thefikesfive

Teagan Race Is Four

Chris — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:55:23 +0000

Teagan is a joy. He is so easy going and laughs at the drop of a hat. His laughter is a constant reminder of how God intends for us to enjoy Him and His goodness all around us. It is his laughter that reminds me of how not to take life too serious. His laugh is contagious and brings joy to our lives. Teagan is more of a follower but maybe it is because he has two older brothers that are always leading. Lately, if I am away from him while he is at school he will ask me if I prayed for him. He also asked Haley if she prayed for him and another time told his buddy Meg that he “prayed sad” for her while she was away. I love that he is learning how to connect with God in this way. He loves picking up bugs, lizards, caterpillars, and frogs (we have them in our kitchen some times). He is the most physically coordinated one of the bunch and is enjoying swimming now with no help. He got a few swim lessons in with his GiGi while she was here and was learning to free style. He doesn’t like to sit still for any length of time so I don’t know how his thai teacher is doing it. He has started counting and even adding without our help, his Sir would be proud! We got to celebrate four years with our laughing Teagan Race on August 31st and we got to do it with a sweet Thai friend, Sea Game, that shares the same birthday. They chose to have a swim party, so we gathered with friends and teammates and celebrated his life at the swimming pool. Click here to see all the pictures from the birthday party.

Fourth of July 2011

Chris — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:21:44 +0000

This year fourth of July was a lot of unexpected fun. It was one of those last minute, “hey let’s do something for the fourth and everyone do a little something to make it special.” It was so fun because Haley’s sweet parents, William and Darlene were visiting at the time and they had brought table decorations, shirts for the kids, and special food from home that made it so fun. While we were preparing the table and the food and drinks I noticed Corban and Haley’s dad sitting together talking. William was doing most of the talking and Corban was listening and asking questions every so often. As I walked closer to listen myself and take a few pictures I realized that William was giving Corban a history lesson on why we celebrate this special day. He had brought his Kindle and was reading some things to him as well. It was such an unexpected blessing to have someone besides me and Chris be Corban’s teacher. I could have never taught him on that subject the way William did. Corban really was interested and wanted to ask questions. They ended up sitting and talking in those chairs for over thirty minutes. So school looks different for us sometimes and it comes in ways I don’t plan. I praise God for the ways He is providing for our children in the realm of education. Our team met at lunch time and we grilled hot dogs and loaded up on the most delicious queso I’ve ever had.

We ate and then William Edmiston shared with us the history of Independence day and read the Declaration of Independence. Ann prepared cookies for the kids to decorate which was their favorite part and then we played some games and then headed home. I love days like these that are so fun and help us feel not so far away from home. If you want to see all the pictures of the day you can click here.

Spy Missions w/ Larry and Pam Henderson

Chris — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:24:45 +0000

We had a fun visit from Pam and Larry Henderson in June for a few days. They came to visit our whole team and stay in each of our homes for some fun and encouragement. Larry is known around our house for telling great bed-time stories. This visit was one to remember though. Chris and the boys like to go on missions and while I am in the kitchen getting supper ready they are running around, in the tree house, coming up with a plan to sneak candy out of our fridge. The mission usually involves decoys, secret signals, and some great fibbing. Well this time was no different but it was taken to a whole new level. Pam and I were sitting and talking at the kids table inside the house. Chris came in without the boys knowing and told us that he was going to have the boys go on a mission to plant a “bug” at the table we would be sitting at. It was a set up but so much fun. So the boys came in and in their usual way and one boy distracted us while another planted the “bug” under the table. The “bug” was a cell phone that had already been dialed and connected to Chris’s phone in the tree house so they could hear our whole conversation. Then Pam and I sat down and talked about all kinds of things for awhile and then Pam brought up that she had some special candy she had brought the boys and didn’t know if it was ok for her to give it to them or not. I said she better hide it in a special place and wait because we hadn’t eaten supper. For the record, Pam is great at acting. I was trying not to laugh and keep a straight face and she was going on and on about this secret candy and where she would hide it. Well, the next stage of the mission was to distract Pam and I and away from the secret hiding place. The mission was a success and Chris had them get the candy and bring it up into the treehouse for all of them to share. Larry, Chris, Corban, Esan, and Teagan all enjoyed every bite of those delicious Reese’s Pieces. Then Chris told them that they should fill the bag with small rocks and staple the bag shut and put it back where they found it so we wouldn’t know. As you would suspect they were loving this mission! So while Chris and Larry sat in the treehouse and giggled to themselves the boys were out gathering the rocks, distracting us again to retrieve the stapler and put the candy back where they had found it. Later that night we were sitting down at the supper table and Pam announces to the boys that she has a special surprise she wants to give them but I had said to wait until they finished their supper. They each worked quickly at eating their food so that they could see the surprise. Corban put it together before the other two that the surprise she was going to give them was going to be the candy they had already eaten. The look on his face was priceless. He had a sort of excited, nervous look on his face. Pam went upstairs to get the surprise and when she came back down she was holding some bags of none other than Reese’s Pieces. She told them that she was going to open one for them to share and let them have the other bags for later. She picked up a bag and opened it and all the rocks those little hands had gathered spilled out onto the table and the boys roared with laughter!

It was such a fun moment with them laughing and Pam acting so surprised and confused. Then the boys couldn’t wait another second and they each began trying to tell the story of the mission and what they had done to trick us. What a fun afternoon and a fun memory for us all to have. We are so thankful for people outside of our family like Larry and Pam that love our boys and do special things like sit in tree houses and go on missions and play along for none other than to make their day more fun and special. What a gift!

Esan Ray

Chris — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:31:10 +0000

I am so thankful for esan and my time with him in the mornings. He is Enjoying kindergarten at the Fikes school. Lately he has been drawing a lot and loves to share ideas and stories in this way. He is able to express himself better and is becoming a leader. Last year was difficult for Esan. It was difficult for him to go to thai school and we began to see him show his frustration in various ways. We made the decision to keep him home and not have him go to thai school and we are so thankful to see him more relaxed and enjoying life more. Back in May we celebrated five years with Esan Ray. I made a slideshow of his life from birth until now and it is so awesome to see how he has changed and grown and all the fun memories we have with him. He is not one for a lot of attention so his party was a good balance of fun and games and while we played outside for some of it he was inside playing with his toys. He is a joy to be with and is my sensitive, loving, artistic boy, among other things. A gentleman visiting phayao recently was asking what the boys names meant. We haven’t heard of any other Esan’s so we have taken the liberty to come up with our own meaning of his name; passionate. That is our Esan Ray. Below are some are some pictures of Esan on his 5th birthday.

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Easter 2011

Chris — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:53:54 +0000

We had a great Easter this year!! It was especially fun getting to see all three of the boys really get into it and to be able to talk with them about the joy and hope we have because of Jesus’ resurrection. This year Teagan really got into the festivities. He loved it so much that after a party we had with some friends he carried around his eggs in his basket for most of the day. Even after the eggs were all smashed he continued to carry the basket around on his head. He has so much joy and his laughter is awesome! Esan and Corban are old pros at the egg finding but this year it was fun to really engage them in the real meaning of Easter. This year our team started commemorating Easter on Good Friday by participating in the age-old tradition of “stations of the cross.” We met together for a somber and quiet time of reflection on the days and hours leading up to the crucifixion. We ended our time in silent meditation on Christ’s death and burial and then went home with the intention of “living” in that sadness until the glorious resurrection on Sunday morning. It was good because, as adults, we were able to spend time thinking about Christ’s sacrifice and contemplating the fullness of what that means for us, but we were also able to talk with the boys about what Christ did for us and what happened.

On Saturday, Tonya and Ann put together a really fun time of Easter celebration. We had all of our kids plus quite a few neighborhood kids come over to our house for cookie decorating, egg decorating and egg hunting. It was a blast! It was really neat because after all the fun and festivities and celebration they sat down with the children and told them why we are so happy, what we are celebrating, and where we get our joy.

Sunday morning we gathered with our team and celebrated the resurrection with singing, communion, and reading of the Word. We acted out the resurrection with the kids using Star Wars action figures and spent time celebrating and being happy about Jesus being alive. Ryan talked to us about God’s bounty and we all shared in a meal of milk and honey. It was delicious. After that, we had a special Easter activity. We continue to look for ways to live out God’s kingdom and share the gospel message with those around us. So, this year we made plans to visit our close friends and neighbors to share the joy and hope of this day by giving them a small gift; an orchid plant, fruit, and a card with a written blessing. We went to the houses of fifteen different close friends and neighbors. We took the opportunity to tell them why Easter Sunday is special to us as Christians and that we wanted to share it with them because they are special to us, too. It was a really fun day together! We love celebrating the joy we have knowing Jesus is alive!

Click here to see pictures and watch the video below of Easter 2011 Phayao. Hope you enjoy.

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Corban is 7!!

Chris — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:35:58 +0000

You are looking at a 7 year old! Wow! Every year and every birthday I can’t help but say the same thing, I can’t believe that he is 7! What a wonderful boy Corban is. When Corban was 2 years old he would say, “ I dot a dood idea!” (I got a good idea for those of you who aren’t able to translate.) Well here we are and the kid has more “dood” ideas than we know what to do with. Right now Corban is wanting to make a movie and start his own company called Lemonade. He has written the script and the actors have been given their lines. It is currently stuck in pre-production but hopefully soon to be underway, as soon as mom is up for it. Corban loves to act and perform for others. Once the movie is out and it is rated you can look for it in a theater near you. Corban’s birthday falls on our favorite Thai holiday, Songkran. It is the Thai new year and what we like to call a huge water fight. So each year on Corban’s birthday we will be playing in the water. It is a fun way to spend a birthday. This year we were able to play with alot of our friends which makes it even more special. The pictures don’t do it justice, you just have to come and experience it in person. We also gathered friends, and I wish we could say family, at the pool to celebrate Corban! We swam, danced, snacked, broke a pinata, fought over candy, and ate cake together. It was fun! You can click here to see pictures of the water fight and Corban’s birthday party. We thank God for Corban. He is creative, intuitive, playful, easygoing, a good big brother, understanding, and very caring. He asks good questions and loves a good story. We are thankful for 7 years with him.

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Chiang Mai Home School Conference

Chris — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:07:17 +0000

In February our family attended a week long conference for home school families who are in Thailand. There is an International School in Chiang Mai that has a Extended Learning Program which serves families like ours who are needing educational support because we are homeschooling in a rural setting. We were really blessed by this experience in several different ways. We were able to get to know other families that are in similar circumstances and share the struggles and joys of homeschooling in Thailand. We also were able to receive training as parents and educators. The kids had their own activities with kids their age that was a huge blessing. All three of the boys met boys their age and played together all week. We are still in contact with those families and hope to visit their home town in the near future and further those relationships. During the week a team of people from the States helped conduct a VBS for the kids in the afternoons. They learned about Joseph’s life and learned new songs that Corban is still singing. In the mornings the kids were broken up into their age groups and did standardized testing. On Wednesday night of the conference they had a student showcase. The kids had prepared in advance work they had done to show all the others. Corban presented a photo he had taken and he and Esan both performed a song. Esan was the youngest participant and he was brave enough to get in front of a room full of people and sing. Esan chose to sing “Wan Nee Ben Wan” (This is the Day) in Thai and Corban sang “Michael Row The Boat Ashore.” My heart was bursting when I heard and saw those sweet boys sing. Below is the picture and caption of Corban’s picture along with a video of their songs.

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Corban Wants To Fly

Chris — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:08:50 +0000

Corban has been experimenting with trying to fly. He gathered old cereal boxes and some electrical tape and pieced together some wings. He did it all on his own and it was fun to see him get excited about the possibility that it might actually work. It was priceless! He wanted his maiden flight to be from the top of the neighbors tall fence until Chris explained that it would be better to fall from a shorter distance if it didn’t work. So, after some convincing and a little higher level reasoning, he realized that if they really were going to work, they should work from the ground just as well as from the top of something tall. He started flapping expectantly and as you might guess the wings started coming apart and there was no take-off. As you can see in the video, he had a great attitude and dealt with it better than I did. Even though I knew it wouldn’t work there was still a part of me that was a little disappointed. I think I wanted it to work more than he did. I love to see him experiment and try ideas that he has. I wonder if that’s how God feels sometimes as He watches us. Hope you enjoy it.

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Getting to know Seagame

Chris — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:51:07 +0000

There is a little boy at Corban’s school that we have known since he started school over a year and a half ago. Our whole team knows about him through Corban. I really wish you could all meet him! He is really outgoing and was the one kid in Corban’s class that made it easy for Corban to transition to Thai school. His name is Seagame. When we drop Corban off Seagame yells from across the school yard, “Corbans!!” and waves his arms and starts running towards him. So, we thank God for Seagame and the ways he has blessed our son. Corban and Seagame have been asking to play together at each other’s houses for a long time, but since our drop-off and pick up times are different than his parents we are never able to set a play time with them. Finally in January we met Seagame’s parents at Children’s Day at their school. Seagame was chosen to perform a song for Corban’s class. It was so fun to watch him and we also got to meet his mom and dad that day. Since then we have had his family over to our home for play time and a few meals. We have also visited their home to play and share a meal as well. They are a sweet couple who we are really enjoying getting to know. We hope and pray our friendship will grow with them. Here are a few pictures of Corban and Seagame and some things we have done with them.

Second Annual Suki Santa

Chris — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:48:10 +0000

Suki Santa is now a holiday tradition at the Fikes’s house. Our landlord offered to cook food for another Christmas celebration this year. She is a great cook! We accepted her offer and started inviting our neighbors and friends. This year we wanted to do something besides just eat together so the idea of doing a play about Jesus’s birth came up. Our family walked up and down our street to invite our neighbors and gave them a copy of the story of Jesus’s birth in the first three chapters of Luke in Thai. We invited the kids in each of our team’s neighborhoods to be a part of the play as well. The kids were really excited to be in the play and asked repeatedly when play practice and show time would be. Altogether there were fifteen kids that preformed. Each of them took home the story to read before play practice and then when they came for the play practice they were excited to pick their parts. After the practice was over I asked some of the children if they had ever heard the story before and none of them ever had. So the day of the party we prepared tables and chairs and fixed the stage. Chris went and picked up the food and our landlord and shortly after guests began to arrive. Neighbors that we have not gotten to know very well came and ate with us that night. Friends of each of our families gathered around suki pots and kids ran around and played. It was a great time! The highlight of the evening was definitely the play. Before the play started Chris gathered everyone’s attention and explained what we were going to do. He told everyone how the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of Christ and that Jesus was a gift to humanity from God. The kids acted out the story of our Lord’s birth and we even had a real baby Jesus complete with a Santa hat. Instead of sheep and cows that you usually see in the stable there was a rabbit instead. It was precious to see these sweet children act out the real story of Christmas, God coming into the world in human form. After the play Ryan shared how thankful we were that each of them came and that we had a special gift for each family. Derran handed each family a New Testament Bible in Thai. We don’t know what they will do with their Bible but it is our prayer that it will not only enter their bookshelf but also their hearts. Overall it was a wonderful evening celebrating with our friends and we ask that you pray for our neighbors and for opportunities to be part of their lives more and more. Click here to see pictures of the evening and we hope you enjoy the video below of the nativity play.

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