A Bunch of Burts

Warning Martha W!! This post contains snake pictures!

This past week we were up at our co-workers house for a birthday party, meeting members of their church visiting from the States, and a trip to the new village to move forward in getting the rental houses figured out.

One morning, an unexpected visitor was found in the yard.

You can see it moving off the edge of the patio, and the spot of blood where it used to lie. eek.

A neighbor smashed it in the head, but then generously left it right there on the patio. By the time Greg and I arrived from an errand, the kids had largely wandered away, the excitement gone.
Then, as I watched it, it began moving. Escaping. It was supposed to be dead.

You will never guess who came to the rescue.

Guess again.

Give up?

Who would believe that Ema would be the one to mercilessly crush the head of this serpent, bravely, without being asked or forced?

Ema of the Great Spider Incident of Jungle Camp, involving bloodcurdling screams, neighbors running to her rescue with knives and guns, and one tiny spider. Or Ema who after watching half of Ben Hur could not sleep at night for fear of leprosy? Who sat on a bucket all day when we went to the beach so that the tiny little sand crabs would not touch her.

We prayed that Ema would overcome this fear of crawly things, knowing we would surely encounter a wider variety here in Thailand, and God is faithful!!! She is our best tick picker, cockroach killer and now snake destroyer. You go Ema!

Since our new village is nearly surrounded by rice fields, it is not a stretch to think we will find more of these in our yard and yikes! maybe house. Glad you live with me Ema.

Ema is not the only one who has done some growing and changing these past years.

Where is the little boy I brought to Thailand with me? Ready to go fishing Thai style!

Yes, that is a gun for fishing. A long nail is attached to fishing line and triggered by a slingshot action. Water, mud, fish and gun. What could be more fun than that?

And Leah, whose years left at home with us I can count on one hand, (we will not think of that now) is growing daily into a young lady.

She measures often to see if she has passed me up. Last night Greg declared she is as tall as I am and maaaaybe, a hair taller. I must have been slouching.

Thank you God for these three kids! I can’t wait to see what Your plans for them hold, and how You will continue to use Greg and I in their lives.
We know You have good things to come for those who love You and follow You! Life with the Lord is never boring.

Rainy season seems to be upon us. Cooler nights, awesome thunderstorms, perpetually damp laundry, and mud.

Ema’s watering can is a bit superfluous, don’t you think?

How are we already in the third week of March?

One of our most important events of the last weeks was of course the birthday of my only son!
Zach is now 11 years old, which seems totally improbably since he was just a sweet baby.

Zach asked for a cookie cake this year instead of regular cake. I think Ema wants some!

He had a great birthday party last week, Greg took him and some friends paintballing at a field just down the ringroad from us. As surprising as it sounds, it was less expensive than taking him bowling like we did last year! Everyone had a blast and Zach had a great time connecting with his friends from Grace that he does not get to see as often now that we are homeschooling.
We love you very Zach and are so thankful for your 11 years, and pray that God will be your leading influence this year and every year as you grow into a man of God.

Last week both Ema and Zach played in futsal tournaments as well. Futsal was a new sport to us here in Thailand and it is very popular. It is somewhat like indoor soccer, but played on a basketball court with a smaller and harder ball.
Zach was goalie and did a great job. Goalie is not a position I would like to play, but he seems to enjoy it.

Ema is a defense player. She has not had as much experience as the other girls on her team, but she played her best and came away smiling, that is a good sign.

That is Ema with the bright blue socks, always easy to spot her!

Ema’s team did well in the tournament, and came away with third place, but only gave up two goals the whole day. Since they did so well, they were invited to go back last Saturday and play in the JV tournament as they needed one more team. That was a lot of futsal for us last week. (which translates to not too much school )

This past Saturday Leah and I were invited on an outing with the girl who sold ice at our neighborhood store. Since we buy a bag of ice every day, Leah saw this girl alot. She invited us to go to a waterfall and the temple with her. What I did not know was that she was sneaking off of work to go, and now does not work at the store anymore. Yikes! This young lady is only 17 years old and has clearly been on her own for a while. She seems interested in developing a relationship with us, and so we would ask your prayers as we interact with her and get to know her better.

Leah and A on the trail down to the waterfall

Whew! The month is not even half over. But something good is coming up for me at the end of this month, our anniversary! We have already conspired, er, I mean arranged to have the kids stay with some friends for the night. Definitely looking forward to that.

This Sunday it was Ema’s turn to sit in the birthday chair!

She was happier than she looks in this picture. She just wanted to get to those presents!

Actually, we celebrated her special day on Saturday the 20th instead of her actual birthday, the 21st. Sunday was going to be a super busy day, and our guests (yippee!) arrived on Saturday afternoon, so we gave her ‘the chair’ on Saturday instead.

Ema is the only one of the kids who likes coffee, and steals a sip from Daddy every chance she gets. Except on her birthday, she does not have to steal. It is the one day a year that she gets her very own cup, and she looks forward to it all year.

Enjoy it girl! Your birthday is only once a year!

Ema is 12 now, one year away from being a teenager. In Thai, from ages born to 12 they are called koo-ap, and from 13 on the years are called bii. Ema is eager to become bii next year, but I am still content to have her one more year as koo-ap.

We love you Ema! Happy Birthday!

Here is Ema in her new glasses!
At first I thought she would only want them for reading and schoolwork, but she has been wearing them nearly all the time. I guess she really did need them, huh?

Doesn’t she look lovely, and eeek, older?

The glasses store was great and helpful and even made them in an hour for us. We were expecting to have to come back in a week.

In other kid news, Zachary has his big swim meet this Friday. We are very excited! He is swimming in four events this time, and his coach told me last week how impressed she is with his improvement this year.
I will be taking pictures, so keep watching.

Leah is doing well at volleyball. Last week her squad was given their first full game to play together. Leah, as an 8th grader is one of the younger, more inexperienced players, and is on the second squad. For their first full game, it took them a while to get going, but then ended up winning after a tight competition. 27 to 25. It was a very exciting game!

Not THE game but one she did get some playing time in.

We are still trying to find the schedule for homeschooling that works best for us, all your wisdom and experience would be welcome if you want to share it! We are moving our Thai days from Tuesdays and Thursdays to Mondays and Fridays. That gives us three days in a row of solid homeschooling without having to change up our schedule. Right now, it is every other day that we are changing and that does not seem to be working well. One of these days we will hit on the best arrangement.

A fun Thai study day for all of us, making lunch! Want to join us? We are having Phad Siyu (stir fried wide noodles with pork and dark soy sauce), and Yam Woon Sen (a spicy rice noodle salad). There is plenty for all of us. and contrary to Zach’s silly face, Phad Siyu is one of his favorites.

Thanks for stopping in and visiting with us!
Tina