Patio Makeover....finally!

before .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .  after

We moved in this house almost 18 years ago.  It has a patio that's been a great place for parties over the years.  We had more outside cook-outs and parties than I could ever begin to count.  One example; our Christmas eve tradition was  to invite a few friends over, make your own shish-ka-bobs, and we grilled them  here.  It had a bench that wound around two sides.

One of the first years, Mike cut up a big PVC pipe in halves and we had a  24 foot long ice cream banana split sundae for the church youth group to enjoy on it.

The challenging part was getting all the ice cream served  fast enough (dealing with the tropical heat) for them to be able to put on the toppings and eat at the same time!  That was a fun party indeed!

I liked the space but have wanted to re-do it for years.  Those white spindle supports really needed to go and..... those black tiles!!!

They were so hot! When they got wet from rain or spills,  they were dangerously slippery. Did I say yet-.....that I was sooooo ready for a change?  We just had a hard time deciding what style to go with and coordinating our schedules with the men who would do it for us.

The slippery-ness of those tiles, though, did make for a great place to play (as our girls called it) "slip and slide".  We'd give our daughters a little soap and a hose and they slid around with squeals and laughter, having so much fun.  Once we decided it was time to renovate, the grand kids came over for one last nostalgic  "slip and slide".

  

Oh yeah.... mud play is fun for most  kids after some water play, every now and then, right? 

Once we finally found some workers and agreed on the dates, I was so ready (oops, I already said that) and had to take one last "before" photo.

The loud obnoxious sound of the hammering and demolition was a wonderful sound.

To me it was a beautiful mess!

When they started pouring the cement in the specific dimensions, I had given them- the real progress was being made. First was the support legs.

Then the seats and counter top.

It was so fun to watch the progress and document though photos.

We are very pleased with the final result, especially after they added the coat of sealer over the cement. 

It's been so miserably hot, that as eager as we are to invite some friends over and put it to use- it's just been too hot this month.

Eventually the patio chairs and tables will come out but with the two levels, one for sitting and the other for a counter top, it is ready to go "as is" for smaller groups. 

Now, with one job down, the next one is to get the roof tiles painted and the outside painted- but who knows when that will be?  Tropical rains turn things black and depreciate paint faster then we would like. 

I cannot express how grateful and thankful we are for God's provision through this home these past 18 years.  It is oozing with family memories, but just a bit big now for us as empty nester's. The thought of down-sizing is something I have avoided, but I know the day will need to come soon. Especially since our kids can't come home to visit very often. For now, I just want to enjoy and be grateful for each day we still live in it. 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Today I hosted our northern TCCC staff girls Christmas Party.  The staff have been working extra hard this time of year, helping students with the stress of tests, and Christmas parties on each campus. Many Thai students do not know the real meaning of Christmas so this time of year is always a very opportune time in introducing students to Jesus.

This past Thursday night, at our city wide weekly meeting, there were 180 students who came to hear a message about the true meaning of Christmas. It was a fun party atmosphere, and the grand-kids especially enjoyed the cotton candy machine.  There were 49 new students who had never been to one of our meetings before, who heard about baby Jesus, possibly for the first time.  At the end of the evening 12  indicated that they had made a decision to receive Christ and that they want to learn more about Him.  Please pray for these new Christians to grow in their faith now.

So back to the party today.... I wanted it to be a time for these hard working staff girls to just come to our home and enjoy a Christmas party.  We started out with an earring white elephant gift exchange. This game does not always work in Thailand because they would never want to trade or reject a gift given to them- but they got into it today and we had fun.

Marisa taught them how to make pom poms for a craft time and then they had a lot of fun creating.

Thai's can be so creative and crafty and it wasn't long before they were making some cool pom-poms.

I'm still finding little pieces of yarn all over our home tonight.

Break time for lunch, and then they were right back at it.

Lunch went with the girly theme and we had a big salad buffet.  Thanks to Khun Da for helping us cut up all those veggies.

My finished pom-pom garland!

I love these girls and their commitments to Christ and ministry. It was a fun "girls" party and a chance for me to have some time with them and treat them to something out of the usual.  It is the kind of Christmas party that I like most. 

Kitchen DIY Makeover Thai Style

I just finished a little kitchen makeover project that I've wanted to do for a while. Living in Thailand, I like to try and use the local products for decorating, but honestly a lot of the decor is  just not my style.   I wanted some bright colors in the kitchen and when I found these Thai vintage plates, I knew they were just what I was looking for. 

About ten years ago we had  painted  our kitchen red, which I loved back then but I was tired of it.  It was a bit too dark making the room feel smaller than it was. I wanted a change.

So we started with an off-white paint to brighten it up a bit. Whew, it made a huge change to the room. I really needed some color next. 

These are just one of the times that I am so thankful for a handy husband who is a great fixer upper and carries out my ideas for me.  In Thailand our walls have always been all hard cement, which makes wall hangings such a challenge.  In the USA, I just tap a little nail here and there to do the arranging, but Mike has to get out the cement drill and do some serious wall damage for each wall hanging.   I find this part difficult, so am very grateful for his help and patience.   These serving plates are enamelware and with the metal, we either used plate hangars or drilled holes in the plates.

Marisa also helped me figure out the arrangement. I am very happy with the finished look.  It combines my love for vintage, bright colors, and Thailand!  The most exciting comment to me came from my house-girl who works for us. When she saw them on the wall she said "I really like your plates.  They remind me of my  childhood because my grandma and mother would always serve us fruit and food on these trays. Now everything is plastic instead, but I like these better."  Her comment made me so happy to know that this was a true Thai antique that brought back memories to her, which is my favorite reason for antiques.

Along with the change of paint color, we needed new curtains and went with the polka-dot blue. Asian kitchens have a whole different feel which makes me realize that it will never look like the beautiful kitchens in the USA.  For example, our big deep  freezer unit that I am so thankful to even have (because most people get by with only a small freezer),  it's big and awkward and there's no place to hide it.  Also since we need bottled water, those big bottles on a dispenser are hard to hide.  After all these years., I finally just  made a cover for ours and wonder why I did not do it sooner.

I am so thankful for this spacious home that we've now lived in for almost 17 years.  It is full of so many memories from raising the girls through their growing up years. I have also enjoyed having a home here and  decorating it by finding whatever is local as much as possible We are blessed indeed, and the little  changes are so refreshing that help make it our home and "us".

Our Cloud of Witnesses

I finally got our Cloud of witnesses bulletin board done in our office. I've wanted to do this for years.  It's huge: almost 3ft by 4ft.  I love it!  It is made up of photos of people that we could not have continued on here without. The support they give us, enables us to do what we do. Some of our ministry partners have been on our team from the start--- that means 36 years!  It also displays pictures of fellow workers in the ministry (both Thai and American) who encourage and press us to keep on walking with God.

I really believe that our biggest "Cloud of Witnesses" is people who have gone on to heaven and are cheering us on. Most specifically I think of our parents.  This March 17 will mark 5 years since my dad, Leonard, died- who was the last of our parents to leave us here.

I did a short study on Hebrews 12:1.  I like how Unger's dictionary explained that the clouds are a symbol of armies and multitudes of people.  He illustrated with the figure of an amphitheater filled with Old Testament saints witnessing New Testament believers running the race of faith.  Isn't that a cool illustration? He also gave the image of "the witnesses answer to the spectators pressing around to see the competitors in their contest for the prize."

When I look at this board it reminds me to pray for our sending team also, especially when I see their faces.  Our team gives us additional spirit and encouragement to increase our earnestness and be faithful to God. We feel extremely thankful, grateful, and blessed to have such a faithful team behind us!

just a little diy chair project

A can of spray paint and some fabric from the market was such a small job, but made the difference I was looking for.  These black chairs were bought for our girl's rooms when they were kids.  Ahhgh!  It was time to pass them on to someone who could appreciate them more.  

No, wait- maybe I can still use them!    I love cans of spray paint, and they did the job for me. 

Hayley was over today as I finished them up and was the perfect model.  They look better all the more! 

Sometimes, I get in a rut of keeping things the way they've been for a long time.  Jen's room of bright pink and green that I had surprised her with in high school was cute  around 8 years ago, but  Marisa convinced me it was time for a change.  It's fun to see the before and after, especially when it's simple little things that don't take much effort.  A few more changes are on the horizon!  

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.