For Percy, Jesse and Kel Kel and everyone else

I was trying to get a happy bday video for Jesse and Kelly but this one turned out the cutest. Enjoy!

Last Day of Soccer and MVP

Friday night soccer has been a huge hit. Everyone looks forward to it and always has a blast. Schools are about to go on break and most of the children go home to their villages to visit their relatives. This was our last week for this "season" of soccer. We had a championship game. The yellow and green teams were the final top 2 teams. It was all very serous. :-)

"Big" Sumchai (we also have a little Sumchai)

This is Hernfa he lost a tooth. :-)
The winners!!! Tyson got a trophy
1st and 2nd place teams
Chang was so happy to be on the winning team.
Sawyer playing with the girls

Chanoon

All the kids and staff voted for the league MVP.


Wit won the MVP by 2 votes. It was fitting because he scored the winning goal in the last minutes and a half of the game. Ty got him a Chang Mai FC jersey. It's so great because it was only 12 bucks but to Wit it was one of the nicest things he owns. :-)

"Sawyer"

This isn't the best video but it's still cute. Sawyer is saying his name and it's been hard for me to get him on video saying it. This was the best I could do for now. :-)

62

Well if you ever wondered what 108 cupcakes would look like there you have it. Deborah and I spent an entire afternoon baking these. It was actually really fun. It's my father in laws 62nd birthday this weekend. We had a little surprise party for him on Saturday. There are kids from the neighborhood who come for English class and all of our kids so we had quite the gathering. We have 60 Hope House kids so we had each one hold a cupcake with a candle...Sawyer, Andrew made 62. They all held their cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday to dad as he came around the corner. Then all the kids blew out the candles for him. He was very surprised and blessed. After we sang all the kids got to eat their cake and then have ice cream. They thought it was Christmas. Then Deborah had games planned and they all had a blast.

SURPRISE!!!!

Ice is a sweet girl. She is always smiling and always giving hugs.

Namwat is very serous but very cute. She is the newest and youngest child at Hope House.

Mollie is ready to blow out her candle

Nutt and Sawyer

Belle and Jaken

Mok

TaTa

21 Months

Well I know he's my kid but I think he is the most wonderful little boy in the entire world. He has the sweetest kindest little personality. He loves to do things ALL BOY. climbing, jumping, playing with bugs and dirt. and the endless amount of puddles (since it's rainy season). He keeps me super busy but he is so smart that it's fun coming up with new things for us to do. He is talking all the time. He can say everything now which is a blessing because he can tell us what he wants and needs. He is also speaking a little Thai. His favorite person at Hope House is a little girl names Nutt she is about 13 or 14 and she loves playing with him when we are there. She speaks to him in Thai so I think that's where he is getting it. Today he said something to me in Thai and I didn't know what he was saying...Deborah said he was saying drink of water in Thai. haha I guess I need to get on it otherwise I won't be able to understand my kid. :-)

He loves to play with this little house. He finds the table and chairs and will set them up all over the office. I love the sound of his little voice. I am blessed to be a mom and I am even more blessed that Sawyer is my little boy.

Field Trip to the Silk Factory

Every Wednesday the homeschool kids go on a field trip. This week they went to the silk factory. Sawyer and I got to go along. He loves being with the kids I think he thinks he's there size. :-)Panda, Sawyer, Chang and Mollie
Panda Sawyer and Change, they are his buddies.
Walking around the silk shop like a big boy. :-)
Chang and Sawyer are buddies. Chang is one of the smallest boys and he and Sawyer were walking around hand in hand. I think Sawyer likes Change because he is close to his size and it's not quite so overwhelming.
The loom
Showing the kids how they get the silk. They boil down the sacks from the worms.
and pull the string out
then they wrap it around this spinning loom
Sawyer liked the worms the best....what a boy!

Sewing with the girls

I have been sewing with the girls on Saturdays. We are making pants for the November outreach. They seem to really enjoy it. I am going to start a class when they come back from fall break. I really need someone there to translate so they can understand what I'm teaching them. I am enjoying spending time with them even if they don't understand me. :-)

Movie time

This is from a few weeks ago. Tyson and I wanted to watch a movie and it wasn't time for Sawyer to go to bed yet. So we put on toy Story 2 and Sawyer had his own movie time.

The big bump over his eye is a huge bug bite. He gets eaten alive over here. Poor kid.

Standing Up

This week has been a week of persecutions. First, Hope House was turned down by a secular hiking club for an afternoon of trekking. We asked the resident foreigners to consider taking our kids on a two hour hike, just for fun. They replied that they would love to take our kids and even provide lunch for them at a waterfall. The kids were excited! Then, the hammer fell when they emailed withdrawing their offer because they read our web site and saw that we are Christian and we proselytize our Hope House children.

On Friday, we received a letter from the school where eleven of our children attend. The letter was sent to all Christian parents in the school. The letter called our children disobedient and disrespectful and stated that if we did not attend, it would show that we do not love and support our kids. The abrupt letter took us by surprise and we entered the meeting readied for an unpleasant time. At first, the teacher railed on and on about how they had taken the school children to the temple for a morality lesson by the monks and our children refused to wai them and bow to Buddha. The children refused to take part in any of the worship ceremony with the chanting, etc. We were told that the children must show respect on the outside by performing the rituals but they could secretly be praying to “our “ God while doing it. The parents respectfully explained to the teacher the reasons why this would be impossible for our children to do.

Another complaint from the teacher was that our children will not take part in the morning prayers thanking Buddha for the day and asking his blessings on all activities and also the noon prayers, thanking “nature” for the food. In Thai school, each child must verbally pray these prayers individually. Her complaint was that our children refused and that made them act rebellious and disrespectful. What happened next was no less than a miracle! GOD MOVED! We asked if the children would be allowed to pray for the day’s blessing and for the noon meal in the Name of Jesus. Something broke in the Spirit! She said “yes, yes”!! We were amazed. The teacher called all the children from their classrooms to come into the meeting. (There were about 100 kids in grades 1 – 9. ) The teacher appointed one of our Hope House girls as a spokes person for the group and asked them if they wanted to be part of the school group when they go to the temple or would they want to remain off to the side and separate. Hands went up all through the children to remain separate and off to the side. The teacher told them they will not be asked again to pray to Buddha or wai the monks but they must sit respectfully and quietly while the Buddhist children do. Then, she made a startling suggestion. She appointed a 5 person committee of the older children and put 3 Hope House children on it. She asked if every day one Christian child would represent the Christian faith and pray at the opening ceremony in front of the entire school after the Buddhist prayers were heard. We were astounded at this request. Our children were beaming with excitement. The teacher asked them which prayer they would recite and after a quick deliberation, our children said, they would like to say the Lord’s Prayer and recite the Ten Commandments, then pray for the day. The teacher approved! Then, one of our children requested a weekly prayer and worship time on campus, like a cell group, for the Christian kids. The teacher said YES! How is this possible? She made a 180 degree turn in her demeanor toward our children. GOD MOVED on her heart and granted us mighty favor. We are so blessed and encouraged. We are so humbly thankful to our mighty Father. He hears, He cares, and He moves his mighty hand for His children. Words cannot express what is in our hearts this night. When God moves, H E MOVES!!