What's the Plan?

I'm not sure if you have someone in your family that continuously asks the question, "What's the plan?"  But I must admit, I like knowing what the plan is too!!

The other day, I was getting nervous and trying not to stress-out about it, but misplacing my diary (planner) felt like half my brain had just been wiped. Thankfully, after turning a few rooms upside down, and praying about it (ashamedly, in that order) the diary appeared tucked under a basketful of sewing things! Sigh.

Well now that it's back, I am looking at the calendar with disbelief... there's only 37 days till we're back on Australian soil!! What? How? Okay, that means I have a lot of planning still to do in a very small amount of time. But apart from all that, we are all very excited.  Our children haven't been back since September 2014 so they are SUPER excited!

In the mean time, I thought that I’d share with you a bit about what we’ve been up to lately.

Back in April, we enjoyed having David’s sister, our brother-in-law and our 2 nephews visit us. Especially for the week when our three kids were on school holidays, it was such a joy to have “cousin” time. There was a lot of laughter and fun that occurred and we made some great memories.

Also in April we had some of the children from ZOE come for a play-date as it was also their school break. We had fun Zentangling, making creations out of Paddle pop (popsicle) sticks as well as playing Lego.

The rest of the break included water, water and more water. The Thai New Year, also known as Songkran is a three-day celebration/ water fight.  As some of you may know, Thailand has had a big heat wave this past month so three days of throwing water and being wet is a welcome relief from the scorching heat. 

After Songkran, our kids went back to finish their final quarter/ term for the year feeling kind-of exhausted after so much fun. School finishes in June for them so they’re very much on the home stretch now.

I have been working on a project called “Family Baskets”. It’s a fairly new initiative to bring a basket of new ideas to the parents at ZOE every three months. It’s a way of encouraging family bonding, good memories and strengthen the family units.  It empowers the parents with new ideas and activities to try.  I try to provide activities based around these three areas:

1. Some sort of family bonding task or challenge or goal to work on.
2. Some type of craft/ something to learn/do e.g. make something/music related/arty/ fun etc
3. Something relaxing/stress relieving/ fun or a new game/activity.  

I love trying to fit within the budget and think of new and exciting things to do.

Dave and I are also working towards a big event this Saturday night where we are organising a project for ZFA. I am really looking forward to being able to share all about this soon… keep a look out! This is going to be COOL!

Aside from all that, there’s been LOTS happening here in the Transitional Home aka The Nest.

We are learning to keep handing the big and little issues over to God whilst continuing to love and reach out to these precious young people.

I shared with friends this week how I have struggled personally these past couple of months, often times feeling very disheartened. Praise God though as I have felt the fog lift. Whilst we feel like so much of this is unchartered waters and we don’t know what the next week looks like or how things will pan out; with our trust in God, we do not need to be afraid or discouraged. We need only to keep our eyes focused on Him. God is so good. He is faithful time and time again.
Within our little family, I am really enjoying watching our three as they grow and change. I really want to freeze them at their current ages but I am also excited to see each new step they take in becoming ‘themselves’; their beautiful, unique selves!  I love seeing them try new things and find the areas that they love to participate in.

Other than that, I have really valued the opportunity to be a part of the leadership team for the PTG (parent-teacher-group) at our children's school this year. I gained a lot of insight into the school and the annual events etc. I met some lovely people too and I will continue on being a part of this group in future.

Here are some pictures from the past month or so:

One of the young adults at The Nest bought 2 rabbits home the other day. Needless to say, there is always someone around to cuddle them!

ANZAC Day Dawn Service.

A particularly smokey day...

April in Thailand is typically hot and sweaty, but this year's scorching weather has set a record for the longest heat wave in at least 65 years. The average peak temperature each day this month has been above 40 degrees celsius.

Growing up so fast: healthy and strong.

Update

It's been soooo long since I've given a "family" update. I actually had to go to my phone and look through my photos to see what's been happening these past few months.  

Here is a brief update:

(May-June) In the last term of the school year, I had been helping out at my children's school as the Grade 2 teacher had left. On the second last day of the school year, I received a phone call from my sister telling me that my precious grandmother had passed away. I was devastated. Each year when we visited Australia, I would always hope that it wouldn't be the last time that we'd have here together on earth. I will always hold such fond memories of our last trip to her house on October 17th 2014.

I was so thankful to have been able to fly back for my grandma's funeral. It was a quick trip but the time that I was able to spend with both my mum and dad as well as extended family was just so precious to me. 

All my cousins together.

(July) Our children very much enjoyed their "summer" break (winter months in Australia) as did I.  It was so nice to have the time to go exploring by foot around the city, have movie nights, go swimming and just catch up on some serious "play time".  Uno games were a daily occurrence as was playing with Lego.

Probably the highlight for all the children though was attending an Art class run by a friend each Wednesday of the holidays.  They loved the opportunity to learn new skills each week (and catch up with their friends).

  

(August) And then... literally as school was about to begin for the year, we suddenly found ourselves faced with a dilemma.  We had to make one of the hardest decisions as parents, which was to move our three kids from the small Australian school that we all loved so much.  We knew, going forward though that this was a move that we needed to make with their futures in mind especially for Tobi who heads into middle school (Grade 6-8) next year.  And so the past month or so has been very much about getting them settled into this new, bigger, totally different education system.  I am happy to report though that after a few bumps in the early days, they are all very happy and enjoying school. 
And me? Well I couldn't help myself. I had to join the PTG as well as a few other parent groups.  It's nice to know that I can still be involved in some way. Below is me introducing myself at the first PTG meeting!

And the most important and anticipated time of the day... after school!  There is an amazing array of food stalls right outside the school gate each day begging to be visited.  Most days it's sticky rice, pork skewers, dim sum, waffles or a fried chicken snack but for a special treat this day, we got a choc-banana roti. YUM! 

After school snacks!

We continue to enjoy the challenges of our new role in helping kids transition into adulthood and we are praying that we can find a Thai person who will work alongside us in this role.

Until then, we'll keep pushing ahead as best we can, using every Thai word we know and trying to communicate and articulate as best as possible with the young adults around us.

Looking at the time lag from my last family update, I can see why! It has actually been a very full 6 months.

YOU!

Well, firstly a belated Happy Australia Day to our friends and family down under.  We had a great day celebrating in our local park with lots of Aussies this year which was fun.  We all pooled our "Australian food stock" and managed quite a nice spread including Tim Tams (and Tim Tam ice-cream), Vegemite sandwiches, lamingtons, Milo bars, Barbecue Shapes as well as some delicious local Thai food too.

It's been so wonderful having Tammy staying with us.  She even minded our children overnight so that we could get away for a night and celebrate an early wedding anniversary.

This week she will finish her intensive Thai language course and work with Dave and I on some ZOE Foundation Australia planning projects.

Recently, ZOE hosted a team from Rockford First Church in America.  These guys were so energetic and fun.  It was a pleasure to have them here.  Their warmth, generosity and sense of humor will be surely be remembered.

I hit a bit of a low yesterday after teaching my ten o'clock English class.  Bogged down by the enormity of just what some of my students have been through coupled with a deep yearning to connect with them and show them God's amazing love through my life and actions.

This song "YOU" by Hillsong really spoke to me today:

Invading all my weakness 

You wrapped me up in grace 

The worst of me succeeded by the best of You 

My heart is overtaken

My soul is overwhelmed 

The worst of me succeeded by the best of You 

My dreams have found their purpose 

My future in Your hands 

This life would have no meaning if it weren't for You 

Lord make my life transparent 

Your life in mine displayed 

And let every earthly glory 

Go back to You

And so I pick myself up and I remember that it's all about Him and not about me.  Any little thing I can do is only through His power.

As His servant, my job is to continually and diligently be in prayer and obedience, remembering, that it is God who breaks the chains.  

Please join me in praying this week.  Sometimes all we can do is to fall down on our knees with overwhelming conviction that we have no where else to go.  That our efforts, whilst important, feel so inadequate in comparison to the problem.

When we feel overwhelmed and we just don’t know what else to do, we can join in prayer on behalf of those who suffer. 

Together, we will make a difference.

Three Years On...

I can't say my children were too thrilled when I suggested recreating this photo taken just after we moved to Thailand, three years ago.
I convinced them it would be "fun" and to their surprise it actually was.  There certainly was a lot of laughter that took place!  They were all trying to make the same face they'd pulled three years ago. Spencer's attempts especially made me giggle.  And I have to include a collage I made of some of the antics that took place before, during and after I'd got "the pic".  I just love hanging out with my little guys and girl!

Well our year got off to a roaring start. How about yours?

It was so wonderful to have both Dave's sisters here at the one time, along with our brother-in-law Colin and nephew Sam.

They were all a part of the Thailand Mission Awareness Team run by Graeme Smith (Maranatha Christian School).  The team arrived on Boxing Day and left January 12th.  It was so great to not only be able to hang out with the Australian team when we could, but to also be able to have our family over at our home to chill out when they had some free moments.

We even managed to fit in a mini post-Christmas celebration, lots of muu ping, an Indian dinner and oh-so-many-long-overdue conversations.  I feel so blessed.  It was such a treat to have them here.

Just when I thought 2013 couldn't get off to a better start, and Dave's sister Tammy announces that she's going to be staying on a little longer than expected to begin a Thai language course here at one of the universities.  It will be extremely helpful for her as she continues her role on the ZOE Foundation Australia board and in future when helping with teams and guests.

Due to her extended stay, Tammy needed to do a border crossing to Burma yesterday.  I volunteered to go with her and we made the most of the eight-or-so hours in the car without a moment's silence.  It was wonderful to have this precious (uninterrupted) time together.

Here's a couple of shots from the market area at the check point.

Well so much has been happening.  Dave is currently away with an American team in a village (with no electricity!).  This is a village where some of their children have been victims of human trafficking so we have been praying for an effective time of both ministry as well as an openness to become more aware and educated on this issue.

With many new children at ZOE since the end of last year, I have 6 new students in my English classes. I am so thrilled to be able to get to know these precious children more as well as share in some of their laughs and tears as they begin the rebuilding and healing process.

A quick visit from Narara Valley Baptist Church enabled us to share more about what ZOE is doing to combat and fight child trafficking as well as the opportunity to thank them personally for their amazing effort of raising $11, 575 to assist the work at ZOE.

   

On the home front, our children are enjoying being back at school for semester 2.  Eli recently began dance classes after school with many of her friends, which she loves.  She is constantly practicing to be able to do the splits and gets very excited the closer she gets to reaching her goal.  

Tobi just began a short season of soccer at his school.  He has only had one training so far but he really enjoyed it which came as no surprise.

The winter weather here continues to be delightful each day, but the mornings and nights have been the coldest we've experienced in the past three years (or have we finally acclimatized?)

With the cooler weather, we've all had the coughs and sniffles but it seems that most people here do have at the moment.

Well, with some preparation for my classes tomorrow calling me, I must head off.

I will leave you with some of my favourite photographs from the time spent with Graeme's team.

The fence building team.

New Years Eve, Kantoke dinner

Final team lunch

Sam, Graeme and Tobi

Aaron and Spencer

Go Tammy! (pictured, both Dave's sisters)

Cheeky boy!

Can I play next year Dad?

Eli warming up with the girls.

Chillin'

Don't forget, greater things are yet to come...  Andie.