A Bunch of Burts

The first quarter of studies at Grace International School has come to a close, and with it came a flurry of sports tournaments. Even our Ema, who so often eschews sports, joined in the rugby camp and gave it her all this past Wednesday. Yes, rugby. We could not get Ema interested in swimming, soccer, basketball or track last year, but when the opportunity arose for 5th and 6th graders to give rugby a go, she was all over it!

There were 16 teams from 8 schools participating. As it turns out, there actually are rules to rugby! From what we had seen from limited TV viewing, it looked more like a bar fight with a ball. Of course this rugby tournament was flag only, no tackling, whew!

Ema is ready to play some rugby!

Last week on Friday, Zachary had his swim meet at one of the other international schools in Chiang Mai. It was great fun! He swam in four events and did great! He came in first in two of his heats and second in two. The events were all timed, so we have yet to hear the outcome of the events. He was swimming against some great swimmers, many of whom have been doing this for four years now. He gave it his all and we are proud of him.

That is Zach in the yellow swim cap diving in, I think his team won this relay in their heat

Leah’s JV volleyball tournament was on Monday at yet another international school. Her team took third in the competition. She, as a newbie, did not get any playing time in the tournament, but was a cheerful encourager for the girls who played and had a good time anyway. Who doesn’t like to miss out on a half a day of school to go to a volleyball tournament?

this is not from the tournament, but a game at one of the local schools. See her spiking that ball!?

As for us, well, we have been running the conference marathon, wrapping up last minute details and making sure all our ducks are in a row. It will be great to head out to the resort tommorrow and have all the planning finally done and just let the conference run.
We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone again, and enjoying the company and fellowship of the NTM Thailand members for the week. Not to mention the worship sessions in english! yeah!

See you next week!

When we oiginally moved to wilds of the Olympic Peninsula in Western Washington, it was my first time living outside of the convieniences of urban living. We quickly had to change our shopping habits as we were now an hour from the closest WalMart or mall! gasp!

After being caught short-handed and unprepared a couple of times, I instituted ‘The Gift Box’. Whenever I would see a cute toy, trinket, useful item, or “pretty”(yes, I am using that as a noun!), on sale, I would buy one, sometimes multiple ones, and stow them in the gift box.
(It is really amazing the things one can find on sale for only a dollar or two if you check those clearance aisles frequently. No one ever need know what you paid!)

The next time a birthday party, baby shower, or whatever came up, and I was not headed to town anytime soon, all we had to do was look through the gift box.
As we moved around the country with our mission training, the gift box was indispensible. Many times birthday and special occasion coincidentally fell during the time of month, or as it seemed, time of year, when finances were especially tight. No worry, to the gift box! As I had been collecting for some time now, the box held out for at least two years with little replenishing.

Now that we are in Thailand, I did not move the box with us, but clearly need to start a new one.
Sadly, there is no sale section at Target available here, (one of my favorite places to find gifty stuff), but there are many many markets where a great bargain can be had.

So now when you see a great bargain, but think to yourself, I don’t need it or have anyone right now I am shopping for, grab it anyway, stow it in the box, and I promise, it will come in handy and save you money later! This is one idea that has worked for me before and will work for me again.
I would love to know what sorts of items you like to give for gifts, always looking for ideas, you know!

Check out the other great ideas at Rocks In My Dryer.

Rerun update: What are things you like to recieve as a present? If you were to get a present from Thailand, what would you like? What do you think of when you imagine a surprise in the mail from here? Just to give me ideas on how to stock my box! Thanks!

Hello to the world of WFMW! This is my first foray into the world of carnival blogging. I have been reading the posts of others who participate in WFMW (Works for Me Wednesday) and with the help and encouragement of my friend Kathy (of Duckabush Blog fame ), I have joined the ranks!

A bit of background, we are missionaries in Chiang Mai Thailand, and have mostly come to terms with the reality of life here. It is just plain buggier than we previously were used to. We have toyed with the idea of hiring an exterminator as many people do monthly, (yikes!), but since the houses are built right onto a cement pad, there is no basement or crawlspace and so the poison is sprayed directly into the corners and crevices in the house.

We are looking for your tips on how to kill pests, ants in particular, without resorting to poisoning ourselves in the process.

Usually we just deal with the ants. You know, keep the food sealed tight, counters wiped, floors swept and such, but the other week we had yet another incident which nearly pushed me over the edge.

This is my timer, can you see the ants that exploded out of it?! I noticed the display was a bit dim and thought the kids may have dropped it in water, but when I took the back cover off, I found an ant colony!

This is, er, was my thermometer which a dear friend sent me from the States. As you can see, it was even more infested than the timer. Not only that, those nasty little ants ate the solder! When my dear husband, (because I was now unwilling to deal with it), tried to clean it out, all the pieces broke off.

So there you have it. I need some ideas on what is toxic to ants, but things they would still be interested in. We are not opposed to finding dead ants on the counter in the mornings so are open to those kinds of ideas as well as ones where they back the ‘food’ to their nests.

I am looking forward to more WMFM with you!

To share your wealth of wisdom with the waiting WFMW world, head over to www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

Sawadi Kaa!