Terry and Dave's blog

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Little Story

We are trying desperately to teach our kids the value of things they have been given. They are always very thankful for all they get but, like most kids, they don't look after things. . .

I bought each of our girls a beautiful t-shirt just before we went on holidays in April. One of the girls decided to wear her 'new' t-shirt while they were opening coconuts. You guessed it, the t-shirt was ruined, covered in streaks of brown yuck. We tried washing it but it did not come clean.... so, she had to give mom 100baht(just over $3.00) so that we could buy her a new one. She was very good about it as she realized she had made a mistake.

The other day, this dirty t-shirt showed up in the laundry again. It wasn't wearable the way it was, so I decided to soak it totally in bleach, nothing would be lost. And, it came totally clean, looking as if it was a new t-shirt again.

Everyday, when the clothes are dried on the line, I bring them in and hang them in the front room and when the kids get home from school they get 'their' clothes and put them away. I had attached 100 baht bill to the t-shirt with a pin, not telling her anything about it. (Here is where I needed a camera.......... wow, the power of the heart.) All the kids were looking at the money and when she saw it, she picked up the shirt and looked at it. Tears fell from her eyes, she spun around and saw me and said "Mom, is this really MINE?" Yes......... well she ran to me and gave me the biggest hug........ "Thank you Mommy". So real, so genuine, so grateful, so thankful...... what a blessing they are to us! How I love our kids!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Mom's Birthday



The kids spoiled mom on her birthday.......... the gifts just kept coming. It is the first time I have been in Thailand for my birthday and what a day it was. Peter baked a cake - not that mom could eat any, but the kids wanted me to have candles to blow out. I would list all the awesome gifts I received, but I would be afraid of missing one, so I have just picked a couple of pictures to show you. It is the looks on all the kids faces that I thought were so priceless.........




...each child waiting until mom opened their gifts......... so priceless and hard to capture on camera. One of the kids was helpful taking the pictures for me.











This picture was drawn by Caleb for school and then he had it framed for mom. They all are incredible artists but they are trained from very young in the school system.




A Beautiful Bouquet

A very SPECIAL bouquet for Mom...........

okay, it might not be that beautiful but it comes from the heart! Little Isaac (7) was so excited about bringing mom a bouquet, how could I not just love it?! He has such a beautiful heart! He has come such a very, very long way........... we love him.



I did receive another beautiful bouquet from some very special people in Thailand. This was for my birthday......... Thank YOU Aua, Renee, and Matt (visiting from the US) I love you all!!











Middle Ones Cooking Dinner

On Friday afternoon the older kids go to 'Youth Extreme' so I am trying get the younger ones more involved in helping mom. . . . This one friday I decided we were going to make Chicken Satay (I have never made them before), and stir fried veggies. I had marinated the chicken all day and when I got the kids home, Hannah and Ruth put the chicken on the sticks. Alan got busy in the kitchen peeling and cutting all the veggies. While they did that, Victor and David started the barbecue. They first had to run to the store to by some charcoal. It took them some time to get it started but they sure got it hot.... Oh, I must not forget the other little ones...... they were the spectators.

That is Vic (11), turning the chicken with David(13) helping and Alan(10) watching. We had made 52 sticks with just chicken.







I just love seeing how they come together to help each other and mom. They are such a blessing......







Ruth(11) wanted to cook the veggies and she did a fantastic job.... added the spices she wanted. Isn't she cute?!








Then along came Hannah(12) to help Ruth or to inspect, I am not sure which. (they sure are close friends/sisters)





Saturday, July 17, 2010

Our Worship Team

Four of our oldest kids are now leading worship at the Thai Church. They are playing and singing very well, we are proud of their accomplishments.


Naomi loves to sing............ she usually hides in her bedroom for practicing, except during our family worship in the evenings. She sings out much stronger at home then at the church but she is getting bolder all the time.









Steve and Mark are concentrating, don't you think?Steve is getting stronger at the base, but we don't have a base at home so he usually plays guitar for practice. Mark is very strong in the lead, with guitar. How he loves playing and usually plays for our worship at home.



Caleb is our drummer and he is good. There is nothing like a long, tiring, hot day and the kids come home and Caleb starts on his drums..... whew! Good thing mom can just tune it out most days because with 14 to 17 kids running around as well, the decimal level in our home is extremely high.




We are so blessed to have such talented kids...... I love it that we have music always in our home, either in Thai or English.