earthquake

12.12.06

05:02:30 PM UTC

location Thailand ( 18.91N, 98.93E )
magnitude 4.7

depth 5 miles

first earthquake for both of us... happened maybe 20 miles north of us in a town called "Mae Rim".... shook the house a bit, but nothing too exciting (not that we were not alarmed)! just something about the earth beneath you moving... i'd prefer hurricanes.

useless info

this is probably not why you read our blog...but it's so much fun giving out useless info about myself & i'm not feeling particularly inspired otherwise lately....

1. Where were you 1 hour ago?upstairs reading the end of jane eyre... why did no one tell me it was so depressing & so good! (trying to stay off my sprained ankle & get rid of a sore throat)...
2. Who will be your next kiss?mike
3. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?Yes, my cell phone & my house slippers
4. Are you wearing socks right now?no
5. When was the last time you went out of town?last weekend to chiang doa for our 4th anniversary!
6. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?No
7. What was the last thing you had to drink?blueberry, pineapple & banana strawberry smoothie
8. What are you wearing right now?cargo pants & a black shirt
9. Have you been in a car wash in the past week?No
10. Last food you ate?tom yum ramen
11. Where were you last week on Saturday?eating yummy food at chiang dao nest
12. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?does an ankle brace count?
13. When is the last time you ran? as in exercise?
14. Whats your favorite Color?dark brown
15. What is your favorite age you have been?30
16. Your dream vacation spot? anywhere quiet with mike &/or another good friend
17.What color is your carpet? wood
18. How old are your parents? i think they'll appreciate my silence on this
20. Do you miss anyone?of course!
21. Last play you saw? "Doc's Holiday" (school play).. before that, phantom in Orlando
22. What are your plans for tomorrow?pack up my house
23. What is to the right of You? a library copy of jane eyre, my 2006 calendar, & a dining room chair that no longer belongs to me
24. Ever go to camp? not really... i was a counselor once for a week in college
25. Are you an honor roll student in school? i was
26. What do you want to know about the future?what i will be doing in a year... but not really
27. Are you hungry?a little
28. Where is your best friend located?mostly in the US
29. Do you have a tan? was born this way... not very, though
30. How old do you want to be when you have kids? ?
31. Do you collect anything? stuff to make stuff with... sometimes i actually do
32. Last time you got stopped by a cop? summer of 2000, lake tahoe
33. Have you ever drank your soda from a straw? whenever i can
34.Do you have any chores? ha!
35. Do you like hot sauce? yep
36. Last time you took a shower?last night
37. Who do you have a crush on?my husband when he's doing outdoor things
38. What is your mood? a little melancholoy after jane
39. Are you someone's best friend?hope so :)
40. What's the last book you read? jane eyre, charlotte bronte
Oh and as an extra:41. song currently stuck in your head?none, thankfully

asking questions...

you may have noticed that in the column to the right, you can see what mike &/or i have been reading lately...

on that list is a book a co-worker recommended & gave to us that i've found really interesting... can you hear me? tuning into the God who speaks. by brad jersak
while he comes from a slightly different perspective than i am used to, i've gotten a lot out of his writings... and have been challenged to listen for God's voice & expect to hear Him speak to me... through things like scripture, my pastor, or even an urge to pray for or encourage someone... everyday things we may dismiss as just our own thoughts.
while waiting for mike in bangkok airport last weekend, i did a little exercise he suggested... he called it asking God "friendship questions". it seemed a little weird at first, but i felt prompted (by God??) to give it a go & try the author's suggested list of things to ask God, as my friend (John 15:15):

• What's grieving You these days? Why?
• What's exciting You these days? Why?
• What do you like about me? Why?
• What do You see when You look at me?
• When was the last time You wept over me? Why?
• When was the last time You laughed over me? Why?
• If You could meet me anywhere face-to-face where would it be?
• If my heart is Your home, what does it look like?
• If You could play a game with me, what would it be? Why?

He encourages us to pray first for the peace of God in our hearts & minds, then not to analyze too much or try to "get it right" as we listen for God's answers... He says that anytime we listen to God, we should always dismiss anything that does not line up with Scripture, but take confidence in Jesus' promise that we will be able to discern His voice (John 10) if we are His sheep.

I am not a person who regularly "hears" God... but as i asked Him the questions above, though i didn't hear an audible voice, i did have a very clear impression of His answers in the form of thoughts in my head... it was really surprising! some of the answers spoke very directly to some struggles & fears i was having at the time, though i was not expecting them to. i think i'd like to ask questions & listen more often now!

i hope you'll try it & be surprised, too, by our God who longs for us to have a very personal relationship with Him. let me know if you do!

thoughts on crutches

When I was a little girl, I remember finding a pair of crutches (left over from some family member's unfortunate incedent) and being completely entertained the rest of the day leaping across the house with them. a few thoughts on this:
1. when you are not injured, crutches are great.
2. if you lose your balance while on said crutches, you have two good feet to land on.
3. when you get tired or your armpits hurt or the crutches are no longer convenient, you can lean them against a wall and continue regular mobility.

last weekend in bangkok, mike & i were walking back to the guesthouse from the hospital (we had our annual check ups & we are very healthy!), when i stepped onto an uneven section of sidewalk (these are plentiful throughout the kingdom)... my foot rolled outward, and i heard a loud snap. i was able to walk for a bit until the pain got too bad & mike got us a taxi for the the last 1/2 mile or so (a very well-spent dollar). i got out of the taxi & hopped into the guesthouse... then i hopped up the stairs and down the hall to our room. The next day, I hopped some more getting ready for the airport, where mike wheeled me on the luggage cart (fun!) to the airport "hospital" where a well-dressed staff person told us they did not have crutches, but could order some from a nearby hospital. After a smiling doctor examined my foot & said it was probably ligaments (only "10% chance" it's broken), my crutches arrived 30 minutes later in a flashing ambulence. Even though I gave my height in cm (165, if anyone is curious) to the hospital, and 6 well-dressed staff people attempted to make adjustments (mike ended up having to do it), as hard as everyone tried, the crutches were still too short for this giant farang (the thais call all foreigners that... it literally means "french.".. mike LOVES it). so they ordered some more crutches in a bigger size which arrived another half-hour later... they would have to do as is, because we needed to proceed to the gate. I was then escorted to my plane in a wheel chair, which was a very nice experience until i had to get out of the chair & make it down to my seat on the crutches (which were still too short). a few more thoughts on this:
1. it's hard to get around on crutches when your "good leg" is extremely sore because you've spent the last 24 hours hopping around on it.
2. it's harder to get around on crutches when one foot hurts so badly that you can't touch your toes to the ground.
3. the aisle of an airplane is not the best place to test-drive crutches, in general.
so, now i am home... resting and trying to perform the basic functions of life one must do even while "resting". it's amazing how we take for granted that our feet work & our hands don't have to contribute to the process of "getting around". more thoughts:
1. crutches are hard to get around on, and easy to lose your balance with.
2. crutches make a bad substitute for legs, but a good substitute for hands in limited situations (ex. they are good for pushing things around on the floor, but bad for carrying bowls of soup).
3. ginger seems confused, but happy in a strange way, that i now, too, have 4 legs.

Fishing Woes...

...don't get me wrong...I love to fish, but I confess that I was a little frustrated after the second time out on the rivers with no steelhead to show for it. The kicker was driving 2 hrs to Pennsylvania, paying $26 for a day license, listening to the guy at the store tell us "it doesn't matter where you go on the river. There are fish everywhere...we have never had soooooooo many fish in the river before...ever..." Well he was right, there are fish in the river and here is my proof.

On another note...my brother claims to have caught 2 steelhead...he 'caught' them both when no one else was around. At least I have a picture of mine... :)






Just for reference...this is what a steelhead looks like... and that is not my brothers hand.

On a positive, not sarcastic note... I loved being back in the cold weather of the U.S. The air was so clean... I don't think I "saw" any the whole time I was there. There were still some leaves on the trees and I actually got to see some snow. It was a blessing to be out in the woods in the fall again... miss that.

The reason I went back to OH was for a good friends wedding... been praying for a lady for him and she seems great. Speaking of cold woods... they live in Minneapolis and when I flew over on the way out it looked pretty cold.

it must be cold where you are....

i woke up to what felt like a chill in the air, thought i was delusional, then looked at my weather underground thingy & saw it was in fact 63 degrees... in Thailand! sure, it will probably be 90 before 4pm, but i'll enjoy it while it lasts.

The local temperature is updated every half-hour or so, in case you ever want to know just HOW warm it is here... it's always on our blog.... at the top of the column on the right.

to pass the time..

just in case anyone is concerned with how we're spending our time apart...

last weekend, caryn hiked 3km uphill with all her stuff (no sherpas here, debbie) to chaperone a high school retreat. she led a devotion encouraging the kids to look at Psalm 139, while asking God to reveal truth about themselves & Himself. Then she promptly fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon, leaving them to the care of the Lord and other capable chaperones. (yes i am out of shape & twice the age of the other campers, but can you find me in this picture?)


meanwhile, mike was taking seriously God's command to subdue the earth and rule over its creatures (and taking advantage of the start of deer season), hoping to have a repeat of the above scene (from several seasons ago... boy was she yummy!)... sorry to any squeamish bloggers.

while mike is away....

last night i had 10 girls in the house giggling, eating chocolate, and watching Roman Holiday... does it get any better? mike called in the middle of it all &, after assessing the situation, insisted the house undergo a "cleansing" upon his return... i know he was secretly happy for me... after all he left for 3 weeks.

ANN: I hate this nightgown. I hate all my nightgowns, and I hate all my underwear too.
COUNTESS: My dear, you have lovely things.
ANN: But I'm not two hundred years old. Why can't I sleep in pajamas?
COUNTESS: Pajamas!?
ANN: Just the top part. Did you know that there are people who sleep with absolutely nothing on at all?
COUNTESS: I rejoice to say that I did not.

click here to listen to or watch scenes from the movie:
http://www.audrey1.com/roman.html

island retreat

at the end of our last recording, we had a couple of days to relax... the local people we worked with recommended a little island not far from where we were working... not much to do but roam around, collect shells, and snorkel a bit...the sunsets got better & better... just what we were hoping for.

(click picture to see it bigger)

the meadowlark

Around the time Mike & I were dating, I must have read this excerpt from the book journey of desire (see below)… I was so moved by it that I printed out a picture of a meadowlark & hung it up in my cubicle….

Later, when I went through all of my stuff as I was getting ready to move to Thailand, I found the printout of the meadowlark in a stack of papers… but by that time, I tried & tried but could not remember why the bird was special.... so I threw it away.

I was so encouraged when this came... it solved the mystery and was a timely reminder of the message of the meadowlark to me today….


The Meadowlark
10/29/2006
________________________________________
The meadowlark has long been my favorite songbird. I love its song because it evokes so many summer days out in the fields and streams of the West. Its song means summer, hay meadows, long lazy days, fly-fishing. More than anything else, it has become for me a symbol of hope. The meadowlark returns to Colorado in the early spring, and as I’ve mentioned, that typically means it arrives about the same time our major snowstorms hit. What courage; if it were me, I’d wait until June when the weather warms up. But they come in spite of the snow, and take their place on fence posts and the tops of small trees, and begin singing. Hearing a midsummer song almost seems out of place when the flurries are whipping about your face. But that is exactly when we need it.

I heard two meadowlarks again this spring, calling and responding to each other on a cold and windy day. God began to speak through them. I heard him urging me to keep my own summer song, even though life’s winter tries to throw into my spring cold wind and snow. Do not throw away your confidence, he said. Do not budge from your perch, but sing your song, summer confident, sure of my great goodness toward you. You did not bring this spring, dear child; you do not have to arrange for the summer to follow. They come from thy Father’s will, and they will come.

Brent was buried on a Thursday afternoon. As we gathered by the graveside, Craig read these words: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26). He closed his Bible and we all stood in silence, not really knowing what to say or do; no one wanted to leave; no one really wanted to stay. It seemed so final. At that moment, a meadowlark sang.

This is my song in return.

(The Journey of Desire , 210–12)
________________________________________
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 302
Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com


to hear the song of the meadowlark, go to:
http://www.naturesongs.com/weme1.wav

thank our troops...

. . for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

-george elliot
from middlemarch



If you go to the web site www.letssaythanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card to encourage our troops....
Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. It's free and it only takes a few seconds.

remember...

can't believe it's almost been 4 years!

one more...

i'm convicted that my latest blog entries have been a bit "fluffy", to say the least... so here's a little substance for you from the latest Ransomed Heart devotional...
i'd say it applies to the men, as well, by the way... even though it's excerpted from a book for girls :).



What Is It That God Wants from You?
10/01/2006

He wants the same thing that you want. He wants to be loved. He wants to be known as only lovers can know each other. He wants intimacy with you. Yes, yes, he wants your obedience but only when it flows out of a heart filled with love for him. “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:21). Following hard after Jesus is the heart’s natural response when it has been captured and fallen deeply in love with him.
Reading George MacDonald several years ago, I came across an astounding thought. You’ve probably heard that there is in every human heart a place that God alone can fill. (Lord knows we’ve tried to fill it with everything else, to our utter dismay.) But what the old poet was saying was that there is also in God’s heart a place that you alone can fill. “It follows that there is also a chamber in God himself, into which none can enter but the one, the individual.” You. You are meant to fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. Whoa. He longs for you.
God wants to live this life together with you, to share in your days and decisions, your desires and disappointments. He wants intimacy with you in the midst of the madness and mundane, the meetings and memos, the laundry and lists, the carpools and conversations and projects and pain. He wants to pour his love into your heart and he longs to have you pour yours into his. He wants your deep heart; that center place within that is the truest you. He is not interested in intimacy with the woman you think you are supposed to be. He wants intimacy with the real you. (Captivating , 120–21)
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 274 Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com

To subscribe to this mailing, go to the My Profile section on www.ransomedheart.com (or create a profile) and check the Daily Readings List checkbox in your profile.



until November...

i should be sleeping...

... but i saw this on a friend's blog & had to try it! (he should have been studying greek, by the way :)

it's a map of all the countries mike & i have been to (not necessarily together)... it would be interesting to split it up & see our individual maps, but not tonight... i really should be sleeping...



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

flight leaves at 8:30 tomorrow morning... probably won't blog again until November!

i've decided blogging is an excellent alternative...

...to loading up people's email boxes with forwards they don't really have time to read. so, here's a blog entry you may not have time to read... your choice :):


Absolute Truths from the Movies
1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York are within the price range of most people, whether they are employed or not.
2. At least one out of every pair of identical twins is born evil.
3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry which wire to cut.
4. During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
5. If you are blonde and pretty, it's possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at age 22.
6. Radiation causes interesting mutations, not to your future children, but to you, right then and there.
7. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
8. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
9. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will soon be thrown through it.
10. Most dogs are immortal.
11. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
12. Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say "Enter password now".
13. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
14. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
15. All grocery bags contain at least one loaf of French bread.
16. It's easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
17. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
18. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
19. Honest and hardworking policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before retirement.
20. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts; your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
21. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
22. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone else on the street will know all the steps.
23. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
24. The White House can be seen from any window in D.C.
25. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their arch-enemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man-eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.
26. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their opposite.
27. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment.

i found it on the internet, so it must be true....

i can honestly say that i have never been mistaken for any of these women.... i know you're shocked.



mike, on the other hand is constantly being asked for his autograph over here... now we know why...

very thai...

just wanted to let y'all know we've been unaffected by the political situation here... there is slightly more military presence in the city & at check points along the highway, but nothing else... for more info on current events in thailand, go to:

FOXNews.com - CountryWatch

thanks for all your notes of concern for us!

happy dog

an inside look at when ginger got her bone & was very happy.

very thai 5

yes, this is another shameless plug for visiting us in chiang mai....
pictured: doi inthanon, waterfalls, orchids, thai-style manicure/pedicure, buddhist temple, river cruise, (& most tempting of all) random building construction

God speaks to me.

maize hutton is a very talented woman who creates beautiful, smile-inducing things from the stuff most of us would find ordinary or even cast away... her original product, the "mommy tag", is a sweet tribute to moms crafted from silver that she recycles from old film (along with all her silver jewelry creations). i've been admiring her work, & following her daily creations, finds, & thoughts on her blog at maizehutton.com since finding the site several weeks ago.

wednesday afternoon, i stopped at my PO box to find a package waiting for me with maize hutton written stylishly in the upper left... i tore it open & promptly started crying in the chiang mai post office parking lot. you can see the contents in the squares above, but i'm afraid they probably don't totally explain my emotional outburst :). while i LOVE gifts to begin with, have an affection for old books, & melt over anything shiny & personalized, i really need to share more of the story (& you're probably wondering why a lady who makes jewelry for celebrities sent me a package, anyway - not that i totally know the answer to that question**)...

i've struggled on & off as a Christian with "performance" issues.... after first learning about a God who knows me totally & loves me without condition, i slowly forgot about His unconditional acceptance of me & worried a lot more about "doing things" to please Him, rather than "being" His child. as a result, i've often felt distant from Him... not really feeling His love or hearing His voice...
lately, i've felt God "wooing" me back to Him - in the midst of feeling a bit burnt out from serving a God who i often saw as a drill sargeant rather than a loving Father - i've heard His voice (through a few good books, including the Bible, and some trusted friends) reminding me to rest... to "be" His child & to stop trying to "do" things for Him. it's been a hard transition... learning to rest in Him when i found a lot of my significance in the things i was doing for Him.
at the suggestion of a friend, i've been asking Him for confirmation of His love & to hear His voice more clearly again.
so, as you can imagine, the package was very special.... the handmade necklace reminding me of His special, individual love for me (also a visual reminder of the love He showed me in giving me a wonderful husband)... and the book (a 3rd grade sunday school reader titled simply, God Speaks to Me) reminding me to be His child & that He does, indeed, still want to speak to me.

how is God speaking to you? i pray you'd have ears to listen & eyes to see just how He is showing you His love today.

-caryn

**apparently, when i commented on maize's blog, she clicked on the link to my blog (where she found mike's name & learned a bit about us)... other than her being an amazing woman with huge heart, i don't really know why she chose to bless me with this wonderful package... but i do know that i heard God's voice inside that padded envelope.


"God works in mysterious ways and through others when you least expect it." -maize hutton

(from her reply to my thank you email, in which i explained a bit about my story & why her gift meant so much)

thanks again, maize!

very thai 4

during their visit, my mom, grandmother, & i had lots of fun riding in a tuk-tuk, shopping at the night bazaar, and eating way too much khantoke dinner while being entertained by traditional thai dancers.

create

"problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity."
-unknown

the above is from a lovely website with free printable paper creations you "make" yourself... they've done all the beautiful work.. all you need are glue & scissors.
http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

here are some other websites & blogs that have been inspiring me lately:
http://www.papress.com/designityourself/index.html great tips if you want to "design" anything... business cards, t-shirts, etc.
http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ fun times on the farm... yummy recipes
http://www.maizehutton.com/ check out the "diy" & "blog" sections
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=learn-cat&id=cat242&navLevel=2&rsc=mslnav you don't have to like her to appreciate her genious :)

enjoy!

Just an FYI about the garden...

If you looked at the pictures below this post... you would see 3 cucumber plants growing in our garden...and that is it! I have planted seeds in the rest of the garden twice now, but nothing comes up...and you may notice that the cucumber is a strange color of yellow and it is growing a diamond ring!

My theory...last year the entire yard was covered in a foot of "water" from who knows where with free oil slicks and everything...that's it. That is my theory.

also blooming

in 8 pots scattered around the house & on balconies... tomatoes!!
on the bench out front... mint, tarragon, & nasturtuim....
in front of the garden: a pot that came apart in my hands & nearly claimed a few toes; now it's doing time as garden whimsy...

my ring

here's my first silver creation... made while my mom & grandmother were visiting...


here's the proof i did it (i don't quite have the stamp-engraving method down, eh?)...

my 30th

for those of you who couldn't be with us...

we went to dinner with our friends, david & christy... then came back to our place for christy's french chocolate cake! the perfect cake, i'm convinced... 1 tablespoon of flour and unmentionable amounts of chocolate & butter...




i'm experimenting with the video feature on blogger... you have to press the little play button (the carrot thingy above ">")... let me know how it works for you!

Tired and Busy?

Caryn came across this book called, "When I Relax I Feel Guilty" by Tim Hansel. This guy started Summit Expeditions, now called Summit Adventures. Anyway, I think it is a very appropriate book for out culture...and for me. Here is an excerpt I read this morning:

Tim Hansel writes, "Some of us need to read the following letter written by an anonymous friar in a monastery in Nebraska late in his life. We probably not only need to read it, but we need to allow it to seep down into the marrow of our tired and serious bones.

'If I had my life to live over again, I'd try to make more mistakes next time.

I would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this trip.

I know of very few things I would take seriously.

I would take more trips. I would be crazier.

I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets.

I would do more walking and looking.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would have more actual troubles, and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who lives life prophylactically and sensibly hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again I'd have more of them.

In fact, I'd try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many ahead each day. I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, aspirin, and a parachute.

If I had to do it over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.

I would play hookey more.

I wouldn't make such good grades, except by accident.

I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I'd pick more daises.'"

more from toroweap

couldn't resist posting a few more pics from our summer adventure...memories...
for more info on this amazing place, go to: http://www.zionnational-park.com/toroweap.htm

picasa

my darling husband downloaded picasa & started the arduous task of organizing all the pics we've taken since we got married... almost 4 years ago... very few of which i've organized & almost none of which i've printed out...bad.
anyway, he came across some amazing pictures like this one... from our drive across utah, on our way to colorado from the northwestern rim of the grand canyon. gorgeous.

summer

here's mike & me in our bungalow on Ko Jum... when we arrived in krabi (the closest city to the island), the locals tried to convince us not to go to the island because, "nothing is on Ko Jum... no one is there... it is closed!" what's the problem? we were even more convinced it was, in fact, where we wanted to go. we were often the only ones on the beach, save a few stray dogs. it rained most days, too... we didn't mind.

we had a wonderful visit with my mom & grandmother here... Grandmother said she really felt like she'd been "immersed in Thai culture" :). Here we are on Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand....
and wearing the silver jewelry we made at a local studio... with some training from the master jeweller, we did the designing, heating, flattening, cutting, soldering, shaping, and polishing ourselves!

we've been painting our new office.... the previous color was an appetizing cross between cooked salmon & pepto bismol. here i am jamming out to johnny cash & trying hard to paint a straight line between "brittany beige" & "olive grove" (i'm a freehander). i am also working on curtains... found a great deal on some thai cotton... under $1/yard.

gardening... we've been planting all kinds of stuff.... cucumbers, basil, oregano, LOTS of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, a flower i can't spell (thanks for the seeds Sandy!)... can't wait to make salsa & spaghetti sauce! mike made a lovely garden in one corner of our yard.... but you'll have to wait for pics.

all for now!

Healing the Wound

I get little snippets like this everyday from the folks at Ransomed Heart ministries... most are quotes from their books (most of which i've read) & are always short, but powerful, encouragements & reminders for me.

Healing the Wound 08/17/2006

If you wanted to learn how to heal the blind and you thought that following Christ around and watching how he did it would make things clear, you’d wind up pretty frustrated. He never does it the same way twice. He spits on one guy; for another, he spits on the ground and makes mud and puts that on his eyes. To a third he simply speaks, a fourth he touches, and for a fifth he kicks out a demon. There are no formulas with God. The way in which God heals our wound is a deeply personal process. He is a person and he insists on working personally. For some, it comes in a moment of divine touch. For others, it takes place over time and through the help of another, maybe several others. As Agnes Sanford says, “There are in many of us wounds so deep that only the mediation of someone else to whom we may ‘bare our grief ’ can heal us.”

So much healing took place in my life simply through my friendship with Brent. We were partners, but far more than that, we were friends. We spent hours together fly-fishing, backpacking, hanging out in pubs. Just spending time with a man I truly respected, a real man who loved and respected me—nothing heals quite like that. At first I feared that I was fooling him, that he’d see through it any day and drop me. But he didn’t, and what happened instead was validation. My heart knew that if a man I know is a man thinks I’m one, too, well then, maybe I am one after all. Remember—masculinity is bestowed by masculinity. But there have been other significant ways in which God has worked—times of healing prayer, times of grieving the wound and forgiving my father. Most of all, times of deep communion with God. The point is this: Healing never happens outside of intimacy with Christ. The healing of our wound flows out of our union with him. (Wild at Heart , 127–28)
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 229 Ransomed Heart Ministries

If you'd like to subscribe to this daily mailing, go to the "My Profile" section on www.ransomedheart.com and create a new profile... then you'll need to check the Daily Readings List checkbox in your profile.

quick fixes

thought i'd pass on some domestic wisdom i've learned lately...

when __________ .... just _________________.
1. one of the holes in your vinyl shower curtain rips.... apply generous amounts of hot glue to the torn section. it's clear (unlike duct tape) and seems to be working. i'll give you an update on durability after we actually take showers.
2. you turn all your husband's favorite t-shirts various shades of pink.... wash again with non-colorfast clothes that are a more "acceptable" shade for a guy. i threw them in a hot-water wash with a dark navy thai outfit... voila! sky blue beats pepto pink anyday, & looks great on my hubby!
3. you have a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.... rest a bit, & wait for a dear friend to show up with chocolates. thanks Catherine!

feel free to share any of your own tips.

map to our house

(click for a bigger size)

29/16 Mu Baan Sri Suk

ireland

O Ireland isn't it grand you look--Like a bride in her rich adornin? And with all the pent-up love of my heart I bid you the top o' the mornin!
John Locke
"The Exile's Return"

if you haven't heard, after our last recording trip, i abandoned my husband for 10 days and went to ireland... a good friend had been planning to go there on her sabbatical and was without a travel partner at the last minute, so i obliged her...
the really miraculous thing was that we were both able to get free plane tickets through our frequent flier programs within a couple months of the trip and even arrived in dublin within an hour of each other!
we drove our way around the south to glendalough, avoca (for all you ballykissangel fans), wexford, kilkenny, waterford, cork, killarney, the dingle peninsula, galway, clifden/connemara, & all the beautiful roads in between surrounded by goats, sheep, cattle (sometimes on the roads, as well) and fences made of stone.... we saw tons of buildings, abbeys, castles, rocks, ruins, shorelines, churches, graveyards, & gardens... all considerably older than the country of our birth.
the place was gorgeous and the people were just beautiful... they were always friendly & welcoming... a few times we were approached by strangers on the street who thought we looked lost & did not want to mug us, but actually wanted to help us...
if you'd like to see oodles of great pictures of ireland, debbie, and me, go to debbie's ireland photos on snapfish... you'll need to get a login if you don't have one, but it's easy... let me know if the link doesn't work.

faR&R away from the city

mike & i saw an article in a local magazine about ko jum... an island not a lot of people have heard of (yet) down in the south of thailand... we've been really busy -- & itching to go somewhere "lonely" for a while -- & decided to go for it next week since we'll be in bangkok for work...

just had to share with you the correspondence i had with the sweet thai man who owns the "beach bungalows" we'll be in.... i didn't edit anything so you could get the full experience...

(this is his response to an email from me asking him about the difference between the 2 ends of the island where we will be staying... we had already spoken on the phone, which was an equally delightful & cultural experience)


Dear Caryn
I just get my mail today after already have conversation to your goodself, the diffirence between Nort and South are:
1. local people call nortern part Ban Koh Pu and Southern part Ban Koh Jum end up with the island have two name.
2. northern have high mouthen the highest in the regien while the southern are flat land.
3. more resort on the south than the north because the road access to the north beach is resently constracted,
This may help you to know abit about Koh Jum and Koh pu before arrive their.
Since we have quite limited choise of food on the island and no refigirator to preserve food because no public eletric supply may I ask you very ood question that can you take see food? so we can prepare proper row meterial food for you.
Best wishes
Paul (Somporn Sangsuwan)

note that we are staying on the NORTH end of the island, "ko pu"... the one with high "mouthen" (mountains) and less "resorts" (mostly just little beach huts that run around $7-$12/night)... and that neither end has electricity... we are very excited about the fresh "see food" (fish & whatnot)....

the 4th

we had a great time celebrating our country's birthday last week...

there is a US consulate in chiang mai, so we joined many other americans, as well as thai guests, in an evening of "american style hotdogs", sodas we'd been missing from the states (like sunkist & dr. pepper), make your own patriotic necklaces, and a "rousing sing-along" followed by fireworks to end things right.... all very fun, but we have no evidence of this fun since cameras & cell phones were "discouraged" at the consulate....

afterwards, we invited friends & neighbors back to our place for dessert, games, & patriotic movies...

it's amazing how patriotic you get when you leave the country... caryn decided to decorate the party cups and wrote a line from all 8 stanzas of "my country 'tis of Thee" on each one. yes... there are 8 stanzas! go here if you don't believe it: http://www.montney.com/flag/hymns.htm

a family from texas came... they brought a really cool cake, & we didn't try to explain to them that texas is only a part of the US, and not the entire country...


hope yours was great, too... feel free to leave a comment & tell us what YOU did!

long live the king

did you know Thailand has the longest reigning living monarch? the country just pulled out all the stops to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his reign...
he's a huge part of life here -- a picture of him has a prominent place in every business and home... at the beginning of movies, the audience stands to pay homage to him... & every once in a while in the supermarket, a special song plays and everyone just stops to think good thoughts of him... it's even punishable by law to say anything bad about him... this doesn't seem to be a problem though, since from everything we've heard, he's a really great guy...
here's a link if you are interested in learning more about His Majesty King Bhumibol:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/60yrsthrone/

back from blog darkness

since i last wrote, we've finished 5 awesome projects for work, & caryn went to ireland with a friend (she had a free plane ticket -- yes, our family seems to have more than their fair share of free tickets to ireland)...

mike gives his hellos... he's out climbing a wall (literally), as now that we are back in the office, our jobs are lacking in physical & artistic challenges (other than keeping our eyes open in front of the computer as we work on admin & fill orders)... we are looking for every opportunity to chop wood & do some serious fingerpainting, as our birkman personality assessments would have us do (i'll let you figure out who's doing what).

more pics & updates later, but just wanted to let you know we're home safely & slowly catching up on paperwork, emails, and life....

thanks for all your comments, by the way! i've responded to a few of them, so if you're really interested, you can hunt through the comments :)....

oh -- any creative ideas for celebrating the 4th of july in asia?

out of the loop

thanks for all of your fun comments... we treasure each one... sorry we've not had time to respond or update the blog lately! any special requests for content? i know i need to get some pics op of our local markets!

we were out of town for work most of last month... we returned on tuesday with just enough time to do laundry & pack for our our next recording trip...

we leave early tomorrow morning & would appreciate your prayers!

We just returned from our last recording trip to a neighboring country a few days ago… thanks SOOO much for your prayers!

*We have very few technical problems – the least I have experienced on ANY trip.

*We were able to record, mix, & edit the Film, Audio/Radio product, & Old Testament introduction/close on the field – that means we got to hand the finished products to this people group to take back to their village BEFORE we left the country last month. This is usually at least a 3-9 month process – when the recordings are normally sent back to the Studio in Orlando to edit & mix, then returned to the field for approval.

*We finished ahead of schedule & were able to enjoy the scenery & a few days of relaxation.

We leave early tomorrow morning for Chiang Rai (a city in Thailand just north of Chiang Mai) to record a children's product in the Akha language. Please pray:

*As we travel with our supervisor, Doug, & his daughter, Rachel, to Chiang Rai (Mike will be driving us in our truck).

*For a good quality recording that will communicate the Message clearly to the Akha people in Thailand and the neighboring countries where they live.

*That we would be an encouragement to the ministry we are working with & the children they care for at Akha Outreach (go to http://akhachildren.com/homepage.htm for more information on their ministry).

*That Rachel would enjoy her time with us – she is 12 and has a heart for working with orphans.

More later… thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement…

our street

we've had a request for a pic of the street we live on... here it is:

our truck is parked in front of our gate.

we love that it's an older neighborhood with lots of big, green trees...

if you missed the pic of the outside of the house, click here. I need to update the inside pics, though!

blue vivaldi

meet the puppy formerly known as "blue" & "our favorite".

you met annette, his new owner, on a previous post... well, she came by today with "vivaldi" (his new name -- we mentioned she's a flautist, i believe), happy to report that he is doing quite well in obedience classes. the teacher even suggested that she enter him into new dog shows they are starting for mixed breeds.
we couldn't be prouder.