was excited about the croutons. I let him eat the whole bag. We have only recently been able to buy them here. A very small pkg. I didn't realize he likes them so much.

Latte was acting spastic today. I hope it is not a vision of things to come. She acts a bit like she has something that is bothering her on her back hind leg. The vet said she is fine. She is showing puppy agression and I am trying to get everyone to agree to a specific way of dealing with it. She also seems to be getting fat. I am feeding her 4 times a day like the vet told me to. I've been up with her since 5:30. I am tired.

The rest of the day I spent organizing my bedroom, running errands and meeting a friend for tea. Nothing really exciting.

I've decided to include a picture of the girls with Kelly's mom. The picture was taken at the Z reunion back in July.

Latte and life

2008-10-26T02:29:00.001-07:00

Latte is our new puppy. She is a toy poodle and we are blessed to have her.

The kids have been on fall break but will return to school tomorrow. We have enjoyed being together as a family.

K leaves next Sunday for a trip to the U.S. He will be gone almost 2 wks. Pray for us during his absence!

Back In CM

2008-08-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

We are back in Thailand and I am finally updating my blog. Sorry for the long period of silence. I have a new computer which should make it easier to get online.

The flight back was great. We flew Korean straight from Dallas to Seoul and had our own individual TV screens so the 14 hours flew by. We had a 5 hr layover in Seoul where we watched the Olympics and enjoyed hearing the Korean spirit. Then we had a 4 hour flight to CM. We arrived late at night and made it to bed around 2am. Then we all slept until around 8am the next morning. Thankfully we had one day before the children went to school. They didn't know how they were going to make it at school with jetlag but they did just fine and we are all back on the same local time schedule now.

Savy, Noah and Sage had their first rec league basketball game today and they won by one point. It was an exciting game. Savy scored 8 points, Noah scored 4 and Sage didn't score any but it's not because of lack of trying. (he's the smallest guy on the team--they have mixed ages) It was fun to have them all on the same team.

Everyone seems to be enjoying school and their classes. Malia gave a speech on Friday in Core class and the teacher told her she is a natural and should be on TV. You can imagine how encouraging this was for her. We are thrilled about the progress that Sage has made from last yr to this yr. We can see improvements in his memory and his ability to sound out and spell words.

I will send prayer requests soon, but I just wanted you to know we made it back and are settling in. Next week I'll try to take pics at the basketball game.

Blessings!

2008-05-01T05:48:00.000-07:00

2008-05-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

2008-04-25T02:41:00.000-07:00

2008-04-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

2008-04-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

2008-04-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

Shingles!

2008-04-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

2008-04-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

We have had two weeks of spring break. During that time for 4 days we visited the country next door. If you are standing facing a map, this country is the one to the right of us. I'm not going to put the name because some folks search with country names and I don't want lots of strangers reading my blog. We took lots of pictures. The next few days I will upload different portions of it. The pic above this writing is from a picture in our house. I think one of my kids must have taken this picture. It is from the country V which is two countries over.

Now everyone is back at school except for Sage--who has shingles! At least we know that he has had chicken pox in the past since it is a form of the chicken pox virus. Many folks are telling us that people only get shingles if they are under high stress. Well, ok, maybe that means that Sage is under high stress? He had a cold type virus just before and we were traveling when he came down with it. This is just "normal" stress. I'll try to take a picture of it later today so you can see what it looks like.

Kel is home for ONE day. Then he leaves again this afternoon. We have two other children staying with us while their parents are traveling.

It was a wet night last night. Yay! We continue to hope that means the rains are here to stay. We're not counting on it, though.

Our countdown is on before we return to the States. 23 days to go! I have unexpected time this week that I wasn't counting on since Sage is unable to go to school. I have had some major cleaning projects underway.

2008-03-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

I need a massage! This is one of our favorite massage ladies. This happened to be her last day at work. She was able to move back to the countryside to be with her child. Don't you know what a relief that must be to be able to live with and take care of your child? We hope to visit her sometime.

Sage's track meet: discus throwing

2008-03-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

2008-03-07T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I've really been negligent in writing and I haven't been taking many pictures. Sorry about that. Last week Kel and I had a nice week away of meetings and then celebrating our anniversary. I have begun the cleaning out process related to going back to the states in a few months. I hope to go through everything in the next couple of months. I finally have enough storage space and places to put things! Yes!

Malia has changed so much these last few months. The first picture that I am going to show is one of the newest ones of her with her braces!

2008-02-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

There will be weeks like these! Weeks where I forget to take out the camera! It's just not a habit yet. I hope it becomes one. We have been busy! We had two parties this week and then regular life. Two grown up parties which is almost unheard of. We have months that we never have a grown up party! My friend, San, had a birthday. We had a very nice relaxing evening celebrating that event with several other couples. Then on Friday night the adults in our small group got together and played The Newlywed Game. How Fun! We didn't win but we had a good time with all our friends. None of us are Newlyweds! The most recently wed was 16 yrs and we were 17 yrs, so we were the 2nd youngest wedded of the gang. Kelly also wrote a couple of things for the occassion. Here is the first poem. The 2nd I will have to type and send later. It reads kind of like Dr. Suess poem:

-----------
Both: House ants and love-contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to my wife, she’s tied them both up

Jamie: I hate to see ants in the sink, in the house
I hate to see ants just as much as a mouse
On doors, in the halls
On floors, on the walls
I hate to see ants and I want them wiped out!

If husband was wary and truly in tune.
Then he would do something to stop these red goons
If husband still loved me and followed his vows
Then he would attack them, and rid them right NOW!

Both: House ants and love-contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to my wife, she’s tied them both up

Kelly: Such joy and relief would swell in her breast
Watching her lover spray hundreds to death
Wife would be happy, so happy she’d be
She’d make lover happy, as happy as she.

Jamie I certainly know what my husband does like
What makes husband smile, what makes him feel right.

Both: House ants and love- contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to this husband, he’s tied them both up.

L is home!

2008-02-14T02:38:00.000-08:00

Our sweet friend who has been so sick went to be with Lord this morning. K has left for the big city where she was to comfort the husband and others that were around her. I think they will hold a small memorial service for her there. I'm not real sure of all the other details yet. Please pr for her grown children, grandchildren, husband and all those she related to where she lived. Pr that God will pour out his grace and love on them and they will experience him in new ways.

Thanks!

Valentine Flowers

2008-02-14T02:26:00.000-08:00

These are the flowers my hubby bought me for Valentine's Day. He actually bought them yesterday. 17 red ones for the number of yrs we've been married and 4 white ones for our 4 children. Today we went to one of our favorite middle eastern restaurants called, "Jerusalem Falafel." He had to leave so we weren't able to go to dance class tonight or out to dinner as planned. I'll write more about that in another post. Happy Valentine's Day!

Positives for living here:
3. We can afford to eat out weekly and have many options of ethnic food to choose from.
4. We don't have to deal with blizzards, snowstorms or tornado's!

Book: Lord I Want To Be Whole

2008-02-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

By Stormie Omartian
I picked up this book because I LOVED her book, “The Power of a Praying Wife.” I copied the prayers and still like to pray them for my hubby. I haven’t read much lately. Haven’t had much of an attention span. I’m delving into this, though. As well as trying to keep up with my read through the bible in a year plan.
Her definition of emotional health: “having total peace about who you are, what you’re doing, and where you’re going, both individually and in relationship to those around you.” She goes on to say, “It’s knowing you’re in line with God’s ultimate purpose for you and being fulfilled in that. When you have that kind of peace and you no longer live in emotional agony, then you are a success.”
Whoa! She equates emotional health as attainable as physical health. Then she has seven steps to emotional health. They do not seem that different than other books I have read.
Now emotions are very important to me and always have been—they are part of what led me to my career path—and my Masters in Counseling. I have counseled many wounded soldiers and just considered myself one of the wounded. Is her definition of emotional health obtainable this side of heaven? It is what I long for…..

Not gone away! Hiding!

2008-02-12T01:38:00.000-08:00

Kittens!

2008-02-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

I've been telling Kelly we needed to get rid of the stray cats that seem to be living outside our house--there are several that sleep there on a regular basis. This morning when the children went outside to go to school, they found two kittens. A black one with white socks and and this one above. Of course, Savannah had them up immediately and was begging to keep them. Malia and I are both very allergic to them so there will be no keeping them. After they left for school, I went back outside to take the pictures. The mama was gone and so was the black one, she must have taken her somewhere else. The other one was still here. She will probably be gone soon. I hope she takes them somewhere else and takes good care of them, so we can have more stray cats! :> LOL!

2008-02-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

I am fine and need to find my camera so I can post some pics! :> All my tests came back normal so I don't have to worry about this shortness of breath that I have been feeling. The kids had a two day holiday last week for Chinese New Year. They went back to school today.

Kel called me and told me he has been invited to a function where he will meet one of the princesses and needs a black suit. (Thursday) He does not have a black suit, so we went ran into town to a tailor to have one made. We found some beautiful black cashmere from Italy that we will have a classic black suit made. It should be ready for the fitting for it tomorrow. I will try to take pictures of it. The royal family is in mourning from the death of the King's sister and so everyone must wear black.

This week my school schedule will be a little different since this is the IOWA testing week at school. I will not see my elementary students, only my high school student. Then, on Wed. and Friday, I will go and help with testing for a couple of hours.

I found the camera so I took a picture of some jewelry that a friend of a friend makes. I gave each of the women in our house group one pair for Christmas and was thrilled when she made some more because I didn't have a pair. Now I have several pairs!

2008-02-04T05:09:00.000-08:00

This morning I spent at the hospital again. I've been going there a lot lately. We are finally trying to get to the bottom of the breathless-asthma type symptoms that I have had that seem to be worsening. So far, my blood work is normal, my echocardiagram is normal, also, so most likely it is not my heart. My chest xray shows some slight enlargement that the Dr. most likely thinks is lymph nodes but he doesn't seem too concerned about them. However, I am seeing a pulmunary specialist on Wed. and he should know more about that. There is a possibility .....that is is.....ummm......how did the dr. say it? That this is a result of "deconditioning....." which made Kel and I burst into hysterical laughter after I asked him to define deconditioning and he said "being out of shape." Well, if that is what this is....I will definetly begin a work out routine as soon as i am given clearance to do so from the Dr. I have never heard of someone being 20 pounds overweight (not considered obese) having extreme breathlessness, esp. when speaking but if that's what it takes for God to get my attention to get into shape--well then, I will listen! Another thought I had after getting home this afternoon was that maybe this is in some way related to my paralyzed vocal chord which I have neglected to mention to the Dr.

I will post pictures from today at the hosptial.
1. One says cashier....this is the dressing room where I changed.
2. A picture of me laying on the table that eerily looks like my sister is there instead of me!
3. A picture of the area where the procedure was done.
4. A picture of the machine, nurse and me before the procedure bagan.

I have been trying to take notice of positive things about living here. Things that they don't have in the U.S. (or where I was from)....trying to keep my focus on the positives. I will begin to list them when I think of them:

1. At gas stations they pump your gas for you as well as give you a bottle of water.
2. At hospitals there is always someone coming around selling fresh fruit in little bags....a much nicer snack than what is often found in those vending machines in the U.S. I am not aware of vending machines here.

Sage’s story

2008-01-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

This is a story written by Sage. He is our sweet son that we adopted from Ukraine almost three years ago. I am so proud of him. Even though he is 9 years old, developmentally and educationally, he is a little bit behind. He is in 3rd grade but has special resource classes. He wrote this story in his resource class. I believe that he will catch up, eventually.

It rained!

2008-01-29T00:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we received a sweet gift from God. It rained! The picture is from my front porch. Can you see the wet street? In Chiangmai, there is a dry season and a wet season. In the dry season it is usually dry (that means no rain) in the wet season it is usually wet (rains daily). This is the dry season. It hasn’t rained since November. What a sweet gift of rain today. You remember how I said it was smoky? It was not smoke. OR if it was the rain made it all go away. Maybe I can see the mountain. (Chiangmai is surrounded by mountains) What a sweet gift from God! RAIN!!!

2008-01-27T20:03:00.001-08:00

Monday....today it is very smoky out side....it kind of looks like a cool winter day. Many folks burn fires during this time of year. However, it's not winter. We have not turned the a/c on downstairs but we have to have the fan on and we can tell that hot weather is just around the corner.

Today has been one of those nice grounding days. One of the days when the house is picked up, and I am able to have a long time with the Lord. It was mainly spent in prayer and listening. Now, I have a friend headed over to spend time praying. Our friend, Linda, had to be put on a ventalator this morning. She and Cyd are still very heavy on our hearts.

I want to lose weight so I have also been talking to the Lord about that. I have never ever really tried to lose weight. Not even the baby weight....and it stayed on. About 4-5 years ago, I got braces on my teeth (a quick painful 6 months process) and couldn't eat anything for about 3 weeks and it kind of jump started me on a weight loss program. I lost about 20 pounds. Somehow, in the last yr and a half, those twenty pounds have come back and I need to get them off again. Mainly because my body does not feel good with them on. I seem to have all kinds of gastritis type issues that I don't have when I don't have that extra weight on. I'm also more easily fatigued. So, I must try to do something intentional about this weight.

Those who know me, know that I tend to be the type person that doesn't want to try something like a diet because I don't want to fail. (where did I get these perfectionistic tendancies?) Or I would rather just NOT eat at all--rather than limit my intake. I know that is not healthy and is not the way to do it. So, this morning, after having a long chat about it with the Lord, I ate a salad for lunch. It had dressing on it, and ham....BUT, it was not bread and that is one of the main things I am going to be cutting out. My husband promises I can lose quickly if I drastically cut the carbs and gradually add some back in making healthier choices.

Some men are here now putting together Malia's new closet and my friend has arrived so I will close. The picture is a flower in our garden.

2008-01-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

Feeling heavy today as we learned of the kidnapping of a friend. Go to this website if you want to read more www. arldf.net. We have known C for many years and our thoughts are with her.

Our friend, L, is still not doing well. They have not had to intubate her but are still considering it. She has some major problems with her lungs and so far has not been stable enough to explore or do more testing. Her daughter did arrive from the U.S. to be with her. We would ask God to spare her life and heal her!

K left for a trip today. He will stop in BKK tonight to visit L and her husband and then head in country tomorrow. He will return later in the week. We already have two lights that need fixing and internet still isn't working correctly. Not starting off with a bang so far. I will have to call a handyman tomorrow to see if he can come and fix the lights!

Haircut

2008-01-25T20:53:00.000-08:00

I did it! I finally got my hair cut. I went yesterday. I ended up going twice. After I got home from the first haircut, I just really didn't like it so I called her back and went back again. She was very patient with me. The end result is better than what it was. Of course, my few extra pounds that I am carrying doesn't help! Where did these extra pounds come from???

NILD therapy

2008-01-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of some of one of my students doing one of the learning needs therapy that I do at school. This is called Rhythmic Writing and it helps with left/right brain processing. I am working two days a week and I have 4 students that I see both days for around an hour and twenty minutes. I am enjoying my students very much, although I feel like I need to get Level 2 training if I am going to contiune with this next yr.

Closet lights!

2008-01-21T04:33:00.000-08:00

The lighting is the bedroom is terrible. Imagine my pleasure and surprise when a few weeks ago, my husband had the lights in the closets fixed. I had spent many months not being able to see in the closet. Yes, it has been so nice to be able to see what is in there. And then, today, the closet lights decided they didn't want to go off. Yes, that's right! When the closet closes they are supposed to go off. But today (when hubby is away), they decide to not go off when closed. What am I to do? N comes to the rescue! He works and works and works and still cannot get them to turn off. We are trying to figure out how to disconnect them, etc. when all of the sudden, I spy the electrical outlet with a plug plugged into it. I go over, pull out the plug and Whallaa! No more closet lights! :>

Please pray

2008-01-20T05:57:00.000-08:00

Please pray for L...a friend who lives in V. She was getting off a bus and the bus didn't stop and she fell and broke her femur and wrist. She had to be air evac'd to our country and is in surgery now. She is in her late 50's or early 60's.

Thanks!

Sunday's are lazy days

2008-01-20T04:23:00.000-08:00

Since we have house church on Sat. afternoon, Sunday's are lazy days here. We slept late (8am), ate a leisurely breakfast, picked up the house, and ate lunch. I went over to visit a dear friend who had just returned from the States. She brought back 5 tops for me from Kohl's for a whopping $24! Amazing! It is so much fun to have some new shirts from the U.S. My wardrobe is feeling kind of shabby. The rest of the day I have spent reading Tolstoy's "Anna Karenin." It is soooo good. K left for a short trip to the big city here. He'll be back on Tuesday evening. These are pics of the children enjoying one of their favorite pasttimes. You can guess what it is! Don't you love the Peanut butter on Noah's shirt? That's pretty tpyical!

Dance Class

2008-01-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well, today there was the opportunity for several FUN pics but I didn't take my camera since it was out of batteries. Too bad, you could have seen Thai ladies, biking down the street with painted umbrella's, an elephant walking down the highway (at night--always a reminder to us that we are in Thailand) as well as others. Instead, you will get pics from dance class! We are learning the Rhomba! (I'm not sure how to spell it) It was FUN!

Pizza at our House

2008-01-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

We order pizza from Pizza Company....not Pizza Hut, but Pizza Company because it is less expensive. It is similar to Pizza Hut. We go and pick it up and have a card that allows us to buy one get one free. It costs about $5 a pizza to do it this way. We still have K staying with us but her parents return today. The picture is of everyone around the table except for me! (taking the pic)

2008-01-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

Batteries are out in the camera so I need to get some more before I can post again!

We're fine here. Today, I am going to run a bunch of errands and take a friend to the tailor. Tonight, Kel and I are supposed to go do dance lessons with some friends. That should be fun, huh?

Malee is grounded so she may go to dance lessons with us! She acts like it's terrible but I think secretly she will enjoy it. The others all have plans....the boys are going to a slumber bday party and the girls are going to a "PARENTS NIGHT OUT" babysitting type thing at the school. I think we will have two over night guests, since we still have Kati and Karis...the sister of the boy who is having the bday party will be with us.

I'll try to get batteries before the dance lessons. Those should make some good pics!

Blessings!

A Picture from His Trip

2008-01-15T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from His trip last week. Isn't it beautiful? Enjoy!

Granola

2008-01-14T05:25:00.001-08:00

I made Granola today for the 2nd time in the last week. I have been wanting to make it--a friend's recipe because cereal is so expensive here and I wanted to give my family a healthy alternative. Kelly and I really like it. The others aren't so sure yet. :>

Here is the recipe:

Sandra's Granola
1 c sugar
2/3 c boiling water
2 c non fat dry milk
1/4 honey or corn syrup
5 cups rolled oats
2 c bran or wheat flakes
2 c cornflakes
1/2 c chopped nuts
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 c wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp, salt
1/4 c veggie oil
Dried fruit

In Med bowl mix sugar, boiling water, stir in dry milk and honey or corn syrup and beat with mixer for 2 min. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 300. In lg bowl, combine the oats, flakes, nuts, coconut, salt and wheat germ. Add milk mixture and oil and mix thoroughly. Spread on 2 baking sheets and bake for 20 min. Remove and stir. Bake for 20 more min. Remove and add dried fruit. Bake 5 for min and remove from oven. Cool and store in airtight container.

P.S. I tried to post a picture but blogger wouldn't let me. I'll upload it when it lets me.

2008-01-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

These are the last few I'm going to post of hairstyles. These were all taken over the last few years.....can you imagine the many hairstyles that I have had over the last 40 something years? I still have to figure out what I am going to now.

2008-01-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

Catching up...

2008-01-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

Kel made it back. Our internet is psuedo fixed. I can receive right now but I'm not able to send email. We will continue to work on it but it makes me wary that it's not completely fixed and can go out again. I will finish up hair pics for a while and get back to normal life. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with my hair!

We fixed it!

2008-01-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

We fixed it....back to a more natural color. Much better......

Blackie

2008-01-07T22:45:00.001-08:00

Our internet is down and I am at a friends house. I have to let Kel know it is down so if he needs to contact me he can call me. I don't know if it will be back up the rest of the week. So, I may be late posting some pictures.

Malia came home sick today. It is difficult for me. She was with several friends and acting sick. She did not have a passing grade on her report card in Science. We must work to fix it. I'm not looking forward to that. Please pray for me and my attitude. Her other grades were good.

The hairstyle I upoaded today is one I refer to as "Blackie." I was trying to recover from too many dye jobs that turned my hair red. So, I was trying to die it back to my natural color. This was in V and this was the result. It is also straightened. It's ok to laugh! We all did!

Not a Wig!

2008-01-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

I know the date may say that it is only Jan. 6 here, but it is really the morning of Jan. 7. Right now we are 13 hours ahead of CST. It is 8am on the morning of the 7th here and the kiddo's have all left for school! I will go ahead and post my picture for the day to make sure it is done today!

No, this is NOT a WIG! :> It was taken in 2004. I cut it really short because it was hot and humid and I was tired of messing with it. It is highlighted but not straightened as you can see from the curl. I, actually, kind of like it like this but it very short! My husband does not prefer it this short!

2008-01-06T00:35:00.000-08:00

Kel left for a trip today. He will be back on Friday. I let him take the camera with him so that is one of the reasons I decided to do the hairstyle pics. He will bring back some great pics from the country next door that I can post sometimes.

School starts back tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the week--I only have one bible study this semester, except for the book study that I lead once a month. So, I have Monday's and Friday's to get things together here at home. I'm looking forward to that! Tomorrow, I have to do some work for the dorm....I need to write a job description for new dorm parents.

The kids have decided to do different lunch plans this semester. Savannah will eat all of her lunches at school. Malia will eat on the "western days" (T/Thurs) and the sticky rice days...some Friday's. The boys will eat on the Thai days (M/W/F). The days they don't eat they will take their lunches. They are responsible for fixing it the night before. We'll see how it goes. The lunches at school are incredibly inexpensive (about 40 cents for the younger ones and 50 cents for the older). So, it took some persuading on their parts for us to allow them to do this. I hope we can come up with some good lunches other than just peanut butter sandwiches! Peanut butter gets kind of expensive!

Hairstyle 2

2008-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken in 2005 December in the U.S. My hair was not straightened and highlighted a little bit. If you want to see the hairstyle up closer just click on the picture and it will give you a better look.

Hairstyles 1

2008-01-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well....It seems that hairstyles have always been a thing for me. I have said in the last few years...."I want to have a hairstyle." You know what I mean....the kind of thing that when everyone thinks of you they picture a certain image, your hair styled a certain way. That has not been the case with me. I remember 12 years ago in our going away video someone mentioned that in each picture, my hair was in a different style. I have begun to grow bored with it lately. I'm trying to let it grow.... It is almost long enough so that I can pull it up--which with the hot season coming in April--it either needs to be long enough to pull up or short enough that it is off my neck. I have had it straighted for the last couple of years. It helps with the frizzy look in the humidity. I don't have to do much to fix it and that is nice. The problem with living in a tropical climate is that during the hot season, you sweat. That means your neck is almost always wet. I tend to like a "fixed" hairstyle look which is very difficult to have--when wet. I also used to highlight it but you can tell it has been a while--it is to much processing for one head of hair to do both.

Since I have 365 days of pics to take, I thought I would go down memory lane and show a different hairstyle each day for a while. I will start with our latest family picture--taken in November and very much like it is now. Bear with me and feel free to give input on your favorite Hairstyle!

Blessings!

Good News!

2008-01-04T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today we received this news release from a friend. Interesting to say the least, since we have good Bap friends there. They have told me that they are hoping this paves the way for Bap work there. We shall see...... (I've done some editing)

This news release came from the official government V News Agency (Viet Tan Xa). If this conference proceeds as anticipated, it will allow Bap Churches to open an official seminary and print religious materials.

Bap Church to hold first General Conference
January 2, 2008
From the Capital- The Grace-Southern Bap Church will hold its first General Conference from January 10-12 in HCMC with an expected 400 guests, including those from abroad.

The V Bap Protestant Church was licensed for operation in December, 2006.

At the upcoming meeting, the church is expected to elect an executive council and pass a charter, rules and disciplines as part of its roadmap towards the Government’s recognition of its status as a religious organisation.

The Bap Protestant denomination was first introduced into Viet Nam in 1959, under the influence of the SBC of the US, according to the Government Religious Affairs Committee.

The first Bap church was founded in 1962 and concentrated its religious mission only in major cities. In 1975, the Bap Church set up 16 chapters with some 10,000 followers.

Later on, more Bap organizations have been founded. The existing 11 different Bap groups share the same belief theory and history which came from the SBC.--Enditem

Our Day

2008-01-04T03:16:00.000-08:00

Malia and I spent most of the day together. We had a pedicure (I had taken Savy before Christmas), and ran errands. We had a delightful time together!

Menu Planning

2008-01-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

I have tried menu planning and never have been able to successfully get into a good routine. The hold up is me! I get bored with food and if I don’t like it, then I find myself grazing and so I end up not cooking what is on the menu for that night. Not good…because my family—esp. the boys—really like to know what the food is going to be for the day. I think it helps them know how much to eat—when….in case they don’t like what is coming up! So, at the beginning of the New Year, I will try it again. I desire to make simple, healthy meals for my family. Meals that I find delicious and won’t grow bored of.
I have several friends who do the theme nights. For instance: (I got this from a loopy friend!)

Salad Night (Taco salad, Caesar salad, Chinese Salad, Chicken Salad)
Soup Night (Split Pea, Potato Cheese, Veg, Chicken Noodle)
Italian Night (Pizza, Spaghetti, Lasagne, Stuffed Shells)
Mexican Night (Enchiladas, Burritos, Tacos)
Sandwich Night (Hamburgers, Grilled Chicken, Grilled Cheese)
Rice Night (Stir Fry, Chicken Divan, Beans/Rice)
Other: (Baked Chicken, Meatloaf, Chicken Pot Pie,etc)

I think we will make Tues. and Thursday night Thai nights and we will pick up our meals on those evenings since those are the days I work. Of course on the days I work I find myself HUNGRY when I get home. It seems a logical choice since those days are “western” days at school so the kiddo’s will have had some kind of western food already that day. (or the choice of it—they can choose Thai at school)

So, here is my plan:
Monday: Chicken Night
Tuesday: Thai: Khun Off’s Take out
Wed: Salad Night
Thursday: Thai: Khun Off’s Takeout
Friday: Sandwich Night
Sat: PM: Housechurch meal
Sun: Other
Ok, Well that doesn’t really break it down enough so here is my weekly breakdown:
Week 1:
Monday: Parmesan Chicken
Tuesday: Thai: Satay, sticky rice, papaya salad
Wed: Ceasar Salad (with parmean chicken cut up in it)
Thursday: Basil pork or fried rice
Friday: Sloppy Joe’s
Week 2:
Monday: Chicken Spaghetti (use deli chicken)
Tuesday: Tom Yum Goong, Green chicken Curry, rice
Wed: Ramen noodle salad with deli chicken
Thursday: Fried Rice and vegetables
Friday: Tuna Sandwiches and fries

Week 3:
Monday: Lentil Taco’s
Tuesday: Pak See Yu
Wed: Mixed Salad (Mr. Chan’s dressing) add ham and egg
Thurday: chicken, sticky rice, papaya salad
Friday: Hamburgers/Chips

Week 4:
Monday: Grilled Meat, potatoes
Tuesday: Take home Indian food (Kel pick up on his way home)
Wed: Taco Salad
Thursday: Thai (everyone’s request)
Friday: Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

Vegetables to add:
Broccoli, Green Beans, salad, okra, Mixed veggies, carrot sticks, cucumbers
Weekend: Potatoe soup, leftovers, Breakfast

Let’s try if or a month and see how it goes. Now the question is...do I continue my weekly grocery runs or do I try to get most of these items in one trip? I'll have to think about that some more.

Blessings!

New Girls Furniture

2008-01-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

Malia's closet has not arrived yet. This is actually Savy's closet and Malia's desk, although we ordered the same things for both girls in case they end up sharing a room again. Yay! They have closets!

Quiet Times & Mood Swings

2008-01-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

How many of you look up commentaries during your quiet time? I was wondering today am I the only one who has constant questions and usually ends up opening up PC study bible to find someone else's opinion?

Today, the reading was in Job and I was perplexed about the idea that Job regularly practiced "purifying his children" or offering sacrifices for them to absolve them of their sins....just in case they sinned. What would that look like for us? Would it be our daily prayers for them? Would it involve asking God to forgive them of their sins?

Several have been discussing on one of the loops I am on, about 12-13 year old daughters. It has made me smile. I have two daughters in this age group. We have had some mood swings but not extreme....although one of my daughters does tend to have some extreme behavior at times. I'm not sure if this is just her....for instance, she doesn't want to hold hands with her brother when praying at the dinner table if she doesn't think his hands are clean enough. Or last night, she playfully hit him and he playfully hit back and she burst into tears. Maybe that is mood swings? She also tends to get overly excited about things--for instance sometimes she will run upstairs to get me overly excited that someone is at the gate. Not an odd thing by any means and not worthy of the extreme emotion displayed. These are just small examples. Does it sounds like mood swings. If so, I would have to say she gets it honestly. I was a mood swinger of the ump th degree.

This morning as I was praying for her, I was trying to figure out how to approach this with her. Do I tell her NOT to be too extreme in anything? (Kind of like The Queen...we watched that movie last night) Do I teach her to tightly control all of her emotions? This seems to be opposite of the cultural norms in America right now. The Thai's rarely show negative or extreme emotions and when we are in public I try to encourage her to keep a tight reign on them as to not impede her witness but again, there is a tricky balance. She does not tend to talk about her emotions, they tend to just come out in extreme actions or reactions.

Can, I offer sacrifices and purify her? :> Maybe if I lite incense and let the aroma float up with my prayers it will endear her to God. (sorry, I can't help but make fun of this culture at times) I will pray for her. And I think I will watch The Queen movie with her and talk about these issues with her. Several kids will be busy today with different things so it might be a good time to do that together.

Blessings!

Sisters....Sisters....There were never such devoted....

2008-01-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone by? They finally did their first "Sisters" performance based on the song for White Christmas on Christmas Eve with the house church. It was so cute. Malia can really do that Rosemary Clooney deep voice "I'm going to keep my eye on her," part! They are not quite as close as they were in the first picture but they are still sisters! Yesterday when we were intimate shopping....they reminded me so much of me and MY sister! It was a little weird being in the mom part and having them conspiring against me!

My sister is going to kill me, but I posted one of the only pictures I could find of her (taken almost 4 years ago!) Marla, I miss you so much....esp. yesterday when we were shopping!

Propsering....Delighting......

2008-01-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

The New Living Translation says “Why do the people waste their time with futile plans?” (Ps 2:1) My prayer is this year that our family will not waste our time with futile plans but will hear from the Lord, delight in doing everything he wants us to do (1:2) and bear fruit each season without fail (1:3)….prosper…. Isn’t that what most new year’s resolutions are about? Helping us Prosper….

What are ways that I waste time?

What plans do I make that are futile?

I know that I spend much time praying, researching, thinking about ways to meet the needs of my family. Esp. their different learning needs. I have fretted about how to plan when we are in the states this summer. How do I make the most of the time? Does this child need to be tested? Does this child need to be evaluated by a specialist? What kind of specialist? Am I doing all that I can do to make sure their needs are being adequately met? Would they thrive if they had this new therapy or this new approach to learning? I can drive myself crazy with all the planning and wondering.

Yet his word says that those who Delight in doing everything he wants….who think about his law day and night…they are the ones who prosper. They are also the ones who he watches over their paths (1:6). Oh, how I desire for Him to look after the paths of my children! How do I make this the focus of our family—Delighting in doing everything he wants us to do? To do this we must hear-listen-take the time to make this a priority in our year. How does this work practically for our family? How does this work practically in other families? We have had different seasons of how we have tried to work this out in the family.

I recently listened to a sermon by Vonnie ???? to the TX SBC about how parents are responsible for raising their children and not youth groups. It’s not much of a problem here where youth groups are not in abundance. But, distraction is raging and busyness can take over and before we know it we look up and we have been so busy discipling others, we have not discipled our own. How do I raise children who delight in doing everything God wants them to do? Then they would Prosper.....This would be a prayer that I have for them this year.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

We slept late this morning since we were up until after midnight last night. We then went to the mall--Noah wanted to purchase an MP3/CD player with some of his Christmas money. The girls and I shopped for underthings and then all four children got a pair of shoes. We ate lunch at a new Indian restaurant in the mall. The kids were good sports about it but I'll be surprised if they want to go back. The food was good. This is the second new indian food restaurant we've tried in the last week. I LOVE indian food. I have been extremely homesick lately. I guess it's that time of year.... We came home and ate ham sandwiches for supper. We used a sandwich maker that I purchased at the consulate yard sale. The vote for it being the best way to get a ham/grill cheese was not in it's favor, but we had a few mishaps so I think it's worth trying again.

Well, it's hard for me to think of blogging daily and posting pictures daily but I'm going to try. I won't be able to make it every day because the internet is not reliable and I am not that structured. But, I feel like more consistency would be enjoyed by the family. Since we are heading back to the U.S. this summer, maybe this will help family keep up!

Blessings!

2008-01-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas pics!

2007-12-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas pics!

2007-12-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

Progressive Dinner: Our House

2007-12-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

Choir Concert

2007-12-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

Band Concert

2007-12-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

"I Have a Dream"

2007-12-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

2007-12-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is almost upon us. It is hard to believe that 2008 is a few days away. It seems like is should still be July! I have decided to try to be more faithful with blogging and taking pictures this new year. The picture thing is mainly for family. I am going to try to post a picture per day. I realize that it is not always do-able...sometimes because our email is down and not working but I will do the best that I can. We have had trouble with our internet lately. Maybe it is all the season activity? I don't know we seem to have trouble periodically.

My friend Jeanni is coming over in a little while to help me reorganize my room. I am stuck and need help continuing. Thank God for good friends! The downstairs is more organized than it was last yr at this time! I can say I am making progress but still have a long way to go.

We finally purchased closets for the girls and we moved the boys downstairs and Malia upstairs. She likes to sleep later than the rest of us and we often disturb her with our noise in the mornings so she asked for a change. We didn't realize that the ceiling is lower in the downstairs room so with the loft beds in there, Noah cannot even sit up in his bed. Oh well....we are going to give him one of those triangle things to prop up against when in his bed. He doesn't do alot of sitting in his bed anyway. Malia's closet hasn't arrived yet...they only had one in stock (SAv's) and we have to wait for Malia's. Kelly is installing new runners (I'm not sure if that is the correct word for them) in their dressers and we will paint them white to match their closets.

The family is still majorly enjoying WII. We have to take breaks from it. We have rearranged the LR at the moment so that all focus can be on the WII. It won't stay that way for long. I need to post some of our Christmas pictures. I'll try to do that now. I'll close this down and just post some pics from the past few months.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

Our shopping trip was wonderful. It was high on those year highlights for me. I did not buy as much as I wanted to, but I am not an impluse buyer unless I just LOVE it and it takes a while for me to decide....and we didn't have alot of time to decide. Mom, I bought some room decor stuff for Savvy, and I think she is going to love it. It is this stuff to hang on her wall and one of the mom's of one of the girls in her "gang" is going to take a pic of the gang and we are going to blow it up and frame it and put it in the middle. It is going to look great with her quilt and I think she is going to be really excited about it all. I also bought her a book. I have enough money left to get the pic framed and maybe get her an outfit--if I can find one I think she might like. It is tricky. I didn't buy much for the Malia or the boys, just a few little things. I'll have to shop more here. Nor for Kelly or me....I just can't pay $100 for one pair of pants or a shirt. I will go to the export places here and see what I can find. Marla, we are going to buy a WII for the family with the money you sent. I hope that's ok. I bought some makeup for me! It seems like that's what I buy every year, isn't it? This yr I bought Bobbie Brown. Kelly said I look 5 yrs younger. I'm still trying to get used to it....I think I have to figure out how to make it not cling to the wrinkles. Ha. A challenge with makeup these last few years, esp. around the eyes. I guess you are not there yet! :>
Mel and Dee made it in today. It is great having them here. They made it all day until about 9pm and I am sure they are sound asleep now. We are really enjoying them, and the children are really loving having them here. There has been lots of laughter Malia will stay home from school with them tomorrow. The boys and Savannah will stay with them on Thursday. SAv is in a play tomorrow and needs to be at school, tomorrow.

Funny things said...As we were bringing the bags into the house one of the children asked Melanie if that was her bag....pointing to a certain bag.....as she said no, Sage looked up at her and said, "Did you steal it?" He was completely serious when he said it.

Last night, right after they went to bed Sage starts banging on our door saying, DAD, Noah says I must Expect my elders." Noah was telling him he must RESPECT his elders, meaning he (Noah) was one of the elders SAge needed to (expect-obey!). Too funny!

2007-12-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling better this week. Sage still has croup, though. Most likely, it's allergy related. If we were in the U.S. I think he might already be feeling better. He probably needs a steroid. They don't give them as readily here for croup as they do in the U.S.

The big Grace news is the school is looking for new property. This has been a nightmarish experience with the neighborhood association. New property means, new land, new buildings, more money. I pray that God will provide. The hard thing is that several dorms (including 2 IMB dorms) are located in the neighborhood, along with several folks have purchased houses in the neighborhood. It will be a couple of years before the new buildings will be completed so we are still in the old property for now. If the legal system here determines that Grace has the rights to the property we will take that when it comes and decide what is best. In the meantime, we are building anew.

Pray for funds, and the right property. It would be great if it was near this part of town. The positive thing about the school moving, is that we will be able to build space to fit us. Right now, we have no more space to add students in grades 5-12. This is a problem since we want to service the M community. So, the positive thing is that the building will fit us better. The negative....well, I won't go into all the negative right now.

2007-12-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. I am sitting here in bed, not wanting to get up because it's cold out of the covers. I have on long pj's and sweater. I have to get up soon, because I want to hit the grocery store before the Sunday crowds do. I need to make sandwiches tonight for the annual MK Christmas cookie party. The kids will go to later this afternoon. We also may go to a baptism at the waterfall this morning since about 6 children from two families that are good friends are getting baptized this morning! It sure is going to be a cool baptism! Makes me shiver just thinking about it.

My allergies are awful and the only thing I can think is that I need to change my allergy meds. They are not working. Maybe I will try Singulair...which is the medicine the dr. recommended I try next. I find myself waking up angry because I feel awful.

It still doesn't seem like Christmas that much...I guess I'm still not that excited. Our homegroup is doing some fun Christmas Eve activities, so I need to try harder to get into the mood. We will be having a progressive dinner type activity with different activities at different homes. The main meal will be here and it will be Mexican. I haven't quite decided what it will be....probably taco's.

Kel took the boys to his favorite breakfast place. He seems to be addicted to it or something and feels like he must go there every morning. It is a hot chicken soup type thing. I imagine it is probably Freezing there! They went in the car and not the motorbike.

The girls are still sleeping as usual. Malia slept until 11:20 yesterday. I tend to think if we let her sleep late on weekend mornings she will be more rested at school during the week. I'm not sure Kelly agrees with me.

He is preparing for band practice this afternoon. There will be a Christmas carol fest at Grace on Tuesday evening and he is leading the music for that time. The girls will be helping him. Pray for them, I know Malia will say she doesn't want to do it but it will be such a blessing if she will do it. It will be the first such thing he has done at Grace and will be good for the girls.

Well, I guess I need to make myself get up now and get dressed. Merry Christmas!

2007-11-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

While we were away, my new nephew was born! Jacob Reed Smith was born on Oct. 30. He and his mom are healthy and home now. We are so excited to have a new nephew and look forward to meeting him in May! He joins his big brother William, who I know is thrilled to have a brother!

Kelly and I returned from our get away on Thursday evening. We had a wonderful relaxing time in Phuket. Our hotel was near the beach (a short walk away) and had several very nice swimming pools. There ended up being several friends there but we kept most of our time for just the two of us. Larry and Diane were there so we did spend one evening playing cards with them. It was great to be with them and catch up on their family and latest news. We are very grateful to ERin and Carolyn for keeping our kiddo's during this time. They said it is much easier to keep them now (than when they were younger!)--much less work! Kel surprised me with business class tickets (we used frequent flier miles) and what a treat that was!

We returned to CM to cooler weather and rain. It has rained almost solid for the last 24 hours. We did not use A/c last night but slept with the windows open. I can't believe how cool it is, but it is November!

Kel is getting ready to leave for the states in a little over a week. He will be there for almost 3 weeks. I'm trying to get some Christmas shopping done so he can take gifts back with him.

I have TWO small groups to lead this week. Monday morning I will lead a book discussion for a group of mothers. It is a parenting book. Thursday evening, I will lead a parent support group for the special needs department. Pray for me as I prepare to lead these two events. I, also return back to my normal school schedule after a few weeks break. Please pray for me to have wisdom and knowledge in working with my students and know how to encourage and motivate them. I can't believe it is November already!

2007-10-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

Malia, Noah and I are in Singapore. We catch an early morning flight tomorrow to get the kdis back in time for school. They will be about an hour late. Dr. appts went good today. Noah has made a tremendous improvement. He gave us more exercises to do but we don't really have to bring him back to the Dr. Malia is doing ok. I still really like her Dr. here although I don't know if we will get approval to come back to Singapore again. I like the way he interacts with her. He is much more agressive than any of the Thai dr.'s we have seen. As far as getting her to talk to him and her talking back.

Had fun shopping this afternoon with my friend, Anne. Went to IKEA. Didn't buy alot but Bought Kel a couple of Christmas presents. He never accesses this blog so I think I can tell you what I bought. ONe is a computer lap board. The other is a battery operated phone charger in case you forget to charge your phone. I think both of these will be big hits for him and I'm excited to have found something for him.

Tomorrow, my ladies group meets and we will discuss doing some cooking together....where we each make 5 of one meal and then share them with each other. I saw a book based on the concept at Borders although I didn't know it was in a book. I didn't buy the book but I looked at it to get some ideas about how to make this work. If the ladies think we need the book I will order it for Kel to bring back.

Monday, Kel and I head off for our get away. I can't wait! I found a couple of good travel friendly outfits at some outlets here. I also bought Malia a couple ofthings. Well, that is enough my time on this rented computer is almost up.

2007-10-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Please go to this website and see our new vehicle. We haven't actually gotten it yet but it has been ordered and we will be getting it at the end of the month. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Avanza If that doesn't pick it up do a search on Avanza. It has three seats....much smaller than this 12 passenger van we are driving now. Kel thinks we are crazy to let the van go. I like the idea of parking and negotiating this better and since I mainly drive it, he is going with my choice. I hope we don't regret it in the future. We will get it the end of the month. I'm excited.

2007-10-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

The kids and I are back and Kel makes it back later tonight. We stayed at one of the oldest hotels in Bangkok, it just happens to be right by our office on Soi 2. I have never even really noticed it before. Anyway, it had the FIRST real hotel swimming pool ever built back in the 1950's. It had some very fun aspects about the hotel pool--like several ledges and roofs that you could dive off into the pool. The hotel was OLD...quaint and had that musty cat litter smell...except for when they covered it up with air freshner. There were cats everywhere but not in our room and since it was just regular floors and walls, we did fine with that. The toliet stayed stopped up about half way through the days but it would manage to clear out sometime--that was the grossest part. The rest was fine...clean beds, clean sheets each morning and we spent little time there.

As we were walking down the soi the first morning (small street) Savannah said, "I've been thinking about writing a book titled, LOST IN BANGKOK," which made me smile.....Sometimes it seems like we are lost there, although we're usually not lost...just trying to figure out how we are going to get to the next place. (6 of us barely fit in a taxi and traffic is horrible!) Savannah later said this was her best vacation ever! :> She liked the pool and she liked the fact that we decided to spend a little extra money and go see a movie with the big recliner type hairs and blankets. She thought that was a very special treat! We saw several good movies...I can't remember the one in the special theatre or the name of it...it was about a young boy who is a Ceasear..

My favorite was StarDust...don't know if you've seen it but I thought it was a clean, fun, fairy tale. Both boys were bothered by the ugly witches in it, though. The kids and Kel also saw "UnderDog." I shopped while they watched it. Didn't get to really shop like I had hoped. Since we had dr. appt's scheduled in at various times, I just wasn't allowed the shopping time I wanted. I would still love to buy an outfit for the girls that they could wear in public....they chose one outfit...with those gaucho type things and they look ok but they can't wear them everyday (although I think Malia did and Sav. wore the bottoms daily)--oh well, that's what the Europeans do when they are on vacation! The kids and I went to the IMAX theatre and saw "Dinosaur" I thought it was enjoyable if you can get past all the evolution stuff.

Malia's muscle weakness is some of the side effects from last yr and her other illness. A friend asked me how it was and I told her it was like taking a teenager to the dr. The dr would say, "what seems to be the problem?" She would not answer. Then he would say, "does your legs hurt?" She would say no. It was like pulling eye teeth to get the answers. Later she would say, "my legs don't hurt, it's my knees... he wasn't asking the right questions." I finally said, "I am not speaking, if you want to tell him what is wrong, then you can tell him, i will say nothing. And I will not bring you again..." She started talking a little more. I, also checked on that intermittant leg pain and it is a tendon. I have shoots of pain periodically that have been mistaken for leg cramps. I know it is the tendon because after he pushed around on it, I was limping for the rest of the evening. Thankfully, it only gives me trouble when I have the shooting pain episodes....they don't last long and most of the rest of the time it doesn't hurt. I, also, had my mamaogram and ultrasound which I detest greatly. I know they are very thorough here an I don't think I could go elsewhere since they are so familiar with my br--sts but I have so many cysts and it takes such a long time I HATE it. I have started doing some reading about HRT and am going to research the topic to see if it is time to get off the hormones to get the cysts to go away. If any of you have any info on that, send it my way.

Well, that is enough for now. We are home and all glad to be here. Kel will join us tonight--yesterday and today he has been in a meeting. I will say it IS stressful trying to corral all 4 children, attitudes and transportation in BKK!

Blessings!

2007-10-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a whle since I wrote anything. We are fine here. Just finished up swim meets. I'm glad the 4 days a week of swimming is over for a while. Here are quick updates for each child:

-Malia: did great in the swim meet...one several medals...just not sure which ones because I wasn't there and she hasn't got them yet. She went to her first school dance on Sat. She was Princess Lea from Star WArs it was a masquarade dance. Most of my pics turned out blurry but I may go ahead and try to post one anyway. She is enjoying school and friends this yr.

-Sav: Still is my melancholy child who values quality time. Just spend time with her nightly snuggling before bed and it fills her love tank! Her teacher this year is not as structured as last year and a little more up and down. This causes Savvy (as her friends call her) a little more anxiety, although she is still doing good in school. She also desires to move to world club neighborhood near the school because most of her friends live there. Pray for a friend for her in the neighborhood. That would help.

Noah- They had him swimming the butterfly this yr much to his disdain. I think in his age group he was one of the only ones who could do it. He only has two more full days before break and is excited to be getting a break. He is having a very good school year although he still struggles with handwriting--everything else is much better!

Sage-He and his brother were able to swim on one of the relay teams together. They came in 2nd in that race. Sage came in 3rd in almost every race he swam.. Remember he has only been swimming for about 2 1/2 years so we think he's doing great. He's excited about starting soccer in a few weeks. School wise he is making progress with lots of assistance. I think he's doing okay. Please pray for him.

Well, I slice 3/4 of the tip of my finger the other day and since I have 5 stitches on that tip it is very hard to type. I'm going to stop now. God Bless!

2007-08-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

We made it through the week!
News for us....Savannah decided to play the trombone instead of the Oboe. We purchased her trombone and it arrived yesterday. Everyone was excited to see it and find out about how it works. Kelly is thrilled about having a brass instrument in the house. BTW, we found out that our friend, Brooke plays the oboe!
I purchased a couple of new shirts yesterday. Spent more money on them than I should. I hope to take one and have it copied. Didn't feel like I had any stylish...clothes. The new fad is kind of the "hippy tops" or that is what I call them. I love to wear leggings and don't have any but I will have one of these tops copied,lengthened and then have leggings to go along with it. Hopefully, I can get this made beforeI go to V. Wish I could be there to get some sale items!

Not much else new. Long day today... I start seeing students today. Three of the kidsstay forswim team. There are so many students swimming the younger ones have to alternate days (Noah, Sage). Sage and I will stay for Michael's volleyball game and then the girls willshower andwe'lltake Michael outforhis birthday.
I'm havingsome problems with my spacekey.

2007-08-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Busy week this week!

Tuesday night: dorm sitting
Wed. night: House church grown ups meet for dinner
Thursday (house guest arrives) and we go to surprise bday party for a friend
Friday: going away party for friends here
Sat: meeting at school for parents of middle schoolers involved in sports/ house church
Sun: house guest leaves, dessert party at dorm for students to meet dorm committee
Mon: bday party for Brooke
Tues:
Wed: Michael Het's bday on Thursday so we will probably take him out this night

And this is just the extra stuff. I also start my Daniel bible study on Friday. STart our Home church ladies time Wed. morning. Have our first special needs staff meeting on Wed. at noon. Work at school on Tues/Thursday. I think that is all the regular stuff. You know as well as I do, that other things always come up!

Oh, and the kids start swim team this week!

2007-08-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

First day of school was a success. Sage is already asking about 4th grade. Sometimes, I have difficulty understanding what is going on in his brain. :>

Yesterday morning we were talking about the importance of using words...instead of fists and he said, "I respond better to fists than words." What is he thinking? There are sometimes huge gaps in his ability to explain his thoughts. He is the sweetest, kindest, pleaser child... He wants to do right--does it most of the time...is popular at school...is funny... but he still cannot articulate his thoughts in a systematic manner. AND, he has a poor short term memory. Now is that true or does he just have so many things to remember? It is hard to know. I cannot give him multi step instructions and expect him to follow through. We have some new materials at Grace about how to distinguish Learning needs issues and ESL issues. I'm thinking we will have a better understanding of what his needs actually are at the end of this year.

Noah...has a complete melt down because he has to write 3 sentences to go with his math homework. He is obviously tired from the day. I observed him in action today. I watched as he chose to be by himself on the playground. I saw him choose to reach out and talk to another younger child who is in our house church and sometimes lonely. I saw Noah separate himself again. And then I saw him in action. In PE, he was a leader...directing and telling everyone what to do. I guess it helps that he is shoulder and head above all the rest of them, doesn't it?

Pr for Malia...there is a girl in her core class. Please continue to pr for a good friend for her. She seemed encouraged after today. I saw her by herself in a group of people. I thought, "oh, dear, God, I can't do this again...." I realize it's not all about me....

Sav was greatly in tune to the interactions between friends---friends separated from the summer...interactions between teachers and students---new teachers---she observed some insecurity (from the teacher) and she was concerned. She has such a gentle sensitive heart. PR that heart can be channeled for good and not for melancholy meanderings that spiral downhill. She had a good day.

I am feeling insecure and out of balance. I have dealt with insecurity the last few months. Not sure what that is all about. Need to spend more time in the word and on my knees!

2007-08-13T04:59:00.000-07:00

The other night we were driving home from a movie and saw and elephant coming towards us down the street. I told Kelly, "just in case we begin to forget we live in Thailand." Can't say I've ever been in America and coming home from the movie saw an elephant on it's way home. We saw the new Bourne movie. We liked it. We rented the other two to watch first so we could remember. I think it helped us enjoy this one.

I have agreed to take on the responsibility of dorm committee chairman. I was pretty much doing the job anyway. So, now, at least I officially have the teeth. Not that I really wanted it. Please pray for me. I feel underqualified for this. I also feel like I don't have alot of time to give to it. The main thing we are doing right now is lining up dorm sitters for the two dorms for the nights off this semester.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I think we are all ready--physically--but mentally? I'm not sure any of us are ready.

Kelly and Malia had a good trip to Singapore. They enjoyed the musical and had good dr. appt's. M was also able to spend time with her friend.

Please pr with me about the dorms. We have career dorm parents who have been stateside who moved from the dorm in Dalat. And then we have a Masters Couple dorm parents who are finished up their term and 2nd yr in the dorm. The career couple have invested alot in the dorm and have lots of fun decor. The Masters couple has nothing. They inherited nothing and are only here temporarily. The career couple has collected over years many of these things. Pr esp. that the two couples will not compare themselves. Pr that the children will have good relationships with both couples and respect them. Pr for wise decisions from the dorm parents and the dorm committee.

I need to start an exercise program. I guess you can pr that I will have the motivation and will to do so!

2007-08-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

Immigration went surprisingly fast the other day. We were in and out of there in less than thirty min. Then we headed out of town for the retreat. It was a good time to reconnect with Grace staff and be reminded of how blessed we are to be able to live here and have our children attend the school.

One of the main reasons I wanted to attend was because I was hoping it would give Malia a good opportunity to connect with girls her age. I have prayed off and on all summer that this will be a new year at school for her and she will thrive instead of agonizingly strive as she did last year. Well, I was immediately disappointed as I saw her rush ahead to catch up with the 4 girls her age that didn't wait for her. Then, after our session I found her up in our room by herself--not feeling included. I did'nt say much...just watched and kept silently praying. She immediately said she didn't want to go to play putt putt with the group and that when her dad returned from playing golf she was ready to head on home. Thankfully during free time, she ended up going bike riding with her sister and some of Savannah's friends. Then, they asked her to join them for dinner. Then, she wanted to go play putt-putt. I don't know what is ahead for her this year. In some ways she seems more mature than the others her age. And then in other ways she seems less mature. In the ways that really matter--she seems more mature. I am grateful for that. I pray that she will have the stamina to continue to reach out to folks and that God will bring her some friends this semester at school. She is seeing one of her friends she was with alot this summer tomorrow night when she and her dad are in Singapore. I think Kelly is going to take them out to dinner and let them sit at a table by themselves.

Pray for Noah. He is not looking forward to school starting. He tried very hard to smile at his new teacher and not act horribly disappointed about it starting back but he is not thrilled with it. I love his teacher. I think he will, too. She is a retired teacher from Arkansas who has the sweetest southern, grandmotherly disposition. I pray he will have a good year.

You can also pray that his dad has the birds and bees talk with him. I've been telling K Noah is ready but K hasn't really seen the signs until lately. It seems in almost every famiy devo, lately, Noah is asking..."how could they do that?" "how did that happen?" And it usually has to do with birds and bees type issues. And he is not satisfied with just a blow off answer. Inquiring minds want to know! :> Pray that the right time in the next few days will present itself. I dread him going to school and asking those same questions!

The best laid plans...

2007-08-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to immigration today...hoping to be there at 8:30 but Kel has something he must take care of be4 we go. So, we are waiting on him. Malia, Noah and I need new re-entry permits put into our passport because we are leaving the country before the end of the yr and we might as well do it all at one time. So, we must go and wait.... Sometimes we wait for hours. We are taking good books! :>

We hope to leave today for the Grace Staff retreat around 11. It's just an overnight event. Kel and Malia will not spend the night since they are heading to Singapore early in the morning so they will sleep at home tonight. (the retreat is about an hour away)They return on Sunday morning.

My school schedule has not all been worked out yet but it's looking like I will have mainly boys this year. That will be different from last yr when I only had ONE boy student. I'm looking forward to the new year and getting back into a more structured day. I feel torn at this time of year as I see all the needs and feel like I can only meet some of them with my part time schedule. But, the reality is that we have another job to do, also and my time is limited. Our special needs staff has grown this year to 12 or 13 people so we have doubled since last year! I am amazed how that happens.

Well, since we really need to be out the door, I will close.

I said almost finished....

2007-08-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

You will notice the dark window above the couch. We have a wall hanging we would like to put there but we need to have something made to hang it over the window. It doesn't fill up the whole window but I think it will be sufficient to draw your eye to the wall hanging and not the window. I will also eventually want to get new curtains for the "Gold room" but it may be next year before I do that, since the peach curtains are just fine. You will notice some fabric hanging on one of the pictures and I would like to recover the chairs in that fabric but it won't be until I'm ready to change the curtains.

Did you see the Chinese panels in the dining area? Can you see the detail on them? That is the wall that I wanted to stencil but I couldn't get it to look exactly like I wanted it to on the poster board so I haven't done it yet. The stencil would go behind the plant and we would remove the plant. It would like to get a corner waterfall type thing for the corner in the dining area but I have no idea if I could find anything like that here. I haven't been able to, yet.

I may end up putting rod iron candle holders on each side of the mirror OR I've thought about doing black and white family photo's. I'm not sure yet.

The Almost Finished Homemakeover 2

2007-08-04T19:18:00.001-07:00

The Almost Finished Home Makeover

2007-08-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning

2007-08-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning here.... I think I am finally able to download some of the pictures of the house. It is my goal to be better about showing pictures on this blog!

I'm sorry it's been a few weeks since I've updated. Shortly, after returning home from the meeting, I was sick. That cut my week--my one week before I had to be at school for meetings--very short with lots to do in those few remaining days. Then, this past week, I spent at school learning the phonics program in a five day seminar. This coming week, we will have some meetings at school and then school starts next week.

We are in the midst of getting ready for school...updating uniforms, buying underwear, getting haircuts, and shoes....all those last minute things you do before school starts. We now need to order new pants and skirts for Malia and get the boys shorts altered....they are being passed down and we will be ready to go. We will need to do this on Monday to make sure that Malia has something to wear on the first day of school :>! She has truly grown in the last few months and can wear none of the old clothes. Hopefully, this will be her last growing year! :> Around this time, is when I stopped growing. She still is not taller than me, but it is getting very close. I keep telling her she's not going to surpass me. She keeps telling me she is!

This week, Kel and Malia are headed back to Singapore on Friday for a medical trip. Some of her test results from the previous trip showed that she had some positive titers for Lyme disease (which if I understand correctly shows that she has had Lyme disease in the past) and they are going to do some follow up blood tests on that as well as see another Dr. from follow up from our trip. For a special treat, he is taking her to see The King and I musical! We bought her a new dress to wear. At first she said she was only wearing jeans--the age, I guess--but it didn't take her long to get into the shopping mood and we found a dress in record time!

The others and I are going on a staff retreat with the school start on Thursday and Friday. Pray that we can have a productive fun filled week before the kids start their first week, next week!

They received their class lists and teacher names yesterday and they are all very excited about this new year.

I will try to download some of the pics on my camera now!