A School Library

Yesterday was an exciting day at the primary school I volunteer at every Tuesday. I've been working with Esso's Public Affairs team here requesting that they help this new, small school get a library. They came through in a big way and the school was presented a check for their library yesterday!! I am so excited for these kiddos.

It all began from my morning walks in the neighborhood. I watched as this new, colorful school was being built anticipating its' opening. It's located about 1km from our house and I thought that I might could help out there somehow. Shortly after it opened, I took Nok to translate and talked with the administration about my coming and doing some reading with the preschoolers every week with some basic English teaching. They just kept asking, "For free?". After a few Tuesdays the principal asked if I would be willing to come everyday? NO!! but it was sweet for them to ask!

There are few books in Thailand even in this school. Books are expensive here! I am passionate about books and the importance of children learning to love to read. The children are so enthusiastic each week when I bring colorful, fun books into their classrooms, and now because of Exxon's generosity they will have access to lots and lots of books!!

Sawasdee Bpee Mai

Happy New Year or Sawasdee Bpee Mai! In Thailand more emphasis is placed on celebrating the New Year rather than Christmas which makes sense considering this is a Buddhist nation. Since returning from our ski trip we have been busy with New Year's celebrations. We hosted Mark's entire administration team to a special dinner at a local restaurant in a private setting with the beach as a beautiful backdrop. The weather is just perfect in the evenings and early mornings, it's not as hot as normal and there are more cool breezes. It was a wonderful evening with his team. He gave a motivational speech as this year will be most daunting with the project coming to completion late 2011 and a special thanks for all their hard work in a most difficult 2010. Pray for Mark as he leads his team, especially for protection as new units will be started up soon, there are many safety concerns.

On Friday night I had to chaperon a birthday party that Dustin and Nathan attended while Ethan joined his Dad for the annual New Year Celebration for the entire organization. I'm including a few of those pictures, I think we missed out by not being there!

I will be traveling on Saturday to Houston to spend time with my mother who has recently been diagnosed with some type of Lymphoma cancer. We are still unsure of the exact diagnosis and prognosis. Her birthday is Sunday, I can't even remember the last time I was with her to celebrate her special day. I will spend 3 1/2 weeks with her and Dad, she will have her first appointment at MD Anderson Hospital this Wednesday so hopefully we will know soon what she is up against. But thankfully she belongs to the ONE who already knows the whole future, we know He loves her so much and we can trust him with her future health. Please join me in praying on her behalf, for restored health, wisdom for her Dr.'s, for Dad as he steps into a care-giver role, for Coli (my nephew) as he runs the boot shop, for my guys as I will be apart from them, safe travels....Thank you for interceding with us for my Mom whom I love very, very much!

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Ski Trip in Hirafu, Japan

We have been contemplating an Asian ski trip for some time. Initially, we thought we might travel to Korea to ski because we had some friends that did that last year. But this summer my scuba instructor is a ski instructor in Japan during the cold season. He really sold us on Japanese skiing commenting that he had skied all over the world and Japan is his favorite. So with his help we started planning our holiday ski trip. We flew to Tokyo and then flew two hours to the Northern Island of Japan-Hokkaido area then took a two hour bus ride to the Northwestern side of Japan. Winter Olympics have been held here, they are known for their powder and the abundance of it!

We stayed in the village of Hirafu, Japan in a 3 bedroom Japanese cabin with traditional sparse Japanese furnishing but how about those toilets!!!! What is it with the Japanese and their toilets?? It is so strange to me that China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand all still have many 'squatters' but the Japanese are all about their toilets!! I do have to tell you it was quite nice especially in the lodges when you were in all that bulky, snow, gear to walk into the stall, the lid automatically raises, the seat is sooooo warm and toasty, some artificial noises are provided if needed, the hygiene options are endless, and then after it automatically flushes it gives a squirt of deodorizer, so high tech!!! At times it was tempting to just set on that warm little seat and take a break from the cold outside!!!

Mark commented that this was one of his favorite holidays we have taken as a family. Everything went so smoothly and our tour company made everything easy. Our cabin was 2 blocks from the free shuttle to the slopes, 2 blocks from the small grocery mart and close to the restaurants that we took no advantage of! Japan is expensive!!! and of course, our timing seems to always be a tad off and currently the dollar is not doing too well compared to the yen. We stocked up with the groceries-I had brought cereal from Thailand and cocoa, we added some bread, butter, sugar, milk, some very strange peanut butter (it was sooo sweet) yogurt, ham, bacon, cheese, juices, coke and we were all set for the entire week.

I think that's why Mark enjoyed it so much, lots of family time. We would get up at our leisure, eat breakfast, head to the slopes, ski however much we wanted, eat a nice lunch in the lodge and head home to our warm little cabin. No one wanted to leave once we got all that snow stuff off. We played cards, read books, watched movies, listened to tapes and just hung out, sipping our hot chocolate and enjoying the wonderful snow. A great reprieve from the heat!! and no broken bones!!

We are grateful we chose to ski Japan and not Korea, especially at the moment with the unrest there. We haven't repeated any trips we've done in Asia but we all agreed we might want to experience the Japanese powder again???

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Christmas Day 2010

The boys wanted Christmas this year with all the 'traditions'! I filled the Countdown box with small daily surprises, put out all the Christmas books-some wrapped and some read, mostly by Ethan this year:(. After all our guests had departed on Christmas Eve, we all gathered around as Dustin read the Christmas story, Mark led us in our traditional time of sharing and worship with the candle-challenging us to be the light to the world, sharing the good news of the Christ child to the dark world...I even managed to find some pj's that would suffice for our traditional Christmas pj's, the only packages opened on Christmas Eve. The stockings were filled and the presents put out to be enjoyed the following Christmas Day. It was a memorable Christmas season, one to be treasured and pondered on. Merry Christmas to all our friends and family far and near. May you be the light of Jesus in your part of the world this year. We love you!

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Christmas Eve 2010

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We hosted our church members that were here over the holidays for a Christmas Eve service. I'm thankful for these friends that fill the void of being so far from all of you at this time of year!

Christmas Can Make Me Cry

There are so many mixed feeling wrapped up in the Christmas season and sometimes it does make me cry. I cry because I miss Abbie, Dusty, Granddaddy, Uncle Quenten and this will be the first Christmas without Nanaw. I think of all the soldiers that are away from their families this Christmas fighting for me and you and for the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. I especially lift up Amber as she is away from her husband this Christmas and has two little ones in Germany. I have a new friend here, Laure' and this is her first Christmas away from her two daughters and her 6 grandchildren. I don't know that it ever get easier to be away from family at Christmas. I will miss you Mom and Dad. I miss our special Christmas times with Mike, Kristy, Hunter and Avery. I'm sad that we can't have a Northcutt Christmas. I'll miss Lavon and her family, especially watching Jaelee grow and change, seeing Christmas through her eyes. I do miss home at Christmas.

It does make me cry that it required God sending His son as a babe for me to eventually die because of the sin in my life. I truly am amazed that God would think that you and I would be worth that. I love this song because sometimes Christmas makes me cry too.

Christmas Celebrations

The Christmas season has afforded us many opportunities to share the 'Good News' of Christmas in some special and unique ways this year. Mark's refinery has an Esso Sports Club with numerous types of clubs-badminton,tennis,football,Buddhist....One of Mark's engineers expressed interest in starting a Christian club. Mark fully supported it and volunteered to 'kick-off' the initial meeting with a Christmas celebration. They invited all employees to come for a free lunch and hear the true meaning of Christmas. Mark said 40 people came, including his dear, sweet, secretary-Suchada. A pastor from Bangkok came and presented the meaning of Christmas. Remember there are only 3 known Christians in the entire refinery, including Marko!

One of the ladies in my Monday Bible Study group suggested we honor our drivers and maids with a Christmas luncheon and also share with them why we celebrate Christmas. What a great idea!! These employees do so much to make our lives easier here-they make sure we are safe on the roads, transport our children, clean for us, interpret for us when needed, help us find our ways in this foreign land...It was so fun to hand them the printed invites and honor them with a nice Thai duck meal with fried rice with vegis and fruits. We did all the preparation and clean-up. I told Nok, "Wannee, my tum naghn." Today, no work! ''

The Thai culture is soooo respectful and mindful of social status, it is very uncomfortable for them to have the roles reversed. Most of the other maids and drivers always call their employers-Madame but Nok and Songkran call me Khun Da. They thought it was quite funny to be served by the Madams. I asked one of the Thai maids, "Tum khun loo farangs bah my?" Do you think that foreigners are crazy??? She just giggled. This was so abnormal for them. We have a Thai lady who is a faithful Christian teacher and she translated and taught for most of the program. Each of us shared something.

I decided to share the story of the missionary in India who was speaking to some Indian women in a village about the love of God and how Christians should be different. Suddenly, one of the women got up to leave, the missionary asked, "Where are you going?" She stated, "I'm going to walk to your house and talk to your maid to ask her how you are at your home." I stated that I hope that they can each see a difference in us in our cars and homes because of Christ being in us. I also tried to express how special Nok and Songkran are to our family. They both have been with us from day one here in Thailand.

I really doubted if Songkran would come. Every time we have invited him to church with us, he adamantly says, "My Boat!" or NO CHURCH. The invites had a verse on them and they were told that we would share the real meaning of Christmas with them. I also really tried to convey to him that he didn't HAVE to come but I hoped he would come. He seemed to enjoy it. At one point, I asked him, "Are you having fun." He replied, "Let's do this every week!!"

The first week of January I have a missionary team, friends of ours here that have an orphanage for Aids children coming to present a program to all the girls at the prison. On Sunday our family fellowship group will be spending the afternoon at a weekend day care sharing the love of Christ and having a 'Happy Birthday Jesus' party. God has given us many opportunities to speak of Him here. Many, many times it is the first time some of the people have even heard the name of Jesus. Oh may it be high and lifted up here in Thailand!

Please if you think of it pray for our 'work' here. Pray for Nok, Songkran and Suchada especially that we can live out Christ before them and always look for opportunities to share the saving knowledge of Him. That they will come to know Him and love Him. That they will be with us in Heaven for all eternity.

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