Is it really Christmas?

Even though the Thai people think we are crazy to have four children, we think it is perfect! We are so thankful for the family God has given us. We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas season.

We are having a harder time getting into the Christmas spirit here in Bangkok. Something about sweating while taking your Christmas pictures makes it feel like summer. We enjoy watching snow on the news about America and wearing our short sleeves here in Thailand.

Finally - An Announcement and an Update

After nearly a month of our blog being offline we are back in working order. As most of you have heard, Tyler Matthew arrived on November 23rd, at 4:44am. Things went so well with his birth. We are so thankful to the Lord for our beautiful baby boy. His brothers and sisters are so excited and want to hold him all day long.

Just Checking

Had a few problems here lately with blogs.

My Little Angel

Lindsey is growing like crazy and she's been taking violin lessons for about a month or so now. She loves it and does a really good job. She already knows more about music than I do since she can read the notes and knows how to play the scales and stuff. She's cool.

My Garden

We only have about 4 feet by 6 feet for our porch which is perched 12 stories above a slum village right below. I decided back in June it would be fun to grow something with the kids so we bought some tomato seeds and pots and dirt and stuck the seeds in the ground. Here we are four months later and we have about 30 tomatoes on the vines but we haven't had any of them turn red yet. Rainy season here is just about to end so now that the sun is shining again, maybe they'll start changing to red. We're also growing some cilantro as well. If I could get some onions to grow, we'd be able to have our own salsa!

Camping Out

The kids have been wanting to get a tent for a long time. They saved their money for a while and bought one that was on sale at a local store. It set them back about $8.75 for the tent. It's the equivalent of a family dollar store product in quality, but they love it. We camped out last night up on the roof and had a good time. Needless to say, it was stinking hot and so Trevor gave up around midnight and I took him back downstairs to sleep in the A/C with his mom. The girls did great, we cooked smores on our little grill and played games and sang until they fell asleep.
The problem was that the tent said "2 man tent" and I think they meant "2 Thai man tent" because I had to sleep with the zipper unzipped and my feet hanging out. It was about a foot shorter than I am. We had a good time though! Luckily enough we live in a 12 story apartment building and it was very windy so there weren't any mosquitos.

IBFT Teen Camp 2007

This was from last week when we were in the mountains of Thailand for teen camp. I got to help with the games and it was awesome! It was a ton of fun and 7 teens trusted in the Lord. Two of the boys that rode in my car from Bangkok to camp got saved. Praise the Lord!

Trust Me, It's Real

Where else in the world can you go and spend $7 and watch a full grown man do this?
You've just got to love this country!
Oh yeah, this guy has a really NASTY scar on this right wrist where he almost lost his hand a few years ago.

My Monkees

Here I am with two of the craziest monkeys I've ever seen. Some might say there are three monkeys in this picture! I sat down with this monkey after taking some pictures and the thing grabbed my hat and put it on. When Trevor sat down there with me, the thing grabbed his arm and tried to wrestle with him. Trevor was EXTREMELY unimpressed!

Things just aren't the same here

Here we are at a trip to the local crocodile farm near our house. It's the 2nd time we've been there but they didn't have the full grown leopard out for petting last time we went. Can you imagine this in America?? This place has about 50,000 croc's living here ranging from 4 inches long to 19 feet long. They also have a zoo where you can feed monkey's, chips, hippo's, and all kinds of other animals that would be happy to rip your arm off. (The porcupines really aren't very friendly.) Other than that, it's not a bad deal for about $7.

How is the language coming?

We are often asked "How is your language learning going?" That is a hard question to answer. We have completed approximately 450 hours of language study. We go back and forth between being excited and encouraged and being overwhelmed and discouraged. It really is exciting to learn a new language. It is more exciting when we get to use our limited vocabulary and we are understood by a Thai. But when we realize how much we have to learn we are overwhelmed. The Thai language has 5 tones and that makes it very confusing for us. These pictures are of a Thai play that our teachers performed. We have a good school and they do make learning interesting and fun. Please pray fervently for us as we seek to learn the Thai language.

Fun in Thailand

We went to Surin for Mother's Day weekend. Mother's Day is in August to celebrate the Queen's birthday. We got to participate in the Family Day. The kids had a great time. Boy was it hot! We look forward to the time when we will be in Surin full-time.

Adjustments to Missionary Life

People often request prayer for new missionaries as they adjust to a new field of service. We have requested prayer for the same thing. There are many things to think about as you face life in a new place. We have really enjoyed living in Thailand but not all of it has been easy. We miss many of the things and people that are familiar to us. One of Matt's adjustments has been life without Mountain Dew. :) We have not found even one in Thailand. However, last week a group from Wisconsin was so gracious to help Matt with his "withdrawal." They brought him not one, not two but a whole pile of Mountain Dew. In most areas of Matt's life he is a very generous person. In this area, he is not. I think they are hidden somewhere in his closet. Getting a Target in Bangkok could be a little more work.


Other adjustments are not so simple. Recently, Matt was hit by a reckless driver while driving home from church. Thankfully, no one was hurt. It was quite a job getting in touch with our insurance company, especially since no one spoke English and Matt's phone died right in the middle of the whole situation. In Thailand when there is a wreck, you don't move the vehicles until the insurance adjustors arrive to determine who was at fault. Praise the Lord, the other driver, who's fault the accident was, volunteered to call Matt's insurance company for him and explain the situation. As you can see, we need and appreciate your prayers for our family as we adjust to our new culture.

Our New Ride

While on deputation, we had to raise money for our Outfit and Passage Fund. The biggest part of that fund was money for a vehicle. Praise the Lord for His provision through His people. So many gave so generously. This week we were finally able to find a vehicle. We are so thankful that we won't have to pile in a taxi or train anymore with all six of us. Now we need prayer for safety. Notice where Matt is sitting. It is interesting learning to drive on the other side of the vehicle. It is common to turn on the windshield wipers when trying to signal a turn.

Our Life - Language School

This is the view we have for 6 or 7 hours every day. We have two teachers every hour in 50 minutes segments. The teachers change every hour. They have a different topic every hour and they speak almost exclusively in Thai. We are in the 1st level. So they speak a little slower and simpler for us. After we have reached 200 hours, we move to the next level. It is a very interesting and fun way to learn. It is amazing how much we can understand after 4 weeks. But as soon as we feel confident enough to use the Thai we have learned, we find out there are 3 other words that sound the same to our American ears but have different tones and different meanings. It is overwhelming at times. Please pray that we will have grace to learn quickly.

Finally in Thailand

We arrived in Thailand on March 25, 2007. It was a long awaited day. The heat and humidity was pretty overwhelming. It was an unreal feeling to finally be in the place that God had called us to almost two years before. Then began the process of unpacking. Wow! We love our apartment. We are so happy to have a home after many months of being "homeless." It was a fun "homeless" though.

We have been here for just over a month now. We have had many experiences. Riding trains, taxi's, tuk-tuk's, and motorcycles. We have tried many new foods and seen many that we are not brave enough to try yet. The kids are really enjoying being in Thailand. Lindsey is ready for any new adventure. She begged us to let her ride the moto with our friend, Ya.

We started language school last week. It is really exciting to start learning the language finally.

Elephant Fun

The girls made fast friends with Sai, a girl from Surin who stays with Jim and Kathi Hayes. She speaks virtually no English so it was interesting watching them try to communicate. They did surprisingly well.

While at camp in Surin, we got to visit The Elephant Village. 10 of the Elephants performed for us. It was great. Matt and Jim Hayes both got to be part of the show. The kids loved it and Lindsey actually was picked up on the trunk of one of the elephants.