Thankful

pin the tail on the turkey, courtesy of Emmy

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our loved ones, near and far!

Celebration

Circumstances have conspired against my sharing pictures from some special times lately, and one occasion that we had the privilege of being a part of several weeks ago was the wedding of our friends Tang and Pramote. We admire these two so much as friends who are loving and generous, are talented in many ways that bless the church and many around them, and have been a great blessing to us with their extraordinary babysitting skills and love for our little ones!

Thai weddings begin with a procession that involves the groom passing through a number of 'gates', and giving gifts to the gatekeepers to ultimately gain access to his bride. I love the joy in this picture, even as the rain threatened.

Some moments from the ceremony:

honoring their parents

an aerial view

This was a moment in time in which we could clearly see the beauty of community- so many of the people we have come to know and love here, with distinct backgrounds and world views, all coming together to celebrate and support the commitment of two followers of Christ to one another and to Him.

And we all got to don our 'chut Thai' (Thai dress), which added to the fun.






And more to the present, look at the literary Saturday morning scene that greeted me in the hallway this morning...

Full

Tim just returned from 13 days away. He traveled to the States for our organization's Global Missions Conference and a slew of other engagements in Georgia and Tennessee. He had a busy, fruitful time in cool, crisp weather and saw many wonderful people, and we lived life here without him for almost two weeks. I entered into this time with great trepidation; caring for 3 young children is not an easy job for one person, particularly one as flawed as I.

And it was draining and challenging, for sure, but it was also an opportunity to clearly see God's hand providing for us, and provide He did. Early on in the first week, I found myself with a few quiet moments reading 1 John, and was clearly reminded of the truth that even as I fret about caring for 3 little ones on my own, I am actively being cared for by a very present Father. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." 1 John 3:1

God cared for us in practical ways through community- friends surprising us with meals, having us over for meals, coming for a couple of evenings and reading bedtime stories so that I could get out to exercise, taking morning carpool so I never had to have everyone up, fed, dressed and out the door by 6:45...very real, humbling help.

An interesting moment came near the end of our time alone, when I went at 10 pm to check on Julian before going to bed...and found that his door had accidentally been locked from the inside...and the keys were in the room. So I had 3 sleeping children and no way to get into that room. Thankfully, Tim was available on the other side of the world, and I called him.

He happened to be with some friends who live and work in Australia, and they asked if we might "call the local fire department to come and help the little bub?" We had to laugh at the different settings in which we live; ringing up the local fire department to pop over and assist us is very far from reality here! But we have something even better- caring and capable friends. Tim skyped our friend Pat; 10 minutes later, Pat and Charin arrived, heroically, and assessed the situation. 10 more minutes found them whacking the doorknob with a screwdriver and hammer. The door was soon open, and (this surprised all of us) the doorknob was easily put back together, good as new. How's that for trans-global, multi-lingual crisis management?

And here are a few of our happenings of late...

My sweet cousins, Ricky, Maria and Tiffany, were in route to Chiang Mai, where Ricky will be teaching for a period of time. We met and had a nice dinner together- it was a real treat to see them and to have family in Bangkok!

Asa and I made graham crackers... they were no Honey Maid, but my children, so accustomed to and patient with their mommy's whole wheat flour and natural-ness (and unaccustomed to conventional graham crackers, which are largely unavailable here), loved them.

Chicken Fun Run...Emmy's 2nd grade class has taken on a project this year of raising money to provide baby chicks for orphans and widows in Zambia, to provide sustainable income for those in need (http://chicks4orphans.org). It has been a joy for us to see God's care for those in need, and His desire for His children to be His hands and feet in this regard, become living and active to Em as she works toward this goal. Her class had a fun run to raise money, and here she is with her running partner. Thank you to the many dear ones who helped her in this endeavor.

Tagging in the relay...

...and they're off!

It was also pioneer day at school last week, and the children were encouraged to dress in a costume from that period in history. Of course, little brother had to dress up, too!

And now our man of the house is back in the saddle, and Asa can be off duty:). Tim arrived in the wee hours of Thursday morning, and I was so excited for him to be coming home that I arranged things so that I could go and pick him up at the airport. Of course, it had to be a surprise, romantic idealist that I can be, and so he didn't know I was coming. I had a nice time drinking coffee, writing letters, reading and becoming bleary-eyed as it got later and later...his plane finally arrived...I waited and waited...and I missed him! He evaded me, took another exit I didn't know about, and beat me home! Oh, the disappointment. I can look at it with humorous perspective now, but I drove home through Bangkok in the wee hours, exhausted and crying bitter tears, a silly, emotional mess...such is life...I had gone to surprise him and I was the one surprised!

And, in an entirely different vein...the other day, driving on the road adjacent to our neighborhood, I had to go around a water buffalo in the road. Isn't that a hoot?