"Oh the Places You'll Go..."

Today marks one year since we came back to Thailand after Miss Kora was born in Oklahoma (she's a Sooner, expect she was born two days after her due date.  I thought I was gonna have to kill my Momma because she kept saying Kora was going to be born on my birthday, the 15th, but she was born on the 10th, so my mom can live another day...this time).  We've been busy and I wanted to take a little time to remind myself about how God has been working here in Thailand.  He's always going ahead of us and preparing the way.  So here we go, let's look back....

  Last year, on March 22nd, our fabulous family drove us to the airport REALLY early in the morning. To say we were excited to be coming back would be an understatement, after living out of suitcases for four months, we were really looking forward to having our own space again.

Kora slept so well in the bassinet they gave us on the airplane.

Kees and Doug at the airport in Dallas

When we landed in Chiang Mai we were greeted by our Thai neighbors, Pa Eiw and Pi Tone.  Pi Tone made a sign that said, "Tomlinson" that he was holding up when we finally made it through customs.  Somehow we always manage to be last, must be all the extra stuff we carry for our kids. :)

Kees and Pi Tone, together again!

The next few weeks seemed like a whirlwind, our house was in need of some serious TLC after we'd been gone for so long, so I was in crazy cleaning mode.  We were super excited to see all our neighbors.  The first morning we went for a walk and made our rounds to visit everyone.  I was honestly shocked to hear Thai coming out of my mouth.  Some of our neighbors even joked that I went back to America and learned to speak Thai...go figure. 

Our first morning back, visiting Pa Noi and Pi Jam

Our first Sunday back at church was such a celebration in my heart and mind.  The time away had really grown my love for God's people here and I am so thankful they never give up on us, no matter how slow we are at learning the language.  They were happy to see Kora, they'd been praying for her!

Meeting our church family

It was so nice to be back.  After our time in America, we were able to gain a lot of perspective, and I think God knew we needed that.  Our first year in Thailand was such a roller coaster, but after some time away, we came back with a renewed sense of vision and an overwhelming love for OUR home.  They say, "Home is where the heart is" and I hope that's always true in my life.  I hope my home is where God is and where he has me.  That's what God's taught me on this crazy journey so far...one of many things.  Moving on...

After settling back into our house, we quickly became the neighborhood hang out for all the kids who were out of school. Their break is from mid-March to May.  So we did our best to study Thai with our language helper, but we also got a lot of live language, right in our house.  AWESOME! We had snacks, watched movies, made messes, played chase, and laughed...a lot!

 One of the kids favorite things to do is scare me.  They just pretend to see a lizard or put a fake one somewhere for me to find.  They are so used to all the various critters here, so they think it's pretty hilarious that I freak out so much about something so "silly". (I should mention I accidentally boiled a lizard to death one time when I was trying to make pasta salad and screamed very irrationally...long and loud.  The neighbors came running and I'm pretty sure no one has forgotten.  In fact, I'm not entirely convinced that the story hasn't made its way through the lizard community because they are all out for revenge.)  Sorry, ADHD episode, here are some pics of the kids on break.

Waiting for nap time to be over, so they can come back in.

Reading Books

After the neighbor kids went back to school, we settled back into language study with our language helper.  While learning language, especially Thai, is challenging, it is also monotonous (or tedious and time consuming) to say the least.  And I honestly feel so sorry for our language helper because I'm sure she must be bored to tears going over the same things so many times.  We've had a lot of discouraging moments, feeling like we're never going to be done with language and able to serve the way we want to.  Many times, when we feel really discouraged, something great will happen to remind us of how far we really have come and that God is the biggest cheerleader we have. HE wants us to succeed and "if God be for us, who can be against us!?"  And that's what keeps us going, despite all reason, even when it seems impossible.  We are also daily reminded of all our cheerleaders back home, that pray for us and encourage us, just when we need it most. (THANK YOU)

In July, we had our annual conference with other missionaries and co-workers from around Thailand.  During this time we were officially told that our organization would be switching its status over to a foundation, and in order to come under it, we would need to leave the country to change the type of visas we have.  We also had a really refreshing time with our co-workers, had a great speaker from NTM headquarters, Larry Brown (and his wife, Debbie, even volunteered to help in childcare the last day, such a blessing!), and best of all we got to sing praise songs!  Doug and I were given jobs this year since it was our second conference. Doug was the MC for skit night and I was able to run the childcare program for the youngest group of kids (birth-5 years). We had fun on both counts!

Kees with his friend Logan, his family works in Cambodia.

 In August, we delved into the world of homeschooling.  We chose a preschool curriculum for Kees and anxiously awaited getting our package in the mail.  It was so fun to open the box and see all the goodies.  Can you tell I'm a teacher at heart?  I get way too excited about books, but that's another blog for another day. The main focus for Kees, right now, is just exposure to great literature and developing a love for reading.  His curriculum also came with a few educational manipulatives and we have loved having those too!

Opening the preschool curriculum box, our first "BOX day" for home school!

Wrapping up 2012, involved quite a bit of traveling.  First, to visit co-workers and see a cultural event and to visit a potential future placement for us.  So, it was a vision trip of sorts, but also a great chance to get out of the city and practice our Thai in new ways.  We rode the bus for this trip, it was about 6 hours one way. In Nan, we were able to see a couple of our teammates compete in Thai boat races.  It was incredible to see how God has opened doors for them to be included in their community.  Then they drove us a little further up north to visit the Jordans who work with the Prai people. There are lots of pictures from this trip, so feel free to check them ALL out here!

At the boat races in Nan. Our coworkers, Greg and Tina are cheering on their team and Rob is rowing.  He's the white guy wearing a white hat.

Yep, this happened!  Thai people LOVE Kora.  This is the family of the rowers sitting under a tent together to watch the races.

Doug discussing the Prai work with Dave.

In November we took a BIG trip that lasted 2 weeks!  We knew we needed to change our visas, but we were also wanting to visit various co-workers up in the Northeast or Isaan region.  We originally thought it would be 2 separate trips, but as time got closer for us to take our trip to change our visas, Doug started doing research about changing visas in Laos, which would be going the same direction.  But it also meant making it a LONG trip, and a little stressful for Momma.  We slept in 5 different places in a matter of 14 days.  We traveled by plane, bus, tuk-tuk, taxi, van, and truck.  Kora made about 3,000 new friends and I probably took about that many pictures. ;)  We left Chiang Mai and headed to visit the Phu Thai work and our coworkers, Mike and Sandy.  We were able to look all around their village and visited surrounding areas as well, went to a wax castle festival, and visited another coworker , Dorothy, who lived near a light boat festival that was going on!

Traveling from Chiang Mai to Udon Thani, day one of our trip.

Spending time with the Lynchs, bottom right was taken at the Wax Castle festival.

Visiting around the Lynch's village.

At the light boat festival, on the Thai side of the Mekong River. (Keep reading and you'll see us on the other side)

After spending 3 nights with the Lynchs, Mike drove us to stay with Jarat and Tiew, our Thai co-workers based out of Kusaman.  We stayed with them for 4 nights and had such a great time.  We had amazing food and learned a little about the fish and frogs project they have going on in their area.  They provide a starter set of fish or frogs to give food and income to Thai families in their area.  I was amazed at how well Doug's Thai brain was working during this FULL immersion portion of the trip.  It was such a relief to see how far he's gotten with language and how well he was able to get along with Jarat, they drank coffee together about 4 times a day!  And Tiew "tried" to teach me how to kill fish and prepare them, but she was laughing at me the whole time, so I think she knew I wasn't going to be very good.  Kees and Kora also had a great time playing with their grandson.  It did this Momma's heart good to see Kees interacting so well in a brand new place.  We learned so much from Jarat and Tiew.  Jarat is the pastor of a church in his area, but they also travel on Saturdays about 2 hours each way to share the chronological teaching with a small group that is interested.  Doug said that was the highlight of the trip for him, sitting with Jarat while he was teaching, and hearing all the questions from the class.  So amazing to see the hand of God at work, preparing hearts.

Our family with Jarat and Tiew at their Sunday morning church service

Doug learning about the fish!

Kees and Kora playing with Pi Bop. 

       

They recruited me to help teach the kids English.

Kora getting spoiled by the ladies!

The next stop, was to visit the Fullers.  I had discussed with Laurie Fuller about how I was stressed about all the stops and that we'd be leaving the country after we visited them.  So, together, we decided we'd just take that time to relax and hang out.  The only problem was, I forgot to mention this plan to Doug, so he ended up having Dan take him around to look at rubber trees. And I was able to sit in for Laurie's English class they have in their home.  Somehow, I took ZERO pictures while we were at the Fuller's place, but I scrounged around and found some from Doug's phone.

I might not be the best at Thai, but I'm really good at English. :)

Rubber from the rubber tree.

Maggots making fertilizer. The Fullers have their own rubber trees so they can work alongside their neighbors and they are working on a few different projects to help with farming in the future.  Pretty cool stuff!

The final major stop was Vientiane, Laos to change our visas.  Dan drove us to Udon Thani, Thailand and dropped us off at a hotel. We already had reservations to stay there on the way back so we had them store our extra baggage while we made our visa run to Laos. The hotel's shuttle service took us to the bus station.  We took a bus to Nong Khai, and then a tuk-tuk to the boarder of Thailand and Laos.  There was a shuttle bus that took us over the Mekong river into Laos, and once on the other side we hired a van to take us to the hotel.  The next morning we had a taxi take us to the consulate to drop off our papers and then we had to pick them up the next day after 1 pm.  Everything went smoothly (except a small hiccup, we forgot we had to have Thai baht to pay for the paperwork and ended up having to hunt the city for an ATM that would accept our card and then a money exchange place to get the right bills) and the visas got changed!  It was fun to visit Laos and we were glad that our Thai was easily understood by the people there.  We also had some amazing food since Laos has some French influence in their past.

Making sure we have everything we need before crossing the boarder into Laos.

Crossing the Mekong River

Laos kip, we felt like bazillionaires.

Doug and Kora on the Laos side of the Mekong River.

Kees and I on the Laos side of the Mekong River, he wasn't thrilled about getting his picture taken. (For all you detectives out there, you'll notice that we are wearing the same shirts we wore the day we were on the Thai side of the Mekong, it was unintentional!)

Kees, Kora, and I waited across the street while Doug picked up our paperwork at the Consulate.  Our driver gave him an umbrella and helped him get a good place in line, even WITH the umbrella, Doug said it was miserably hot.  Glad I was sippin' water in the shade, even though I was forced to listen to some less than impressive karaoke.

Since our visas switched over successfully, we are now members of a foundation here in Chiang Mai.  It changes quite a few things for us initially, but our end goals are still the same.  Right now, while we finish language learning, we will be involved with various projects that address social needs here in Thailand.  Our projects started last December, the two main ones right now, are a baking class at our church and volunteering at a school for kids with special needs.

Our little baking class, so fun!

Singing Christmas carols at the school in our neighborhood, we were able to share the Christmas story as well.

Whew, just 3 more months worth of stuff to catch you up on!  In January, we mostly studied Thai, and then at the end of the month, we moved!  We were not planning on moving AT ALL, at least not until we were leaving Chiang Mai, but Doug was at a local pastor's meeting he attends every Tuesday, and one of the pastor's had a house to rent in our SAME neighborhood.  Doug told him there was NO WAY we were moving, but that he wouldn't mind taking pictures and we'd ask around if anyone we knew was looking for a place.  Funny how God works sometimes. The pastor and his wife were really in need of the money and we felt it would be a great way to "assist the local church", one of our main goals in being here. His family is serving the Lord, and if we can be a help to them, we couldn't see telling them no. I think God must have been laughing at me, because just a few weeks earlier we had been helping a friend move and I kept thinking to myself, man I'm glad it's her and not me.  I hate moving.  There is no way I would want to be moving right now. :) And then just a couple weeks later, in a matter of about 2 days, we got EVERYTHING in order and moved before the end of the month.  It was pretty crazy, but the new house is so nice, much more spacious, and we have a school room and an office, two things we did not have before.  We also have a yard, with grass...pretty crazy!

Inside the new house.

Our patio at the new house, check out the grass!

The last couple of months we’ve added a couple more things to our plate. We were able to introduce our church to the book called, “By This Name” and they asked if Doug would be willing to teach a class, so they could all go through it together.  Doug’s Thai has come a VERY long way in the last year, but Christian terms and vocabulary are almost like their own separate language.  So, he reluctantly agreed and spent hours in preparation for the first week, but still had a difficult time.  After a few weeks, our pastor volunteered to teach the class and have Doug assist him.  We are so thankful that Doug has been given the opportunity to dive into God’s word in Thai.  And what better teachers could he possibly have than our sweet brothers and sisters in Christ.  So far they have really enjoyed reading the book!  The pastor’s wife said (about the book) that she has been waiting 20 years for something like this.  Isn’t it amazing how God has worked out these small details and he’s somehow using us, while we’re “waiting” to learn Thai here in Chiang Mai.

Thai version of "By This Name", we had a senior class from Christian Heritage Academy donate money for the books.

This family of ours, here in Thailand has been such a blessing.  I will never forget the day our house flooded and I was literally about to sit down on the bed and cry, when in walks a whole team of people from our church.  We came to Thailand hoping to serve and be a blessing, but so many times we been on the receiving end instead. Looking forward to the future and being able to serve them more!

Tonight, we will begin teaching two English classes at our church.  Doug will teach an adult class and I will teach the kids.  We are very excited to be able to give back and serve our church family! We are hoping these classes will serve as an outreach and a way for us to give back to the Thai community in our area.

It’s so good to look back on the ways God has pulled everything together and worked on our behalf.  He has such an intricate and amazing plan.  His desire is for us to be more like his son and to bring glory to his name.  But how do we do that?  I’m often struck by how inept I am.  How can I be more like Jesus?

I was reminded this week that sometimes the smallest things we do have a great impact on other people, in ways we never imagined.  As I was thinking about how insignificant my thoughts and intentions had been in this situation, but how great the impact had been, I felt guilty.  As I was trying to process it all, God showed me that’s exactly how he wants to use us.  He isn’t wanting some grand gesture or over the top production.  He just wants us to be faithful, in the small things.  And though our meager offerings are INDEED small, he pieces them together and uses them.  When we can look back and realize that we weren’t “trying” to do anything special, it’s proof that God was doing something special.  He knew, even if I didn’t.

 As I look at the task ahead of us and the obstacles we will likely face, I sometimes feel hopeless and inadequate.  Doesn’t God know there are about a million people more qualified than me?  Doesn’t God know that I’m just not strong enough?  Yeah, he knows, but take a look at Ephesians 2:10 (NLT), “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  You see, when we accepted Christ, God created us anew IN Christ Jesus.  We are IN him.  That means he works in and through our lives.  This verse not only states that we are a masterpiece, made new IN Christ, but we are made for a purpose.  A purpose that was set long ago.  And all of those small things we do, the things that may not seem like much, as long as we are walking IN HIM, they will be used to fulfill that plan.