The volunteers are riding elephants right now. This is our last day to get ready for things to start tomorrow. We are not able to access the rooms until later in the day so please pr-y we will get things together and ready before tomorrow. It is easy to feel stressed with all the last minute details as well as keeping the family together! So, continue to pr-y for us. The group leaders luggage did not arrive but it is supposed to be at the airport now. Pr-y that it will be there. Much of the stuff is in those suitcases!

One of our close friends here works in media for the main office in RVA. They are doing something new by having a blog and media up while they are shooting. Thought you might be interested. You can access it here: www.iwcstories.com Our friend is the videographer.

Blessings!

They are coming...

More volunteers started arriving today. I picked up two separate groups. One couple from Mississippi spent the last couple of days in Bangkok and were overwhelmed with the sights and sounds. They were relieved to be with here in Chiangmai and make contact. My friend, Andrea, from Knoxville arrived today. I have known Andrea for years. We met her in 2001 on stateside assignment when we visited her church. I will never forget when I asked her to come out and visit us and her reply..."Oh, that's not my role...my role is to pray..." Wouldn't you know, God was smiling when she made that statement because now she GOES two to three times or more a year! She goes to Vietnam every year and God has used her to push back some of those layers of darkness so they can hear. It is a treat to have Andrea here with us this week.

Pray for me! Pray that I will serve and love these volunteers while they are here. Pray that they will be able to pull together even though they are from different churches. Pray that God will use them in the lives of our children to help them grow closer to the Lord!

Thanks!

Zack arrived

Zack made it! And you would never believe where he and Kelly are right now! Well, those of you who are family and know them would! They decided to go to a movie and see Die Hard! Zack is running on adrenaline. It is 9:35 pm here.

Well, we had Christmas first...or that is what it seemed! Marshmallows, graham crackers, Chocolate chips, apple jelly, velveeta, rotel, peanut butter, spices, Dr. Pepper, muffin mixes, poptarts---and MORE! Wow! Sage was thrilled with the two shorts outfits and Noah with his new jean shorts. Sage was also thrilled with his bible! I have my Daniel bible study book and Passport 2 Purity that I hope to use with Malia, soon...AND my Good Housekeeping magazine! I didn't really have them bring anything special for the girls but Zettie recommended a Hannah Montana DvD that they are THRILLED with. Thank you Zettie!

We are glad that Zack is here to experience a little bit of our life. Makes us miss Bob and Zona ever so much more, since they were also supposed to be here at this time.

Blessings!

Safe in the Arms of Jesus

These are the latest couple of updates about Angela:

This is the secondary principal at Grace's daughter. Her husband is also the band and choir director. Angela was young...around age 25. She was here last year and since she was a nurse, she worked in the nurses office at school. Please pray for the Fishers as they grieve this major loss.

------------------------------


Safe in the Arms of Jesus
At 1:00 PM on Friday, July 6th, Angela went home to be with her Lord. In keeping with her generous spirit, Angela had arranged to be an organ donor.

Angela's memorial service will be at First Baptist Church in Wheaton, IL on Wednesday, July 11, at 10:00 AM. There will be a viewing on Tuesday afternoon at First Baptist. More details will be available later.

Thanks to all of you who prayed, wrote emails, and called. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Angela and the rest of our family.


Entry for July 06, 2007
Friday AM

Angela's condition continues to deteriorate. We arrived at the hospital shortly after 8:00 this morning and her night nurse was still here. She told us that Angela had a rough night. Her blood pressure had dropped and they had to give her some medication to bring it back up. Her body temperature also had dropped so she has a "bear hug" which is a special blanket that hugs her body to warm her.

Angela seems to be slipping further away. Her pupils are fixed and dilated, her gag reflex is gone, her bowels are not functioning and she has no response to painful stimuli.

We were asked about organ donation - we know that Angela would want to do that. Apparently later today a team will be here from "Gift of Hope" to assess her organs.

This is the hardest thing we have ever gone through but we continue to cling to the Lord for strength to walk this path. We remain fully confident that God is able to do a miracle and raise her to full health. However, at this point, it seems that it is in God's plan to take her home.

Please continue to pray for a miracle for Angela and for our family in general. We are holding up as well as can be expected, but this is very hard. Angela does not have any kind of life insurance. As such, the financial pressure on our family is quite significant.

We are continually overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that has been showered on us by all of you. Thank you for all of your kind words.
We are not able to respond to each of you personally, but please be assured that we are reading each message and are touched by your care and support.

One of those weeks.....

Three nights ago we received a phone call at about 9pm from a friends daughter (she's 10) who said, "Aunt Jamie, my mama and my daddy are really sick. I just wanted you to know." I asked her if I needed to come and she said yes. As soon as I walked in the door she said, "Aunt Jamie, my mama needs you very much." We went upstairs and Kim and Quinton were both down with a stomach virus but Kim was very dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital. We called a Dr. friend and he and Kelly carried her to the car. I spent the night at the hospital with her. She's home and better now.

The next night was 4th of July night and I was exhausted so I went to bed at about 9pm as soon as we got home. I woke up at 10:30 because Sage was screaming and my first thought was "I can't believe Kelly is letting them stay up so late..." Then I heard Noah say something like, "of all the nights for mom to go to bed...." :> I decided to drag myself out of bed...Sage was still wailing. Noah had thrown up from the loft... Sage had started gagging and tried to escape the room and tripped and had a hard fall so since he was half asleep just started screaming. I looked at him to make sure he was fine and turned around and went back to bed. (I'm wondering if I was still half asleep...but Kel had it all taken care of--What a man!)

Then yesterday while I was in the middle of finishing getting dinner ready for guests, the boys were playing soccer and kicked the soccer ball into the water pipe and it broke...which meant the water in the tank was all we had until it could be fixed and of course this is around 4:30 in the afternoon--which meant we would need to wait until morning. There was also a slow leak which meant we had to turn the water off and on when we wanted to use it (from outside). The boys first of all had to figure out how to stop the water from gushing out....they figured it out after about 10 minutes. Then, as I was trying to figure out what to do next...Noah comes running in and Sage had taken a fall and was hit in the head with a metal swing. I was on my way to the park and Quinton comes carrying him home...he's covered in blood. I start cleaning and exploring to figure out the extent of the damage and finally find a small hole. I don't think it needs to be stitched, just cleaned. It ended up oozing all night. My main concern is keeping his dirty hands out of it!

We enjoyed our time with our friends last night!

Now the water pipes are being fixed and hopefully all will be right soon. Tonight Kelly and I are going out to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate a friends birthday. I'm looking forward to that.

Zack arrives on Monday evening. The meeting starts next Sat. Daddy Bob is home and gaining strength each day.

Angela, who I wrote about yesterday, continues to struggle. Here is the latest update on her:


Angela remained in much the same condition overnight. When we left last evening, she was getting nutrition through a gastro-nasal tube and that was going well. Today, however, her bowel function is not good and the doctor has decided to start IV nutrition this afternoon. Her eyes today are more dilated and not responding to light.

Preliminary results of the lumbar puncture show some indication of encephalitis. Her primary care physician said he had never seen encephalitis present like this but it is possible that if she had a stomach virus last week, the virus could have caused the encephalitis. They are also checking for West Nile Virus but the results of that test will not be back for 6 - 7 days. She has been on antibiotics in case there is a bacterial infection of some sort.

We continue to be in awe at the amount of love and support we are receiving. We've had phone calls and emails from around the world and know that Angela is being prayed for 24 hours a day. Our desire in all this is that Jesus be glorified. We are trying to take every opportunity to share the hope that is within us.
Thursday July 5, 2007 - 02:27pm (CDT)

Happy 4th!

Happy July 4! We celebrated with friends---went bowling and then had a cook out and fireworks. Our family made up a cheer to celebrate the day:

It's July 4
we're here today
We're here to Cheer
The U.S.A.

USA...CHEER IT ON
USA...CHEER IT ON

We had unbelievable fireworks! Most of you go to a firework show to see the kind of fireworks we shot last night at our friends house. An unbelievable shower of color and flames right above us. The adults are a little bit shell shocked each time to believe that we can actually by these types of fireworks and do our own show! Wish you could have seen it.

We've got another full day today.... Library, orthodontist appointments, then friends are coming for dinner. The Mimms---Neill, Margit, Ana, Gabi and Coleen.

I'm still working on organizing the house. Don't think there will be much time for that today,though.

Please pray for a friend. Her name is Angela. She is the adult daughter of the high school principle here and her husband is the band director. She has been sick the last few weeks and the other day she had a very bad seizure. She is now unconscious with little brain activity....still seizing...on a ventilator, and they still don't know why. Please pray that she will recover and pray for peace and support for the family.

Where does the summer go??? We calculated that we have 2 weeks and then volunteers start arriving for our next meeting. After the meeting, there is one week before I have to be at a week long training at school. The next week starts teacher orientation and then August 13, school officially starts back. Where does the summer go?

Today we have dentist appointments. Some of you may know, that I like the dentist the very least of any kind of medical thing. Yuck! But, we are all going to get it over with today. We will make appt's for three of the children to have a follow up with the orthodontist next week.

Tomorrow, house church is at our place. We are planning after worship to go out to eat and then bowling. We will eat at a restaurant called "Hell's Kitchen." Interesting place to go after worship, wouldn't you say?

Yesterday, after working in the library at school for a few hours, we had friends come over. The mom, Sandra, is an organization guru and she has agree to help me with some organizing. It's hard to get started, though. I mean, where do you start? Right now, we are trying to figure out how to use one corner of the living area downstairs. Right now there is nothing in it but junk--since Kel moved his office out. We need some kind of small office set up down there but I kind of dread that because desks in the past have always looked cluttered. So, if you have any ideas, please let me know. I may post a picture of that space to see what ideas we can come up with.

After Sandra left, Savannah cooked supper. We also babysat 2 children. Malia did an excellent job of keeping the little girl entertained. (she is 4) Savannah cooked potato soup for supper and it was delicious. The boys played with the little boy.

After everyone was in bed last night, Kel and I watched and episode of LOST. Wow! That show just keeps having new twists.

Get Out of the Pit by Beth Moore Chapter 1

“One reason some of you nicer folks are in a pit without realizing it is because you mistakenly characterize pits only in terms of sin.”

You can know you’re in a pit when:
1. You feel stuck (Is. 42:22 says a pit is somewhere you feel trapped) You can’t get your self out.
2. You can’t stand up (Ps. 69:2 David cries out, “I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing.”) You know you are in a pit when you feel ineffective and utterly powerless against attack.
3. You’ve lost vision (“The close confinement of a pit exhausts us with the endless echo of self-absorption. We can’t see out, so we turn ourselves in. After a while, our nearsightedness breeds hopelessness.”)
In answer to her question….Are you in a pit? I would have to answer yes. Not as deep a pit as I’ve found myself in before but…still in there. Answers to questions:
1. I feel stuck…stuck in patterns of sin. Or at least that’s what it seems like to me. Stuck in cycles of hopelessness regarding making self discipline changes regarding home organization, meal planning and child training.
2. Can I stand up? I think I’m standing…. However, I do feel hopeless to change in areas that I would like to make changes in, so maybe I’m swaying???
3. You’ve lost vision? Absolutely…that is me to the T. Why are we here? What difference are we making? I am continually tormented by these questions. Did God create me for a specific purpose? I am reading Kevin Leman’s new book “The Real You: Become the Person you were Meant to Be (Unlock the Secrets to your True Potential)” and become discouraged because I don’t fit the patterns. Or at least I can’t see it if I do. Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy, Phlegmatic? I absolutely, do not fit the typical pattern for oldest child or ONLY although, I might be closer to that one. Neither does my sister, although my brother comes close to fitting the patterns for first born males. So, if I don’t fit the patterns, I guess I can’t become “who I was meant to be…” or that is the way my quirky brain works it out. I’ve put that book away for a while. :>

Summer Reading Challenge

I've wanted to join DeEtta's summer reading challenge and I am just now having time to type in my books. When I looked at DeEtta's list, mine seems small but then to others, it will look like a long list. I will not compare. If you want to find out more, go to DeEtta's blog (linked to the right). My goal is to read a bit each day. We will see how far I get. I've already started and have completed a couple of books.


Strong Women Soft Hearts: A Woman’s Guide to Cultivating a Wise Heart and a Passionate Life (Paula Rhinehart) Finished

Get out of That Pit (Beth Moore)Finished

The Battlefield of the Mind (Joyce Meyer)Finished

God At Your Wit’s End (Marilyn Meberg)

A New Kind of Normal (Carol Kent)Finished

Created to be His Helpmeet (Debi Pearl)Finished

Love and Respect (Eggerichs)

9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and in Life (Dr. Henry Cloud)

The North Face of God (Ken Gire)

The Gift of Dyslexia (Davis and Braun)Finished

Ritalin Free Finished

Medicating Young Minds (Glen Elliott)Finished


Fiction:
Forever (Kingsbury)- FINISHED
Sunrise (Kingsbury)- FINISHED
Trial by Ordeal (Parshall)
The Thai Amulet (Hamilton)
It Happens Every Spring (Chapman and Palmer)
Summer Breeze (Chapman and Palmer)
Dying Declaration (Singer)- FINISHED
Expectations (Melanie Jeschke)- FINISHED
When You Believe (Deborah Bradford)- FINISHED
Blow Out (Catherine Coulter)- FINISHED
Blind Side (Catherine Coulter)
Dangerous Silence (Catherine Palmer - FINISHED
Then Am I Strong (Francine Arnold)-FINISHED

No surgery!

Daddy Bob did not have to have surgery! After IV antibiotics, he improved and they are thinking it was an infection and not a leak! Thank you for your prayers! Please continue to pray for complete healing and that he can go home, soon.

Our family is back together again! Three are sick....and dragging around. I hope the others of us don't get it. We had a family meeting today to discuss expectations and schedules, etc. The girls (each) and the boys (together) will each be cooking one meal a week in our 6 weeks of summer time that we are home. They are also going to be taking more responsibilities in the garden (known as a yard for most Americans), laundry and keeping the car clean. We will let you know how it goes.

Sage read 8 Dr. Suess books a few days ago. He is reading now! yippee! Continue to pray for him as he moves into 3rd grade at a 2nd grade level. He is improving in his English and cognitive skills and hopefully will be on grade level at the end of this next school year.

Noah started his eye exercises today. When we went to Singapore we found out that he has some visual deficits that make reading and school work more difficult for him. The good news is that these deficits can be strengthened with exercises we do two times a day. Pray that we can be consistent with the exercises!

Those are the only two that are really up, and moving around 100 percent. That should give you an idea about the ones that are sick. :>

Laundry is almost caught up, bags are unpacked and we are settling back in. Kel has a bunch of work to catch up on. I think he needs to make about 6 overseas phone calls tonight in his low, bass cold voice! The weather continues to be hot and not rainy...or not any significant rain. We have been catching up with 24 by watching about 6 new episodes that Jon sent. We are ready for more, as always!

Well, that's an update here.

Blessings!

Daddy Bob update

Received this message from Melanie today:
Hello--quick note to you guys. Dad was to go home today--all tubes gone since yesterday. Yesterday had more pain and it concerned him. He did not feel that good, but then this morning was so excited that he was going to go home. Well, his WBC (white blood cell count) was up--sign of infection and he had some increase in pain in his LLQ LL abdomen, so they did some x-rays---showed some air in there, but not conclusive----so did a CAT scan and he has a leak. What size leak? No clue. Now (literally) doing a barium enema to decide the size of the leak---if very small, will try to give abx and allow to heal slowly. If not, then will reopen him and do a colostomy which he will have for 6-8 weeks. The hope there is that after the healing, he can then be closed and the colon sown back together.


Please continue to pray for them!

Kel and the three oldest are still at camp. Sage and I are holding our own here. We've had guests and more guests. We're pretty lonely and ready for the others to come home. They come back on Monday.

Singapore airport

We are in the Singapore airport using their free internet. Everyone is online. Kids are greatly impressed and all they've experienced so far is the bathrooms! More soon....

We're heading out

We're heading out today. Our flight is this afternoon and we will spend the night in BKK. Then, early in the morning we will head to our destination. I'm not sure if we are really excited but it will be nice to get away and eat out daily. We will be staying in an apartment so we will have plenty of room.

Today is Malia's 13th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Malia. I am now the mother of a teenager. I like Paul Tripp's definition of agoing from childhood to adulthood....and expecting the teens to be young adults. Instead of expecting teens to be teens.... Get the difference? I'm sure I'll probably go into more details about this later.

The swim meet last night was loads of fun. Malia won 9 medals (2 2nds, 1 3rd and the rest 1st's) , Savannah 7,(maybe 2 2nd's and the rest 1st's?) Sage 3 (3blue ribbons) and Noah 2 (one red and one blue ribbon). Noah was disappointed he only swam in two heats--we were too, and he did very well in those two. Most of the heats were relays. Malia and Savannah both did very well. All four kids have greatly improved in their swimming abilities this year. I asked Noah if he was going to swim next year and much to my surprise he said, "Yes." He seemed to be one of the better swimmers in his age group and kind of liked it. He has always been the "one least likely to swim." (Hasn't enjoyed it but was a fish since age 3!) Seems like at least the oldest three will continue to compete. I'm not sure about Sage. It's not his best sport--and he has some good ones! But he holds his own.

I'm going to join a summer reading club. I'll try to post all the stuff here so you can keep up with what I'm reading. I'm still a little bit technologically challenged when it comes to this but have patience with me!

Blessings!

Bob's Surgery postponed

Just received this message from Mel....
Pops could not have his surgery today---had a skin reaction to the dye in the CAT scan dye so they have sent him home with steroids. Thinking it will be a couple of days at least until the surgery.

Bob's surgery

Zona and Bob called this morning to let us know that his surgery is today in the U.S. (Wed.) at 11:00 am. Wow! They were able to get him right in and get the surgery scheduled. They still think it looks very good and will only remove a small portion and he should still be able to function just fine with what he has left. They will not be able to visit us as they had planned because their trip was planned less than 4 weeks from the surgery and that is just not enough recovery time. We are disappointed that they will not be able to come as planned but are hoping they can reschedule their trip for later on in the year. We are thankful that they found the mass early and are able to get this taken care of quickly. Please join us in praying for him!

Yesterday we received the news that Bob (Kelly's dad)has a malignancy on his colon. He is meeting with a surgeon today to find out what is involved with surgery to remove it and what other treatment might be needed. We are grateful that Mama Z, suggested he get a colonoscopy (he was not having any negative symptoms)because the Dr.'s feel confident that they have found it in the very early stages.

Please pray for the surgeons for wisdom and timing to remove it and pray that God would allow it to be completely eradicated from his body!

Today, I spent most of the day with my husband--which is always an unexpected treat! We began the day, going to school to hear Noah's "Home Country" presentation. He did a good job of presenting the U.S.A.---the home of this birth--and learned a few things in the process!

After the meeting we returned home and I did email while Kelly cleaned up the lose ends from moving his office out yesterday. Then we headed into town to run some errands and then meet friends for lunch to hear how their latest trip in country went. It was exciting to hear the latest about how G has opened the doors for them to open a rep office for an export business in the U.S. I remember having a meeting with them about a year ago--a hard meeting, where K asked them to spend the next yr figuring out a way to go live back inside and them thinking there was no possible way they could be involved in business. We have seen G change their hearts and lead them step by step to this process so they will be moving back around the first of the year. We spent about 3 hours with them.

Then, we headed to Kelly's new office so he could show me and get input about the arrangement of everything. We had an unexpected treat while we were there, of seeing an old friend who used to work with us in V but now lives in another country nearby. He was able to show us pictures of his family and we were able to spend a little time catching up. BTW, I'm excited about Kelly's new office set up and the possibilities.

After this we returned home in time to get ready for the kids to arrive home at 4:30. They are all swimming on the swim team so they get home late four days a week. Sat. will be the swim meet and they all came home and with the assignments of the races they will compete in. They are excited and nervous about the swim meet!

I am reading a book a friend sent called, "Get Out of That Pit," by Beth Moore. I've just started it but like it so far. I'll try to write up a review of it when I'm finished but can't promise it will be anytime soon. :>

I'm feeling better...but still a bit queasy, esp. when it comes to eating. Tomorrow, we've got a pretty full day--ending with Malia having a sleep over in the evening for her birthday. She has invited 4 friends---and with her and her sister that makes 6! She is excited!

Blessings!

Finally.....

It's been a while since I've been able to send an update. First, my computer crashed. We took it in to have it repaired. The memory was corrupted. Then, when we got it back, the files we had saved had many errors and it just took a while to be able to get it all up and running again. Then, when it was finally repaired, many of my old settings were gone. When I tried to log onto blogger...it was in Thai and I couldn't read it. It took several days to try and figure out how to change it back to English!

The kids still have one week left of school. There are actually 10 days left but we are leaving for Singapore next Sunday, so they will miss the last 3 days. Funny, if you've seen the new Pirates movie, they go to Singapore. The kids have NO memory of Singapore and it is not very inviting in the movie. They will be pleasantly surprised!

Everyone is doing very well...except for me. I've had a stomach bug for almost a week now. I am just finding myself very weak. I hope it is over with. The last couple of mornings, I've started out feeling much better but end up crashing by about 3pm.

We received our new couches...FINALLY. They are beautiful and make such a difference. I feel like our home finally looks like a home...what a difference a few nice chairs make! Kel moves his desk out on Monday so downstairs will look like a "normal" home. I've practice stenciled but still haven't found just the right combination I was hoping to find.

I want to take some pictures and show you. I'll work on that. I often forget how to do it. It's nice because I can take pics now with my phone. BUT, I can't remember how to download them.

My helper has been gone since Friday and tonight we had our book study at our house. I dread her being gone but then at the same time, enjoy it, too. She doesn't clean like I would like her to, so I usually take the times when she is gone to get in the kitchen with the bleach and clean it like I like it. In my opinion, bleach is a clean smell. In Kelly's opinion, bleach is a strong smell. Funny, Sage, came into the kitchen and said, "it smells so clean in here!" Ha. Anyway, she won't be here tomorrow either. And, everything is nice and clean. I'm astounded that we CAN keep it clean, if we really try. My helper likes to iron. She will spend hours ironing. She doesn't like to clean that much. I HATE to iron. I would choose cleaning over ironing anyday! :>

I was dreading book study. There is an interesting dilemma that has occurred in our small group. Two of the families own their own home. The rest of us are renters. The two that own their own homes are new to Chiangmai and their standards for their homes and decor is on a different level than ours. The positive thing about it is that they have motivated me to make some changes that will make me happier in the long run. Things that you try to tell yourself are insignificant and don't really matter but they make a world of difference to your disposition when they are done. The negative is that I was dreading having folks come over because I felt like there is just no way that our home can measure up to the same standard as theirs. I'm not sure I've ever felt that way out here. So, instead of focusing on the book, or my friends, or the fellowship.... It was needless worry.

After the study, I was so thankful that God has given me the husband/marriage/family that he has given me. Rejoicing that my husband is a Godly man who does what is right and not concerned at all about how my house looked. Of course, it still Smelled, clean, so there was pleasure in that! I'm so relieved because I was worried about how I was going to get over this obsession with things not being like theirs. When, now, I'm thanking God.... :> Wish I could go into more detail.

The girls gave a pre-garage sale with their Barbie's and Polly's since some of these couples have little girls. They ended up making about $40...which isn't a bad deal at all. I think they were thrilled. There is still a little bit left that will go into our garage sale.

One day soon, I will figure out how to upload pictures to the computer and I will take pictures of some of the changes that I am making. It's still not going to be Better Homes and Garden, but I think it will be inviting, comfortable and pleasing to be here.

Wacky weather

It's STILL raining!

Kel leaves for a trip to V, tomorrow. Pr for him as he goes and for us as we stay. :> He will return on Friday. This past week he led worship at an agricultural conference. The worship was in the evenings and they had meetings all during the day. The surprised him at the end with a gift certificate to Duke's, so our family ate lunch there yesterday.

We also saw Spiderman 3. It's my favorite Spiderman so far, although, I haven't really liked the other ones that much. The kids are are excited about the trilogy of Three's coming out this May! Spiderman, Shrek and Pirates of the Carribean all have their third movies coming out in May! We've been on a Movie dearth the past few months. There have mainly been Tha-i movies and they have a wicked sense of entertainment. We saw a preview yesterday for "The Death Train..."

Today will be a lazy laid back day since we now have our worship time on Sat. evening. I still have the dregs of a sore throat--cough. Each day it seems a little better but this nagging cough won't go away. I wonder if it's connected to the dampness? It's better but it still is painful to swallow so I guess it's still swollen in there. It's been almost a week now.

I hear that weather in the U.S. is really strange right now. The rumor mill says that mom and dad must get a new fence because of 100 mph winds? I read an interesting article on the Dallas Morning News website comparing last years weather to this years. "This year also logged 25 days where temperatures sat at freezing or below. That's almost triple what was recorded in the same period in 2006." Amazing! Last year on April 17, the temp. hit 101 degrees. This year, it was freezing! This picture is from the Dallas Morning news, taken in Arlington.

Rainy Days!

It's finally raining everyday, here, lately! Yesterday morning, this morning.... We picked a good time to put in grass--last weekend. We pulled up the bricks that were surrounding our house (the wee bit of bricks!) and had grass put in. It looks so much fresher having that green surrounding the house. We want to add a tree (the space is very very small)--there is one that resembles a magnolia and change the flowers out front. It is my desire to have a regular gardener come but we haven't found one yet. So, the other things will need to wait.

The couches are still being made. We were supposed to be able to try them out on Wed. but of course, they were not there. This is about the 4th trip we've made...it's been 2 months??? (This is life in Asia!) The man agreed to have them on Monday so we could try them out before K leaves for his trip to V. Do you think they will actually be there???

Today is Family FUN day at Grace. Parents are invited. Kel and the children have gone. I was planning on going but since it's raining and since I've been sick all week and my throat is still quite raw, I decided to opt out of the festivities. I wasn't able to go last year. Last year, Malia and I were in Bangkok on one of her medical trips. Thank the Lord we are not at that same place this year.

She and her dad had a great time in Bangkok. Kel received thank you notes that said he was the best chaperone ever. Must have something to do with the Diplomacy game he took, wouldn't you think? They all had a blast. From all that I talked to, the train ride there and back were the highlight of the trip!

Savannah and Sage went rock climbing this week. They actually both did very well. Now, Sage wants to do it for his birthday celebration. I'm not sure we can afford it but we will check into it. Yes, he has a birthday next Thursday. Savannah had a birthday party last weekend. I took her gang of girls to see "Meet the Robinson's." Then, they went to another friends house to spend the night (for the friend's birthday). They are a great group of gals.

There are lots of holiday's here in the month of May. The kids are out today (Family FUn day...finished at noon) and Monday is also a holiday. I guess it is a trial run of the summer.

I'm practicing stenciling in my free time. I have considered doing a little on the walls but it's not as easy as I thought it would be. If the practice goes ok, I will consider doing it. A friend here has all the supplies and stencils. She shares them with those around. It's a great blessing.

Well, that is all for now. Just thought I would send a short update.

Blessings!