Baptisms & Outings with the kids!

Every time I have sat down to start a blog I have failed miserably!  It has been almost a month, so now I am kicking myself because there is SO much to update you on.  I'm not sure how it happened, but the minute we moved to Thailand our days seem like minutes, I can't believe how long we have been here already - how much we have done and seen.  I am still in awe that we call this amazing place our home and that God is showing us His work in this place all around us.

On Sunday, March 25th we took 6 trucks, a large van and a car to the park for church.  This was a special time because 7 people were baptized!  I was holding back the tears the whole time, it was such a beautiful moment for me.  We started by singing a few worship songs together in front of the lake and then 4 girls came up to the front to be baptized.  One by one they entered the water to meet Carl, Michael and Ton there waiting.  Each girl professed her faith in Christ and her desire to be baptized in obedience to God's Word. As each girl made their way into the water the girls were playing and singing softly "I Surrender All."  This is when I almost lost it!  After the 4 girls that had "planned" to be baptized were baptized, Carl and Ton asked if there was anyone else who wanted to be baptized.  3 others came forward, 2 girls and our van driver Boo!  Boo wanted to share his testimony before he got in the water and shared how it was through our Children's Homes, workers and short-term missions teams that he came to know God as his Savior.  It was so powerful being in that place with those people.  I am so thankful I was able to witness their professions of faith and the power of God at work through Remember Nhu.  Afterwards, we stayed at the park and ate in these cute huts over the water and swam for the whole afternoon....

Boo giving his testimony.

What an amazing step of faith for this girl!

Peter and a few girls in the awesome huts we ate in.

About a month ago a team from Ohio came to spend time with the home their church sponsors.  This is such an exciting time for the girls.  They LOVE having their sponsors here.  It was so fun watching them get ready for this team to arrive.  They cleaned for days and hung toilet paper in each bathroom - which is a big deal because they do not use toilet paper here.  :)  This team from Ohio was such a blessing to host.  They loved on the kids and just enjoyed every second they had here.  They also took the kids on many different fun day activities, which is a big treat!  We took the girls swimming, to an Elephant Camp, a large buffet (where each girl went up at least 5 times to fill their plates! haha), a zoo with a huge playground and the movies!  It was so fun taking the team and all the kids to these events.  Here are a few pictures....

Playing in the ball pit with one of my shadows - whom I love dearly :)

Love these boys....and Peter too :)

They were wiped out after the zoo and playing on the huge jungle gym.

We all took turns teaching this sweetheart how to swim.... with little success.

Watching the elephant show...

At least I wasn't the only one scared of the elephants!

One of the cultural events here that we take all visitors to is a traditional Thai dinner and show.  You get to see the dances that have been apart of the Thai culture for decades.  Towards the end of the show they invite certain people to dance with them.  It is rude to decline the offer, so guess who was asked to dance??  Peter hated every second, but I loved watching him try to dance on stage in front of everyone and thought you would enjoy this with me.... sorry Peter :)

I just want to thank you all for reading our blogs and staying in touch.  It is amazing to open my inbox and see emails from so many of you - encouraging us and just sharing prayer requests.  We want more than anything to stay connected to everyone from the states.  Please keep us in your prayers, but also allow us to pray for you!  Let us know what we can be praying for and if there is anything we can do for you.  We love you so much and miss seeing everyone.  Please, please email us and just let us know how things are going - cause we miss you!

School's Out for the Summer!

It is officially summer break here in Thailand and we love that we can spend time with the girls all day.  While they were in school we would see them from 4:30pm until 8:30pm and now we can hang out with them all day if we want!  The sad part is that many girls will go home to visit family for a few weeks, so we are missing many faces, but happy to spend time with the girls that are here.  Peter and I went to the girls 9th grade graduation ceremony at their school.  There were 6 graduating from 9th grade, and graduating from 9th grade is a big deal here.  Many families only encourage their children to graduate with a 9th grade education and then it is time to get a job or help the family.  They view high school and college as both higher education.  All this to say the ceremony seemed like a high school graduation ceremony - it was a big deal.

I was not expecting this graduation to be anything like it was.  It started off with the whole 9th grade parading through the entire village.  They had a truck behind them with speakers piled high in the back of the truck playing music.  The kids danced the entire way while a few others in the front were holding up huge "money trees."  At the end of the parade they all sat in the school temple (yes the school has a buddhist temple right in the center) and they worshiped the monks that were there and offered the monks their money trees.  There was a lot of chanting and everyone sat with their hands in prayer position worshiping and watching.  This was the first time it hit me how hard it must be for our girls to be Christians in a dominant buddhist country.  Our girls had to be there for all of it, but would not put their hands in prayer position or repeat any of the chants.  This shows the rest of the room that they are not buddhist and do not worship buddah.  Then we went into the auditorium for the actual graduation ceremony.  Here there were 5 monks sitting on the platform with incense and candles burning.  I believe the first hour and a half of the ceremony was the monks chanting and everyone listening with their hands in prayer position.  The language they speak is a foreign language so most of the people in the auditorium had no clue what was being said.  But they stayed that way for an hour and a half.  Then the kids came up one by one to receive their diplomas.  Once again, the buddhist religion was weaved throughout the entire process.  As names were being called and children came up to the front to be handed their diplomas, the 5 monks were chanting in the background the entire time.  Next, 5 children were selected to offer food to the monks and then to offer them each an envelope of more money.  I can't tell you how crazy it was to be apart of this.  I came expecting a school graduation, but left feeling as though I had just left a buddhist temple.  Never had it been made so clear to me how much buddhism is a part of this culture.  I have so much respect for our girls who day in and day out have to stand up for what they believe in.

Right now Peter and I are helping host a team from Grace Church in Middleburg Heights!  It has been so great having them here.  We have been taking them to different cultural events, a hill tribe village, and helping them connect with the girls.  They hosted a volleyball clinic that the girls loved, and they took all the girls to the zoo!  We will be helping them take all the girls to the pool next week and we are so excited for that.

The girls in our truck on the way to the zoo.....

and on the way home from the zoo!  haha... even the girls in the back of the truck were sleeping.

A few days after school got out the ice-cream truck (actually the ice-cream moto) came to the home and Peter and I surprised ALL the kids from all 3 homes with ice-cream!  It was sooo fun to see them line up to get their ice-cream.  What a fun way to welcome summer time.  We continue to thank God for all the financial blessings he has provided because it has allowed us to give abundantly to these kids.

A few weeks ago we had church at our new property where all the homes will eventually move to.  We spent this time taking the kids on a prayer walk through the entire property.  It was amazing to thank God as group for the land He provided and pray over each spot and each person that will be coming through these new gates.  Here is a picture of me and one of the younger girls on the prayer walk!

Peter and I were able to have a fun get-away at the zoo.  We had a blast seeing all the animals... especially because the zoo here is way more relaxed than you would see in America.  We were able to touch most of the animals and feed most of them as well.  It was such a fun day and we were so thankful for a fun day to get away and spend time together.... here are a few pictures from our day at the zoo....

One thing I do on a regular basis is help Bow (a house mom) with the cooking for her home.  She has been so fun to get to know and I love cooking with her.  It is amazing to get to spend time with her and develop our relationship over cutting vegetables or laughing over my ridiculous faces when she makes me eat something she knows I will hate!

Bow and I cooking

So the girls here are obsessed with our wedding pictures!  I think we have spent an hour at each girls home showing them our pictures.  HA!  They are so cute and want to know all about our families.  They love looking at pictures of me and my 3 sisters.  They giggle over every photo... so much fun!

We spent one afternoon taking all the girls from Mam and Ton's house out to lunch.  They don't eat out ever, so this was a fun surprise for them.  We went to Peter and I's favorite place.... a little open restaurant run by 2 sisters.  They have the most amazing Khauw Soy (cow soy)!  Basically a spicy thai soup with chicken and yellow noodles....MMmmm.... we love it!  Anyways the girls had fun and it was awesome to get a way for an afternoon and hang out at our favorite spot with them.

This was just one of our tables.  We basically took up the entire place - I think there were only 2 tables open after we sat down!

I can't tell you how much we miss everyone back at home, but even though it is hard being away from our friends and family, we wouldn't have it any other way.  We are still amazed at how God has orchestrated everything for us to be in this place serving Him.  We love these people and the children and everything about this place.  We thank God daily for allowing us to serve here and allowing us to be apart of this ministry.  Some days are hard and exhausting, but God continues to refresh us and show us His great love through the house parents and children here.

We love and miss you all!

Home Away From Home

People keep asking Peter and I how things are going here and I have learned the best way to answer that question is "it is starting to feel like home."  I never thought or expected that we would feel so at home already.  We still miss "home" so much and miss our family, friends and home church, but God has helped us connect fast to the community here.  Peter and I have said a few times that in some ways it seems like we never left this place after our visit last year.  We picked right back up and just fell in love with the people here, the culture and of course the amazing kids!  A big lesson that God has been teaching me since day one of arriving here is  -  to be content in whatever situation.  I never expected to become so close with the other missionaries here, or that we would meet Bank and Gi-up and have such a heart for them right away, or that God would bless us with a nice home to share with others - but regardless of what I thought or expected I am to always be content with what God has given.  I think this will be an ongoing lesson for me to learn, but I am so thankful that God has been using our transition here to teach me a lot about being content in all things.  Whenever I read Philippians 4:11-13, I would always focus on Paul learning to be content when "brought low" or being content when "facing hunger" and need.  I never spent time thinking over the fact that Paul had learn how to "abound" and learn how to "face plenty" and "abundance."  Until coming here and receiving blessing after blessing from God, I never realized that I would have to begin to learn how to be content with much.  At first our house and truck and support from our Partners was overwhelming to me and I felt like it was too much.  I did not ever want a big house and I never wanted to come here and have abundance.  But that is exactly what God has provided and He is teaching me that discontentment, no matter what the reason, is not from the Lord.

¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4: 11-13

Aside from what God has been teaching me, here are a few things that we have done since my last blog post......

We celebrated our 2nd year anniversary!  We were able to spend the night at a small resort just 5 minutes down the road from us.  It was great to be able to spend time together and the resort was awesome! The decor was Northern Thai influence and was so pretty.  They also had flower gardens to walk through and a small zoo. This was the first time we've really been able to spend quality time alone together since August, so it was so refreshing!   So fun!

We also had the opportunity to attend a Chiang Mai FC soccer game.  A group of us went together and had a blast.  My ticket number was randomly selected to win a soccer jersey.  To claim my prize I had to go down to the field and shake the hand of the team's manager.  Ton was so funny after I won the jersey...  he just kept shaking his head and saying that he has come to hundreds of Chiang Mai FC games and has been a loyal fan, but has never won a jersey, then I come to my first game and win!  Sorry Ton!

Bank, Michael, Ton, Peter, Me and Joel and Nhu on the top row...

Peter and I have been picking the girls up from school 3 to 4 days a week.  At first they were so shy to come in our truck and would always go to Bank's truck.  Peter decided to buy a bunch of candy and pass it out to any girl that comes to our truck.... so now they run to our truck!  I guess you would consider it bribing, but it works our for us and the girls get free candy!

Thai lessons have been going great!  The language here is so beautiful and so fun to speak.  Peter and I have been catching on quickly, but we still have soooo much to learn!  Learning a tonal language has been so funny.  Many times we just laugh with our teacher because we mess up the tone on a word and change the entire meaning.

Peter has been spending a lot of time with Bank.  He has been teaching him english and learned very quickly that Bank cannot keep his concentration.  So Peter has had to get creative with how he teaches Bank english.  They went on a car ride and Peter wouldn't bring him home until he could say, "turn left, turn right, u-turn, intersection... etc. etc.  Peter also has been learning from Bank how to make things out of bamboo.  They spent two days working on shelves for our house.

Peter and Bank splitting bamboo

Bank is amazing at working with bamboo

On Friday night we had the chance to take 10 of the older girls to a night of worship in Chiang Mai.  It is called "Refresh" and is a ministry to english-speaking christians.  So the whole night was in english!  It was amazing to worship in my own language again.  The girls loved it, and were excited that they went.  Boot (one of the house parents here) came as well and he is the one that teaches the girls music and how to play the guitar and sing.  He LOVED Refresh.  He spoke with the lead guitarist for almost 30 minutes after it was over just asking questions and soaking it all in.  We hope to bring girls every time we go.

That is all for now!  Thanks for reading our posts and commenting, it is so awesome to know that people are reading this and excited with us about what God is doing here.  Please pray with us for direction on where God wants to send us permanently.  Many doors are opening and we need wisdom and discernment.  Also please pray that we have clear direction on how God wants to use us here in Thailand.  There are so many needs and so many different ways we can serve, but we want to be obedient to what God would have us do.

Love and miss you all! 

3 weeks down.....

So we now have 3 weeks under our belt!  In some ways it feels like we have been here for years.  We have been spending a lot of time with the other workers here and the whole group is starting to feel like family.  We have also spent a lot of time with Ton and Mam as well as Bank and Jeip (pronounced G-Up), 2 couples that serve as house parents here.  They are becoming great friends of ours and we love spending time with them.  Ton and Mam are an incredible couple that has a huge desire to serve God and follow Him.  What an inspiration they are!  They took us to a huge village that sells hand crafted furniture and anything else you can think of.  We spent the day with them at this village and just had an amazing time.  They helped us find furniture for our house and helped with the bargaining!  All this to say God is providing amazing friends through Mam and Ton.

Thank you so much for all your prayers for us to find a car.  God provided a truck for us with a "Songthaew" on the back!  It has two benches running along the sides with a covering so we can now transport about 13-15 people.  Elsie knew the person in Chiang Mai who sends out the Chiang Mai classifieds, so we were able to look over the used cars in the area before the classifieds were released.  We found this truck at a great price and called the owner right away.  When we got there, we found out the owners were a missionary couple that were heading back to the states and had to sell their things quickly. The truck was in great condition so we were so excited to have found it.  Not only were we able to buy the truck, but they also had a lot of other things for sale that they sold to us at really low prices!  The truck is a 2000 Ford Ranger with 118,000 miles on it.  It has always been owned by foreigners and is in great condition.

Peter's new love.....

Since the minute we were handed the keys we have been using our truck as best as we can to serve the needs of R-Nhu.  We have been driving teams as much as we can and Peter will start picking up girls and boys from school today!  He is so excited to pick them up....hopefully there will be room for me to come too.  I will be starting to teach english to Nhu today as well.  I have never had to teach english before, so we will see how it goes!  :)

We have been busy trying to get our home set-up and spending time with all the staff here.  Peter and I went grocery shopping by ourselves the other day and that was an experience!  We came home with only the stuff we recognized or could read the label.  So right now our house is stocked with:  Pepsi, Oreos, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Bread, Chips, Mustard, Italian Dressing, Noodles, and Milk!!!!  Next time we go, we will definitely have to take some help since those were the only things we could identify.

We have also been busy helping with the short-term missions teams that come over.  Peter and I spent one week taking a team to all different types of cultural events and being their "tour guides."  Kerry is the one who works with the teams when they are here, so it was great to be able to help her out and give her a break from her crazy schedule!  Peter and I took the team to a cultural dinner, an umbrella factory, 3 different markets, an elephant village, an orchid garden and out to eat!  We were busy that week, but it was so great to meet the different teams and help serve.  Two teams surprised us and helped clean our house!  What a huge blessing that was, since our house is much bigger than we are used to it was amazing having people help us clean it out before we moved in!

Peter and I at the cultural dinner in Chiang Mai

Speaking of our house, we moved in last week and have been loving it so far!  Our house is a 3 bedroom house with a large kitchen.  We got this house so that we can use it as a guest house for R-Nhu.  We are hoping to use our home as much as we can for R-Nhu.  We never expected to be in home so big and nice, but we are thanking God for providing a place that we can use for ministry.  We have met our neighbors, who we love, and they invited us out to dinner with a group of people from our moobann!  It was great meeting everyone and enjoying all the Thai food that they had us try.  (even though both of our mouths were numb by the end of the night because everything was SO spicy!)

Here is our house!!!  We are still in awe of how God provided.  It was such a steal of a price and it came furnished - saving us a lot of money!

Peter has been dying to play soccer since we got here, so he got together a group of guys to play in a friendly soccer game on Sunday.  They lost 10-4 (at least I think that was the score) but they had a blast.  Peter scored 2 goals and I sat with Mam and Jeip cheering them on.  I think this will be a regular occurrence.

Peter's Soccer Team

This week we were able to join the girls for their monthly birthday celebration!  Each month they celebrate a few of the girls birthdays.  The girls get to decided what they want for their birthday meal and it is usually something very special.  This month the girls had fish, rice noodles and cabbage along with pop and pineapple cookies.  It was so fun to join them for dinner and watch them celebrate.  The girls had so much fun!

Enjoying the Birthday Food 

Birthday Party!

Well that about wraps up what we have been up to.  Once we get internet at our home I will be able to update our blog more often so my blog posts won't be 10 pages long!  Sorry about that! :)

Sending our love.....

We are here!

After a crazy mix of emotions saying goodbye to everyone in the states we have now started saying our hellos here in Thailand!  We had a fun time in the airport trying to check our 6 bags.  Our scale broke at home so we were not able to weigh our bags before we came - big mistake!  :)  So we were rearranging stuff in our luggage and some stuff we had to give the boot to, but it all worked out perfect in the end!  After the hustle and bustle of checking our bags and getting through security - it finally hit us that we were moving to the other side of the world.  We had just gotten through security when I turned to hug Peter and the tears started to come.  I couldn't believe after planning for so long to do this, that it was finally here.  They were tears of joy that we were on our way after so many months of praying for this and planning for it, but also tears of sadness as the goodbyes were still so fresh on my mind and heart.  God was looking out for us because a man from our church who works at the airport came looking for us and found as right as we got to our gate.  What a blessing he was!  We shared hugs and tears and he prayed for us.  His prayer calmed my heart and I knew God was going to continue to take care of us.

Our flights went great and there were no problems.  We were able to sleep a lot and actually sat next to a man who was a missionary in Thailand!  It was great talking with him.  When we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Michael and Elsie (other R-Nhu workers) were there to meet us!  What an awesome feeling to be greeted by new friends!  We have been staying with them since we got here in their guest room, which has been such an amazing time.  They have 2 boys that call us Uncle Peter and Aunt Cali.  We already feel like family here.

Since we have been here we have met the other couples here and the interns that live at the girls home.  We have spent 2 days looking for homes and spent one day in town getting our proof of residencies and our DRIVERS LICENSE!!!  We are now official!  We have also spent time looking for a car and spending time at the Children's Home.  Some of the girls have remembered us from last year which has just been amazing.  We are trying hard to learn all of their names, hopefully that will come quickly.  We have also been able to spend time with Angie and Bethany and their team (they are two women from our church that left the same day we did for a short-term missions trip to R-Nhu)  What an awesome work of God to allow us to come over to Thailand at the same time!

Our Thailand Drivers License

Like I said we spent 2 days looking for a place of our own and God provided above and beyond what we could have thought!  We found a home in a Moobaan (neighborhood) near to both Remember Nhu properties and close to the Moobaan where other workers live.  Our home has 3 bedrooms (way bigger than we thought) so we will be able to use our home as a guest house for Remember Nhu!  Peter and I can't wait to use our house to serve the Lord!  We were told that the home we are renting should never have been as low as it was - so God was providing!  We actually signed the lease today and things went much faster and smoother than expected.  We are in awe at how God has been providing and taking care of all the details.

We just got back from Big C (what we would consider a Walmart type store) and bought some cleaning supplies so we can start cleaning the place up!  We should hopefully move in on Tuesday or Wednesday.  We can't wait for church in the morning with the girls.  Church is at the Children's Home and it is so amazing to see the girls lead worship and soak in God's Word.

She remember me!  And yes I am wearing a sweatshirt....once a freeze baby always a freeze baby! :)

Well that is a summary of what we have been up to so far.  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to look for a car.  Cars are expensive here so we are praying that God would lead us to a great deal!  We love you all so much and can't wait to hear back from you.  Our emails are on the right of our blog so please email us if you can!  Until next time......

One Week Away!!!

In  one week, we will be on a plane headed for Thailand! We cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by. I don't think we could have mentally prepared more for the move than we have, but it has still come so quickly.
The Lord has shown Himself to be so faithful in these last weeks... Our needed support is 100% covered. We obtained our Visas without a hitch! We have received countless gifts and comforts from friends and family.
Right now all of our possessions are packed into about 20 plastic tubs, and 10 of them will be coming with us to Thailand! We are so excited to finally get in the field with Remember Nhu! After about a year of preparation, I cannot explain the mix of emotions that we are feeling now that we are only a week away.
We want to thank you all for your prayers, time, and support you have given leading up to this week. The fact that we are now at 100% of our financial needs and leaving for Thailand after only 6-7 months of proactively looking for individuals and churches to partner with us is such an incredible testimony of the Lord's faithfulness. He has accomplished all that we sensed that He was leading us towards. Since the beginning of this journey, Cali and I have felt a strong sense of urgency. We knew that the Lord would be putting us in Thailand as soon as possible. Last May, a pastor told me that we probably wouldn't make it to Thailand in less than 1-3 years. We knew that the Lord had given us a sense of urgency, so we left it up to Him to accomplish what to us seemed so difficult. Now it is January 2012 and the Lord has prepared the way for us to be moving to Thailand! To Him be the glory!

What now?
Our flight takes off at 8:15am on Monday the 16th! We will be flying from Cleveland to Chicago, then Chicago to Seoul, South Korea and then from Seoul to Chiang Mai, Thailand! We will be staying with the McCombs, a Remember Nhu missionary couple, for the first week while we look for a house to rent in the same community. We should be able to secure our own home and move in within the first two weeks. We don't know exactly what tasks or training we will be doing right away, but we are eager join the team!

Two Really Important Notes 
Commissioning Services - Our Home church, Hope Church in Brunswick, OH will be "commissioning" us in all three services this weekend. We would love any friends or family that are in the area to come to one of the services. There will also be a reception for us after every service for us to say our goodbyes. Come celebrate the Lord's faithfulness with us if you can! The services are at 5pm on Saturday the 14th, and 9am and 11am on Sunday the 15th. Hope Church's address is 1905 Pearl Rd. Brunswick, OH 44212. Here is their website so you can find directions: Hope Church Map and Directions

Keep in Touch! - Once we get in Thailand, we will be updating this blog far more regularly. We hope to update it at least every two weeks, if not more often. Please, please, please keep in touch with us. Drop comments here on the blog, message us on Facebook, and email us! We want to know what is going on in your lives. Our contact info can be found on the right hand side of the page now. Please keep in touch.
We will also be sending out Newsletters via email at least once a month. You can sign up to receive those newsletters at the link at the top right of this page that says "Newsletter Sign Up."

Thank you all again so much for your friendship and support. We love you all and will miss you dearly. We will be praying constantly for you all.

"Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!" 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Where has time gone???

Well we are back in Ohio now after over a month in Utah and a weekend in New York.  People keep asking how Utah was and we can only explain by first saying "God is so good!"  We were able to celebrate the birth of a new niece, Bailey, visit family in California and spend time with 3 amazing congregations!  It was so wonderful spending so much time with Peter's family and friends.  God truly blessed our time there and we are so grateful.

Peter and I at the hospital with our new niece, Bailey

Peter and I with his nieces Taytum, Teagan, and his nephew Logan

Peter with his parents and good friend, JinSu

(JinSu lived with Peter's family as a foreign exchange student Peter's senior year of high school)

We now have two churches from Utah partnering with us and Remember Nhu!  Peter and I said nothing fancy and had no amazing presentation, God just showed up and invited His people to join Him on the work of preventing this nightmare of child trafficking.  We were so encouraged after talking with so many different couples and individuals!  God continues to use His people to speak encouragement into our lives.

God Sighting....
We continue to be amazed at the way God works!  Refuge Church in Riverdale, Utah has actually been praying for a year that God would bring them a way to get involved in His work against human trafficking.  A friend of Peter's from high school noticed a Facebook post explaining our work with Remember Nhu and told her husband who is a pastor at Refuge Church.  We were able to meet with them and share what the Lord is doing through Remember Nhu.  God confirmed to them that through Remember Nhu and us, He wanted them to join Him on His mission!  To think that God had been working out this Partnership and working on the hearts of this church body even before we had heard about Remember Nhu is just amazing!  We praise God for going before us and working everything out for His honor and glory!

Peter and I with the pastors of Refuge Church, Jeremy and Kellen, and their families

We also spent tons of time with Peter's family.  We had a blast playing card games with his parents and just enjoying their company.  We are so grateful for our parents and the way they have selflessly given.  We know that this move is a sacrifice for them as well and we are so humbled by their hearts of service.  We would not be in the position we are at right now if it weren't for our parents generosity.  We love our families so much and are so thankful for their support and encouragement.

A first for me....
I went snowboarding!  I have always wanted to try it, but have never had the guts.  I finally decided I wanted to enjoy one of Peter's favorite things so I mustered up the nerves to go with him!  A man from our church blessed us with an amazing gift of spending money, so were able to go snowboarding in the beautiful mountains of Utah.  The weather was perfect and we had such a fun time.  Peter's parents watched with binoculars from the lodge as I tumbled down the "hill."  Many bruises later I accomplished going down the hill in one piece!  We had a blast and are so thankful for the gift!

So whats next....
We are now working on finalizing everything for the move.  We are still scheduled to leave mid-January so we have a lot to do!  We have just about a month left so our time is going by fast.  It looks like we are nearing the completion of our financial needs and we are praising God for all He has done!

Needs and Prayers....
We are in need of bubble wrap and plastic tubs!  And we are in need of prayers!  Please pray for us as we say our goodbyes and finalize moving plans.  Pray that we would not be overwhelmed, but overjoyed with what God has done and is doing.  Pray for our families as this is a sacrifice for them as well.

Visiting Utah...

Well, Peter and I arrived in Utah on Saturday and will be in Utah for the whole month of November to visit with Peter's family, speak at his home church and meet with area pastors about Remember Nhu.  We are so excited and feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time with his parents and family.  We will also be spending a week in California to visit with Peter's extended family there.  It is hard to believe that our goodbyes are already starting.  It seemed like time was moving so slowly, but now it all seems to be going so fast!  Before we know it we will be on a plane headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Peter and I with his parents, Greg and Tina Ledger.  We love you guys!

Recently our Pastor, Pastor Gordon, has been encouraging our church body to watch for God.  Basically to always be aware of God moving around us - we call them "God Sightings."  We will try to share with you guys as many God Sightings as we can because it is so amazing to watch and see how God is working through this entire process!

God Sighting.....
Over 2 years ago Peter found out about a recall on his Toyota truck.  He took his truck to the Toyota dealer to get it inspected.  They told him that his truck was perfect and there was absolutely no sign of the rusting defect.  A few months ago we received a letter in the mail from Toyota telling us to bring in our truck again to be inspected at no cost.  Even though we knew it would pass inspection we decided to take it in anyway since they would look at it for free.  Well on Monday, October 24th Peter took his truck into Toyota and the truck failed inspection!  They called us two days later on Wednesday the 26th and told Peter that they would be buying back our truck for $10,400!!!!  If Peter and I were to try and sell it on our own we would have MAYBE received $5,000 for it.  God's timing is so perfect.  If the truck would have failed 2 years ago we would have probably spent that money by now, but this is God's perfect timing.  We are so thankful that God continues to show us He is our provider.


Remember Nhu Benefit Dinner:
We want to thank everyone that attended the dinner and everyone that helped us in some way!  You guys are amazing!  Stay tuned for an update on how the Benefit Dinner went... we will post about it soon.