The House Collective

saturdays.

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Or shall I say, The Saturdays That Were.

With the threat of Covid-19 spreading throughout Mae Sot, we have had to cancel our Saturday program through the end of March. But, for a few weeks there, we had a good thing going! We hope it’s back soon!

And we still want to give you a glimpse into it! Each Saturday, we’ve had between forty and fifty students coming, from age two to twelve. [The thirteen and above group comes to English and other activities on Monday, for our youth night.]

We start at 9am with music, where Stephen leads us in guitar and we attempt to lead a group of second-language learners in all the “classics.” I then read a children’s book or two in English, which fulfills all my dreams of a library story time. 🥰

Lun then leads the kids in a bible story until 10am. She leads the children’s ministry at her local church every week, so she’s a pro!

We then gather around for rice, which Thida has made for us all in a superhero-like fashion in a Barbie-sized kitchen. It’s incredible.

After things are devoured and spilled all over and cleaned up, we divide into four groups for classes. The yellow group is our littlest, from about 2-4 years old. They start with Burmese, taught by Thida, and then move to English, taught by Pwin Pyu Hein or I.

The red group is about 5-8, taught first English by Pwin Pyu Hein and I, and followed by a bit of Burmese.

The blue group and green group are older, from 8 to 12, and divided by skill level. They each study more of the Bible story with Lun, now focusing on new English words from that week’s lesson. They also have thirty minutes with another English teacher, sometimes our friends Mia & Bryce, and sometimes me.

And somehow, we manage to teach two languages, songs, and Bible to a whole collection of kids for over two hours each Saturday! While chaotic, it’s pretty incredible to see it happen week after week.

And now we’re realizing how thankful we are for it now that it’s closed for a few weeks; we’re hopeful to back at our best before too long!

a gift.

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For those of you who have followed along, I think it’s quite obvious we spend many of our days in over our heads.

We live in a border town, working in a poor migrant community, operating in a different language. Now raising our recently-adopted toddler. We have a few small side businesses we support: local bread & flowers sales, sound reinforcement, a sewing project. We teach English to about sixty kids every week; we attend a local church in another language. We provide cajon, guitar, and (new!) singing lessons every week for the youth.

Oh, and we live overseas, trying to keep all of our paperwork up to date while we wait for our son’s paperwork to be completed.

There are two of us.

Yeah, I think we’re in over our heads.

And if you’ve followed us for the past decade, this isn’t a sudden realization. We’ve spent plenty of years praying for help, seeking it, and waiting for it. We have trained up neighbors to help in various ways and delegated whatever we could; even if that meant teaching a new language or skill.

And more than anything, we’ve just let God provide and amaze us and care for us.

And he has, again.

We’d love for you to meet Lun Ngai. We’ve known her for a few years; she’s been our Burmese teacher and my self-defense teacher. She helped teach our Life Skills classes for community dinner last year and helped us translate for our Family Christmas. She’s a dear friend.

And now, she’s a team member!

(Our lives are so odd I’m not sure I know how to put this into text, but I’ll try.)

She recently resigned from her job at a local organization and she’s attending a Bible school part-time. She’s continuing to teach us Burmese weekly, and we began to explore options of how we could work together.

She’s excited about community ministry. She’s excited about women and families and youth. And as of March, she’s excited to join us!

For the foreseeable future, she’ll be attending Bible school classes part-time, and she’ll be teaching both Burmese & English classes around Mae Sot for some income. Since it is difficult to raise support in the local church, we are also transferring some of our monthly support to her, to allow her to serve in our community, too.

She’s already jumped in with the youth and kids; she’s helping with our Summer Book Club and she’s teaching every Saturday at Schoolhouse (more on both of those to come!).

We have been planning a bible study to lead up to Easter that was scheduled to begin last Friday; she’s been helping us prepare and pray through this. It’s now on hold until we know how Covid-19 is handled locally; but we’re still excited to have her help us!

We are beyond thankful to have her with us. While we both operate in Burmese most days, talking about difficult things in another language is challenging and risky. We are really thankful to have another Christian working with us, who speaks Burmese and is the culture in ways we will never be able to know or be.

And so we’re thankful! I don’t really have the words, except to say we’re so excited for where God is going to take this, and my heart is grateful every time she walks in the door.

youthfulness.

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This might be our favorite crew right now. We have been spending more and more time with the youth in the community, and we feel like so much is happening for them. The hope is vibrant.

For many of these students, we’ve known them since they were six or eight. Now they are teenagers, in high school or finishing it up. They are making vital decisions about how they will live; how they will emulate their parents and brothers and sisters or how they won’t. They are working outside of school, and we’re desperate to keep them attending. They are on phones and at football fields after school; we’re doing our best to be involved and be present.

Many of you know of The Reinforcers, students Stephen has been training in live sound reinforcement. As the kids have grown and situations have changed, this is changing often, too. But in short: it’s growing! And it’s amazing.

We currently have three Reinforcers: Pyint Soe & La Point are brothers, and Yedi is a cousin. We’ve all known them a decade! Pyint Soe is taking his final high school exam this week and we’ll be celebrating his graduation this weekend. He’ll be continuing with us in a heavy part-time roll as he waits to get his exam results and decide about university options. La Pyint & Yedi are working extra over the summer with some recording projects, and partnering with two other youth from a local Burmese church. Stephen is teaching recording and coordinating projects every week for all five of them.

We also recently hired another teenager, Thaw Thaw, who is our new Computer Manager. We have three desktop computers available for the older kids to play games and video games together during our open house hours. It’s our effort to keep kids in a safe place, encouraging collective community play, rather than individualized phone time or the nearby questionable hangout.

Thaw Thaw has been learning new games and teaching the younger kids, while managing it all weekly.

This group is now called The Reinforcers+, since it’s a broad sweep! We’re trying to meet with them regularly in a mentoring capacity. We are addressing difficult topics and trying to give them openness into our lives and our decisions, while challenging them to be intentional with theirs. This past month we met to talk about phone and computer safety and addictions.

They all happened to show up in yellow, then voted for us all to match!

Throughout the year we have a weekly English class for the youth, and we’ve expanded it for the summer. Every Monday, we are watching Planet Earth and doing a workbook about what we are learning using a curriculum created by a local non-profit. We then play games and talk together, again providing safe fun and conversation.

The students are also a part of our Summer Book Club, which I am so very excited about. More on that to come.

And beyond that, we do whatever we can do bring the students together for fun! We want them to trust us and know us. There is a youth worship night held in town every month or two, so we’ve been inviting them to come along. They absolutely love it.

There was also a breakdancing competition a few weeks ago that boys went to watch. And Stephen took one of the guys out for ice cream and games yesterday afternoon.

We’re really excited to have these friends in our home a few days through the week, for English and cajon and guitar and worship nights and games. We love that Oak knows their names. We are hopeful for breaking some generational patterns within the community, and we are really hopeful for their futures!

happenings.

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Our recent happenings, in photos.

Sojourn Studios officially moved out of our home and into their new studio. To end this well, we celebrated!

After their last day in our house, we took the ladies out to purchase bicycles, so they could bike to work the following week. They each bought these out of their savings (win!), and we also had fun.

My son loves these ladies so very much, and they love him.

We also took their families out to dinner that night to a local favorite, where everyone gathers around and cooks the meal together at the table over a fire. It was fun; it was crazy. Our biggest win was convincing all the husbands to join, and we are so excited for how far these relationships have come in that way.

It also meant Oak’s two best friends in the community came along, and because the car was full, they were all in the back with me. He was LOVING it.

As a present, we had this digital artwork made by a friend in Vietnam and had it framed for each of them.

A non-profit circus organization, Spark! Circus, tours Mae Sot every year around this time, and they offered their annual public performance. We took some of the community to join us, and Oak absolutely loved it.

He is still talking about the man who blew fire out of his mouth, and how it was hot and he got wet, because…well, it’s a small town, and we were on the front row.

The kids are still in our house many days of every week, and we are still surprised at all the shenanigans.

At Christmas, one of the gifts we gave was a waffle maker. It came with an evening of teaching, which we only got to this month! But we brought the works and taught the whole family a few different ways to make waffles.

Another local non-profit was offering a cake baking & decorating course last week, and Thida and I signed up to join! Thida makes all our community cakes now–often a few a week, for about seventy kids! We have been using the depression cake recipe, but we’ve decided to make smaller-sized, better-tasting, more special cakes now.

She and I went on Tuesday to bake our cakes, and returned on Wednesday to make icing and decorate them.

And last, Oak’s fancy stage. His two favorite outfits lately are: his jeans, with Mom & Dad both wearing them, too (so far the 100 degree weather doesn’t phase him); and his longyi. It’s a traditional Burmese outfit; a casual cotton one would be worn daily, but this is more wedding-appropriate. He chooses it weekly, at least.

It’s also worth noting: his longyi is maroon with gold patterning, and his shirt is pink silk with a fake diamond at the top.
WOW.

He’s the best-dressed wherever we go, and it’s very popular!

That’s us; our best happenings!

adoption: an update.

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The other day on Instagram, a friend who is adopting for the second time posted an update on their adoption process. It was truly incredible.

She laid out every step of the process. She knew the time frames for each, and exactly what to expect. She knew what paperwork she needed and exactly how it would go.

I told Stephen about this, and we laughed.
Very often, we choose to laugh instead of cry in our lives.

In April of this year, we are five years into our adoption process. While we have Oak with us now (making the process much better!) we aren’t sure how much longer it will take. We aren’t sure how many steps are left.

When we went into the meeting five years ago, they said the entire process would be complete in about eighteen months. (Again, I’m laughing now instead of crying.)

Even now, looking back on over four years of this “process” I’m not sure I could describe it to you. I couldn’t give you a date we were placed, because technically speaking we received a call in late 2018 that went like this:

Caseworker: Hi, this is _____. Do you remember me?
Stephen: Yes, I remember you.
(Unsaid by Stephen: “I’ve been waiting for your call for MONTHS! I pray for you regularly! YES, I REMEMBER YOU.)
CW: Can you send me your new passport and work permit and visa papers?
Stephen: Yes, we can email you that.
CW: He looks just like you! (And then other things not understood…)
Stephen: …Who? Who looks like me?
CW: Did you see the photo? I open the photo and he looks just like you and your wife!
Stephen: Who?
CW: The little boy. You have not seen the photo?
Stephen: No. we didn’t get a photo. Did you send a photo?
CW: Oh, I need work permit and new visa. 
Stephen: Did you get his file? 
CW: Yes! I already sent it to the board. You send the work permit and visas.
Stephen: Yes, we will send them. Can you send the photo?
CW: Congratulations! I’m so excited! I want to tell you congratulations!
Stephen: Thank you…Yes…You say congratulations…for what? Are we…moving forward?
CW: He looks just like you! Ok, bye. Send the work permit and visa.

After this call, we sent our updated work permit and visa that afternoon. And we heard nothing–absolutely nothing–for nearly three months. We wondered every day if we should officially consider ourselves “placed”–but with what? We might be placed with a boy, but he/she is a very commonly mis-said pronoun, so we were hesitant to plan, hope, announce…

The next email we received said we had been placed. We learned his birthday and a boy was again referenced, so we thought it was more likely to be truly a boy, and perhaps we had then been placed?

Again, do we tell people this? What do we tell them: It’s a boy! (We think.) This is his birthday! (We think.) He might be ours…someday! It seemed a weak announcement.

It was another two months before we received a file and photo, when we got a name and what I would consider an actual placement.

We had him in our home within a month after that. We didn’t know that then; in fact, the day we met him–also the day before we picked him up–we were out at 9pm buying a car seat, clothes that would fit, and bedding. It turned out to be the one fast bit of this process!

We didn’t know the day we went to meet him that we’d be driving two hours to the home. Or that we’d spend the whole day with him.

The list of things we didn’t know when they were happening is so very long.

And is still true today: we’re waiting on his final paperwork. This might be contingent on another home check; it might not. We might be close; we might not.

They said six months from when we got him, and we’re at ten months next week.

We aren’t really sure what to expect even when we get the paperwork: do we go to court? Do we travel to Bangkok? Do they just send us a paper?

In the middle of this, we still have relatively no idea what’s going on.

I’m a little jealous of this friend, who has a fluent English speaker explaining every step of the way. I’m a little jealous of a culture that likes to tell you the big picture and every step of the way.

It would certainly make “giving an update” a bit easier. Or making a plan.

But it wouldn’t require me to learn trust like I have in the past five years. It wouldn’t push me each and every day to be reminded that this little boy is only ours by the grace of God. It would remind me every moment that God is in control and I most certainly am not.

I wouldn’t be learning the skill of turning tears into laughter. I wouldn’t be learning to hold everything with hands wide open.

If we’d taken any other chaotic path, we wouldn’t be holding this little boy in our arms each morning.

And with that, our process is going fine. We’re here for awhile still, and we aren’t sure when we’ll be able to visit. The questions in our future loom large and broad.

But we’re a family of three for now, and we are SO. VERY. THANKFUL.

a new year.

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I sort of dread the start of each new year.

(And I’m writing this as February comes to an end, so obviously I’m a bit slow and pessimistic on the “new year” idea!)

I think that’s one of those things you’re not suppose to say. Everyone else seems to love a fresh start, new resolutions, inspiring words, & vision casting.

Yet again this year, I found myself seeing others goals, visions, words and feeling discouraged, rather than challenged. And while I’ve felt this each year that I can recall, I only now recognized it as a trend. I seem to hit a low each year at the start.

It’s always a bit isolating, as I watch so many enter with optimism that I struggle to feel. So this year, I just started to ask why.

I think it often feels like everyone has such hopes for the year; such plans. Such energy. It seems everyone sets a goal and they really might reach it.

So many of our years start with unknowns: we know that by the end of the year we’ll need a new visa, but we aren’t sure if we’ll get it. We hope to be living in the same place, but we aren’t sure we’ll be able to. We feel called to be in this community, but we aren’t always sure what will fill our days or what projects or traumas it will hold.

So many years have started with unknowns for our family personally, not knowing how long we would wait for Oak, or now how long we’ll wait to finalize his adoption. We don’t know how long it will be before we go back to the States, or if we’ll be able to travel this year at all. (In short, we might not be able to stay in this country, nor leave it–hopefully not both!— depending on how all the paperwork falls.)

We often know very little of what is in front of us; it’s a piece of the life God’s put before us. There seems to be light on just a very few steps in front of us.

And because this chaos is a bit of a normal, I often feel like I’ve just maneuvered a year of unknowns as well.

This year, I felt like I’d just managed to pull off 2019: adopting a new son and beginning to sort out how to parent alongside this community. We’ve just gotten another visa! We’ve just finished a year of training and a few small jobs. We’ve just had another community Christmas! We’re just starting to get in a groove, and perhaps we’ll make it here after all. (Even nine years in, we say this often: Hey, wait–are we making it?!)

Perhaps we’ll make it as parents.
Perhaps his adoption will be finalized this year.
Perhaps another visa will come through.
Perhaps Flour & Flowers will be profitable another year.
Perhaps English classes will still happen.
Perhaps The Reinforcers will have work.

Sometimes just a few knowns, a few concrete goals, sound so refreshing…and yet so out of reach.

And in reality, it is out of reach right now. That’s something I’m having to embrace yet again. I’m not sure of many things in our horizon.

I’m not sure where our next visa will come from, or where our next child will for that matter! I’m not sure where our role in the community is going, as we stand among some major shifts.

We did a restart in February, following the Christmas chaos and my sisters visit. We are looking to another restart in March, as Sojourn Studios moves out of our space, and summer begins: summer programs, new staff, perhaps internships?

It’s always changing. Perhaps it always will be.
Perhaps we’ll always be wondering if we are making it.
Perhaps we’ll always be praying for the next few steps to fall into place.

I’m trying to find the positive in this: it requires us to trust something bigger than ourselves. It requires us to be flexible. It asks us to take risks in the name of the Kingdom. It demands hope.

That said, we are hopeful for 2020. We’re late, but hopeful 😂
We’re also a bit tired.
Sometimes we’re fighting fear. Depending on the day, we’re a bit overwhelmed by the unknowns.

We don’t have a word to lead us. But we have a Father who leads us. Our visions and dreams are what you might describe as extremely hopeful, which means they require an incalculable number of miracles. But we follow a God of miracles. Our plans, when put in the most positive light possible, are flexible. But we have a Lord who establishes our plans.

And so as February comes to a close, I’m ready to embrace 2020 and all its unknowns. ☺️

something i’m sad about.

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While I’ve mentioned this in our newsletter, I don’t believe I’ve officially stated it here: Sojourn Studios, who we’ve been partnering with for over two years, will be moving out of our home next month.

I’m sad about it.

In short, Sojourn Studios is a project of another local organization here in Mae Sot. They make porcelain jewelry, and recently have begun a partnership with Noonday Collection. They’re successfully making it!

For the past two years, three of their primary artisans have been working out of our house. They hired some of our favorite friends from our neighborhood and set up shop three days a week in our humble Housewares room and make tiny piece after tiny piece.

It is quite the process to do in two locations. The clay is formed and glazed before being sent to their studio to be fired. It then is brought back to be gold painted, and again sent for another firing. It then comes back for assembly and packaging.

All of this is done by three of my favorite friends, often while they are singing loudly, chatting about their families, and showering Oak with kisses.

So I’m really sad it’s all about to change.

I feel like we’re closing the door on a really unique, sweet season that brought out some incredible conversations and great friendships. I really love all three of these women, and I have loved seeing them so often through the week.

I have loved that they were here as we welcomed in Oak. I love the things they’ve taught him, and how he calls for his aunties when they arrive each morning. I love the things they’ve taught me day in and day out. I love their patience and kindness to us.

But most things do change, and often it isn’t up to us. So this isn’t anything new. Growth brings new seasons, and these ladies will be growing, too.

All three ladies are purchasing bicycles with their savings next week.
They’ll be biking together to work a few days a week, and working in a much more official studio space. And with a more official studio space, there might be less singing. I’m not sure.
There will be less of Oak.
There will be less free tea, which San Aye is particularly sad about!
There will be less leftover pancakes and coconuts for them to enjoy when they arrive in the morning.

This hasn’t been the easiest process on many of us involved. Growth usually involves growing pains, too. But we’ve known for about six months, and they are officially moving out in two weeks. So I’m searching how to say something.

I’m really, truly sad for the end of this season and the shift of this. But I’m also really thankful it happened.

sisters, sisters.

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They came again! Two of my sisters came to visit in January!

It has been so fun to have family come to meet Oak, and take that long flight all over again. It’s incredible to see them leave their own husbands and kids for over two weeks, just to spend time with mine.

And yet it means the world to hear Oak say “Aunt Jenn” and “Aunt Keri.” It means the world to hear him sing and giggle with them. And it means the world for them to hear his voice and learn his quirks and watch him run.

Coming right after Christmas, after camping trips and bee stings, falling into family was a crazy January. I wasn’t on my A-game (and I’m not sure I have been in a number of months?). But I guess that isn’t where the best things happen! We had fun.

I met them both in Bangkok, and we flew back to Mae Sot together. We made the most of our little border town.

Apparently my love of air hockey runs in the family 🤷🏼‍♀️

We visited Chiang Mai for a bit more fun.

The Sticky Waterfalls were way cooler than I even imagined and so much fun to climb.

Oak did amazing climbing up nearly all of it, but he was pretty cold by the end and a bit less excited than the rest of us!

And if you know Oak, you know we had to visit the elephants 🥰

This was the best Escape Room game we’ve played yet, and we did AMAZING! We got the best score, finishing in thirteen minutes under the best time.
(A couple of us are a little competitive. We were pretty proud of this. And had fun.)

One of Oak’s favorite books is Stuck, and Aunt Keri did a live performance at one of our evenings out, using the table flowers as a tree. It was one of my favorite moments.

There’s a Bra Museum & Outlet & Salad Bar & Bistro along the highway… ?!?!
Go ahead and read that again: Bra Museum + Outlet + Salad Bar + Bistro. I’m not sure there is a better time to stop than with your sisters!

We made our way to Sukhothai, one of the historical kingdoms of Thailand, to enjoy some biking and seeing historical ruins.

And then we saw them off the airport, with tears and thankfulness.
✈️🥰🥥🦕🏒🛵🐑💦🐘🔐🌳👙🚲😭😘✈️

camping.

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Camping is a part of every Christmas season for us, and this year was our first time to bring Oak! We did three trips so far, and loved every one.

The first trip is one I’ll never forget. We went to one of our favorite spots, and it was just perfect. Oak absolutely loved it.

And Stephen did, too. Camping was so much a part of Stephen’s childhood memories, and he was just over the moon to be bringing Oak along. I felt like I couldn’t capture enough photos of both of their faces the whole time.

We also did a trip after Christmas. This one had a great hike, and while we didn’t all enjoy the whole thing, it was an adventure!

Unfortunately, Oak woke up from this beautiful nap by a bee sting. We didn’t think much of it, until the next morning, when we were greeted with this.

Since we were in the middle of nowhere and not sure how this would go, we headed off to a nearby hospital. And while not what we expected for this camping trip, we made the most of it.

We had memory games to play and Starbucks to drink and motorized bicycles to borrow from the hotel!

And last, we took a camping trip with friends. This was such fun for Oak, too!

Camping always leaves me with some of my favorite holiday memories, and this year was no different. But I’m also amazed how many cycles we waited for Oak: how many Christmases we waited for him, how many years we camped just the two of us and wondered when we’d be bringing a little one along. To finally put a face to it, to pack tiny little gloves and hats for the cold, to go for a hike with a backpack on: finally. We’re just living it and loving it.

2019: in review.

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I don’t want to attempt to quantify a year, but sometimes I look back on these numbers in awe. It’s incredible to see what God has done.

Long-awaited and quite miraculously, we adopted one little boy.

We spent 230 days as a family in 2019.
It was a good year. 🥰

We celebrated ten years of marriage!

Throughout different projects, eleven friends were able to have regular employment opportunities in our home.

2,900 Tranquility necklaces were made in our little border town and shipped around the world to be sold through Noonday Collection. Over half of these were made by three friends in our home.

202 bouquets of flowers were sold.
1,026 loaves of bread were baked.

And thanks to a local restaurant deciding to source their tortillas through us, a whopping 7,160 tortillas were rolled out!

This year, The Reinforcers project brought in 37,600 baht, or $1,245, which was then poured back into training and weekly work opportunities for a few teenagers.

Kelli took a regular self-defense class with a small group of young women. They completed a twelve-week program, followed by six months of regular review.

Throughout the year, we managed to renew three drivers licenses in two countries, renew a passport, renew a work permit, extend a visa, and acquire a new visa. And while I think I could count the number, I’d rather not know how many days I spent in government offices to accomplish this. 

I had set some personal goals for the year, but I didn’t do incredible at reaching them or even knowing if I did. 
I read 43 books this year, not meeting my goal of 52.
I memorized 51 Bible verses, and I’m working on the last one.
I kept running.
I kept swimming.
I kept biking.
But I have no idea how far I went.
I know I took this little guy along for quite a bit of it.

It was a good year. 🥰