Yesterday & Yesterday & Yesterday

We sat down to write an update tonight and couldn't remember much from the past six weeks--it's been a blur! Luckily, our phones had a few pics on them to tell the story. 

One year of service=one flower.  Nice job, Stew!

International Day. An American and a Canadian representing Brazil in Thailand.  What? 

Hot days of over 100 degrees require makeshift pools.

George Sawyer and Huck Finn

Hair cut = happiness

Stew helped organize a service project for the 10th graders, sweeping the neighborhood.
BYOB: Bring your own broom. 

Happy Thai New Years! They celebrate with a countrywide water fight. 

  "Are these grasshoppers fresh?"

Jill & Juni getting to know the Thai staff at school. 

Stew's hosted a satirical coffee shop for class one day. Who says high school English is no fun?    

Write On! The annual poetry and prose night at a local coffee shop for students with contest-winning entries. 

Jill worked on fixing up the guest house.

Red welcome mat is out; come on over....it has AC!

The kids are doing well with  life here in Thailand.  At the moment they are all healthy.. hooray! 

Thanks for your emails, your support, and the prayers you say on our behalf...love you all!

trust

  We've had a rough go the past few weeks:

• Extra bouts of illness and trips to the hospital.
• Air pollution this month: face masks, cancelling PE/Recess, cough drops by the kilo, and hacking around town is the new norm. 
• A friend back in the US was killed in a car accident. We've had to grieve this huge loss while being so far away.
• Our fridge decided to freeze all our food for a few week (a repair man convinced it to stop.)
•   Living in a foreign country catches up to us and we get so tired.

You have your list too; the tough things, the way life goes sometimes without making a lick of sense. In the midst of this, we choose to trust. We take the time to pray for everything and anything, because we know God wants to hear it all. He wants us dependent on Him. So we consciously make the decision each day, each minute, each second, to trust in Him.

He has proven himself faithful, and even in the midst of the smoke (literally here) we see the sun burst through.

Surely God is my help.  The Lord is the one who sustains me.

Psalm 54:4  

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement,

The Stew Fam

Ministry Day 2013

We sang, we prayed, we listened to challenging messages from Monday through Thursday of Spiritual Emphasis Week at GIS. Then came Friday, the culminating event--app time! All the middle and high school students deployed to various orphanages, schools, and nursing homes across Chiang Mai to spread the love of Jesus.
My group, 25 students from the 10th grade and my sister Evangeline, loaded into songtaews (the truck/buses of Thailand) and bumpd our way to Hope House--a home and school that serves 50-60 orphaned children from various hill tribes. Hope House is run by the parents of one of George's classmates.
We spent the school day with this radiant bunch of kids--leading them in crafts, songs, games, and activities. As is often the case, most of my students commented, "We came to be a blessing but left feeling more blessed and thankful ourselves."
It was a privilege to play a small part in the amazing work the Lord is doing at Hope House, not to mention to see teenagers engaging in acts of love.

For more info on Hope House: http://www.projectsforasia.com/hope-house-childrens-home-thailand/

Thanks for reading!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Not every day you see a dragon in the store!!!  Happy Chinese New Year, from Thailand!

Happy New Year!!!

Since we last blogged, it feels like we've slipped into survival mode. We spent the Christmas holiday sick--pneumonia, stomach flu, colds, fevers. Perhaps we're still getting accustomed to a new set of germs. We recovered just in time to jump into a new school year. The weather is pleasant right now; it gets as cool as 55 degrees Fahrenheit at night, then back up into the 90s during the day. The rice farmers have begun burning their fields, so the air is getting a bit thick. Unfortunately, the smoke fills up our valley and just hangs around. Occasional winds and rain showers have been a welcome blessing.

At GIS, we are busy and time is flying! Finn celebrated his 100th day of school last week and we suddenly realized this school year is over half over. Tim has been pretty swamped with work--getting used to a new school and new curriculum--but it is a great place, and he receives a lot of support.

Jill continues to navigate her way around, getting the needs for life here, practicing her Thai  and keeping up with the kids,as well as spending time getting to know new friends and neighbors.

Here's a few pics covering the last couple months. Thanks for viewing!!!

Nice cool nights!

Jill experienced a big tire blowout on a busy road.  Thankfully, everything worked out and a good Samaritan stopped to help and only charged $10. 

The Mickey of Chiang Mai?

Juniper takes on Mount Pad Thai.

The kids were pretty good about hanging out while we were sick.

Happy New Year!  A gift from our good friends, candy and new plates!

This picture sums up our Christmas break.

Finn getting repeated shots for pneumonia.  Not the Christmas gift he was hoping for. He is doing tons better and declared, "I feel like a new man!"

Juniper turned 2! 

In the middle of running around the neighborhood catching critters and playing with friends.

High School Chapel at GIS! Scattered here and there are Tim's students.