We will be at Liberty Lighthouse this Sunday!

Hey EVERYONE!

Wow! It’s been waaaaayyyy tooo long and I don’t have much time right now to update but I just want to first of all say thank you to those of you who have continued to support us while we’ve been in the states…some people have stopped supporting us (we think because they have done this because we are in the states) and we couldn’t have made it without your continued support!! Thank you so much!

With that said – I would like to let you all know that we will be at Liberty Lighthouse Church this Sunday the 30th. I’m very excited about this although I have to admit I’m a bit nervous. We’re going to have lots of Thai stuff out to see and we’ll be showing our team video that shows what we do…and we’ll also have lots of Thai shirts and knick nack kind of things available too. Please keep us in your prayers this Sunday!! We would love to meet you face to face if you can come!

The address is: 501 N. Carr Street, Sherman, Texas

I’ve got lots of stories to share and lots to say about our time here so far – so keep checking back…I should be able to update very soon. We will also be sending out a newsletter very soon. Please continue to pray and support us we are here – thanks for reading!!!

Signing off from not so far away,
Steph

Problems with bar...

Hey guys!

I'm having problems with the bar on the right - so if your looking for it...it's now located at the bottom right of the blog....the very bottom. Thanks for reading! I'll be updating really soon!

Enjoying American air....
Steph

We're in the USA!!!

We're in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

I still can't hardly believe it! We've been here since June 7th. Yes, I know, I know. We said that we'd be "in the states eating great food on June
17th"...which was true...we wanted to surprise our family and friends - and we DID! It was a lot of fun and worth all the hard work in keeping it a secret.

I can't explain the feeling I felt when we stepped onto American soil...WOW! I felt and still feel so patriotic. As we walked through the airport I was amazed to see how huge everyone is...there were cops everywhere and they were just huge (like giants) compared to the sleek asian bodies we've been used to see for the past year and a half. One of the first things Josiah said when he got off the plane was "Momma, everyone's in Engwish" He was so excited that he could talk to everyone.

I literally had a smile on my face for the rest of the day - I couldn't stop smiling at people - especially black people because it had literally been a year and a half since I had seen a black person. I know people must have thought something had to be wrong with me. I remember riding on the shuttle to another part of the airport and the whole time just studying people's faces. American faces are so diverse! It's was just a really strange feeling...and everyone was so nice!

We half expected everyone to be rude - but everyone was surprisingly very nice. Once we finally got to Sherman, Texas after almost 2 days of traveling we were very tired...of course! But to our suprise we really didn't have bad jetlag - and Jude was on schedule!!! He wasn't backwards - I thought it was going to be so hard to transition Jude to sleeping during the night but I didn't have to do anything!! There are so many things that I have just been loving! I take Josiah to the library about two times a week for a reading program they have there. They have a woman who comes in sings songs and read's books and then they get to play with toys and if you come for weeks you get a free book! It was so weird the first time I brought him (I read about it on the internet). We came in and Josiah was just in awe at all the children. His bashful smile came up and I thought he would never leave my side - but as soon as she started reading the book - he was front and center!

I was so nervous for him...there was a sweet lady next to me trying to make conversation but I couldn't keep my eyes or mind off of Josiah - I explained to her that we had been away for a year and half and she began to study him too. :) IT was like he was experiencing things for the first time. One time we were at the drive through at Chick-fil-A with John's sister and she was placing an order...and Josiah said "Momma...that's silly...what's she doing? I wanna talk to the box too!!!" I feel so funny when I have to explain things like the reason he can not splash water all over the bathroom (no drains in the floors)...by the way - Josiah is LOVING taking baths in a "big" bathtub.

I really feel so pampered here with the air conditioning...oh and the dryers - man, clothes can smell sooo good now! I've always been a fan of downy but man they have improved that stuff...there's even a new joyful expressions or something by gain and our clothes smell like delicious perfumed FRUIT!?!?! Who'd have thought? I have successfully not gained 20 pounds so far...lol...only one pound!!! It sure is hard with things like Blue Bell Ice Cream in everyone's freezer! But you know...with all these great things - my heart longs for Thailand.

The simplicity of life...and the people. I am cherishing every moment of our time here with family and friends but at the same time I find my mind constantly thinking on Thailand. You know, some things are exactly like I thought they would be...and then there are some things that are shockingly not. I pictured that by now we would have churches to go and share with...and be spending time with our friends and family all the time...but you know...neither of these things have happened much! We will be sharing at Liberty Lighthouse two times at the end of the next two months - sharing our vision and hopefully calling out missionaries...but other than that...most people seem very excited to meet us but most pastors/churches don't make it past the idea that we don't belong to an organization. It's ok though...God knows our heart and he will open doors where they should and can be opened.

The other thing is spending time with family and friends - everyone is just soooooo busy with life!!! There is always something going on...which is completely normal...we've been really busy since arriving too - I guess I just pictured spending tons of time with people but I've found that there are sections of time that you can have people and then you usually have spread out that time among different friends. I cherish this time with our family and friends sooo much! We just returned yesterday from going to visit JOhn's Grandparents with John's parents yesterday. It was such a good trip - I wish we could have stayed longer.

Josiah got to fish for the first time...it was amazing to see him experience that for the first time. Jude is doing wonderful - as plump as ever and working on crawling. We went to go see a good Dr. friend of ours last week - and I hate to report that Jude is going to have to have some work done to correct some things that went wrong with his circumcision. He's ok...so nobody freak out. Please be in prayer for complete healing for me also because there have been somethings that have come up with me also. I have applied for Medicaid to help with Jude's needs - please pray that everything goes smoothly with the application.

I have so much more to write but at the moment I believe I've written too much - hope I've kept your attention :) I'll be posting some pictures soon. Thank you for reading! Please keep us in your prayers while we're here - there are many ministry opportunities everyday and we need wisdom. And please keep our finances in your prayers!!! Please feel free to e-mail!

Coming to America...Evidence of a changed heart....

Wow!  It’s been a long time since I’ve written.  I have been trying to write for many days now but I just have not had the time…that is I’ve not had the time with out any children needing my attention.  Being a mother is an incredible thing but I’m not going to pretend that it is not trying on every part of you.  

It’s trying on your patience (letting a child be a child…even if it means letting them sing the same song over and over and over…), your brain (figuring out how to explain things a million different ways so that your little one finally gets it), your heart (when your child doesn’t obey and you have to discipline them because you love them), your body (well…do I have to write anything about that?)…

But genuinely – being a mother is the best…single most important thing I think I’ve ever done in life (besides giving my life to my Savior).  My boys are a blessing from above and everyday I am in awe at the people they are becoming.  Anyway, that was a bunny trail!  

Tonight we went to a weekly fellowship that we have every Wednesday night.  Last Wednesday it was at our house and tonight it was at Pii Che An’s and Pii Mamms house.  It’s always a great time of fellowship and fun and most of all FOOD!  Great Thai food.  

I can always count on eating something I’ve never eaten before on Wednesday nights…whether I want to or not.  Anyway, as we sat in their home…well, let me describe everything to you.  It’s typical for Thai homes not to have a table or chairs.  They usually have a small coffee table that is low to the floor and everyone sits on the floor on mats.  

There were a total of 7 children that normally come (along with 9 adults) and then about 4 more that showed up because they saw a bunch of farang faces.  So…all 11 children are running and round and having a blast in this rather small house that is one large room with a petition made out of an entertainment system.  

There is an array of thai food laid out on the table…Wonderful florescent lighting – as usual (I actually don’t hardly notice it anymore)…and the heat is stifling but there are two fans blowing on the next to lowest setting rotating around the room.  

Everyone is chatting away and having a wonderful time.  After chatting in Thai for a while my brain went to mush for a minute to recuperate from all the work I just did.  I just kind of got quiet and looked around the room watching everyone having a good time for a minute.  As my eyes wondered they settled upon an empty shelf on the upper part of the wall near the door.  

A huge smile came upon my face…that was were CheAn’s idols were.  Every Thai home has a shelf similar to this where a monument to budda always resides…everyday they sacrifice food to the idols and say their prayers.  CheAn has taken down all of his idols and now all that remains is an empty shelf to testify that his heart has been forever changed to know the one true God!!!  

I just looked at John, patted his leg and smiled.  CheAn came to know of Jesus because he responded to one of the tracts that John and Clinton had been passing out.  We were there in his house fellowshipping with him because there was a change in his heart…because John and Clinton had gone out as they always do…

You know, right now is kind of a tough time because we are getting ready to come to America to visit for 3 months.  Everyone told us of this “in between time” before going home for a visit.  They said it’s rough because you are ready to go and visit but your still here…the things you normally do usually get put on hold because you are preparing to leave…culture stress usually sets in…I thought that we wouldn’t go through this but we have felt this a little bit.  Tonight at CheAn’s was an encouragement…knowing that Christ through us is doing a work here…

I wrote it on our newsletter but if you didn’t know – we are going to be in America…EATING GREAT FOOD…for sure on the 17th!  We’re really excited and let me tell you what an incredible thing God did for us.

We were 3 days away from our deadline of needing $1,200 to pay for our tickets.  We were hanging in there…and praying and the money come in!  THANKS in LARGE part to John’s family!!!  Thank you!!!  The really awesome thing is that we called the day before we had to pay for our tickets to confirm that we could come in the following day and the lady informed us that there might be a promotion that would reduce the cost of our tickets!  Needless to say we were excited!!!  

So we waited for her to call us back and when she did we found out there was a promotion that we could apply to our tickets.  She gave us the new prices and we started figuring how much we would be saving.  (we needed to purchase either train tickets or plane tickets from Hat Yai to Bangkok).  So when we did the calculations something kept coming out wrong – then we realized that when John first converted the amount that we needed from baht to dollar – he used the wrong conversion rate and it made a 200 dollar difference!!!  

GET THIS!  If that lady hadn’t told us about the promotion we would not have been able to pay for our tickets!  The promotion made the difference that we needed!  Isn’t that awesome!?!  I was in awe.  So we’re coming soon and we can’t wait!  Well, part of me is torn – I’m going to be really sad about not seeing my Thai friends for 3 months and our home and work is here.  But man!  I can’t wait to see my family!!!  Hug my friends!!!  Share our vision!!  EAT AMERICAN FOOD!!!  

Wow…it’s amazing how much I just wrote!  Well…I made a few short lists for fun!

Things I’m looking forward to:

• Being on American soil with fellow Americans


• Food!


• Dryers


• Downy


• Dishwashers


• Central heating and air


• Regular lighting (no florescent please)


• Customer service (don’t take it for grated people!)


• Driving on the right side of the road


• Southern hospitality


• Mexican food


• Hot water at the sink


• A bathtub


• CARPET


• Walmart!!!


• MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Things I’m going to miss while I’m gone:

• THAI food!


• The many smells of Thailand


• My friends


• Speaking Thai


• The Thai people


• Quick – CHEAP food


• Studying Thai with Phon


• Having an instant open door just because I’m white


• Opening up the house in the morning


• Waiing people (greeting in Thailand where you put your hand together and bow)


• Bathrooms with sprayers and a drain on the floor (the bathrooms are made to be wet…all the water goes down a drain in the floor – no separation between bathing area, toilet and sink)


• The look on my husbands beat red face after returning from being out in the villages


• Josiah being a people magnet


• My Thai friends!!!  

Well, America here we come – it won’t be too much longer now!  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue on and prepare to come to America.  Thank you for reading!  

Beebee up Josiah's Nose!!!

We had an eventful evening tonight.  I was getting the boys ready to go get some food and I turned around to tend to Jude and all of a sudden I hear Josiah behind me screaming.  I turn around and he’s blowing his nose and rubbing it like crazy.  Josiah had stuck an air soft beebee pellet up his NOSE!!!  It’s a small yellow beebee.  

It must have been laying around from one of the times that John was playing with the Garsee boys.  That thing would not come out for anything.  I finally got Josiah calmed down and we tried blowing his nose for about 5 minutes and I realized that that little ball was not coming out any time soon.

I called John and informed him that I was going to take him to the hospital.  It was so far back in his nose that I couldn’t see it unless I had light shining in his nose and he had his head tilted way back.  I was a little worried.  My imagination started running about it slipping back into the unknown and my little man having a beebee lodged in his head.  

We got into the car and headed to the government hospital here praying all the way.  John met us there.  I wanted to take him to the nice hospital where Jude was born but it would have been too much money that we don’t have right now.  By the time we had arrived Josiah had calmed down and you wouldn’t know he had a beebee stuck up his nose if we weren’t there to tell you.  The emergency room waiting area and reception is completely open…there are no walls.  

John said “You know you’re in a hospital in Thailand when you have to fight off bugs while you wait in the emergency room”.  As we were waiting we had to fight off bugs.  Every time we turned around we had a flying ant landing on us…or we were dodging a gigantic beetle that was flying around.  We sat in a small room listening to a little boy being treated because of a cut…the poor boy was screaming with all his might.  Bi Leew Bi Leew…Mai Aow Mai Aow…(go away…go away…I don’t want it…I don’t want it…)  

It didn’t scare Josiah though…he was having too much fun with the flashlights that they keep on their desks to check people out.  While we were waiting John and I pondered laying him on the bench and using my handy dandy finger nail kit to tweeze that ball out ourselves…but we thought better of it.  After a good wait a Dr. showed up and spoke pretty decent English…they laid Josiah on a bed in the wide open Emergency room and wrapped him up like a worm so he couldn’t move.

We really had an audience then.  Josiah enjoyed the worm part and even laughed at the first attempt to retrieve the ball (because it tickled).  They wedged open his nostril, used a weird looking pair of tweezers and out it came!  Josiah was screaming by then because it apparently doesn’t feel too good having your head held down while someone wedges your nostril open.  He got up and shed a few tears and was over it in a flash.  

They gave me the beebee to keep as a souvenir.  I’m going to put it in Josiah’s baby book when we get to the states…I still can’t believe he stuck that beebee up his nose.  Here’s the kicker…we visited the emergency room and had this done for a little over $3 dollars (125 baht)!!!!!  Can you believe that?  $3 dollars!  And that’s with two huge bottles of medicine that they insisted that we buy (they didn’t believe me when I told them that there was only one beebee so they wanted him to take medicine to fight infection if there were more that went into his stomach).  It’s a good thing too!  

Well, I just wanted to share about Josiah’s run in with a beebee.  Thanks for reading!

Thank you for stopping in! After checking out the pictures don't forget to scroll down to my most recent post to view the new videos.

In the back is Nawng Bang (the small Thai boy), Pii On, Me, Katherine and John..and in the front are some of the children from Baan Bawk Maw...
Posted by Picasa

John and Chase setting up the screen...
Posted by Picasa

You see the lady on the left? She was too shy to let me know she wanted to be in the picture too...so at the last minute she hopped in there...she got a real kick out of seeing herself on the little camera screen...
Posted by Picasa

Josiah, Asia and some of the children from Baan Bawk Maw...
Posted by Picasa

Faces from Baan Bawk Maw
Posted by Picasa

A cute little boy that was quite persistant about me taking his picture...over and over and over and over....:) How could I resist?
Posted by Picasa

Some children watching the video...
Posted by Picasa

Videos and more...

Sawatdee ka!!!

I just recently sent out our May newsletter.  Please click here to read it:
www.thailandforchrist.com/May2006.htm

I wanted to tell you guys a funny story.  One time we were driving through Hat Yai praying and I just kept noticing this name on all the clubs and girly bars as we went by.  I thought to myself…”Who is this guy?  We just need to pray that something happens to his finances and all these clubs that he owns would be shut down!”  So…I turned to the ladies in the car and said “Who is this Johnny Walker guy?  Have you guys ever seen him around town?  Is he a farang that came into Hat Yai opening up all these bars?”  

Amber sweetly looked at me and informed me that Johnny Walker is an alcohol label!!!  I had no idea.  I had never heard of Johnny Walker…anyway, I thought that was kinda humorous…I like to be able to laugh at with myself at myself sometimes.  

We went out to Baan Bawk Maw the other day and I have some video from there.  The people there are sooo sweet.  Especially the children…they love to have their picture taken and then see it on the camera.  I could stay out there all night just to take their pictures…it just fills them with such joy and it does the same to me too.  Here is a video from there:

www.thailandforchrist.com/BaanBawkMaw_ 001.asf

The other day I was waiting in the car for John to return and I decided to make a video for all of you…so here it is:
www.thailandforchrist.com/ThankYou.asf

Have you ever wondered where rubber comes from?
www.thailandforchrist.com/RubberSource.asf

We came upon some kids swimming…
www.thailandforchrist.com/MaiMiiPhaa.asf

Why did the chicken cross the road?  Here is a short clip of the village John has been working in recently…
www.thailandforchrist.com/ChickenCrossTheRoad.asf

This is a clip of a Muslim village John has been working in…The last part of the clip is a guy on a motorcycle with his foot pushing a boy on a bike…going really fast.  
www.thailandforchrist.com/CowHouse.asf

Well, that’s it for now!  Thanks for stopping by!  Please be in prayer for us regarding our visit to America and diligence in studying Thai!!!!  Thank you for reading!!!  

Videos!!!! Finally!!!

Hey everyone!

I figured out and successfully uploaded some videos and you can view them by clicking below:
They are all .asf files...I know if you have Windows Media Player you will be able to view these videos. Enjoy!

A home in the village
Another home in the village

Kids in the village

Dog Danger - One of the dangers John faces when he goes out is the dogs. They are loose, aggressive and unfamiliar with white faces.

RawngPlengGan - This means singing together. While they were out in the village they came across a house that had one of our yellow Jesus signs hanging on their home. They had taken it from when we posted them up at a busy intersection. These people have been Christian for many years and were very excited to see us. They sang 'How Great Thou Art' together in Thai.

Village View - Here is a quick pan of one of the roads and house that John walked down in this village. The lady and other guy you see are a couple that have come here for 3 months to help out on their internship from FIRE school of ministry.

Ru Leew - This means 'already know'. This is a short video of the family I mentioned before telling us their testimony of how God healed this lady from disease. Clinton is translating while John films.

Your Gospel - A clip of Clinton quoting Curry Blake (John's dad) as they prepare to go out to the villages.

Josiah Blowing Out His Candles - Here is Josiah from his 4th birthday blowing out his candles (April 16th).

Jude Smiling - I finally caught Jude smiling on camera!! Here it is... **Sorry this one isn't working yet. It turns out the file is a .mov and I'm having trouble getting it to play online. :) I'll be posting more videos and pictures soon! Thanks for reading!!!!! Steph

Josiah and his birthday cake...DELICIOUS BIRTHDAY CAKE!! Last year we bought him a cake at one of the shops here and had them decorate it with Spiderman...Josiah loved it...but it tasted like CARDBOARD!!! No Joke...well, it tasted like cardboard with butter on it. This year was different...we had this incredible (and unfortunatley and unavoidably expensive) ice cream cake! Yes that is a pineapple ontop of the cake...does anyone else besides me find that strange? HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY BABY BEAR!!!
Posted by Picasa

Josiah and Mommy and his new toy remote control car!
Posted by Picasa

Josiah opening up his presents...
Posted by Picasa

Josiah and Oskar enjoying their cake...
Posted by Picasa

Pii Saow's son and daughter helping with Josiah's new floaties...
Posted by Picasa