IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY

This was what greeted us as we approached the ground where the King of Thailand's Birthday Celebration was held in Chiang Mai.  I don't think I have ever been this close to a hot air baloon!

This is one of the 'students' that I teach English to in the Work Permit Office.  Our main focus in conversation for the last 3 months has been this celebration.  We have reviewed and edited his proposed agenda and his invitation letters, again and again.  I for one am glad this day has finally come and gone!  Pray for Thung as I teach him English and that I will have opportunities to share more important information.

Donna and I were part of a group of 11 that attended.  Well guess who was elected to 'speak' on stage in front of the crowd!?!  You can see me standing behind the man who has the mike in this picture.  We were allowed 3-4 minutes to give well wishes to the King of Thailand on his birthday.  I spoke about the man who extended the invitation to us to come to Thailand and the Foundation that I work for as well as wishing the king many more birthdays to celebrate.

Of course, what is a party without fireworks.  These were shot off directly behind the platform over everyone's head.  The fallout was not too terrible but I could see someone being burned by the ashe.  I didn't hear any crying so I guess all was well.

Nine large lanterns were light to honor the king on this day.  His actual birthday was December 5 but this celebration on Saturday evening, December 3.  Another close encounter with something I have not been this close to before.

I hope the video works for all.  This is the lighting and launching of the lanterns in honor of the king's 84th birthday.  We were not really sure how the evening would go but we ended up having a great time.  We never know what to expect here in Thailand!

Lantern Lighting Celebration

We found this quite interesting!  People place tea lights on their property during the full moon in November.  It was almost like daytime in the neighborhood.

This was the preparation of the floating lanterns for launch.  They are nothing more than a plastic bag with a wire frame at the opening with some sort of fire source in the middle.  This symbolized the taking away of sins by the lantern.

When the air became hot enough in the bag it would take off.

This is one that had been launched down the street from our house.

I hope you can view the movie of the take off of one of the bags.  The kids were having a great time with the parents in the street.  There were literally hundreds of bags floating in the air during about 3 different nights.  The real shame is that their sins still remain on the ground with them!  There is only one way to have those taken away and that is what we want to tell them!

Hodge Podge Post

Believe it or not, we do clean up occasionally for an event.  We attended a wedding reception for one of the Thai girls in our office.  Behind us is the cake, 6 tiers high.

The lovely bride and her handsome groom served one of the people at our table his cake after they had cut it.

Switching gears now, we sit on our front porch and watch the sun set over the mountain.

Thanksgiving Celebration on the office grounds.  There was plenty of family to go around for everyone.  There were about 70 people attending.

No roasted pig this time but plenty of turkey, ham, sweet and white potatoes, dressing, salads, deserts, and on and on and on.  There is ALWAYS too much food!!!

Harvest Festival

We celebrated the beginning of the "Cool" Season with a COOKOUT!!!

This was the 'main course' at our party.  There were 2 men who put this little piggy on the grate at 4 AM Friday morning and turned him over at 1:20 PM.  This was about 4:30 PM when this picture was taken.  Notice he is still in tact!

Of course when you have a party with kids, you need to provide activities to entertain the 'kids' whatever age.  Donna asked if she could take a turn and the little children said SURE!  I had to capture it for her.  This is actually a 'WATER' slide but we did not hook up the water to the slide as none were dressed with bathing suits.

This was the winner of the pumpkin decorating contest.  There were about 6 entries but this was by far the MOST original!  Yes there is McDonald's in Thailand!

Well it is almost time to eat!  The pork was excellent.  The man is chopping it on a block and then put it into the pan to put on the table.

This is the FIRST person through the line!  Imagine that!  There was a huge assortment of good things to eat, and plenty of it as well.  No one went away hungry!  If you did, it was your own fault!

I noticed this tree in the yard on the grounds.  I think it is a Norfolk Island Pine tree.  Well the only one that I had ever seen with any size to it was my sister-in-law's that was about 4 feet tall.  See the next picture....

As you can see, this is quite a bit taller than the 4 foot tree that I remember from years ago.  This one is over 50 feet tall and in great health.  Things is Thailand grow to be VERY big since it doen't get cold enough to make them die out.

Thought you might like to hear some of the sounds that we heard from the kids playing on the inflatables.  This was a GREAT time of fellowship with all of the workers in the office and their families.  We did have our Thai staff families at the party as well.  All in all it was a wonderful time in the yard of the office building.

Now I wonder what we will do to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas!?!

Typical Saturday

Thought you might like to see what a typical Saturday looks like in Chiang Mai.  With us working all week and not getting home until after dark, well you know what has to be done!  The grass in the picture is not a good representation of the yard.  It is green, not brown and it was time for it to be cut.


This is how I cut the grass at the house.  The yard is not real large so it takes about an hour or two with all of the plants around the fence, especially in the front!



 With a park directly across the street from us, children are always playing, swinging, laughing and running.  It is so refreshing to hear their laughter rather than traffic noise.

These three have captured our hearts since they are about our Ava's age.  When Ava comes to visit she will have friends to run, laugh and play with in the neighborhood

I though rainy season was about over.  This picture shows that I might be mistaken.  This gives some indication as to the amount of rain that was falling.  This shower lasted about 30 minutes and then it cooled off and was very pleasant.  Of course this all happened AFTER the grass cutting was completed and I was enjoying some relaxation on the front porch.

Water Has Receeded

Thank you all for praying during our recent flooding.  We have seen many things in our time here but that is one that we care to NOT see again.  We did have an opportunity to minister to victims of the waters by means of providing spiritual and physical food.  We were able to pray with some and encourage them that life would return to normal soon.  Sure enough, the rains have stopped and the river has lowered is angry level and life in Chiang Mai is almost back to 'normal'. (There are many concepts of normal here).  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This was out trip out to the meeting point for distribution

Preparing the Spiritual/Physical Food for victims 

Ditch is about 7 Feet higher than normal.  On our way!! 

 

This is a taxi that is coming up the street where the Night Market usually is. 

Of course children will have fun in the water, even with a plastic tub.  Wanna ride?

You can imagine the amount of 'stuff' that is in this water!  We were told if we had continual exposure to the water that we should take an antibiotic since disease is a major concern.  Fortunately, Donna and I were in water only knee deep and only for a couple of hours.  We had no scratches or wounds on our legs so we washed Safeguard and we were OK.  Of course the Master Physician was part of our team !!

God's Faithfulness

I thought I would reflect on the faithfulness of the Father this month.  As many know we have been looking to relocate to a neighborhood out from the busy city.  We have had several prospects but none worked out.  We now have a nice little house in a quiet Thai neighborhood and LOVE it.

Traffic where we lived


 This is a picture of the road we used to live on.  We do like to walk for exercise and also for meeting people and having opportunity to share with them.  That was NOT real easy with this type of traffic!


Familiar Site during travels



This is an all too typical site as we travel the streets in Thailand.  Many families can't afford an automobile so this is the best option.  This picture is NOT the norm.  Normally, neither the driver nor rider wear helmets!



 Below is a picture of a family leaving the grocery store.  They didn't buy a lot on this visit since the basket on the bike is the only place to store anything, but they do have the most precious cargo in hand.  Again, notice, no helmets!!  We want to petition the Queen and have her provide helmets for all of the children!


Never too young to ride! 

The Father has answered our cries for a place to walk and people to talk with on our walks.  Below shows the main road in our neighborhood.  The Father has blessed us with wide streets, little traffic, very few dogs and wonderful Thai people to talk with.  Please remember us as we continue to learn the language.  Working in an English speaking office and then coming home to a Thai speaking neighborhood has proven to be a bit stressful.  We are confident that the Father will see us through this challenge as well.


Traffic where we live now

Join us as we seek opportunities to share the love of the Father with those in our neighborhood.  We see monks walking through each day offering empty 'chantings' to people offering alms for merit.  May we offer them the living water so they will thirst no more!!!