Rick's Bakery

Yesterday Jon and Marisa wanted us to visit one of the local cultural cuisines here in Fayetteville as a family. We all went to Rick's Bakery for a fun Saturday morning brunch. The variety of pastries, donuts, bagels, cookie varieties was incredible. The atmosphere and decor is fun also.

Aunt Jenny and Summer

Jen with her daddy

Silly Collin Michael

Our favorite part was watching them decorate the cakes with Collin and Summer. It was amazing to watch them take cakes and turn them into amazing works of art, and the fun part was our guesses trying to figure out what the final shape would be.

What day is today?

My family has heard me ask this question several times lately. This past week has been a big blur and whirlwind. I just realized that one week ago this morning I was still in Thailand. So much has happened concerning Dad's death and all the family coming together and then leaving in such a short amount of time. The broad strokes went something like this:
Friday- We arrived from Thailand, Jen arrived from Missouri, Marisa and Hayley arrived from Florida.
Saturday- Lori arrived from Peru, Bethany arrived from California, Sarah and family of 4 arrived from Oregon. Had a meeting concerning memorial service, and a trip to Dad's apartment.
Sunday- Tribute to Dad by Elder Board at GBC, viewing and time at Locke Funeral Home with family and friends from 12:00 to 6:00.
Monday- Dad's Memorial Service at 11:00, the burial, and a meal at the church which lasted all afternoon- then our immediate family gathered for one last meal together.
Tuesday- Sarah and family left.
Wednesday- Lori left to return to Peru to finish her two year assignment there.
Thursday- Mike, Bethany and I drove Marisa and Jenny back to Arkansas.

Friday- Here I sit one week later, trying to remember where I am and what day it is.

In between all of these activities, we had alot of family meals together provided by friends or at restaurants. There have been so many emotions involved in this week. It's been so good to see distant relatives and friends that we see so seldom and have the time together, but oh how I wish I'd had more time to talk with each one. There just wasn't enough time to catch up with everyone. Here are just a few favorite photos of this past week together. I know that the family members who were not able to make the trip would enjoy some of these family photos.

One of our first meals together as everyone was still arriving.

My sister, Sarah together with her family.

All of us girls together as I didn't want to torture the guys with a photo.

Another one of the family meals together for pizza.

My sweet nieces, Sydney and Delaney. They are Dan and Lynn's girls.

Our family sending Lori off at the airport.

Our four girls with Hayley, too. She got lots of attention as the newest addition to our family from her 3 aunties and everyone else.

Mike and Lori as she began her 16 hour trip back to Peru.

Baby Hayley has definitely been a source of joy for all of us in the midst of the sorrow. When we felt sad or a memory would trigger tears, just seeing her precious cheeks and enjoying her sweet innocence would help with the pain.

Even though it was hard to tell Lori good-bye once again, at the same time we felt so thankful for this brief amount of time with her that was so unexpected. Instead of her meeting Hayley when she was 2 years old, she was thrilled for every minute with her at this sweet age of 2 months. We have two days here in Arkansas with Jon and Marisa and family and then will drive back up to Iowa on Monday.

Tribute to my Dad

(I read this at Dad's Memorial service yesterday)

The Bible tells us in Exodus 20:12 to “Honor your mother and father”. Today I want to honor our father and read a Tribute to him.
As some of you may know, I live in Thailand so I had about 36 hours of plane travel time to reflect and reminisce about my Dad’s life while coming here. In a world today where it is common to blame and attack our parents for our upbringing, we, the Rousselow children are thankful for our father.

Dad was a great man of impeccable character and always hard working. He was not an upfront showy type person; but a solid, loving, and caring man. He was the most influential man in my life. He has left a legacy for us to carry on in many ways, but I will try to just share the ones that seem most significant today. Some of the values Dad taught us are:

1) He was hard working and a good family provider. He would work many late nights out in the fields, when everyone else’s days work was done- just as most farmers do. His greatest love was farming, but at one point he wasn’t making enough money for our family through farming and had to get a job in town. I remember mom telling me it was one of the only times she had seen him really cry when he had to go to work in town. Even in recent years, he was still always out shoveling the snow to have a clean sidewalk, as soon as it snowed, because he loved to work.
2) Dad taught us honesty and being truthful through his example. I never knew him to tell a lie.
3) Dad modeled “servanthood”. He was the servant of all. He cared for mom 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through her more than 20 years of disability from multiple sclerosis. He not only served her in sacrificial giving day after day, but the amazing thing is that he did it without complaining. We have probably all learned more from his servant heart than any other thing. He gave of himself so unselfishly.
4) Dad had a love for people and a lack of fear of strangers. No matter what era of life he was in, we remember the youth group kids always loving him and him being involved with them.
5) Dad and mom both valued being at church faithfully, and I think it communicated to me the importance of God in my life. I’m also thankful that they sent me to church camps every summer and big conferences like, Explo ’72 that each had a huge influence on my life.
6) He taught us selflessness. He was the most unselfish person I know. They always made Christmas special for us and gave to us often at their own sacrifice.
7) Dad taught us the value of a family. God is the creator of the family unit and our parents modeled for us the design God intended. In a culture where families are falling apart and there are a lot of broken families and it is even hard to define “What IS a family” , I felt so secure in our home. We all need the feeling of a home and love and that was always there for me. They modeled a family with one dad, one mom, and I never had a fear of their divorce. They were happily married for 58 years, even though they went through their share of difficult times. I treasure the gift of their good, solid, happy, marriage.

How did Dad show us this family value?
- He came to absolutely everything we were involved in. Sports, school programs, recitals, and cheerleading; he was always there. He was involved in our lives and our world.
- We wanted to be with Dad as much as we could. When he was too busy with farm work in the fields to come up for meal time, we just packed the meal picnic style and drove the pick-up out and sat on the tailgate to eat together.
- Visiting our grandparents house every Sunday afternoon as a family instilled the value of extended family. At Grandpa Rousselows we were always served homemade applesauce and home made oatmeal cookies.
- Family vacations were a value. We went to clear Lake and rented a cabin every other summer and then would travel to a new place on opposite summers. Renting a camper and stopping at campgrounds all the way between here and California was a favorite.
- Dad helped me build the simplest tree house in the front yard, but to me it was coolest thing ever. The best part was when he actually climbed up into it with me.
- I have special memories of the days that Dad would take me to work with him. I’d ride with him in the Grady Farms Dairy milk delivery truck or go with him on his rounds to the farms for the artificial insemination of cows.


- He raised us on a farm which creates some of the best memories a kid could ever have, things like:
- building tunnels out of hay in the barn,
-watching the birth of the baby piglets,
-being creative to make fun out of whatever was available. We had so much fun when Dad took the hood off an old car flipped it over and pulled us all around in the snow behind the tractor. He’d whip us around the field and our school friends and youth group thought he was the most fun Dad ever.
-learning childhood responsibilities through doing our chores. Mine was gathering the eggs from the chickens and putting them in the crates in the old stone wall basement.
- doing the yard work together as a family. Dad always had one of the nicest looking yards and seemed to make it a little bit bigger each summer.

Every one of Dad’s 10 grandkids and 6 great grandkids loved him so much.
Deuteronomy 7:10 tells us that God will pass on His covenant of love from generation to generation. Our grandparents passed down Godly values in life to our parents and they passed them on to us and now we feel the responsibility of being the oldest generation. Our prayer is that we will be faithful to pass on to the next generation a desire to love God and keep His commandments and we pray that my Dad’s life will leave that challenge with each of you too. We pray that through Dad’s example; today would be a day for you, his friends and family, to reexamine your life and decide if you are pouring your life into what really matters most for all eternity.

Thank you God, for giving us Leonard Dean Rousselow as a daddy to us and a grandpa to our grandchildren. You knew what you were doing when you gave him to us and for that we are thankful.

Bittersweet Reunion

It is really a miracle that Mike and I and all four daughters were able to return to Iowa for Dad's funeral and burial. We saw so many things orchestrated and details come together that only God could do. Our church just happen to to have an open parsonage available so Mike and I have been able to be together in one house with all four girls (and baby Hayley) alone and it has been so wonderful to live, grieve, and support each other together. It is a bittersweet time to be with all my siblings, nieces and nephews, and extended relatives. It just doesn't seem right though that we are all together and Dad is not with us. Everyone loved my dad so much and the expressions of love to us from so many people because of him has been overwhelming.
I am so thankful for all the pictures we have to look back on together and relive sweet memories with our Dad and Grandpa. This was Thanksgiving Day- 2007. Dad loved jumping into pictures!

Yesterday was the viewing from 2-6:00. It was a long and emotional day- but so encouraging to see and hear how much Dad influenced so many peoples lives. There was a long line going out the door of the funeral parlor for the majority of the time. Today is the funeral. I don't know if it's jet lag, or so many things on my mind-- but it's the middle of the night (but middle of the day in Thailand) and I just can't sleep.

Marisa was able to get a flight up from Florida (where they were visiting) with Hayley, and it is most everyone in the families first time to get to see her. Lori thought she would not meet Hayley until she was 2 years old, but instead she is 2 months old. Hayley is getting lots of lovins from all her aunties. Jon and Collin and Summer were not able to come as airline tickets are so expensive right now.


Lori was the biggest miracle in getting here. She was in Peru and we had a hard time even getting ahold of her and then didn't know if she would be able to come. Her friends put their money together and helped her get a flight and she arrived the night before in the nick of time.

Bethany flew in from California and since her spring break is next week, she is mising her classes this week we will get 2 weeks with her. She had just written us telling us that her spring break was coming up and everyone was going home and she didn't know what to do and just wanted to be with family.
Jenny drove up from Missouri and it just happened to be her spring break- so good timing for her.

My sister, Sarah, and her husband and all 3 children were also able to come from the west coast.

One last thing... we've been collecting some memories from the kids concerning Grandpa. Shannon, my nephew gave me the sweetest note last night that I want to share- he wrote:

"Grandma, thank you for sharing Grandpa with us the last couple of years you have been apart. Today we rejoice knowing he is back in your arms. Until we all meet again, We love you both! Your grandson, Shannon"

Generation to Generation

I'm in the Tokyo/Narita airport on our long journey home and have a few hours- so we're enjoying a bit of time on our computers. Messages that I'm receiving from many people have been so encouraging. Our flights have been good so far and I am actually enjoying the time to sit still and reflect. I have found sometimes that blogging is actually therapeutic for me. Ha ha, you may have noticed that!


The day that we found out about Dad's death, I had a Bible Study scheduled for that evening. I decided to go ahead with it and talked about Dad's life and his values and the importance of passing on God's statues from generation to generation which is what my father did for me. I have been reading about the importance of this in Deuteronomy and felt it was particularly important for this group. The majority of them are raised in non Christian homes, where they have not been taught God's Word growing up- but love him now as Christians. I shared with them of how I have no regrets of anything in my relationship with my father and am thankful for the way he raised me. I challenged them to be Godly parents someday to their children also. Even though they may have been raised by parents who have given them bad memories, they can be the start of a new generation to raise their children in a way that they will have no regrets. Of course I shared alot of this through tears but am thankful that even through Dad's death, I was able to share about his life as a testimony to the Thai people that God has led us to work with.


This is actually a new Bible Study group of TCCC alumni who were involved as students but now in the working world. I invited them to do a study with me in English to help their English-- plus it's alot more fun for me to do it in my native tongue. These pictures are of us the week before where we used a new evangelistic tool to share with each other about our relationship with God by using photo images. It is a great tool that you could use in evangelism, too. You can read more about it at My soularium. Someone sent these pictures of us together from their cell phone. I know that Dad's life had a spiritual influence on more people that I will ever know.

48 hours

We got the news of Dad's sudden heart attack 48 hours ago-- and we board our first plane in just a few hours to begin the journey home. It's been an intense two days. The first day I was alone and really needed the time to talk to each of our daughters and other family members, adjust to the shock, cry and grieve. Mike got home last night and it felt alot better to just have him here with me. Today has been a day of packing, taking care of responsibilities here and getting ready to leave. We've only been back 5 weeks, so it seems so soon to be returning again.

Last night we only had 2 hours of sleep. We were up till 1:00 working on flights and trying to figure out if the girls could come back. Air tickets are so pricey right now - especially for last minute flights. Lori finally got out of the jungle and to a location where she could call us at our 3:00am, so we were relieved to make contact with her. After talking with her we just couldn't fall back asleep again- hence the two hours sleep. Our stop is short in Bangkok tonight and we'll have about 5-6 hours at a guesthouse before heading back to the airport at 4:30 for our early morning flight. We figure our bodies will be all mixed up in a few days anyway with the 12 hour change, so we just started feeling like zombies a little early this time.

At this point we're still not sure who all is able to come together for the funeral. We're hoping everyone, but some arrangments are still pending. Thank- you so much for many e-mails and words of encouragement. Dad was definately a much -loved man. The following photos are more favorites I took of Dad's visits to the orphange here. Dad just loved the little girls and they were all drawn to him.

Praying for him when they found out it was his birthday. These little girls really know how to pray, too.

Playing a game with Eve, a litle girl that the the two of them really clicked together.

Eating dinner together.

His red eyes were from the tears in telling Eve good-bye, he loved her and all children so much .

A Life Well Lived!

I just sent this letter to our team and will copy it for our blog:

I write this letter in between tears. Tears of both sadness and joy!

I received a phone call this morning that my dear father, Leonard Rousselow died of a sudden heart attack this morning in his new apartment in Waterloo, Iowa.

The sadness is because of how much we already miss him. For any of you who knew him- he was a man who exemplified complete joy everyday of his life, no matter how difficult the circumstances. I have learned so much from him and am so thankful for a father who loved God and raised me in a way that I have nothing but wonderful memories. I will miss him so much.

The joy is because he died in the way that is the easiest to go. He was in his new apartment, a place that he loved so much, and his physical heart simply gave out as he entered God’ presence. I’m pretty sure the first person he met and hugged was mom whom he loved and cared for and missed. I am so happy for him to be in his new home in heaven and reunited with my dear mom.
Death does not always happen at the most convenient times, though. I write this from Thailand and our daughters are scattered in Florida, Peru, California, and Missouri right now. My siblings were actually in different countries, also. We need wisdom as we work on travel arrangements, especially as ticket prices are very high right now.

I’m not sure why, but as I’m still in the initial phase of shock and grief for some reason the song “Great is They Faithfulness” keeps coming back to my mind and spirit. I’ll try to give you more updates, but appreciate your prayers for now.


Dad was able to come over and visit us in Thailand in January, 2007 and we cherish the memories and pictures from that trip. This is a favorite of us taking him to the islands that we work on.

Government Offices

During our years in Asia, I have to say that going to government offices is on our list of "least favorite places to go". I've had my share of them lately. They are places though that cannot be avoided. My first experiences were in the Philippines when we had to go to Immigration to get our yearly visa. We never knew what the outcome would be-- so the "day of appearance" was always covered in a lot of prayer.

Mike and I just made our appearance at the immigration office in Bangkok and now have a new visa that will allow us to live legally in Thailand for another year. This picture was taken while waiting for our number to be called. Each room is full of people from many nationalities just waiting also to go through the system and be called to the window.
I spent several days at another government office last week when I needed to renew my Thai drivers license. It was not expired, but just the normal renewal. Even though I've been driving in Thailand for over 20 years, the process took so long. I had to get legal documents proving where I live from another immigration office and was sent back and forth between the two offices twice, had to provide other legal documents, and take a class on driving again. I'm happy to report that I am now a legal driver and won't have to go through the process for another five years.

I think my feelings about going to government offices is something that I can learn from and a good reminder. The people at these offices are not so typically Thai (warm and friendly). Some of them are gruff and seem irritable. How would you feel if you had to deal with stacks of paper that represent people day in and day out? It makes the workers lose their personal touch when dealing with masses of humanity. We are just faces to them, not real people. So the lesson for me is "Do I ever want people to dread having to come and talk with me?" No matter how many questions I've answered or people I've dealt with, I pray that I will not be the dreaded person and "least favorite place to go".

Today!

I'm excited this morning about the potential of the two teams working on the islands today. When I think about the 15 students form Chiang Rai and the 41 students from Hat Yai all making themselves available to help the Moken Sea Gypies, the opportunities are so huge. These people are so poor in material standards and understand so little about God's love and yet throughout this week, they are learning so much. Mike said the final program from Kid's Kamp was so impressive last night. The kids did skits and acted out 5 different Bible Stories that they had learned with their parents watching proudly.

"Dear God, I pray that the Moken people that we've been working with will be so touched this week by the Thai student's lives. I pray that they will want to know more about Jesus and feel His love through their labor and lives. May you be glorified and Your Kingdom expanded this week on the islands. Amen."

Hall of Fame!

Anyone, who has been to my house, knows that I love pictures. In fact some people have made remarks about my "Hall of Fame"- but the funny thing is that it is not just one hallway, but the entire house. It may have something to do with the separation - so I have pictures of my extended family everywhere to enjoy them even though I can't be with them.

Right after Hayley was born in January, I decided I wanted to take my grand kids to do a photo shoot and have the pictures to bring back to Thailand. There was this incredible deal where you got a whole large package of photos for only $9.99- so Marisa and I promised each other to stick with the package only. Oops....do you really think that after they took 60 different poses, that I could stick with only one? We ended up with a huge folder of photos and I had to dig into my "spending money" a bit to make up the difference. I'm so glad that I did it and love every photo that I have to look at each day.

Collin- Age 4

Summer (turns 3 this Friday)

This one was so funny to me, because the photographer was making noises trying to get Hayley to look at him and I tried to remind him that she was not even 2 weeks old yet and didn't respond to sounds yet. On the contrary, she slept through most of the photo session.

I had to include this just because Collin's face is so funny.

This pose is a bit awkward anyway, looks like they just found a baby laying on a blanket in a garden, eh?

This one actually was the most humorous because, why did we have on our winter clothes and socks at the beach?

But I don't want to be too down on the place, they were actually very good and we were so impressed with how good they were with the kids. Collin and Summer thought the whole activity was alot of fun and enjoyed it. Sweet baby Hayley was the main reason that we wanted the pictures, and here she is with Mama at the beach at 10 days old! Incase, you can't get enough of them, Marisa chose some different ones to share on her blog.

2nd Summer Project Group at Koh Chang

This week, we have two student work projects going on at two different islands. We really feel a need to ask you to pray as there seems to be alot going on. The first project we already mentioned in a previous blog, is 15 students from Chiang Rai and they are building on Phayam island. Mike has been so impressed with their hard work. It is hot season now and so extremely hot and they just keep going and are working so hard, even in the heat.

The second group is from our campuses in southern Thailand. There are 41 on this team and they drove 9 hours to get there a few days ago. The interesting and exciting thing about this group is that the Christians with TCCC invited their friends to come along and 29 of them are not Christians. Our prayer is that through living, working, eating, and just rubbing shoulders with the Christian's this week that these new students will understand God's love for them.

Their first day, they just spent time with the Moken villagers on Chang island and helped to clean up their village. This is a picture I took of the village before the clean- up started. We have tried to teach them to put their garbage in bags, but as you can see- it just does not seem to be a value to them. Every few weeks or months, we have a major clean-up day with them.
The last two days, have been a summer camp for 50 of the Moken village children. They've been teaching them stories, games, crafts and all that fun camp stuff and the children are having a great time with all the attention of these 41 students.

On Monday, they are going to transfer the 41 students on Chang island to help the project of 15 on Phayam island. The Phayam project could really use some more help for their building project. They are digging out dirt and sand on one side of the village to make the new ponds to raise fish and then transferring the fill to the place where the 5 new hong tao's (row houses) are going to be built.

Mike felt this morning like he was an an air traffic controller. Calls were coming in from both islands needing more supplies along with other phone calls and it was a lot to coordinate. On top of that he has an injury that we are not sure what it is. He's in a bit of pain, but it's difficult to rest while coordinating these two big projects. We appreciate your prayers for him during this time.

Way to Go, Samson!

This morning, I was doing some gardening outside and noticed that Sam was pretty intent with his labrador hunting instincts on catching a lizard. He was working on it for quite awhile. I eventually came back inside and was sitting here in our office working on my computer, when all of a sudden I heard Sam with one of his "come look at me" barks. I went outside to discover that he had finally caught it and was pretty proud of his catch too. After playing with it a bit, and letting me take a few photos of him, then came the funniest part. He set it on our patio and laid down real close beside it as I think he was ready for a rest, but kept looking at me as if to say "didn't I do good? - just take some more photo's of me with my catch!" So here you go, my cute little Sammy and his proud catch!