Risen

We're at the end of what has felt like a lengthy Lenten season. Easter tends to sneak up on us, but this year we made strides to prepare our hearts- readings, candles, reflection. The season was brought to a close this morning as we sang to God in Thai with our church family, first at 6 am at the park and then again later in the morning. When I think of the last few weeks and the last few days, a number of things come to mind.

The weeks of hot walks with small children to catch a song taew, which carried us to a taxi, which then carried us to school or any other desired destination. (The van finally returned to us, at long last, yesterday. There was dancing involved.)

My efforts toward blending preparation of our hearts for Easter and traditional fun- the Easter eggs that were dropped after being dyed, the egg hunt moved to the living room during a rainstorm, the fatigue and lack of patience that can plague me, sometimes showing through my efforts and making them feel hollow to me. Yet still the children experience joy and express gratitude.


The Easter story cookies we made- I liked this activity because it was tactile- touch the ingredients, read the scripture they point to, seal those cookies into the turned off oven to stay overnight and in the morning you should find them empty like the tomb. But we forgot to consider our unrelenting, ever-present, indefatigable nemesis. When we opened the oven, we pulled out a cookie sheet swarming with ants.

Ants, ants. Ants on our toothbrushes, ants randomly walking on our necks, our arms. Ants on dirty plates, ants on clean plates. Julian recently grabbed the broom before dinner and trotted over to his chair to clean off the ants before being seated. I wonder if all 2 year olds are this helpful and well trained? When I am an old woman, I think I will absently swat myself and mutter about ants. Or perhaps mosquitoes. Or shriek in remembrance of opening kitchen drawers and cabinet doors and finding cockroaches or lizards.

In the midst of all of this, these joys and inconveniences and reminders of personal brokenness, I am more sincerely grateful and assured than I have ever been that Jesus died for this broken world, for me, and that all things will be renewed. He is risen indeed.

And I should mention the good, restful vacation with friends that we enjoyed in Chiang Mai over spring break, in spite of the fact that our mode of transportation was still out of commission and we had to make last minute travel changes...as promised to dear grandparents, pictures...

pretty accommodations

Em practices Thai

sweet 7 year olds, hailing from Thailand and Laos, tea party-ing

by the jackfruit tree

the kiddos in our group, oldest to youngest

Happy Songkran, Y'all!

Chakri

It's Chakri Day, a Thai holiday commemorating the founding of the Chakri Royal Dynasty in 1782. We seized our holiday opportunity to take our crew outside and downtown to Lumpini Park, the Central(ish) Park of Bangkok. Thus inspired by this fair city, here are a few glimpses of Bangkok and some of its inhabitants, both human and reptile...

Asa considers the monitor lizard...

and he descends to his murky lair

not so big, but prettily patterned

Julian has a little trouble with the fountain

two fair flowers

coffee or tea?

to market, to market

Just Ju

A shock of blond hair, crinkly-smiling blue eyes, a mouth bursting with teeth and words, a dimple that sometimes makes an appearance, a fiery force to be reckoned with and a fount of great joy- our Julian. I could neither have anticipated this little person nor planned him more perfectly...there are days I can't wait to get him up and others when bedtime is sweet relief...what a bundle of life is this little man.

Sunshine and Rain

The high point of our last week was welcoming this fellow home. He was only gone for a week this time, and we were provided for splendidly (I even got to go to a day long women's retreat- amazing, unasked for grace), but "ain't no sunshine when he's gone"...at least not nearly as much.

Our vehicle has been in the shop for a week now for some major overhaul, so we've been exclusively using public transportation for a bit. Good in many ways, thankful to have it, but a bit wearing to leave the house at 6:45 on school mornings to ride the song taew to a taxi to take to school...Here we're waiting on the song taew for a somewhat mis-adventurous but nonetheless fun outing yesterday with some friends who work in a neighboring country and are in town for a few days.

on the sky train

city walking

art museum

isn't Thai script pretty?

getting a snack on the street

pigeon pursuit

On the literary front, fans of Madeline L'Engle will enjoy Em's rendering of some of the characters from 'A Wrinkle in Time'...

I picked this back up (after a good 25 years) for book club a couple of months ago, and it turned out that all three of the oldest members of our family read through it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Japan is on all of our minds. How many times will we see things we have perceived as unshakable, shaken to pieces? We are grieving for those people. There will be many times ahead, surely, when it will seem as though all things are falling apart, whether in global or personal spheres. Truly, to whom shall we go for refuge outside of our Creator, who alone is unshakable? We pray that God's people in Japan will display a love for neighbor that, like Christ's, is courageous and sacrificial in this time of great need.

And a bit of sunshine to round things out...

P is for Pirate

It's preschool day! Pirates, pigs, play dough and other fun...