September Video Update
It’s time for another episode of “The Fikes Five in Phayao”! For this episode we have two special guests, co-stars Tonya and Corban Fikes. It’s a little long (about 19 minutes) but there was a lot of stuff we wanted to cover and I think you’ll enjoy it. You can watch it here or click this link if you would rather download it: September Video Update Please write us with any comments, questions, or feedback for the next update.
Just wanted to share
The new normal for the Fikes boys:
Went to seven eleven and told the kids to pick out one drink and snack for the road. Corban picks out a package of seaweed.
What do you guys what to eat for supper? answer: noodles
Having races in the field and Teagan calling out Nueng, Song, Sam instead of one, two, three.
Teagan asking me at night, how do you say tiger, giraffe, cage, rabbit… in thai?
Esan loves going to school. He has a great time and loves for the principal to swing him.
Esan asking, “When do we get to go visit Texas?” (so weird that we visit it now)
No more diapers!!!! Yeah Teagan!!!! Yeah Mommy and Dadddy!!!!
A few weeks ago we were blessed to have my sweet mom come and stay and be with us for three weeks. We were all so blessed by her visit. One of the biggest blessings for me was just having her so close. I loved seeing her in our home here, sitting on the floor playing checkers, doing puzzles, reading books, playing baseball, and of course filling cups of juice. It was great! Most of the time when we visit at my mom’s house she is a wonderful hostess and cooks lots of wonderful meals and is always serving us. This visit was great because for once I felt like we got to serve her and allow her the freedom to just sit and be with us and not have to worry with meals and laundry. Esan was pretty much stuck on Oma the entire time and they have an even stronger bond after the three weeks together. Having mom here also opened doors for us relationally with our neighbors. One evening my neighbor came over and asked us to come over. Usually an invitation like that means standing outside and visiting. This time though she wanted us to come inside and sit in her living room. She brought out a photo album of her daughter’s wedding and we went through it together as she told us all about the event. It was the first time that my neighbor just wanted us to come and visit inside her house. I believe it was because my mom was there and that made it more natural for her to share about the wedding with me since my mom was there. So just by being here with us gave us another way to connect with our neighbors. Proof that God uses us even though we can’t speak the same language. We had so much fun making memories with mom and we are so excited to see her again at her house in Texas soon.I am so thankful to have a mom who will come and sacrifice to be with us. I love my mom and the boys love their Oma!!!
We will be making a visit to Texas soon and we are all so excited! We will be there the whole month of October and plan on soaking up lots of family time. The boys miss their cousins and friends from Boerne! We are looking forward to that time.
I am learning so much about God’s love right now. One of the biggest things I have realized is for several years I have been concerned with being obedient to God, God’s faithfulness and provision. I know of God’s goodness and His love for me, but I have not allowed myself to be loved by Him. A few weeks ago I was a participant in a women’s renewal retreat here in Thailand. Over the course of the five days I began to get a glimpse of how different life is when I allow God to love on me and not just know about His love. I have experienced love as a wife from Chris, as a mother from each of the boys, as a daughter, sister, and as a friend. Throughout that time at the renewal though, I began to experience God’s love as a child. I have needed to feel that for a really long time and it felt so good. Since that renewal I have returned home expecting and feeling God’s love as His child. I told Chris the other day that I am different on the inside since that time of receiving God’s love. There is no anxiousness in the morning, and a desire to just get through the day. I don’t want to prove anything to anyone. I just want to be, and enjoy what there is for me in that day from Him. I haven’t had that in a really long time on a consistent basis. It feels so good. I have included a photo taken of Corban. That photo was taken while he was sitting in a waterfall. When I look at that picture I see myself and God’s love pouring onto every part of me. I can’t escape it, it engulfs me. It is my new reality. God is such a good Father! There is so much more to this story. I am so thankful for those of you who are praying for me and my family. I wanted to share this with you to let you know that your prayers matter and make a difference in our lives and in the lives that we are able to be around and love on. Bless the Lord O my soul! -
Corban’s Star Wars Movie
Click play to hear this post about Corban Scout’s Star Wars movie
This is Corban’s Star Wars movie and then pictures of the premiere below.
AFC Kids Camp
When Tonya and I were at A&M we went on a lot of weekend trips, a lot of mission trips, worked at Camp of the Hills, and did a lot of VBS and church camps. Whenever we did those things, people always told us how thankful they were and how much it meant to them for us to come spend time with them and do things like that for their families and kids. I always knew they meant it but I also always kind of thought they were just overstating their feelings and trying to make us feel good. I now have a different perspective.
Kelly and Sara Davidson brought four aggies to Phayao, Thailand for five days to put on a kids camp for the children of our team. I can’t explain to you how blessed and loved we feel that they would want to do that for us and our children. They put on an amazing three day camp full of games, fun activities, Bible stories, crafts, snacks, field trips, swimming, and lots of love. I kept telling them over and over how thankful we were and how wonderful it was for our kids and for us and what a blessing it was for them to give to our families in such an amazing way. It was an awesome time of fun and learning for our kids and something I think they will remember probably for the rest of their lives.
Thank you again Kelly, Sara, Jenna, Nathan, Michelle, and Haley. You have blessed our families more than you know and I’m sure if you are like me, you probably think I’m exaggerating and maybe even being a little corny. But that’s okay. Please know that you made a mark in the lives of a lot of people here in Northern Thailand. Enjoy the pictures and videos below or click here to see the entire gallery of the whole camp.
From top to bottom, left to right: Haley holding Lane, Teagan, Michelle, Corban, Esan, Jenna, Meg, Brynn, Nathan
Our wonderful aggies and the place they had kids camp everyday. Derran and Ann’s neighbors let us use their yard and this building which is actually a classroom. They had plenty of room, a great yard to play games in, and most importantly, air conditioning. It worked out great!
Kelly and Sara and the aggies also made up a Kids Camp song. I’m not sure who exactly wrote it, but they did a great job. It was written to the tune of “We Are The Aggies” here is a picture of the words to the song and then a video of us singing it on the last day of camp.
Corban loses his first tooth!
Last Friday, June 11, Corban lost his very first tooth. It was one of the bottom ones right in the middle. It’s been loose for a couple of weeks now and we just kept waiting for something to happen. Well, it did. He was eating a popsicle and all of a sudden he grabbed his mouth and said, “Oh no!” We I finally got him to open his mouth I could see that it was just barely hanging on. I didn’t have my camera with me, but luckily Kelly Davidson was there and had his. So, Kelly started videoing and I started giving Corban a pep talk. He put it under his pillow and the tooth fairy flew all the way across the ocean, evidently in time to visit the bank and exchange some money, and left 50 baht under his pillow. Here is a video of the actual moment the tooth was pulled.
Esan turns 4!!
Esan Ray had his fourth birthday on Friday. He got up and went to school and then Friday evening we had his birthday party. The Reeses and Binkleys were here along with a few of our neighbors. Birthdays are always fun but a little bit sad, too because they make us miss our families a little bit more than usual. But, we did get to see some of them on the computer and that is always good. Here are a few pics of Esan when he woke up. He asked for a Star Wars party so all the Star Wars action figures greeted him when he came downstairs. Here is the link to the Star Wars Birthday invitation Tonya and I made for him in case you didn’t get to see it.
Tonya made Esan birthday pancakes with a number “4″ made out of chocolate chips!!
Here is Esan Ray ready for school on his birthday. He wanted me to take him to school on the motorcycle. This is the uniform he wears on Fridays.
Esan Ray’s Fourth Birthday Party
First Day of School!
In Thailand, the summer school holiday goes from the middle of March to the middle of May. Corban’s school started May 10 and Esan was supposed to have his first day of school this past Monday, May 17, but a big storm blew through town on Sunday night and knocked down a couple of big trees at his school, so they didn’t have school on Monday. So, Tuesday was his first day of school and he did great! His teacher’s name is Kru Gai (Kru means teacher). She is very sweet and is so happy to have Esan in her class. He was so happy when Tonya picked him up and he said he had a great day. He said they played on the playground twice and Brynn shared her sandwich with him at lunch time. We were so happy but were still a little unsure how day two would go, that is, today. Well, it wasn’t bad, but he definitely wasn’t as excited and willing as he had been on day one. Corban and I took him this morning and stayed for a few minutes with him but he didn’t want to participate in the game they were playing outside and he just wanted to stay right by my side. He did good when I said I had to leave and he gave me a hug and kiss and let me go, but he and Brynn were still just sitting watching the other kids when I left. When Tonya picked him up today, he said he cried and missed us, but then when I came home and asked him how his day was he said, “It was good, I had fun.” So, please keep praying for him and Corban and them going to school. Here’s a short video from Esan’s first day.
Here are some pictures of Corban’s first day of school. Corban went to this same school last year but of course was in a different class with a different teacher. Luckily, a lot of the same kids are in his class again this year and he really has fun with a couple of them. His teacher is very sweet, but is not the same as last year, so it looks like it might take him a little bit to get used to her.
A Star Wars Birthday Invitation
Esan Ray’s fourth birthday is in one week, May 21. He said he wants to have a Star Wars party. Tonya had a great idea to make a video invitation in the likes of the Star Wars intro title sequence. So, with a little help from Google, I was able to find a small program to do just that. We just wanted to share it because it was so fun making it and even better letting the boys watch it. It’s nothing magnificent, but it did make me want to watch Star Wars.
Esan Ray Learns to Swim!!!
We’ve been going swimming a lot lately for two reasons: first, this is the hottest time of year in Thailand, sometimes over 100 degrees before noon; and second this is the summer break for the schools. So, to beat the heat and take advantage of summer vacation we’ve been going swimming. Corban has been swimming like a fish for a long time and at the beginning of the summer break Esan was using floaties. He was loving the water and having lots of fun swimming with his brothers and jumping in to Tonya and I. And then all of a sudden, one day, he just decided to take off his floaties and started putting his head under and trying to swim. That was about two weeks ago. I kept trying to get him to swim to me in the big pool but he just wanted to stay in the kiddie pool where he could touch. And then, this past weekend at in Chiang Mai, he just started swimming in the deep pool. I think part of it was because he didn’t have a choice, there was no kiddie pool. It was so fun getting to see him swim and seeing him be so excited and proud of himself. So, here is a short video of him swimming and having fun.
Corban Scout’s 6th Birthday!!
I can’t believe it, Corban Scout is six years old. He has got to use two hands now to show how old he is. His birthday was on April 15th, but we had his birthday party on Saturday, April 17th. It is so fun to have his birthday in Thailand because his birthday falls on the national holiday of Songkran. It is a wonderful holiday where the entire country has a huge water fight for about three days to celebrate the Thai new year. On the morning of his birthday he got a few presents from his grandparents and from us (spy gear), and then in the afternoon we went and joined in the water fight. There was also another very special gift on the morning of Corban’s birthday. An atlas moth in our kitchen. Some of you may remember a post I wrote about four months ago about the atlas moth caterpillars we had on a tree in our yard. Wikipedia said they would hatch in about four weeks, but I think it should have said four months. Anyway, about three months ago I put one of the cacoons on the wall of our kitchen so we could see it when it came out and I think as a special gift from God, it emerged the morning of Corban Scout’s birthday. You can click here if you want to see pictures of the Atlas Moth. You can also click here if you would like to see a full gallery of photos from Corban’s birthday.
On Saturday we had his birthday party here at our house. It was pirate themed, complete with treasure hunts, pin the “X” on the map, rum (purple kool-aid in plastic flasks), pirate ship pinata, a treasure chest cake and a couple of the pirates even had to walk the plank. It was a lot of fun and we even had some friends drive all the way from Chiang Mai to be here to celebrate with us. I asked Corban what his favorite part was and he said the pirate ship pinata (thanks to my sweet friend Camille for getting it all the way from Singapore!). Here is a slideshow of just a few of the photos from the party or if you want to see more Birthday Party fun, click here.
Easter in the East
We had a really special Easter this year. I think it was because we celebrated in a lot of ways we never had before and it made Easter so much more significant and meaningful. To start off with, we all participated in Lent this year. I know for some that makes you think of the Catholic church and might make you wonder why we would want to do that. Well, this was the first time I had ever participated in Lent and honestly hadn’t ever even given it much thought before. The basic premise of Lent is joining with Christ in His forty day fast while He was in the desert. So, you choose something special and important to you and forty days before Easter you stop eating it or drinking it or using it, or whatever, depending on what you are fasting from. Besides practicing self-discipline, it ended up being a very meaningful way of putting me in an appropriate mindset for Easter. If I was in Texas, the only things to remind me of the Easter season would be big stuffed bunnies, colored plastic eggs, and egg-shaped Reeses peanut butter cups at wal-mart. Don’t get me wrong, the egg-shaped Reeses are definitely one of my favorite, but they honestly don’t do much as far as helping me to remember what Easter really is. With Lent, I was reminded every day for forty days what was coming and couldn’t help but think about Christ and how he must have felt in his anticipation of the Easter season. Anyway, I’m not trying to advocate Lent or say you need to participate in Lent to have a meaningful Easter, I’m just saying it was very special for me and I’m glad we participated in it together as a team.
Second, we had a special candle-light service, called a Tenebrae service, one night during the week prior to Easter Sunday. It too was a very special time in which we participated in the Last Supper with Christ and his apostles and joined in with Him in the darkness of the hour at hand and felt the weight of the shadow of death that was upon Him. It was a quiet, heavy, almost mournful time. We shared a simple meal together, sang a songs of the cross, and read the story of Christ’s betrayal, arrest, denial, trial, and death. As we read Christ’s last words, “It is finished.” we extinguished the only candle illuminating the room and sat quietly in darkness, taking in the weight of Christ’s death wondering what it must have been like for his followers on that dark day. We said the Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy on us, and when home in sadness.
Because of those two things, Lent and our Tenebrae service, I think it made the joy and meaning of Sunday that much more special and significant. Saturday evening, everyone came over to our house. We had a special meal together, played with the kids and then put them all in bed and everyone spent the night at our house! It was Tonya’s idea and something I think we had all been looking forward to. The next morning, Sunday, the adults got up early and went outside for a sunrise Easter service. We didn’t do anything that special, just prayed together, sang some songs, and read the story of Christ’s resurrection. But, like I said, in light of Lent and the sadness of the Tenebrae service earlier in the week, the joy and celebration of knowing Christ had defeated death, was very meaningful.
At that point, the kids began waking up and coming down stairs excited to see if the Easter bunny had made it all the way to Thailand. Of course, he had, so we all ate breakfast and then had a big Easter egg hunt. After the hunt and a lot of candy, we all went inside and had a special resurrection Bible lesson for the kids that Tonya had prepared. Easter was special this year and I just wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoy the pictures, click here for more.
Corban’s Graduation
Last Thursday we had a small kindergraten graduation for ‘ol Corban Scout. I can’t believe it! Since our container arrived in November we have been playing catch up with his school lessons. After a morning of Thai school, lunch, and a short rest time Corban and I would meet downstairs in our tiny little classroom and work for about two hours every afternoon. Two things I realized through all this is that I love to teach and that I really don’t know how most homeschool moms do it. Well, on last week we had a little ceremony and celebration for his achievement. Here are some things I shared with everyone and with Corban.
Highlights of our time:
reading fun books together
subsitute teacher Chris
snack time and then trying to get you to focus while on a sugar rush
having Esan join us after his nap
watching you begin the year learning lowercase letters and ending the year watching you read words
playing store
hearing you say, “Don’t tell me, I know what to do.”
jumping jacks while saying our “ABC’s”
Corban Scout,
You have had a very interesting and fun first year of school. You moved all the way to the other side of the world to have school at home. With God’s help you have fought through fears about going to Thai school and overcoming the challenge of learning a new language. You cmae home and then worked hard a the Fikes’ school every afternoon. I am so proud of your attitude and your desire for learning. You are creative and smart. I enjoyed sitting next to you in our classroom and watch you learn to read. I enjoyed watching you want to help Esan learn the same things you were learning. I am so thankful for you and I am so thankful I got to be your teacher this year. You are a blessing to me, to our family, to our team, to your friends, and to any place God takes you. You will be a blessing. I love you. - Mrs. Fikes
Chris read a prayer blessing for Corban as well. Psalm 103
“May all that you are praise the Lord;
with your whole heart, may you praise his holy name.
May all that you are praise the Lord;
may you never forget the good things he does for you.
He forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases.
May He redeem you from death
and crown you with love and tender mercies.
May He fill your life with good things.
May your youth be renewed like the eagle’s!
Thank you so much to so many of you who have prayed for Corban and for all of our boys especially about school. There are some of you that have been praying way before we arrived in Phayao and I know the blessing of your prayers and of God’s faithfulness to help us down this road. Homeschool was not something I really wanted to do but God has led us here and I see how He continues to provide and bless through His faithfulness. We are praying about our sweet Esan and wether it is a good time for him to start Thai preschool next term. So please pray for us as we make that decision and for Esan for whenever that time comes. Thank you so much!
Enjoy the pictures below and click here if you would like to see more. There is also a video of the ceremony.
Going Muddin’
We had a big storm today which was much needed, not necessarily for the ground, but to hopefully clear out some of the smoke in the sky. Pretty soon after the storm was over Corban was outside on his bike having a blast. I had so much fun watching him ride through the puddles and play in the mud. It brought back so many fun memories of me and my brother when we would go ride our bikes all over Kerrville after a big storm. Esan got out there with him for a little while, but as you can see in one of the pictures, the mud caked on pretty quick and brought his bike to a stop.
Planting Seeds In Phayao
That’s not a Biblical play on words, we actually planted seeds today. Tonya and I have been talking about having our own garden for a long time and so we finally decided to do it. It’s a pretty small garden, about 2 meters X 2 meters. We let the boys pick out a few different things they wanted to plant and then made a box, filled it up with some good dirt, and started planting seeds. We already had fun just doing that and we are all excited to see how the plants do. We planted sunflowers, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, basil, and hot peppers (similar to tobasco peppers). Here are a few pictures of us planting the seeds and if you want to see more you can click here.
Thai Funeral
Well, it has been a very interesting week at our house here in Phayao, Thailand. Our neighbor’s mother passed away this past saturday and they have been having the funeral at their house this whole week. It is tradition for a Thai funeral to last many days, usually 3-5, but this particular funeral will be a total of nine. They have the body in a coffin in their living room, where it has been since the day she passed away and it stays there in their house until the last day of the funeral when they take the body to be cremated. During the day there isn’t very much going on other than a few people stopping by to visit the family and pay their respects. But every evening, at about 6:00 p.m., guests start arriving for the nightly funeral ceremony. Each evening, there may be anywhere from 50 – 100 people that come to participate in the ceremony and honor the woman that passed away. Each night four Buddhist monks come from a different temple in Phayao to lead the ceremony.
The ceremony consists of three main parts. The first part is the monks chanting in an ancient Bali language. It is believed that the deceased person isn’t yet aware that they have died and the chanting will let them know they have died and release them to go up to heaven. The second part is the preaching. A man who is called the “teacher” will preach for about 20 minutes. This is done in Thai or the local northern dialect and is very similar to preaching like we have in Christian churches. They may talk about any subject, ranging from living a good life to being a good neighbor and taking care of your family. During this time the family is all sitting in the house on the floor of the living room with the coffin and the monks. After the preaching, the emcee of the ceremony will call the “honored” guests into the house one at a time so they can make merit on behalf of the deceased. They do this by offering a new robe to the monks that are present. They believe that by giving a new garment to a monk you can make merit and in this case it is actually done on behalf of the person that has passed away and is hoped that the merit will be enough to get the person into heaven. After this, the emcee will usually thank the guests for coming and close the ceremony by giving a blessing to all those present.
After that, everyone sits around talking, eating snacks, and fellowshipping. Many of the neighbors and close friends of the family come every night to help with this part of the funeral. This has been a great opportunity for Tonya and I to participate in the community of our neighborhood and serve those around us. We’ve had fun meeting lots of new people, serving drinks and snacks, picking up trash, and greeting guests. We don’t know exactly what we are doing and I’m sure we have made quite a few mistakes and cultural faux pas, but our prayer is that God would use this for His glory in the lives of those around us.
Because of this funeral and our presence, I’ve also had some interesting opportunities that I don’t think I would have had otherwise:
- the first was when Corban and I took some flowers over to the house one afternoon and was invited inside to pay my respects to the grandmother that passed away, we placed the flowers next to the coffin and then knelt down with the son (age 65) and grand-daughter (age 32); many of the thais will say a blessing over the body or pray to a spirit to take her to heaven, so I took the opportunity to pray to God and thank Him for her life and ask God to bless their family and give them peace during this difficult time; it wasn’t anything amazing but I was just thankful for the opportunity to pray to God out loud with my neighbors
- another night I was sitting talking with a few of the family members and one of them asked me if our boys names had meanings, so I had the opportunity to share with them the meaning of Corban’s name (a gift devoted to God) and got to tell them a Bible story; Mark 7: when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for giving money to the temple instead of taking care of their mother and father
- the next day, during a conversation I was asked some questions that led to me getting to talk about Easter and share our belief about Jesus rising from the grave after three days
- a couple of nights after that I was sitting talking with some other members of the family when out of nowhere they asked me if I am afraid of ghosts; so then I had the opportunity to talk about the Holy Spirit living inside me and how He is more powerful and has authority over every other spirit so i don’t have to be afraid
- finally, I’ve learned what it means to be a servant and truly humble oneself and what it means to love your neighbor as yourself by watching the way so many of my neighbors care for and serve the family whose mother passed away
So, over the past week, during a Thai Buddhist funeral God has opened doors for me to pray with the family, tell a Bible story, share about Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the grave, talked about the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, and witnessed my neighbors serving and loving one another.
Tonight is the last night of the funeral and then tomorrow will be the cremation ceremony. I just thought it might be interesting for some of you and wanted to ask you to please continue to lift up our family in your prayers and pray that God will be glorified in our lives here in Phayao.
Either we’ve been away from Texas too long, or these really are good steaks!!
I know it’s a long title for a blog post, but i couldn’t help it. On a whim, we decided to go to Chiang Mai last Friday. We mainly went hoping to take the boys to see the movie “Cloudy, with a chance of meatballs” but found out it had just left the theatres here in Thailand. No big deal though, there is still fun stuff to do and plenty of pizza to eat, and oh, yes, Mexican food!. We went shopping for some much needed kitchen items, like knives, which up until now, we only had one; and also took the boys to play at the brand new play area at one of the malls. Also, while we were there, we went to the Rimping Market. Rimping market is a God send in Thailand and is full of “American” goodies. From the moment you walk in the store, you feel like you are walking into a really fancy H.E.B. in Texas. They have all sorts of good cheeses, lunch meat, breakfast cereal, Hershey’s chocolate, and most importantly for this post, STEAK! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, good steak in Thailand is very hard to come by. A couple of weeks ago we made the mistake of buying some T-bone steaks that were from “Thai” cows. I knew it was Thai beef but honestly didn’t think it would be that different. Oh, let me tell you, it’s different!
We definitely know how to raise cattle in Texas, and i’m here to tell you, it matters what you feed ‘em. I know this sounds silly and is probably kindergarten stuff for alot of you ranchers that might be reading this; (ha, that’s a far leap to think that ranchers might actually know how to turn on a computer and get on the world wide web and read a blog). Just kidding, William, I know Darlene turns on the computer for you. Anyway, we went to Rimping market and found some really good imported angus beef and bought it. It was a little pricey but actually not that far off from prices in Texas. To be more specific, i bought sirloin and tenderloin.
We got back to Phayao on Saturday and on Sunday we had a barbecue. We decided to cook the tenderloins and grilled them wrapped in bacon just like a filet mignon. And, if i do say so myself, they were awesome!! now, i don’t mean to brag, but these were really good! i mean, they were gooooood. and that brings me back to the title of the blog. I don’t know if it’s because we’ve been away from Texas and Texas steaks for five months or if they really were that good, but either way we really enjoyed them. So, here are a few pictures of the steaks for you to look at and you can make your own judgment.
Camping Trip
This past Friday our family went on a camping trip with Haley and three of our other friends. We drove about two hours to a national park that sits on the side of a mountain named Phu Langka. It is a beautiful little campground set high in the jungle. We especially had fun getting there (well, I should say me and the boys had fun) because the last 20-30 minutes was four-wheel drive up the mountain through the jungle. It was already pretty late when we got to the campsite so I took the boys for a short hike up the mountain to a gorgeous overlook. We could see villages way down in the valley below and the sun going to sleep behind the mountains off in the distance. Our friend P’ Dome cooked some barbecued pork for dinner and then I made some good strong coffee. We all sat and talked and laughed for a while and then Tonya and I took the boys back to the tent to sit by the campfire for a bit and then read books. I had planned on going back to hang out for a while but when I woke up around 2:00 a.m. I realized that wasn’t going to happen. We got up the next morning, ate some breakfast, had some coffee, and then did a little bit more four-wheelin almost up the the top of the mountain. We parked the truck and then hiked the last kilometer or so all the way to the top where we could see all the way to Laos (about 50 km. away). On the way home we stopped at a tiny little village and had soup at a small roadside noodle shop. I think we were probably the first white people that had ever eaten there and I’m pretty sure we were the first white people any of them had ever spoken to. We had a great time and I told the boys that there aren’t very many people, especially little kids, that get to go four-wheelin and camping in the jungle. Click here if you want to see all the pictures from the trip.
Our first hike, this overlook was only a few hundred meters above our campsite.
Esan didn’t want to take a picture, so of course neither did Teagan, so I had to wait until they weren’t looking
Reading books before we go to sleep.
Wakin’ up is hard! Don’t worry, he wasn’t really mad, just pretending.
Monkey See, Monkey Do!!
On top of Phu Langka…almost.
Haiti Fundraiser
We’ve been watching some of the news about the earthquake in Haiti and all the people who are hurting. We’ve seen how they have lost everything and we wanted to do something to help. We came up with the idea of selling funnel cakes at the local night bazaar. We decided we would sell the funnel cakes and also take donations and then give all the money we made to an organization called Tents and Tarps that is helping the people of Haiti. Their mission right now is to provide shelter to 4500 families in the form of a tent and a tarp.
So, we found a recipe online from Rachel Ray and made a few “test cakes”, and I must say, they were pretty good. I don’t know if it’s just because it made me feel like I was at a local fair in Texas or if it really was that good, either way, they were tasty. Anyway, we got some of our Thai friends and neighbors to help and we were able to raise over 15,000 baht; that’s almost $500.00! We were really excited that we were able to raise so much money and had a lot of fun doing it. We sold cakes two different nights and had a good time meeting new people and sharing with them what we were doing. It was also neat watching people’s reactions when they saw white people selling something at the local night market. The video below is after the first night and before we decided to do it again the second night. Anyway, write us some comments and let us know what you think or if you have any questions. Enjoy the video and if you want to download it you can click here. You can also click this link –> Funnel Cakes for Haiti <– or click the link in the sidebar if you just want to see the pictures from our funnel cake fundraiser.
Fear not, easier said than done.
Psalm 4
“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach?
How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself;
The LORD hears when I call to Him.
Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the LORD.
Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?”
Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.”
A Poem Inspired by Psalm 4:
Fear, take this fear, fear, this fear that grips me
Fear, it hurts, fear, it overwhelms
it keeps me awake at night, consumes my thoughts.
This fear that pushes me to anger,
This fear that draws me to rage in silent tirades.
This fear that darkens all I see,
it steals my joy, it devours my time, it eats at me,
it drills down deep inside until I almost forget what to call this pain within.
This fear that seeks to be my god,
This fear that desires to control me.
No, no! this fear is not from You.
Perfect love casts out fear.
Trust, trust, yes trust.
I call on you now – raise yourself up in glory.
Break the darkness of this fear, yes, Trust!
Trust that comforts, trust that brings peace.
Trust.
Trust in You.
Trust that gives rest.
Come now, o Trust, and dispel this darkness of fear.
Fear that lurks in the darkness.
Trust, bring forth your light and devour the darkenss.
Remove the power of fear and fill this place with Your glory!
Video Update II – January 2010
Good news, Teagan got out of the hospital today!! It turns out he had salmonella! Sounds pretty bad if you ask me, and I guess it was since he spent four days in the hospital. But, he is doing much better and is definitely happy to be home with mom and dad, and Corban and Esan are definitely glad to have mom home at night. They were starting to really miss her and had a hard time going to sleep last night. Anyway, Teagan is good, but still has to take some oral antibiotics for a few days. Thank you everyone for your prayers and please continue to pray for his healing and for overall protection for our boys and all the children on our team.
As you may remember, I made a video update a couple of months ago to share with you all in a different way and got some positive feedback from that. So, I decided it was time for another one. This video was actually made with alot of help from Derran Reese, one of our teammates. It’s about seven minutes long and has some bloopers of the boys at the end. We tried to use the video to give you a feel for what life is like for us here in Thailand and highlight some important aspects of our lives here in Phayao. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to email back with comments or suggestions for the next video update. If you would like to download the video you can click here. Thank you for your prayers and please, please continue to lift up our family to the Lord.
Nursing it
This isn’t the first time we’ve ever been to the hospital in Thailand, but it is the first time one of our boys has had to spend the night in the hospital, two nights as of now and maybe more. Teagan has been sick off and on for the past two weeks. We took him to see the doctor last week and got him some medicine and we thought he was getting better. But then, Friday night he had 105 fever! So, we quickly got him to the hospital and found out he has an infection in his intestines. He is on an intravenous and oral antibiotic but has still been running a little bit of a fever. His big brothers got to go visit him yesterday and it was so neat to see little Esan Ray being concerned for and taking care of his baby brother. He would get his toys for him and see if he wanted any snacks. He is such a good big brother and so full of compassion. So, he is still at the hospital, but the doctor is talking like he might get out tomorrow. Please keep him in your prayers and here are a couple of pictures.
Superman in Thailand?!
The other day I was driving down the street in Phayao and I did a double-take because I thought I saw Superman. Well, I was right, and not only was it Superman, but he had Batman and Batgirl with him, too!! You would think they would be in Batman’s Batmobile, but for some reason they weren’t. Maybe it was in the shop or something, or maybe they just wanted to enjoy the cool mountain air, but they were riding a Vespa.
Before I picked Corban up from school, Tonya called me to tell me she and the other boys would just meet me for lunch at a local noodle shop. When I saw her, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud and got a few pictures real quick. I’m still wondering what everyone else was thinking, but they got lots and lots of smiles and laughs, so I think it was good. Anyway, here are a few pictures.
A blog from Gigi
My mom went back to Texas a little over a week ago and we had a great time with her and really miss her a lot. We took her to the airport in Chiang Mai on Monday, January 4 and then went on a short team-building trip with the Reeses, Binkleys, and Haley. We were so busy on our trip, I guess I didn’t really realize how much I missed her until we got back to Phayao on Sunday afternoon and I saw her empty bedroom and didn’t hear her playing with the boys or reading books before bedtime. I’m so thankful God gave her the opportunity to come spend time with us and that we got to share our lives with her here in Phayao. Before she left to go home, I asked her if she would like to write something for the blog and she said yes. So, this is what she wrote after her three weeks here in Thailand along with a slideshow of highlights of her time here, if you would like to see the gallery of all the pictures while she was here you can click here:
“Well, I arrived in Chiang Mai bearing gifts. I brought five suitcases full of food and Christmas gifts. I was greeted by three happy boys all jumping and bouncing around. Corban put flowers around my neck and I received lots of hugs and kisses.
Now… it is time for me to leave Phayao and my precious children. I have had a such a wonderful time with my son Chris. He loved showing me their new home and the people who surround them there.
Then my sweet Tonya Gail, I miss her a lot so I soaked up all the time I could with her. Not only is she a super daughter-in-law, but also a very dear friend. I have had such a wonderful time and did so many things: I visited Corban’s school twice, went to two waterfalls, had a picnic by the lake, went to Chiang Rai to visit friends, we had Christmas eve and Christmas day parties, we had “Suki Santa”, we went to the neighbor’s new year’s eve “Countdown” party, I got to keep all the children while the moms and dads went out, we made stew, and we went camping in the backyard. The most fun was spending time with my precious family. Being with Corban, Esan and Teagan was the best of all!!
We all had fun just hanging out at home and attending to daily matters. One of the best things I did was help Tonya set up her classroom for the boys. What fun!! She is such a great mom and teacher. The two older boys enjoyed taking me to do a special activity also; Esan chose to take me to eat fried pork and rice, and Corban chose to take me to eat ice cream. So two different days Chris and each one of the boys took me out.
I also loved spending time with the team. They are awesome. It was great being with them and seeing each of their homes. The children are so much fun. We had a great play day and night ending with a movie and popcorn. Spending time with Haley was also special. I went to her house one Sunday and enjoyed meeting her “Tai Chi” lady friends. She is blessed by them and they bring such joy.
So, my time here has come to an end, but I will be taking so many memories with me AND… I will return!”
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Well, we had a great Christmas and great New Year here in Phayao. Christmas day was lots of fun but had a few tweaks that definitely made it interesting and very different from Christmas in Texas. First of all, it was about 85 degrees, so that automatically feels pretty weird. We looked on the internet and saw many of our homes in Texas covered in snow on Christmas day while we were tempted to turn on the air conditioner. The next thing that was different was being so far removed from all of our family. It was definitely nice having Gigi here with us but we still missed the rest of our family back home. So to help cope a little bit, we had two computers turned on and connected to video chat all morning. Sir (that’s what the boys call Chris’ dad) was with us all morning long via video chat and got to be part of the present opening. It was lots of fun to be able to let him see the boys coming running into the living room and see all that Santa had brought. We also got to talk to Tonya’s parents and Amy and Sid and later with Wes and Tricia in Tomball. And finally, the last big surprise we had was a 70 year old Thai man knocking on our door about 9:00 a.m. He is actually a christian who lives close by and had heard about us through a mutual friend and decided he would come meet us… on Christmas day… and stay for over an hour… while we were trying to spend time with our boys and talk with our families… and then invite himself to dinner that night… Actually, it wasn’t that bad. He is a very sweet man and full of joy. It was actually very refreshing to meet someone of his age that obviously loves the Lord very much and has a desire to help build Christian community and see God glorified here in Thailand.
A few of the other festivities we enjoyed over the holidays were Christmas party at Ryan and Ning’s house, Christmas dinner at our house with everyone, and “Suki Santa” at our house on Dec. 26. Click here to see some pictures of our Christmas fun or see the pictures below to see what Santa brought. If you want to hear more about “Suki Santa” click here to read Tonya’s post about it.
The boys were all so excited to get presents from Santa Clause!
Our cute littel boys on Christmas morning
Corban Scout got a radio controlled car
Corban Scout's gift from Santa
Esan Ray got a drum set! Yeah for mom and dad! Thanks, Santa. I guess he wants us to go crazy.
Esan Ray's new drum set from Santa
Teagan got a car playset
Thank you, Santa
And finally, Tonya Gail got a clothes dryer!! It may not seem like a very good present to some of you, but it is. Dryers aren’t very common in Thailand and most people hang their clothes on a line to dry. Well, that is ok, and yes, it does work; but the clothes end up being stiff and smelling kind of funny, especially when you live next to a muddy field used to raise cows and water buffalo and then breeze all day comes from the field. Your clothes end up smelling a little bit like poopy mud. Anyway, all that to say a dryer is a really good thing and really helps make this feel a little bit more like a home. So here are a few pictures of Tonya with her new dryer and a short video of her actually getting it on Christmas morning.
She was so excited!
They're so soft and they smell so good, thank you Santa Clause!
Life in Thailand
The store where I bought, uh, I mean Santa and his elves delivered, er, brought the dryer to Tonya on Christmas morning about 8:30, which was perfect timing because the boys had just finished opening their gifts. It had a big red bow on it and my mom had made her think I was getting her a T.V. for Christmas, which she would’ve hated, so she really was surprised when she came outside and saw it. So, here is a short video of her getting it: