Happy Easter!

It was Thai New Year's here! (Songkran )2 days of nationwide water flights. 

Shopping for Easter baskets

This year we hosted an Easter celebration at our home.  27 of us ate and celebrated what Christ accomplished!  Our kids played together and the adults got to know each other better by sharing stories of our upbringing and how God called us here.  It wasn't a typical family gathering for Easter, but it was brothers and sisters in Christ, gathered together to remember that we were bought. Our ransom was paid.

The children are finishing up the school year (homeschooling) although we plan to continue part-time through the summer.  Jack did really well on his MAP (standardized) testing, so I as his teacher feel like I passed! He is a great big brother to Max, still loves Legos, climbing trees, waterfalls, and starting campfires with flint and steel.  

She lost her first tooth (teeth)

Callie is finishing up 1st grade.  She likes to read, but more so, the girl likes to draw and craft. She comes with me to work with the teen girls and craft with them.  Recently she's been "teaching" Max.  He participates most of the time.  She also loves to sing.  We've been teaching them hymns and it's so sweet to hear her doing her work, singing a hymn or praise song.

"Mommy, look at me, I'm a sloth!"

Max...well, the boy is hilarious and a handful and snuggly and loud.  He has a growing vocabulary.  Yesterday he was sucking on an ice cube and told me, "it tastes familiar."  He refers to things as "cool," or "that's my style!" He loves to build Legos and has hit this stage of playing with activities for long periods of time instead of bouncing from one toy to the next.  We see signs of the soon to be 4 year old peeking out and it's encouraging.  

We were making resurrection rolls with the kids, where you take a marshmallow to represent Christ, prepare the body with oil by rolling it in butter, and then put spices on it (cinnamon and sugar).  Finally, you roll the marshmallow up in the crescent roll tomb.  After you bake it and let it rest, the tomb is empty!  (The marshmallow melted).  Well, a couple days later at dinner, Max prayed, "and Jesus, you had butter put on you, and cinnamon and you died."  He went on and on about it.  I guess it was a bit too much for a 3 year old to draw the correct connection!

Ken is really busy at Grace.  Many of you know that he has taken on another major role at the school in addition to supporting homeschooling missionary families.  He's gifted to do the work, but like I said, his plate is quite full.  He had the privilege of preaching at our church (which meets at a zoo).  The Lord has grown the gift of teaching in him and I'm excited for him to speak again in June.

After my hair cut.  

Thai hair salon with a friend
.  You have to climb
up onto the chair to ge
t your hair washed.  There is no
hot water , so it was refreshing!  

As far as me, (Summer), my health overall is soooo much better!  I have much more energy and my joint pain has subsided, as well as most of my muscle ache, PRAISE GOD!!  I'm not sure if it was/is the Epstein Barre Virus, but I have noticed that I need to get plenty of rest, so I am trying to discipline myself...but it isn't easy!  All of my blood work has come back normal, so there is nothing to report there.  I did get food poisoning yesterday, which was awful. No one needs to hear those details though!

I am still teaching crafts to a small group of rescued teens, which I really enjoy...they are discovering their value and beauty that is found in knowing our Father.  They are helpful in correcting my Thai and they learn some English from me.


PRAISES and Prayer Requests:

• Please thank God with us that we are able to continue our language study.  Thank you to those of you who have prayed on our behalf and to those of you who answered the call to give!  We recently completed our reading/writing portion of the class and will continue to focus on speaking.  This is a long process, so please pray that we aren't discouraged and that we are diligent.

• For the month of March we were fully supported!  Thank you so much for giving!  We have asked for prayer over this very matter and I was teary-eyed to find out how many people gave.  I don't even know how to say thank you.  You are essential to our ministry here and an encouragement to our hearts.  Thank you for your one-time gifts, monthly gifts, and prayer!

• We are considering enrolling Jack and Callie in a nearby Thai school for language study.  We want them to be a part of the community and language is essential.  We are waiting to hear back from the school concerning space availability and cost.  

• Next month we'll be headed pretty far south to visit one of our remote families.  They are anxious/excited to have us visit and we too are eager to go!  The area is safe, but a bit further south there is some political unrest.  We have no hesitations in visiting, but ask you to pray for our safety.

We'll leave you with more pictures:

Temple ruins

Observing religion and culture

Callie attended a friend's birthday party.