Since Christmas

As it turned out, Christmas was a blur. Of sickness, canceled plans, and, even so, joy.

After the wacky New Year/Christmas apartment party, fever joined up with achiness and it took a week to feel normal again. We had a Christmas party for our new church plant group, and a good time was had by all, although I was home in bed. Because I still had a fever, we couldn't have people over as we'd planned on Christmas day, and it was a quiet day where I felt well enough to mostly enjoy the day but not well enough to really enjoy the cinnamon rolls I made. But I really, really enjoyed my sweet family and it was a day of celebrating The Gift that is the reason for our gifts, and basking in the excitement of our children, who are in the very best stage of childhood for enjoying the fun of Christmas.

A perfectly captured "choo"- enjoying a newly expanded train set

Late on Christmas night, we welcomed Granna and Papa Jeff for a long-anticipated two-week visit. Granna almost immediately got sick, but managed to lift her head periodically and have some big adventures- she was really a trooper and we had such a good time with them in spite of our obstacles...

 Ayutthaya, an ancient city full of amazing ruins

riding a long tail speedboat on the Chao Phraya river

Happy New Year! Traditional black eyed peas and...kale

Em treated us to a concert, with her faithful little brother as announcer. She's showing much more interest in and enjoyment of her piano endeavors this year, and that's good for everyone involved.

This skateboard was a favorite gift for our little man. He's faithfully learning to ride and holding his own with the big guys at the skate park at our local park...

...including this big guy!

We celebrated a very special 4th birthday during the visit. Here's the birthday boy basking in the glow of his traditional birthday cake in bed. He is a treasure.

 

We had a fun birthday exploring a place we'd never been- a lesser known and lesser developed island of sorts just a hop across the river, known colloquially as 'the Green Lung', as its verdant landscape helps to absorb the pollution of busy Bangkok. We hired rickshaws to go across the island to a beautiful park. Several times during the ride, the birthday boy looked up at us and stated, with a grin, "This is so much fun!"

We found a spot that was our home base for the day, and had the train cake that his daddy decorated for him. This picture captures his complete happiness and contentment in being celebrated by his family.

Just two days later, we celebrated 14 years of marriage- it passed in a blur of adjusting to life after Granna and Papa Jeff, getting back into the swing of regular life and taking down Christmas decorations. We have a plan for a real celebration soon, and hopefully will have opportunity to process this milestone and our growing friendship and love. So thankful for the many years God has given us together.

And as we began the new year with a fresh perspective, we were able to spend a day with our friends/teammates in prayer and planning. We are planning to begin a weekly meeting of our early church small group this Sunday, and are excited to see how God will continue to build His church here.

And finally, Tim was able to partner with this visiting musical ensemble and arranged for them to perform a concert at our local park. (This is the park that is our new yard...our building is one of those in the background.) These people are amazing musicians with a heart to serve God with their music, and it was a beautiful night, perfectly timed in the short break of lovely weather that has since been eclipsed by the hot and humid status quo.

Merry Christmas From Bangkok!

All of our loved ones in the West, with your cozy fires, chilly holidays and picturesque vistas...Bangkok does Christmas much the way it does everything else- big, bright, colorful, loud and HOT!

Tonight our apartment threw a Christmas/New Year's bash, and it was quite the event...

Nothing says Christmas like a traditional bucking bronco. I double-dog-dared Tim to do it, but he had a flimsy excuse about not wanting to hurt himself before he leads worship tomorrow. 

Imagine attending this party with a 101.5 degree fever- that was my evening. A bit nightmarish, with blaring Thai Isaan music accompaniment (for the record- it's after 10 and it's still blaring. Sounds like it's in our apartment. Unlikely to stop anytime soon). Wacky but fun- that's Bangkok.

On another note, we have a more staid (but still fun- oh, so important!) Christmas celebration planned tomorrow evening as a precursor to our new church, which is moving toward beginning meeting early in the new year.

Grief and Hope

A dear friend here is in the early weeks of learning how to deal with her advanced stage cancer, even as she learns to be a mommy to her newborn baby.

My friend and teammate is across the world grieving the death of her father as her children wait here for their parents to return.

And, after I published my last post, I woke up the next morning to the news of the unspeakable tragedy in Connecticut.

Joy and sorrow, life and death all together- the story of this world.

And we prepare, counting down the weeks of Advent, sharing the highs and lows of each day, rejoicing in the gift of today. We press on to celebrate the coming of our Savior, the One who brings hope into the desolation of our world.

He will swallow up death forever, the Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.     - Isaiah 25:8

Nicknames, etc.

We've always been a nickname family, everyone having any number of regulary-used variations on his or her name. Recently, though, we realized that Em has her own special nicknames for each member of our family. They're not new, and she uses them often, but they've eased into our family consciousness slowly, and have just become a topic of conversation. So, for posterity's sake, our little imagination factory's nomenclature:

Daddy- Dipsin Dads
Mommy- Mamasita Maria
Asa- Bipsin
Ju- Sweeshin

She is delightful.

So we've had a little bit of activity lately. Here are Bipsin and Sweeshin on Deck the Halls Night:

And us plus dear friend Catherine after the halls were decked:

Big news is that Dipsin Dads recently got his micro-balcony studio up and running- let's see- this is the second apartment balcony on which he's thrown pots over the course of our married lives, in addition to his parent's garage, his brother's rental home's toolshed, a tiny room at the back of the garage in our house and a big room at our furlough house. Whatever the setting, he's more alive when he's making, and everyone's spirits were high as this came together.

Mamasita Maria's had some adventure of her own lately- was able to go to this beautiful place:

Angkor Wat- Siem Reap, Cambodia

with these beautiful women:

to do this!

Our group was split between the half marathon and 10K (I was most definitely in the 10K contingent), and the effort of traveling to Cambodia and back over land was a marathon in and of itself; certainly the most adventurous thing this mama's done in quite some time! A really neat group of women and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it.

And finally, our girl has had memorable moments, too, lately...

raising the Thai flag with her dear friend before school on a recent morning

Satay making practice with our friend who has a street stall selling this delicacy

And most significantly...months of rehearsals led up to her acting debut in her school's performance of 'It's a Wonderful Life'. She had a small, non-speaking part that whet her appetite for theater and it's likely that auditions and rehearsals will be an ongoing part of our lives. She was smashing.

Thankful

We felt a palpable sense of loss as we missed our families and our culture this Thanksgiving Day, and yet we felt a real sense of joy and fullness in the family and culture to which God has called us in this time and place. We truly have so much for which to be thankful, and a good Father to whom we give thanks. This is a sweet season of our lives and our tree literally overflowed as we have considered over this season the things, big and small, with which God has graced our lives.

Dress Up

On a recent Saturday, ready for a play date at a friend's house

 Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. - George Scialabba

I'm one holiday and almost a month behind, but these were too sweet not to share. Our Dear Aunt B sent the above quote on a birthday card to Asa a few years ago, and I love it. Whether true or not, we have imagination in abundance in our home, and it makes life joyful. Halloween was a few weeks ago, as you no doubt remember, and although it's not widely celebrated here (but the creepier parts are creeping in and retailers are more and more cashing in on the trend!), our little ones gave some consideration to how they might celebrate in costume, dug through the dress up box, and here's what they came up with...

Poor lighting, but Puss in Boots was quite dashing.

Thank you again for this cuteness, Aunt Crystal!

Dress up is not to be confined to a particular day, though...especially for Asa, for whom dressing up is an almost daily event, and little brother is following closely, as little brothers do.

Papa's WWII headgear gets plenty of wear by our little warrior.

This photo fits a bit with the dress up theme- the final day of last month's Thai module, in which we studied Thai culture. We were asked on the last day to wear traditional clothing from our culture, and a few of us did. Our country is a bit tough on this front, with no easily available or discernible traditional costume, melting pot that we are, so I fell back on the trusty old red, white and blue. Not as exciting as the beautiful Thai costume, but it will do.

This one I just had to share, even though I look odd (don't bend awkwardly in pictures), because this precious little baby, whose nickname is 'Peace' was born recently to our dear friends, and we had the privilege of visiting her in her early days. She is simply beautiful. If someone handed me one of these sweet bundles on the street, I would be sorely tempted to walk away quickly without asking questions.

And a recent Ju-ism I will document for posterity...

J: Mommy...

Me: (distracted by two other simultaneous voices) Just a minute, Ju...

Me: (turning to him after a minute) Okay, buddy, what is it?

J: Ummm, well...I lost my mind. (translation: I forgot:)

Going into Thanksgiving tomorrow, thinking of many loved ones we will miss (are, in fact, missing at this very moment) from afar. So thankful for the abundance of love that God has given to us.