Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving is an American holiday.  It is a family holiday, too.  A day in America when you gather with family and eat traditional foods and go around the table and tell what you are thankful.

What do you do if you live in another country where it is a normal school/work day because at an international school , you can't celebrate every country's holidays  that are represented?  What do you do if you are far away from family members and want to spend the day with them - but it simply is not possible?

Over the coarse of many years in this scenario, we have celebrated Thanksgiving in a variety of ways.  Most often, it has been me preparing a  meal at our home and inviting other people who are also  missing their families to share the day together.

 
The number of American's living in Thailand but working for Campus Crusade has really grown these past few years.  They do not work with Thailand CCC- but are with the Cru company in one form or another working in southeast Asia. This year we decided to gather all the Americans with our group together to share in one big Thanksgiving.

  I coordinated this gathering of 46 staff and families. Our home is not big enough, so we all brought food and ate together at our ministry center.

 The ladies cooked some delicious American  dishes that we all enjoyed. We sang together, played a Thanksgiving game together, and enjoyed each others American-ess!

Marisa made a "turkey" shaped relish tray- very impressive!

It was a lot of work for me organizing it  and  doing 2 turkeys, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, hams, cranberries, drinks, decorations, etc.- and a bit cumbersome to have to take  everything back and forth to another location.  Last night after all the clean up was done, I was EXHAUSTED!

But it was worth it and I'm glad we did it.  I remember my first holidays away from family that I missed everyone so badly that I cred.  I still miss them terribly (and I still cry sometimes). If getting us together to eat traditional American Thanksgiving dishes helps some other families who are missing home, than it is worth the effort to help new families feel like Thailand can be family, too.

Our theme was "GIVE THANKS" and we have so many blessings in our lives to be thankful for. Hope your Thanksgiving was a special time of sharing together with your family, too.

Elephants and Monkeys

Every visitor to Thailand must visit an elephant farm!  It's a highlight for most people.  Mali loves animals. Sam, our dog, loved all the attention that she gave to him.  A visit to the elephants was a high priority one of her last days here.

First on the schedule is to watch them get their baths in the river  before the show. 

A whole river full of bathing elephants! 

Mali was in her glory, watching so many elephants at once. 

It's a little startling when you get ready for a photo and they decide to wrap their trunk around you! 

Or put a hat on your head! 

Then on to the show, where they do all kinds of performing, along with  painting and artwork!

The back side! 

More hugs....

...and kisses!

We decided to walk back on a narrow path to visit the elephant nursery, sharing the trail with working elephants. 

This little guy (forgot his name) was the newest baby, just 5 months old. 

He was confused...kept trying to suck on his mama's ear. 

Then we went down the road a bit to the monkey show. 

They did all kinds of tricks for us and amazed us with their cleverness. 

More snuggles for Mali.  She certainly got her animal fix for that day! We miss you Mal's!  Come back soon! 

Franklin Graham in Chiang Mai

The Abundant Life Festival  has been at the 700 year huge stadium here in Chiang Mai the last three nights.  This is especially amazing to Mike and I because ever since we moved to Thailand, we've heard that the Billy Graham Crusade wanted to come here, but there were too many obstacles to making that happen. Much of this had to do with all the church groups working together.  These past few years those barriers were finally broken and the turn out has been amazing.  Truckloads of villagers have streamed into Chiang Mai this weekend for the gathering.  You can read more about it and see some GREAT pictures at their website here.   If you click on the photo gallery's in the articles, you can see pictures of the festival right here in Chiang Mai.

Our staff have been  counselors each evening and have talked with a lot of interested people.  The real work starts tonight after the festival is over.  They have encouraged all  the new believers to get involved in a local church.  Pray that God will use this Abundant Life Festival to bring about a lot of remaining fruit in churches  and build His Kingdom here in Thailand.

*picture borrowed from Billy Graham website as I just had my phone camera there.

Mali at the orphange- Part 4

After sharing the stories about Mali's time as a baby and toddler at the broom factory, and  meeting her family, and her time  in the remote villages I now get to tell the happy ending to her young years here in Thailand.

After she had been passed around in the cardboard box between the factory workers and taken back and forth to the village, her primary caregivers felt it was best for her to be dropped off at an orphanage.  This was very hard for Mr Phan and Malaa to do, because they loved her very much and were her primary caregivers. .  Malaa actually wanted to adopt her, but since she was not married the social system would not allow that.  They only took her there because they knew it would be a better life for her. Many orphans are given up as a sacrifice from the people who love them most and want to keep them, but know that they deserve a better life.  She was taken to the Northern Thailand government orphanage called Vieng Ping on October 12, 1998 when she was 4 years and 2 months old.  That had been four years of her being passed around and cared for by  a lot of people.  However,  each place that she lived, she was loved, sought out, and looked after.  Literally every person that was involved in her story has  told us that she was a very special little girl that EVERYONE loved.

In the meantime, her parents Pete and Dianne who lived in the Minneapolis area already had 3 children but had a desire to give a good home to another child.  They had been to Thailand on mission trips with Cru, worked with us and actually lived in our home while we were in the USA on a furlough.  They had big aching hearts to adopt a needy child from Thailand, had filed the mountains of paperwork for adoption on their own, and prepared all the documents required by the Thailand government.

This is where I enter the picture more specifically.  I love this part of the story.  Dianne and I had been communicating for months as she prepared the paper work and when she got to the point of being assigned a child, she asked me to visit the orphanage for her.

I went into the orphanage office and told them that  Pete and Dianne's paper work was ready  and asked if they could suggest a child for them.  (The system is entirely different now and much more complicated). There in the office hanging out with the social workers and secretaries was this adorable little girl that was (as they said) "their favorite" at the time.  They pointed to this precious needy girl and said, "How about  this girl,  Apple?".  They proceeded to tell me how cute and fun and lovable she was.  Because she was older, she was considered "special needs".  Most people want to adopt an infant.  I talked with her a little bit, trying to observe her for their family and went home SO EXCITED! That night I sent an e-mail to them with the subject line: "Her name is Apple." This started a dialogue between us and them about her and I was able to visit her from time to time and take her on outings to prepare her for the 'white family.'

You can see why her nickname was "Apple with the red hair", because it's unusual for a Thai to have these natural light streaks.

This is a picnic spot that we took Apple to the day that we told her about the family that loved her very much and would be coming to get her to  take her to America. Last month we revisited it with her.

On July 29, 1999 the day before her 5th birthday Pete and Dianne came to meet Apple, finished the legal papers, and took their little Mali to her new home in the USA.

This picture was taken just days before she was adopted to the USA.  Some of the children at Vieng Ping were performing in a Thai show for visitors at the orphanage.  Apple is the one in green.

Last month, (14 years later from when she left) Mali got to spend some time at that same orphanage visiting and volunteering. When we went out to visit, a buzz of announcing traveled around the orphanage (just like at the broom factory) with workers telling each other  "Apple is back".  Any of the workers that  had been there 14 years or longer remembered her and were so happy to see her again.

There are government orphanges all over the country of Thailand and around 300 children at this one for Chiang Mai province.  We spent most of our visits in the baby room and toddler rooms.

Marisa, Hayley, and Nathan came with us one day.  The first visit is usually a bit shocking and emotional  to see so many babies lined up in cribs side by side without a family to love them.  I have a lot of respect for these ladies, some who have worked there for over 15 years.  They love the babies so well and take such good care of them.  They are bathed every morning, afternoon and evening and fed well.  The one thing that they need most is human arms to hold them, touch them and look into their eyes.

The mission of this home is: "to protect, and care for abandoned and orphaned children, defending their right, guarding  their health, and teaching them to be generous, healthy and successful."  I think they do a good job of that considering the numbers of children that are dropped off there.

This is Mali (in red with overalls) and Nee, one of her teacher's when she was a young child at Vieng Ping.

Nee still works there and is one of the director's in the office now.  She was one of the most enthused workers to see Apple again after all these years.

Once again, through this visit to the orphanage, Mali was able to see how God's protective hand was on her life, giving her favor in the worker's eyes by her being well cared for up until the day she left Thailand. Her story of an "at risk" child being protected, loved and redeemed is a story that she has much to be grateful for.

More of God's Hand on Mali- Part 3

After our visit to find Mali's birth family (that I documented about in my last post) they asked us to return the next day to meet her grandma who was travelling up from the south.  The views on this  windy, bumpy road to the remote village made the trip even more  worth it to go back again.

This is the village that her relatives lived in now that we were visiting.  You can see the mosque in the middle of the village that her uncle is the Imam at.

Arriving at the home was almost an exact repeat of the day before but with Grandma meeting Mali this time instead of Grandpa. Grandma's name is Ahmeeah.

Grandma recognized her immediately, grabbed her, and started crying and sobbing with expressions of relief.

She too repeated over and over, "We haven't know where you were. I am so happy to know you are ok  I'm so happy to see you." She told us later that she thought all this time that she was with her mother and had no idea that she went to America.

Auntie Miipah was still emotional on even the second day of seeing Mali and joined in with grandma with the hugs and crying again.

They certainly had no reservations in expressing their love for Mali and relief that she has such a good life now. It was almost as if she was that little 18 month old again from when they had last seen her and they expressed their love to her as if she was a little toddler.  It reminded me again of how it would be if one of my grandchildren disappeared and then  me seeing them for the first time after 17 years.  You bet without a doubt, I'd be hugging them and crying (maybe even wailing, too) and squeezing them and sniffing them as the Thai people do.

Just like the day before had gone, once Grandma got over the shock and calmed down, we all sat together and she wanted to share her memories of Mali.  Mike translated for Mali and Dianne, while the relatives all stayed nearby and listened. A lot of people gathered around and wanted to hear more of her story. They told us again that up until a week ago, no one in the village knew anything about what had happened to Mali

 Grandma and the long-lost Mali wanted their pictures together, too.  I see the resemblance in this picture, but oh how all the family wished that her father was still alive to meet Mali too.

Malis' first picture ever with her paternal grandpa and grandma!

Aunt Nana then wanted to give a little speech to us and share on behalf of the family.  It was very moving and she was full of emotion as she told us that they are so so happy for this chance to meet Mali and know about her life.  She said that Grandma still thinks about her a lot with wonder about her life.  She wanted Mali to know that her mother had a very difficult  and hard life because she had to work so much for a living and could not care for Mali.  They were all very concerned about how Mali would grow up and they could see that she had been given a very good life.  She wanted us to know that they were so thankful and happy to know that Mali had been given much more than what she had. 

This first family picture that Mali got to be a part of included grandpa, grandma, and  her dad's three sisters.

Everyone wanted their picture with Apple.

She was definitely the village celebrity.

Without a doubt, Grandpa and Mali had a special bond of all the people she met in her family.

The good-byes started and took a long time to complete.  It's amazing without being able to understand of word from each other, how much hugs and smiles and touch communicate.

Mali shared a few words of update on her life for them and thanked them, too.

More hugs good-bye and I think there was some teasing here that they weren't going to let her leave. 

The family escorting her back to our truck to leave.

Grandpa gave her one last hug, asking her to come back again.  Mali would really like to bring her dad back who missed out on all the reuniting. We discovered that this village has a mosque for the Muslims, and a temple for the Buddhists and we found the church for the Christians.  We would love to bring the Jesus film back to this village and work with the church there to show it to the whole village someday. 

The celebrity leaving the village with a lot of new information about her past and a lot to process. When they told her they would not let her leave, she looked at us with big eyes, like "are they serious?" Another day for all of us of seeing the protective hand of God on another chapter of her life.

Was it any coincidence that our  speaker at church yesterday was Daniel Walker from the www.vvader.org  whose mission is to conduct investigations to combat sex trafficking.  His message had me on the edge of my seat with a lump in my throat. 

Because:

1- Chiang Mai is a hub for southeast Asia in sex-trafficking.

2- There is one Christian for every four prostitutes in Thailand.

3- There are more modern slaves today than at any other time in history.

4- Les than .5% of victims ever get to go to court or tell their story.

5- Children are between the ages as young as 5-12 that are being sold. 

6- Good news is that Jesus came to set the captive free, and they are seeing progress. 

7- This topic was so relevant, because of what we have learned about Mali and how God has rescued and redeemed her.

** I've had to break up this story into parts because it so so long.  The final post will be about her time at the orphanage where she stayed until  she was adopted to the USA