Our DIY Kitchen Set

I have not had this fun creating something myself in a long long time.  It started out with finding a few ideas on Pinterest and then once Mike and I got started, I got more and more excited with new ideas.  It was fun for us to work on this together, too.

It started out with this very very old pressed wood bookshelf sitting empty in a room upstairs.

...and this old play frig/freezer that Mike had made for our girls when they were little in Bangkok about 25 years ago.

It has been in Mike's workroom full of tools for several years and has been through a few floods.  It was pretty nasty- but we saw the potential.

This is about the only "in progress" photo that I got.  Mike put a back and sides on the old bookshelf for support and added the oven door and shelves on top.  I decided to start with a little pink paint just to give all the white a splash of color.

I found an old frame to paint the same pink, used chalkboard paint for the back, and added this old phone, which is Nathan's favorite part of the kitchen set. 

Sewing the layers of ruffles and pompoms gave it the extra "Girly" or "Shabby Chic" look that we wanted. This is what they first saw, before they opened their gifts of new kitchen accessories.  

The looks on their faces when they first saw it were priceless.  It's just too bad that I was too busy enjoying the moment and didn't get their faces in pictures. 

A new Ikea store has opened in Bangkok, and when I was there a few months ago, I knew that I planned to make the girls a kitchen set so I picked up their cooking sets.  I got the 5 piece pan set, the 5 piece cooking utensils, and the pastel cups and goblets.  They are so cute, they make me want to play kitchen with the girls. They opened them on Christmas day after they saw the cupboards set.

Don't you just love those little cups? 

 So far, this new gift is still at our house and the girls are enjoying it each time they walk in the door. Eventually it will move over to their home, but they've already expressed their concerns about 2 yr old Nathan and his style of cooking with them. It's fun for now for them to have more control with it. 

We all predicted that Hayley Ann would enjoy it most, and so far that has been the case.  With her imagination and organizational skills, she's already doing some serious kitchen work.

I still have plans to add to the set.  The frig is bare and needs some pretend  food.  I'd like to make the girls aprons, too.  This is one that I had saved from their mommy.  I am so sorry that I cannot remember who made this for her about 30 years ago.  Please let me know, and give yourself the credit because we all love it. 

Mike was such a great Grandpa to build everything just how I asked him to and to help me figure it out.  He was a great carpenter as usual, especially since we started it just 4 days before Christmas. Here's hoping it will bring the kids hours of creative fun, and that we'll be able to make one for Ellanora Faye and Ruby Kay someday too. 

Back to Myanmar

No, I don't have plans to go back there anytime soon- but my trip there this month had an impact on me and I want to share a few more photos.  I have been across the border into Burma many times- but this was my first time to spend time in the interior part of the country.  I've had a burden for the Burmese people for many years.  Being so close, we hear often of how the people are victimized by their own government. It is so wrong. I have wanted to get closer to the people inside Burma for a long time to see for myself.

The Christian's in Burma taught me a lot.  They are solid and strong.  They have to trust God with their lives on a whole different level than I do. I've seen that God is their source of hope and comfort.  Some of our group had contact with a pastor in Mandalay and we were able to attend his church.  He also directs a Bible school.  They sang in their worship time with all their heart and their voices communicated loudly of their love for God.

Their church has the same name as one of our supporting churches in the USA, which is how our friends and this church found each other.  It's a neat story of partnership.

After church we joined the pastor for an authentic Burmese meal.  It was fun to try new dishes and experience the food, but don't say it too loud that, I prefer Thai food.

The Burmese consider the owl (or See-quat) to be a lucky pet.  We saw them a few different places being sold, and by buying them and letting them free you could make merit and receive good luck.  The owl was also the mascot of the SEA games and an owl cartoon character was on everything representing the games.

We visited the Mandalay Royal Palace built for King Mindon  in 1857.  He had a whole lot of rooms in his palace! It was huge!

My favorite was the 78 foot tall Watch Tower, where the king and queen would go to view the city. The view was real pretty at the top. 

At sunset we went to the 1.2 km  U Bein wooden foot bridge  which is the longest teak bridge in the world. 

It is a favorite place for the Burmese people to go and there were a lot of tourists there, also

Our team watched the sunset there on our last night which was beautiful.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of this team and to see more of the country of Burma. I still have a heart for  the Burmese people, each one created in God's image and each one having a right to be heard and loved. They need our prayers. 

Christmas- 2013

It's been an unusual December for me with a house guest the first week in which we did a lot of planning for a future project here and then a week long  trip to Burma for the Sea Games, and before I knew it was just one week until Christmas.

Four days before Christmas, Mike and I started a DIY kitchen set for the girls which took up most of our time for those few days-- but I am thrilled with how it turned out. Before and after pictures coming soon!

So, I  enjoyed a bit of a more "low key" Christmas this year.  It was how I desire it to be every year, but somehow it usually gets more hectic and fuller days leaving me weary.

This year, I decided a bit late to have home crocheted snowflake ornaments made for our ministry partners to add to our Christmas letter.  There were a few girls at a home for unwed  mom's that needed some work, so I thought it would be a fun way to help them, but it turned into a bigger project for ME too, in helping them learn the responsibility and dipping them myself in glue or starch as a finished product.  We're always trying new projects to help with income for people here and this was a bit of a learning experience for me.

Decorating was fun this year, since we had family around for the first time in many years.  So many ornaments on the tree have a story of their own with special memories. Our goal and prayer is to have all the girls come home for Christmas next year- 2014.   It may be a dream, but I don't think they have  all been home together for Christmas here since they lived here together. I'm still hanging on to their baby ornaments, but plan to pass them on now that they have their own traditions and trees.

I use to collect nativity sets, but stopped when all the counter tops were full with about 15 sets.  This was my very first one when we lived in the Philippines, hand carved there. It was fun after several years to set them all up again with Summer and Hayley's help.

My parents sent this to us, our first Christmas overseas.  I'll never forget that phone call on Christmas day.  It was the first time to talk with them in a year (international phone calls were a BIG deal) and I cried the whole time just because it was so good to hear their voices.

I'm sentimental enough to still put up my own childhood stocking (from the 50's) each year.  My siblings all had these matching.

There was not too much baking in my kitchen this year, just a time or two for a Bible Study cookie exchange.  My mom's Russian teacakes (or snowballs, as we called them) is always a family favorite.  On the left, I tried a new recipe this year "Spicy Gingerbread Twigs" which was fun for a festive change.

No doubt, having 4 of our 6 grandchildren nearby made Christmas a lot more fun.  Watching it through their eyes is real different than just having Mike and I here.  This was their Christmas program at church. 

They are such good pals which is a joy to watch.  I think that at this point, Summer noticed I had my camera ready and she wondered if Collin noticed me too.

Our Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ party is always a highlight of the month.  Our TCCC staff  are like one big family and celebrate big with their yearly silly  party.

It often has a costume theme, and of course Mike was a character with a bow and arrow with a  demonstration for them. He pretended to shoot a tomato off his son-in-laws head.

Christmas eve, we had a few families over for our traditional "make your own shish-ka-bobs" meal.  When missionaries cannot be with their own families, it's fun to be a family to each other.

We had a birthday cake for Jesus and sang to Him which the grand kids enjoyed! 

The Foltz grand kids were surprised with a rainbow monkey bar at our house on Christmas eve.  Our four girls had one like this in Bangkok and played on it for hours, so we're hoping it will bring their family hours of dangling fun, too.

The gift I enjoyed the most was making the kitchen set and seeing their faces when they found out why they could not come to or house for three days in a row.  Lots of baking and cooking and fun is on the horizon.

We made a lot of fun memories this Christmas, trying to keep Jesus the focus through it all.  And now it's time to celebrate my birthday, another year of blessings and trying to remind myself that I'm one year wiser today--- not older.  Merry Christmas to all!

27th SEA Games- 2013

What a privilege to be a part of the AIA team at the SEA games in Myanmar this year.  We were an international team of around 14  people from 3 different countries all with a desire to make an impact on athletes competing at the SEA games.

During our week together,  we traveled to three different cities across the country of Myanmar where the games were being held.  Usually by van, but also in the back of trucks without seats, just the way the Burmese people  get around.

We started out in the city of Yangon and visited our national cru office there and learned from our staff about the Burmese people.  It was fun to go to a Myanmar soccer (known as football in Asia) game, and see how enthusiastic the people are cheering for their national team.  The name of our hotel was "Sweet Hotel"- but it was not too sweet.

The nationals thought it was important for us to go to the Shwedagon pagoda, an infamous historical landmark in the old capitol.

They believe that it contains inside the relics (hairs) of four Buddhas who attained enlightenment. 

Myanmar is a Buddhist country and this is a place that many people come to make merit and worship the images.  Reminded us much of Thailand, and our hearts were heavy wanting them to know the truth.

Nay Pyi Taw was our next stop, which has been described as one of the most unique cities in the world. The whole city has been built in just the past ten years out in the middle of nowhere. It was new, beautiful, with 20 lane highways, but few people and cars occupy it.  The sports facilities built for the SEA games were all new and very well done and comfortable.

Most of the sports competed in this city. Ten countries are part of the bi-annual SEA games competition. My favorite sport to watch is Takraw. Watch a little of this video if you want to see how the sport is played.

It's like playing volleyball with your feet.  In this photo, you can see that the two at the net do actual flips after they kick the ball, because their feet hit it so high in the air.

We spent some time at the games with the Thai national basketball team and they asked to take a picture with our group.

Before and after games, we would talk with athletes and give them a copy of "Struggle and Triumph" which contains testimonies of Olympian Gold medalists who draw their strength from God.  The DVD comes in 36 languages on one disc.

This is Cee, a Thai business man who joined our team, sharing another DVD about Christian basketball players with an athlete from Thailand.

This outreach team was one of the best groups that I've worked with, all very eager to meet athletes and have significant conversations with them and cheer them on through the pressures of competing. We hung out as much as possible in the shopping areas and restaurants where the athletes were so  we could encourage them after their competitions.

During the evenings we met as a team for training of how to be most effective in reaching athletes during the games.  I was reminded once again how athletes (no matter what country I'm in) are influencers of our society.  They influence all of the world and are used for marketing and advertising.  We can reach many people through reaching them.  Athletes in Action ministry exists to reach the top. This picture demonstrates that truth.  As soon as this Thai girl finished her match in badminton, the media and cameras swarmed around her to hear what she had to say about her match.  People were leaning in to hear every word she said.

AIA has 600 staff all over the world. Sao, our AIA staff here in Thailand (in red)  now has a team of 5 staff and interns to help her with sport ministry in Chiang Mai.

Noon (on the left) was a great example of an opportunity we found to encourage and support an athlete at the SEA games.  Fai ( AIA intern, on the right) met her at her hotel and found out that she had come alone with no coach or family, because finances did not allow them to come with her.  Our team spent time with her before and after her event and she ended up getting the silver in  the sport, Pencat Silat.  I got to pray with her just before she competed; what a privilege.

The night after she got her silver medal, since she had no family, she came to us to celebrate.  This is most everyone on our team with her (in black on right) helping her feel special.  The Thai girls on our team plan to get together with her more and we're all praying for her.

I'm thankful for the chance to see much of the country of Burma/Myanmar, do ministry together with this team, and have some significant conversations with team managers, coaches, athletes and the media. It was hard to be away from home right before Christmas, but worth it for sure!