Wednesday, June 30, 2010

McDonalds, Balloons and SKYPE!


We had lunch at McDonalds today. It tastes the SAME!! Well I guess we know now McDonalds is the same no matter where in the world you are.We had a fun day running around getting stuff for the outreach to the tribes that's coming up on the 10th. Sawyer is still making friends with everyone he meets. The lady at one of the stores gave him a balloon! He was THRILLED!!! We went down to the market and there are lots and lots of shops all lined up. Sawyer wasn't sure what to do with himself. I wish I had taken more pictures but getting what we needed and getting out of there was the goal....maybe next time we are down there I'll have more of a chance to take some pictures.
We got our Skype hooked up!!! We were so happy to talk to and SEE my parents last night! What a blessing. Being so far away but being able to see them is amazing.
Well sorry these posts have been so short but I really need to try and take a nap while Sawyer is asleep....love you all

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Thank the Lord for sleep

It's amazing how much better life is when you get some sleep. Sawyer went to bed last night at 5:30pm he slept till about 4:30 am but went back to bed an hour later and slept till almost 10. I feel so much better today. I finally got some sleep!!! Thank you Lord!Right now Sawyer andTyson are napping and I'm enjoying the AC. hee hee it's so hot here Ithink it's going to take our bodies a little while to get adjusted. We went out this morning running errands with Tyson's dad. We stopped into a clothing shop so Ty could look at some shirts. Sawyer just ran around the store like he owned the place. Ty's dad had a great time chasing him around. Sawyer now says Poppa for Ty's dad and he is thrilled.We went over to Hope house later in the afternoon and Sawyer played in the play area. It's the perfect size for him and I don't have to worry about him getting hurt everything is padded. He wondered into the library where some of the kids were reading and they were all happy to open their books and show him what they were doing. He's such a novelty to them. I unfortunately didn't have my camera on me....it would have been a really cute picture.
Of course Sawyer found the soccer ball and Tyson and his dad ran around in the field with him. (don't you love the tiny flip flops!) All in all it was another pretty relaxing chill day.
Sawyer also loves Cookie the dog he just laughs at her. I'm posting a video i took. It's not the best but his little laugh is in it a few times and that is just too cute.
I'm praying for another good night sleep tonight. A few in a row and I'll be back to myself.
Love you all!!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Chill Day

Today has been nice. Sawyer and I decided to stay home. Ty went with his parents to the market to get stuff for the outreach next week and Deb Mike and Andrew are at Hope House for science camp all week. I am just really tired we haven't slept much so I'm not feeling very good. Sawyer's little body isn't sure what to do still. He's been pooping all day and his poor bottom is so red with rash it's just awful. Sorry if that's TMI but it's the truth haha. I was hoping to take a nap but Sawyer only slept for an hour so I didn't get the chance. Oh well I am going to put him to bed early.
Nothing much to update you all on we are just hanging out today trying to adjust. :-



Mr. Blue eyes chillin whating some tv

Sawyer tired "Moo Ping" it means pork on a stick....he was trying to share his with the dog haha


)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Hello from Sawyer

Today we were in the car and someone said something about "the baby" meaning Deborah's baby being born in December. Sawyer popped up and said "Jesse" it was so cute. I think he thought we were going to go see Percy and Jesse and Kelkel. So tonight before bed we called mom and dad. I put my dad on speaker phone and as soon as Sawyer heard his voice he went crazy. He was going "GRA GRA". He was so happy to talk to my dad. He got so excited he was shaking the phone around and trying to wave so I tried to grab it from him and he hung up on them. haha it was really funny. After I got off the phone he was saying Jesse again so I took a video with my iphone. We miss my family lots but it helps that they are so supportive of what we are doing here in Thailand.

Today we had more of a chill day. We are pretty tired still. We went to the mall and shopped around for a little while. Sawyer loved looking at the fish in this huge tank. We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant that was really good. Sawyer loves the rice.

Sawyer enjoyed a bubble bath in the back yard.
We went and looked at a house too. It was really nice! The kitchen was really big which is not common here. But the doorways were really short. I tool a picture of Tyson going into the bathroom....HAHAHA
We are praying for good sleep tonight. I'm so happy you all are reading my blog it has inspired me to be faithful to post. Love to you!

The cutest face


The first night we got here Tyson's parents had everything set up for us. It was such a blessing to come in and crash. She even had a bed ready for Sawyer. She bought him a really nice crib. He actually wanted to get in it. He was jumping around in it have a grand time. I went into the bathroom to wash my face and came out 2 min later to find this........

Well needless to say we were glad we brought the pack n play. Deborah (Ty's sister) is having a baby in December so at least the crib will be put to good use soon. hee hee.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Firtst Day in Thailand!

Our first day here! Tyson and I are pretty tired but we had a really fun day. First we went to Big C it's like a mini mall. We needed some toiletry items. We went to KFC for lunch and Sawyer ate an ice cream cone from DQ. It's fun seeing these places just like at home only everything is in Thai.

After lunch we went over the Hope House. All the kids were waiting to see us. They were all in love with Sawyer. They showed us around the campus. Sawyer loved the little kids play area...he was in his own little heaven.

The kids were so sweet. They all wanted Sawyer to let them hold him. He was pretty tired at this point and a little unsure of all the attention so he stayed pretty close to Ty or me.



This is Bubba he is 5 years old and the youngest one in the home right now.

They had a worship time and then Tyson's dad shared a little message and introduced us to the kids.


The children love soccer so Sawyer fit right in. He was running and kicking the ball and the bigger boys were laughing and thought he was so cute.




This little boy Solomon loved picking Sawyer up.

sack races
Beautiful country
Well it's 4:30 am here. Sawyer woke up around 1:30am poor kids it's the afternoon to his body. So far only 4 hours of sleep for me tonight. I'm hoping he'll lay down again in a little while. Right now we are hanging out in his little play room. We just saw a lizard run across the wall...yeah gross.

Friday, June 25, 2010

We are here



I can't believe we are finally here. It's been such a journey and a faith walk to get us this far and we are still trusting the Lord for His provision in our journey.When you say move to Thailand it feels BIG. When you actually do it it's HUGE. The last week in VA was hard. Packing, cleaning, throwing more stuff away and getting rid of whatever wouldn't fit in our luggage. Tyson and I each got 2 bags 50lbs each. 50 lbs goes by SO fast when you are moving. My amazing husband managed to squeeze all of his stuff into 1 bag which left Sawyer and I 3 to share. We still had to leave a lot behind but I was happy to have more space. We also sold our car 2 days before we left. What a blessing to have that final blessing and boost in faith on our way out the door.
The Trip:
Thursday June 24th we woke up at 5am took showers finished packing and loaded up the car. My dear friend Christen offered to drive us to the DC airport so I wouldn't have to ask my family. Anyone in my family would have been happy to take us I just didn't want to do the "goodbye and the airport scene". Those last few moments at the house were WAY harder than I ever imagined. Saying goodbye to my family caused me actual physical pain. My nephew Percy was so sweet and happy looking around at everyone I just kept seeing all the things I was going to miss and it broke my heart. My dear friend Debbie told me a few weeks
ago that when she lived on the mission field in Poland it was sad to think about the birthdays, party's, family and friends events and fun she was missing. But the life experiences she gained from her time there made up for all she missed out on. I kept reminding myself of that while I was saying goodbye and remembering the clear words from the Lord that we were suppose to go. To know God is calling us makes all the difference. It doesn't mean the sad parts won't still be there it just means He will be there to sustain us through it.
We arrived at the airport on time and checked all our bags with NO PROBLEMS. It was amazing. None of our bags were over the weight limit. We didn't have any glitches. It was totally the Lord. Security check was the same way. They didn't weigh our cary on bags (they were packed to the brim and heavy).
The first flight was smooth. Tyson was
thrilled (he HATES flying). At the gate they moved our seats to the 1st row of economy right behind business class. It was nice to be at the front of the plane and we had no one in front of us just the wall. So Sawyer could play and we had more leg room. 15 HOURS on a plane is a long time. I would be lying if I said it was easy. Sawyer was amazing. God's grace was on him and he was very happy. He was tired but restless so I gave him Dramamine to help him sleep. At first I was freaking out because he became wired. He wanted to jump and dance and be wild and I thought the Dramamine didn't work. Well 30 minutes later he crashed and slept for over 8 hours straight. I think more then anything the drugs helped him stay asleep.
We had some rowdy kids behind us that would yell at each other and kicked our chairs nonstop. Tyson and I didn't sleep at all but at least Sawyer didn't wake up.
We had a 3 hr lay over in Korea and then got on our last flight to Chang Mai. Sawyer fell asleep for the first hour but it was a really bumpy flight and he woke up from the bumping around. Tyson was not pleased with the pilots flying hahaha I tried to remind him the pilot was not responsible for the weather but he still gave him an F. :-)
We arrived in Chang Mai a little before midnight Thailand time (which is around noon in VA). We went through customs without a problem. We were the last ones through and Sawyer was smiling at everyone. Thai people love babies so lots of people were waving and smiling at him. At one point he had 4 stewardesses around him talking in Thai or Korean or some other Asia language and he just thought it was great. Tyson and I were joking around that in his mind he was seeing a bunch of grown up Kilan's (his favorite show is Nihou Kilan). The customs officers even helped us with our bags. I think they just wanted to look at Sawyer some more. :-)
When we got to the house Sawyer was wired and running around. He enjoyed having a new place to explore. We didn't go to bed until 3:30 in the morning. Sawer then woke up at 5:40 in the morning ready to go. So we have only slept 2 hours in about 50 hours.
Today we are going to Hope House to meet the kids. They are all so excited that we are here so they are having a field day in celebration of our arrival. I think we are all to tired to play any sports but it will still be great to get to meet the children.
Well that's all for now. I'll post some pictures of the kids later. :-)

Monday, June 14, 2010

How am I doing??


Well hello there. I know what you are all thinking... "Tess keeps telling us she will be better at updating so where are the updates...." am I right? haha Well between selling all I own, making list and buying things we need for our 20 hours of flying, packing, throwing things away, writing thank you notes, tracking our fundraising, trying to raise more funds, making follow up cards and newsletters, birthdays, baby showers, making homemade gifts, scanning over 600 pictures of the Bush side of the family, working on scanning Phipps family photos, converting our home movies to dvd, chasing a very active one year old, and trying to see my family..... life is pretty full. But I AM SO BLESSED!! I serve the most incredible loving God. He gives me more grace then I deserve.
I have had a lot of people ask me "how are you doing". Well that's a BIG question. The short answer is GREAT but also sad.
What a journey this last year has been. These last few weeks I have really been thinking about all that God has done in me and for me. The sale of our car is the last major thing to go. (Let me know if you know of anyone who would be interested in a 4 Runner). For some reason selling the car is the hardest so far. I'm not sure if it's because it's the last of everything or if it's because I really love it! hmmm maybe both....When you talk about moving across the world and selling everything it's a little overwhelming in one chunk. I have been so blessed to have the time to take each day and each step one bite at a time. I'm a sentimental person so holding on to small unimportant things is not hard for me. Letting go and trusting that God has a purpose for my family has become more important than all the trinkets and things I have assigned value to. I am feeling rather free to be honest. It's rough in the middle but once the house is gone and everything else there really is less to worry about.
What an incredible husband I have! He has held my hand and patiently walked me through each and every step. Now here we are a week away from leaving and I'm holding his hand because he HATES to fly. HAHA All kidding aside what a tremendous gift to have a partner in life who can gently push you forward towards God's plans and purposes. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work along side of my dearest and closest friend for the purpose of expanding the Kingdom of God. It blows my mind honestly. What an incredible calling! I can't wait for this exciting amazing adventure to begin.
I would appreciate each and every prayer you send our way. There are still a few details to come together before we leave on THURSDAY! The sale of our car is a big one and we still need more funds to financially make it through this next year. God has met us each step of the way so far and I am trusting he will continue to do the same. It's starting to feel a bit sad too.... it's sinking in all the things that I'm leaving. Mainly my family but also dear friends. Looking ahead to the exciting future is great but the saying goodbye part is never easy so prayer for me through the emotions of the next week would be great.
Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
We are standing on this and believing in Him who is sending us out. Time to take that step and trust that God will make the way.


Thanks for reading and for your prayers.
Love and Blessings to you all!!