Joy and Sorrow

These are heavy days as we are far from my daddy, who is very unwell. My spirit is bending beneath that load, and we pray continually for him and for those dear ones who are carrying the load in close proximity.

Intertwined with the sorrow of this life is so much joy, and that's what I'm reminding myself of today through sharing these glimpses of the sweet that has characterized much of the every day these weeks past...here's a flyover and A LOT of pictures...

our first race together- wacky color run!

 Easter morning at home...

before our annual indoor egg/scavenger hunt

prizes at the end...a fun find at the fancy grocery store!

 

 ...and at Grace City- such a special day of celebrating Christ's resurrection.

this was a fun night- we had a balcony full of people enjoying the lunar eclipse through our telescope!

Ju conquers the mountain on our Songkran hike

inside the cave at the end of our hike- we have spent Songkran with these friends five years in a row now...love them

we celebrated one year at Grace City with a baptism and new members- was a sweet time

intramural soccer- go orange!

green belt black tip- movin' up the ranks

Tim took some Grace City folks to Hong Kong for a justice conference...

Mother's Day- I am beyond blessed by these children

one of my favorite beautiful things about this sometimes challenging place we call home- a reminder of God's goodness right outside our door

And a fun one from my time with Daddy- a whirlwind trip that was time well spent

Bits of the everyday

It's high time for an update at this little space of memory- that's what it's become for me, and what keeps me coming back to it, aside from making grandparents very happy- so in this 10 minute window I find myself with today, I'll see what bits of our everyday I can share. I think this will be a picture heavy flyover of some favorite pieces of life these last 3(!) months- amazing that it's April already and we're preparing to celebrate Easter and counting down to a much needed and anticipated Songkran break! So without further ado...

our 6 year old displays his amazing sense of fashion daily

we celebrated 16 years of marriage- just so thankful

 Grace City moved to our new meeting space- a good move on many levels...

...and we retreated together as a church out of the city for teaching, wacky games, relationship building, and all sorts of outdoorsy activities!

you've really not had a good time in Thailand unless some people have been covered in flour and/or powder

good buddies

ridin' the range

Asa played with all his heart on the school U-11 soccer team...

love the mom in the background clapping with her umbrella after he blocked a shot!

 ...and had field day. Isn't the water balloon toss just quintessential elementary field day?

Ju played shepherd king David in a 4th grade school production (a perk of being home schooled)...

...and Em had an amazing time playing the Munchkin Mayor, a poppy and a flying monkey in the school wide production of The Wizard of Oz! Dramatic productions just make her heart sing!

And finally, every year we love the chance to celebrate the many cultures represented at our wonderful school at International Night- here are a few favorites...

Korean Fan Dance

India's vibrant beauty

lovely Thai dancers representing Isaan

And before it completely slips away, something I meant to include as I talked about Ju's birthday...a favorite little tidbit of conversation from a few months ago that I'd like not to forget...

Julian (at night): "Don't leave me Daddy; I'm scared!"

Tim: "What are you afraid of, buddy?"

Julian: "I just feel like there's a big snowball rolling after me!"

Tim: "Well, just plug in your hair dryer, turn around and melt it!"

Julian: "Oh, okay."

I wonder if pathological fear of snow results from living in the tropics and having no experience with said weather? :)

Six Years of Wonderful

It's been nearly two months since we celebrated six years old for this very special boy...two months! Not to be daunted by being so very behind in my chronicles...here's the birthday boy and the story of this milestone in marking his journey.

Cruising on the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, January 2015

Ju's birthday story began several days before his big day, while the whole family was here and we were still at the beach. We wanted to celebrate him with everyone together, so we asked the lovely French hotel manager what we might do. Her reply? "We will do ze cake...and ze fireshow!" Thus was put into motion a super duper birthday celebration that will not soon be rivaled. Doraemon (Japanese manga robot cat) cake, a special birthday drink...

this was one continuous pour from his shaker...it's a mystery

...and fire twirlers on the beach. At the end of the show they set the words, "Happy Birthday" on fire. I hope six is old enough to remember how spectacular this was!

The real day came a few days later, with much less fanfare. According to tradition, we all went quietly into his room and woke the birthday boy with cake, the best way to wake up!

That evening we went to his favorite noodle shop for some Japanese ramen (he likes it with a jumbo sheet of seaweed...) It was also our last meal with Uncle Tom, whom we then sent to the airport to board a flight to Cambodia.

And then it was just us again for the first time in quite a while! We went home for cake and presents...the highlight of which was a magic set to encourage Ju's most recent career aspiration- a magician. He makes a spiffy one, does he not?

What can I say about this child? Tim and I shake our heads in wonder at how amazing are the children God has given us, and Julian holds his unique place in the family and in all of our hearts. He is kind, silly, tenacious, intelligent, confident, a very good friend to many...just a great deal of fun and sweetness all wrapped up together. He's so affectionate, and I'm still the happy recipient of many kisses. He has friends of all ages, from the Swedish 3 year old next door to the 8th grader down the street to the new kids he meets at the park who don't speak English. I've said already how much I'm enjoying this season of teaching him and having so much time with him...this time is a gift I'm endeavoring to savor with intentionality. I look at Julian now- tall, strong, his eczema at this point in time diminished to minimal proportions; I am so very thankful, thinking of how far we've come and how faithful God has been every step of the way. Happy birthday, sweet Julian- may your life be marked by joy as you glorify God in your journey.

The Relatives Came

Boxing Day found us cleaning, gathering air mattresses, and generally preparing for having 11 people in our home for the next ten days, as the Georgia Mills were due to arrive that night. And arrive they did, in the wee hours of the next morning; thus began quite an ideal visit...it's not often in life that you get to spend that much concentrated time with members of your extended family, and it was a sweet time.

at the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok

We spent some time resting and talking and doing our favorite things...

Scrabble with Papa Jeff

...and some time out on the town adventuring.

by the river

This picture is one of my favorite memories of our Bangkok time. We were exploring Wat Po, the temple of the reclining Buddha, when we came upon this man in the midst of painting an exquisite watercolor likeness of the temple grounds. We stopped to express our admiration of his work, at which he point he pulled out two canvases and gave them to us, saying that he loved to share his work with people who appreciated it, especially visitors to Thailand. We were quite blown away by this act of generosity and goodwill, and now each of our families has one of these gorgeous paintings to remind us always of our special time and of the kind heart that characterizes our brothers and sisters in this beautiful country.
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On New Year's Day we headed off to our next adventure...a 6.5 hour road trip that ended at a gorgeous, isolated beach near the Cambodian border.

we were treated to lovely days...

...and majestic sunsets

 

 

these best cousin friends couldn't have had a sweeter time together

JuJu gets his courage up to ride the banana boat...s-l-o-w-l-y

the 'big boys' couldn't get enough of paddle boarding!

The other thing that's worth noting about their time here is that the weather was amazing. All the loveliness of cool season was concentrated in that time period- we felt the need to tell them several times, "It's not usually like this!"

Soon enough, it was time to pack them all into taxis and send them off, and for us to get back to regular life...but the time we spent has given us memories that will last always. We're ever so thankful.

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

Christmas morning- traditional Christmas story time and snuggle to begin the day!

Yes, time does fly. We often think of this phenomenon with a negative connotation- where is the time going?- but I'm pondering time a lot these days, these growing days, and it's not flying by and leaving no trace. Its trace is in these beautiful faces living their childhood days; its shadow is the mark forever imprinted on our hearts and these souls bound for eternity. I choose to be thankful for these growing, changing days- the years that are piling up- thankful that I have the privilege of living them with these dear ones. The days are not always easy- we have drear and discouragement and days of ick- but they are nonetheless vibrant and important- building us in vital ways, each of them. 

So here we are, in retrospect again, because we've been busy living these days! But I think they're worth chronicling, so we'll go back to those magical days leading up to Christmas...

that's our girl- front right

There's not much that can beat a performance of strings music for Christmas beauty. Our season and our lives have been much enhanced by the addition of the cello!

In the music vein, Tim and I had the fun of spending an evening out at a jazz concert- one of my favorite memories of this season by far.

And speaking of my favorite artist, he entered a local ceramics show- a good experience and opportunity to be in the art world here in Bangkok. These great friends came to support him.

This is the closest we got to snow, but we did get some pleasant weather this Christmastime- when it dips below the low 80's around here, everyone pulls out their jackets!

We celebrated Christmas in community- here with friends at Grace City's Christmas party, and with a house full of friends and neighbors on Christmas afternoon.

But Christmas morning was just our little family, with the addition of one sweet little dog, who deserves her own post and will get her moment in the sun at some point. Lily has made our home warmer (and much more hairy)...

'twas a puppet sort of Christmas

Just a little flyover- every year I think we had the sweetest Christmas. We are savoring these golden years.