A Bunch of Burts

Greg has now been at CDM (Church Development and Mission School) for two weeks.
He is definitely getting a good workout in Thai every day. He is in class each morning at 7:30 and the day ends at 9:30. Of course there are some breaks for lunch, dinner, work detail and free time, but it is a very full day.

Classes are challenging to keep up with, but from his reports, he is doing OK. His reading assignments are a bit behind, but I am so proud of him for sticking it out every day. It is not easy to be the only one who does not get the jokes and falls behind in the discussions and reading. But God is faithful and gives him His Grace each day, and supplies His strength. Of course some day are more frustrating than others, but praise God, His Merices truly are new every morning.

Some of the extra-curricular lessons Greg has been learning are also interesting.

lizard trapping
shellfish gathering
banana plant maintenance (did you know they are filled with water?)
intense soccer
wild plant gathering
making animal traps from logs and string

Wish we had two camera to have sent with him, but then I guess he would not have any way to get the pictures to me anyway. We will just have to wait until the kids and I get out there.

We both sure do appreciate all who are praying for us. Not only for Greg as he is immersed in Thai and various other languages, but for the both of us while we are separated and miss being together as a family. Sure has made me appreciate the blessing Greg is to us and causes me stop and thank God often for him.

I am a bit concerned for our arrival out there though. It seems rainy season has begun early and that always bring a great deal of bugs. He has commented nearly every night on the vast array of insects and their size. Some unnamed members of our family do not, shall we say, deal well with bugs.
For those of you who are familiar with the Great Spider Incident know just what I am talking about.

Another matter for prayer I am sure.

Today, I have been married to my sweet husband for 15 years. That sounds like a long time, and yet, it does not seem that long ago that we began our life together.

No, he did not shove the cake in my face

We have been through many many things, some so wonderful, and others so painful. But for all of them, Greg, I am so glad you have been by my side.
I thank God for you, for the man you are now, and for the man He is making you into.
Thank you for loving me each day, even when I am not so loveable. You are my love and my favorite companion. I am blessed to be able to work with you every day and share our whole lives together in ways I had not thought possible or practical.

Life has been an adventure in common and uncommon ways and I so look forward to the next chapter of our lives. You are deeply loved by me!
I pray that our girls would find husbands like you, a man who loves the Lord, his wife and his family, who makes them laugh and holds them when they cry.
Thank you Lord for this man you have given me!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to get of Chiang Mai and visit a family about 31/2 hours NE of us. Their village is one of the locations we are considering joining, but it was fun to just go up and visit them. They have four children and our kids had a great time reconnecting and playing.

A treat of soda makes for cheerful kids in a hot car! Notice the sleeping dog. I believe this was before she threw up on Ema. ick.

Well, maybe Zach and Ema had a better time that Leah. There was no girl her age, but the 6 year old thought Leah was very cool and wanted to play with her all weekend.

Over the course of the weekend, we found out some very important information about this family, things that could make or break a relationship. They like to play the same games we do!
A couple of their favorites are Scum and The Farming Game.

Now I know The Farming Game is not a widely popular board game, but we enjoy it, especially Zachary. He chooses it more than any other game we have. It is a game that resembles Monopoly in design, but revolves around farming, (no surprise there,) and harvesting your different crops based on a roll of the dice. It was created by a farmer from Eastern Washington and had a short run in NW stores. Since it has been out of production for quite some time, we were quite surprised to know that this family not only knew of the game, but it is one of their favorites.

Greg had the chance to go out on survey with the dad, looking at potential villages for them to locate and base their church-planting effort from. A first for Greg, and one he enjoyed very much.
As we focus on our language learning in Chiang Mai, it is important for us to remin focused on why we are learning language. To bew able to take the Word of God to those who have not heard, who have no reliable Gospel witness in their language or culture.

Along the way to these villages, they stopped by the banks of the Mekong and Greg took these great pictures.

Please keep praying with us as we have many things to think about as we try to come to a decision in the next few months about where the Lord would have us work.

My husband just told me this morning that any blogging I want to do this Saturday must wait. He says he needs the computer for studying Thai.
He clarified that it is not that I cannot blog today, I will just have to wait until he has put in his study hours.

Greg modeling one of the 7 ways to say holding in Thai for our language file.

Hmmmph. I guess I know where his priorities are.

I suppose I will have to make some other use of my time, like laundry, or other house cleaning chores. I mean we do not have a gargage to enter into Scotts Tour of Scary Garages, but we do have a laundry/storage room that gets at least startling, if not scary.

But right now my sweet hubby is making breakfast, while I am, (don’t tell) sneaking in this short blog. Time to go eat!

P.S. Greg just informed me that posting a blog about studying does not count as studying and he still wants the computer.