Farewell to 21 great years of memories in this home!

Sometimes, I wish that I was not so sentimental.  Two weeks ago tomorrow, we handed over the keys to our home for the past 21 years.  It was the culmination of  several months of hard work, sorting, tossing, reliving memories, negotiations, and ending a chapter in our lives.

Even the decision to buy this house was a huge deal in our marriage.  For 20 years, we'd been paying rent to Buddhist and Muslim landlords.  Mike felt "why not invest that rent money in our own place, that can be our home?" That decision is not always as easy for foreigners in Thailand, because logistically and legally, it was challenging at times to buy and sell a home. But it was a good decision because we were able to make the home "ours" and fix it up the way we wanted and to make it "our own" place of refuge.

This was the day we got the keys to the home in 1997.

When we got the home it was one of those repossessed by the bank, so considering the size- it was a good price and just down the street from the girls little NTM school.  They were ages Marisa-16. Lori-14, Bethany-12 and Jenny-9 when we moved in.  It will always be remembered as their last childhood home. The last day in the home, we had Jon and Marisa and family there for one last meal of GaiYang  and KhaoNeeyao.  We all shared favorite memories of the house. There are too many to ever count, but here are a few that are more for me and the family than anyone else.

• All four girls graduated from high school in this house and the memories of all those senior year shenanigans.
• We planned all four girls wedding in this house with countless trips to markets and local handicraft factories to buy wedding paraphernalia. .
• Youth group parties, sport team parties, girlfriend sleepovers.
• A controlling Thai policeman neighbor who called the squad cars on us with lights flashing several times for loud parties.
• A giant ice cream sundae for 50+ kids on our patio, served in a PVC pipe that Mike cut in half.  Trying to serve it and eat it before it melted in the tropical heat was the big challenge.
• Labrador pets; Toby, Annie, Samson. More bunnies that I can count, hamsters, etc.
• Thai CCC staff meetings, parties, women seminars, and the big annual Christmas party.
• The girls asking Mike to add "just one more string" of icicle lights each Christmas to the outside of the house until it glowed from far away, and the neighbors on 3 sides joining us to make our neighborhood amazing in a  country that does not celebrate Christmas. 
• Sadness every single morning as our neighborhood monk from the temple in his orange robe stopped at the homes chanting and blessing them for his daily alms.
• 8 green mango trees, 3 macam trees, and 'picking the fruit' parties with our Thai staff each summer.
• Mike's work room, crammed with so many tools and his escape from female conversations of 5 women as he built, made, and fixed things for friends.
• The girls first dates, prom pictures, and co-ed parties.
• Planning and anticipating the girls "coming home" from college in the USA, for holiday visits.
• Womens' Bible Studies, neighborhood prayer times, and English classes around the dining room table.
• Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter holiday meals when we usually invited singles who were away from their families. 
• Laying on the trampoline to watch movies shown on the side of the house.
• Fostering babies from the Agape Home orphanage.
• Our own homemade slip 'n slide on the tiled patio.
• STINT (short term international) Team's from Bangkok and Chiang Mai parties and retreats at the house
• Firework shows (put on by Mike) on the back street for holidays.
• A large kitchen to cook 3 meals/day- 7 days/week for a family of 6.
• My cave (tiny office)  in recent years where I spent most of my time because it was the only room with AC during the day.
• Our guesthouse outside that hosted friends and strangers from all around the world for short and long stays is one of the biggest features we loved about the house. 
• Badminton, basketball, and 4-square tournaments in the driveway.
• Pretty sure that I killed at least 10 snakes in the house and yard over the years. 
• Painting, decorating, and redecorating every room at least twice. 

We are so thankful for these 21 years of wonderful memories. Here's a few photos of the home from this past year.  I'd really love to reminisce the ones from years past- but there's no time now to look through those. 

Although it was a Thai home, we westernized it quite a bit. 

The front patio, where lots of parties were held. 

It had a great yard for swings and lots of outside play.

The guest room outside, that hosted so many friends.

Backside of the house, where the girls bedrooms were. 

Kitchen's are always the best gathering place, creating memories that last forever. 

So now what?  Many have asked what is next for us.  Mike calculated that the new house that we are renting is about 1/6th the size.  We went from around 3600 sq ft. to about 665 sq. ft.  It has been huge to get rid of that much stuff.  And we did it without having a garage sale. YAY!!! We sold the big stuff on line and gave the small stuff away.  That is one great thing about living here... there's always villagers who can use our old stuff. 

Our new neighborhood are all Thai's and we look forward to getting to know them and building new friendships. The location is good- 15 minutes to our TCCC offices and 15 minutes the other direction to our grand-kids (and their parents).

The more we packed and tossed and purged and simplified, we realized that it is all just stuff.  The house and building is just the shell where the memories were made and life took place.  We look forward to using this next house, however God leads us.

Thanks for letting this sentimental lady, go down memory lane with our family. Here's to creating new memories at our new home, and cherishing a great house that God gave us to enjoy for 21 years. Pictures will be shared of our new tiny home someday, when the boxes are unpacked. 

A Visit to Gem Forest

Last weekend, I got to check something off my bucket list (that has been there for a really long time) by visiting a coffee farm.

This was not just any ordinary coffee production, but a very special one started by our friend Kaleb. He went to high school with our girls here in Chiang Mai and then when he returned after college in the USA, he started this business. One joke of the weekend was that Mike loves farms but he does NOT like coffee.  We did our best to convert him to the flavorsome addiction of being a coffee drinker- but we were not successful.

It was a good 7 hour trip to his place in Nan province, so we stayed for two nights.  In our planning, we told him we just wanted to see how the whole process is done and drink coffee all day long. The bags of coffee around us in abundance, smelled so so so  good!

The first morning we went to his roasting facility in a village down the mountain, and started tasting (or cupping) the different coffee blends that Kaleb prepared for us.

Kaleb really knows the coffee business and we were so impressed with the whole production.  It was so so much fun to watch him in action.

These beans had just been roasted and were being cooled.

They smelled so good and the little girls just kept wanting to run their hands through it. (me, too!) 

Kaleb's parents have been in Thailand as long as us but work with people groups in the mountains. Their home is at the roasting facility. This is the view out their back door into the mountains where some of  the villages are.  We have decided to move there some day soon! :) The view is gorgeous! 

We then drove another hour, up to their home in the village where the coffee is grown.  It felt like going to the ends of the earth, but the landscape was magnificent.

Kaleb's wife, Saa, is amazing and it was so fun to get to know her better.  She cooked us some very delicious meals and makes living in a village seem so appealing with her decorating and simple life. She is very artistic.

Their home is the one with the blue water tank in front.  Marisa and I kept commenting that we wanted to move here.  It was so peaceful and quiet. Mike doesn't think that we would last long.

After lunch, we walked back to where the coffee is grown and processed. 

I took so many photos of the coffee cherries.  They were so beautiful and yummy to suck on too. 

There were so many kinds of trees up in the mountains on our walk.  These are macadamia's. At one point, we counted 8 different kinds of fruit trees in one area.

Kaleb does not grow all of the coffee, but has farmers in the area raise it and they bring it to him for the processing. After he does the processing and roasting, he supplies coffee shops and dealers all over Thailand.  This is a sack of fresh cherries brought in by a nearby farmer.

I loved the hand drawn illustrations of the whole process on the wall.

We all learned so much about the coffee production and never realized that there were so many steps. You seriously have to be a chemist to understand it all, (which I don't). It is much more arduous than I ever imagined.

This is where the beans are soaked in water and several steps take place, that I won't try to explain. 

These are beans being dried in the sun and raked and turned for several days till the moisture is out.

Lots and lots of beans being dried here, there, and everywhere.

It was so fun for Summer and Hayley to see the whole process and farm life, too.  They loved it and kept asking if we could stay longer.

Time for some more coffee sampling. Kaleb has a coffee bar set up at the processing area too. Summer thought it was so cool that she got to drink coffee.  Hayley didn't want any. (just like her papa)

Marisa and Syrina (Kaleb's daughter) enjoying a view of the mountain. A new kind of coffee bean is being  named after this sweet girl.

Their family is into bird watching, probably because of the beautiful variety that they see overlooking the mountains.  Summer really enjoyed the binoculars and this long range scope. 

Walking back to the village, we passed more coffee trees and beautiful cherries. 

And enjoyed more glimpses of simple village life. 

This was the sunset view out of their living room window.  We did not want to leave.

Thank you Kaleb and Saa and kiddos for a wonderful visit.  You treated us so well and have such great hospitality. It is so inspiring to see what you are doing with your gifts.  Most exciting was seeing your love for the people in your village church and how you are investing in their lives and seeing so much growth.  You were such an encouragement to us and I love my new Gem Forest t-shirt.

If you would like to learn more, the Thai PBS did a special about them and you can watch it here.

Family Outing at Doi Inthanon

We are enjoying the weather here in Chiang Mai so much this time of year. Our coolest months are Dec. and Jan. and it is so comfortable giving us a break from the heat.   It gets even cooler up in the mountains, making a trip up there a highlight for us, although our trip this year was not as freezing cold as we wished.  We were hoping for 50's, but it was more like 60-70's.

This year a few days before Christmas (I know I'm late on this one), we went up with all the Christian's and Foltz's who were in town, plus a few more. 15 of us car-pooled up to Doi Inthanon for a family outing.

Doi Inthanon has the highest elevation in the country.  There are lots of signs up there reminding us of that.

Standing on this marker that is allegedly the highest point in the country is suppose to be a cool thing to do!

The Foltz family has a tradition to drink a cup of hot chocolate together at a coffee shop near the top.

We all enjoyed hiking the trails and playing a game of 'girls vs. guys' football in a big field after lunch.

We took lots of photos with the beautiful scenery, just like all the Thai tourists were doing. 

Joe, Jana, Joseph, & Jonathan

Jon, Marisa, Collin, Summer, Hayley, & Nathan

Austin & Lori

Who's that?

Welcome to Thailand, Austin! I'm pretty sure that besides him learning more about Thailand, that he was also discovering that we are one crazy family! 

Our last stop was at a small waterfall to let the kids play. It's is the same place that our own girls and Jon and Jana would play at when kids. 

The kids loved that Lori and Austin got in and swam with them, while the rest of the adults sat on the side and talked. We stayed and let them play for a long time and they could have stayed longer. We all love a day in the mountains, cool fresh mountain streams, and time with family to play and simply spend time together.