Week Recap

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....

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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!

Brothers and Sisters

Shingles!

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.

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

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!

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:

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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.