One of THOSE days!

I had one of those days yesterday.  You know the ones where things just don't seem to be in sync?  I didn't injure myself (or anyone else thankfully) and I wasn't unwell but odd things just keep happening and I began wondering, 'What's wrong with me?' 'What will be next?'
In the afternoon I had a couple of hours free so I thought I'd get some baking done.
Without realising it I began sprinkling Milo on the apples I was preparing for an apple crumble (instead of brown sugar). I then accidentally used salt instead of white sugar and put the butter for the crumble top, still in its silver wrapper, into my microwave (causing all sorts of strange and scary noises plus a lot of sparks).  
THEN, whilst chatting to a friend after school, I felt some furry threads on my top tickling my arm.  As I looked down, I suddenly noticed that I was wearing my outer top (which I'd taken off while I'd been cooking) inside out and the seams were all sticking out and exposed!  I ran to the women's bathroom shouting, "Can you watch my kids?" leaving my friend in fits of laughter.
After dropping our kids home after their swimming lesson, I headed off to a ZOE missionary women's catch-up at a familiar location.  I was already cutting it finely but then it took me twice as long to get there when I made a crucial error and took a wrong turn sending me back on the freeway heading right back to where I had just come from.
Later that night as I was driving home, I was pondering on one of the questions that had been asked around the dinner table about our day's highs and lows.  It was about at this point that I noticed my car doing strange things and losing power.  I quickly pulled to the side of the road.  As I scurried in the dark looking for the hazard lights, it suddenly occurred to me that I had run out of petrol!  Now, in my defense, we recently purchased a second hand car and we are now (after three and a half years) once again a two-car family! {insert loud shouts of joy here}  BUT being a new car to me, I had not yet familiarised myself with all the controls and the dash board signals- meaning I had neglected to notice any warning signs that the car was low on fuel.  I then had to make a sheepish phone call at 9:45pm to my dear husband Dave asking if he'd come and rescue me.  Poor thing!  This meant carrying our three children in their deep night-time sleep one by one down stairs and putting them in the car, going to the ATM and getting out cash, driving to a petrol station and filling up a can with petrol and then coming to find me randomly positioned on the side of the road, putting the petrol in the car and then escorting me to the nearest petrol station and showing me how to fill up! I am thankful he is so kind to me... not a single complaint from him but, boy, did I feel bad!
I must say, it was nice (after we'd finally unloaded all the kids and resettled them back into their beds) to finally lay my head down, knowing that the day had come to an end.
I am so glad during times like this that I can still have God's peace through it all.  That, yes, maybe I'm getting old and a bit senile, or just rushing around too much to notice the small details but despite all this, I can come back to my Heavenly Father and know that He is the source of all my peace and strength.  I love it that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet (Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)

And so...
"May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." (2 Thes 3:16)

Whispering Thanks

When I mentioned in a previous post that it might be a little quiet on this blog for a while, I had no idea that the very next week I would completely lose my voice.  
And now, a few weeks after that period of uncertainty and silence, each and every word that gets muttered from my lips is done with a strong sense of gratefulness and appreciation.
I mentioned in one of my latest posts that I would be helping with the teaching load at my children's school.  Well, by the end of the first week, I was voiceless!  Feeling completely useless and plagued with the doubts in my head questioning how long I would be out of the classroom for, I began a course of antibiotics and other medications along with an intense course of "prayer".
Praise God, in under a week, I was off "office" duties and back teaching in the classroom.  Another week or so of a particularly sore throat was a good reminder not to over-use it and just this week, I have felt the pain lessen and the strength returning.
School is going well.  I have increased my work load from my initial commitment, meaning a steeper learning curve to get my brain "back in the game" but also with a fresh reminder of why I love teaching.  
Those of you who know me personally know that I never wanted to home-school but this experience has been such a blessing to be classroom teaching and to have two of my own children in with me and Spencer just a few steps away in the next room.
I don't understand why this all came about like this, but I am determined to make the most of it, enjoy it and cherish this {unplanned} opportunity.
But enough about me, Dave's work at ZOE Children's Homes continues to be rewarding and an area that we are both passionate about.  He is very much enjoying teaching karate to the teenage boys as well as a basketball class twice a week.  

He has become part of a working group with the aim of strengthening working relationships between NGOs and the government which he hopes will boost Thailand's efforts as, together, we fight human trafficking.
He also recently enjoyed speaking at the ZOE Sunday fellowship.  He loves the opportunities he is having to teach the teenage boys as a part of the Friday night church service too.

With all the wonderful things happening through ZOE Foundation Australia and his ongoing Child Protection role, he is really loving all the variety in his day.
A highlight from this week was going to hear Nick Vujicic live in Chiangmai.  I heard there was about 12,000

people there and by the car park traffic jam after the event, it certainly felt like there was that many.
He was so inspirational and encouraging.  All our kids did well to focus on what he was saying but particularly Tobi could be seen hanging off every word.
I am currently doing a Christian Life and Witness course at our church on Tuesday nights in preparation for Franklin Graham who will be coming here as part of an Abundant Life festival later in the year.  I am finding it personally challenging and I hope to finish the course a different {and more equipped} person than when I began.
Eliana was pleased to have her plaster taken off a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed being back in her dance class this week.  She read a poem at Chapel this morning and continues to delight us with her love of life.

Spencer has been lapping up his "work" coming home very excited to be learning more about the alphabet and the "at" words as well as entertaining us with his repertoire of new songs.

Tobi is looking forward to his upcoming 8th birthday and hanging out at Pizza Hut with a few friends.  He is becoming quite quick with his times tables and loves getting stuck into a good book.

All three of them are very "into" Lego at the moment. They have a game that is being continued before school each morning and has been going for the past one and a half hours {giving me the chance to write this blog}.  It's so lovely seeing them all play together so happily.  I love hearing all the interesting twists and turns their "story" takes, all the while as they build new creations to go along with it.

So it is with a grateful heart, a strong voice and the satisfaction that it has been a great week, that I leave you.  
Unfortunately dinner will not cook itself!  
Much love from our house to yours. 

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 :)

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!!

A Broken Belt

I only brought one belt to Australia with me.  
And on Thursday it broke.  
Thankfully I had a trip to the op-shop planned so I picked up another one for just $2.99!  
Bargain!  I love op-shopping.  
Have I mentioned that?
You may be wondering if my belt breakage was due to all the nice, warm, wintery "Aussie" meals that I have been consuming lately but, no, ... I think it was just old.

Speaking of broken belts, we experienced another, break this week too.  Our daughter Eliana fractured her wrist while playing at the park on Wednesday morning.  
She is being brave about it all, but she is still in some pain and we will hopefully be seeing a specialist at the fracture-clinic before we leave.

We have, once again, been so blessed with the warm hospitality of our friends and family.  As a result, we are thoroughly enjoying the various catch-ups we've had with supporters as well as the chance to share what's been happening at ZOE for the past 12 months at churches and schools.

Dave has headed off to NSW today with his sister Tammy where they will be representing ZOE and sharing at various meetings, services at the Narara Valley Baptist Church as well as with many secondary classes at a nearby school.

You may know this by now but, I have recently written a book... I still can't believe it's actually finished.  
After the 300th post on this blog, I mentioned the idea to Dave about getting some of my favorite posts from the past 3 and a half years published and, with his encouragement (and a few late nights), I finally picked up the finished books the night before we left!  My prayer is that it brings hope and encouragement to all who read it.  It's called, "P.S. I love you muu".  

Well, with just 10 days, 3 churches, 6 school sessions, 1 leadership breakfast and a few more catch-ups to go, we still have so much to look forward to.  
Looking back, here's a few highlights from the three weeks we've had here so far:

Casey reformed Church, ZOE fundraiser.

Eli "gardening" aka digging holes.

Visiting my Aunty.

A day-trip to Sovereign Hill

Speaking at Mentone Girls' Grammar

Doing Lego with Gramps

Well let's hope the broken belt and the broken wrist are the only breaks we have this trip.  This joke reminded me of the ones we were reading from the bonbons at our Cross family 'Christmas in July' dinner the other night:

Q: Why did the belt get locked up?

A: He held up a pair of pants.

So not funny, I know!  

Have a great weekend :)

Officially Counting Down Now... 7,6,5

Well, I hear the weather temperature is dropping in Melbourne which can only mean one thing - that it must be almost time to fly home.  Brrrr.  
Usually there is some new record set on the day we arrive back like, "Oh, it's the coldest day in 103 years today!" Hence our mad dash out to the shops tonight to buy an extra set of thermals.  
We're going to turn our air conditioning on full overnight tonight just to try to prepare our bodies!
With 8 church services, 7 school events plus numerous other activities to keep us busy, this trip is looking like it's going to be another good one!
Here's a rough list of the places where Dave will be speaking, but please check back later for more details including times, addresses etc.

Casey Life International Church, June 30th (am)

Village Church, Dingley Village July 7th (am)

Mornington Christian Church, July 7th (6pm dinner) office@morningtonchristianchurch.com.au

Christian Reformed Church of Casey, July 12th (pm)

Narre Warren Baptist, July 14th (10 am) + Spanish service 1pm

Narara Valley Baptist Church (NSW), July 21st (am)

Antioch House, Saturday July 27th (am) enquiries@antiochhouse.com.au

Narre Warren Christian Church, July 28th (am)

We are so excited to be coming back and sharing about what's been happening over the past 12 months.  We're also looking forward to seeing many familiar faces soon!
Andie :)

Good News!

Well, once school had finished for the year, we headed away on a week's vacation... or maybe I should call it a staycation because we actually only drove about 15 minutes from our house! But still, we got away and very much enjoyed a break from the norm.

It was a week without computers, without work, even without sightseeing.  We didn't even take any photos until we were all checked out and about to head home!
We basically just swam, ate, napped and then went back to the beginning of the list and started it all again.  
It was sooo needed and sooo nice to have both this precious and yet simple time together as a family!
One of my favourite parts about being away was finding "treasures" with the kids around the place where we were staying.  By the end of the week, the children had a whole bag of bird feathers, interesting nuts and various other special things that they had collected.

I had to smile yesterday when Spencer came running in from outside yelling excitedly, "Eli... Eli... where are you?  I've got some really good news.  I found two more feathers in our backyard!" 

Waiting in the car before we went to greet the team.

On the topic of good news... on Friday, the kids and I went out to the airport to welcome the Maranatha Missions Awareness Team who are in town for a couple of weeks.  It will be good to spend some time with them while they are here and Dave is looking forward to having them come out to visit ZOE.

My brain is in a bit of spin since coming home from our week away because just after I finished putting away the last of the washing and finished sorting everything out, I realised that it was time to start re-packing, this time for our trip back to Australia in 10 days time! Yikes!  No really, this is good news too because I am really looking forward to seeing both Dave's and my parents, whom we have not seen in 12 months, as well as all our family and friends.

The not-so-good-news this week has been that on the final day of our holiday, I noticed a big swollen lump on the back of Tobi's neck.  Of course every possible scenario began running through my bed... but after unpacking the car at home, I took him up straight up to the local hospital to have a doctor look at it.  After an ultrasound on the area, the doctor said that he had infected lymph nodes in his neck.  He is now on his second course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and we are believing it will be all cleared up soon.  He is feeling very little pain in the area now, praise God.
Eliana and Spencer also came down with infections within days of coming home - both developing outer-ear infections in their right ears.  
The doctor said all three children's illnesses were caused by the pool water... well we certainly had done a lot of swimming so that made sense.
We're praying for full health in all three children before flying back.

All the trips back and forth to the doctors have not left us feeling down though.  We have still had a good week catching up with friends, playing at home, enjoying some movie marathons - snuggled on the bed with the air-con going to keep us cool, reading lots of books and just enjoying being on school holidays in general.
Here is what Spencer got up to while I was painting Eliana's nails and braiding her hair yesterday.  He's such a funny boy!  

It's on my to-do list to post a list of all the places we'll be visiting/sharing/speaking at while we're back so keep an eye out.
We'd love to see you if you're around!
Andie :)