Well, we hit the local waterfall with Grandma. We hiked up a bunch of steps, and threw rocks in the pool, stomped a few bugs, and took a few pictures. The whole family went and it was nice to leave the house!

Well, I think Aleah has finally realized no one is going to take Emily home. She is here to stay, so she has decided to finally acknowledge that Emily is in the room. "Nii Nii" is the closest approximation Aleah can make so far, but we think it's sweet. Aleah has also begun to nurse some of her dolls, which Blake thinks is a little weird, but Aleah wants to participate in raising a baby too. She is starting to kiss Nii Nii on the head, and make sure we know who the baby is by saying, "It's Nii Nii! It's Nii Nii! It's Nii Nii!". "Nii Nii's crying." or, "Nii Nii's sweeping", or "Nii Nii's in dere" are also common phrases we hear around here.

Well, my mom (Paula) got here and we discovered that she left her coveted Solitaire for Mac CD at home, and therefore unable to load it on my dad's Mac that they did bring. I tried to get her interested in MY games (Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars or Worms 3D), but she just was not interested. Talk about generation gap! So I was able to find a site that let me download and buy Hoyle Card Games 2008. Mom was elated! So I have now purchased the same gift for her for birthday AND Christmas! So, I have found a gift I can give her for every occasion! Now she has branched out from Solitaire and is playing a lot of Gin and Spades. The latter we have begun playing as a family every couple of nights, and it has been a blast!! If I can just convince Shawna to quit going "Nil" or "Blind Nil" every stinkin' hand! But we have loaded the card game on all of my computers here in the house, and I thought ya'll would like to see us as we play. Pretty good likeness huh?!

We were so excited to go pick up Shawna's mom from the airport today!! Let the good times roll!!

We arrived in Chaing Mai today to wait for the arrival of "baby girl." Her due date is 2 weeks away!!

In the mean time we are settling in to a nice little town house, getting to know the neighbors, and getting used to driving in big city traffic.
We are the one on the right.

So, you may be wondering what we've been up to. . .
Making training videos in two different languages

experimenting with fresh avocados


swimming in our "pond"


Relaxing in our new hammock

helping mommy in the kitchen

Playing on a cool play ground we found 20 minutes from our house

shopping at a market on the border of Laos

taking bubble baths

We are so thankful for all the care packages and cards that we receive from our family and friends. Aleah gets super excited when she sees a letter or a box.
An envelop full of hugs. . .

A birthday gift

New sippy cups that had to be put to use immediately

August has been filled with many cultural experiences. My greatest challenge this month has been finding a new helper. I wouldn't be able to survive without one. Well, maybe I could, but I don't like to think about life without one : ) I found out, through various friends, three people who were interested in working for us. Little did I know that every one in the village would be coming to me to tell me who they thought would be the best person for the job. We were the talk of the village all month long as we interviewed ladies and prayed about what to do. I had to email my family on a couple of occasions because I was getting so frustrated with all the "help."

We praise God for our new helper, Phi AaMon. She is wonderful with Aleah and a great cook. She is not yet a believer, but is interested in learning about Christian things. She is also very good friends with the two ladies that have worked with us previously, Ann and Baa Jaan. So, she is able to talk with them about how strange we are : )

Aleah turned 2 years old this month. We celebrated by taking cup cakes and a bubble machine to her school. I also brought along my friend, Nuey, to help me translate the prayer and some special words I had prepared. The children were so excited when they saw the cup cakes, but they sat like angels in a circle around Aleah waiting patiently for their piece.

As soon as I began to pray for Aleah, a man began to drill in the back room. This noise lasted the entire prayer and as soon as my friend translated the prayer and said "amen" the drilling stopped. We just smiled at each other and were reminded that we are in the enemy's territory, even at 2 year old's birthday party.

The bubble machine was a great hit!! And so was Blake. . .

Sorry for the delay in our website publications. Our DVD player had one too many power surges and had to be taken to the shop. In the mean time, we were using my computer set up on the TV stand to watch DVDs. Aleah was curious at all the cables hanging everywhere and decided to yank on one. It happened to be attached to my laptop. My laptop lost the battle with the tile floor.

After our training in the south and then our break in CM we were ready to get back home, BUT a call from our supervisor informed us otherwise. We learned of a training that would take place then next week in Mai Sai. We decided it made more since to just meet everyone there instead of go back home for one day and repack the next day. I wouldn't even be able to get all the clothes washed and dried in that amount of time. . .

On Tuesday morning Aleah and I joined the others at the "farm." While everyone else was in sessions we enjoyed scaring the chickens and ducks, but after 2 hours Aleah became bored with the animals and became a little too distracting to the folks in class (who were all sitting under a shed outside). So, Aleah and I went back to the hotel got washed up and went to this little Lotus (like a miniature Wal-mart). We played in the buggies that were made to look like cars so parents could actually get some shopping accomplished. We put 1 Bhat into motorized vehicles that one could drive all over the store and bump into stuff. Then we ate lunch at KFC. Thank goodness Aleah naps in the afternoon. I did too.

On Wednesday Aleah and I took a road trip and found a museum "The Hall of Opium." It ended up being a great place for Aleah to play and we had a great time. We basically had the whole place to ourselves and stayed there the whole morning. We met the team for lunch and then slept all afternoon.

For Thursday I was told by some locals to go to a cave that has monkeys. They gave me a very sketchy drawing of some roads and so off we went on another adventure. Well, we never did find the cave. Instead I followed some signs that were in English to the Royal Gardens - A project started by the Queen Mother. Again another successful outing playing in the water, chasing butterflies, and picking flowers. We joined the group for lunch and then wouldn't you know it, slept all afternoon : )







After a month of travels we finally arrived back home! Home Sweet Home.

On June 20 we traveled 2 days for some training and renewal. It was great to reconnect with old friends! The first week was designed for those of us working overseas for 1 year or less. We receive some of the best training available for our work, counseling, debriefing, and heard testimonies from around the region . The second week was filled with worship, renewal, and the stomach virus. It all started in the daycare and continued to look something like this:

Aleah threw up every 15 minutes for over 3 hours Tuesday night. She was a trooper though. Never got really upset and in the mean time enjoyed watching late night TV. The next day she had a fever and some diarrhea. Friday morning I gave her some milk but it only stayed down for about 1 hour and she ate a few french fries for lunch and that showed back up later on too. 4 days later and she still throws up milk. She did have some rice porridge for breakfast and she wakes up during the night for a couple of crackers. Other than that it's just clear liquids. Poor baby!

Blake got sick with a fever Wednesday, felt better Thursday, and got hit with the virus big time on Thursday night He made a little bed in the bathroom and stayed in there most the night puking his brains out. He was in a bad way. So, he was completely drained on Friday.

I got sick Thursday after lunch, but only lost my lunch and then one more time Thursday night (but I had to time it just right so that I didn't have to fight Blake for the toilet). Then I ran a fever the rest of the night and Friday with some diarrhea. So Friday afternoon I was feeling hungry and was craving a hot dog. But the few bites I took of it showed back up 30 minutes later. I know, I should have known better : )

Week 3 was designed for intensive training is specialized areas. We made it through the best we could. Blake and I would swap back and forth in keeping Aleah so we could at least get the highlights of our classes. Aleah remained sickly and didn't eat much. Blake was eating light too. Then I got bronchitis and started having these crazy dizzy spells.

We made a 12 hour road trip to CM for a prenatal visit and have been camping out here ever since trying to recover. . .

Paula has adapted to her new place at home, different from the hospital, and now the challenge is therapy - which has proven to be extremely painful. An excellent therapist meets with her three times a week and he really pushes Paula to bend her knees and ankles to restore their flexibility. Paula has committed to do more bending of the knees at home, in order to make the every other day therapy easier. She is a determined lady and will push herself to have the best result possible. It is exciting to see the everyday progress she is making to return to full recovery. We are all so proud of her.

Mike says, "God continues to strengthen us for each day and we continue to learn from all that is going on. Thank you again for all your support, encouragement and prayers during these challenging days. It has kept us going strong and looking forward to finishing the course."

Here's a photo of what is left of the truck:


and Paula wearing the latest in neck gear technology:

Mike sent out this update last week:
I wish each of you could have been here to witness how God answered your prayers. Surgery the doctors told us would take 6 to 7 hours took only 3 1/2 hours. The doctors were very pleased with the outcome of the surgery. Paula's left leg has a plate and three screws holding it together and she will be able to put weight on it in about six to eight weeks. Her right leg was another story. It took a plate and eight screws to secure the broken bone and it will be eight to twelve weeks before it can bear weight.

She will be transferred to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehab Hospital for about 10 days of therapy before going home.

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray, your many cards and emails and your phone calls of concern but most of all your expressions of love for my sweetheart. We never will understand, this side of heaven, why these kind of things happen but I can tell you one thing: her life being spared has already been used to share Christ and impact the lives of doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt. It is a joy to see the staff here come to our room just "to talk". What a great mission field!!!

We love each one of you and are privileged to have you as our prayer partners and friends during this vital time. You have truly been a blessing to us!!! We hope to tell you in person soon. Please continue to pray for a full and speedy recovery.

Shawna is about 15 weeks along now and most of the evening sickness has subsided. Just in time for our team retreat! We went to the big city this week on a part team retreat and part vacation. It usually takes about 7 hours but when you add 20 more people to the equation. . .it took us 10 hours. We arrived exhausted, but had to hurry off as soon as we got our luggage in the rooms to a "famous" restaurant - or at least our staff who have been to this city before seemed to think so. It's about 90 something degrees already and then you sit at a table in front of an open fire with a clay pot on top of it and cook your food. Needless to say it was HOT! The food was great, but my immediate family was too exhausted to enjoy it much. We had to leave the party early due to some flaring emotions. . .Aleah was out of her mind.

We settled in for the evening only to have Aleah get sick . One time wouldn't have been so bad, but the second time it happened all over her pack-n-play. Because of the time, we had to call the hotel manager on his cell phone and ask for some cleaning supplies. After the second clean up Blake and I were so exhausted! Our only option now was to cover everything with towels and put Aleah back in her slightly wet pack n play. Blake had to walk to the kitchen area in order to get some hot water to make another bottle for Aleah and while he was gone Aleah was just screaming. I think all three of us had a mental breakdown that night.

Breakfast was early the next morning. Aleah slept in so Blake and I went in shifts. Immediately after breakfast was our morning session. Aleah did great playing with the other kids who were all in the same room as our session. That is at least for the first 2 hours. Then she had enough of being inside so Blake volunteered to spend the rest of the morning with Aleah.

The afternoon plans started directly after lunch and this time Shawna volunteered to stay at the hotel with Aleah so she could nap and have some down time while everyone else went bowling. The timing of everything worked out great because as soon as Aleah woke up from her nap everyone was at the mall eating dinner. Once Aleah and I got to the mall to join up with them, we had 20 minutes to eat our dinner. We ended up eating our hamburger in the parking lot while we waited on everyone to gather for the next adventure. . . a trip to the NIght Safari.

This was great! It's like the zoo, but you ride around in trollies and most of the animals are lose in the areas you are riding through so they are right up next to the trolly. Aleah has a blast! We were all having such a good time until we stopped to watch this awesome laser show over the lake and Aleah got sick all over Blake. We rushed her to the bathroom and got everything cleaned up in time to realize we missed the laser show and everyone on our team had already boarded the next trolly ride. So once again we left the party early.

The next morning was breakfast, praise and worship and free time. We all played in the pool. Aleah really liked the kiddy pool and all the other kids. After lunch our team started the trip back home but Blake and I had made plans to stay a little bit longer. I'm glad we did since our last two night had been such a disaster. We stayed at our friend's house again and enjoyed the company of many of our friends and American food. The rest of the week was truly a relaxing time for us.

This morning I had a fun conversation with Phi Ann. I've noticed that I don't see a lot of other kids running around with diapers. I know for a fact that they are way to expensive for the average family to afford and they've made it without them for hundreds of years why start using them now. But it's always fun to ask these culture questions to see where the conversation leads. So to practice some language and find out more about the culture I asked Ann what people thought about Aleah wearing diapers all the time. Her answer was so funny. She told me that everyone thinks we are strange because Aleah doesn't wear pants over her diaper. All this time Aleah was being mocked for not wearing pants and we never even knew it. I hope she won't have to endure much counseling to over come this in her future.

Well, we're hoping Mother's Day was happy for most of you! Blake's mom, Paula was in a terrible accident:

The Red SUV in the news clip is Mike's car, Paula was driving.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=8306444&nav=menu374_2

The rest of the story: Paula was on her way back from the airport (Mike was headed to California) when Uncle Alan (who just happened to be in town visiting) received a call from Vanderbilt saying that Mom had been in a multi car accident and that she was at the ER but was stable (Paula could only remember her home number). Alan called Jenna and they headed up to the ER. (In the mean time, Jenna was able to get in touch with Mike during his lay over in Dallas and he was able to come right back home and was at the hospital by lunch). When they got there they were told that both her legs were broken, a rib was fractured, and there was a crack in her neck. The rib and neck should heal on their own, but mom will be wearing a collar for about 6 weeks. She will have multiple surgeries on her legs and her knees. Currently she has external extenders or basically metal screws in her bones attached to a metal external frame. She will have this until the swelling goes down and they can tell what's going on with her knees. She'll start rehab on her upper body later this week so that she won't lose any strength in her upper body. She's in a lot of pain, but morphine is her new friend! She needs our prayers as she recovers and deals with being in hospital beds and rehab rooms for the next few weeks.

We all went to church as a family today for the first time in a while.  Since she only takes the one afternoon nap now, I figured it's time for her to start going back.  Aleah was great!  She even sat down with me for about 15 minutes to explore some goodies I had put in various pockets of her bookbag.  Other than that she managed to stay inside the building and not run out to the street.  Between one of the rain showers I walked her over to visit with the kitty.  She found a nice big water puddle to play in and before I could think twice she sat down right in the middle of it.  When we got back to church and changed her clothes the service was over and it was time for lunch.  She ate a big lunch sharing a plate with our friend Oil.  Oil was ecstatic that Aleah was showing him so much affection! She usually yells "no" and runs the other way. It makes me nervous when she eats after people.  So, we continue to pray that God keeps her well and free from germs.

Wow! What a week. And I don't mean anything spiritual by that : ) Blake has been in a series of training classes this week that have lasted from 8 am to 6 pm. My helper's father passed away over the weekend (and he lives about 1 hour away) and so she was out of town all week. Aleah's school was closed, for some reason, all week too. On top of no help I was feeling yucky from first trimester stuff and we had some terrible weather just about every night that left us without electricity and sometimes water. Boy, I felt like I was barely keeping my head above the water!! But, I did survive to live another day and write another blog. . .

I am glad Shawna let me marry her. What a gal! She did great this week with the temperamental time-bomb that is Aleah. That fiery red her lulls you into thinking she's cute, and you realize it was all a ruse to get you in close so she could get her hands on you . You guys have no idea what a fantastic mother Shawna is, truly amazing. Please continue praying for us, when one of us is weak, the other has to be strong.

As she said, I [Blake] was at a "Follow Jesus" seminar, basically learning how to train trainers. Does that make sense? It is the one thing I realized that all my previous attempts at a small group bible study was missing. I did not follow the example Jesus laid out for me of instilling in others the desire and the tools to immediately train other people. With that one ingredient you can see MULTIPLICATION! If I train 3 people, and then teach them to train 3 people each, and so on and so forth, an exponential growth occurs that could be truly amazing. And the cool thing is, small goals. God's power is truly revealed when we give him our five loaves and two fish, barely a meal, and He can bless it and feed 5,000!! So I don't have to keep beating myself up over the fact that my small group isn't big enough. If it's 2 or 3, that's plenty to begin what God wants us to do. God's success always turns out bigger and better than man's success.

In other news, we baptized some new believers AGAIN this week in one of our main villages. God is truly working there, and it is not hard to see. Here's the story: We went up the mountain about 2 hours earlier than we usually do on Sunday night because we had a planned baptism IN THE VILLAGE. That's in all caps because it is a first!! In the past they've been riding motorcycle down the mountain (1 hour or so) to get dunked in our swimming pool. Well, last week, when we had some new believers who said they were ready for baptism, we told them to begin preparations to do it up in the village. They looked at us kinda funny, talked among themselves for a couple of minutes and said, "Ok." Praise God! So we then pushed the envelope a little and asked if we could have one of the existing believers help us out in the baptism. Again, some more murmuring, "Ok, I'll do it," said one of our oldest believers, and then an affirmative nod from another. Again, Praise God! It was kind of sneaky on our part, because we fully intended to turn it over to them anyways.

So, before the baptism, we were waiting in front of a villagers home, and a wedding was going on next door so there were a lot of people milling about, which is pretty unusual. As we sat, a man walked up and sat down without saying much to anyone. Well, when we finally got him to speak, he said, "I want to become a Christian." We had never actually spoken with him, and none of our folks new him, but he was apparently a relative of one of the believers. When asked why, he said, "Because I have seen the lives of the believers here, and I want my life to be like theirs." Wow! PTL, bigtime. So, as we were getting ready to leave we told him, we'll be right back, you can become a Christian when we get back, and get baptized next week. He said, "If I become a Christian now, I could get baptized now." Well WHAT do you say to that?! I thought of Philip and the unich, "Hey look, there's water! What keeps me from being baptized now?!" So we are thrilled of course, because as one of our staff begins 'loudly' sharing Christ with the man, all of the wedding party that I said were milling about, just stopped and listened. He is making a huge profession of faith right then and there! It was unbelievable, and it was really neat to be right there where God was doing something cool. These will be new ripples that will move throughout the village and I can't wait to see how God uses them next week when we show up again!

Please lift up these new believers, they will absolutely face persecution that we have never faced. One lady was very close to accepting Christ, and asked her husband for permission. He told her that if she believed, he would divorce her. So guess what. She reads her bible in secret. She will have to learn a lot quietly from other believers, and cannot associate with us much. Pray for her. Lord give her the endurance that she needs.

A much needed break this week! We are bringing in the Thai new year (2552) in Chiang Mai. Part of the week will be celebrated by everyone standing on the street or riding in back of trucks throwing water on each other. Once all this excitement passes we have some family outings planned. We didn't realized how much we really needed a family vacation until we got here.

April 17 - Shawna had a doctor's appointment this evening. We have real confirmation that Aleah will be an older sister sometime mid November!! Shawna is thankful for the true confirmation because if it were not a baby then she was concerned something was really wrong. She's been tired and not able to eat much and feeling extremely weak and nauseous in the afternoon. Praise the Lord - all those symptoms are just a baby : )

April 19 - We arrived back home today fresh and ready for ministry! But not expecting to throw open our bedroom door to be greeted by the smell of decay!! Not so appetizing for a prego. Shawna toughed it out the first night. Stayed completely out of the room the next day and then spent the night on the floor in Aleah's room. Home Sweet Home : )

He is risen! Hallelujah!!

Our sunrise service began at 5:30 am. For once all the children were huddled in their mothers laps. . .even Aleah for about 5 minutes! We sang praises as the sun began to light the sky. The sun was a big fiery red ball. Tis the season for burning - during this part of the year farmers burn their fields off and it leaves the sky full of smoke so the sun is beautiful every evening and morning.

The eggs were hidden before the service began so once Aleah discovered there were "balls" all over the yard she preferred to ramble around outside. Eventually the other kids started running around and joined her. Our attempts to keep them quarantined on the porch was not very successful. Then before I knew what was happening the service ended and everyone ran from the church to find eggs.


Aleah was done with her egg finding by this time so she took towards the road and wanted nothing else to do with those funny looking "balls"
Going, Going. .


GONE!!


Around 7:30 am we started to eat . . .your guess is a good as mine as to what half of this stuff is


I nibbled on a little bit of this and that, but I just wasn't ready to eat such "rich" foods at 7:30 in the morning!

Today was a fun day full of firsts!

For the first time I got to witness the slaughter and preparation of a goat. It was pretty amazing the speed at which these guys were able to dismantle all the parts. Our supervisor took the meat and will be grilling it for Easter Lunch tomorrow. The rest of the animal is a different story! The cooked it all! Yes all the insides and I even saw an eyeball. Think I'll be skipping on that. To my amazement my friend told me she doesn't like to eat all that either.

Then, my friend, Aajaan Nuey and I boiled and colored eggs. I read on the internet how we could use vegetables and other natural stuff to color eggs so I was very excited to try this. I mentioned it to Aajaan Nuey the night before and she was even more excited. She showed up at the church with all kinds of stuff including flowers and weird looking roots. So we boiled and simmered and experimented. Some colors worked better than others, but mostly our brown eggs turned several different shades of reddish orange. I thought it was a bust and wouldn't do it again, but she thought they were beautiful : ) maybe she was just being nice.

So during all this, Aleah was running around with Manna (Nuey's daughter) except Aleah was going a little crazy. It was getting close to nap time and she was in to everything. When she came into the kitchen I tried my best to keep my eyes on her and when she went out the door, I'd yell to Blake "tag, you're it!" She was having fun, but as usual she wouldn't settle down to eat anything and started getting upset if you touched her for any reason. So, Blake volunteered to take her home so I could continue helping in the kitchen. Then an amazing thing happened. Aajaan Nuey said "Now I know why you don't bring Aleah to everything." For me, this was huge. I could have cried and given her a big hug, but I just smiled and said "Thank you so much for telling me that." So, for the first time, a national friend actually understood that it was ok for Aleah to take naps and stay at home with one parent while the other one represented the family at events. This is huge! I'm so thankful that God would give me such a good friend and mother to be around.

Blake was surprised this morning to find this waiting for him at the back porch!!


Aleah spends her days lounging in the coolest spots she can find:


Almost every day is a new adventure in the kitchen as Shawna learns new things about food . . today involved sqeezing honeycomb for some fresh honey:



There's was even a morning this month when Blake and I were abel to get away and enjoy a date at this waterfall very near to our home:

Our team (of foreigners) was cut in half today as Brooks and Brenda headed to the airport. They'll be in the states for about 8 months and until then we have big shoes to fill. Brooks and Brenda have been trying their hardest to help Blake and I get a clue as to what is going on and we are hoping that all their hours spent with us will not have been in vain. This afternoon has been extremely calm. . .kind of like the calm before the storm : )

Everyone gathered for breakfast this morning the say good-bye and send them on their way. Here we all are:


AND we couldn't be more thankful that our supervisor is back from the states. She arrived 2 weeks ago and has hit the ground running. Not to mention she's got these two new folks who are still wet behind the ears to deal with. She has been very patient and has only had to hit Blake once so far. Pray for unity as we join forces.

Thursday and Friday can barely be called "work" days because we couldn't think about "work" when there was a wedding in two days!! The preparations are no different from those in the states. The bride wanting everything to be perfect and the groom not having a clue : ) It was amazing to see some of the guys making flower vases and candle holders out of bamboo, and the ladies bunched together making fresh flower strings.

Blake and I could only enjoy all the festivities because we weren't as skilled as these folks! The 'rehearsal' dinner was noodles and a sauce that I didn't touch with a 10 foot pole because it was so spicy. Thank goodness they thought of the foreigners and had little fried chicken legs and sticky rice : )

Saturday morning everything went as planned. The church had been transformed into a garden, the men were on their best behavior, and everyone was just glowing with excitment. God has definitely blessed these two and has great plans for them.

On Feb. 5 we had a Ladies Tea for Pang. The first wedding shower ever here in Chiang Klang!! It was a great success. Brenda had the great idea of making the theme "Music in your heart." Many of the ladies shared special stories and encouragement on how to be a godly wife and honor God in this new role as husband and wife. A bid gap is missing in the society. When young Christians get married they rarely have Christian families to look up to or other married role models. Blake and I are excited that we have the opportunity to be such good friends with both the bride and groom. Our bride to be is the one sitting on the couch reading the wedding magazine:


We gave Pang a Hmong and Thai Bible:

We prayed over her and her husband to be, Toi:

and we ate really good food:


As I rode around the villages and picked up some of the ladies they were just jittery with excitement. Asking me all kinds of questions about this special "ladies tea" for the bride. Pray for the young Christian marriages and that they would look to God for guidance and strength.

Before we ever rented the house, we knew there was some termite damage. The ower assured us they were long gone and that he'd repair any damaged wood for us ahead of time. Since we have moved into the house, we've noticed some wood that didn't get repaired and requested it to be fixed. The owners are super nice and they have been so very good to us. When the wood worker came to do the repairs I was around to see the work. I was shocked to see just how bad the wood actually was. Gave me the hibby jibbies. That's why I thought it was my over active imagination when I kept hearing little noices behind my head when I sat on the couch.

Then, I had to share with someone to make sure I really wasn't going crazy. Sure enough, Blake heard it too. So, we asked our friend, who knows the owners very well, to inquire about the situation. AND wouldn't you know it, they already knew that we possibly still had termites and have already arranged for a specialist to come confirm this. We'll keep you posted. In the mean time, we're praying the house holds up : )

Our house is right down the street from the pastor of Chiang Klang Baptist Church. His wife and daughter have been in South Thailand for the past 5 weeks visiting with her family. She only gets to see them every couple of years so when she goes, she makes it worth her while. We went to visit her yesterday and to let her know about her new neighbors. She told us that everyone on the street had already told her that there are these foreigners living down there and that the wife and daughter walk to the market and speak with everyone along the way and that they can't believe we actually speak Thai. I thought that was cute.

Here's a look at what we've been doing over the past few weeks. Of course this will all change next month : )

Monday: Blake travels into the villages with some of the other team members. They use chronological Bible Storying to teach stories from the Bible. They also have a time of praise and worship and prayer. They visit people in the hospitals and build relationships along the way. All of these villages have a small group of believers. Shawna works on training with TCT (Thai Country Trim). When Brenda and Brooks go back to the states for their 8 month state-side-assignment, Shawna will take over the Chiang Klang branch of this ministry. http://www.worldcraftsvillage.com/artisan.asp?name=Thai+Country+Trim&country=Thailand If Blake doesn't have to go out of town, then he keeps Aleah so that Shawna can travel around with Brenda to visit with the ladies that are involved in TCT. Shawna and Brenda do devotionals, take prayer requests, and settle TCT accounts.

Tuesday: Every Tuesday without fail is "Fill Your Cup Day". Our helper Baa Jaan keeps Aleah so that I can join the Bible Studies and training that take place in the morning. We all eat lunch together and then we play. It's basically an open afternoon to do whatever you want. Shawna usually comes home and takes a nap with Aleah. Blake usually hangs out with the guys playing ping pong or whatever. Then around 5 pm, we all get together and play ta-kraw. Some play while others help watch Aleah and the other kids- we swap around so that mom's can play too : )

Wednesday: Blake travels with the Mien group to encourage Christians and share with others who are interested in hearing the gospel. Shawna and Aleah join up with some team members to venture into some new villages. There is a new road that is being built and it allows us access to many many new Lua villages. We have been up and down this new road 4 times and haven't found any believers. We are doing surveys and other small things to build relationships in the villagers. Offering health care classes, giving out blankets, visiting with the older people who can't get around very good and sharing lots and lots of smiles are just a few things we do. We spend alot of time praying. Last Wednesday Shawna drove a vehicle because we needed two vehicles to get all the blankets hauled up the mountain. It's a tough drive! 2 hours in 1st or 2nd gear with hairpin curves that require backing up in order to make it up and fallen rocks and big cranes and bulldozers (4 wheel drive is a must have!). It's very exciting. Here's some pictures from the village:


Notice all the animistic charms tied around the house posts

Beautiful views

Brother and sister stay home with grandma while parents work in the fields. The youngest daughter of the village chief (good friends with Aleah) was scared and cried the first time we met her

Phrapa handing out blankets

School children worshipping the spirits

Lunch

Some fun in the river


Thursday: Blake either goes to Mien or Hmong villages where they use chronological bible storing and encourage the believers and share with others who are interested. It makes for a long day when it takes 2 grueling hours just to get to your destination. But it's always worth the trip because God is at work in these villages and people are coming to know Him every week!! Shawna and Aleah hang out at the house in the morning and either do some light visiting around our own village in the afternoon or work on more TCT training.

Friday: Blake keeps Aleah while Shawna goes on house visits to Soi Prau or does TCT training with Brenda. The "community development compound" is located in Soi Prau and there are no believers in this village. A few weeks ago a met a young girl who is trying to give up her addiction to alcohol because she is pregnant. She also showed me her arm where she cuts herself. Pray for her health as she cares for this little one growing inside her and battles her addiction. Above all she needs the Father!!

Saturday: Any number of things can happen on Saturday! But for the most part we are together as a family and run errands and visit friends. In the future, we are planning to have a play date with moms and kids from our village. Not sure what day we are going to have this, but thought I'd mention it here as a prayer request. Work days are different here than in the States. Saturday is just a normal run- of -the -mill day (kids go to school and praents go to work). Everyone is beginning to figure out that Saturday nights are always movie nights at the Arrington's. So we usually draw a crowd to watch a movie, drink kool-aid and eat Blake's delicious home made popcorn.

Sunday: Chiang Klang Church starts around 10:30 am. Next month I will begin teaching an English class to the children from Soi Prau. In the past the class was on Sunday's at 9 am, but there is talk about actually being able to teach the class one day a week at the school during the normal English sessions. So, we'll see what happens with that. The first Sunday of each month we eat lunch at church (Blake and I provide the dessert). We try to squeeze in a nap, but mostly end up preparing dinner and studying for the evening church service. At 4:30 we travel to Montipruek Two to lead a worship service, Blake uses chronological Bible Storying to teach the lessons and we have a children's type church while the adults go deeper into the Bible story (this all takes place inside a different house each week, which usually only has one room). I pack Aleah's dinner with us and she eats on the way to the village. Because once her feet hit the ground, she's gone! She loves running and playing with all the other kids. The rest of us eat sandwiches and snacks on the way back home. We return home sometime around 10 pm eat a more heavier dinner and crash into bed.

I had quite a day yesterday, maybe you'll find this interesting, I'll try to keep it short. Several Thai friends and one 'farang' (foreigner) were heading up to hike up the second tallest mountain in the province and they invited me (Blake). Mindy, the other farang, told me it would be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Well, I was thinking that she might not know all that I've done. So, even in my un-in-shape condition I agreed, because it sounded like a lot of fun.

We started the day by meeting at 6:30am sharp to leave with the plan to be back by 6 or 6:30pm that night. Well, people were still showing up at 6:45, so we really didn't leave until 7:30am or so.


I have never been on a motorcycle before, so it was an adventure from the first minute. I was riding behind one of the stronger guys, who could handle the extra weight of a heavy farang. I was a little nervous at first, because I was not in control. It took a good 20 minutes to get over that.

First, we traveled up the nearest mountain to a village we often visit to pick up our guides. After that, we loaded up again on the bikes and headed off road. At first we were on a very rutted out dirt road, I was again nervous and having control issues. The road turned into what we call in the mountain bike realm, singletrack. The trail was probable two tires wide, and winding through some amazing landscapes. I felt like we were going through the Lord of the Rings movies, zig zagging through tall white trees, and then through rocks that were dangerously close, and then down into the beautifully lush, green jungle. When I wasn't wondering if we were about to crash, I was enjoying the beauty of God's creation.

We parked our bikes on the side of a hill facing our goal and walked from there.




That's the mountain above. I was a little concerned with the apparent distance, and then more so as we began our hike down, instead of up. I kept thinking, for every step down, is another one up. We had to go down a valley and then switchback our way up a less steep mountain, until we got to the ridge. Then we could walk all along the ridge to the summit of the mountain.

The land was beautiful, the scenery and the weather were perfect. We were truly blessed. It was probably 70 degrees the whole time. The part I thought was interesting was how the guides knew where to go. You see, in your mind, I think you are picturing a little trail, with trailhead markers, lookout points, and little signs for restrooms and vending machines on the side. Let's go ahead and dispense with that. Our guides were in front of us wading through shoulder high (sometimes higher) trees, weeds, brush, stickers...etc to make a path so we could at least know which way they went. Often we had to whoop and yell to figure that out.



I was a little comforted to have me GPS my parents gave me before I left. So that when our guides were eaten by Bengal Tigers, I could help us find our way out. But we trudged on. . . It was exhausting. We used every bit of energy we had at our disposal that day and more. I was carrying around 3 liters of water for myself and I could not have carried more, or drank less. The Lord gave us a lot of grace.

We stopped at a stream (the only one in our path) for lunch, which after over an hour or so of hiking through the dense foliage, my oatmeal and eggs were long gone. I was grateful for the clear stream, and glad I had brought my water filter that the WMU ladies had provided us before we left. Thank you "Pure Water, Pure Love"!!


We hiked on for several hours, up mountain sides reminiscent of the movie "The Princess Bride" right before the entered the "Fire Swamp", except in our case if you were to fall as Wesley did, you would definitely hit one or more of the millions of large, sharp protruding rocks and not walk away from it. The views were tremendous, and a good excuse for rest.



When we arrived at the top (I honestly didn't think I would make it.), I was super excited, and I showed this by promptly laying down where ever. After I regained my sanity, I was very impressed with the little bald peak we had found. An enormous panoramic view like few I'd ever seen. The Smokey Mountains have got nothing on Thailand! We spent an hour up here just admiring God's handiwork.



God was so good on our trip. Mindy told the teens that's rule #1 was "No complaining". I found the rule challenging, but the teens did so great. I mean, seriously, flip-flops and socks? Awesome. In the past I have rolled (twisted) both of my ankles, and I was worried about how they'd hold up, especially since the most recent incident was only a few months ago. We stumbled a lot, but God's blessing was the sure-footed next step. He was always there when we tripped or fell, and always gave us a good next step. No injuries! Praise God!

We got back to the bikes about 30-45 minutes after dark. It was even more difficult to hike when we forgot flashlights. But the Lord was faithful, and lit our path. What a trip. . . I slept good that night!

More pictures and some videos in the Latest Pictures area... Click on "Hike of the Year". Check them out!

We celebrated our first Christmas in Thailand! God Blessed our socks off. At the beginning of the month we moved to our ministry location in Chiang Klang. We lived out of our suit cases for 3 weeks while we awaited last minute details on our home. While we waited we shopped and shopped and shopped. . .it seems to never end! Some of it is fun, but when the temps start soaring so does the temper tandrums (and we're not talking about Aleah). On one particulary hot day we ended a long shopping day at a little coffee shop. While we waited on our iced drinks we noticed a themometer and while we were sitting inside this little place it read 93 degrees! So much for the "cold" season!

We moved into our home on Christmas Eve. And I know you have just been dying to see our improved home. . .
Let's start in the kitchen shall we.
starting from the left: washing machine, stove/oven, sink, ant cabinet, microwave, fridge (the largest one we could fine!)


The Christmas tree and cards from family and friends in the hallway

Aleah's bathroom. . .

Aleah's bedroom

Our bedroom. . .

and the living room (notice Aleah's house that she got for Christmas on the right)

and the endless hours of veggie tales are played in this corner. . .


We couldn't be more happier with everything except that you can see through the ceiling and stuff keeps falling through. Christmas was wonderful! Aleah loved her cardboard play house and we all enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies!! Later on Christmas Day we invited some friends over to have dinner with us. I had some help buying all the fixings for Somtom the day before, so the girls all gathered in the kitchen to teach me how to make Somtom (Papaya Salad). The Papaya came from our tree in the front yard! We added some rice and Thai BBQ chicken legs and had a wonderful Christmas Dinner. Later we read the Christmas story in Thai and Aleah gave Cream and Camp and Grace their Christmas presents. It's Thai culture not to open the gifts in front of you so the children just sat them to the side. . .amazing the amount of self control that must have taken! You can view pictures of our party in the "Latest Pictures" link. Before our friends left they told us that we could invited them over to our house anytime! (not sure if that's Thai culture or what : )

We've started a new category in our journaling because know we are really doing what God has called us here to do. We can't wait to join Him in His work among the people here in CK. Today we celebrated Christmas with the "staff." "Staff" is just the business term for our team. . . our friends. . .our new family. We started the morning off with a 2 hour devotion (all in Thai). Then practiced our skit and songs that we are going to be using in a performance at the local middle & high school. God has worked a miracle in that the school has asked our team to come and share with the students the meaning of Christmas. By lunch time, we had polished up a drama of Luke 2 and practiced 4 christmas carols. Our friends were so patient with us as they taught us the carols! I helped sing and Blake helped out by playing the electric guitar in the band. Plus he was an angel and a wise man in the play. After lunch we all took a little break and came together for the party a few hours later. Mindy lead us all in some funny games that had us all laughing and then the caterer showed up. .. all you can eat Noodles! It's a special soup that they eat all the time. We love it too. Then we presented the group with a ping pong table that a previous volunteer team wanted to purchase for them. So, some played ping pong while others gathered around a fire to make a special sticky rice snack which cooks inside bamboo. It was delicious! The party kept going but I couldn't keep up. I think I heard the ping pong ball bouncing way into the wee hours. . .

Being able to Celebrate with Christian brothers and sisters is such a blessing. And as we build relationships with our dear team members we are able to see more of their hearts and their love for those who don't yet know the Lord. How blessed we are to by able to join the army of the Lord as we march into the battle fields.
We live in and are surrounded by lostness. We are grieved over the condition of their hearts. So many eyes have been blinded to the truth. So many have never even heard about our Savior's birth. Don't give up praying for the people here!

O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods! (Ps 63; 1-5) Help me, then, not to grieve, for Your joy is my strength (Neh. 8:10) If I call to You, You will answer me and tell me great and unsearchable things I do not know. (Jer 33:3).
How exciting it is to serve a living God!!

At the beginning of the month we moved to our ministry location in Chiang Klang. We lived out of our suitcases for 3 weeks while we awaited last minute details on our home. While we waited we shopped and shopped and shopped. . .it seems to never end! Some of it is fun, but when the temps start soaring so does the temper tandrums (and we're not talking about Aleah). On one particulary hot day we ended a long shopping day at a little coffee shop. While we waited on our iced drinks we noticed a themometer and while we were sitting inside this little place it read 93 degrees! So much for the "cold season"

On Our first Sunday in town, Chiang Klang Church had their Christmas celebration:
Aleah and the pastor's daughter (Manna - yes like the manna that fell from heaven but pronounced a little different)


The church was packed with people from all the near by villages!

Aleah made quick friends with these girls because she loved the tassels on their shirts:

Scenes from the Christmas program - a little different from the ones in the states : )




Thank you so much for your prayers as we packed and made the move to CK. Everything went smoothly and we will be living in our supervisor's home until our house is ready. . .more to come!!

Blake's parents, Mike and Paula, came to visit us They were here during Thanksgiving which was such a special blessing to us. I hope all the pictures don't bore you, but I only had to choose from 380 total that were taken during those two weeks! We all stayed very busy during that time. We'd take a morning trip and then Blake and I would go to language study and then we'd take an evening outing. It was a blast! And such a special way for us to spend our last days in Chiang Mai. While Mom and dad were with us we found out that we would be moving earlier than we had thought. So we had to make sure to visit all the sites. .. The Zoo, the Elephant Camp, the Famous Doi suthep Wat (Buddhist Temple), Some waterfalls, some good restaurants, Markets, Markets, and did I mention Markets! The boys weren't too excited about all the shopping that went on in the markets. Aleah had a blast too. She loved being spoiled by her Noni and Papa!!

Noni and Papa got to eat lots of new and interesting food. Unfortunately, they passed on the bamboo worms, fried crickets and frog legs in preference of something more familiar like cheese enchiladas. But they did endeavor to try Pad Thai, khaw mon guy, guy phat metmamuang, khaw phat, guy priaw waan and many other of our favorite dishes. It was an enjoyable time for us all, and we had quite an adventure.

Just to keep the entries from getting too large, I've created another one for views of the inside of our house we will be moving into next month. . .brace yourselves. . .and remember no one has lived here for awhile and so it's not clean. . .look past the grime. .. use your imagination : )
One of TWO bathrooms. . .yes we get TWO bathrooms!

The Kitchen

The Master bedroom, with built in closets (but you can't see in this pic)

Beautiful Teak Wood hallway. . .

A large yard. . .with a termite mound (in bottom right corner)

SOOO. . .any of you home and garden folks ready to come over and give me a hand!!

During our recent trip to CK, we endured many hours of training in community development and then many hours of bumpy roads to reach our villages. Over and over, village after village, I hear the people saying the same thing "I raise my eyes toward the mountains, where will my help come from?" Sound familiar? Check out Psalm 121. The living conditions of the people can be overwhelming, but to know exactly where their help will come from is exciting!! Their Maker wants to help them! In the 3 villages we surveyed, there was not even one believer among them! The pictures we have don't have many people in them because most folks were out working in the fields. But amazing enough we were able to meet with all of the village head men. This was a miracle because they are usually out working as well and to arrive, like we did, without any forewarning usually means a return trip. Thick rain clouds settled in on the mountains shortly after 1 and we knew if we didn't start heading back down the mountain soon, we were going to be spending the night. With tires wrapped in chains, we arrived safely at the bottom, joined up with the rest of the teams, and ate lunch.
The next day Blake and I looked around for a house and here it is. . .

There's a little bit of work that has to go into it. . .like replacing wood that termites have destroyed, putting. . .well. . .everything in the kitchen, adding electrical outlets, screens on the windows, and some paint. It will look very different the next time you see it : )


Very large covered area in the back and a nice yard too once it gets cleaned up. We have banana trees, coconut trees, and papaya trees!