floods.

…And then a day went by.

This is what we woke up to this morning.

This is what they woke up to this morning.

Ours was one of the few dry areas on the road, so we opened up the gate, and treasures began to fill up our yard: bicycles, chickens, clothes, blankets, pots, and televisions.

Stephen and a volunteer with Partners, Andrew, helped to carry items over. The kids were also sent over pretty quickly and our house became the play zone, complete with sweaters and blankets to warm up all the wet kiddos. The young ones were too small to stand in the depth and current of the water, so Stephen helped to carry some to our yard.

And then one of the older kids told us that her mother had her baby, which we have been waiting for. A little boy arrived five days ago, and we thought it was best to have him a drier environment. The mother was brought over soon, and this little guy wasn’t too far behind her.

Of all days, the gas tank for our stove ran out just as I was starting the second batch of noodles for breakfast. A charcoal stove had to the do the trick until we could get a new tank for lunch and dinner.

Partners was so sweet and sent over some staff members with supplies! They loaded us up with rice, eggs, noodles, oil, and vegetables. We were able to serve lunch to everyone as well as dinner. Everyone seemed so grateful.

The kids thought it was the best day ever. They got to play in water, come into our house, and wear our warm clothes. They played all day, sat around on the couch, and watched four movies!  They loved the food, the cold water, and the freedom to use our bathroom. There was literally some child in the bathroom all day. A few of them would just go in every half hour to see if anything changed.

And now, it’s a sleepover.

There are seven or eight children (I should probably know more specifically…) and the newborn’s mother sleeping over in our house. Others in the community are sleeping on our concrete driveway out front, and still more might be coming before too long.

Not only has it been raining incessantly, but there is also a dam in Mae Sot that they open nearly every year when the floodwaters are too high. Such is today. They have already opened it for a little while earlier, at which point the already two-feet deep water rose about a foot in an hour. It crept up into our driveway and gave all of us more of a scare. Thankfully, they took a rest and let the waters go down again, but there are reports the dam will be opened again during the night.

Thus, we have left our door unlocked so that more can retreat inside if waters continue to rise. Please do continue to pray that waters will go down, and the rain will stop for even just a few days. And pray that we would love well, because my energy is fading quickly and my selfishness, well, that has always been prevalent.

And that was our day.

I have no idea what tomorrow will hold; I’m a little fearful it might look too much like today. I do know that many days to come will be spent cleaning up after a house full of twenty children eating, jumping, and playing. Oh, my.