One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly. ~Andy Rooney

Missing loved ones far away today, even as we're rejoicing in this very special moment in time. For our dear families, a bit of Christmas morning at our house...

reading the Christmas story

waiting to go downstairs

the remains of Santa's cookies

she loves books like her mama- time for Ramona!

And it was a dress up sort of Christmas, thanks to grandparents that know the loves of their grandchildren well...

What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Merry Christmas to all of you who make our lives rich with your love, and praise God for such a glorious gift, a reason to rejoice today and every day.

Fathers and Kings

It's Father's Day in Thailand! The King turns 83 years old today, and his country is celebrating. I've come to associate this festive time with the beginning of the Christmas season, and I really look forward to it. The King's Park, our green haven in the midst of dust and traffic, is always decked out spectacularly, which you can see above. We were there last night, and tonight as we were getting children to bed, we heard a fireworks extravaganza that had to be quite amazing, based upon the auditory boom and the length...delayed bedtime for the big kids quite a bit and brought the little guy shrieking and shaking from sleep, poor thing!

These beautiful girls are paying tribute to their king with traditional dance. It's really something to see, how Thai people respect and reverence their king, who has been a father figure to the country for 64 years; it's unlike anything we're accustomed to in the west.

So today we give thanks for the fathers in our lives, our Dad(dy)s whom we love...here are some pictures for you!

I'm off to make bagels for this great dad's breakfast in the morning...

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last night was one of the best nights of the year; we took down the Thankful Tree and put up the Christmas tree! We turned up the a/c, unloaded all of the ornaments, sent the broken ones to 'Daddy's Fix It Shop', enjoyed the reunion with familiar things that speak home and holidays to us, began our advent celebration at dinner, and rounded it all out with hot chocolate and our annual 'Rudolph' viewing. We went to bed tired but happy...and thankful for another year of being together and preparing for Christmas. We try not to take this for granted, precious as it is.

22 month curl, for posterity. No haircuts yet for this little man.

We began the 'Jesse Tree' tradition last year, using these ornaments that are handmade here in Thailand. I like the daily tangibility of thinking of and preparing for Jesus' coming, and the children like hanging ornaments on the tree, of course!

As if that weren't enough fun for one day, I also got to chaperone a 2nd grade field trip to the Planetarium. Neat place, and it inspired me that we must visit the one in Atlanta where we'll have the bonus of being able to read the displays in our native tongue. This was my group...and that's my girl skyin' on her classmates. It comes from having such exotically tall parents.

The best part of this day was just being with Em and her sweet friends. They are cute, cute, cute. My favorite thing was hearing, "Mommy, can I sit with you on the bus?" Are you kidding? And you want to hold my hand and walk with me the whole time, too? I will take it as long as it lasts, my sweet girl.

I took this lopsided picture just to share with you the splendor of field trip buses in Bangkok. No bluebirds here!

And will you look at this little adventurous spirit? There was this gravity chair thing (the explanation was all in Thai and hopelessly long for me; I should have had a second grader translate) that everyone was super excited about. I looked at it and thought, "No way...", but Emmy lined up excitedly and, to my surprise, she followed through with it. She was ready to be done by the second turn upside down, but was exhilarated by the fact that she had done it. This was a big step for our careful little girl.

Asa wearing his Daddy's adorable pajamas from his childhood days in Korea...this is for you, Granna!

Today, Highlights...tomorrow, crossword puzzles.

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?