SKIING!

We live at the bottom of a ski mountain, so we figured we should take advantage of it. This past Saturday the girls started their ski lessons. There is a great deal where kids their age can get rentals and a 2 hour lesson for super cheap. They both did great! Kiera liked it okay, but she got cold and lost interest quickly, I will give her a little credit and say that it was 19 degrees on the mountain. But the cold didn't slow Selah down. She loved the lesson. As soon as it was over she came inside, ate half of her lunch and was back out on the bunny slope. She quickly learned how to use the tow rope and spent the next 3.5 hours practicing on the bunny slope. She didn't get cold or tired. That girl has determination! She is so excited because this Saturday Ross is going to ski with her in the afternoon and take her on the lift.

Mason also got in on the action... Because I didn't know if Mason would really want to ski, I didn't rent him skis or boots, but once he saw his sisters getting their equipment and out in the snow he wanted to be part of things too. Once Kiera had her lesson and was done being cold for the day, Mason put on her boots and skis (both were too big for him, but he didn't mind) and went out to ski with our friend, Melody. She was the girls instructor also, but for Mason, who has a special place in her heart, she gave him a 30 minute lesson later in the day for free. What a blessing! Mason loved skiing, so when we go skiing again in a few days, I will get him his own boots and skis and Mel and daddy will work with him.

I'm a snowboarding bum who can't teach my kiddos how to ski, but I can pick them up when they fall down and cheer for them as they are learning to turn and stop.

Selah being silly.

Kiera posing with her scarf and matching hat. She got this set a few years ago and has always liked it, but now she understands better why you would want a hat and scarf :-)

Prayer Requests - 2/24/13

I think I'll try to have regular prayer requests that 1. list our prayer requests and 2. update you on fulfilled prayer requests. I think it will be fun and encouraging to watch as God answers us - with Yes, No or Wait.

On Dec 3, 2012 I posted a few prayer requests:
1. That Kiera and Mason wouldn't get strep even after Selah had it and all those around us seemed to be getting it. ANSWER: They didn't get strep. The kids didn't have any more sickness before we left or even while traveling. Well, Kiera got sick on the flight home, but other than that - the kids were all healthy! 

2. For God's plan for housing upon our return. ANSWER: God provided 2 more months for us to live in the dorm upon our return. That meant that we didn't have to pack up our dorm rooms right before we moved and when we got back from Thailand, we got to move right back into our rooms and beds. 

Today's prayer requests:
1. Housing :-) While we are thankful that we have the dorm room until the end of March, the end of March will be here soon and we need somewhere to move to. So far I have looked into all rentals in our area and called each house that is for sale to see if they would be willing to rent. I've also called property management places, talked to realtors, looked in the papers and craigslist and asked locals if they know of anywhere to rent. Can you tell I don't know what else to do? I'm sure this is exactly where God wants me. Where He can show Himself so much bigger than I understand Him to be. So, my request is that God would provide the housing in a way that gives Him all the glory, not me and my searching abilities. Also, that I would not be anxious as I wait expectantly for our next housing solution.

2. Health - Ross has been sick since we got home and is finally feeling better, but prayer that he wouldn't get sick again.

3. Health - Mason is having lots of digestive issues and it makes it hard for him to know when he needs to go potty. Plus, he tummy just hurts a lot. Pray that he starts feeling better and that everything he eats doesn't flow right through him.

Last Week in Thailand - Part 2 (traveling home)

So... Before you think we drugged our children, let me explain. Our flight left Bangkok at 1:20 am - which meant that we got to the airport at 10:30 pm. Our kids were wiped out! They fell asleep in the song taew on the way to the airport and they were picked up, carried, then placed on carts full of luggage, driven through the airport and they slept until we checked in our bags and had to pick them up again. Selah managed to stay up until after the plane took-off and she now thinks she should stay up till after midnight all the time :-)

We had a 10-hour layover in Seoul that somehow included a super nice hotel (thank you, Asiana Air). Here are a few pictures from the hotel. We all napped multiple hours, then we had lunch in the hotel restaurant (complimentary), followed by the best shower I had had in 2 months. A little slice of heaven.

The Seoul Airport

Last Week in Thailand - Part 1

We went on an accidental hike through rice fields and construction sites (we were taking a "short cut") and had to find our own way. I asked a local Thai man if we could cut through his construction site and then climb over the fence (this was all in charades, because he didn't speak any English), he nicely said no and showed us that we could go around the fence. I then acted out that the grass was really high, he seemed to understand and was our guide through the first two rice fields and over the creek, then he went back and we kept picking our way through the fields and more construction sites until we got back to our hotel. The kids picked flowers along the way, here is a picture of a flower that Mason picked.

 

the kids walking along the edge of the rice field

Kids posing for a picture at the end of the hike 

Here is Mason with an umbrella hat. It belonged to the grandma that owned the hotel and a few convenient stores. Mason liked to go in the store because she or her husband would give him bags of chips and lots of hugs.

At our favorite restaurant - 7 Sisters. The owner, the one holding the kids, lives in Florida half the year, so her English was great and she and I bonded over talking about Florida. I hope to go back to Chiang Rai to visit her and her restaurant.

So, we met a Thai university student named Peanut. We all loved Peanut. She played with the kids and loved on them and bought them Thai treats - all ways to their hearts! She and Kiera bonded the most. See them below?

Kiera, Peanut, Mason

Kiera, Peanut, Selah

Our last 3 days in Thailand were spent at a beach called Kosamet. It is a few hours south of Bangkok and you can only get to it by boat. Here are some pictures from the boat. I don't actually have any/many from the beach. Not sure how that happened.

The girls getting their hair braided at the beach

And here is Kiera a few weeks later once we took the braids out. This is actually tame, she looked like she had a lion mane for a day!

I would like to clarify - we met quite a few wonderful Thai friends - at the university, at restaurants, at the ministries we worked out. I don't want any of our friends to be left out - we just had lots of pictures of Peanut, so I thought I would share them with you!

HOME!!!

Hello! We are home! We got home from Thailand on Feb 2. It was a very long trip home with the kids sleeping in lots of random places. Kiera was fine when we left Thailand, but after a 5 hour flight to Seoul and 10 hour layover in Seoul (thank goodness we had a hotel room!) - see below:

she developed a fever for the duration of our trip, a 10 hour flight to Seattle, layover in Seattle, then flight home. I felt so bad for her, but it did make her a great traveler, she just slept the entire time, even in a ball in the corner of the airport - see below:

Mason slept amazingly well on the plane and then after hours in the Seattle airport he finally crashed at dinner - see below:

Here's a picture of Mason in the Bangkok airport playing with Truss, one of the boys that went with us on outreach.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos in a wig that our dear friends, the Wideners, sent us in a welcome home box. It was full of treats and treasures - thank you, Wideners!

It was so nice to be back in our cozy dorm room, eating in the cafeteria and seeing all our friends... for a few weeks. Now the dorm room coze and the cafeteria ease has worn off and we are looking for a new place to live! We do love living in community and the great neighbors that we have on our hall, but we are longing for fresh bread, yummy soups and healthy smoothies.

Since we have been back we spent the first week finishing DTS with a "de-briefing" week. It was a week of lecture and good-bye/graduation activities. It was nice to have that week to say good-bye to our friends in DTS as well as get over jet lag. Starting the second week Ross got to go to 100 Fold Studio each day, all day. He is like a little boy coming home each day. He LOVES it! The work, the people, the mission - it all aligns so well with what we've dreamed of doing since we've been married. I've taken the past week and a half to just enjoy normalcy - doing laundry, washing dishes, getting tasks marked off the list like - health insurance, auto insurance, taxes, finding us a place to live... I will have to remind myself in a few weeks when I'm ready for the next adventure that I had fun doing laundry and dishes and just resting.

Once Mason is potty-trained then I will start going into the 100 Fold office most days while Mason and Kiera are at preschool.  For now, I'm going to start going during lunch 3-4 days a week while Ross takes the kids to lunch so I can start helping with the CRM install project (the stuff that gets me excited!).

UPDATE: Mason is doing really well with potty training, he goes most days without an accident. I've realized that if he gets upset and starts crying / throwing a fit, there is a good chance he'll have an accident, so I have to make sure he uses the potty or has a diaper on before he is disciplined :-)

The girls have transitioned home well - both LOVING school still and wanting to go on Saturdays too! Selah and Kiera both have good friends here and Selah is at the age where it is a fight after school most days because she wants to keep playing with her friends after school too.

I'm really enjoying being home and getting settled - I'm going to a mom's group tomorrow and I've gotten to spend time with some of my favorite friends here. I've also started reading One Thousand Gifts and I LOVE IT! It was hard for me to get into the first few pages, but now that I'm a few chapters in, I just want to read more and more. I'm going to start my gratitude list tonight and even the thought of that makes me happy!

Ross is doing well - like I said he really, really, really likes work, but he has been sick. YUCK! So, please pray for him if you think of it. First it was the flu, then it turned into coughing, headstuff (we self-diagnosed the coughing and chest feelings as walking-pneumonia, he also thinks he has a sinus infection). I feel like one main way the enemy attacks our marriage and our family is through Ross being sick. I am not a good nurse and I end up mad at him (mature, I know). So, if you would please pray for health for him and also health as a protection of our marriage and even our ministry here, we would really appreciate it.

Okay, this long post must end. I will try to add a few pictures from the last week in Thailand soon. Much love to all!

Weekly Roundup 1/24/13

Here are a few pictures from our daily life :-) Below is one of the kiddos half eaten noodle soup - they like the noodles and "meatballs" (pork balls), but pick around any vegetables or other types of meat. Selah is learning to eat with chopsticks - she does it pretty well, but very slowly, so sometimes we have to get her food to go. Kiera was shown by a Thai woman how the Thai people eat noodles, you use your chopsticks or a fork to twist the noodles onto a soup spoon and then eat the noodles off the spoon. So she likes to eat the noodles like that; which usually requires either Ross or I getting the noodles onto the spoon for her.

This picture is of our family at our favorite noodle shop. The guy in the background is the owner and he used to live in the UK, so his English is really good and it makes it very easy to order as well as have a Thai person to talk with. There are walls on two sides of the restaurant, the other two sides are open to the street, literally, the street. The sidewalk is right next to the tables. That is how most dining is here - it makes it super convenient and there isn't any need to advertise. You just walk down the street and pick a restaurant that looks like what you want and stop in. There are two basic types of restaurants - Noodles or Rice. So, first you ask yourself if you want a noodle dish or a rice dish. Everyone in the group has to agree on one, because they don't sell noodles at rice shops or rice at noodle shops. You can tell what kind of restaurant it is by the food items they have on display in their mini-kitchen. Most food is prepared very close to your table where you can watch if you would like. I am definitely going to miss the food here. It is healthy (well, most of it! Thai people really like their snacks and some of them are very fried), yummy, cheap (usually $1.00 - $1.50 for a meal), convenient - we can walk to a variety of restaurants, quick service, cooked once you order it, pleasant - the Thai people are so hospitable.

Next, a picture of the kids sleeping arrangement. This mat on the floor is about 2 feet away from our bed, so at bedtime, Ross and I sit in our bed with either a small light on or playing on the Nabi's (thank you, mom and dad!) and the kids wrestle, kick and fight over the big pink blanket until (after multiple spankings) they each finally fall asleep (Kiera first, then Mason, then Selah - they wake up in this order in the morning, too). Usually before we go to bed, we pick them up and put them back in their area (Kiera is usually on the floor, Mason close to Selah and Selah upside down). Then in the middle of the night, someone cries because someone kicked them and I untangle the puzzle again. Outreach Living!!! I will be happy to have a separate room to sleep in than them, but it makes it convenient to just step out of bed and be right at their bed, there isn't any walking into the other room to take one back to bed.

Here is a Buddhist Temple that we walked around a few days ago. It is only a few hundred feet from our hotel and we pass it multiple times a day because it is on the way to food, the university, a small market. The temple is beautiful - so shiny and ornate. There were lots of things that would have been fun for the kids to climb on, but we tried to be super respectful, so the kids lost interest quickly.

A few more things:

• Mason is still sort of using the potty. This morning he woke up and said, momma, I need to go tinkle. He walked right into the bathroom and used the potty. And then their are times when he gets so caught up in what he is doing that he doesn't use the potty all day. Oh well, this is just for fun now, when we get back to Montana, we will be more serious about it. We will get to start using underpants!!!
• We only have 4 days left in Chiang Rai - which we are very sad about. We have come to enjoy walking to restaurants and the coffee shop across the street, playing games and eating with the Thai people that we have met here and have become our friends. We gravitate towards the ones that enjoy our kids :-) At the coffee shop they have lots of games - UNO, Phase 10, Rummikub, Battleship, Scrabble, Monopoly, Jenga...  Selah has figured out that she can play these games and so really enjoys hanging out at the coffee shop. Kiera usually finds a Thai college student to hang out with and Mason plays in the water outside :-)
• Once we leave Chiang Rai - we will travel to Bangkok (12-15 hour bus ride), then the beach (can't remember name, about 4 hours from Bangkok), then back to Bangkok (4 hours), then to Seoul (6 hours on plane), Seattle (12 hours on plane) and finally home (1.5 hours on plane + 45 minute drive)! That travel starts on Monday evening and we arrive in Montana late Friday night. Sound like a lot? I think so too :-)
• Please pray for safe travel, health, patience, rest, good attitudes, friendly people next to us on the buses and planes...
• For Christmas Ross surprised me with sunglasses! It was so wonderful for a variety of reasons - 1. I forgot my other glasses at home 2. These are the ones I have been wanting for riding and running 3. I thought he had Zac as his secret santa, but it was really me and he tricked me and surprised me and it was great!
• I got to go to a new friend's house on Wednesday. It was a short visit, but so needed and great! I went with all the kids because she has a 2 and 4 year old also (as well as a 6, 11, 13, and 15 year old that were all in school). It was wonderful because I got some girl time - with a mom and missionary and Christian, there was so much we could share and encourage each other about. It was great to see an American woman living in Thailand, it was also great to see her house, meet her kids, just feel like a mom going over to another mom's house for a playdate. A dose of normalcy in our not so normal life. Funny thing is that our kids do think this is normal. Moving, traveling, school on the road, not speaking the language, trying new food, walking places... they don't know any different because they are getting exposed to this so early.
• I'm reading a book called "The Mission of Motherhood" - it is a love-hate relationship. It is encouraging, yet at the same time, I think - I can't every do all the things she is recommending. Yes, I should put it down, but I don't want to quit, only 3 more chapters.
• Ross and I have both had lots of time to read during this outreach because once the kids are in bed, at least one of us stays back with them - so we've always got a few hours at night to read. It has been so nice to have this time. A few of the books we have read (either one of us or both of us): Missionary books about Eric Lindell, Amy Carmichael, Gladys Alwads (sp?), Ida Scudder; The Book that made your world (ross), Mission of Motherhood, (in the middle of) Shackleton's Way and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction; one by Henri Nouwen... You get the idea. I'm loving that Ross is reading with me, too!
• Mason is often the star of the show in the cafeteria at lunch. University students walk by our table and say "Hi, Mason" and I've never seen them before. How do they know his name? Part of the reason is because he will find one friend and then that friend will take him to their table and then he will stay at that table for a while, taking pictures will all the girls, eating their food, giving hugs and smiles. He sure knows how to work the system. My girls have a friend that eats with us most days and sometimes after their lunch she will buy them a Thai snack, sometimes they like it, sometimes they don't, but they sure like that she bought them an edible surprise.
• Selah has hit an entitlement phase that isn't pretty. Usually Ross and I are the only ones that see it, so she has everyone else fooled :-) I'm pretty sure that Selah's love language is Words of Encouragement (and maybe gifts), which means that hard words really tear her down. I'm working on choosing my words more carefully when speaking with her. Selah loves to give encouragement to others, to write them notes and give gifts. She is quick to remember if someone is sick or sad and want to do something nice for them.
• Kiera is steady and sweet. She loves to serve and help. She loves to dance. She rarely whines and is quick to love on you. Kiera has the endurance to walk long distances and she dances beautifully. She is quieter and more shy than the other two, but she has friends here, too. Once you are her friend, you will always be her friend. She has a game she plays with one of the guys on the team where every morning he will say, "Good morning, Selah" and Selah says, "Good Morning, Adam", then he says, "Good Morning, Mason" and Mason says, "Good Morning, Adam", then he says, "Good Morning, Kiera" and Kiera just smiles. She has yet to say good morning to him. Although at any other time of the day, she loves Adam and plays with him all the time. It is so great to see her humor already.

Ministry Time

You may be asking yourself, "Who is this Thai girl that Mason is taking a picture with?" and I would say that I am asking myself the same thing. She thought he was so cute and he liked her sunglasses, so the two of them played for a while - taking pictures and him strutting around with the glasses on. In the background is the university cafeteria where we have lunch each day. We walk a few hundred feet to the entrance of Mae Fah Luang University, then there are song taews (trucks with seats in the back) waiting that will take you into the university (it is 2 km just to the first part of the university). Then we walk up a few flights of stairs to the food court cafeteria. We have a routine. Mason and Selah get meatballs and sticky rice - 10 meatballs each, cut in half, on separate plates. Then we go to the vendor next door and get 4 hard boiled eggs in a bowl (2 for Kiera, 1 for Mason, 1 for Selah, the bowl is for the peel), then Ross goes to another vendor to get our food. Sometimes Kiera gets noodles too. Then once everyone is done eating, we see how much money we have left and usually get some fruit (watermelon and pineapple are the favorites) and possibly a treat (today was a "milk shake", that was really milk, a little sugar and ice blended). Our families entire lunch costs about $6.50 US. 

In the midst of the eating and getting food, we try to sit at a table with someone we don't know. We usually invite them to an event and/or to @Peace Coffee Shop to hang out and practice English. At this point, we know a lot of people in the cafeteria, so often we eat with our friends. We pray before each lunch time that we will have meaningful conversations and that God will lead us to talk to the people He wants us to. Some days and conversations are really great, some are awkward :-)

This picture is the @Peace Coffee Shop (before the Christmas decorations came down). Most of our team is gathered in there, we were probably having a worship time or planning an event.

Some of our guys and a bunch of the kids from the elementary school close to where we are staying. The kids are so loving and kind. They like to play and wrestle, but also to give high fives and hugs.

Selah with two Thai girls that really liked her. They played all the games holding hands.

Ross teaching an "English" game to a first grade class. If you look close, you will see Kiera and Selah in the circle.

We've had the chance to go back to this school for a variety of things - a show (music, skit, games), then teaching English to different classes, then this week we did 2 hours of activities - 1 day with first graders, then today with 2nd graders. Each time we go, it gets more fun. The kids are more and more open and loving and they also pay attention better. Many people talk about how they were told about Jesus in elementary school and then later (high school or university) they learn more about Jesus and give their lives to them. It is neat to be part of planting seeds.

Tomorrow our team gets to give a 40 minute presentation to one of the classes that has 350 students. The topic is peace / world peace / Jesus' peace. A really cool story about how this came to be. Please pray for the words our leaders speak and the hearts of the students and teacher in the class.