Marie on a Motorcycle

ThiS has to be really quick. I drove all the way to MAE SOT on the motorcycle today. I was following Tad. YEAH!!!! I'm glad and happy and feel good about it. For me it's like a 30min ish ride. I need to get goin' to go back to the school on the motorcycle... BOy am I cool now!;))

The sick kid is getting better. Love ya'll....keep keepin' in touch.

Big Love

Well I'm here at the principal of the school's house doing e-mail. Ummm....what do I talk about.
Well we have a journalist staying at the school right now who will be doing a/some articles for the org. I'm here with. He's done some traveling around talking to people.

There are 2 of our boys who are sick so pray for them. And pray that none of the other kids will get sick. I have a minor sore throat....

Pray that God's will, will be done for this school. That the right people will be here, that the best will be done for the kids. That this school will lead to what God wants next for the students.

I've been teaching the students Pen and Ink drawing recently. Some are better at it than others. It can get messy too:)

Um, I'm tired and sweaty right now, it's humid here. Sometimes uncomfortably humid. The students adn staff have thinner blood so slight changes in weather can effect them more than it does me. Like some time it was raining and one of the girls put a sweater on, I was still in a short sleeve shirt and something like capris.

I'm thankful for the rain cause it's cooler that way:) But it may be harder for the kids.

One of the things many of the students need is more teaching in ESL.... there is someone coming for the next year who has had training in teaching ESL so I'm glad about that.

I'm getting to know the staff here better. THey let me into their world by gracing me with their English. Karen/Karenni people are touchy people at times. One of the staff, she'll be talking to me and keep touching me on my side.

I don't know if God will lead to any more time here later in the future or not...

I'm planning on coming back sometime at the beginning of OCt to the US.

One sweet thing that happened was one night I gave all the girls, after they were in bed, a kiss, a hug and an I love you (cept for the ones already asleep)...you know saying Good night to them... and one girl said, that this showed I had Big love for them. That it made her feel encouraged for me to hug and kiss her and tell her I loved her. It made her feel very special. It really blessed me when she told me that. Her telling me I had big love for the kids was humbling.... It's hard to fully convey the meaning of what she said to me. But I have it in my heart.

I was talking to one of the girls that night and she wouldn't get goodnights like I gave from her family. Kinda sad. So I think I'll try to say good night alot, with a hug and a kiss and an I love you....

I've done it like 2 nights already.

I do wonder why I'm here and what good it does. I know loving on the kids is important. Everyone needs love... the ART that I teach them is good, for them to broaden their horizons.

One of the girls ...the big love girl is so hungry for knowledge. She wants me to start teaching her, starting in Genesis. One night I was teaching her stuff that I have learned about the Jewish story. She loved it. I even took notes for her and wrote down some words that she didn't know.

Alot of what I said I believe she understood. She's one of the smartest if not the smartest with English here at the school. I have mentioned her earlier.

The lady staff here... have been introduced to my perfume. They really enjoy it. I have some small vials of free samples I got back in the US, some bath and body works body spray and another small perfume. They got excited about putting some on today. One of the lady staff mentioned being able to smell me ... she could smell the aroma that I left behind, it was a good thing:)

There was a singer coming to the school to teach the kids some songs... I guess the singers are kinda famous, like in Karen/Karenni circles...in Burma. The singers are from Rangoon.

If any of you get a chance you should try to come here to THailand to understand the Karen/Karenni people. Many are christians.... in Thialand there are many, many that live in Refugee camps. The do not have their freedom. They are IDPs, Internally Displaced People. Thailand doesn't want them and Burma definately doesn't want them.

They are special people.

I wish I could understand the language so I could understand better what goes on...

Talk to ya later.

Karen Camps

This will be a quickie post. I have to meet up with AMERICANS in 5 mins. A group of americans have been here since THursday, they leave tomorrow:( They were here to see what the Organizations I"m working with is doing in B____ and Thailand.

We went into B_____ the other day. It was fun.... and quite a walk. We ended up riding a long boat across.

Yesterday we went to Mai Lay, a refugee camp the largest in Asia. This camp is where most of our kids come from. It's also where Ebenezer our male staff has lived for 14 years before working at the school for 2.

It's just very differnt how they live! So close together too and they live in huts, it looks like nifty club houses that you'd make for your kid, or kinda like swiss family robinson.... without the furniture...

There were hundreds of houses built on the side of a mountain, surrounded by very lush trees...and we had to walk up the big hill to get to the church service. There was some slippery mud we had to get through...we had like 3 people fall... it's not always easy to walk in. I wore my wonderful rain boots I bought here. They are great for Karen camps!

Pray for me as I get back into the swing of things as the Americans leave and Gods direction and peace as I look toward the future. I don't know how and where GOd is leading through this opportunity.

Gotta run. Thanks for all ya'll's support.

Oh yeah I was glad to see where my kids came from.

Take care:)

There and Back Again- a girl's tale

Right now I'm in the notorious town of Maesot. Known for drug traffiking, people trafficking... it's gem sellers and it's location so close to Burma. This is the town that I live next to. If I need to go to town this is where I'd go.

The kinda hard thing is that I hardly get into town. It's like 20 mins. from the school. I haven't gotten adept enough yet to drive the motorcycle into Mae Sot yet.

Hmmm, what to write about. I safely arrived back to the school on Wednesday evening.
I took like a 5 hourish bus ride to MaeSot. When I got to Maesot I was dropped off in a wide open alley right in front of the bus station. I was going to picked up at the Bus Station...I wanted to be waiting at a certain spot at the station. But I had 2 big bags and didn't want to drag them over there myself. When I got off the bus there was a guy there with a Rickshaw.... and he wanted to drive me for I thought 2 baht.... so I was in favor of it... but he started packing my stuff into his rick shaw before I gave my definate ok. The seat part ain't too big on the Rick Shaw, he actually hung my back pack off the back of the rickshaw. I felt kinda embarressed, me with my stuff piled high in his baggy... to drive a rickshaw there's like a bicicle attached to the front.

Anyways I thought I had communicated I wanted to go to the bus station which was right near by....so we're so sweetly driving by the bus station...I tap on his back and tell him that's where i want to go. I knew what I was saying he didn't get it....he motioned like he was going to take me around. I thought he'd take me around to a different entrance.... la la la....we go around....but end up at the Green Guest House (that's what it's called.) It definatley wasn't where I wanted to be. So basically I was "kidnapped" by this guy! It wasn't really horrible to be taken there, just kinda frustratingly funny... so the Green Guest House was right behind the Bus Station. But! to get to the bus station I had to cross this not very sturdy man made bridge, that had wired together thin hand rails.... it was narrow, and was made of small logs cut long ways in half and nailed together. The type of bridge you'd see in the jungle possible in the national geographic mag. Anyways my ride comes and we have to carry my BIG bags across this narrow man-made bridge built high above the water. We arrived safely across! It was a memoriable little adventure to finally get back to the school. Goodness! Anything will happen in Thailand!

I finally had Phillip in class, he'd been sick for a long time. COme to find out he's one of the talented ones. Yeah! It's great to find talent. I've had him in Art.

He actually drew a pic for the fun of it of this warrior man and across the top it said something like "I will die for my peoples." I was like WOW! in my mind. I wonder if that's what he wants to be when he grows up, a soldier for his people.

Pray for Ebenezer, our only male staff, he's still sick. Pray against sickness for the kids and staff, one of the girls is working on a cold....

Americans arrive here on Thursday! Yeah! And sometime later some sort of writer will be staying with us for like 3 weeks, ands his first language is English so that will be nice and Jim said he likes to talk!

I don't get internet access much...so don't expect updates everyday:)

Just pray for my day in day out activities. That I'll get enough variety of stuff to do that I don't get bored.... I'm at the school alot. It was really nice of Jim to bring me into town today.

If you ever think of coming here to volunteer try to get another English speaker to come with you. It would really help you.

Tad has had the kids write their life stories out to see what they've been through and what they want to do with what they've learned and if they want to study in the states. I have helped some with editing and it has been reallly interesting to get a bit more of the inside scoop in some of there lives.

I successfully made my first trip into Burma to get my visa stamped. It was very interesting and fun and adverturous.... even though not much happened. I had to walk across this long bridge from Thailand into Myanmar (Burma.) In Burma I had to pay 500 baht for the process and 5 baht for the copy or something. The Burmese men in the office seemed interested in speaking some English with me.

I was Escorted most of the time by a young Burmese man. I think the reason was that he wanted money. I did give him some. To me it wasn't much but to a Burmese I think it was a nice amount. Their economy sucks. Their govenrment is run by a military regime.

One of the beggers I saw probably was a land mine victim. He was sitting on the bridge and I looked down and prayed, "Heavenly Father." because he had a wound that was red because it wasn't healed-he was missing part of his foot.

Walking into Burma and knowing what the governement has down to the people was moving. You just get a burden for the people. It's just not good. There are many people that have been scarred and maimed for life because the military will plant land mines. It also kills it's people!

Man! It's rough. I walked around in Burma for awhile. There was one kid, he told me he was 22, he was beautiful...almond shaped eyes clear complexion, he kept hounding me on his buggy about taking me somewhere. He wanted to get some work transporting me...to get paid. I kept telling him no. And telling him loudly with body language too. I was told not to get any rides any where. I didn't even take my camera in.

Today for breakfast I had rice, we always have rice and this fish in this red sauce. I dumped alot of the red sauce on my rice with the fish... the rice was differnt than what I was used to and in the sauce was all these fish scales....so I sat there trying to get most of the fish scales off and didn't get far with that meal, when one of the girls asked me "finished" I was ready to surrender my plate of fish food.

Most of the time I'm ok with the food, even though it is Karen cuisine. But sometimes I don't get far with some of it. I thought I wasn't picky.... I think it's ok that I don't eat everything.

June's been a blessing cause she takes care of me and has fixed me up with some extra food... because lunches often are small....I think soonish that will change though.

Lunch was small this afternoon so I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In town I'm gonna buy a lassi... like a yougert fruit drink. Very good. After I first had one there would be times I'd think about it.... remember what it tasted like...

So this Thursday the Americans are coming, the kids have done alot of work cleaning to prepare the school for that. They are very good hard workers.

Keep checking back....you never know when I will post:) Sawadee Ka (the Thai greeting, like Shalom is for everthing...like good morning, evening , night....like that.) Guys would say "Sawadee Kup."

p.s. I have actually read and finished the book the Hobbit for the first time. I actually enjoyed it:)

Yikes the water is everywhere!....

Boy am I tired. It's 11:28 pm Tuesday night. This is Marie reporting live in the crowded city of Chaing Mai...

ok anyways....what did I do today? I spent alot of time at the Central Airport Plaza, this big mall. I watched "The Lady in the Water" movie....for girls I'd say watch it...it was rather interesting. Not as freaky as some of the other M. Night Shalayamain (whatever his name is).

I was able to purchase most of the stuff I had on the list for the kids and staff. Yeah! It will almost be like Christmas when I bring them home all these goodies!

I went to pick up the stuff from the lovely Indian guys, the tailors today. My WORD! I had to drive through a mini river to get there! Their road was flooded. For goodness sakes! They had sand bags lined up in front of their store.... When I got there I had to wade into the water and than find the little boards they had over the gutter so I wouldn't go even deeper in the water.

It was fun...and coming back in a tuk tuk, 3 wheeled thingy it was like being in a motor boat the way the water was splashing up away from the vehicle. CRazy!

Tailors, flooding, and great Massage!

Well this is my last full day in Chaing Mai, by myself being independant! Yesterday I did alot. Traveled around alot.... and I didn't let the city drivers take the better of me as much:) You can ride in a Song Low, Tow Song, Long Sow (whatever they are called!) For 20 baht, about 50 cents.

So I rode those alot yesterday.

God did bless my shopping! I bought alot of clothes for the kids.... one of my best deals was awesome! Bad sentence stucture, haven't eaten this morning, it's almost noon, so my blood sugar's kind low:) anyways I ended up buying alot of shorts from this one vender and told them about the kids and how the kids don't have alot of money, yada yada and they wrote a name down in Thai of a store that sells stuff at wholesale. So I went there and bought alot of boys underware....and a pack of 12 pretty nice t-shirts, for 400 baht, which comes out to about $1 a shirt! That blessed my little heart! The t-shirts are for the boys. There are 2 of the shirts that say "Cheerio!" on them! They are random shirts but colorful and will work good for my boys.

I looked around for a tailor and wasn't liking what I was finding, didn't like the price....didn't like how one guy at a shop treated me.....I ended up taking a long break from tailor hunting and ended up going to this one shop, called Milan. It's run by a couple indians...liked them better! Ha! and I ordered 2 big items. I'll be picking them up today! 24 hour service for tailored clothes, wow! That is awesome.

After I spent alot of time with the Indian brothers (I don't know if they are, but think they might be) I walked across the street to this lovelly tiny little Thai resturant. The host seemed excited to be serving me and another American couple there! He was a sweety...the Thai host.

I got a wanton appetizer a very yummy vanilla milk shake and Chicken Pauta (sp?)...it was pretty good. I loved the atmoshpere in the little restuarant. There was a high ceiling and warm colored walls and dark wood accents.

Yesterday roads in Chain Mai were flooded....like in the gutters and certain parts of the road. I went wading through some roads to get from one curb to the other. The water was calf high in some places. Kinda fun but crazy!

Last night I went to the night bazaar...and got a foot/leg massage and a back/head/shoulders/face massage from the same older sweet spirited Thai woman. She's been doing massage for 3 years.

Tomorrow I go back to the school with my goodies for the kids.

I have one purchase I need to make for a girl and am having trouble finding it...pray I can...

Ciao!

Chaing Mai

Right now I am in Chaing Mai. It's a city. I'll be ordering some things from a Tailor and doin' alot of shopping. I'll be here until Wednesday than I'll be taking a bus back to my Mae Sot.

I rode down with Tad and June on Saturday. It was like a 4 and a half hour trip. I spent the first night at T and J's place and went to an English speaking church yesterday. The pastor was from Australia. So I had a bit of trouble understanding what he was saying...but got most of it.

After church I ended up talking to the son of the guy that owns the guest house T and J are staying at. He's 17 and his name is Marcus. He's half American and half Swedish. And he's homeschooled. He's a really nice guy. When he was a baby his parents smuggled Bibles into Hong Kong. They'd bring in about 6 that he would be sitting on. Wow a "baby bible smuggler." I thought that was pretty neat!

Jim J. and his fam. and some other young people are arriving here on Thurs. Yeah! English speakers! Also I'll be getting my 30 day visa stamped on Thursday. I have to go into another country to get that done.

Haven't eaten breakfast yet...am hungry!

I'm staying at a place for 3 nights by myself. And it cost me I think 1,200 baht which is like $32...for 3 nights. Pretty cheap!

Ohh! I went and saw Pirates of the Carribean yesterday! I really enjoyed it. It cost me 120 baht....which is like $3.25 ish... isn't that awesome. Yeaha! Plus I had to pay 70 baht to get there 80 baht to get back, um...and I bought soda, 35 baht, popcorn 45 baht...the whole situation cost me under $10.00.

Going there I rode in a Tuk Tuk. It's this small little buggy...I think maybe with 3 wheels.... on the way back I had my own personal Long Tow...I always forget how to say the 2nd. I'm thinking they may be gettin' more baht out of me than they should be...frown.... But I'm an ignorant american!

I got so many donations from people and I haven't needed to tons of money into Art supplies or anything else so I asked Na-Na, she's one of the cooks there...kinda like a mother to the kids if they needed anything. So I now have a long list of things they need, so sometime I'll be shopping for that. If you think to pray that the money goes far, that I get good deals and find everything I need.

These people do not have much at all. Donations is what keeps the school running I believe.

I have been teaching some of the classes the proportions of the face. A couple of the kids did really well when I had them draw someone in the class. I was thrilled:)

My times running out on this public computar. Talk to ya later:)

Keeping my Chin up:)

Man! I just lost alot that I had written. Bummer...oh well. Second try.

Yes I am adjusting more and feeling better about being here:) Thank you for all your prayers. There was a time when I distinctly felt that I probably was the recipienct of prayer. Does that make sense. I felt upheld.:) Thank you everyone. Found out alot of people have been praying for me. Yeah!

Ok, I teach everyday,MOnday through Friday, at least that's how the schedule is set up. I teach ESL 2 days a week and Art everyday of the week. ESL is more of a struggle to prepare for. Pray that I'll get good ideas about how to teach it.

The Art classes are going well. There are times that have been frustrating to an extent when the kids stuggle to do what I'm teaching and when they don't understand the English. But because of the classes some of the girls copied pictures from some books. They copiesdrew the pictures just by looking and no tracing. They came out really good. Some of these kids are good little artists! We did some oil pastel sunset/moonset/sunrise pictures. Some also came out very nice.:)

I have had some times with the girls in my room putting make up on em, letting them look at my pictures of my fam and friends taped up. Some have wanted to look at my collection of earrings:)

One of my good friends here is Amy, silver Paw. We click. She is funny and always laughing. Her family life isn't that wonderful. And she is one of the "outsiders" at the school. There are over 20 kids from a certain camp and she's not one of them. So she seems hungry for attention and affection.

One of my buddies is Mark. He's loud and smiles alot. Great kid.

I love these kids.

I wonder what God is doing? And what might happen becuase of this trip, where is it going to lead me...what is GOd doing? Hmmm....

Keep me in your prayers, also pray for one of the boys. His name is Phillip. He's been sick the whole time I"ve been here. He's at a clinic and was there over night. He's been sick like 3 weeks. There has been a sickness going around some of the schools that has lasted like 4 weeks...

I went and visited him at the clinic. He was anointed with some of my chapstick...it has a number of different oils in it...so he was anointed with "oils" and prayed for. God commands us to anoint the sick with oil and to pray for them. It was an act of obedience and faith.

There were many sick people there...it was an open ward. Some of what I saw was heart breaking. One boy that's on my heart was very very thin....I don't know but he may die from his sickness....pray for his soul and if it's God's will that he'll get better. There were some very sick people there.

Ok well I love ya'll and am sticking with it:)

A short blog about Soe Soe and Scott

This is a Caleb sized blog:) Here's the first installment of the weekend. Here's me lookin' happy, cause I am. This is Soe Soe "David" and "Scott." Not sure what Scott's real name is. These 2 guys are really small:) Short but like 13 or 14 I'd guess.

Soe Soe's a sweet heart. He's on the right. I've spent some time with him. Awhile back he got this goudge of skin taken off his foot when he was playing barefooted soccer with the guys, on the pavement (concrete) out front. So a number of times I've doctored him up. Put ointment on it and a bandaid a few times gauze over that. I gave him a pair of socks so he could wear it over the gauze to keep it in place. Poor kid would favor his foot alot.

One time after I was done doctoring him he keep hanging around like he wanted to spend more time with me. I was explainging differnt things in the medicine cabinet to him. Alot of the med. is English med. stuff. And than I told him about a pen and ink pen that we're gonna use sometime in art and I ended up showing it to him. And than he and I sat on the floor in the big worship room upstairs with an index card on a book as a drawing surface and drew together. It was fun:) He's a good little artist.

I drew on my card his name David and Soe Soe, and King with the David all fancy and gave it to him. This week I was in the boys room for a bit and saw that he has it taped to the front of his bed.:) I really like him. And he understands English better than alot of the kids. He definately has alot more to learn though.

Scott doesn't talk to me much. He's shy toward me but he's a sweetheart. He has fuzzy spiky hair and whenever he sees me he smiles. A sweet sincere smile....

I'll write more later. Things are better. BUt it's still not easy easy. Being as I"m the only staff at the school that lives at the school that speaks English as my first and only language.

Shabbat Sholam ya'll.... This weekend I'm at Tad and June's house. We're gonna have us some fun. Going shopping tonight at the night market!

I am here

Yes I have arrived safely to my destination finally. I got to the school Saturday afternoon. It was about a 4 day trip. Crazy! Plus I was in Chiang Mai for quite awhile. In Chiang Mai, a big city, I got a foot massage, up to below my knee and a back massage (which included neck, arms, hands, head, shoulders) and both came to about $5.00. It was nice!:) Yes, part of my trip was in the back of a pick-up truck up and down, in this mountainous area for like 2 hours.

Thailand is very different! And the school is differnt from Thailand because the kids and most of the staff are from the Karen nation... they actually aren't refugees, refugees have status. These people don't even have refugee status they are a displaced people. Burma doesn't want them at all.

There are 31 students at the school. I've already started learning their Karen/Karenni names...and also they have English nicknames which is helpful. Let me give you some of the Karen names, Ku Moo (boy age 15?), Silver Paw, um...Soe Soe (very cute, small 14 year old boy) and there's more.

They treat me as a guest in some ways....which actually makes me feel more isolated. At meals I eat at my own table if Tad and June aren't at the school. Tad and June are a couple from the US, missanaries to this school.

Also at the school we eat Karen food which is differnt than even Thai food. We have rice at the regular meals.

I have taught one day so far. There was a holiday Tues. and today they have big tests. At this point I'll be taking 2 of the 3 ESL classes and teaching art. I just bought some special pens for pen and ink drawing and the ink for about $7.00. It will be enough to start with the kids for now. Cheap:) I just want to get some good paper.

Tad and June took me out today! Yeah! It was fun! I had a hamburger and fries for lunch at a restaurant and a lassi, like a yougert fruit drink. Very good drink.

We walked through a market and stopped at different stores.

Pray for me. It's harder than I thought. I'm lonely cause I'm the only English as a first language speaker at the school. And I think I'm also dealing with Jet Lag. I'm tired right now....

Ok I should get goin' someone else is payin for the connection.

Also pray for my teaching ESL, some I haven't known how to teach them....they really need to work on actually speaking.

Love ya'll....wish differnt ones could pop over for a few mins. just so I could get a hug.

One of my friends at the school is Ebenezer, out of the staff I've talked with him the most...he's Karen, 27 years old. Has a "special friend" at his camp...that he only sees like 2/3 times a year.

The thai and Karen are beautiful people.

Ok bye again! Write me comments please! I read some comments from my last blog and got teary eyed.

I won't be able to get to the internet as much as I thought I'd be able too.

"Sabbath Hike"

Two days left....than I'm outta here!:) (Keep prayin' for me, please:)) "Bye USA, HELLO Thailand!"

We had a family over from Church Friday night and 2 other friends, Jessica and Tara. We watched "8 Below" with a projector outside on a sheet hung on the V-ball net. Which is fun, let me tell you. Also another couple from the church showed up and watched the movie with us. They left after the movie.

Than Saturday Jessica left for work...and the rest of us went on a hike. We have the appalacian trial really close to where we lived. The total hike may have been 2 miles. I don't know. At the end of the hike was this wicked neat waterfall. It's been raining alot recently so it's got some power.

Tara, Adam, my mom and I all climbed down next to the water fall where we could look up and see a big part of the waterfall pounding down. It was really fun exploring the waterfall...climbing around in my barefeet, in the mud, and wading in the water.

Here's some pics from the time:) Come and visit after I get back from Thailand and maybe we could hike it together, whatdya think?;)

Oh boy! Oh Crud! Wow!!!!!! (breath-in breath-out...)

"Oh CRUD!" I just found out my flight from Washington D.C. to Bangkok is....well as the travel itinerarys so sweetly puts it:

Flight duration: 28:50

Oh man! I'll be flying for about 29 hours! Yikes! It will be kinda fun actually:) Wow! Didn't know it was that long....(panting her tongue lolls out....)

Also my Reservation for Rama Gardens didn't work out. So I'm trying to book a room at an even nicer hotel and still it's only like $53 for one night:) The hotel is like...wait let me check...ok it's called Miracle Grand Convention Hotel. Boy that sure is a weird name for a hotel:) It's only like 10 or 15 mins. from the airport.

I wrote up 3 lesson plans yesterday, for the Art classes...and printed off more ideas from an Art Lesson website on the internet... and also printed off some pics from bigger works of art I've done. The originals are too big to bring over. So I took some digital pics. of them, and even some closer-up pics.

I can do this. Ok, square your shoulders, one step in front of the other, deep breaths...(not too many though I'll get light headed.) Just relax, smile....and talk one day at a time!

Also "The Joy of the Lord is my strength." and "I CAN do all things through Christ who strenghtens me!":))(BIG GRIN)

I leave for Thailand in a week and one day!

Wowzers! I leave for Thailand in a week and one day! My launch date is July 5th, next Wednesday at 7:15 in the morning! Yikes! Wow this is really happening. It's hard to believe. It's unreal, it's surreal. I'm excited!

I stopped in at CFI today to buy a little purse, instead of bringing my big purse to Thailand. I talked to Jim some about travel arragements in Thailand. Instead of buying domestic travel before hand here in the US, I'll buy it over there, oh yeah and I'm planning on spending my first night at the Rama Gardens, a very nice hotel. It was rated 4 stars out of 5 on it's web site. Oh yeah baby! And it will only cost me like $46 one night with breakfast in the morning.

I mentioned in the other blog that I'd be teaching Art 2 days a week, well actually at this point I'll be teaching it 5 days a week:) I won't know for sure what I'm doing everyday until I get there.

I actually started packing today. Packing alot of short sleeve shirts and skirts:) I'm even bringing the Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring books and Summer of the Monkeys. Maybe I'll read a book or 2 or 3 to them, I could even leave them there cause one of the kids may want to read 'em.

I watched 2 dvd's about the Karen and Karenni people today put out by CFI. There was a legend that the pale faced brother would bring the "golden book" and tell about the true God. I guess the pale brother took the book away from the other brothers so he's bringing it back. The Karen believe that Adoniram Judson fufilled that legend when he came over to Burma and shared the "golden book"-the bible, the truth of the Bible Jesus Christ with the Karen people. It's an amazing story of how he was discouraged and for 7 years was being a missionary in Burma and only had one convert. A guy who was said to have killed 30 people, he was a thief. This guy was Karen, and knew of the Karen legend and thought Adoniram was the fufillment. So today hundreds maybe even thousands of these people are Christians because of the work God started through Adoniram Judson!

One of the DVD's was about the medic backpacks that CFI sponsers. Pastors and medic people go to different villages in Burma to treat sicknesses that wouldn't kill a person in civilization but can kill these people because they haven't gotten the proper treatment.

On the dvd's they showed actually crayon drawings that kids had drawn of the junta military government's atrocites. There were soldiers killing people, shotting guns at people...and blood. This is what some of these kids have seen.

There was even a clip of beautiful little kids at a refugee orphanage.

Pray for me as I pull the last details together and as I fly. God has helped to take away some of the fear and anxiety that I had concerning this trip. Keep me in prayer for that too. Not to worry about things I shouldn't...or trying to figure out too much at once! God has made a way through for me up to this point! "He makes a way through the sea."

Remember the Persecuted! And remember to pray for me on Wed. July 5th. Here I come Thailand! Love ya'll!

Thailand-Another Journey

Just updating. I haven't posted for awhile...so here I am now. Right now I'm listening to the sound track from "Phantom of the Opera."

I'm at home by myself tonight. Adam's going to an eye doc. Krista's with some friends. She got her grad. pics taken today by a girl friend.

Well I got my airplane ticket for Thailand today...may need some adjustments. But I am goin'. Crazy huh! What I know at this point is that I'll be teaching Art 2 days a week. The other days I believe I'll be teaching something else. At least one other class. Maybe ESL...English as a Second language. I won't know for sure what I'm doing until I start doing it.

Flyin' in I'll get a 30 day tourist visa when they stamp my passport....than on day 27 I need to watch the border between Burma and Thailand...to make sure I'll be able to cross into Burma on day 29 to get my passport stamped again so that I get another 30 days in Thailand. I won't be in Burma much at all. It's a repressed nation! Bad for Christians! It's just that there's a bridge that's close by with offices on both sides of it where I can get my stamps.

Let me tell ya a bit about Thailand. It's right under China. Near Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam. It's a Buddist nation mostly...even the government is Buddist. They have a law against proseletizing but it's not enforced strongly. I'm not suppose to touch the monks...better even be careful about brushing up against one, even just doing shopping....I guess I could get in trouble if I do...yikes!

They eat alot of rice...their money to ours is 39 baht to one of our dollars. Our money goes farther than theirs.

I've been on the computar a long time so I'll keep this blog short:)

Just a litte update...

By the way I'll be leaving July 5th. And at this point I'm thinking I'll be there like 3 months. Man...yikes the reality of it was just hitting me...it's scary...but I know I'll like it.

If you want to pray for me about it here are some things you can pray about:

1. Protection flying over and back, and when I'm there...physical protection against sickness and accidents...
(on my mission trips sometimes things happen to my physical person that make it harder...God does use it... BAD poison ivy, sickness...wierd stuff)
2. Creativity in teaching/lesson plans
3. Smooth adjustment to culture quirks, the food etc...
4. That I'll love the kids the way they need to be loved... that I'll be the "mother" figure to them that God wants me to be-to love them with God loving them through me
5. That I'll accomplish over there everything that God wants me to
6. God's guidance for the future(...as I consider it when over there)

Let me know if you prayed for me and if you want to pray for me regularly when I'm there. I'd appreciate daily prayers. These are God's children and it seems sometimes when you go on mission trips...(plus this is my first mission trip that I've basically put together, and AM putting together, with alot of help...but before I was joining a group of people and I just provided the money to pay my way and did what they said...this is different.) you're more in the battle spiritually sometimes to an extent...

Thanks for listening.:)

Mom! Happy Birthday!!!

Boy... I am tired. Adam and I got up before 6 to make my mom a special BIRTHDAY breakfast. It started with a loaded omelette that Adam served with hot tea in bed. Then she got homemade fruit cocktail, with mango, watermelon, maderin oranges... watermelon, pineapple... um, than she got crepes with a yummy sweet cream cheese filling and one with a strawberry, a little pineapple, and banana with sugar filling. She was so full that she hasn't eaten them yet:)

My mom Patricia Jean is 53 years old today. This year has been kinda rough on her. Change of life, growing, changing... knowing you need to change. So pray for her.

Hmm, what does my mean mom to me?... memories?

When I was little she'd draw me 2 types of flowers, they were a daisy and a tulip. I liked them. They were simple.
I remember at least one time, (probably more) she woke me up to try some, in the process of being made, culottes on, to see if they fit/to work on the hem... I think so that I could wear them the next day at school. She's made me a number of pairs of culottes:)

One year the night before my birthday I was just down and unhappy. It was the night before I'd guess my 17th birthday(?) and she came downstairs to the basement, probably my bedroom at the time. And she sat and listened to me for a long time and talked with me about whatever was bothering me. I think I cried some. And she prayed with me.

My mom has been an example of reading the Bible and praying. Since I know that she does:)

She is a hard worker. One time when she was sick she was washing the dishes than would got to throw up than come back and wash some more... I wouldn't have done that, I don't think.

There have been times where I've been sick and she'd care for me. Bring me toast, orange juice... :)

She gets up many many mornings to make my dad lunch. She's done this for YEARS. She's cooked and cleaned for us for YEARS too.

If I ask her to pray with me she will then and there.

I am who I am partly because of her. She isn't a quitter. She's a fighter. A woman of vision.

She was the one who first caught the dream of all of us kids goin' on a mission trip the summer before our Senior years. Dana went to Equador. Matt went to England. I went to Russia. Adam went to Japan and Krista went to Romania. Isn't that awesome... it started with a dream... which lead to Action, which became fufilled reality.

I'd say because of my mom's initial vision and both parents support, Adam and I have pursued even more mission trips. You can't underestimate the power, the influence of mothers (especially the ones that follow Christ), on the destiny and life's journey of their children.

It will be amazing to see my mom in the eyes of heaven, to see what Jesus truly made her as. She is a warrior in brillant glowing white. You'll see the scars on her heart...but even more you'll see the flashing fire of victory in her eyes. She will fight for those she loves... She will stand by what she believes. She is a woman of strengh, of boldness and authority in Jesus. She is a fiercesome thing to behold!

Right now all we see, with eyes of flesh, is a 53 year old mother of 5 who is still lovely all dressed up...:) She has earned the expression lines, the character of who she is- you can see in her face. These have come through hardships, commitment, hanging on, being tossed to and fro by the storms of life, and the laugher and tears. Her life hasn't been easy, but it also has had really good times... she is a fighter, a winner, an overcomer....

This is my mother and this is the legacy she has given me.