Hope House Soccer League

Tyson is very excited about stating a soccer league with the boys at Hope House. They all love "football" and he's been looking forward to helping them build their team. He went to one of the markets here and bought them all there own "real" soccer jersey. All the boys were so excited to be a part of a team and to feel official in their uniforms.

Tyson had to explain a lot of rules to them. They all play but most of them don't play with the real rules. They have never had an opportunity to learn.

Here's Tyson explaining out of bounds and off sides. haha


Handing out the new soccer jersey to the kids.

Little Chang is one of Ty's favorites. He is so small that the shirt was like a dress on him. They only had one size to fit all. Chang didn't care he was still super excited about his jersey. :-)



Each of the 4 house parents for the boys are going to be the coaches for the different teams. They all got to have a little draft to divide the teams and pick which team they wanted to be. I think they are just as excited about the games as the kids are.



What a fun time and it was only the first day. The boys have been practicing so much that there is no more grass on the field it's all dirt now. hahaha The first game is tomorrow night (Friday). All the kids are so excited even the girls are excited to cheer the boys on. Ty's mom said we can make popcorn and make a real event out of the night. Each week every team plays. After 6 or 8 weeks (I can't remember) Tyson is going to give a trophy to the winning team.

Tyson is having such a great time with these boys. It's great to see him have the chance to interact with them. Sports is a great way to connect since they don't speak English yet.

Bush family vacation

When we moved here at the end of June it had been over a year and a half since we have seen Tyson's parents and family. They came to VA in April of 09 and that was the only time they had seen Sawyer. It's been such a blessing spending time with them.

Ty's sister found airfare to Bangkok for 30 bucks round trip so we all went on our first ever Bush Family Vacation. We actually flew into Bangkok and then drove a little over an hour to Pattaya (the beach). We stayed at this amazing resort.

Tyson and Sawyer in the fun lobby chairs. Sawyer looks so big to me in this picture.

This is the view from my lawn chair by the pool. I sat here in the shade while I was broken out with my rash. (see previous post for details on that). At least I had a nice view.
When we got to our room Sawyer climbed up on this chair pulled the book off the nightstand and acted like he was reading. It was so cute. I then looked at what it was. "The teachings of Budah" haha it was all in Thai.

Me and Saws and our wonderful seafood dinner.

My sister in law and her husband Mike. :-) They are expecting their first baby in December.
An elephant carved from a carrot for Sawyer.
Pattaya City at night. There were lots of "interesting" things going on there so we didn't stay out late. Mostly we just ate dinner and then went back to the resort. :-)
The Beach
The view from our hotel room. Well the looking down view. The first 3 nights we were on the 10th floor and the last 2 we were on the 13th floor. It was an amazing view every time.
There was a lazy river you could ride around in a tube....it was so relaxing.
There was also a wonderful baby pool area. Sawyer had a blast swimming there. It was different levels so he could go all the way in to the water over his shoulders and I think it made him feel big like he was standing in the deep water. He's all about being a big boy these days.
Beach view from our room.
Tyson and Sawyer down by the water at sunset. It was beautiful!!
I love my boys!


Tyson loves his boy. The day we were leaving Sawyer had his first major accident. I was packing all my toiletries and I had my razor on the side of the tub. I was looking for a bag to put it in because it was one of those ones with soap around it and I didn't want that to get all over my other stuff. Well in the 2 seconds it was there Sawyer grabbed it. All I heard was Sawyer screaming and Tyson saying what do you have. Then there was the blood. Poor baby sliced his his little thumb. I wrapped it in a towel grabbed him and headed for the emergency clinic. (thankfully I knew where it was because of my rash haha). Tyson stayed in the room to cool off he was really mad at me. (which is kind of funny to me now because he is never mad haha). Since we were on the 13th floor we had to go all the way down to the basement....I had a major "mom moment". We were stopping at almost every floor on the way down and our elevator was full. There were about 10 people in there. we were at about level 8 and this family that was waiting for an elevator stands there and blocks the door. There were 5 of them and OBVIOUSLY no room for them. They stood there discussing what to do next but they were holding the door. I was in the front and I just yelled "there is no room for you on here...my baby is screaming and bleeding everywhere get out of the way now so I can get to the clinic." I have no idea if they could understand English but they moved. I heard a few chuckles from people in the back of the elevator so I guess at least a few people understood me. hee hee The nurse was very nice and helpful. Thank the Lord Sawyer did not need stitches it wasn't that deep it just sliced a few layers but she said all will grow back just fine. She wrapped it in gauze to try and stop the bleeding and taped it up good. Sawyer didn't like having anything on his thumb and every time he looked at it he started crying again. It was kind of funny. He would be happy and then look over and just start saying ouchy ouchy. Poor baby he would then look at his other thumb to make sure it was ok. haha I was thankful to get on the road home without further injury or sickness.
The Play Room: They had a wonderful playroom for the kids. Sawyer LOVED it. There was a big ball pit with a slide into it that he played on for hours. I'll load the video I got of him. They kept trying to charge us every time a new staff member came in. Children under 2 play for free. Everyone else is about 1 dollar an hour. We had to keep telling them he's only 1 and a half. They couldn't believe how big he was. It was really funny. Other moms in there would take his picture. The Blondie hair and blue eyes stood out with all the little Asian kids.

They also had a play kitchen that he loved. He would cry when we had to leave. He loved all the doors that opened and of course the pot and pans. :-)
Dragon fruit. This is for you dad. I told you about this fruit before. I'm mad I didn't get a picture of the inside. It's white with black dots. Very yummy and Sawyer really likes it.

What do you think those green things are?.....well Sawyer thought they were balls....hahah..

nope not limes they are oranges. No lie orange on the inside and taste like a tangerine. They are Thai oranges. haha

We spent a few hours in Bangkok before we left but I didn't take any pictures. We just shopped and drove around the city. We saw where all the rioting was and it was sad to see the mall that use to be beautiful burnt up and closed because of too much damage.

We are home now and it's been a Thai holiday so we had 2 days off. Tomorrow is back to work but at least "work" is fun and rewarding. Sorry for my lack of blogging but I'll be back on it now we are home. Love you you all!!!

First Trip the the Chang Mai Hospital

There has been a virus going around here. Ty's mom had it then Ty and then Sawyer and I got it. The weird part was that is was the same virus but it was just different for each of us. Ty and his mom had the aches and high fever. I had the aches and an awful headache. Well 2 days before we were to leave for our vacation Sawyer broke out in a rash. I thought he may be having a reaction to some food. He didn't seem bothered by it so I didn't worry too much. That night I couldn't sleep and I was really itchy. When I woke up in the morning I had a rash all over my arms and hands and chest. (see elbow picture below). Ty's mom said we should go to the hospital. I hate the hospital as you all know and I THANK YOU all who prayed for me. Sawyer and I both just had the virus and it showed up with a rash on us. Don't ask me how or why that's just how it is. It's maddening because everything is different here even the viruses and bugs and germs. I must admit I felt a little ignorant.

The Dr. gave me an antihistamine and some calamine lotion and said I basically had to just suffer through the symptoms and let it run it's coarse.

The next morning we had to leave for vacation. We were up early and on our way. By the time we got to hotel I was itching all over. I kept taking the antihistamine and that would help for a little while. The first night at the hotel was fine. We woke up went to breakfast and came upstairs to put our suits on. I still had the rash but once we got upstairs I started to itch. I took a pill and layed in the bed and prayed it would go away. It just got worse and worse. My skin started to burn and if I was blind I would have been convinced I was on fire. I was literally jumping up and down screaming it hurt so bad. Poor Sawyer didn't know what was going on. He just started crying. Tyson was trying to comfort Sawyer and figure out what to do. This went on for about 30 minutes. There was lots of tears on my end and prayers on Tyson's. It was awful!!!!! Finally Ty went down to the pool and got his mom and sister. Deb took sawyer out to swim and ty's mom tried to help me relax. I took 2 more antihistamines and the prayers were in full force. We then went down to the clinic but I knew they weren't going to tell me anything different so we ended up out in the "lazy river". The water was all salt water so Ty's mom thought it might help. It did for a little while. I was able to wade around the river and try to not think about it. That worked for about 30 minutes and then I started to burn. I had to get out of the water. I made my way to our chairs and my feet were so swollen my toes looked like sausages. Ty's dad saw me and came over. He layed hands on my burning feet and prayed for me again. This rash was working it's way down from my arms to my feet and the feet were the worst yet. (it was even on my face and eyelids). The burning calmed down but the itching was still rough. throughout the day it never burned like that again PRAISE THE LORD!!! I really am thankful for all your prayers. It was a few more days of itching and by the last day of our vacation I was rash free. haha I am so very thankful that Sawyer didn't feel it the same way I did. He didn't even seem bothered. So praise the Lord for that.

2nd Village Burmese Refugees

Last post about the weekend outreach! :-) The second village we went to was a Burmese refugee village. Pote (not sure how to spell his name) is one of the house parents in Hope House. He and his wife help take care of the children there. This village is where his mother and father live. They are Thai but they are Christians and felt the Lord call them to this village. So they are living there to reach these people. They asked up to come and minister to them and also to help with food bags for some of the poorest families. I took pictures of the hills I'm not sure now which one is Burma but it's one of the mountains in these pictures. I didn't realize we were that close.




Ning is also one of the workers with PFA she is a Right hand. She takes care of lots of stuff and serves as a translator. She knew this plant could blow bubbles. It was amazing she picked the leaf split the stem and used it as a blower and the juice inside made bubbles it was awesome.

Hope House has a few openings for children. 3 of the children from this village are going to come and live in Hope House. 2 girls and 1 boy. One of the girls mother and father left her at the temple and abandoned her. She was going house to house in the village but had no home. She is only 5 years old. I will post pictures of the new kids when they arrive. :-)







"Look dad a bug"
The other kids from Hope House evangelism team met us at the 2nd village. Deborah taught them a drama. They did an amazing job.

My girls did their dance again. :-)
Some of the kids shared their testimonies. To me that is one of the most powerful things. These kids came from villages like this and here they are sharing how Jesus has changed their lives and leading worship!











Prayer:

We had about 10 people come forward and ask Jesus into their hearts!! Then we had a ministry time for anyone who needed or wanted prayer. Lots of people came forward for that. Tyson prayed for a lady who had really bad arthritis in her hand. Her fingers were in a fist and she couldn't open her hand. Ty and our interpreter prayed for her. She was then able to open 2 of her fingers. Then our interpreter told her to say in the name of Jesus I am healed. She did and she was then able to open all of her fingers in and out. It was really awesome.

There was also another man who was limping he hurt his leg working. After receiving prayer he walked away with no pain. Praise Jesus!!!

This is one of the hutts. In some of these there are 11 or 12 people all living there.