We are eager to move on to our other adventure this summer, our week with a team in the NE getting our village or upcountry orientation time and seeing the culture and language learning in a non-school environment at work, but sad at leaving behind the friendships we are building here.

We do have plans to sneak back at some point for a visit before they are done with the whole course of study.

Just wanted to share some more pictures of the gorgeous area we have been living in for the past month or so. God’s creation is so wonderful, and we cannot help but praise Him for His mighty hand and be in awe of His greatness.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For His Name alone is exalted:
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
Psalms 148:13

This is our kitchen. I have had to adjust my cooking and meal planning to use only the cooktop. There is also an ant cabinet, (to keep them out of the food!) and a small fridge.

Doesn’t Ema have a cheerful smile as she scrubs the shower! Thanks Ema! Notice the bucket with orange dipper. That is how the toilet flushes.

A view of some of the student houses from the takraw court.

Another view of a students house. The upper area is the sleeping living area and the lower area is the kitchen. Bathrooms are separate.

These little pots are the cookstoves for the students, and like what many people still use in the villages. They are out back of the kitchens and use wood for heat. I am very thankful for my cooktop!

Of course there is a soccer field! Go Zach!

Oh yes, the classroom! Greg spends most of each day in there along with the 18 other students.

Thanks for taking the tour!

We rapidly coming to an end of our time at the Bible School in the Northwest of Thailand, and have been stretched and encouraged and frustrated and blessed, all at the same time.

The kids enjoyed washing clothes by hand, pretending to be pioneers and explorers, for about a day.

My first week here, I attended my first funeral AND wedding. (different people of course. Thank you Captain Obvious.)
Both of the ceremonies were Christian families. The funeral was a the mother of one of the ladies in my small group from our church in Chiang Mai, and so I knew someone there.
The wedding was a relation of our pastor and of one of the teachers here at the Bible school. Apparently, nearly everyone is related out here in Maesariang.

This is a lady dressed in the Lawa style. She was a guest at the wedding.

The wedding was a huge affair and although there were loads of people there, one family in attendance stood out like a sore thumb, can you guess who it was? Actually, the only awkawrd moment, (and it was probably only awkward for us), was when the bride and groom made their way through the guests and got us. Although their suprise registered on their faces, they were very gracious and just smiled and had their picture taken just like we were invited guests.

As for our language ability, I am pleased to say we can both see marked improvement. Greg even took a test last week with the rest of the students, and got an 84%! Most of the points off were fill-in-the-blank memory verses. Memorizing Scripture in Thai is very hard. For us.

There are days when it seems our brains just will not switch on, and the teaching sounds like a jumble, but then other days we can almost hear the click and for two hours, we can listen to the teaching and follow almost all of it!

We have both had the chance to lead a worship session and share a bit from the Word.

One Sunday we attended a Karen church about 30 minutes from the campus. Funny thing is that nearly none of the students understand Karen. The sermon was preached by one of the teachers here and then translated into Karen. That evening at our Sunday night meeting back at school, one of the students shared how difficult that was, to be at the church and not understand the preacher, the people around them, or be able to communicate.
Hmmm, I think we can relate to that.

Here are the kids at the Karen church. The building in the back is the kitchen.

I will try to get some more pictures of the campus up and posted in the next day or so. It is really a beautiful place, and seeing the housing for the students will make you very thankful for the home God has given you!

This week Works For Me Wednesday is the “Mom I’m Bored” Edition.
School is out or will be shortly and the lazy summer days begin. But so do the bickering and fussy attitudes from boredom, right?

A hike to a lovely lake is a great summer activity! Don’t forget your water bottle.

I am eager to read some/many/all of everyone’s ideas. Our summer will be living in two different places for several weeks each while we are studying Thai immersion style or out in a village for our village orientation. The kids will be out of their normal routine and a bit more constricted on what is available for them to do since we will just be bringing essentials with us and living in unfamiliar surroundings.

But no matter where you are, I find one of the best boredom busters is simple.

Turn off the TV.
No TV, no videos, no computer games.
This encourages (forces) your kids to play together, with the neighbors, invent games, or play the ones languishing in your cupboard.

Along with turning the TV off, you need to be willing to let some mess creep into the house. If kids are doing art projects, inventing or making up games, it gets a bit messy. (Don’t get me wrong, expect clean up to happen and preferably before moving on to another project, but let the project have room to grow.)

Paint ball is certainly messy, but tons of fun too. Pull out those old holey clothes for this one and don those saftely goggles!

Some things we do when we have free time:
Bake cookies
Play games, all kinds
Puzzles (I know not everyone like this, but they are a big hit at our house and if you are not careful, a real time sucker!)
Write letters (email or snail Surely there are old friends and grandparents and such that would love a letter and certainly would write back, thus encouraging more letter writing on the part of your kids. )
—-and letters do not have to be just written; try pictures, collages, ‘ransom’ style from cutting magazines, ect…..

If you have enough of your own or other kids around, play outside games:
Kick the Can
Sardines
Soccer
Hide and Seek
Jumprope
Badminton (don’t even need to have a net)
Don’t forget old fashioned wood, nails and a hammer and imagination!

This next one may not sound like much fun for your summer vacationers, but definitely good for the family: Chores

Doesn’t Ema look like she is enjoying helping Mama with the laundry?

If the kids have free time, use it! Summer is a great time for Life Training. During the school year, if your family is like ours, time is gone each night after homework and activities. Learning housework (inside and out) is important, and helps free Mom up so trips to the park, zoo, beach ect.. are more feasible.
(When we still lived in WA, all three of the kids loved to chop firewood. It kept them busy for hours. And summer is when the wood needs to be chopped and stacked so it is ready for next winter. Not to mention good exercise )

Zach is very proud of his first piece of firewood. Chopped it all by himself.

That is way more than my 2 Baht worth.
See you at Shannons!

Happy Summer Break,
Tina

P.S. These were pictures from our time in Jungle Camp as part of our training with NTM. Even though life was ‘primitive’ and the kids had many chores each day and no ‘modern’ entertainment, all three of them will tell you it was one their favorite times!

There were no free samples.

Actually this was a very interesting field trip. It was all day though, and I do mean ALL day. We left the school at 6:30am and did not get back until almost 8pm.

The museum is in the Golden Triangle, but unfortunately we were not able to convince the driver to stop so I could take a picture of all three countries at one time. Next time.

The late Princess Mother (the current king’s mother) initiated this project to educate people about the dangers of opium and all its derivatives and in conjunction began rehabilitation programs and re-education/retraining programs for the people groups whose main source of income was growing opium poppies.

The museum was very well done and I would like to take the rest of the family back there sometime.

As we walked through, I heard echoing in my head the inane arguments I have heard about how if we just legalized some of the illegal drugs in America, we would generate a tax income based on sales, break the grip of the drug gangs and mobs, and it is a personal choice anyways, so why are we forcing morality on everyone. (pardon my run-on sentence)
Everyone who has EVER thought this need to come to this museum, or research the history of the opium trade and become educated.

Ok, off soap box.

The trip up was gorgeous and I would love to be able to do some exploring in that area and visit some of the many national parks we drove by. This is up by the one of the areas we are considering working in, so the opportunity may be there for that!

This past Sunday our normal routine was changed a bit. My oldest has been taking part in a puppet club at school, and they had a short performance at one of the international churches for thier youth Sunday. (International translates to English services. )

Leah’s puppet is the girl in the middle front. They are singing a country style song about being a Christian called “Ain’t it Grand”

We normally attend a Thai church which is a blessing. I enjoy the ladies there, the kids are making friends (when they break out of their shy-I-don’t-understand-what-they-are-saying-but-can-understand-the-instructions-for-the-game attitude), and I learn new words every week. There is one little girl who I think would like to have Leah for a big sister. She makes sure she sits next to her or me nearly every week.

But there is something about being able to walk into church, make small talk and conversation with the person sitting next to you, understand the announcements, prayer requests and jokes, and best of all for me, to join fully in the corporate worship of singing and praising God.

If I ever had any doubts about why we need to learn Thai and then the regional languages to teach and reach the Thai people, I only need to attend English church to remind me.

The sermon was just what I needed to hear that Sunday (of course, that IS just how God works!) and the chance to sing and concentrate on praising God and not following the words was just delightful.

I was sad to miss our regular church this week as it was my turn to help prepare the lunch meal with some of the other ladies, and I am ready to go back this coming Sunday, but I am thankful for last Sunday, for the worship, for the teaching, for the other people present, for seeing my daughter involved in the service, and having my other children sitting next to me. I enjoy having them listen beside me, and seeing what they are getting from the teaching too.

Leah is the one in the middle with the maroon pony tail holder. The puppets are two-person jobs, she is working the mouth.

Thank you Lord for your Church all over the world. Thank you that no matter where we are, we are one in You, united in Your death, burial and ressurection and our voices all rise to the same unchanging God.

HeavenlyHomeMakers has more things we can all thank God for. What are you thankful for?

And in the balmy summer days, or hot and humid rainy season as it were, it is important to stay hydrated, is it not?

In the interest of drinking less sugar we enjoy homemade sodas.
Fill a glass 1/4 full with your favorite juice, and fill up the rest of the way with plain soda water. Of course ice cubes make it really chilly and wonderful, and don’t forget the straw!

Loads less sugar than soda or a full glass of juice, fun bubbles to make it more exciting than plain water and stretches the juice too, making this treat easy on your budget.

This works for me, as I am enjoying one right now. Cranberry/grape to be be specific. mmmmm.

I will see you at Shannons for more ideas from the wise women at WFMW,

One of blogs I have been reading, HeavenlyHomeMakers has a weekly theme of gratitude.

I know I can always use practice in being grateful, in cultivating an attitude of thankfulness everyday. I encourage the children towards this, and then find myself griping and sniping, both aloud and inwardly. If participating in this theme will encourage me to verbalize specific things to be thankful for, so be it.

So today I want to delcare my gratitude to my kids. They tend to give me more grace than I give them. They are always eager for a hug and kiss and cuddle, even if I have been short with them. When they can see that I am low on energy or not feeling up to speed, they ask me what they can do.

They are my gifts from God, my precious children whom the Lord has entrusted to me. Notwithstanding their own emerging walk with the Lord and learning to live life in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh, they often choose what is right, just, honorable and kind.

We have moved them all over the US and now across the world, and yet they claim each place as home and trust us for our decisions and encourage us to serve God where He leads. Although they miss ‘home’, they know we are just where the Lord would have us and find things to like, love and enjoy in a country they still feel like strangers in.

I love them very much and am grateful that all three are my kids.

Thank you Lord for them and each day that you give me with them.

I feel his pain.

I have had a bully of a toothache for the past two days, and I am already fantasizing about taking a pair of plier and RIPPING the offending member of my mouth straight out of my head. Too bad Greg took the tools with him to CDM.

The English speaking dentists in the area are of course also the more expensive options. There are much cheaper places, but not likely to be able to understand me as I try to explain what is wrong and the odd condition of this tooth that has already seen some dental work. Work that has clearly been compromised.

Then we have heard a couple of disturbing stories of dentist offices that seem recluctant to use novocaine. Why? Why would you NOT want to give a shot of novocaine to a dental patient? An important question if you ask me.

My Thai teacher has offered to take me to the dentist she just saw, and help me make myself understood. I had been hoping to hold off on the dentist until the last day of the month, when we recieve our vouchers, but I do not think I will make it.

Unless some of you have a tip on how to stave off tooth pain for a couple of days? Do you? Please? Pretty Please?

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.