Pool Fun

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Sunday afternoon we had some nice family time in the pool. I look at these pictures and I see MEN!! I'm so introspective at the moment for some reason...

Saturday afternoon, Mark and I were again discussing how we should record the 'Lasts' of moments rather than the 'Firsts'. We noticed that Ethan no longer crawls into bed with us in the early mornings to snuggle. That has only stopped in the last 3 months or so. Yes he is huge and it was strange to have another grown-up in bed with us but we cherished those times. Have we now experienced our 'Last' time of having a child come and snuggle up with us in bed? Ethan held on to it longer than Dustin and Nathan and for that we are thankful!! Wonder when the 'Last' wrestling match might happen in the pool?

I love the pictures of Buff in the slideshow, it really examplifies her relationship with Ethan. She is so protective over him. When they are wrestling she barks and watches to make sure Ethan isn't getting too beat up by Dustin. Ethan loves his dog, it's really a great relationship for him.

We're winding down the school year here. Dustin and Nathan only have 2 more IGCSE exams, they've managed to acquire their Advanced Diving Certification during the dead, study, weeks away from school when they can study on their own schedule. They are now certified to go 30 METERS deep, I am perfectly happy with 18 meters. They are loving diving and exploring ship wrecks. Last week they dove the H2 MS KUT and really loved it. Proud of them! and releasing them more and more to the Lord-I'm sure not going down there that deep in the dark to try to watch over them!!!

Abundant Life Home

I just copied and pasted a anniversary letter from my friends Ricky and Karen Sanchez that run the Abundant Life Home here in Thailand. An orphanage for children with AIDS, such a great project. It's been exciting because I've been able to get Esso hooked up with the project and last month they did a milk drive and toy drive for ALH. In the Fall, Esso will be helping fund and build the playground at their new home. This is a most worthy project if you are interested in partnering with them here in Thailand! Now, from Karen-
Dear Friends and Supporters, Anniversaries are a time to reflect and celebrate, and we have been in 'party' mode for the last while here! A few weeks ago we celebrated five years since we first opened our doors at The Abundant Life Home Orphanage. I can still remember how the stars looked that night that we welcomed five young boys into our first home! We rented a tiny townhouse with two bedrooms and wooden, rickety stairs. Every time the boys would run up the stairs, the neighbors would pound on the wall and shout for us to quiet down!

On the bottom floor, late one night, the five boys helped Ganiga and I lead Taay in a prayer of salvation. Apilak, 3 months old, slept in the middle of our circle on a small mat, as we held hands and prayed together. One of the boys earnestly added, "You know, Taay, you won't be able to steal or anything like that anymore now that you will be a Christian. Christians don't steal."

I see God has been faithful to all of us at A.L.H. We give thanks often that all of our children are healthy and that we have access to so many faithful prayer warriors back home. Two months ago, one of our boys named Gaew, age 11 (picture attached), got very sick very quickly. All of a sudden the doctor was saying that we might lose him! It was time for a quick email request for urgent prayer, and we knew that many of you mobilized into prayer for little Gaew. Today Gaew is back to his normal, healthy, break-dancing self! God still heals today.

Last month, a beautiful hotel on the beach, gave our entire orphanage 2 free nights stay and food! The kids swam and ate to their hearts content, and we decided this was God's way of celebrating our five year anniversary with us! Thank you to the Thai Garden Hotel!

God continues to use the people in the Abundant Life Home to spread the good news of salvation! A couple of months ago with the team from South Abbotsford Church; the team and our children from A.L.H. put on a great performance of skits and break dancing at a local prison. My friend JoRonda, had invited us to join her in her prison 'baking ministry' there. Our staff and children shared their testimonies, and we were able to lead 23 young women to Christ at the prison that night!

Just last week, a 45 year old woman, 'Att' showed up for church at Ang Sila Church. She and her husband are HIV+ and are from Ang Sila, but can not live in the fishing village anymore due to prejudice against them from the villagers. She saw Ganiga at the hospital picking up HIV medication one day, and Ganiga was able to share the love of Christ with her. During prayer time at church, 'Att' whispered to me that she really wanted Jesus to live within her. She walked to the front and prayed to receive Christ. Later she shared how she felt a warmth and peace flood her soul after she confessed her sins to God.

In July we will complete building the first four homes for the children! In the future we plan to have a grand opening and want to invite all of you to come on down and celebrate with us! We'll keep you posted on a date! Acts 2: 19-21 "And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below; blood, and fire and vapor or smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Thank you for your continued prayers and support! With Full Hearts, Karen, and Ricky and Sierra, Tass, McKenna and Aree
MB Mission Donate Online at www.mbmission.org/video

Watch this for more information about Abundant Life Home
http://vimeo.com/22335166 use the password voices2011

2011 Prom

How did this happen? My boys have grown up and are going to the PROM!! Let me just tell you, "This is painful!" and I just can't get used to the idea of them wanting to escort a girl to the prom. But that is where we are at!

This past Saturday was my boys' first prom and first official date. It could have been more painful, if they were in the states they would be driving a date!! I really like that we have a built in chaperon in Songkran, our driver! Logistics make the whole idea of dating a little different here. The driver took the boys and picked up the girls to take them to a nearby hotel where the prom was being held from 6:30-10:00, we were thankful that both girls' parents picked them up at the end of the event.

Nathan escorted Jasmine from Australia to this year's prom and Dustin asked Valerie from Holland to be his date. In fact Valerie and her family will be moving at this end of this school year to Qatar, her Dad works for Shell. Jasmine's family just moved here in January and her Dad works for GM.

Please pray for me as I adjust to this new stage of raising boys but especially pray that Nathan and Dustin will be young men after God's own heart. That they wouldn't be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of their mind. Pray that I will trust the Lord to do a good work in their hearts. I'm praying they will fall helplessly in love with the Lord before they fall helplessly in love with a girl!!! Pray that God will help me be a better Mom, that the Lord would give us wisdom generously and that God can somehow use me in their lives despite myself!!! Pray that I can just enjoy this new stage with my boys.

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Thai Teacher Appreciation Brunch

Today I invited all of the Thai teachers I work with at the neighborhood school for a brunch at our home. The new school year for Thai schools began two weeks ago after their long Songkran holiday. These are the teachers I've been working with the last two years, reading once a week to the students in their classrooms.

Nok helped me host them to a brunch with Thai and Farang food. During the brunch they asked if I would be willing to teach an adult, English speaking, class to all the teachers once a week. We are about to leave for the states in a month but I will consider it in August when we return. Dustin and Nathan have to accumulate 150 hours of CAS hours for their IB program that they begin in August. CAS which is Community Action Service hours. Nathan expressed some interest in teaching the English classes himself which would go towards the CAS requirement. God continues to open doors at this nearby school.

They presented me with a basket of 'things'. One of the items said-Essence of Chicken, it was a green liquid with a putrid smell. Another bottle said-Bird nest with sugar? It was a white gelatin. I passed on the basket to Nok, she said they are items for good health. She tried to explain that they actually use portions of a bird nest and liquefy it? It was just a little strange but that's all relative. The staff all looked at my pimento cheese sandwiches as if they were a bit strange too!!!

Not Guilty Anymore

I can't get this out of my brain, now if I could really grasp the mercy of the Lord. We are righteous if we are in Christ Jesus.

The Bakery

I haven't blogged about our latest happenings at the Prison Bakery in a while. I'd like to bring you up to date on some of the exciting things going on there. In late February I had invited my friend, Karen from the Abundant Life Home-an orphanage here for children with Aids to bring an evangelistic team to the bakery. Karen and her husband have been missionaries to Thailand for over 10 years, they speak fluent Thai and have also planted several Thai churches along with the Aids project.

She had a visiting team from Canada that came and performed a very powerful drama to music, depicting the fight for a soul between God and Satan. Here is a picture of Karen and the team.

After pizza was enjoyed by everyone, Karen had a couple of her house 'Moms' to share their testimonies and to present the gospel in Thai. 24 girls raised their hands to accept Christ!!! So exciting!! We then broke into small groups and answered their questions about what it means to be a Christian, what are they supposed to do during mandatory, Buddhist, morning, prayers....We had fluent Thai speakers in each group and it was a most productive and exciting evening. To God be the glory!!

The next week I followed up by giving out 45 Thai Bibles to interested girls in the prison along with some gospel tracts in Thai. Since then I have been praying for some sort of relationship with a Thai church in the area that could lead Bible Studies within the prison.

After several email conversations I met Pastor Jeff from the Vineyard church in Rayong along with his wife and another couple from their church at a coffee shop near the bakery. After filling them in on my work there over the last 3 years and praying together I proceeded to take them into the prison to meet the staff and girls. They are prayerfully considering how their congregation could minister within this center.

Please pray that they will know the Lord's leading in this ministry and that doors will be opened to them to continue to disciple there. There is just so much I can do with my limited Thai, language skills. Mostly, I just try to 'show' the love of the Lord to the girls-because that crosses all language barriers! How exciting to think that a new relationship with a nearby church could be established and continue for years after I'm gone.

Who knows what the Lord may be doing at the Rayong Prison. Pastor Jeff has his hand in many ministries to try to reach and assist Thai people. He is marketing a new coffee endeavor for believers in Northern Thailand. He is also helping a young man in their congregation as he begins to raise turkeys for food here in Thailand. Turkeys are rare here, I always spend a fortune every Thanksgiving. Anyway, to make a long story short, he approached me and the girls about perhaps learning to roast turkeys in their industrial ovens and then we could sell them to the ex-pat community. He 'just so happens' to have a chef friend coming in December from Canada that would be willing to come and teach the girls a roasting and baking technique of turkeys. We could even deep fry the turkeys, Cajun style. An exciting potential for both his congregant and our girls. So far this young man only has 12 turkeys and it takes several months for them to mature but it might be a wonderful partnership in the future. May the Lord do exceedingly more than we think or imagine in the prison!!!

29 and Counting!

Today, Mark and I celebrate 29 years of marriage! We had a special night at a nearby resort in a beach side, private, villa. So many times we look at each other and exclaim, "We live in Thailand!" It was a beautiful setting to spend some time reflecting on our marriage and to just get away, the two of us.

Our marriage has been anything but 'normal' from the get-go! We married on a Friday night, spent our honeymoon in a business suite (a 10 place conference table....fancy!!!) in Amarillo on our way to Mark's summer job in Pampa, TX.

We moved into our 25 foot travel-trailer on Sunday. Monday when Mark returned from his first day of work there was a huge tornado headed for our little home. We jumped in the car and just started trying to drive away from all the destruction. Over 12 tornadoes were sighted that night, millions of dollars of damage was done but our tiny home was untouched. Maybe that was our first indication that this journey together wouldn't be anything boring!!!

I thought in honor of our 29th wedding anniversary I would list 29 reasons that I love Marko.
#1-I love that he loves the Lord and tries to live his life honoring God.
#2-He's an amazing Dad and always has been, he was right there on diaper duty, taking the night shift when the kiddos were little, giving me lots of needed time away...
#3-I love his laugh
#4-I so appreciate what a wonderful provider he has been.
#5-That he can do ANYTHING he puts his mind to-write a poem, a song, draw a picture...
#6-So thankful that he does our finances and makes sure that I'm cared for today and for forever. That he is a great steward of the money God has given us.
#7-That he can fix anything-so thankful that his Dad and Grandpa trained him when he was young to do house repairs, automotive repairs...
#8-That he loves and cares for my parents.
#9-That he is so unassuming and humble-he feels no need to ever 'put on airs'.
#10-He is the most unselfish person I know-really
#10-He doesn't need or want the approval of man, he is very secure in who he is.
#11-He thinks the best of people-always.
#12-He has an amazing work ethic-doesn't use the company phone for personal use, doesn't do personal emails on his blackberry, hasn't had a sick day in 27 years...
#13-He is a hard worker-he likes hard, physical, labor. I'm thankful he isn't slothful.
#14-Protects his eyes-he doesn't even have his own Internet access and will use mine on occasion to look at basketball scores.
#15-He wants and allows me to be the woman in our relationship (Mark said, "Well, I don't want to be the woman!!!)-he kills bugs for me, empties mouse traps, opens biscuit cans....I like being taken care of!
#16-He's my go-to guy for any spiritual matter-finding a verse, needing wisdom.
#17-He loves to sing the praises of God. He leads the music at our little church because no one else has volunteered. His joy of singing is infectious.
#18-He can laugh at himself-if he gets lost, stumbles over his own two feet....
#19-He likes to play games.
#20-He always puts his family above himself, sacrificing his time for us. I can remember times he has 'played' with us during the day and then gone into the office at night to complete work he had to do.
#21-He likes to travel, to see and experience new things.
#22-He's just as happy with a sandwich as a 4-course meal.
#23-I've never known him to tell a lie or even exaggerate a truth.
#24-He doesn't snore!
#25-He is willing to try anything new-like a new, weird, food.
#26-He appreciates my advice-on how to dress, to a delivery of a company speech.
#27-That he can keep a cool head when dealing with teenage boys, I can't remember more than 3 times he has ever raised his voice to our boys.
#28-I love that he is so smart-he can talk about most historic events, do any kind of math problem...
#29-I love that he is all mine. He is my one and only, there is much comfort and security doing things the Lord's way. I don't feel like he ever compares me to other women...I'm thankful for Marko!and the 29 years of marriage we have had together.