as of late: highs & lows.

The world of social media overwhelms me. I have been reminded recently that I can put out there what I choose, and that is all you see.

I want to be honest; I want it to be a true picture of me and of our lives here.
But I also want you to still believe in us, to still hope with us.

So the days when I don’t believe in myself or when I feel hope wearing thin, I don’t know how to present an honest picture. How do I really paint a picture of our day to day?

Well, I don’t. I remain silent while I determine how to hope again, how to be honest, and how to put our lives into words.

So here are some highs and lows—mostly highs I want to remember!—as we try to get ourselves back into sync with chaos. It isn’t the whole picture, but it is a glimpse into the community around us.

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High: This little buddy comes every day to get our recycling and will stay to color, do a puzzle, or play a game if there’s time. He has also picked up some of my habits, and now blows me a kiss and yells, “Bye, buddy!” to me as he leaves. It can pretty much melt my heart any day.

High: It is always fun to have kids come to your door to sell you unidentifiable food items from the ground right in front of your door. Thankfully, there are also kids inside of the house, so I can purchase 80 cents worth of “sausages” and then serve them to the guests!

Low: Our little bunny Kayak went to a new owner. He wasn’t doing too well, and it was kind of a sad day.

High: While delivering flowers last week, I asked Daw Ma Oo where she has the best business: in the Burmese day market, the Friday|Saturday night market, or the Sunday night market? She said it was in our car—that is her best business!  It was fun to hear that little things can make a difference in someone’s life.

High: After flower deliveries, I went to the tea shop with Daw Ma Oo and her nine-year-old son, David. First, he chastised me for ordering hot tea while it was hot outside and forced me to drink a little of his cold green Fanta. He then told me that my skin was “white, white,” his was “black, black” and his mom’s was “light black.” As I was repeating it to show my understanding, he then decided to let me know he wasn’t really black, and taught me that the speaker next to us was actually black…It was pretty hilarious.

Low: We lost one of the women at the market on Sunday.

High: I did find her eventually. She had a cart hired to take her home (since she couldn’t find us either!), so instead we took the cart to get both of us and all of her purchases— kilos upon kilos of {smelly} fish and {smelly} fish products—back to the car. This cart ride was amazing! It was my favorite market experience yet. You are on the front of a cart attached to a motorbike; the drivers zooms in and out around the market, honking at everyone. It was a great perspective of one of my favorite places in town.

High: We got to attend a birthday party for this beautiful little girl. Both of her parents are in Burma, but the family she lives with threw her a birthday party, and she was pretty excited to have us there. It was sweet.

High: At the market on Sunday, some of the girls bought Stephen and I visors. We came across a man selling visors for just 30 cents, and they were excited. It looks like they are actually from a hat factory around here that made some mistakes…so a worker saw an episode of Saved By The Bell and realized they just cut them off and made them into visors!?  Mine has an off-center “K” on it.

High: It was Songkran this week—Thailand’s country-wide water fight! We had a great time on Monday morning out with the kids and community; throwing water and laughing in our newly acquired visors.

Low: While attempting to get a teenager soaked, said teenager ducked and Stephen smacked an elderly woman in the face with water. Whoops! This is actually even more rude in the culture here, but would probably be rude anywhere. He felt horrible…

Low: After just Monday morning of playing in the water, I was down for the count and spent the rest of Songkran sick in bed.

High: I got to listen to Stephen shouting with the kids from my bedroom. So cute.

So now we’re here: I’m on the up and up, and we’ve survived another Songkran.
I can’t always determine how to present the whole picture, but I can show you the things that keep us going while we pray for more joys, more hope, and more stories of His goodness!