Visiting a Thai School

There is a couple at my church that performs songs and puppetry at public schools called Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth. So one of the things we did was visit a Thai Christian School of 2100 kids. The photo here is of an 8th grade English class that Papa D and I visited.



They were totally your typical teenagers! It was great. In working with the kids I found how important it is to have a native English speaker teaching them English. That's one of the reasons that Western teachers are so sought after in college programs, especially. We learned that we could get a job overnight in a University just with a Bachelor's degree. And, since Papa D and I both have them (I am 12 credits shy of my Master's in Ed.), we came home dreaming of working in Thailand!!

When we got done in our English class, we got back to the performance area and saw this sight! We were so shocked to see shy Meyers D standing in front of 400-500 kids singing songs she had just learned! We were so proud of her boldness!!

One of the things I loved most about visiting the school, was seeing so many of the kids wearing their traditional tribal clothing. That was so marvelous and impressive, as well as important. I'm sure that I've expressed this already. But one of the things that I feel is so critical in Thailand, is for the tribal people to hold onto their culture and traditions as they begin to assimilate more into the modern culture. When I go back to Thailand, either short term or longterm, this would be one of my focuses and missions in encouraging the tribal children to not abandon their culture.



This is just a slice of some of the tribal dress you would see in Northern Thailand.
I leave you with some of my favorite pictures taken at the school.

*Karen child with Joe & Terry

More on the New Life Center

So back to the New Life Center girls...
The girls go to school in shifts, with some going during the morning and others during the evening. So we went there twice!

The second time we went there we met this young lady. She was super confident. She grabbed me right away and showed me her tribal dress that she had emoroidered HERSELF!! Wow! I was impressed by her character. I think she has serious leadership qualities. Just another reason why these young ladies need to be encouraged to pursue their degrees AND go back to their tribes to be involved in helping their culture to survive in today's world.


The girls put on a dance with dresses from all of their different tribes. Their dresses were wonderful and I took portraits of all of them and put them on flickr. These girls' lives would have told very different stories if they had not made it to the safety of the New Life Center.

I asked the girls to show me their sleeping quarters. They are squished in like little sardines with a blanket pad to sleep on. Most of them do not have pillows but a few have stuffed animals to lay their heads on. They also have some quilts.

Clearly, roy and lori here fell in love with these great girls, as we all did! What survival stories they all must have. Perhaps after we learn Thai we can hear them all....

New Life Center: home for girls

Next on our trip was a visit to the New Life Center. It is a home for Thai tribal girls who were going to be sold into prostitution. The girl whose hands are featured here was about 6 years old when she was sent out of her village to work in order to send money home to her family. She worked as a housekeeper, in an orange grove, until when she was about 12 her mother and step-father informed her that she was going to be sold into the sex industry.

She escaped back to a nun whom she had met earlier in her life who sent her to a friend that employed her as a housekeeper. Eventually she was led to the New Life Center where she began to learn Thai and was sent to school. It is the foundation's hope that she will make the choice to go to High School and eventually college. However, many of these girls want to stop their education's before high school so that they can send money home to their families. Often times, these are the very families that were going to sell them.

The girls here were all so wonderful. We took them some food supplies that were paid for, in part, by the donation's raised by the sales of my 2007 calendars.


Also, a few of them dressed in their tribal clothing and performed a cultural dance for us; followed by two of our teenagers who put on a hip hop dance for them!

The girls were very wonderful and sweet. Besides attending school, the girls practice their tribal art of embroider and sell their products to raise money for the Center. This also helps them to learn a trade which can promote the cultural practices of their individual tribe. That is a fact I just love!

Also, we met the neighbor girl to the Center. At first I thought she was six years old. But upon looking at her more closely, she has the body of a young lady and I discovered she is 14 years old! Also, she is deaf. She knows how to read and write very little so her communication skills are quite limited. She really captivated me, even before I knew her circumstances. I really wish she could be helped, so I am praying for her and wondering what services she is getting in Thailand and how she could be helped...(she is the shortest girl in the picture & her name means orange!)

I will write more about these fantastic young ladies in my next post.

I am remodeling my kitchen and my computer is unplugged so I will write more when I can!

Cabbages and Condoms, Chiang Rai Thailand

Cabbages and Condoms is a government run restaraunt chain in Thailand. I had heard it mentioned before by my missionary friend and I was like: what?!

It is an absolutely fabulous restaraunt. The food is some of the best I had in Thailand! Especially the cashew chicken. We got that dish almost every place we ate as a group because it is my pastor's favorite! .....and he was ordering! But this place had the best cashew chicken of anywhere I have ever tried!!! Of course, there were condom posters all around, fortunately my daughter didn't notice them and was pretty clueless about it.

The restaraunt is to promote AIDS awareness in Thailand.

Wat Rong Kuhn, Chiang Rai Thailand

Please contact the blog administrator (cameradawktor@yahoo.com) for permission to print any pictures.

One of the first sites we visited in Chiang Rai was Wat Rong Kuhn, a beautiful Buddhist temple designed by an artist. It is so amazing! It is totally white and has tiny mirror affixed all over the structure that sparkle in the sun. We were there on a beautiful sunny afternoon, not a clous in the sky which was the most magnificent blue. The tiny mirrors, millions of them, made the temple shimmer. All of a sudden two large fountains would go off in the front which made the whole temple sparkle even more.

There was a lot of symbolism to the temple which I am sure I do not understand. We entered the doorway to the temple itself (I was not allowed to take pictures inside) over all sorts of hands reaching out of the ground. My interpreter explained to me that these represented the hands of people who did not do enough good works in this life and who were suffering in the afterlife, reaching out, wishing they had done more.

I was quite surprised by this hand:

As this was a professional artist that designed the temple, the artwork inside was amazing. I could have cheated and snuck some pictures, but you have to respect the rules in any situation, especially those of another culture. All I can say is that they were contemporary and amazing.

The religious practices clearly are much different than my own. Personally, that was quite interesting. I think I will choose to keep my thoughts on this private.

I only got the opportunity to visit one other temple on my trip. And while I'm sure there are many interesting ones, my guess is that this has to be one of the most beautiful. It was astonishing.

Meeting Malee

The lady with Meyers D in this photo is Malee. She was our main interpreter. She is Chinese and grew up in Thailand. After being involved in many different ministries, she finds herself running an orphanage in Chiang Mai, called Ban San Faan. (we didn't get to go there but I plan to the next time I go).

The first time we met as a team in the lobby of our Hotel, the Wangcome, we met Bill and his wife Janis (our tour guide and leader) and Malee. She basically walked straight up to Myah, put her arms around her and didn't let go! It was amazing, an instant unbreakable relationship. Very remarkable. I felt it too. In fact, within hours, Malee and I were walking arm in arm down the street! I feel like she is my sister.

The tricky part will be to keep communication going until we can see her again. As the director of an orphanage she is an incredibly busy lady. Not only that, she is extremely capable so is called on for other jobs for the foundation.

I wish you could have seen her running around the Makro ( a lot like a Costco or Sam's Club). It was always at the end of a long day of ministry and sight seeing and she'd just grap a giant shopping cart and start darting dead on through the aisles with tremendous focus; always knowing how much to grab of the most important items for each ministry we were shopping for. She didn't even get frustrated when I would push her even harder saying, "I have money I have to spend. More, more. Come on, more, more. I have to spend more money!" :)

At one point, when I was harping at her to find more things to buy, she looked at me and said, "It is my pleasure to serve you." Maybe that was the Thai non-confrontational way to tell me to shut-up. But I really think she meant it. I was taken aback for a minute. Serve me? I was here to serve others? But she was serving me....and I said thanks!

One thing I noticed in serving others is that more than anything, they were serving me. And I was so blessed!

Arriving in Bangkok, Arriving in Thailand

Bangkok has such a beautiful airport. I'm not sure how old it is, but it is very high tech architecture: a lot of steel beams and glass so you can see out. Right off I noticed all of the shrines, mostly gold overlay, dotting here and there. Later I would see them on sharp curves on the road, so perhaps it has something to do with keeping you safe or warding off evil spirits. I'm not sure.

It was sure helpful having Terri organize our trip. I remember so many times she and Roger (my pastor who is about to retire) standing at the ticket counter organizing whichever flight was going to come next or working out any problems. It made for an incredibly stress free trip for me!

In Bangkok I started noticing what would become a signature hallmark for Thailand: customer service. These people know how to be helpful. In this country, not enough people are hired to help. In Thailand it's the opposite - way too many. People will just be standing around, waiting to come up and help you. It is quite amazing. And, all of the helpful people have enough English skills that they can help you!!

When we left Bangkok we had little over a one hour flight to Chiang Rai. Chiang Rai is in the far northern part of the country, very near Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. This area where the three countries meet is called the Golden Triangle. It is a little higher in elevation here so it is close to 10 degrees ferenheit cooler than Bangkok. For instance, it was the cold season but 80 degrees, but in Bangkok it was around 90 and fairly humid. The Thai's are so acclamated to their weather though that most people were in long pants and a lightweight jacket.

I guess normal is what you are used to....

time to talk about thailand

Well I'm back! And if you've done the Math, I've been back for a week and a half. But, I've been editing the thousand or so pics I took and am pretty much done getting them up on flickr. So I suppose it's time to start blogging about our experience. I think it will also help me process this amazingly mind blowing experience.

Also, I got an e-mail tonight from a high school friend who informed me that one of our former classmates has a blogspot about her life in Bangkok as a teacher. This is really exciting to me as we lost our hearts to this land and culture. So I can't wait to go back in her archives and read all about her experience. And, it's sort of inspired me to get off my butt and write about my thoughts myself.

I kind of like to do things in order so I've started at the beginning here. First off, the hubs and I were very thrilled about the group of people that were going. It's the largest group that's ever gone on a missions trip from our church: 21. A wide assortment of talents and personalities and I must say, everyone was a pleasure. It's made me feel much more a part of our church getting to know these people and letting them get to know me.

And, as so much of my life in the recent years has been defined by pain, it was great to be defined more by my gifts and personality than my hang-ups!!!! :)

*I'm sure you are all dying to know about my health, and I appreciate that. I had the normal amount of headaches as my botox was wearing off and I started my period on the day we left Chiang Rai. But, I was able to treat them quickly with my meds and staved off any pain. I didn't miss out on anything.

Back to the story.

The flights were BRUTAL. I had been to New Zealand so that was slight preparation. But this was much more greusome. 10 hours to Tokyo, 8+ to Bangkok and 1 1/2 to Chiang Rai. About 2 hours into it I really started to feel the pressure in my head. I didn't want to take a migraine reversal drug because I had 16 more hours to fly! So I took 2 Dramamine to help me sleep. Within about an hour my head felt so much better. I continued the Dramamine every 4-6 hours and found that's the trick for me in flying. Now, that would knock most people out. And it did make me drowsy, but I have a hard-core system people. No doubt for being such a shorty!


Anyway, we get to Tokyo and we are all so exhausted. We got on our flight to Bangkok and they come on that the mechanics had found a problem. So we wait 30 min. (Service in Thailand is impecable. So they turn on the air conditioner, serve drinks and snacks...that's only the beginning people) Finally they offload us.

We wait quite a while and they decide to reassign us to a flight the next day. Everyone was pretty relieved because we would still be able to make our Chiang Rai flight. They paid for a bus to take us to a hotel, for the hotel and two meals, a bus back to the airport, $200 per person towards future flights and $10 per person for meals in the airport. Sweet!!!

So, now I can say I've been to Tokyo (narita)!!

I think I'm pooped now from writing. I think I will write more about getting to Bangkok tomorrow.

Mystery of the Secret Santa

I played Secret Santa on Pumpkin's blog and dang it all to heck, just can't figure out who sent my thoughtful secret santa gift. My guess is Rain, but I really have no idea, just that the person is from Pennsylvania (?) but many people don't put on their blogs where they're from.

Thanks secret santa, reveal thyself!

12 days to Thailand

Only 12 days to Thailand. Geesh!

O.K., that made my stomache do a loop de loop!

First Christmas. Well, I had a premonition, intuition, prompting from God (I choose to call it the last one...you may call it something else) that I wasn't supposed to make more than one cookie this year for Christmas or host any Christmas parties at my house.

The last time this happened my mother-in-law passed away....big reason to keep it simple. I wasn't expecting anything like that to happen but I figured there was probably a reason I was feeling this again. Turns out it was SICKNESS~ much better than DEATH but still no fun.

TSE got sick on the 23rd and so did I so we missed Christmas with my side of the family. Max-Ay started coming down with it on Christmas Eve so he missed all the activities (except our gift opening) on Christmas Day. TSE and Meyers D were able to go with me to my mom's for breakfast (that's usually been at my house for the last 7 years). Papa D stayed home with him. And then Max-Ay and I stayed home while the other three went to Papa D's sister's house for Christmas Evening.

All in all it worked out for a very low key Christmas, which is never bad. We still enjoyed our time spent with the kids and like I said, Max-Ay was doing pretty good at 4:45 a.m. when the kids woke us up to open their presents! He started to hit the wall about 6 a.m.

We took our tree down last night because it was very dry and we got it early this year. Also it's time to kick into gear and get ready for Thailand! With all the airline rules about having 3 oz. containers on your carry on I have to go purchase a lot of 3 oz. bottles with stuff in them I don't need in order to put stuff in them I DO NEED! awww....

*I didn't take any pictures of Christmas. shocked? Well my camera is pretty sucky at indoor shots and I just wasn't feeling like it. Also, we went up to Mt. St. Helen's yesterday to go sledding. And although there was snow, it was raining. So didn't take pictures of THAT either. Perhaps today I will get some pics of Max-Ay playing with his new toys. He's the only kid that plays with toys here really anyway.

In less than two weeks I'll be taking travel pictures up the ying yang anyway so perhaps I'm saving myself up! ha!

Cap'n Crunch Candy

My sister-in-law usually makes this super yummy easy treat for Christmas. This year Meyers D has made it and only needed a little help.

All you need is one box Cap'n Crunchberry cereal and one package almond bark. Melt the almond bark and pour over the cereal. Spread the hot mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and let harden. Store in airtight container.

*Don't eat too much, it melts in your mouth!*

changes

changes, changes....

life is full of them, eh?

well, my hubby is turning in his 2 weeks notice for work today. he is an industrial appraiser for our county and he got a new job in a neighboring county which is very excited to have him working for them. he is sort of taking a temporary demotion of sorts. he is going to start his new job just 2 working days before we go to Thailand, which is crazy. he will be a residential appraiser. in a few months there will be an industrial opening which they want him to apply for.

this will make for quite a few changes in our family. first of all, a commute. right now it takes him about 15 min. to get to work (at one time he was able to walk!) soon it will be about a 45 min. drive. he will also be going back to "square one" on his sick leave and vacation time. right now he has about a month vacation leave.

also, with his sick leave and the flexibility he has gotten, he has went to many doctor's appointments with me and been able to take time off when i haven't felt good. this is all about to change!

i may have to learn the phone number for the local taxi service!

i am quite a bit nervous about this, but at the same time, i have to trust that it will work itself out. i can't let my frailties or fear of them interfere with my husband's happiness at work. because of my headaches, he has the sole responsibility of our finances on his shoulders. so it is very important to me that he is happy.

and he is very excited about this change. i am too. just slightly nervous with how this could affect ME!

another thing is that we are getting some much needed work done on our house so that we are ready to sell. we may not sell but we are going to be ready to. he is thinking that he doesn't want to commute. i am willing to move but don't want to. i am so happy with the children's friends and their school. i really like this house too, although it's not the "perfect" house. it's the first house that's felt like home in our marriage (it's our 4th house).

anyway, even if we don't sell it will be so nice to have some things done that need be. right now a friend from church is hanging a lot of new doors in our hallway. my boys just got a bedroom door for the first time in a year or is it 2. i must admit the same for us!

after thailand i am going to have to repaint our remodeled bathroom that we are finishing. the color i painted it does not go with the tile countertop like i thought it would. which means, i will have to repaint the hallway too as it is the same color as the bathroom and the different shades of the same color will look stupid.

i have been needing to repaint the kitchen so that is on the list too. when the weather gets warmer i have to repaint my bedroom and the living/dining room. the bedroom will probably be a whole new color (as yet to be decided) but the living/dining room will be the same color.

there's an island to install in the kitchen, a deck to build on the front of the house and railing to put on the porch by the front door. also the trim needs to be finished in the upstairs. and, more cabinets need to be purchased for the main bathroom that's being remodeled.

so, we have quite a list and even if we WANTED to move right now we are far from ready to sell this house. and as i said, i am not sad about that!

*something very strange, it smells like my husband is sitting right next to me, i smell the soap he bathes with....strange~*

maybe i'm being redundant here, but although i am quite willing to move, i don't want to. but it will be very nice to get some things done to improve our home and to be able to (hopefully) stay here and enjoy them!

secret santa present arrives

Look what I got today! My Secret Santa gift! And I have NO STINKING IDEA who it is. What a thoughtful gift though. I can't decide wether to read it now or wait until the 16 hour plane ride. I think it's 9 hours to Tokyo and 6 hours to Bangkok. O.K., so I can't do math.

Anyway, I don't know if I was supposed to wait until Christmas but it's too late anyway! ha!

I can't believe it's only 3 weeks away until the trip. Oh man, that's crazy!

a video message about suicide

my flickr friend MOKI made this great video. it has a very insightful message. thanks moki!

praline pecan crunch

I made this yummy and oh so delish treat for my hubby's christmas party at work.

the best pecans for this and any other recipe are from Green Valley, Arizona.

praline pecan crunch

1 16 oz. pkg. quaker oat squares (8 cups)
2 c. pecan pieces
1/2 c. light corn syrup or honey
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Combine cereal and pecans in a 13x9 pan, set aside.
In a 2 c. microwaveable bowl, combine corn syrup, brown sugar and butter. Microwave high for 1 1/2 min. , stir. Microwave on high 1/2- 1 1/2 min. more until boiling. Stir in vanilla and baking soda, pour hot bubbling mixture over cereal. Stir to coat evenly. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 20 min. , spread on baking sheet to cool. Break it into pieces when cool and store in airtight container, makes 10 cups.

verry breakable....

I decided to turn my Plz SAVE my Blog/blog into a place where I could study what words mean in the Bible. We'll see how long I do it, typically I become quite the slacker when it comes to doing this. But I'm feeling inspired to spend a few short minutes each morning and do this. It will give me something to think about when I go on my morning walks and it will be a good habit. Like I said, I'm not making myself any promises because I have TERRIBLE follow-through in this department.

So, if you become ones who visits there and checks out what I'm writing, you have my FULL AND UTTER PERMISSION to say, "hey, what the heck...you're a slacker!"

ha! Basically, I've been feeling verry breakable lately and I've been struggling w/ the cure, so I'm going to find me some new "medicine"....

secret santa

Hey! I'm not sure anyone will read this, but my friend Writer/Mother/Wife/Me is doing a "Secret Santa" exchange and needs one more participant. I am playing and have my person assigned to me. It sounds fun.

If you would like to play, go to her blog and leave her a comment. You can click on her photos too which will take you to flickr and can e-mail her that route too.

I will post about what I get and make my guesses when it arrives in the mail!

Here's the linkage: http://www.writermotherwifeme.blogspot.com

comment here if you decide to participate.

What WILL be vs. what COULD be....

I have been struggling so much lately with my Faith. I haven't been reading the Bible for a long time. I think it's because much of my Faith has been based on (probably incorrectly based on) what God can do for me. Since I haven't seen the results I've expected, it's made for a very shakey faith.

It occurred to me yesterday during my pastor's teaching, that perhaps what my Faith should be based on is the end result. The Bible says this:
Revelation 5:9 (the angels are singing):And they sang a new song:
'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because ou were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.'

5:11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
'Worthy is the Lamb (Jesus) who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'

5:13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'

The four living creatures said, 'Amen' and the elders fell down and worshiped.

~My pastor was talking about how in heaven, thousands and millions and billions of people will be worshiping Jesus.

It occured to me that my true purpose in life, the destination I should ASPIRE to, my goal, perhaps shouldn't be to function well here on this earth and accomplish this and that thing, but that my ultimate purpose is in heaven. What that will look like is to be one of the millions and billions of people worshiping before Jesus.

It doesn't mean that what I am/do/think/become, etc. on this earth isn't important, it just was a realization of what my ultimate goal could be. And, if this was my ultimate goal, my thinking would be much different than it is now. I've been quite angry and irritated with my current state of health. I feel that if I felt better now that I could enjoy life more, do more, see more, become more, etc. And I long for it to the point of anger.

I'm not saying that's bad or wrong. It just occured to me as he was talking about heaven, that since that's my ultimate destination, it would make sense that it's my ultimate purpose. And then, it occured to me that if this is my ultimate purpose (which I never think about), how would it change my life, my thinking, my emotions if that became my focus. Not how I feel now, but what my role is then.

I don't know if this makes sense, but it's just a shift in thinking. It's not how I think now, it's just something I think I should explore.

All I know is that my life doesn't match up with what I want or desire. No matter how hard I try I can't make that happen. I'm striving after something I can't attain.

Perhaps I should try thinking about something that WILL be instead of something I hope COULD be.

Job 1:1

King James Version w/ Strongs (this version of the bible found @ http://www.bible.lifeway.com/crossmain.asp)

Job 1:1 There was a man (champion, great man, human being) in the land of Uz (somewhere in the Arabian desert), whose name (1b: reputation, fame, glory) was Job (pronounced ee-yobe': Iyowb which means HATED); and that man was perfect (complete, morally innocent, having integrity) and upright (right, pleasing, correct) and one that feared (reverent) God (elohiym) and one that eschewed (avoided) evil (sin, things that are ethically wrong).

max-ay's 8th birthday

Today is Max-Ay's 8th birthday. He woke up so early, what'd he think, it was Christmas or something? We gave him some birthday hot cocoa to start his day off right.

I got him some cupcakes for class with plastic Star Wars rings on them. He wanted Annakin rings to be on there but I went to Fred Meyer (Kroger's) and didn't call first. All they had was C3P0, R2D2 and Darth Vader. He didn't complain!

After school his friend Jay came over, I got a pizza and then we went to the Journey Through Bethlehem. The local 7th Day Adventist Church puts on a live nativity. If you've never been to one, it's pretty cool. It's quite the production. They put the gig on for 4 days and it's free. It's quite something. There's even a camel, the angel Gabriel (they use a woman, they must read a different version of the bible...) and of course, Jesus.

Afterwards, Jay came back home wtih us, we had more hot cocoa and watched Rudolf on t.v. Very low key, I kind of like it that way.......