Somewhere over the Rainbow

Winnie turned 5 years old on Thursday! She got some special gifts from family back home, like an elephant ride, gymnastics classes, and a calico critter house! On Saturday we threw a birthday party for her and invited all the friends she has made from the homeschool co-op we go to. It was a Wizard of Oz theme and Winnie was Dorothy. We had it at the Centre, where Cory works, and decked it out with a lifesize tinman, a big emerald city, and a 30-ft yellow brick road! We even threw water balloons at the wicked witch (drawn with sidewalk chalk) to make her melt. Winnie had a lot of fun and is excited to be a big 5-year-old now! Cory has been busy at the Centre. There was a team from the Philippines in to help for one week. They did a lot of special things with the students during this week and saw three accept Jesus into their lives! It is exciting to see God working in the hearts of the students at the Centre.

Songkran

This week was Songkran, the Thai New Year, and they celebrate with lots of water! They see it as a time to clean everything and have a fresh start for the new year, but it has evolved into a country-wide water fight! You can't drive down the street without kids throwing buckets of water at you, and that's just outside the city. Down by the moat, people ride around in trucks with ice water in huge barrels and things get crazy! Unfortunately our car broke down this week, and we were unable to get it fixed until after the holiday is over, so Cory has had to ride his motorbike out places and get wet, wet, wet! He didn't seem to mind though. It has been so hot! April is the hottest month because temperatures are around and over 100 degrees everyday and it never rains to cool things off. We've been spending a lot of time in our bedroom, which is the only air-conditioned place in our house. We'll eat meals up here, do school, and we've even had the girls sleep in here for the past few nights. Our family celebrated songkran by having family water fights everyday for the past 5 days. The kids got really cool water guns as early birthday presents from their Aunt Jeni. They are Winnie-the-Pooh backpacks filled with water connected to water guns. When the kids would put them down to go in the kiddy pool, Cory and I would grab them and ambush them! We've also been relaxing in our "hot tub"! Cory and I are both missing food from home apparently, because last night I had a dream that they had Eggo waffles here at the grocery store. When I told Cory this morning, he said he dreamt we were back home and he was eating good cereal, like Golden Grahams which is over $8 a box when you can find it here, so needless to say we don't buy it!

Our first visitors ...

My parents arrived in Chiang Mai on March 7th, and we have been busy everyday showing them around town.

The first weekend we went to the Chiang Mai International Heritage Festival, where they had a show at night with 14 hot air balloons on a field, lit up in time to music that a band was playing.  It was a pretty cool sight, and I enjoyed the 80's music that they were playing!  Evie and Winnie learned to "walk like an egyptian"!

The next few days we hit "walking street" and "night bazaar", a couple of outdoor markets where people sell handicrafts, food, t-shirts, and all sorts of things.  Of course, my mom loved the shopping and the cheap prices!  We also went to a Khantoke dinner, where you sit on floor cushions outside and eat a traditional thai meal while you watch a thai dancing show.  It was really nice, and one of Cory's students was a dancer in the show.  We even tried sugarcane, which we discovered you don't actually eat, just chew to get the sweet juice and then spit out the rest.  (I don't recommend it.)

The second weekend my parents were here, we decided to explore Thailand outside of Chiang Mai, which may have been a mistake.  We drove 3 hours north to the Burma border to a mountain called Doi Angkhang.  There is a beautiful resort on the mountain right by a Royal Project area where they grow tons of flowers, fruits, vegetables and even have a bonsai garden.  The King started this many years ago to give the people living in these areas cash crops that would benefit them so they would stop relying on making opium.  Everything on the mountain was just gorgeous, but the stress of getting there wasn't worth it to me.  I guess we weren't thinking quite clearly when we made our plans to pack all six of us in our little car and drive through a mountain range.  Our car barely made it up some of the steep inclines, and when we finally pulled into the parking lot of our hotel our brakes were smoking on one side!  We were very thankful that we made it and didn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere, and the next day I was very anxious to get off the mountain and back to the city.  The best part though, was the cool mountain air!  It has been right around 100 degrees everyday here, so having it so cool that you needed an electric blanket at night was a wonderful change!

On the way up the mountain we stopped at the Chiang Dao caves.  This was so cool!  They have a little bit of a lighted path that the kids and my mom went on, but then you hire a guide to take you through a half-hour loop of caverns with tiny doorways to crawl through with only a gas lantern to light your way.  It was really cool, except for the hundreds of bats that we saw in there.  And it was only 100 baht, for the 3 of us, which is about $3!

That weekend, was the weekend of mountains.  On Sunday, we went up Doi Suthep, which borders Chiang Mai on the West.  This time we paid a songtaew (a covered truck taxi with two benches in the back) driver to take us up and spared our car the trip.  On this mountain, we visited the large buddhist temple that overlooks Chiang Mai, the grounds of the King's winter palace, and a hill tribe that lives farther up the mountain.  The girls got to dress up in hill tribe outfits and get their pictures taken by all the flowers.

Last week, Tuesday, my parents took the kids to the zoo to see the giant pandas.  We cooked a special Easter meal for the students at the Centre for Wednesday's cooking night. Thursday we visited the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, which is one of the most fun things here.  The elephants put on a show where they play soccer, paint pictures, play harmonicas, dance, and more!  There was a baby elephant that was just born March 1st, and we fed the elephants sugarcane and bananas.  

Friday morning we went on a riverboat up the Ping river, and visited Warorat market, the largest market area in Chaing Mai.  Where you can see live turtles, snakes, and fish being sold, huge pig's heads sitting on ice, people butchering meat, fried insects, and all sorts of strange sights.  

Friday night, we went to the Easter party at the Centre.  Cory played Jesus in a skit!  (After the resurrection, so he wasn't nailed to a cross.)  The kids liked joining in on the easter egg hunt and other games.  Evie won a jar full of M&M's for guessing the closest to the amount in there.

Saturday, my parents and I went on a day trek.  We hiked up a mountain to see a hill tribe, rode elephants, visited a waterfall, and went bamboo rafting.  It was a fun, but exhausting day.  While we were gone, Cory took the kids swimming.  When I met them at the pool, I was surprised to see Evie "swimming" in deep water for about 5 seconds before Cory would have to grab her.  Being able to swim all winter has helped the girls be more comfortable in the water and they are getting braver each time we go.  Evie might be swimming like a fish by the time we get home.

We had a nice Easter, the church service was a good celebration.  Now we have one more week with my parents before they head off to Bangkok for a few days and then fly home.  Cory's mom and stepdad are now planning on visiting us in July, so we will look forward to that!

An Anaconda in the house!

Today we found a 10 foot Anaconda in our house! Not a real one thankfully. Evie is studying the Amazon rainforest right now for school. One day the girls spent hours drawing monkeys, jaguars, and all sorts of animals to transform our stairway into a rainforest, so the 10 foot snake made of wire and paper completed the transformation. Last week, the girls and I went to a homeschool conference at the international school here. It was a great week, the only downside was getting up at 6 every morning, and with Cory's schedule the girls didn't get to see him much. Evie took the Iowa Basics Standardized Test in the mornings, and then her and Winnie were in Vacation Bible School type classes while I attended seminars about homeschooling. It was a great time for us to be around other families. There was a "Student Showcase" where kids could enter work into different categories for display. Winnie was too young, but Evie entered a painting and a poster on Germany for "Cultures of the World". We pinned her hair up in braids German-style and even made Apfel Strudel. She was very excited to tell others about her project and very proud of herself. She even won a gold medal! (Though she was the only one in her age group to enter that category!)

The kids each had a little performance at the awards ceremony too.  There's a little video clip at the end of this post.

Other than that, the kids just continue to grow.  Evie lost her second tooth a couple nights ago, and Winnie is learning to read and has read three little books by herself!  

Everything is going well for us right now.  We currently have our visas extended until March 20th and should receive our year long visas before they expire.  My parents our coming for a visit and we're counting down the days, 15 to go!  Thanks for all your prayers!

The little things in life ...

make a BIG difference!  Last weekend we bought thick foam floor mattresses to put on top of our hard beds and it has been wonderful!  Each night I look forward to climbing into our soft bed now, and my body doesn't hurt and ache when I get up in the morning.  Winnie had been saying she missed her soft bed at home so this has helped a little with homesickness for her, but it can't replace the grandparents that she is missing so much!

We also bought a bookshelf for our office/school room.  Being organized gets me excited!  I loved getting our stacks of books up off the floor and onto the shelves.  I was also able to unpack the scrapbook supplies that I brought with me, but haven't had a chance to scrapbook yet.  Hopefully soon, I can hear it calling to me from the shelves!  I want to scrapbook our whole Thailand journey, starting from the first trip Cory and I took here two years ago, so we can remember all the exciting things God has done and will do.

THE BIG THINGS IN LIFE MATTER TOO!

Cory got his work permit last week and our whole family will be heading to immigration in the morning to obtain a new visa.  We've been told they will give us each a one month visa while they are processing the year extension and then we will have to return to get that one.  Thanks for all your prayers, God is working it out for us to stay here.  Please pray that things will go smoothly at immigration tomorrow.

One final note, the kids and I went to cooking night at the Centre last night.  I helped cook mashed potatoes and chicken with a bunch of the Thai students.  The kids were hanging out upstairs and I found them playing magnetic dolls with a bunch of the college students!  Here's a cute pic:

Stress, heat, and fire ants!

The last three weeks have been busy and stressful. 

Please continue to pray for our visas.  We had been very anxious about it, but we have found a good lawyer and he thinks it will all get done in time.  Our visas expire Feb 19th. 

Also, continue to pray for our finances.  We had to return the motorbike we were borrowing to our friend when she returned to Chiang Mai last week, so we had to buy one of our own.  We're hoping to get an air conditioner unit for our bedroom this weekend.

Speaking of air conditioning, it has continued to be around 90 every day and poor Winnie has a recurring heat rash that makes her itch and it's hard for her to sleep well.  (Which makes it hard for me to sleep well too!)  On Monday we had our first rainy day since we've been here and it was glorious!  It only got to 78 and with the clouds we could have our windows open and cool air blowing through!  Tuesday it was back to the heat.  It makes me wonder how we will survive when it hits 107 in the summer!

We've had more than the usual amount of ants in our house recently so I was out spraying the perimeter and got attacked by fireants!  Luckily it was just on one foot, but if any of you have experienced this, you know it's not pleasant!  My toes are still itching like crazy.  Cory went out later and finished the task and hopefully got them all so this won't happen again.  (I am glad it was me and not one of the kids though.)

There has been a YWAM team from Oregon helping at the Centre the past few weeks, so Cory has been working extra.  Today he'll be working over 12 hours, but it's the last day.  This is hard on our family, but ministry at the Centre has continued to be fruitful.  3 more students came to accept Jesus recently, including one high school guy named Bird.  There has been a handful of high school students lately and it seems to be spreading by word of mouth.  This is really exciting to reach more young people with the gospel and maybe it can even help prevent some of the dumb mistakes kids tend to make when they first leave for college!

Each week we are feeling more settled.  I've started teaching an arts & crafts class to the 4 & 5 year olds at the homeschool co-op, so that has been really fun for me to plan.  I'm tying it in with Winnie's kindergarten curriculum we already use, so we made bird projects the first week and talked about how God takes good care of us just like a mama bird builds a nest, feeds her babies, etc.  Last week we learned how God has made us wonderful and did thumbprint art and friendship hand wreaths, and this week we made caterpillars and butterflies and talked about how when we accept Jesus we become a new creation.

Here's a couple pictures of the kids swimming, I think they look cute in their swimcaps!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a nice relaxing Christmas.  Very different from what we're used to though, as the kids got to ride their new bikes to the park and play in the kiddy pool we got for our yard!  Although we missed seeing all of our family, we didn't miss all the hours of driving around Michigan in bad weather!  The kids were only expecting one gift each, and  we had a lot of fun surprising them with a bunch of presents.  They were very excited to get some new toys after having to sell, give away, or leave behind most of their toys at home.  Cory's desire to bless our kids with a big Christmas reminded me of how our Heavenly Father desires to bless us and give us good gifts, not because of anything we do, just because He loves us.

Christmas isn't widely celebrated here, but New Year's is a big deal!  At midnight there were huge fireworks all over the city.  Cory and I watched them out our window, while the kids amazingly enough slept through all the noise!  There was a carnival too, so we took the kids there on New Year's Eve.

As for the Centre, after hearing the gospel many times, and lastly from his History professor at CMU, a student named Golf accepted Christ.  Pray that he would grow in his new relationship with God and that he would grasp more and more the grace that God has offered us through Jesus.  Cory got a few days off for the holidays and not many students have been around, but Cory has been busy preparing for a short-term team from Oregon who will arrive on Monday.

We are getting settled more and more.  The girls are plugging along in school and will start Thai, gym, and art classes with the homeschool co-op here on Monday.  They've also been playing with Pay-Ping a few days a week when she gets home from school.

A couple weeks ago we had our first incident with the car.  I managed to drive into the craziness of downtown for the first time to a Christmas lunch the Centre was having for the staff.  I made it all the way to the underground parking structure and went to pull into a parking spot and rammed the corner of our car right into a concrete pole!  Sitting on the other side of the car throws off your perspective!  Luckily no other people or cars were involved and amazingly the headlight still works so we will get it fixed whenever we find the time.  (Also, Cory has gotten 2 flat tires on the motorbike, but has made it home safe both times)

Some things to pray for us currently:

-Visas - Before we left we could only get 90 day visas, and were told we would have to apply for an extension when we got here.  So we are trying to figure that out right now, but have heard some real horror stories from other missionaries that have left me feeling really anxious about the whole situation.  So pray that we are able to get an extension processed before our 90 days are up so that we can just make a "border run" to Burma instead of having to pay a lot more to leave the country to Singapore.

-Finances- It's been a little stressful getting our finances situated.  We are still trying to figure out the best way to get money from our bank in the US to our bank here.  We've had a lot of one time expenses as we have been getting all the household items (dishes, pots, oven, cleaning supplies, etc.) we need and are constantly having to judge and prioritize what we can afford to get next.  Added to that we need to buy a motorbike soon, as our friend Jen will be coming back to Chiang Mai in a couple weeks and we will no longer be able to borrow her bike.  Pray we will find a motorbike in the next two weeks for around $500.  (The cheapest we've seen was $900, but God provided us a car in our budget, and we know he can provide us with a motorbike too.)

Thanks for all your prayers, emails, packages, messages, etc!  We appreciate the encouragement!