Slow and steady

Arm and I have been steadily busy and I was enjoying our routine. It was nice to have an idea of when he would be coming home and it was also nice for me to get into a routine of teaching my classes. It normally doesn't take me this long to get into a routine of teaching, however, I usually taught 4 subjects, but this term I'm teaching 6 subjects and 5 of these subjects are new, so it's taken a bit longer than normal. However, I do like ALL of my classes this term. Usually I have one class that drives me crazy (one out of seven, which is good odds), but this term, God had mercy on me and gave me GREAT students! I think if I had a class that drove me crazy this term, I'd be losing my mind hahaha. I still really like Kasetsart and feel blessed to be teaching here.





Arm has had a few weeks off from summer teams, but the last one is coming tonight at midnight (Sunday night). They are 7 high school kids and one mom. They will be here for 2 weeks, but I'm a little in the dark as to what they're going to do. Probably since I'm not thinking about them a whole lot. haha. However, Kasetsart gets a whole week off for graduation and it's the second week this summer team is here for, so I'll probably be tagging along quite a bit. I'm also looking forward to getting a week off of school!!! Vacations are always welcome. haha.





Swine flu is rising in Thailand, but I'm not too concerned about it at this point. However, one of my students caught swine flu over a long weekend we had and she was supposed to come back to school, but she got worse at the beginning of last week and went back in the hospital. I haven't found out how she's doing now, but please pray for Eee.





Please continue to pray for Jan and her family situation. She is going to get a break this coming weekend as she is going to a Christian Camp with Campus Crusade for Christ. It is a challenge for her to live at home, but I don't think this situation is that odd in Thailand. Her mom is hurting and she takes her frustration out on Jan by challenging her interest in Christ (her mom doesn't know she's a Christian yet) and putting Jan down in everything she does. Her mom doesn't want her hanging out with me too much (even though she likes me) because she doesn't want her daughter to become a Christian. These are all reasons Jan is worried about telling her mom she's a Christian now. Pray for Jan to be brave and for God to comfort her when she feels so alone.



These 2 pictures of Autumn were taken when she was waiting for Arm and I to walk out. I think they're so cute as she's anxiously clutching her rose petals and then she puts her hand back and gets ready to throw them. Autumn really enjoyed all the attention she got here and made friends pretty quickly. It was so nice to spend time with them and my family and friends during the wedding. Everyone loved my family and since my mom was here for a month, now several people from church miss her as well and keep in contact over Facebook with her. It's so nice that my family knows my life, Arm, and friends in Thailand.





Please pray for me as I've been feeling pretty down lately. I can't figure out what is going on, but it's been a struggle emotionally. One issue is not feeling like I have many close friends. My foreign friends have all returned to the states, and two of my closest Thai friends left the country. One is in Korea studying and the other one went to America for 6 months. Thankfully, one of these girls is coming back to Bangkok on August 6. I think I'm really starting to miss family and friends, since my parents, Joel's family, and 3 friends from college were all here at the same time and then suddenly gone. It was nice having them here and I think I'm starting to feel the shock of all of them being gone. It's another reason I'm very thankful for getting married and that Arm is a gift from God. Thank you for all of your prayers. I really appreciate all of your prayers and notes.

Photo blog

I remember quite awhile ago, people asked me to show more pictures of my family. Well, it's taken some time, but I'm finally putting up family pictures, including Ting. :D. Enjoy!

It's been a whirlwind!

First, let me apologize for not posting in quite some time. It has definitely been a whirlwind. We got married, went on our honeymoon, and had a few weeks to relax, which turned into us finding termites and me getting dehydrated which took a couple of days to recover from since it was pretty hot then, so it's definitely been interesting.

How is married life? Good and challenging as it should be. We're adjusting to each other and trying to get into a routine, but both of our schedules are different everyday and have changed several times (before teaching, before the students came, after teaching and after the students came, and after the students went home), so it's taking a bit longer than normal. Believe it or not, I do like a consistent schedule and I like to know what's going to happen next, but that hasn't been the case thus far. God always tries to take us out of our comfort zones. He's a sweetheart and helps around here when he can, which is great. I'm learning how to cook Thai food, but sadly not cooking everyday since I'm teaching everyday. Saturday is our day and while we didn't get them when the university students were here for 2 weeks, we're working hard at keeping them now. It's nice to eat a good breakfast (french toast, pancakes, eggs, ham, and toast, etc.) and just relax or do things together. Our funniest story is when Arm put the few pillows I have on the bed inside a suitcase and put them in a cabinet when he was cleaning one day because he thought they were silly. My response? They're pretty! Haha. I took a few out, but kept some of them in the cabinet. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls.

Arm and I have been super busy since the American students got here. They were only here for 2 weeks and it was definitely a whirlwind! They came to 3 of my classes and formed a few relationships in the time they were here. Sadly, they didn't get to see much of Thailand, but they knew why they were here and they worked hard. They were at the university everyday, went bowling, paint balling, to see movies, the Grand Palace, malls, students' apartments, ate lunch with students every day, went to a beach, helped with a small group, held a big birthday party, a good bye party, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. They had quite a shock to Thailand, but they loved it and I hope some of them will come back for 2 months or a few years one day. They were busier than a normal summer team because they were only here for 2 weeks. Normally summer teams do all of that in a 2 month period, so this group was tired, but they did a good job!

Please pray for Jan. She opened up and told me about her homelife. It's not a worse case scenario, but it is difficult. On top of that, her mom already gives her a hard time about wanting to go to church and see me so much and her mom still doesn't know she's a Christian. It is very normal in Thailand for students to accept Christ and wait a long time (a year, sometimes more) before they tell their parents. Some parents are fine, some parents are hurt, and some parents are angry. After meeting her mom, while she is a sweet lady, she does speak her mind and takes her frustration out on Jan and she already keeps Jan from going to church and challenges her interest in Christianity. What would she do if she knew Jan was a Christian? Please just pray that God will be there for her when her Christian family can't.

We just got back from an evangelistic camp with the church. We all went to the beach and had a busy 2.5 days! We played a lot of games, watched the movie Flywheel (from the makers of Facing the Giants) with Thai subtitles, enjoyed the waves in the ocean, ate seafood, and just had a good time. There were a few people who expressed interest in Christ, so please keep them in your prayers. To my knowledge, no one accepted Christ, but those who were not Christian are all friends with people in our church, so they'll still be in contact with Christians and those at our church are VERY good at following up with non-Christians.