It was a great week in Thailand! We have just come through the cool season in Thailand. We have had some evenings and early mornings where the temperature has plummeted all the way into the high 60's. Many people here break out their down-coats for that kind of cold! We have had men mowing our yard in the 70's with coats and hats on. We had about 5 nights that we did not need our air-conditioners in our bedrooms, it was a wonderful reprieve from the heat. We're bracing ourselves for the hot season which encompasses February, March and April and so enjoyed the last two months.

We had a busy week. Dustin and Nathan had their first volleyball game on Monday and then a basketball game on Thursday. I thought we were through with basketball but ISE has put together an under 15 team to provide practice for the surrounding British International Schools who compete in basketball in the spring, opposite of the American system. Ethan began after school tennis lessons this week and was ready for a break from soccer.

On Thursday, one of the wives of an Esso employee took me on a tour of all the services the Catholic church offers in Pattaya. I've been prayerfully considering taking on one other ministry while we are living here and was anxious to learn more about Catholic Charities' work. I was given a tour of the Home for the Disabled and introduced to their job-placement program for the disabled. I toured the blind school where I was blessed to peek in on a musical/choir practice, the King of Sweden is visiting the school in two weeks and they were practicing the musical program to mark the occasion.

In October the boys and I started visiting the Mercy Center twice a month to play with the 1-3year olds in the afternoons. It is a Christian orphanage that has about 40 kids. The house parents are currently a retired couple from Minnesota that are serving out a 10 month volunteer term. A benefactor had given each Mercy child 500Baht($15) at Christmas time for clothes purchases. A shopping trip was planned for each child. On Friday, we took two little guys out for their shopping trip. Doy and Niger. Doy was 4 and Niger 6, they could only say one word in English-"no" and were quite the energetic duo. I was amazed at the whole process. We just showed up and were handed over these two little guys, no identification was required, no phone numbers exchanged. Granted the house parents at least recognized us from our Wednesday afternoon trips but no one there knows us at all and these two guys were allowed to just leave with us and that they would go with us!! A car load of Farangs that speak very little Thai just driving away with them-TIT, This Is Thailand!!

We bought 4 shirts, 1 pr. shorts, 3 pr. underwear, (which they both emphatically kept saying, "no!" too) a toothbrush, and a toy for each of them. We then took them to a nearby play area while our boys rested on nearby benches! We finished the evening with pizza and ice-cream cones. They seemed to really enjoy their shopping trip and it was a blessing for us to get to be involved. I'll post some pictures of our two little buddies.

This morning Mark is leading a book study with our boys, and Dave and Drew Clarkson. They are going through a book called, Know What You Believe on Saturday mornings. My job is to provide a big breakfast and then they discuss each chapter for about an hour. I so appreciate all the time Mark puts into the spiritual growth of our boys. He is so busy but is making the time to do this study and teach their SS class. On Tuesday, Mark has been invited to a dinner with the new Thailand Prime Minister in Bangkok along with several other hundred foreign businessmen. He is a busy guy but finds the time to make his family a priority. I'm so thankful for Marko. Well, I feel this has been a hodge-podge of a posting but just filling you in on our week here!