Amidst a variety of roles, Stephen has begun taking photos for Partners.  He’s been learning and practicing on various Partners projects, and I’m excited to brag on him: Partners posted his work on Facebook today!

You can check out the Partners Relief & Development Facebook page or I’ve re-posted it to my profile.

I’m pretty proud 🙂

Stephen really likes cereal.

And in Mae Sot, they have just a few varieties: over-priced sugary, chocolate types; Corn Flakes; and over-priced berry granola.

With so much being over-priced, and Corn Flakes being quite boring, we don’t eat cereal very much.

This morning when I went to wake Stephen, the first thing he said was this,

“I had a dream.
I went to Karen’s house, and I had to decide what cereal I wanted.
Her house was like a grocery store with cereal everywhere in the living room.
It was so fun.”

_________________________

On a semi-related note, we go through phases where we miss things in America. Some days its hard to imagine why we would miss anything: it seems you can really  get whatever you want here, or close to it. And other days, I wonder how we have made it this far.

And I have no idea how I can switch that much between days.

This week, I am missing America. If I could spend a week back in the States, here’s what I would do, in addition to the obvious of visiting all of our state-side family and friends:

I would go to the Smoky Mountains, because Stephen’s parents are going this week, and I am so jealous. I would go for a hike each morning.

I would wear dresses. I really miss dresses, but its hard to find a dress that isn’t sleeveless, covers your knees, works on a motorbike, and doesn’t look ridiculous.

I would wear heels. Surprising? It surprised me, too. But I don’t have any here, and I would love to wear some. I would probably wear them with a really nice dress and attempt to dance.

And a few specifics on spending time with family: I would rub my sister’s baby belly. And Stephen & I would go have frozen yogurt with her family. And I would have dinner with all of Stephen’s family, who are so lucky to live in the same state: well, except us.

Oh, and visit Target and Gap, my favorites.

And the two things Stephen is probably tired of hearing about: I would find a way to watch Hunger Games and go to a water park!

_________________________

I asked Stephen the same question. If he could spend a week in the States, he would:

Go to the Smoky Mountains and hike with my family; and hike without fear of snakes and swim in clear water.

“Eat great food; probably cereal.”
(For the record, he said both of these without seeing the rest of the post. And we have now had four conversations about cereal today.)

Go see a movie.

Visit Guitar Center and an Apple store to see the new retina display laptop.

Play a real piano.

I recently read Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts, and though her writing wasn’t my favorite, I took on the challenge of writing down one thousand gifts in my life. I’m working on an attitude of thankfulness and joy, and this seemed a basic, tangible effort in that direction.

I’m only at one hundred, but here are some of my favorites thus far:

1. when shuffle plays “The way you make me feel…it really turns me on” (Michael Jackson) followed by “Saddle up your horses, we’ve got a trail to blaze…” (Steven Curtis Chapman).

16. when I can heard the kids spitting/blowing rubber bands right outside of our front door.

41. lightning bugs.

54. fairy sleeves on a shirt.

67. breakfast wrapped in a banana leaf for just 30 cents.

69. Stephen’s funny joke at an ideal time; so well timed that I don’t remember what it was but just that it was a gift.

73. animal print bandaids.

75. Yuh Meh Oo and all she is.

80. hooks; all hooks.

97. a solid house in the pouring rain.

99. a country that teaches me patience.

This weekend was good. Almost like salve on a burn.

If I was looking from the outside of our lives, here is what I would see:

We came home Thursday night to our kitchen flooding. The roof has been leaking little bits for a couple months, so we told our office manager to pass on to our landlord. It didn’t seem urgent, until this downpour. We spent the evening mopping up the mess with quick-dry towels–not ideal for such a situation–and our much-more-effective sarongs.

The next morning, I left for the hospital around 8am with the old woman receiving treatment for rabies. This was trip three of five. Since she only needed a shot, the hope was that it would take about thirty minutes, as it did last Friday, and I could pick up the volunteers at 8:45. Fail. It took two hours.

I also received a call about thirty minutes into our visit. It was our office manager, and the conversation went like this:

“Kelli, where are you? The landlord is at your house. He says he cannot go in.”

“I’m at the hospital. We didn’t know he was coming, so we left. And locked the door.”

“Can you go home now?”

“Not really…”

…And the roof was fixed later that day.

On Saturday, we learned that our credit card had been hacked. New one on the way.

And then today, I went over to speak with our neighbor lady, Mong Ey. I am trying to arrange to have tea with the Karen-speaking women so that I can practice my Karen. Due to the nature of our lives and theirs, a scheduled tea isn’t really possible. I told her around 8:30am that I would be home this morning if she and the Karen-speaking women wanted to come over to talk.

She asked what hour, and I said any time this morning. She could choose. Then she said “19”, which in Karen could be “10, 9” or “19.” I came back to tell Stephen: They might come at 9am. Or 10am. or 7:00pm. Or they might not come at all.

We decided to stay around the house as much as possible to see how it played out.

And the verdict for today: not come at all. I guess we’ll try again tomorrow.

A group did come over about 8:00pm tonight. A woman had fallen from her bicycle, hurt her leg, and was in a whole lot of pain. Stephen took her to the hospital, and we ate our dinner at about 10:30pm when he returned.

(With this large of a community, taking them to the doctor–even just for emergency situations–could become a full-time job, it seems.)

And somehow, with all the unplanned and plenty of unwanted, this weekend was a salve.

I’m not entirely sure why.

We have a little blessing in our bedroom that we call the air con. It’s lovely.

And on the air con remote, there are some options: you can have cold air, fan, humidity, or another symbol we don’t understand. We leave it on cold air, because if you’re going to be paying for the air con, what else would you want?

Unfortunately, adding humidity is just an easy click away. In the process of turning it on, you can easily and accidentally hit the humidity button in the process. And before you know it, you’re sitting in stuffy, wet room where you can hardly breathe.

Who in their right mind would want to add humidity to any room in this country?

It baffles me.

I stayed at home today, still recovering from being quite sick yesterday.

I finished reading When Helping Hurts, did some reading for my training curriculum, and laid in bed for most of the day.  I helped our staff nurse change the dressings on a little boy this afternoon and spent some time with our sweet neighborhood friends. 

And after all of this, I realized it was one of those days I’m really thankful to be here.

It’s not always easy, and really things have been quite difficult from the beginning in many ways.

But today, I realized this:

I love what I’m doing at Partners. I agree with the vision behind it. I love that Partners is considering the long-term development of the area and building relationships with local populations. I love that I am able to learn so many things through countless books and articles, create curriculum, and then learn even more when I give trainings. I love the idea of trainers of trainers, where we are equipping entire populations to teach each other. I love that I am working with social development, where faith walks alongside social participation, political development, and economic change, not requiring separate spheres.

I really love our community. I love that we have our work in addition to our friendships with our neighbors. I like that our neighborhood isn’t our primary “ministry”; I think that would really inhibit our friendship, almost making them like a project. Instead, they are just our dear friends. I love how slowly these relationships are developing as we learn to trust each other and communicate that trust.

And as frustrating and challenging as it sometimes is; as much as I often doubt our decisions–today, I am really thankful that we are in a place where we are constantly looking for answers. We are constantly trying to consider when to say yes and when to say no. We are constantly trying to determine the lines between loving and enabling; between giving and refraining; between life and death. I like how the questions shape me–how they keep me thinking and striving.

God has been really good to us. He is really blessing our relationships with people we can’t even speak to and those we can. I can see the ways he is giving us wisdom for each situation that arises. I can see the ways he gives us a taste of comfort and days to celebrate.

So we’re here today, and it’s good we’re here today.

…And I have very few additional conclusions.

I really love sushi.

Unfortunately, Thailand–and particularly Mae Sot–doesn’t seem like a wise place to try sushi. I have seen it occasionally at a night market, and there is one restaurant in town we pass that advertises for it.

But I’ve been hesitant.

Until last night, we were heading out for a dinner date and Stephen suggested we brave it. This is always so sweet of him to suggest, because it means he eats something obscure on the menu while I really enjoy it.

And that’s precisely how it played out. I tried a Chicago roll and loved it. He ate his teaspoon-sized portion of chicken teriyaki and didn’t complain.

…And today, I’m at home very, very sick.

Related? Perhaps.

It’s a very fine line between stupidity and bravery.