hope for the future

Jeremiah 31:17

"So there is hope for your future", declares the Lord. 

"Your children will return to their own land."

We have a lot of history with this family, working together in Chiang Mai since 1992. We came to Chiang Mai together to open the ministry here.  This week we had dinner together again after working together for 22 years. We got out some old photo albums and had some real good laughs from memories of those beginning days. 

This was our team together a long time ago......

Here are both of our families this week........

Boo and Boom were 1 and 3 years old.    Now we both have grown kids working together with us in the same ministry!  Boom just joined TCCC as  a full time staff member. Jon and Marisa are also working with TCCC.  A few more memories here.....

Blue, Jen, and Boom

Sweet 4 year olds.  We use to call them "coffee and cream"... 

...and dress them alike. 

We are two blessed families to have our children working with us.  Jen and Blue look forward to the day that they can reunite also! Maybe I'll have to buy them some matching clothes! 

ILS... one week down/one to go

Every summer, when campuses are closed  we pull our full time staff away to study the Bible and take seminary courses.   All of our Thai CCC staff have been in Chiang Mai this week, and just finished their first week by studying the "Minor Prophets".  Today was exam day. They really enjoy this time to dig deep into God's Word and be taught by college professors.  They also have seminars in the afternoons.  This week the topics were on  marriage, parenting, and prayer.

Next week, an American Cru staff member will be coming to teach them every afternoon and will be our house guest.  I will also be leading the staff women in some girl times together along with Marisa. I had them take surveys to let me know what topics they were most interested in. It should be a fun time together.

The staff really enjoy this change of pace, all live together here in the CCC housing units, eat meals together and just enjoy each other's company. We pray that they will be encouraged and that God will meet their needs through these two weeks of enrichment.

a week of braids

Summer had her own personal stylist at conference who braided her hair differently each day.  Yuu is a very talented braid-er and Summer loved the new design each day.

The reason, it had to be re-done each day, was because this is what happened most afternoons after the meetings were over.   What a fun and cool place to get that energy released!

TCCC Red Carpet- 2014

It was such a special evening in many ways! A night to remember! The staff were so creative in putting together a fun night,  loved getting dressed up, taking lots of photos, and receiving awards.  I was looking over my photos from that eve. and have a few more I just need to share.

Our lovely MC's for the evening, Rew and Dew.  

This is one of Summer's special friends who wore her wedding dress for the evening and Summer was thrilled to get a photo with her.

Presenting our new FOURTEEN staff on their graduation evening who will be serving full-time with TCCC . 

One of these new staff is VERY special to us.  Boom is the one leading his fellow graduated trainees and all the staff in the room in a worship song.  He is the son of BJ and Lamai.  They were on our first team when we opened the new work together here in Chiang Mai in 1992. Boom was a one year old at that time, their family lived with us, and we have watched him grow into this young man who passionately loves God.  He is also the first kid to grow up in the TCCC staff family to come on full time staff.  We love this family and are so happy for God's goodness to them.

Trainers and trainees form a very close relationship during their time of training  and remain connected over the years.  There were some sweet times of prayer with each other in the room.

The TCCC ministry has been going through a lot of leadership and role changes the last few years, and this relationship is a huge encouragement to us.

The evening ended with Nok leading us in praying for these new staff.  We thank God for raising up more laborers for the harvest fields of Thailand and we are so privileged to work side by side with them.

Songkran family vaca @ the beach

I love the beach!  I love our kids and grand-kids!  I love holidays!  Put it all together and it  was a great 4-day getaway!  My memories are so superb of taking our girls away to the Thailand beaches on holidays, and it was a deja vu to see our grand-kids enjoy the time too.  A break from glowing  rectangular screens in exchange for long walks on the beach, exploring the shoreline, collecting crabs, swimming in the pool until their skin shrivels up,  and playing in the sand.

We opted for a quaint smaller resort right on the beach as a family getaway after our conference, which had been  at a bigger hotel.

The breakfast and food was delicious!

The locals were out digging for clams everyday in front of our resort.

Nothing like a Thai massage right on the beach for $9/hr.

Fun to see a simple cheap fishing pole and magnetic fish  provide so much entertainment.

concentration

determination

They also  enjoyed watching the ging gaa on the tree by the table at meal time.

One morning walk turned into a family soccer game on the beach using a coconut for our ball.

The locals played soccer most everyday in front of our hotel- guess we're sort of Thai.

Jon and Marisa got a date night and Papa and I took the kids to a local amusement park.

The top of the Ferris Wheel looking down.

Fun stuff for all ages but a typical Thai amusement park....hot, humid, loud, crowded, dirty... but so much fun for kids and a memory maker to keep. 

Photo ops around the park

She's a good actress in front of the haunted house that we DID NOT go in.

Taken just before this ride took off.  We were shocked that Hayley was eager to ride and even more that she loved it. 

I'm thankful for the time away with some family and yet happy to be back home again.  Hot season is at a peak right now and the sweltering temperatures seem to get more draining the older we get. It's hanging around 100 F. each day this week.  Thankful for our little  air conditioned office, my favorite room right now. 

Happy Songkran or Thai New Year!

This week is one of Thailand's biggest holidays, now known as the water throwing festival.  Temperatures are soaring at the peak of hot season and this holiday helps  create a way to keep cool for a few days. During Songkran; Thai's enjoy being around water, throwing water, and being a part of anything that has to do with water.

Chiang Mai is one of the most popular destinations for this holiday.  When the family was younger, we loved the water wars and participated full throttle every April 13-15.  It has changed a lot over  the years, and our city is not as fun of a place for us old folks to be now.  We wonder if half of Bangkok invades our city. Traffic is horrendous, shopping is crowded and we'd seriously rather just stay home. This year we decided to stay near the ocean after our conference and avoided the crowds in Chiang Mai.

Last week, one of our fun afternoons at conference was a giant water fight (an early start on celebrating Songkran) 

This was no ordinary water fight though.  Raymond our game director had each team design a trebuchet that they used  to launch water balloons.  They also had catapults, store bought and homemade.

I loved the huge old trees that  contributed to the beautiful setting  above us during the water war. 

Everyone was such good sports and made the afternoon fun while designing and creating their ammunition.

The kids especially enjoyed getting in on all the fun.

Putting together these trebuchets was a bit complicated and serious work.

There were 3 teams launching balloons back and forth at each other.

After awhile, they decided to forget the launchers and started  chasing and throwing all at once.

I see someone asking for trouble here.

Next some guys took this water war to the next level......

Happy Songkran and Happy Thai New Year to all!