The House Collective

the breakfast club | week three.

by Filed Under: house calls, kelli, photos 1 Comment

We’re int our third week of The Breakfast Club, and Thida had to go back for a few days to Burma for the current passport|new laws|new paperwork situation for migrant workers in Thailand.

Thida has been pivotal in carrying this out. She is patient, she helps us problem solve, and she is such a hard worker. After the first week, we asked her if it was too much work. She was coming five days a week at 5:30am, cooking some at her house; chopping vegetables in the afternoon while the kids play; and helping with Playhouse four days a week. It was a lot to coordinate, and really even more than we anticipated. When we asked her, though, she replied, “I’m so happy. I get to help people, and I am so happy to see the kids eating.”

She’s happy, and she’s also a genius. Check out her solution for my lack of a strainer!

With her out of town, her daughter and I were left making breakfast this morning, both of us a little outside of our realms. We only had two kids who said it didn’t taste good enough to eat! 😂 Others ate seconds, so I think it balances out! And it’s still working: we still have kids showing up every morning. We still have delicious, healthy meals for them to devour, and seconds if they choose.

Zwe Go Go Nine, a two-year-old, is a very big fan of our breakfasts. The first week, he woke up from an afternoon nap and just headed out the door. His sister called after him, “Where are you going?” He said he was going to eat rice, to which she said, “Where? We have rice here at home.” But he said no–“I’m going to Kelli & Stephen’s!” She said it was difficult to explain it was only when he woke up in the morning, not every time he woke up!

His sister said that she was asleep late this morning because it is a school holiday, but she woke up to Zwe hitting her, saying, “Let’s go to Kelli & Stephen’s! Let’s go!”

Stephen and I have had to debrief after nearly every morning as we try to figure out how to do this. For one, getting up at 5 or 5:30am and having people in your home and space is a challenge. We are still figuring out how to get our showers and coffee and prayer time and breakfast ourselves (especially if we aren’t interested in the rice and fish every day of the week…). Speaking another language within five or ten minutes of waking is another feat. (My 8:30am Burmese lesson suddenly feels too late in the day for me to have enough head space!)

In addition to these physical challenges, one of the things we’ve said to each other repeatedly is that its emotionally draining. We both have said we feel regularly on the verge of tears–in some ways, so excited to see the kids so excited. To have a kid bursting at the door for breakfast, so complimentary of the meal, saying thank you repeatedly, and then off to school–it’s beautiful. It’s working! But they’re also bursting at the door. To see the kids so hungry, eating seconds and thirds–and once fourths! To see the hungry moms, the tired faces.  The kids needing medicine or their trousers sewn before school.

We’re still figuring out how to not be exhausted by 8am.

Another family of four kids, quite poor, asked on Thursday about Friday’s menu. The oldest brother then asked shyly, “How…how long will you do this?”
I answered, “For a year. For this school year we’ll serve breakfast and then we don’t know.”
He was sure I had made a mistake, “A year? Or a day? Will you have it next week?”
“Yes, we’ll have it next week. And then for a year. For the whole school year–from now until March. Every day you have school–Monday to Friday–we’ll have breakfast.”
“A whole year?!” They were all ecstatic and cheered.

We’re with Thida: we’re really happy to see the kids eating!

palpable.

by Filed Under: house calls, house church, kelli, photos, playhouse 1 Comment

The darkness is so palpable recently. Each day has sufficiently held enough trouble of its own.

We’ve just past the first deadline of the new laws put into effect for Burmese migrants. I can’t even begin to try to explain the ins and outs of it while we are all trying to sort it ourselves here in Mae Sot, expatriates and migrants and locals alike. I do know that we’ve now spent two days at the Labor Office, and both were absolute chaos–like 500 people, over 100 degrees, a legitimate fear of being trampled to death–that sort of chaos.

I also can’t even begin to capture the stress and strain it puts on our neighbors. Poverty is a strain in and of itself, and this is simply a pile of cherries on a very difficult cake to swallow.

I can’t explain the conversations: asking for loans, asking for money for rice; talking about what they should do and what their futures hold. Because no one knows.

And even for us as a couple, this season is just another pile of unknowns and another list of questions. Yet again, our lives are entirely resting on miracles and more miracles, in every direction.

Meanwhile, Daw Ma Oo and her husband are living at a Yangon Hospital, while she receives treatment for her cancer. Her two youngest sons, 12 and 16, are cared for by their other siblings in town.

The assistant pastor at our church fell 8 or 10 meters from a roof on Saturday, leaving him in the hospital with severe head wounds. It’s a miracle he’s alive now, and we’re all praying, praying, praying.

One of the little boys’ parents left him this week. The one we just got into school; the one who we remind to come to our house every morning for breakfast; the one who asks every day if we are playing today at 4pm. Overnight, he became an orphan, because his parents left and he’s in the care of his grandfather–who took care of him while his parents were in prison the first few years of his life. The sadness is palpable.

I sat in church yesterday, fighting back tears from all of this weight, as we celebrated Thai Mother’s Day. The second Mother’s Day of the year, while we wait for placement in our adoption. Sitting next to the little boy who lost his mother on Wednesday. Thinking of the family of four kids who told me they weren’t going to school Friday because it was a Mother’s Day celebration, and you only go if you have a mom. Thinking of The Breakfast Club, and the hungry, hungry kids that come every day, threatening to break me with emotion each and every morning. Thinking of how to possibly pray for all the things: the friend current in surgery to drain the blood from his brain; the friend currently in chemo; the kids currently scared of losing their mom; the kid who just lost his mom; the kids who still mourn the loss of their mom.

And then we had cake, to celebrate Mother’s Day and a first birthday of one of the kids from our community. I think I’m definitely learning how to cater to my audience when it comes to cake decor.

Maybe you feel the same? America isn’t shining at the moment, and sadness seems palpable there, too.

Not all the cake & holidays in the world can make it all go away.

And yet a light shines in the darkness. The darkness has not overcome it.

These faces still shine with joy.

And this week, their heavenly Father has fed them, again. Sometimes in our own home.

Walking with us, sitting next to me on Mother’s Day and mourning their friend, too, are our pastors. They walk this road with us and provide such sweet camaraderie.

Our home is still a place of peace for all ages.

And this guy still finds new places for us to explore. And just sit at and be.

And he takes me there for a few hours on Saturday, to just read and see the beautiful views and be best friends.

The darkness is palpable wherever we are. But the light still shines. The darkness has not overcome us.

the breakfast club | week one.

by Filed Under: house calls, kelli, photos 1 Comment

Sometimes it is so difficult to keep writing.

There is so much I want to tell you about. There is so much I want to record and never forget.

I want to tell you how we started The Breakfast Club this week. We have over forty kids coming into our house every morning between 6:30 and 8am to eat a full bowl of breakfast–rice or noodles, eggs, tofu, or  fish; tiny chopped vegetables so the kids gulp them right down. A well-balanced meal.

I wish you could see their faces or watch them pull out their Breakfast Club card like a badge. I wish you could see Thida show up with a smile at 6am or before to start cooking, to chop everything, to stir curry in a ginormous pot that covers two burners. I wish you could see, in person, what a five liter rice cooker looks like on our tiny little counter in our tiny little kitchen.

I wish you could see Thida bring them a full plate, make sure they are full before they go, and just ensure they are cared for.

I wish you could see the floor when they leave. And see how well Thida cares for that, too.

It’s working. We are watching kids come hungry and leave full. And it isn’t worst-case-scenario chaotic: just normal chaos.

But there are also so many things I want to forget, too.

I’d also have to tell you about the hungry moms. I’d have to tell you about the challenges of determining how to ensure we aren’t taken advantage of by some, but also not missing an opportunity with others. I’d have to tell you about the mom hiding in the kitchen, scarfing down the last of her son’s unfinished bowl. I’d have to tell you how, even among the malnourished, you can tell who is truly, truly poor and truly, truly hungry. You can see it in their faces and in their eyes and in their bowls.

You can feel it, and it follows you–through the day and to the next morning, when they eat two big bowls all over again.

I knew The Breakfast Club was a big task. I knew our house would be open at early every morning (the 5:30am was a surprise…), and I knew that’d be an interesting shift in our lives. I knew it’d be a new dynamic with Thida as we learn the ropes. I knew there would be people with questions about why their kids weren’t included; I knew we’d have others that would take advantage. I knew it would be a lot more shopping in the market and a lot more activity in our home.

It is all those things.

But I didn’t expect the weight of it. The joy and mourning, every morning at such an early hour. The mourning of hungry kids waiting at the front door and those so excited for a plate of food, perhaps because they are hungry from the last “meal” they had. The joy of having a hot, steaming bowl ready for them. The emotions of seeing some embarrassed because they are just so hungry.

Oh, friends–this place is heavy.

It is good, and there are good things happening. We are thankful The Breakfast Club is funded and functioning, perhaps at the best time possible while families are a bit panicked at new laws coming into play and the potential of their lives shifting. God knows, and God is good.

And God is here, waking with us each morning, listening patiently to our questions, wiping away our tears, and filling their empty bellies.

playhouse.

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Friends, Playhouse is thriving.

We open up the space four times a week in the afternoons, to catch kids and families after school and on Saturday evenings for a safe place to play. And each time, it fills up with old friends and new faces.

We still have two computers available for the kids seven & older to use, playing English games, typing practice, math drills, drawing, and Minecraft.

We have a selection of toys and games for all ages, including the newly popular board games. The board games have been an overwhelming success with the older kids and moms!

We had a team visit from my university campus ministry and do some projects in our community. They made two soccer goals out of PVC that we keep inside, with two soccer balls, until Playhouse. The kids can play in the street but easily pick them up when a car through.

The team also made a set of market items out of fabric–something I have wanted to make for a long time! They did a great job making local fruits and vegetables, a milk & juice, a bag of potato chips, and fish. They also laminated Monopoly money for the kids to pretend with. It has been such a hit!

And last, they helped us set up some more technology pieces! We had one more Raspberry Pi, and we wanted to use it to set up a gaming system. Stephen found a “RetroPie”–it’s old versions of Nintendo games that you can play with a Raspberry Pi, computer monitor, and a couple controllers. The team helped us set it up for the kids to play, and they are absolutely loving it. They really love StreetFighter and WorldCup Soccer.

It’s also fun to see how communal it is!

And last, we have had a 1st Generation iPad from when we moved. It runs very few apps these days, and we were gifted a 2nd Generation iPad last year. We wanted to get our old iPad et up for the kids to use, as another technology piece to get used to. I really think its so good for them to learn how to use their fingers on a touch screen on the iPad, as well as the mouse and computer programs; and even the controllers. I love to see how much they are able to experience and learn!

It was fun to have the team here to help us get some new activities rolling, and the kids are certainly loving it 😁

the best gift.

by Filed Under: house church, kelli, photos 4 Comments

I’ve recently gotten caught up in Matthew 7:7-11. I’ve been stumbling over it, again and again, just not sure how to swallow it down.

There have been some times I’ve felt like I was holding bread–a great, good gift we were celebrating–and it turned out to feel much more like a stone.

And sometimes I had to drag it along for a long way, feeling the weight of it rather than tasting it on my tongue.

But He does know his children, right? So what I think is a good gift may not be; and he knows what it truly good for me…I’ve heard it. I’ve thought it, and I’ve wrestled with that, too.

I keep coming back to the question: if the receiver doesn’t feel like it’s a good gift, is it a good gift? “Good” becomes a painful word in that scenario. And I’ve even sat crying out that while I’m sure this is good, I still don’t know how to swallow it. If it looks like a stone, feels like a stone, sounds like a stone, just saying it’s innately bread is just maddening.

I digress.

I’m obviously still stumbling over it.

Recently, we learned some difficult news about our adoption process here in Thailand. I’m not sure I even know what to say, except that our whole lives here require miracle after miracle, and this is no different. If we see this come to fruition, we’ll just know without a doubt that it was Lord and absolutely nothing less.

And if we find ourselves waiting or find questions unanswered; if we find it just isn’t what God has for us–well, we’ll have to find a way to swallow that down, too.

__________________

Fast forward to last Saturday, I sat snapping photos while Stephen played guitar, our little church group sang, and Yaminoo was baptized.

As I watched her say that yes, she believes in the Trinity; and yes, she believes Jesus died for her: I realized something. This is a good gift.

I have loved Yaminoo since we moved here. We met her within weeks of moving into the house, when she and her little friend group was just six years old.

And Yaminoo, she just captured our hearts. She often was watching her little brother, who we also came to love. She now watches her newest little brother, and we love him too. She spent countless hours in our home–in the mornings, during the day, and late into the evenings. She would often stay until 9 or 10pm, doing puzzles or playing games on a phone or looking over our shoulders at whatever we were working on. We knew her family life was rough at the time, and we just gave her a safe place to wait it out.

She was the first one to start cooking with me, and I loved it. She was always willing to help and just always wanted to spend time together. She was the first one we helped with a medical situation, taking her to the hospital when she broke her finger. She was the one that Stephen spilled an entire pan of (thankfully cooled) cooking oil on; right on her head and all over her.

I simply searched her name to find these stories I could link to, and the posts about her are uncountable. I’ve written for years about our prayers for her, our love for her, and the laughter we’ve shared together. In so many ways, she’s been a best friend for the past seven years.

And this week, she was baptized. This isn’t just a good gift really–this is the best gift I could have asked for. I can’t think of anyone I’ve prayed more for in the last seven years–I truly think I’ve prayed more for her than my own husband.

We have hurt for her and broken for her and celebrated with her and loved her so, so very much.

I might even say that her baptism is a better gift than getting a call that there’s a baby waiting to call us mom & dad.

And God knew that.

He knew I never would have guessed it. God knew I’d be sitting beside a beautiful lake, attempting to swallow losses in my own life while I watched her embrace her earthly father and her heavenly Father, and trying to reconcile the good gifts, the giving and taking, the mourning & rejoicing. He knew I’d be celebrating the greatest win in the community alongside one of our greater heartaches as a couple.

__________________

We’re in a pretty beautiful season in the community.

While we’re still dealing with all the same–poverty, fighting, hunger, sickness, drunkenness, crime, unemployment–we’re also seeing God bless things indescribably.

We celebrated nine baptisms last week. Mwei Mwei is back from Bangkok; God arranged a free sewing training for her and provided a machine for her to sew at our house. San Aye is thriving–she has a new tooth, her children are healthy, her marriage is improving, she is learning new skills and she has a steady job. Flour & Flowers is successful, making ends meet and successfully providing part-time jobs for four women. A young couple paid off their loan after two years and started a savings account. The Breakfast Club is funded and we are the process of measuring kids and creating a system. Children and parents are filling our home four afternoons a week to play and learn.

So many good things. And watching Yaminoo’s baptism simply illuminated them all for me.

And I thought of John the Baptist. In both Matthew 11 & Luke 7, the Gospels tell the story of John the Baptist in prison. He writes to Jesus–whom he baptized, whom he declared “The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world”–asking if he is “the one to come” or if they should wait for someone else.

After declaring him the Messiah, he asks from prison if He is the Messiah.

And Jesus replies, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:4-6)

For some, the Messiah looks like healing, cleansing, hearing, hope; and for others, it looks like prison. It looks like a life in the wilderness that ends in a beheading.

But “blessed is the one who is not offended.”

Blessed is John, if he is not offended that the Messiah to him looks like beheading. Erwin McManus paraphrases, “The blind see, the lame walk, the dead are being raised, but you, John, you are going to die.”

What if that is not so different for us?

People are baptized, women are able to work with their children, women are protected from abuse, children are able to stay with their families, hungry children are fed, second chances are being given, sickness is being healed, truth is being spoken…but you–you might not get what you want. You might study language forever. You might be tired at the end of every single day. You might not be able to adopt a baby. You might not have a family of your own.

But God is still good. And blessed are those that not offended by Him.

I don’t know if that is was God truly has for us; of course I don’t know–but I do feel like that is what he asking me to embrace right now. I feel like He is asking me to embrace the unbelievably good gifts and unbelievable miracles that He is handing us, day after day, in the community, and hold those in the same hands that are mourning the questions, the unknowns, and the fears in our personal lives.

baptisms!

by Filed Under: house church, kelli, photos 1 Comment

We were able to celebrate nine baptisms this past Saturday! This did change from the number I last said, because, well, I’m not really sure. Whoops! Nine people total were baptized–five from our community and four are other connections from the church. Of those from our community, three we know very well and have for years; two we have met more recently.

We all met at our house first, at 9am on Saturday. Of course the neighbors came at 8:30am, so we took a photo of just our community group, played songs and chatted for a bit while we waited.

I’ll just tell you now that smiling in photo is very unpopular. We’re working on getting the kids to smile, against all cultural norms, and look! It worked on the two we spend every day with 😁  So despite the many frowns you will see in the following photos, it was a joyous day!

And then the group from church arrived.

Our pastor prayed, shared about baptism, and we had a cake that I had made. Cake is very, very popular in both the community and the church, so I try to find celebratory excuses to treat them!

We also gave new towels as gifts to the nine being baptized.

We then piled into two cars and headed out to the nearby reservoir. It’s just a few kilometers from our house, but right when it came into view our neighbors were ooh-ing and ahh-ing about how beautiful it was. I often forget how little they leave our neighborhood.

It was really stunning, and one of the most picturesque baptisms I could imagine.

I won’t show you photos of each baptism–but they are beautiful, and will be printed for each person to hang in their homes!–but I will include Yaminoo.

There is another post coming about what it means to see her be baptized, but for now, this is beautiful enough.

😍😍😍😍😍

So much to celebrate, despite the photos capturing less-than-thrilled faces ☺️

accentuate.

by Filed Under: kelli, on the house, onehouse, photos, playhouse 1 Comment

Some seasons it becomes vitally important that you accentuate the positives. And that is precisely this post: when I can’t find the words for all the situations around us, we’ll just accentuate the positives.

We made it to Bangkok last week, and overall had a good trip. We drove there so we could make a trip to Ikea (!!), which is a lot of good things in one sentence! We had a car that made it all the way to Bangkok and back with no problems (thanks, Hagelbergs!); Stephen also rocked Bangkok traffic for a week, which is quite an accomplishment. And we went to Ikea!

And one of the hotels we stayed in had the elevators covered in denim fabric?! It wasn’t a win. We stood in the middle so we didn’t touch the sides! 😂

We successfully completed our adoption course with about thirty other couples from around the world.

That’s us: we’re PAPs! That is, Prospective Adoptive Parents. I don’t know if they use this reference worldwide, but I would think any countries that use Pap smears wouldn’t. Just a personal opinion.

And since we’re accentuating the positives, I’ll just say that we finished the course!

Then we headed just outside of the city to visit our Burmese friends working in local factories. In short: Musana moved back to live with her mom, step-dad, & sister at the end of last year. While we were in America, her grandmother & cousin, Zen Yaw, moved there, too, to join the whole family.

The good part? The family is all together. Zen Yaw is reunited with his mom & dad, who he hasn’t lived with since he was an infant. Musana is with her family, and they are all in the apartment building. The grandmother has less responsibility, and they are overall doing better–the adults have jobs and are paid minimum wage; the apartments have running water and real walls; they are eating better.

The bad part? It’s pretty far from our street in Mae Sot, and we’re sad about that! They also aren’t able to go to school where they are, and there aren’t many kids to play with.

 But, we got to spend two days with them, and that was lovely. Zen Yaw remembered us and warmed up to us quickly; it was so fun to have him curl up into our laps. He also is doing really well for the amount of trauma he’s experienced in his 4 years.

They really are both doing so well emotionally, and they light up just having someone to play with. We played Chutes & Ladders, practiced some English workbooks, played games on our phones, and chatted with the adults. We try to bring them some toys, too, that are more long-lasting: dolls she can play with repeatedly; crafts they can do; English workbooks; a punching bag for Zen Yaw! And Stephen loaded up some videos onto a flash drive, so they can learn some English and listen to Bible stories, which they were oh-so-excited about.

As sad as it was to see them for such a short time, I can’t minimize the miracle it is to be able to see them after they’ve moved hours away. And we are truly glad to see them doing well and be able to reconnect with them often and continue to love on them any way we can.

And, because we drove, we wanted to find a place nearer to them to stay. We usually take a couple hours of train rides & taxis out to their house from the city. This time we found a resort about twenty minutes from them and decided to give it a try.

It was a WIN. It was set on 70 acres along the river, with beautiful paths and a lovely swimming pool.

They had three restaurants there, with food prepared from their on-site organic gardens. They also make soaps, teas, and other products organically right on their property, which was pretty great.

We got to go paddle boating out on the lake!

And now we’re back to Mae Sot, settled into our great new house and community space! We are loving it. Playhouse has gone so well in the afternoons, with kids coming from all over the neighborhood, and often parents, too.

We’re seeing moms coming with their young toddlers, sitting to play with them, read to them, and teach them. This is what we always hoped and envisioned, and it’s working!

I did attempt to teach Guess Who in Burmese, which was a bit of a disaster. Oh, well!

This week also held International Milk Day–who knew that was a thing?! It really just means milk was on sale and seemed a good treat for the kiddos!

This weekend, we braved a Bingo night! The first week we got back from America, Nyein Nyein asked when we’d have Bingo. (Nyein Nyein is an adult–one of the moms who bakes bread every Friday!😂) We recently have had a number of expatriates move back and leave us with some donations for the community. Since they are difficult to distribute evenly and fairly, Bingo is a great way to make it a fun community event and less of a stampede 😀 And we had SO much! In the photo below, the entire corner behind me was stuffed with clothes, shoes, bags, household items, toys, and other treasures.

And since this is all about accentuating the positive, I won’t dwell on the woman that grabbed a pile of things at the end and ran out the door…😳😡😕😡😣😡

Ultimately, it was chaotic and fun and everybody loved it.  We’ll do it again in another six months when our bravery has returned!

And, while the photo below is pathetic, it was a fun part of the week! Stephen is working on pieces of his OneHouse album and had a friend record some vocals and keys this week. It’s exciting to see projects moving forward, even if slowly.

So, here’s to accentuating the positives! Makes for easier blog-writing 😀

renovations.

by Filed Under: kelli, photos, stephen 1 Comment

This is what I wrote my friend recently about our “house renovations” and on doing such things in Thailand:

Renovations in general are horrible in this country. Imagine how long it should take you, and then double it. And have something go horribly wrong, and try to fix it in another language. And then add three more days.

And as it turns out, that was an understatement.

Upon returning to Mae Sot, we knew we had a small window of time to get things settled and move into the house next door. We had about a month before we had to be back in Bangkok for our adoption class, at which point we wanted to have our updated photos taken to give to our caseworker.

We put a door between our two houses, which was estimated to take a day. It took 3 1/2 days. They scored & cut a beautiful hole in the wall–perfect lines and beautiful. They fit the door frame into the wall: beautiful.

And then they put the door in, measured to fit the frame and made by the same company.  No go. The door didn’t fit. They had to trim the door on top & bottom, and in removing the frame again, two large chunks of concrete fell from their gorgeous hole.

So we patched it up and tried options B, C, & D. Fast forward three days–and hey, we have a door! And it looks good. And most thankfully, we’re still friends with Matt.

We then started to paint our new house: the first room (for baby bunny!) went perfectly. Two coats, and beautiful.

The second room (our bedroom): While we’ve been gone, fire ants built a nest in our air con, so when I turned it on while painting–trying to survive the 100 degree temps–I suddenly felt bites all over my neck and shoulders. Fire ants invaded the room, falling from the aircon and pouring out in every direction.  We decided to sweat it out while painting and call the air con guy to come clean it.

And then it took five coats to get it even. Five coats of paint in 100 degree temperatures.

And then last: the studio & main living area & kitchen-will-be-laundry room. We called a friend for help. And as it turns out, she painted houses for a summer job years ago, and is amazing at it. So while I did about 20% of the room, she NAILED it.  That was God’s little gift to keep us afloat.

Then we were just days away from moving our bedroom over to the new place. As we sat in bed watching a show, there was a distinct scratching noise under the bed. Very distinct, and very alive. We were pretty sure it was a mouse or rat scratching the plastic bag that holds our Christmas tree.

So, at 10:30pm, just a couple days before we’d be cleaning it all out anyway, we unloaded everything from under our bed. And guys, that’s like our attic. It is our only storage space in the entire house, so that has all our Christmas decor, suitcases, camping gear…it all came out. Dusty and everything.

And no creature to be found. But he was still scratching.

Now Stephen laid down on the floor and started looking closer with a flashlight. There was definitely something alive, but stuck behind our bamboo headboard. Evidently stuck, because he wasn’t coming out. And with the shadow he was making, it appeared more stick-like than we anticipated.

We started to wonder if it was a snake? But how was it scratching against something?

We dug closer, and in the end found the world’s biggest (and dumbest) dragonfly. A dragonfly. About 4″ long, it was stuck behind our headboard and frantically flailing it’s wings, thus sounding like scratching against the bamboo.

I guess I’m glad it wasn’t a mouse|rat|snake.

And I guess it did push us to move things and get them sorted sooner, since now the entire contents of our house were scattered around the community space.

For yet another two weeks, we spent all day every day working around the house: starting about 6am and working to 3:30pm, when we shoved everything into side rooms so that the kids could come to play. And then we’d pull it all back out at 6pm and work until late in the evening.

And then we had bread days strewn in there, when we’d try to move everything aside to make piles of bread and have toddlers running around the house all day.

I don’t even have the words for the chaos.

In the end, we have moved into the new side of the house! We put in additional electrical outlets for Stephen’s studio and the kitchen area. We built shelving for the laundry room & bathroom, all of our books and games, and for Stephen’s recording & music gear. We have a little room set up for when baby bunny joins us.

We also rearranged the community side and absolutely love it. There is so much more space for people to come in! We have a room for the babies and toddlers, complete with soft flooring and baby-safe toys. We have an area of toys for the younger kids (trains, cars, and simple puzzles), and still another area for the older kids (coloring, board games, & difficult puzzles). We have computer tables set up and a larger sitting area for parents within view of the littles. We are currently working on one more technology area–we have a simple computer set up to play extremely simple video games (Tetris, Mario, and other free games from the 80s) that the older kids love. We’re also trying to get our old iPad set up to play a few simple English games. Both give the kids some fun and help them learn basic technology.

And my favorite: the reading nook. I love that the kids love books!

The kitchen is also re-designed with bread in mind. I have separated out my ingredients into what the bakers use and what they don’t, making it easier to know where things are and help them take responsibility for cleaning their area. We have also set up a Housewares room–the Warehouse, if you will–that has a shelf of all bread ingredients. This will help us to very quickly see what we need each week and give them more responsibility in it all. The other side of the shelf is for sewing projects, as this is now the sewing room, too! It’s so nice to have the sewing machine in a closed room while kids are in and out of the house. Lastly, this room will be the storehouse for The Breakfast Club, too, including dishes and bulk foods.

So, despite the work that took us all of four weeks and a whole lot of chaos to accomplish, we love it. And then we left the next day for Bangkok. We’re already looking forward to being home to enjoy it all!

the community carries on.

by Filed Under: housewares, kelli, photos, schoolhouse 1 Comment

Upon returning to Mae Sot, we jumped head-first into renovations on our new addition: we are now renting the two houses of our duplex, and we’re working to make them one cohesive space for our family & the community. We’re also racing to have this all finished before we go to Bangkok for our adoption class, so that our case worker can see photos of our new space.

But while we tear down & build & paint, the community carries on. Life doesn’t stop!

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Our friend, Mwei Mwei, is back from Bangkok! Her whole family is here and so dear to us, and we have been so sad to have her be in Bangkok over the past year. She returned just a week after us, as her mom said it was just too hard on her and them. It has been a sticky situation all along: they are like family to us. Mwei Mwei is like a little sister, and her mom, Thida, is one of my closest friends. We had so many conversations about our concerns with her being there: the risk of her job, if it was above board, the dangers in Bangkok for 14-year-old girls without papers or family!  We told her many times we’d find her a job here if that’s what it took.

So we are! We are working on a sewing project for her to start in our home alongside San Aye, and possibly some childcare options in the community. While we aren’t a big fan of hiring a 14-year-old, we recognize the alternatives and want to make sure those don’t happen. We are also trying to determine how to help her continue some education even if she isn’t enrolled in school. Pray for wisdom as we maneuver this in the coming weeks.

And upon her return, we really wanted her to feel celebrated! We made a cake for the family and snapped a photo when most of them were at our house for Playhouse. (We are still working on smiling during photos!) Mwei Mwei is in red on the right.

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Flour & Flowers continues each week, even in the construction zone! We are baking bread and still keep growing! Daw Ma Oo is still in Yangon, receiving chemotherapy & radiation for her cancer, and possibly a surgery this week, as well. In the mean time, her family is working together to continue the flower sales in a few local markets and with our deliveries.

We know they are having a hard time making ends meet: for all of them to eat, to pay for her treatment, and to get her youngest two sons registered for school. We decided we wanted to find a way to have our Flour & Flower customers get involved. The first week of May, we did a Flowers Fundraiser for her family: we bought all the flowers that week, so that any bouquets purchased gave 100% of sales to her family.  We told everyone in town and had a great response! We were able to give over 3,000 baht (around $100) to her family to help with medical expenses and immediate needs as they function without their main breadwinner.  Even amidst the sadness of her cancer diagnosis, it has been encouraging to see the Burmese community and expat community support her in anyway they can, whether it be financial gifts, buying flowers, making meals, and everything in between.

 And this little friend, whose mom is one of the bread bakers, is always keeping us on our toes! He’s cuter than ever, starting to talk, and loves small spaces, some of which he gets stuck in.

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Last Monday around 8:30pm, San Aye came to our door asking if we could take her to the market. I was a little confused–as most of Mae Sot is closed by that time–as to where and why we’d be going. She said there was a “big, cheap market” in town that had school uniforms for just $1 per shirt, which is less than half of what you’d usually pay. She wanted to get uniforms for her son and her nephews, Daw Ma Oo’s sons. Since we are always looking to support the kids staying in school and are looking for ways to help Daw Ma Oo’s family, this seemed a great opportunity.

Three of us climbed on the motorbike and headed out. I tried to clarify that it was definitely open at such a late hour and where this market might be. Was it in town for a holiday?

Turns out it’s Tesco. The big, cheap market.

San Aye had never been, so it was so interesting to see her response. There is an escalator going up, and she paused, scared to get on. She grabbed my arm for dear life as I tried to tell her when to step and where. It was very Elf-like in the end!  As we left, her sister-in-law and I were in front, headed down the escalator again. Forgetting her fear earlier, we climbed on, only to leave her screaming at the top! I had to turn around and race back up the escalator to help her get on!

The uniforms were some pretty incredible prices: $1 shirts, $1.50 for skirts and shorts, and $3 for the younger kids shoes. We decided it might help others in the community, so I went to some houses and asked if they’d like me to get any for them and they could pay us back.

A week later, I’ve been seven times to Tesco and bought hundreds of dollars worth of uniforms in small $2-$10 loans!

At one point, San Aye realized the shoes she got for her son didn’t actually match each other–they were the same size but different styles. I tried to exchange them for her, but they were sold out in that size. I returned home later and found that I had actually bought the other set in that size that was mismatched, so we could swap them out! I guess that’s what happens when you’re buying most of the inventory! 😂

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Oh, and They They built Paris for us. 😁

birthday.

by Filed Under: kelli, on the house, photos Leave a Comment

My birthday fell just two days after we landed in Mae Sot, so we decided to do a little shindig to see lots of folks! We initially planned to have a meal for everyone and have the neighbors help, but when we came home to no water, we needed a new plan. We simplified it down to cake!

I made fourteen batches of the “depression cake” recipe, in strawberry, vanilla & chocolate. Thankfully, I had lots of help 😀

Inspired by the controversial Starbucks unicorn drink all over social media, I added extra pink into the strawberry, plus made bright purple icing, and topped it all with sprinkles. I figured the neighbors would love it! And they did.

We also got to play a few rounds of Sorry while the cakes baked! It’s so good to be back 😍

😂😂😂😂

Some of the girls were all dressed up for the party!