Feeling Settled

There is something about being a part of an intimate ceremony that brings a sense of belonging. When you live in a foreign country the feeling of belonging is a gift. Last night our family got dressed up, a novel thing for us, and went to a Thai/Indian wedding. We were privileged to be a part of this family's treasured moment. We came home having entered into culture, lives and friendships here in Thailand and we felt at peace. Abover are some photos of the evening. Casey and Kenz both spoke to the bride in Thai and won her heart. We didn't know the bride and groom, Colin and the boys know the groom's father. Zach and Jordan both understand the culture better now (and can speak some Thai) and are able to interact (such as showing respect the Thai way) to their seniors and therefore win hearts also. Below are two other photos. One of our littlest girl with her two front teeth missing! And one of our littlest boy helping you understand why he has the older four children wrapped around, not just his little finger, but all his fingers.

Visit to Tate's Home Village

We had a great visit to Tate's home village and birth family a few weeks ago. Tate's grandfather seemed nothing short of thrilled to have us come to the village. Lucku (Tate's birth mother) was peaceful and also appeared to love the visit. The community gathered around the grandfather's home and delighted in seeing Tate. One highlight was Lucku holding Tate (facing outward) so that Kenzie could talk with him and Lucku laughed as Tate 'chatted' and smiled with his sister. The other highlight was the grandfather calling Mackenzie and Casey (Zach and Jord were not there) to his side so I could take a photo of the 'family'.

Two weeks ago Zach developed Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever....and was nearly put into intensive care. We let immediate family know -he was prayed for and consequently recovered quickly. As a result we have added to what was already high levels of tiredness. However we will catch up sleep when Colin 'cuts' back on work in only a week....(he has accepted the plea to continue to teach 4 classes) so he will teach 4 hours a week. Then we have the month of October off! We have Ken and Anna Bunney and their two boys coming (Ken is the Managing Director of Connect) for most of the month. Our two families will run an English Camp for the children and teenagers in villages surrounding BPDN. The Poyibarn (head leader in the area) asked us to come and help (primarily through teaching English) the wider community. He is extremely supportive of Baan Puk Dek Nakrean and has expressed his deep thanks that we are available to help equip his people (Thai and Karen) for their futures. Following the camp and time spent alongside Samson and the students at BPDN we (the Bunneys and us) will spend 5 nights holidaying... We are anticipating a great time of refreshment!

We took some time out last Saturday and spent the day (as a family) in Hua Hin. The photos of Jordan and Tate were part of that day....swimming, laughing, eating and enjoying a day of rest.

Thanks again....for being in our lives.....

Mother's Day

Today we celebrated Mother's Day at the school where I teach and the girls attend. They make a very very big deal of it. As I am a teacher my girls and I had to sit in front of the thousands of people and Case and Kenz had to give me flowers. It is quite lovely and it was fun to do it with my girls.

Today I was also told that Casey (in her mid term exams) came 7th in her class out of 43 students. The teachers are quite impressed with the foreigner girl! They are also impressed with Kenzie who continues to quickly learn to read, speak and write the language. We are very proud of how well our children are accepting the challenge of schooling here. Zach and Jordan are also trying very hard, they have great attitudes and are enjoying the friendships they have at school. Today is Friday and so this afternoon means our family meets for coffee and milkshakes and time together.....like I said...in the previous blog....we are enjoying life here.

Beach Babes

This past weekend we had the use of a car (it belongs to Connect) to travel to and from Baan Puk Dek Nakrean. This allowed our family some refreshment time at the beach on the way home. The children swam in their clothes and loved every minute of it. Tate didn't swim but he enthusiastically embraced his first visit to the beach.....! We are really settling into life here in Thailand. The loneliness has dissipated significantly. We are tired (full time jobs, a newborn, five children and launching a rapidly growing organization can do that) but we are very peaceful. Colin will stop teaching in about 5 weeks. Both he and I felt we wanted to have one of us stay at home with Tate. And as Colin wasn't enjoying teaching he quickly put his hand up for the 'stay at home' job. We are anticipating that this will bring a better rhythm to our family life and will reduce the tiredness factor some. Thank you for loving us so well. Thank you for being our friends and family. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for keeping in contact with us and thank you for encouraging us.

Tate Joseph Harrison

A quick blog to give you some big news. On Saturday our family welcomed little Tate Joseph into the world. I (Ruth) spent the first three days at the hospital with his birth mother (a 16 year old Karen girl) as she recovered from a c-section birth. Yesterday I travelled out to her village where she showed the baby to her people and then through tears nodded to me to take the baby. We have tried to journey with Lukee (birth mother) in a way that keeps her in Tate's life. We will go and see her every few months and will (upon our return one day to Australia) return to Thailand for Tate to see Lukee (if this continues to be what she wants). It has, as you can imagine, been a highly emotional week. We have Tate in our care and have begun adoption proceedings that will run for the good part of a year.

While we are a little stunned, we are deeply honored to be parents to this little boy. We imagine with delight the life that he will lead and the impact that he will have on the people around him as he learns to walk humbly with his creator God.

More pictures to come. We love you. Ruth.

Ratchaburi...our new home!

Inside our house
Looking down our street
Zach with Jespa
Shopping centre closeby....see we live in civilization!!
Tuk Tuk we take places....mum and dad still have to get in!
Our house last on the right

It has been a long time since we have updated the blog because it has been pretty busy with things such as moving house, which I am going to tell you about now. It all started when we had a plan for Casey and Max (Mackenzie’s new nickname) to go to Thai school. Mum was talking to a teacher at her school, Phortawatanasanee (see how fast you can say that 5 times) about possible options. Ajarn Pitima (the teacher Mum was talking to) had an idea that the girls could go to Narivittya (the school her daughter attends). Dad and Mum liked the school and so we moved to Ratchaburi. Later on we decided that Jordan and I would also go to Thai school and that dad would get a teaching job at the school that we went to. We soon found a school called Ratchaburika and decided that the boys would go there. We soon started to pack and that was the craziest part of it all. We packed up things every day and would take them over on the Ratchaburi songtow (a truck with 2 bench seats). I could tell people thought that we were different from the other foreigners in Thailand. There was a time when we had to bring some of the bigger furniture - so we got a guy to bring them over in his Ute. Dad and the man got a fine for having to much in the back of the car or perhaps for having no seatbelts on…we are not really sure. The policeman just asked dad for 100 baht and put the money in his pocket and didn’t do any paperwork. Our house is very nice now. I like how our bedroom (the four of us have one big room) is set up. We have a shop across the road called Big C and we can rent DVDs and VCDs there and watch them while we sit on our nice orange couch. The only thing that I don’t like is that we have another house without hot water, oh well; we can still look forward to sleeping in our beds and snuggling into our doonas.

We have a room set up for when volunteers come. So come visit us anytime!

-Zachariah

Changes

Our family has some packing to do...again! The teaching job that I (Ruth) have in Photharam is 40 hours a week, making it difficult for me to put time into Connect as it builds momentum. I had hoped that the school would allow me to teach part time, but they will not accept that. We have also become a little concerned with our children's schooling. Colin is doing a brilliant job teaching them, so we feel they are doing well academically. However our concern is with them on a social level. They do not have much exposure to children their age, sport, music lessons and such. We saw them begin to get comfortable in the safety of family, shying away from conversations and such with people we would meet. So, while we were becoming a little despondent with our situation here, God was actually doing something about it! Just last week we have come in contact with a private school in Ratchaburi city (closer to where the Karen school will be built). The school has accepted the girls into their full Thai program (our girls will continue Math and English at home in the afternoons) and have offered part time work for me. The Principal then told us of a school across the road that would accept the boys in their bi-lingual program. The school is huge and has a band, which will suit Zach with his Saxophone. They also have lots of sport and a swimming pool on campus. There are even another couple of foreign students at the school! The boys are understandably hesitant (they will have to learn to speak Thai also) but are honoring their mum and dad and accepting our guidance. This school has also asked if Colin could teach full time and without a house full of children to home school, Col is freed up and excited to to take this job. Along with being on the same campuses as our children (mum with the girls and dad with the boys) we will have a bit more income. We are very thankful for again clear evidence that God is going before us here.

Below are photos of our past weekend in Prachuap Khiri Khan with Samson. We visited a Karen village. The village grow fruit and vegetables and farm fish for the King of Thailand. They are guarded (ironically) by Thai soldiers. They have no ID as Karen but are safe. We were ushered through by the head soldier as friends of Samson. We were able to visit the home of a Christian lady in the village. I said to her, this is a special village. you grow food to serve the King of Thailand and by loving those around you, you serve the King of all creation. It was a great time of interaction with this lady and her family. On the way home, at a bus stop, there was a patch of grass. The children and Jespa enjoyed the feeling of running in grass. Oh...yeah....we travelled 5 hours on 3 different buses with a puppy! Like we didn't stand out enough before we had a dog! Jespa is getting old enough now to stay home on her own....phew!


love to you all....Ruth