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 :)

Some Like it HOT!

And some SPIKE it HOT!

I'm guessing most people know the song, "Hot Hot Hot"  (a song written by Montserrat musician Arrow and later covered by Buster Poindexter.) 
It's what I feel like chanting everyday because, well, IT'S HOT here!
I won't complain too much though because I'm sure in 4 weeks time, when I'm back in Australia, I'll be complaining about how cold it is!!
One Saturday recently in the scorching sun, 4 courageous ZOE missionaries took on the challenge of participating in a seriously hot volleyball round robin.
Jessica, Jonathon, Dave and Rob put a team in for the 'fun' pool only to be informed that they're weren't enough other teams to run that competition and that they had been added to the 'competitive' section!
Well, the training began with Denise throwing balls to the team during their breaks at ZOE and as the day rapidly approached, it was with much anticipation that this group stretched their muscles and prepared for the unknown.
Surprisingly they won their first two games... yay!  But unfortunately the rest of the day, although close, did not result in any more victories.  All of us cheering them on were so proud of their efforts.  With sunburn and sore muscles, it was still all smiles as the Some Spike it Hot team looked ahead to being even better prepared for next year!  Go team ZOE!

Our children finish school today!  What? I can't believe my older two will be in Grade 2 and 3 soon!  I love watching them grow up. It is such a blessing.
Below are some photos from their big clean-up yesterday where they washed all the school chairs and ended with a big water fight - one of the joys of living in a hot country.

 

In preparation for Australia, our children have been trying to learn the Australian National Anthem.  They sing the Thai one every morning at school, but remembering when they heard the Australian anthem during a visit with us to one of the schools that Dave and I were speaking at last year, they have been prompted to learn the Australian one too.  It's actually quite lovely hearing them sing it around the house.  

In further preparation for adjusting back to Australian life, Dave and the kids have been keeping up with the AFL football this year.  A couple of weekends ago, Dave set up an area with hotdogs, snacks and the computer screen to create an authentic "footy" atmosphere around their viewing time.  Tobi is extremely excited because he will be attending his first ever AFL match this year when we're back.
Recently we celebrated two of our little friends turning 4 and 6.  Their party was in a park and was so much fun.  Below is Tobi with a school friend.

 The kids with some of their friends from preschool and school.

Well I need to finish off a few more jobs before picking my children up for the last time until mid August when they begin their new school year.
I hope and trust that you are well.  We love hearing from you and can't wait to catch up with all our lovely family and friends very soon.
I'll leave you with some photos from this morning's little party and chance to honour the teachers for a wonderful year of school.

Blessings,
Andie

Excess Baggage

Some of us could be hiding a little "excess baggage" under our loose t-shirts right now.  But that's not what I am posting about today- thank goodness!

The words excess baggage also make me sweat just thinking about our upcoming trip back to Australia and all the bits and pieces we need try to fill our cases with: brochures, newsletters, gifts and of course our bulky winter clothes (that only get worn in Australia) making packing a time consuming process as we have to carefully spread the weight around and ensure that each bag does not go past its limit.  
But that's not the excess baggage I am posting about today either.  [I still have 38 more days to think about that!]


What I was actually referring to in the title, is the state of my handbag right now.

 ~

I ripped a fingernail the other day so I went in search for some nail clippers in my bag.  

I was sure I had some... somewhere! 

Instead of nail clippers though what I found shocked me and left me feeling... well...pretty embarrassed actually.

It was what I had been lugging around on my shoulder.  
One out-of-control, ridiculously heavy handbag. 

No wonder my neck has been sore recently.

How have I accumulated so much stuff ? 

I was thinking, if they ever make a reality show where they choose random women to empty their handbags out and see what's in them, I think I should be nominated for it.  And if there was a prize for the person carrying around more than what would seem physically possible, then I'd definitely be in the running.

Now, just to clarify, my kids aren't babies anymore.  This is not one of those big nappy/diaper-bags we're talking about.  Oh no, it a regular, over your shoulder, pop down the street, meant-to-just-carry-a-few-things sort of a bag.

Okay, in an act of pure honesty, ... and in an attempt to shock myself into not ever letting it GET THIS BAD again, I am now going to list everything in my bag!! (imagine me tipping it out now) {insert gasp here}


Here it is friends: (if I type really small, it might seem like less!!)
sunglasses
wet wipes
packet of tissues
wallet
(not too bad so far...)
numerous pens/pencils/eraser and a pencil sharpener
hair elastic (o.k. more than just one)
phone
random letter in envelope
lacteeze tablets (for Dave and Eli)
tube of 50+ sunscreen
lip balm x2
bandaids
Nurafen
ventalin puffer
scrap of material
hand sanitizer
chewing gum
wallet of all my 'members cards for grocery shops etc'hair brush (and a comb)
tiger balm neck rub
toothpaste (a small tube)
mouthwash (given free at the shops the other day)
travel sickness tablets
concealer stick
old shopping list x2
diary
body spray AND
Thai alphabet flashcards
More like a survival kit isn't it?... I know!!!  And now you know why I was so shocked that there were no nail clippers in there.  Unbelievable, right?

Oh dear!  It's time for a clean out I think.


And then, all this excess baggage got me thinking and questioning how much other excess baggage I just might be carrying.

How that hurtful comment, unanswered email, short reply or sarcastic utterance meant I added extra baggage to my heart this week.  How unforgiveness or unrepentance meant that my heart felt weightier than it needed to.  How when I’d felt worried or stressed by a deadline I took that all upon myself and carried it around like a big, heavy burden.

How I couldn’t find what I really needed because everything else just seemed to weigh me down.

 ~

Ever get to the end of a school term and ask your kids to clean out their school bags?  It’s amazing (and sometimes disgusting) what you’ll find in there.  Like a moldy banana peel, an odd screwed up sock, letters from their friends, the watch you’d bought them to wear and nobody knew where it went, the note you wrote after they were absent from school sick five weeks ago or the missing swimming goggles that you’d already replaced.

Sometimes, we just need to have clean-outs more regularly, yes?

And it’s the same for our attitudes and our hearts too.

If you’re burdened by the weight of an unresolved argument, the sadness or confusion at the lack of communication or the stubbornness to apologise for something that you could’ve changed…

How about having a clean out this week?

Let’s not leave our hearts unattended, heavy and hurting when we have access to the One who comforts us in our sadness, who calms the storms and who forgives us that we might forgive others. 

I'm going to be cleaning out my bag and checking on my heart this week too!

Got more in your handbag than me?  Leave a comment!!