Sunday, August 11, 2013

P.S. I love muu

Some of you would've received a copy of my book, P.S. I love muu by now. But I thought I should explain the title as a few people have been asking. Some people thought that 'muu' was the Thai word for 'you' and other people have read it as P.S. I love mum. And whilst I do love my mother dearly, that's not the title! 
In Thai, muu is the word for pork. The book is based on the cultural transition of our family who switched our morning serve of Vegemite-on-toast for a bag of sticky rice and muu ping (pork skewers) when we moved from Melbourne, Australia to northern Thailand in 2010.  
Muu ping is one of our family's favourite take away meals or weekend breakfasts.  
It's cheap.  It's can be bought off the side of the road.  And it's amazingly delicious!
The book is compilation of 52 messages of encouragement, many which have been reworked from this very blog. 
In the book, I share about both the adventures and the challenges of adjusting to an unfamiliar culture.  From the difficulties of learning a new language to the loneliness of leaving family and friends.  Throughout it all though, God’s faithfulness, provision and love have continued to remain strong.  
Thanks so much for all your feedback (those of you who have been reading it).  I love getting your emails!
Andie :)

Friday, August 9, 2013

Recalculating

For any one who has a GPS you'll be familiar with that voice that announces, "RECALCULATING" when you go off route and start heading in a new direction for a while.

The GPS is such a wonderful device though, isn't it? Like how it knows where you're headed and sets a new way of getting there.

For me, the past few weeks have felt a little bit like that.

At the end of the school year, there was a teaching position available at the school where our 3 children attend.

Although I knew how great the need was, I did not apply for it or feel at peace about it because I felt that full time work (for me) would probably not be a wise choice for our family.

In our last week in Australia though, I received a couple of emails from the staff explaining that they had still not found a teacher for the Grade 2/3 class. This is the class that Tobi and Eliana are in!!!

They put forward a proposal to me to consider taking on a "shared" teaching role with some others. And after praying about it and discussing it with Dave, I have agreed to volunteer at the school for this season of need.

As 2 out of students in the class are my children, it will certainly be an interesting season of life!! Dave likes the idea as he knows it is about as close as I'll ever get to home-schooling!!

But what about ZOE? Well my heart is still 100% for ZOE and I plan to continue to support Dave and ZFA in any way I can behind the scenes. I would also love to commit a certain amount of time each week to making English resources for the ZOE teachers to use in their classes.

I totally believe that God doesn't waste any experience and so I am trusting that He will use this time back teaching to His glory and to equip me further with our work at ZOE. I am still praying for a teacher to "arrive" as I would be totally happy to pass this position on to someone else, but I do feel that I have the skills to step in for this time when there is no-one else. 

(BTW if you feel called to come to Thailand for a year to teach at the school, let me know and I'll pass on your details - it is an unpaid position though.)

It is such a wonderful little school that I truly believe God is using to reach our local community and beyond.

And so it begins...

I have been laminating like there's no tomorrow and the planning is well under way too. School starts on Tuesday so if I am a little quiet on this blog for the next few weeks, you'll know why!!

Thanks so much for your interest and support of our family. Despite this slight diversion "off track", I know that voice saying, "recalculating" will lead me back to the battle I came here to fight.

If you're a first time visitor to this site, did you know there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world right now?  Of those trafficked across international borders, it is believed that half are under the age of 18 years old.



We believe that is just NOT right.

There is a battle going on and I encourage you to get involved  too and join us in this fight... to end human trafficking in our generation.  


If you want to know more about what ZOE does in America, Australia or Thailand, browse this site and click on the links to the various ZOE pages.

But for now, I'm off to finish the planning for some seriously fun classes!!