Welcome Rachael to our family. She is three years old and has been living at our friends orphanage since she was three days old. It was intended for her to be adopted by our friend who in the end wasn’t able to. He has given her to us and she has been with us for three weeks now. We aren’t too sure about being able to adopt her either. It is a very complicated process. She will always be our daughter but it may not be able to happen on paper. Everyone is still adjusting but most everything seems positive with the new change in her and our life. Abby is enjoying being a new big sister.
Eli is amazing. He is beginning to walk and will be one year on the ninth of this month.
The house is pretty much finished. I just finished the bathroom last week. We brought the girls up a couple of weeks ago while Lisa Gavin was here and they had a great time staining the outside.
We are looking forward to B-ma and almost all the Blues coming here in the next couple of weeks. We will spend time in the village doing everything from painting, teaching, soap making, cooking, and working in the coffee field. People in the village are excited and wont stop asking for B-ma.
The coffee is looking great and after a couple set backs with the locals most things seem to be doing well. In one area we were forced to take out our banana trees because they believe there is an evil spirit attached to the tree that makes them sick. We refused for awhile and even used the opportunity to speak to them about God. But after they released cows in our field and threatened my brother in laws life. We were forced to remove the banana trees. Since then we have planted a new fast growing, nitrogen fixate, shade tree to replace the banana trees.
Prang is doing well and is busy with the weaving project in the village and even some free lance translation. We are brain storming and researching many new business opportunities for her. We are in the process of buying and selling avocado and coffee. This could some day turn into a business or a company here in Thailand. We will be driving up to Chiang Rai tomorrow to meet with farmers and with local buyers. Prang will also be starting school here next term in December. She will be studying on Saturdays and Sundays to some day become a teacher as well.
The next month is packed with many trips to the village, B-ma and the Blues, soap making, buying and selling avocado’s, taking care of coffee trees, and hopefully at some point having some sort of a vacation. We have yet to have had a vacation since we first got married four years ago.
Please check out our pictures link. I have many recent photos uploaded
Posted 4 days, 18 hours ago. 2 comments
We’ve been back for more than two weeks now. So this post is by far over due. Especially since I didn’t write one post while I was in the States.
We had an extended trip of two months. Upon arrival at LAX, Immigration granted Prang a six month visa instead of a one month which is what we thought we were going to get. Next time she applies for a visa she will be given a ten year, multiple entry visa. The thing is that may not happen. Prang is very content with being in Thailand and was glad she visited but has no real desire to go back. This is here home. As is it mine now too.
I have been busy since the day I got back. Organizing and running a soccer tournament at Im Jai House, re-newing my visa, building an area for raising chickens, catching up loose ends on the landscaping service, hanging out with teenage boys, laying pavers under our car park, and of course trying my hardest to get 18 guys together to practice soccer before our tournament begins. Everyone wants to play but no one wants to practice.
We are planning a trip to the mountains here soon. We will visit family, hang out with friends in the church, check up on the rice mill, help plant rice and I will hopefully be bringing some natural fertilizer that I am going to be making here next week with a friend. I am trying to perfect how to make it so I can teach people in the village how to do it themselves. For now I am still in the learning process.
So though I don’t have a real concrete, day to day job. I still can’t seem to find enough time in the day to do all the things I want. Writing on this blog is one of them. It’s the one that gets put at the end of the list. I want to try harder and update this thing on a more regular basis. For those of you who care, just keep nagging me by leaving comments about how boring it is to keep seeing the same old thing all the time.
Just as I am about to send this I just got some knew news. Prang and I have been asked to take in the other four teenage orphan boys that I mentor. Where they are staying wont be available to them any more and they may not have any where else to go. So as of now we are just talking and praying about it. Prang and I both have a long history with them and know them all very well. It will just be a lot all at once. We aren’t worried about space or money or anything other than can we take them all on at one time. Be praying for us. I think we may have until the end of the month.
Click here or go to my “photo gallery” link to see some pictures of our time in America.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago. 1 comment
Most everyone should already know that Prang, Abigail and I will be going to the States. Yes, Prang finally got her visa after three tries. We will be arriving into LAX on Monday, March 23. Which is today. Actually we will be leaving for the Chiang Mai Air Port in an hour. That means I need to get something to eat now. We will be in San Diego from the 23rd through April 1st. Then we will drive to Arizona and visit family for two weeks and then be back in San Diego from April 15th through April 22nd. It will be a short four week trip but thats all the Consulate here in Chiang Mai would give her. Actually we don’t even know what date she will have to leave the States until she passes through Immigration in LAX and they stamp her visa. It will be weird as Abby and me go through the American line and have to wait for Prang on the other side will she goes through Immigration. On the way back to Thailand it will be the same thing for me. Abby gets free passage both wats as she is a dual citizen. It would be nice if Prang and I were too. Anyways I hope we have enough time to visit with everyone and if not than you will just have to fly out to Thailand to visit us. And if there is anyone in San Diego who would like to loan us a car that would be awesome. Then we could be free to go and see everyone and everything we want. See everyone soon.
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago. Add a comment
This past weekend we took a trip up to the village. Baan and Lu who are staying with us while Adam and Cindy are gone went with us along with Wayland, Prangs two brothers, Prangs mom and another friend. Total we had ten people plus the top of the truck brimming over. We had so much stuff I had install another rack on the truck. It was very rainny and muddy and we had to use four wheel drive to get in. This always makes us feel gratefull for buying a four wheel drive. Plus I think it’s fun. We went not just to see the fam and the church but also to wire our friends new house. A very nice wood house made completely from teak wood from Burma. Very nice hard teak wood that can probably last for some twenty years plus. On another note. This week we should have everything put together for Prangs visa and we can then go in for an interview sometime this next week. So we should know soon if we will be coming to the states or not. We are planning for October 9th. We’ll keep everyone posted. Clik here or just go to the Most Recent Photos link to the left to see more pics.
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago. 2 comments
