Don't leave Lori!

When Lori found out that she did not have to return to work this week, it didn't take much to talk her into extending her time here with us for a few more days and Mike was able to change her ticket.  We also had a change in our plans in going to the islands.  Mike has meetings in Bangkok later this week, so with all the change of plans we are spending New Years weekend with Lori here in Bangkok.

Our last day at the beach was a relaxing chill day.  This is Lori sipping on her favorite fresh mango shake.

The sunsets were so pretty each night.  God is so artistic in His beautiful creations and He made these sights just for us to enjoy! That is why we love the beach!

The Thai tourists along the beach were really into these photo ops, so we decided to try some ourselves.  It is really best that I post Lori in action instead of me! :)

Life in the big city here is a bit different, but we are taking Lori to visit some of her old favorite places.  New Years is a big holiday here and the city is actually a bit quiet as most Bangkokonians have gone home to the rural areas to be with their family's.  Happy New Year to all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

December 27 was my birthday and I got to spend it with Mike and Lori sightseeing around Phuket Island. We rented ‘girly’ motorbikes and rode from the top of the island in and out of all the coves and bays down to the bottom of the island, stopping here and there whenever we wanted to. It was so beautiful and a fun way to spend the day.

We found some sea eagles at one stop that were beautiful.

Lori was not so sure about him at first….

....but was able to put on a quick smile for a picture.

After being a bit disappointed that she had not seen too many elephants so far on this return home, we ended up seeing them all along the way on our motorbike trip.

She got to feed a baby elephant a bottle of soy milk…

…and then he gave her numerous kisses on her cheek.

She gave him hugs in return.

I think she got her fill of elephant time at this stop.

Once we got to the bottom of the island, the view was so gorgeous.

We were thankful for safety as we rode all day long. The only close call we had was when a woman (who was a foreigner) forgot what side of the road she was suppose to be driving on and was headed straight toward Mike on our side of the road. It was close, but they both swerved and avoided each other.

Thanks Mike and Lori for a fun birthday and adventuresome day!

Holiday Travels

Before Lori came to Thailand, our plan was to meet her in Bangkok and spend a few days at the beach before heading up to Chiang Mai for Christmas.  My health issues changed all that, but as I began feeling better and Lori's time  came to an end we revisited our plans for some beach time. We decided to combine it with a trip to our work in the south, not realizing that we were making our travel plans for the busiest time of year for holiday travel.  The week between Christmas and New Years is supposedly the busiest week.

The Bangkok airport was crazy and busy.  We waited in one line for 1.5 hours only to find out we had to change our travel dates for our booked return.

Lori and I decided to play a little "Where's Waldo" game while Mike waited in the line for us.  Can you find her? Pretty easy to spot the one blondie in a sea of black.

Lori with the big giant "Yak" in the airport.

So happy to finally arrive at the beach-- was worth the travels!

First meal right on the beach.

Another meal on the beach tonight!   Lori loves the beach and we love spending this time with her.



Massage Class

One of Lori's gifts from us this year was to pay for a massage class that she wanted to take here. As long as she was going, I decided to take the class with her for a little mother/daughter time.

Thailand is known for it's expertise in massages and spa's.  We had a variety of types of massage classes to choose from.  We decided on the head, neck, shoulders course. Our teacher was very good.

I actually gave my course book to Mike for his Christmas gift.  Since it is a bit hard to give myself a head massage, I decided he would probably benefit from it more than me. I've had several other friends offer also, in case I need students to practice on.  It was a real fun  class to take together and I'm sure we'll both have allot of opportunities to use what we learned.

Christmas Joy

One of my favorite parts of Christmas in Thailand is that we have so many opportunities to bless other people. It just seems that since people have less here, that each Christmas we get to give to others by doing such simple things. This year was no exception.

It started when a friend of Loris  gave her money to buy some things for an orphanage. Lori bought a cart full of sports balls and toys and we took them out to one of our favorite orphanages, “House of Blessing.” Lori and I loved visiting and playing with the children while there.

It is always good to see our sweet Eve and Ice. They are changing and growing up into beautiful young ladies.

Phin, our house girl has worked for our family for more than 15 years and is like part of the family to us.  Each year we buy her family a gift and deliver it on Christmas.  This year was a  very special gift.  Her husband died several years ago and she lives with her son and daughter. Their whole family is Christian and very involved at their church. Her son was Christmas caroling at the time we visited.

Delivering gifts to this sweet family on Christmas eve was definitely a highlight.  Especially since the money was given to us by a Bible Study group in Ohio - and we had the fun of spending the money and  picking out what they wanted. They are part of our staff team here in Chiang Mai.

It was fun to watch their parents (Nuu and Gob) enjoy watching the boys (New and Mew) open their gifts.  They normally do not receive Christmas gifts, so this was a first time.

Their favorites were these scooters to use in the neighborhood.  They were so funny to watch as they were trying them out in their small apartment.

Back at our home, this year our Christmas was a bit quiet and small compared to the usual, since we just had Lori with us.  She treated us with some American gifts and we have loved our time alone with her this Christmas.

After church on Christmas Day, the Utley family treated us to a very delicious turkey Christmas dinner.  Here's the girls enjoying desserts and playing table games, while the guys took naps!

Once we got home Christmas night,  Mike and I finally got around to delivering my home made plates of Christmas cookies (5 varieties) to our neighbors along with Jesus videos. We tried to visit every house, that we talk to neighbors throughout the year and found  people home at 7 homes this year.  Hoping they watch the video and understand who Jesus is and why He came!  Hope your Christmas was meaningful this year, too.

Marketing with Lori

Please enjoy the splendour of Chiang Mai--- no problem!

Home again to her kind of shoppin'

Hmmm- which Christmas outfit for this year???

Make your own jewelery.

more jewlery choices

Our favorite vegetable lady

more jewelry????

Khao Soy noodle lunch

Good shoppin', Good food, Merry Christmas from Thailand!



Jehovah Rophe

One of my doctors called today to give me an update on the pathology report.  She is still not satisfied with the results so now will send the slide to Bangkok to who she calls an "expert". My doctors are quite sure that my official diagnosis is  "Vasculitus" and/or  "Paniculitus"- but still  have not gotten a clear diagnosis from the lab work. In the meantime, my auto immune doctor wants me to stay on the same medication for another two weeks, since we have seen positive improvement, and I am very happy that the steroids were not needed to treat the symptoms.  Thank you so much to so many who have been praying for me.  I am definitely much better now. 

Soon after  my health issues started to be a concern to us - I was very comforted by the fact that one of God's many many names is "Jehovah Rophe- the Healer".  Just knowing that one of His names was "The Lord Who Heals",  made me more confident that He would take care of me, even though I already knew that.

Exodus 15:26  says, "If thou will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments and keep all His statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that Healeth thee."

I read some studies on this and Jehovah Rophe means to heal, restore, or cure. God doesn't just heal, God IS healing.  He is constantly healing us, and really, all of His creation.  Sometimes he heals dramatically and immediately.  Sometimes he heals more slowly using doctors and medicine.  In all cases he heals us completely at the resurrection.  The healing process is a wonderful gift from our God, Jehovah Rophe.

I am so thankful for his healing in my body today.  I still would like to know for sure what I had, what caused it, and how much it will be reoccurring;  but for now and no matter what happens in the future,  I want to praise- "the Lord Who Heals!"

A Northern TCCC Christmas

It is finally feeling a lot like Christmas around here this week.  We started out Monday night with our northern TCCC staff Christmas party.  After including all our interns and salary staff from our whole northern region we ended up with 50 plus people.

We sang, exchanged gifts, ate ALOT of food, had a Hollywood costume theme, and enjoyed a full evening together.

Our regional directors, Boonjome and Dew led the program for the evening.

At one point they had all of us farangs (foreigners) up front to pass out our exchange gifts.

The next day my farang Campus Crusade friends and I had lunch at a tea room with our daughters who had come back home for Christmas.  Even though I'm a shut-eye here, I wanted to share this photo because these ladies are so special to me and we are truly like family to each other being  so far away from our relatives at home.

The next day, Lori was asked to share an update on her life at the TCCC staff meeting.  They were all so happy to hear from her since  many of them knew her growing up here.  She shared about her ministry at her job and things she was learning and then they all prayed for her.  Another encouraging time together.

Just a little side note here, that during the meeting I had a phone call and stepped out behind our office which borders a river and found one of our workers cooking this snake over an open fire for his lunch.  Eeewww!

Mike, Lori and I went to a favorite place for lunch where no snakes were served.  We definitely are enjoying our time with Lori and it is fun to have one daughter to spoil rotten.  The time is going too fast though; one week down, one left to go. Enjoying her while we can and each day is an adventure!