All Lit Up

The Holiday:  Loy Kratong

This is such a pretty holiday!  With hundreds of lanterns floating in the sky, candles and incense floating on homemade flower boats down the river, fireworks lighting the sky and candles around the perimeter of each yard. LIGHT is important to this holiday.

A fountain of flames to rid the yard of evil spirits.

Interesting advice on a box of mini M-80s.

We learned that each flower boat in the river is symbolic of a prayer of forgiveness and worship to Buddha, and each candle on the property is keeping the evil spirits away from the dark corners.  The lanterns are released into the air along with the evil thoughts, and the fireworks are to scare away evil spirits.

Juni modeling traditional Northern Thai costume.

The floating flower boat made by our neighbors.

Ornate decorations around the neighborhoods. 

Finn holding the lantern, and getting ready to light the wax.

George keeping it steady and his face from burning until it's ready to float up.

Off it goes...adding to the hundreds already up and flying away.

The next day, these are all over the city!

We enjoyed learning about this new holiday with our neighbors.  We said our own prayers to the Spirit we don't have to fear, the One who has been invited into our lives and the dark corners of our hearts.  The Spirit we love to serve.  The Spirit we can call Friend, Father and King.

Top 12 of 2012

We just realized we've had Tim in the ER on our blog for quite some time...he got bettah! (Monty Python accent.) His face and neck have healed up and his stomach is settling down too. Thanks for your prayers and concern.

We live with basically three seasons year round; all of them are HOT!  It's hard to tell when the holidays are approaching.  There are no big sales, no inflated turkeys, no snow globes.  Yet Thanksgiving is this week, and it's time to start searching for the flavors of home and paying quadruple the price...but it's worth it.  Once a year. 

In honor of the holiday, here are:

12 Things We're Thankful For in 2012 

 (in no particular order)

1.  You--the readers, the encouragers, the supporters.

2.  "Fish and reptiles."  -George

3.  The wonders of creation all around us. 

4.   Two sets of parental units who have been and continue to be great role models.

5.  "My brother and sister."  -Finn

6.  Freely given and richly lavished Salvation.

7.  The privilege to live in Thailand to share the gift mentioned in  #6.

8.  "Rice!"  -Juniper

9.   Mercies that are new every morning.  

10.  "Clothes dryer, indoor plumbing, rat poison."  -Jill

11.  Caring neighbors & superb friends in each country we have lived in.

12.  "Spicy Thai food, antacids, more spicy Thai food."  -Tim

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! 

His faithful love endures forever." 

Psalm 136:1

Things That Go THUD In The Night

THUD.

I thought I had heard just about every sound in the middle of the night...but this one, this THUD, was a new one.  It was the sound of a face hitting the tile in the bathroom.  I flew out of bed and found Stew, face down, with blood beginning to puddle on the floor from somewhere on his head.  

 It was the culmination of two weeks of not feeling well, and followed by some herbal tea to help it out.  The THUD was him passing out from the intense abdominal pain. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out.

We have amazing neighbors and coworkers who came to help us, Stew got in the ER right away, bottom line was that he was lucky and needed lots of medicine but no stitches. Luck?  No way.  God.  He protected Stew from what could have been a very nasty fall.  But even if Stew would have more injuries...we serve a God who is still good, even during the rough times.

What we expected?

We have been asked recently, "Are you finding things to be the way you expected them to be?"

I guess to answer that, we will do a blog!  First, rewind six months.............. It became obvious God was moving us to Thailand in March, and we decided to trust Him like never before. He did the amazing and we just followed His obvious leading. We kept saying, "Well, God, you will have to make it super clear and do a bit of work if we are to get there by July!"  And boy...did He ever!

So, from the start, our expectations were really put in the Lord.  He is still the one to whom we are looking. Easy?   No way!!!!  Worth it?  Oh yeah!

As far as the school, yes, it is what we expected! GIS is a great place!  It's a very supportive and caring community, always looking for ways to encourage the teachers and staff. We'll blog more about it later, but Tim and the boys are enjoying the school environment.

 We didn't expect such a great place to live. Our neighborhood is amazing!  Affordable rent, not a lot of traffic, and the neighbors are wonderful too. Next door is an American family who is serving with SIL, and they have kids the same age as ours, two older boys and a younger girl.  On the other side our Thai landlords reside. They have nicely slipped into the role of the kids' surrogate grandparents. Complete with voicing many concerns, enjoying the 'children' sounds  from our house, and coming over with tasty treats (such as the bagged lunch pictured above--bagged then bowled).

One thing we didn't expect is the amount of familiar food items we can get here, and how relatively inexpensive they are.

 Above we have:

1/2 Gallon of milk - $2.80

 Fresh German Rye Bread - $2.30

3 Organic Cucumbers - $.80

Can of Tuna (not super fishy tasting) - $1.60

Peanut Brittle - $. 40

Coconut - free from our tree

Bag of Pretzels - $1.90

We did expect to have great tasting Thai food, and at an affordable price!  Woo hoo! 

We didn't expect to be encouraged to fight! In a mandatory Thai Culture Module we learned how to release pent up stress on each other. Or maybe this was practicing a traditional Thai fighting style...either way.

Also unexpected, the fact men must say ***minor inappropriate language warning*** "crap" (pronounced more like car-ap) at the end of almost every sentence to make it respectful and polite.  Having our boys taught this in Thai class was unexpected.  What do women say?  Its much nicer, "kah". 

Need we say more?  We didn't expect all the 7/11's everywhere; they can be right across the street from each other.  We can buy our basics there; diapers, dried squid, ramen noodles, a Slurpee. And also pay the bills, recharge our cell minutes, dodge the chickens in the parking lot, and practice our new Thai. 

All in all, we have been pleasantly surprised at how we have adjusted to life here.Of course, it's early yet, and yes, there is the language barrier, the culture stress, the kids feeling insecure at times, the price we had to pay for a used car (don't even ask!!!),  and the new school culture to get used to.  Not to simplify the depth  of difficulty for any of those, but we expected and have prepared ourselves for them. 

We also expected to have voids in our lives; the loneliness for family, the longing for the familiar faces of friends, our amazing church families, even zipping to Trader Joe's up the street.  But again, we said goodbye knowing the pain for those would come.  We serve a mighty God, and He is so faithful to stand in the gap and even provide unexpected blessings in the midst.

Thanks for the prayers and love.

-JKS-

Four Weeks Plus

Everyday we get a bit more settled in, and everyday is an adventure too. We are amazed at the amount of familiar things around here, like Kraft dinner (Mac n Cheese for the Americans), Jif peanut butter, and A&W root beer. It's just like home, we say, then we get a bowl of noodles with a big wad of blood on the side.

Bowl of yummy noodles.  Upper right brown chunk is blood.  Extra iron anyone?



See the little blue hat? Mom was feeding him rice while riding through traffic.



 Some of you have been asking some good questions about practical life here, so we thought we'd do a FAQs blog this week.

Are you having culture shock?

Of course! Some days are a bit overwhelming as everything is so unfamiliar. Like when we go to an International Church one Sunday only to find out that we are the ones making it "international".  Thankfully, most signs, labels and ads are in Thai and English, so that helps a whole lot.  We've had a pretty soft landing here thanks to all the gracious people helping us.

 What have you been eating in Thailand?

Lots of spicy Thai food! We'll have to start a series of blogs on food--there is so much variety here! There are food stalls and small restaurants everywhere, and the food is very reasonable. For example, a plate of phad Thai typically costs $1.00 and will usually be enough for one person (except George). Jill is gathering ingredients and recipes and has fired up the burner a couple times; this is a brave thing to do in the afternoon heat around here.



Box of Easy Mac:  $6



Thai dinner for our whole family:  $6



 Jill, what have you been cooking in Thailand? 

 I have attempted sandwiches (with success), eggs and pancakes (not the prettiest but still tasty), little hot dogs (which come wrapped in individual plastic that I didn't see till after boiling 2 packs!) and spaghetti (which took about all I had both mentally and physically!). The counter tops are pretty low here, making food prep a hunched over experience.  Maybe I should work on my knees.

 How far away is Grace International School from your home? How do Tim and the boys get there?

GIS is about 3 miles from our house and the drive takes about 5-10 minutes. Tim has been riding a rented scooter and Jill has been taking the boys in a borrowed car (we are vehicle shopping right now!). Jill is looking into a carpool with another family.



Just another drive in the family car. Fret not,  Finn isn't driving.
 The steering wheel is on the right side, shifting is with the left hand,
and we drive on the left side of the road.
 Finn sitting in the front is safer, as there are only 2 belts in the back. Don't worry, there is no passenger-side airbag.



 Can you drink the water?

No one drinks the tap water in Chiang Mai. Bottled water is plentiful and ice is safe. We have a water cooler in our house, so cold water at all times is ready for the drinking. 





 Notice the lovely green bowls under our food pantry.  They are filled with baby powder to keep the ants from getting in the pantry.  It works well!

   Do you have a Walmart?

No, we have a Big C which is pretty much the same.  Cheap shoes, clothes, plastic stuff for the house, pretty good electronics.  I can get groceries there also.  Seems like every other aisle has chips in it, so I usually end up leaving with noodles, chips and milk every time.  Downstairs has a play area, which we can pay about $1 for the kids to play awhile.  Can't leave them there alone though, I have seen Juniper escape and the workers just smile. 



 A pottery shop on the side of the road.  I looked under a few cool bowls
and mugs and saw the IKEA label. 
Made right here in Thailand.  I got a nice stoneware dish for just over $2.



 How are the kids doing?

For switching to yet another country, culture and language, after living in Brazil and the USA, they are doing pretty good!  They have their ups and downs, missing family and friends of course, but they have made new friends and are getting into the routine of school and playing around. 





George's favorite pastime is catching fish for our little ponds.

 

Finn's coat hook at school. 
Notice the shoes too....both he and George must remove them
before entering the class.  School in your socks! 



A common occurrence; Juniper being part of  people's family pictures.
  Between how friendly she is, and the stark contrast of her skin & hair, they love her and
she loves them!  People are continually touching her skin.

  Anything else that you guys have there that you didn't expect?

Uhm, yes.....






  
 

 

Keep the questions coming! We love hearing from you! 

First Week's Pictures

Hey everyone,

It's been a wild week and a half for us! We survived the marathon flight to Thailand, conquered

jet lag (more or less), found a house, found some furniture, learned to drive on the left, ate some spicy food, made some new friends, and started new teacher orientation (for Tim). Here's a few pictures to capture the last nine days.  

Friendly Juni is taking Southeast Asia by storm.

Tim rented this sweet hog (or is it a piglet?)

Here's the entrance to our new neighborhood, Mu Ban Khwam Wiang.

Playgrounds make us hope the tetanus shots are up to date.

Yum!

Angry Birds are big here.

Jill in her new kitchen. New sink, cook top, and oven. And we're not even camping!

Jill's new laundry lean-to.

We're still searching for a vehicle, getting our internet working, completing all the government paperwork, and preparing for school--it starts in two weeks! Thanks for your continued prayers as we settle down here.