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.

reflections on large, sharp objects...

I (Mike) have a firm belief that specific tools are made for specific jobs...I could be one of two people in the world that thinks like this...but there it is.

Now... my beautiful wife and I do not agree on this...at least in practice. It is not an issue we would fight about...but if I get an ulcer someday it will be the result of repeatedly walking in on Caryn using a machete (such as this...) to chop garlic while she holds the garlic with her fingers...or from repeated exposure to watching her use my pocket knife to open a package by pulling the knife TOWARDS herself...

(...in her defense...she can throw a football and play catch with the baseball and if she really had to, I believe with all my heart that she would in fact take a fish off the hook...)

The picture you now see is one such example...your eyes are NOT decieving you...she is using a pair of hedge clippers to open a bag of dog food...I have no further comments on this...

P.S...she has actually never used a machete...technically speaking...to cut garlic...but I submit it is because I don't keep it in the kitchen...

back to basics...

This thing is so cool...we don't have a big yard and I spend a bunch of time in front of a computer these days. So I was thinking about exercise and a yard that was growing out of control...so I decided to get a "reel" mower...is that what they are called in the states? It is simply an engineering marvel...one of my favorite parts is not having to buy gas, change the oil, or pull that string...

Little did I know how difficult it would be to find one...the Thai shop owners kept telling that I would not find one because the Thais do not like exercise...I don't think that is entirely true, but it was difficult to find one.

women's Bible study

we've been studying the book of Isaiah. today we discussed chapter 42... how Jesus was a servant (as prophesied many years before his coming), & how that enables & encourages us to serve others.

the last puppy

...went to our friends Bet(pictured),Ben, and their son, Andrew.
His name is "puppy".

We thought Ginger had been feeling a bit lonely, so yesterday we took her down to see Rita who has 2 of the pups. Caryn enjoyed it, because she met Rita's housemates -- 2 girls around her age from the States who are teaching English here. The puppies almost immediately reverted to their puppyhood and started chasing Ginger around, trying to nurse. A good time was had by all, though Ginger was ready to go by the time we left.

fish & chips

(click for a bigger image)

watch out for these girls

you may remember from a previous entry that -- much to caryn's excitement -- we bought a vespa from a local art student some time ago. actually, it wasn't very exciting at first, as she couldn't quite get the clutch thing down... riding along was fine, but stopping & starting was a big problem. mike thought there might be some mechanical issues, & after some fine-tuning on this fine machine, she's been having a great time! the scooter is perfect for getting around a town with narrow streets & limited parking. a thai friend who owns a local coffee shop says it suits her.

mail

someone made a request for our mailing address....
i thought, "i'll post it, in case others want to mail us handwritten notes, good books, green beans from cracker barrel, or anything else i long to get from the states."

very thai 3... songkran

here it is...
a national waterfight in action...
and we were right in the middle of it...

photo taken from the (dry) cab of our pickup by my aunt rosanna
pictured: caryn's cousin alyssa in foreground with goggles...caryn in the hat... our friend catherine squinting from a good dousing

chaos in the streets

fun chaos

my uncle Chris, encouraging the chaos

chaos in the backs of trucks

in on the chaos with friends

for background on songkran... click here & read the article in orange

the great puppy giveaway

last family pic... at the vet getting their vaccinations.










"tiger girl" is going to a man we met at the vet.










our friend, catherine, from the uk is taking this little girl she named "cebu", after an island she recently visited.










annette, the american flautist, is taking "blue".










"o", kassem, and namtan (friends from work) are taking these cuties.










rita is taking "tipper" & her brother, "red"... we're excited because she lives in our neighborhood!











we have one more little boy at home after today... he goes to our friend, ben, & her family....

we're a little sad.. no more puppies to trip us & bite us & eat our shoes & stink up our yard.... seriously though, it was a lot of fun & we got more than a little attached!

snapshots

click on a pic to see it bigger...


a monkey standing on Mike's shoulders (as promised).


really cute puppies at 7 weeks.


my cousin Alyssa & my Aunt Rosanna at a royal orchid nursery.


almost finished painting our stairwell... the green goes on into the downstairs entryway of our house & the grey continues into the living area upstairs....


need to hire someone with a really big ladder to paint the white wall...in the meantime, i did something fun in the area i could reach.


hand-stitched pillows.