Michael is Here!

Last night, we met Michael at the Bangkok airport and are excited to have the next two weeks with him here in Thailand. He had an all day layover in Korea and had planned to go out and do a little exploring around Seoul, but when he stepped outside and felt the 10 degrees temp- he decided to stay inside. He was real happy to finally get here after such long travels. We had come down to Bangkok a day early to spend the day in the big city. We mainly visited the girls favorite markets, walking streets, and did some serious cheap-cheap shopping. We also celebrated my 55th birthday and the best part was just having the girls with me all day long. On Dec. 27th we actually spent the day in the car on the trip to Bangkok with some great conversations. What a contrast to enjoy adult conversations together after many years of trying to occupy and entertain little people on that long trip back and forth when they were young. We enjoyed my birthday dessert the next day ate at a special restaurant in Bangkok. Today, we're off to the beach for the New Years holiday!

Best Christmas Ever!

This holiday season really has been one of my best Christmases ever. I think this is mostly due to it being the first time in years that we have been in our own home and the girls got to come home for Christmas. We are enjoying each day together and do not take it for granted. The weather this time of year in Chiang Mai is so pleasant, too. Being outside is very comfortable and we do not need air conditioning.
On Christmas eve day, we joined with a friend from church, Paul who has a ministry of taking stuffed animals to children who are in the hospital. We started the morning with a trip to the stuffed animal store here and loaded up with gifts. Jenny had collected Beanie Babies when younger, so we actually brought most of her collection to give to the children at the hospital, too. We spent most of our time on the floor for the terminally ill. I was amazed at how much freedom we had to go in and out of every room and how they really wanted us to visit the sick children, even in the PICU ward.

We just stayed briefly in each room by giving them a stuffed animal , talking a little bit and praying for them. The parents were the ones who most wanted us to stay and pray with them.

This mom was a Christian and her baby has brain cancer. She was so happy to talk with us.

The children come in to this hospital from all over the northern region of Thailand. We were told that some of the children are dropped off and the parents are not able to stay with them.

Today on Christmas, we spent most of the day just enjoying each other, playing games, eating, opening a few gifts and delivering a few more gifts tonight. We certainly do have so much to be thankful for in all areas; materially, spiritually, and our health!

All my ducklings in a row ( except one)

We left the USA 10 days ago and have been going non stop ever since. As much as I enjoy blogging, you can probably know that I am super busy when I go for this long with no posts. We ended our trip to the USA with a very encouraging Sunday at Cornerstone Church and really enjoyed our time of fellowship and worship there. They even gave us a standing ovation for our 30 years of ministry here in Asia, which made us feel so honored. They are such an encouraging group to us and we love every time that we get to be with them.

So on to Thailand...... I knew from the way the girls were acting in the car as we drove them to the LAX airport- that we had some very excited girls ready for a long awaited trip. Jenny literally jabbered non stop about all her favorite Thai dishes, childhood memories and places in Chiang Mai that she wanted to revisit and that is what we have been doing each and every day. It has been a total delight to bring the girls back home. It's been several years for both Jenny and Bethany so every little aspect of the culture and small things that they have missed are such a treat to them. I wake up every morning with a full agenda for the day, and have countless photos- which we will be looking back over for a long time. Here is just a few selected recaps..... I wish you all could have been there when we got off the plane in Chiang Mai. Lori had made Bethany a "Show me the Ring" sign and the two of them ran from one end of the airport to the other to greet each other. It was something this mama had to step back and capture on her camera! Bethany is so funny with her ring. She is so proud to show it to her old friends and seems to put her hand in front of the majority of most pictures to make sure it shows up. She has been pretty intent on wedding plans each day. Since Thailand prices are a small fraction of prices in California-- she wants to do as much as she can while here. On the long flight across the ocean, she and Jenny devoured some Bride magazines and then on the short flight to Chiang Mai, here she is showing me all of her ideas. Mike bought Jenny her favorite and most missed favorite drink right away in the airport and she was thrilled with her Oishi Green Tea. When we got to the house the first day- the girls darted around from room to room checking it all out- and found their own rooms with the most memories. I have saved a few of their childhood memories in trunks and they had them open in no time re-living old times. We were laughing so hard at Jen when she remembered that she had hidden some secret feelings on paper under some parquet tiles in the upstairs hallway. She squealed when she found the exact tile and the notes were still there and we laughed even harder when we heard what was written on the paper. She had called it her time capsule.


Not much later, we were out for afternoon errands and they were most thrilled to get updated contacts and eye glasses so they could see well again. Then it was a stop for favorite snacks. High on priorities for Bethany the first day was to go to the animal market. She had grown up with bunnies and has missed having them in the USA. Jen wasn't too sure if the smells were worth it though. She is loving her little "Snowball" which she keeps in her room. If she could, she'd have white bunnies all over the place at her wedding. The order of events is not so important - because the past week has all run together- but I have a few other photo highlights. Here we are at a favorite historical tea shop for lunch near the day market.I about died when we found a box of their old school uniforms and they tried them on for 'ole times sake. Finding the right sizes - since they all wore the same uniforms created some pretty funny outfits.
When the girls were young, we did alot of bike riding together as family and Mike orchestrated for us to have a family bike ride out of the city around a dam reservoir.

Brought back lots of memories, with a story our family will never forget. It involves us all riding a little bit ahead and Bethany (a first grader) wiping out on a steep hill and a Thai village man riding down to tell Mike "baby fall down". We all rode back to find her crying on the side of the road. Horrible parents we were- and she is scarred for life- but the story gets better every time we retell it with her. Soft drinks are served in plastic bags here sometimes, so the girls were happy to get their pop bags after the ride. When you get these three sista's together- the craziness is unlimited! Not sure what is happening here!

The last Friday night student gathering had a big Christmas theme and the girls were so happy to get to be a part and reconnect with our TCCC staff. They went all out for this meeting and invited the neighborhood around our center to hear the story of the true meaning of Christmas. There was a great turnout! The girls were called on stage to help with the program- just like old times. The art street at Sunday night walking market is always a favorite.

A stop in the walking street for a break and we just can't get enough of those $1 fresh fruit shakes and iced coffee drinks.

Bumping into old high school friend at the market, although our time so far has pretty much been just family time- since there aren't too many old friends around. Khao Soy for lunch- and this place is great because they provide the bibs, too- for all those curry noodle splashes.

Traditional make your own shish-ka-bobs BBQ with a few families (this year was Smiths and Changsakols's) at our house included a badminton tournament Tuesday eve.

Last night was our Northern Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ Christmas Party and we roasted a whole pig for the celebration feast.

The girls had a lot of fun with our staff for games and exchange of gifts. Today we have now arrived at Christmas eve. Thank you God for our daughters and the wonderful times that we are having together this year in Thailand. Today, we are going to the government hospitol to pass out stuffed animals to children who are alone--- hopefully I'll be quicker about posting an update next time! You all have a great Christmas, too!

The Engagement Story

Our two week trip to the USA was fantastic. On Saturday, we celebrated both Bethany's college graduation and engagement. While sitting on the plane for our return to Thailand yesterday, I had plenty of time to type the story of her engagement which got long. This is just for those who want the details:

On Bethany and Michael’s college graduation day – they became engaged and we are so happy that we got to be there to share in a very sweet proposal. Michael really ‘hit it out of the park’ on this one and I’d like to share the story with you, our dear friends and family who could not be there. First, it seems helpful to share a little history and background about their relationship.

Michael and Bethany met their freshman year of college (August, 2005) and had the same group of friends and spent a lot of time together doing all the things that college students do together at a Christian university. Michael tells us that from the beginning that he noticed her and had his eye on her and tried to pursue her numerous times. It was very healthy the way they spent these last 4 ½ years together, but most always with their group getting to know each other as college friends. Michael was even part of a mission trip that Bethany brought to Thailand from her school in summer of 2007 and got to see the country that she grew up in and see our lives and ministry first hand. He loved Thailand and told us repeatedly that he’d love to come back someday. During their summer of 2008, they worked together as admission representatives traveling around the country representing HIU and Bethany says that it was during this time that she felt she really started seeing qualities in Michael that she was attracted to. One year ago on December 8, 2008 Michael wrote a song to Bethany with the lyrics revealing that he felt more towards her than just a friend and asked her if they could begin a dating relationship. We were in Calif. that month, so she shared with us about their relationship and asked us what we thought of them pursuing a relationship of considering a possible future together. For the past year they have spent a lot more time together and on September 25, (my) Mike received a phone call from Michael asking if he could marry Bethany. (Side note; We’re not real sure how we’re going to keep the two names straight, but at this point Bethany thinks that her fiancé is called Michael more often and her Dad is known more as Mike- so that’s what we’re going with for now). Around the time of Michael’s phone call, Bethany had been talking to us more about them getting married. To be honest, at that point I could still only see them as friends, probably because of not having the opportunity to be with them and see them together as more than friends. I will never forget one phone call, when in my hesitancy I was reminding Bethany what a huge lifetime decision this was and asked her how she knew that Michael was the one that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She very matter of factly started listing the reasons to me:
-because he loves God
-because he loves me
-because we've known each other for so long as friends first
-because he knows me so well and still loves me even when I'm not lovable
-because he challenges me everyday in different ways to be a better person
-because he…… she kept going on and on… until her voice began to quiver and she started to cry which made me cry and we both ended up in tears. My tears were the realization that she had truly found the man that we have prayed for her to find ever since she was a small baby and the Godly man that was going to be there for her the rest of her life. Even though it might have been easier for us to have more time getting to know Michael, Mike and I both feel that the two most important qualities we want in a son-in-law is for them to love God and to love our daughter. Michael totally possesses both of those qualities. It has been so reassuring to spend this past week with Michael and Bethany, meet his family, and recognize how blessed we are to have Michael as our future son-in-law. The more time we are with him, the more we are growing to love him. He is very talented in his field of work and has already landed a job as a production assistant with a TV show.

So now we are up to the day of engagement…….. Michael has planned for months how he would do the proposal. He wrote her another song asking her to spend the rest of her life with him and wanted to take her to her favorite beautiful park over looking the valley, downtown LA and the mountains. He bought the ring and wrote the song a few months ago, but was waiting for the right time. They wanted their engagement to happen when both families were together and this week was the first time that the two families met. Bethany also wanted her closest friends to be part of the proposal with them. Michael had every detail planned to a tee which was to be right after their graduation outside at the park. Everyone knew the plan except for Bethany. She was told that we were all going to the park to take more graduation pictures with their friends. One big problem… the day of their graduation it was raining off and on. There was a slight last minute panic on Michael’s part, trying to decide if he should change the plan. His parents encouraged him to go ahead with the plan he had made. His mom was so supportive to reassure him that “the engagement was not about the peripheral surroundings but that it was about what was in his heart.” Bethany rode with us to the park and we had to make a stop which made us arrive a little later to a group of people standing around in a huddle with umbrellas. As we walked up to the group they were surrounding Michael blocking her view of him. When she approached the group, they parted so that she could then see that there was Michael sitting in the rain with his guitar. He then told her that he had a graduation gift for her and preceded to the sing the song that he had wrote. Bethany still was a little clueless, since he had already told her that he had written another song for her. As she listened to his words that repeated “I want to spend my life with you” and realized that her family and close friends were there- she finally figured it out that this was her engagement day.
The lyrics to the song are the sweetest proposal message, that I want to hear again as I couldn't take it all in at the time.

Their friends and family gathered around to hear the song and enjoy the moment with them.

It really is a beautiful park, inspite of the rainy weather.

This is about the time that she figured out that he was proposing and she got pretty emotional with the reality of what was happening.

His sweet sister, Kristen held an umbrella over him as he played and sang.

After the song he got down on one knee (in the rain) and asked her to be his wife.

...and placed the ring on her finger. She was sort of lost in emotion by now.

Jenny was the only sister that got to be there for it-- but was loving every detail of the whole game plan.

One of my favorite photos of the engagement.

Afterward, Michael's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Scott hosted a graduation and engagement party at their home for them because they lived closer to the campus. Michael's family is Italian so his parents catered a very delicious Italian meal. This is some of their best friends celebrating together.

Mike and I had brought Bethany a graduation gift from Thailand - but it turned out to be an even better engagement gift for both of them.

It was an English antique trunk from Burma that was suppose to be her hope chest, but makes an even better first piece of furniture for their home some day.

Her ring is gorgeous and all she dreamed of ever having. They had looked at rings together so he knew what style she liked, but he picked it out totally on his own and surprised her with it.

She is so thrilled with it and can't stop looking at it. Congratulations Michael and Bethany on your beautiful engagement—a story never to be forgotten!

Graduation Day!

Yippee! Bethany Jill is now a college graduate and we are so very proud of her for sticking with it and completing her goal! A lei of orchids (probably from Thailand) was part of our celebration before the ceremony.

and kisses from the proud Daddy...

and the proud mama!

Waiting for her turn to receive her diploma.

Two very important, influential and inspiring people in the process of getting her degree; her advisor, Dr. Wittmer and her internship mentor, Rachel.

Hugs from roommate, Leanna.

Classmate to studymate to friend to special friend to boyfriend to fiance throughout the college years. Jenny was the only sister that was able to be a part of the big day and they had to do the sister tradition of swapping the cap for the photo. Thanks Jen for representing the sista's and all that sisterly love!

Uncle Dick and Aunt Joy also came all the way from Iowa to help celebrate.

Freshman buddies that all started together four years ago.

Bethany, we love you and celebrate this accomplishment with you! Now, get on that plane tomorrow and get yourself to Thailand so we can enjoy you for awhile with no worries of studies!