Thoughts from today...

Hi guys!

I hope you like the new look of our blog. I decided it needed a change and my friend, Amy, found this great website called thecutestblogontheblock.com and they have free cute backgrounds.
As a standard I always try my very best to be transparent and write from my heart on this blog so why stop now? Right? John is gone right now...he'll be gone with the other two men on our team down to scope out Naratiwat (where we'll be moving in Southern Thailand at the end of December). They will be gone for a whole week.

Now to some... that is no time at all but for me...and my three children...with no car...it feels like an eternity at times. This is day two and we're doing pretty good so far...but I knew I'd be ready to get out of the house so I scheduled a dentist appointment! They come and pick you up!!! So I figured it's time for the kids to have a cleaning (~$9)...and me too if it's not too expensive for adults. It's actually more of a necessary thing because Josiah chipped his front tooth and it seems to be turning brown...ug...

So, I can honestly say that I really have tried to have a good mindset and not be frustrated about being "stuck" at home with the kids for 7 days...my Thai teacher is coming to the house during nap time...so that's a nice...IF the kids are asleep. But it's been a real struggle to allow God to help me have a good attitude.

HA! I'm blessed with my children and I'm blessed to be on the mission field...its just a whole different ball game if John isn't here...that's for sure. But he'll be back soon so I'm daily choosing to make the best of it...looking up fun activities to do with the kids...and trying to really focus on them and on spending time with God with them. I've discovered I can't do anything that requires any concentrated thought while they're awake though...if it isn't Jude...it's Joss and vice versa.

But I have an hour after they are all asleep before I can do nothing but pass out myself. :) So here I am at 9:40pm thinking about the day. Wow...there are two things I'd like to share about.

One....
Josiah said to me..."Momma, can you show me the real way to that cross?" Expecting me to answer right then...as if there was some map I could pull out other than the Bible. (I was playing Gospel of John the movie while we were doing our daily activities) Just the other night as we were doing our nighttime routine...He looked me straight in the eye and said "Momma, can you teach me the Word of God so I can be strong?" How awesome is my son? But his first question echoed in my thoughts and really bridled me today. Just when I thought I had no patience left...and when I was ready for a nap and they were just revving up...I thought about my sons question to me...and the only answer I can give him is my life.

Everyday is a lesson to him...point to the "real" way to the cross...not religion and a set of rules to live by in order to measure up...but to point him in the direction of knowing the love of our God... I have to strive to show him the love of God and inspire the same passion I feel for God in his life also...now how can i do that if I want to spend time with God...only when they are asleep or before they wake up because it's easier for me? I want to be like Jesus...first and foremost to please Him...but also to teach my children lessons that don't come from any man made book.

Two....
Today in my Thai lesson with Khruu Ruchada she was telling me a testimony about a Thai woman who was saved and she was Muslim...and her family believes in Islam. When they found out that she was saved they demanded that she return home and go back to practicing Islam. When she would not they told her she could not come home and some threats were made on her life if she did.

She moved up to Chiang Mai with all the money she could manage (she was cut off from the family) and a friend asked Khruu Ruchada and her husband if they could help her. They did and they found her a job and helped her start bible school and she now writes her own books and helps translate english books into Arabic! She's a very smart woman...but the part of the story that I want to convey is that after a few years the family wanted her to come back and visit and they told her that they weren't mad anymore.

She wanted to see her family desperately but was sure that once she arrived they would want her to go to the mosque and if she refused it could be dangerous. She asked my teacher and her husband what she should do...they devised a plan. They went with her to the south. Once they arrived her parents were very upset that they had come along with their daughter. The did just as the daughter thought and told her that she had to go with them to the mosque...when she refused they told her that wasn't an option.

So she pretended that she would go but that she had to take Khruu Ruchada and her husband to GoSamuii (a beautiful island) because that's why they had come...which was partially true. That was the backup plan...so as they started to leave the mother decides that they can't go alone and sends her very large brother along with them to make sure it's not a trick.

But the morning that he was supposed to make sure that they left...he felt lazy so he didn't take them to buy the tickets. So they purchased tickets for the daughter to go back to chiang mai the next day and tickets for Khruu Ruchada and her husband to go to GoSamuii when the brother thought they were going to go.

Long long long story short. They tricked the family into thinking they were going when they were to GoSamuii when in fact she had already left to Chiang Mai. When they went to the airport, the family thought the young girl would be there, all three of her brothers were there looking for her...and lets just say they weren't happy. They made threats on her life...and said some horrible things to Khruu Ruchada.

This is a woman we're talking about...not a young girl. Because she left the faith of her family...because she left Islam...they were ready to kill her! Their own daughter. I just sat there staring at Khruu Ruchada as my mind imagined and tried to comprehend being in that situation...and yet that is exactly what we are heading for.

We WANT to win souls to Christ...and we will be living in a mostly Thai Muslim dominated area...so there will be those who leave Islam...and there will be those that will respond like this. It was very sobering. I'm not fearful...just more sober. Khruu Ruchada is going to set up a time when I can meet this girl and talk to her about how she became Christian and get some insight on the ways and customs of Thai Muslims. I can't wait to hear what God has done in her life through her own words!

So...if you're still with me after that really long...yet cut very short story...please be praying for us especially this week. The enemy is attacking...and since the day the guys left has been heavily attacking Trent's family especially. Amy's blog is on my sidebar...they are thepruettgang. Her blog is great...so check it out if you have time. She is a blessing in my life and I'm so blessed to be serving with her.

Anyway, God is so good and I'm praying for supernatural strength to make this week awesome and that the guys are lead where God wants them to be and that they hear very clearly all the things that God wants to direct them in.

Here are a few pictures from Khruu Ruchada's church that we went to the sunday before last. We were celebrating mothers day...the kids did a little song (our kids just pulled a millivanilli), and then the mothers were brought up from to be honored. The heart of this body of believers is awesome...I wish I had had my recorder there that day. But...we'll go back and visit soon again and I won't forget it this time.

Love you all...thanks for reading...and praying....

The kids really haming it up...the song was in Thai and none of them knew it...Yes Jude has an army hat and sword...hehehe...I felt bad because he pretty much stole the show...

View from the stage...There's us in the back...Khruu Ruchada is the one in the middle of laughing or something...3rd one from the left in the front row. She's great!

Thai kids came up...kneeled infront of us and gave us flowers. It was very weird for us but this is the respect that Thai children are taught...they would bow at our knees and offer us flowers with their head bowwed and their hands in a praying position (which is called a wai). There's Khruu Ruchada again on the right...in the blueish suitdress.