This past Saturday, we threw an epic party for my dad. It was the work of an entire year to get all five siblings on the same continent and over 150 people into one room to celebrate him!  But he turns sixty this year, he’s one of the greatest guys we all know, and he is the BEST person to throw a surprise party for, so it was completely worth it!

We started with snacks, of course.

And then we waited for the big arrival…

…which did not disappoint. He was shocked.

Then he found my sister, Janel, the only one he didn’t know was already in town. We were missing a son-in-law and four grandkids, but it’s been awhile since all the sisters were in one room. 

So many friends and family drove so far, and we are so thankful!  It was fun to have a room full of people there to celebrate Dad.

Then we did a little quiz on Dad and got a few laughs! Here’s to Steven, the best emcee I know.

And then friends shared their favorite memories & stories of Dad and told him just how great he is!

Of course we had to light 60 candles, despite the smoke alarm risk…

We love you, Dad! Hope you enjoyed your epic party!

In between Christmas and heading back to a couple months stateside, we were looking for a little piece of calm. Really, just in the midst of our day to day we look for that!  And so we went camping for a couple days earlier this week!

Thailand has a number of national parks, and at least for this visit, it was free for us to camp! We also have been collecting some camping gear that we’ve found on sale, including a $10 tent and $10 camping stove. And so off we went. Being cold season here, the weather was absolutely perfect–chilly enough at night to love our double sleeping bag and wear sweatshirts, and never too hot during the day.

It was right up in the mountains, just about an hour from our house. There were stunning views in every direction.

Our little spot was tucked up perfectly in the trees.

With all of it’s flaws, our car is perfect for us and very, very perfect for camping adventures.

We read a lot. We have been reading Pride & Prejudice aloud together for many months and managed to finally finish! Stephen also finished the entire Hobbit & Lord of the Rings series. I am still making my way through Come Be My Light, a collection of Mother Teresa’s personal writings and letters, but absolutely loving it. It has been a refreshing read.

We headed off on a hike one day, and wound our way through the jungle. In addition to spotting a monkey in the trees, we discovered that there is a caged bear in the national park, not a great distance from where we were sleeping. It was an odd thing to have in a national park, but he was big and interesting to look at I guess. We did discover that his door had holes large enough to allow my whole arm through, and likely his arm and or nose; so it might not be the safest. We tested this while he was lazily on the other side of the enclosure, if you were curious.

The hike was advertising the largest Krabak tree in Thailand. While large–16.1 meters around and over 50 meters high–it was kind of unimpressive. But the hike was nice!

I was far more impressed by the less giant Krabak tree that had fallen across the trail and through half of the jungle. Whoa.

It was pretty lovely. We are hoping this is a regular adventure plan for us to rest away from our house (since our house sometimes isn’t very restful) and explore more of Thailand’s national parks!

Stephen has been so busy recently as he tries to get four projects finished before we head back to the States in just weeks.

The first one is complete: a cajon he built himself! He and a friend have been busy building a number of cajons from local materials, one of which was for Stephen’s birthday gift this year.

I mean, the guy can play every instrument he touches, and now he can add this to the list of instruments he’s built!

Today we took our usual trip to the tea shop, and here are a few highlights!

First, it was so fun to see everyone utilizing Christmas gifts we gave them! This hair clip and purse were a part of her gift, and two other women had little purses with them we had given. So glad they are enjoying these little gifts!

We had two little three-year-olds with us. Nothing like sugaring up the kids with tea at 8am! This one crashed on my shoulder within the hour.

Stephen taught the kids to clink their tea mugs! He is so good at making situations fun and/or funny, with or without language!

Pyint Soe loves vegetables, and it’s amazing!  He finished my salad for me, even after the mothers all declared it gross and too sour.

After our tea shop stop, we headed off to the market. Per usual, everyone goes in a different direction and Stephen and I frantically try not to lose anyone. This is our only goal for the market: leave with the same number of people you came with.

It is much more difficult than you’d think.

San Aye has a new little pork shop on the street, so she was purchasing items for that. In addition to garlic and chili sauce and little stools, she bought a lot of pork. It was at the pork shop that Na Leh Ton fell asleep on my shoulder waiting for his mom to buy kilos upon kilos of pork parts.

{Side note: One of the things she purchased is a pig head skin–they often sell the whole pig head here, but this was the just the skin off the head. It was whole ears and a whole nose connected by floppy skin. I didn’t even know this was purchase-able, and it was disgusting. I’m also confused as to what you use from this? Is facial skin more tasty than back skin? Meat here is just one discovery after another.}

It was also about this time, as Na Leh Ton was sleeping, that I was feeling very faint. I have been sick for the past couple days and am currently on medicine, so this isn’t abnormal, just unfortunate.

San Aye & I walked back to the main market area where I sat on her newly-purchased stools where her mother-in-law sells flowers. I sat with the many kilos of pork, tofu, and chili sauce already purchased while she went to get the rest.

 I was sitting where the sellers sit–a Burmese job–and holding a little Burmese baby in the middle of the Burmese market. The only white girl in sight.

I was asked many times if it was my baby. I was stared at even more times than that. This is probably the only situation yet where I have received that many stares.

But it’s worth it. It’s so fun to hear strangers ask the neighbors who we are, and for them to respond that we are friends, that we live in the same neighborhood, that we are learning language. To hear someone defend you and speak highly of you to others is a wonderful thing to hear, even if you only understand bits and pieces of it!

By 22 December, we had purchased and wrapped over 150 gifts for the community! Better yet, we did this secretly. We snuck in huge loads of purchases, hid bags in the studio, and wrapped behind closed doors and closed curtains for over a week.

Some of the kids did see us bring a few bags in and see a few wrapped presents, but we had a gift exchange at the church Christmas party on Sunday, so all of them thought we were preparing for that. We finished up the rest on Monday morning, hid them away, and went off to Chiang Mai for a couple days of rest!

As we were leaving town, the kids were pretty sad that we were leaving, since that meant we had the dinner and no gifts came with it; we felt a little mean. But we also knew Christmas morning would be so fun for them!

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Chiang Mai was absolutely wonderful. We were were there for just two days, but we had such fun shopping around to buy each other Christmas presents, seeing huge Christmas trees and holiday sales, & enjoying some delicious Western food!

{peppermint mocha!}

{gingerbread pancakes on Christmas Eve}

We also planned this trip so we could see the third installment of The Hobbit, which Stephen wasn’t going to miss.

Our hotel was pretty great for the $16 per night we paid for it, but this was the doorway to the parking lot. It felt a little weird when someone held the door for you and then you jumped up inside, but whatever!  It’s just a good thing I packed dresses with leggings.

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Due to a small car breakdown (that Stephen fixed roadside in under thirty minutes!), we were a little delayed getting back to Mae Sot. We pulled into town about 9pm, and still needed to wrap all the Christmas gifts we had gotten each other (since we had just purchased them in Chiang Mai) and put all the community Christmas gifts into families. This second task took far longer that I would’ve guessed, and we loaded up the car with the first set of presents at 2am on Christmas day.

We then went to sleep for just a few hours, but set the alarm for 5:20am to start handing out presents. Since most of the community is up by 6am or earlier, we wanted to get the presents out as they woke up. Now that those we know are spread out into multiple little neighborhoods and complexes, we don’t purchase presents for everyone there (since we don’t know them all), but this can make it awkward to give out gifts. We thought we’d start early and make it as least awkward as possible. It also gave us a chance to give the community a traditional Christmas experience of early morning excitement!

This didn’t go exactly as we had planned.

(How many times do I say that? It seems to be a part of every story…)

The first house was very clearly sleeping, and we quickly decided it wasn’t as fun as we thought to be the first thing they see on Christmas morning–simply confusing! We ended up sitting in our car on the side of the road for half an hour playing Ticket to Ride until everyone woke up!

So much for our ambitious 5am wake up.

We delivered presents for over three hours and had such fun. One fourteen-year-old girl ran to the door, grabbed my neck and gave me a kiss on the cheek, repeatedly saying thank you.  When we went to the house of another man that we’ve been taking to the hospital regularly, he quickly got dressed and apologized he wasn’t ready to go to the hospital! When we told him we were just here for Christmas presents and he saw we had one for each family member, his face lit up. At another house we delivered presents and then heard a little ten year old boy yelling with glee as he opened it while we pulled away.

And now, it has been so fun to see the women in sweaters we bought them or wearing a new shirt. Some little girls have new little purses at their sides, and a group of boys now have their own football–now bearing their name!  There are new headbands and longyis and nail polish and polo shirts floating around the neighborhood, and its so fun to see their joy.

We are so thankful that our home church made it possible for us to do this again this year. It is one of the highlights of being here and such a great opportunity to love on the community!

Christmas is an odd thing to celebrate in a city that doesn’t really celebrate it and where you don’t have family. Even so, we’re certainly trying, and it’s been fun in its own weird way!

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One of the traditional Christmas celebrations in Mae Sot is caroling. It is a pretty significant event that churches prepare for weeks and months. For many churches and groups, it is a sort of fundraiser; there is a sort of expectation that you’ll make a small donation to the crew. Most years we’ll get at least three or four church groups at our door, and its always fun! The neighbors come around to listen, too. We love to hear the traditional carols in different languages as well as a few local Christmas favorites that we’ve come to know.

Our favorite carolers this year were the kids from The Refuge. The Refuge is a small children’s home just outside of Mae Sot, and I have been taking Karen lessons from their house mother for over a year. They are such a lovely family themselves, since she & her husband just had twin girls this year, and their whole house of kids is a great little picture of family.

And they were excellent singers!

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For our last flower delivery before Christmas, we thought we’d encourage San Aye to make some cookies to give to her regular customers. So many of the women and families purchase flowers week after week, and it seemed like a great opportunity to say thanks!

I imagined San Aye & I baking cookies and decorating them while her son played in the community space quietly. It was fun, picturesque, and the cookies looked amazing.

This was clearly over-optimistic. Four women joined, which is more fun, but a little less calm & organized. They also brought their children along, who brought their friends…so there were about twenty kids having a free for all in the community space, while I attempted to teach the traditions of American Christmas cookie baking.

Having never cutout cookies or used icing before, they were masterpieces for sure. It turned out to be quite a lot of fun, quite a lot of mess, and very festive-feeling!

Stephen & I both went to deliver flowers as it was a big day–being right before Christmas, people tend to purchase more flowers to decorate and we also had the cookies to give out. It was the two of us plus San Aye and her son Na Le Ton. It was actually his third birthday, so he came along to celebrate! San Aye’s mother-in-law, who runs the flower business, came to join us, too.

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On the Sunday before Christmas, our Burmese church hosted it’s Christmas service & party. We had fifty people from the community join us, which is great!

However, forty of those were children, and it was chaotic to say the absolute least.

These fifty people also required four trips to get there, and four trips to get home…and that still puts at least twelve people in each load in a Suzuki meant to hold four.

Stephen was a champ.

The church wasn’t expecting so many people, so we actually ran out of seats and food for lunch. We also temporarily lost two five year old boys.

It was a pretty rough morning all around, but everyone left with a gift from the exchange that they all seemed pretty excited for. We also brought back all the people we took, which turned out to be a significant accomplishment!

This was our first year to participate in our church Christmas party, and we still need to work on making it all a little smoother. Our community dinners are still improving, so we’ll keep learning and trying!

{And this kid: aren’t his little white tennis shoes, crossed little legs, and tiny fingers just adorable? I really love this photo of little Doh Doh.}

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Our home church had a candlelight service on Sunday night, which turned out wonderfully. As it was mostly worship, Stephen coordinated a lot of it. He did such a good job and is right in his element when playing an instrument.

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We read through an Advent this year by John Piper. He had it as a PDF online, so we were just going to print a copy to use. However, I wasn’t keen to pay to print 60 pages, so I put four-to-a-page and printed it at a shop. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected, but it seemed read-able. And if I printed it again two-to-a-page, I’d be very near to the 60 pages I was avoiding!

I went with it, despite the shop owners questioning look.

I cut up each of the pages to divide them into our Advent calendar, and I read them aloud.

Stephen laughed pretty much every night. He couldn’t move or bump me while I read, because its hard enough to read them as is! We also don’t know if I read all the verse references correctly because tiny italicized numbers are very difficult to decipher.

Oh, well.

On Saturday, we hosted a community dinner for Christmas. This is one of the most fun meals to host all year, as we get a chance to just tell the community how much we love them and the reason we are here: because we are Christians, we love Jesus, and we want to love them as Jesus does.

Typically, the community dinner also kicks off the community gifts, but we mixed it up a bit this year. The community was quite obviously expecting the norm, and that is just never fun. As soon as we set up the Christmas tree, kids were asking if we were going to give presents again. In an effort to maintain an element of surprise, we’ve been playing the “I don’t understand” card for nearly a month. It’s been quite funny to have kids trying so hard to think of the English words, wishing we knew more Burmese; we even had kids drawing pictures of us giving out presents or get other kids to act out a scene to communicate it to us. Pretty much every time, we end with something along the lines of, “Yes! Christmas! Very good!” It’s been fun, and that is probably our first high.

It also gave us a day to focus on a meal and time with the community, and provided a few more days to finish purchasing, sorting, and wrapping over 150 gifts in secret.

High: Thidar is amazing. She is a mother of seven, a new grandmother of one last week, and just lovely. She has helped us coordinate meals in the past, but we felt bad asking her with her new granddaughter less than two weeks old. However, she offered. She heard we were planning the dinner, and offered to coordinate it all. It went off wonderfully, and we are so grateful for her.

High: The market was fun, as always. We headed off with Thidar early on Saturday morning and had over 40 kilos of rice, 20 kilos of chicken, 5 or 6 kilos of potatoes, 10 kilos of oranges, and all the necessary ingredients by 10am. We simply give her the money and let her teach us the ropes.

High: We had a team of chefs started by 12pm.

High: We asked our friend to come translate for us. He has a new job now but was willing to use his day off to help us. He’s a great translator, and as he’s a Christian, too, he understands and translates well for us. He came from 12pm to 8pm and was a huge help.

Low: With a translator there, we had some business to sort out. We met with some specific families, and it was hard. They were hard, draining conversations as we discussed drunkenness & family disputes, broken families, hurt, and poverty. It was just a reminder of desperate these families are for hope.

High: When talking with people, seeing their pain and watching them wipe away tears makes ache and cry and hurt, you know just how much you love them.

High: A hug can go a long way.

High: In the midst of these conversations, a group of ladies used the translator to tell us they think we are “angels dropped down from heaven.” We laughed pretty hard at this, particularly because it was in the middle of a conversation where we thought we had helped the situation and really we hadn’t been as successful as we hoped. We would be the worst angels ever.

Low: Someone brought by a snake they found just behind all of our houses. It was big.

Low: That snake was made into a curry. It was a female snake, and as with many animals here, the immature eggs are apparently the highlight of the curry.

High: Our house was full of people all day long. It was so fun to have everyone so comfortable, filling our couches and chairs.

High: This wasn’t a disaster! They have really learned the ways of a Western house, if you will–don’t stand on the couch, don’t wipe your hands on the couch and walls, don’t flood the kitchen while you wash dishes because the water has no where to go, etc.

Low: We did have one glass break of a favorite little family treasure from my childhood. Sad.

High: We left our house open as we walked around talking to different individuals and families, and while we transported people home and such. We had people in and out washing dishes, cooking, serving, sitting, and chatting. For the area of town we live in, this is pretty amazing, and just an example of how much trust has grown between us. We really all just help each other out and look out for each other, and it’s a really beautiful thing!

High: Stephen did a great job sharing our love and our heart and our faith.

High: We managed to serve the food in an organized manner! I’m telling you, we are learning a lot. Previous years have been a stampede of people grabbing food, hoarding food, and trampling people. This year we gathered everyone in the street for Stephen to share a little and pray for the food. We then had a team of people come into the house to serve and the gate was opened just enough to fit one single file line through. We had two guys manning the gate, and we were able to serve people in a line! I realize this doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, but IT IS.  It means that we had enough food to serve well over 200 people and not one of those 200 people were trampled.

Low: There was still a little hoarding. It seems to come with the territory.

High: It was so fun having everyone together after a pretty rough year for everyone. Six months ago we walked out of our house and thought all of these friendships were over, and God has given us more time and more amazing opportunities!

High: When one of the men came in to get food, perhaps already a little tipsy, and shouted, “YAY STEPHEN! YAY KELLI! YAY STEPHEN! YAY KELLI!” while clapping loudly and awkwardly. It made me laugh out loud.

High: This was easiest cleanup of a community event yet. I did one extra mop-through (using soap, as they had just used water), and that was it. This is an EPIC HIGH. Previous community events have taken days to get all the chicken grease off the walls, to drain the kitchen of water with food floaties in it, to pick up all the Q-tips that were used to clean out ears and then stuck to the wall. This was such a relief.

High: All of our kitchen utensils were returned! Again, I know this sounds like a horrible thing to say, but it’s significant. At previous community events, we’ve lost towels, mixing bowls, knives, cutting boards, serving spoons, cups, bowls, and more. It’s difficult to know what is intentional and what is simply misplaced, but we have come to expect it. On Saturday night I realized I had lost two utensils, one being a really nice spatula from the West that Stephen got me for Christmas last year. {You really value odd things when you live somewhere else. A nice spatula that your husband hunted down for you in another country is a real treasure.} We counted it as a loss and thought we’d just have to search for another, but a-ha! Both were returned to us on Sunday. And really, it isn’t about the spatula–it communicates a level of respect for property, for each other, and for friendship. Friendship becomes more valuable than whatever it is you can get out of it, whether its a spatula or a free meal or a Christmas gift. Again, this is a pretty epic high.

High: Post-cleaning, a group of women and children gathered on the porch to tell stories and laugh. This is always a good thing!

I think I’ll leave it at that. It was one of the loveliest community dinners yet!

Every Saturday our Burmese church hosts a children’s program for migrant kids in local communities. They pick everyone up in multiple trips with the church van and cart everyone to the church for songs, a bible story, coloring, and snacks.

Many of the kids in our neighborhood go each week, which is part of the reason we chose this Burmese church to begin attending and partner with.

This Saturday was their Christmas program–an extra-special Saturday where they expect nearly double the usual kids. We decided to come out and help manage the chaos, as well as spend some time with the kids from our community.

We discovered quickly that “our kids”–those from the communities surrounding us that we know from English classes and medical needs and community events–were nearly half of the kids that came! They were absolutely thrilled we came and nearly knocked us over with hugs and high fives when we arrived.

This is a jelly candy container that–as a bonus–you can suction to the side of your face when you finish!

Because there are multiple car loads of kids picked up, we had about 45 minutes of waiting. After you give hugs and take photos, things get crazy very quickly. So we tried Duck, Duck, Goose in the form of Duck, Duck, Pig (since we didn’t know the Burmese word for goose) and waited for the rest of the kids to arrive.

Then the fun began! We sang songs, listened to the Christmas story, and played a few balloon-popping games.

A lot of the littlest ones felt asleep, since it was prime napping time in the heat of the day.

Then the older kids had some competitions, including singing and coloring. And the best part–the kids have been memorizing Bible verses! They had a competition to see who could recite the most.

It was so fun to cheer on the kids and then celebrate their wins, particularly to see some of the kids rattle off verses!

We then ended with a meal of rice, fried chicken, and vegetable soup, and the church gave out small presents to all the kids.

And four hours later, the van filled up some of our kids and we headed home with a full car, really thankful that the Christmas parties have begun!

Another babe has arrived safely this week!

This was quite fun to be a part of, because we know this family so well. Beh Jaw & Thidar have seven children, and we were here when their youngest, Jor Lay, was born two years ago. He was born in the midst of a flood and spent some of his first few days at our house.

Now, Thidar’s second oldest, July Oo, just had her first, making Beh Jaw & Thidar grandparents! Two-year-old Jor Lay is an uncle, along with all the other siblings that we see day in and day out. We love this whole family.

It was so fun to be a part of celebrating July Oo’s wedding just over a year ago, and now we are watching her start her family. It is so fun to see the relationships grow and see how dear these friendships become!

It is also fun to see these beautiful Burmese babies and have the privilege of holding them just hours and days after birth. She’s beautiful!

Her name is Zu Zu Zin. It is mostly a family name, but it reminds me of little Zu Zu in It’s a Wonderful Life, and it’s a perfect name for a December baby.

Mondays are our Sabbath days since Sundays are so busy in the community. This makes most Mondays pretty great–sleep ins, waffles, swimming in the sun, bicycle rides, reading, movie nights, coffee shop sitting, and other restful things.

This week we actually moved our Sabbath to Wednesday because Woung Shin had a doctor appointment scheduled. And even so, it was such a good day.

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A few weeks ago we wrote about the pregnant mother and the baby that was breech. She has been nervous throughout her entire pregnancy, we think because she has had some difficult pregnancies and has lost at least one baby after carrying it to term.

And to be honest, it wasn’t ridiculous for her to be nervous. She was planning to have her baby at the local Burmese clinic, where they don’t offer C-sections and any complications increase the risk significantly. After many prayers, we were celebrating last week when we learned the baby had turned on her own at 37 weeks, after being breech through the entire pregnancy!

This weekend, she said she was having pain and she was worried the baby had turned again. We planned to go the hospital with her the next morning for an ultrasound, but she was particularly worried. We talked to her for quite sometime–had her water broken? Was there any bleeding? Could she still feel the baby moving? Where was the pain? Was it regular pain?

She has labored two children before, so we thought she would know labor if it came. She seemed convinced it wasn’t labor, but seemed more concerned about losing the baby, even if she could feel it moving. She asked if she could go sleep at the clinic just in case, and we thought we’d just go check with her and see what they said. Perhaps it’d be better to just ease all of our minds.

On the way to the clinic, she would wince when she was in pain, and it seemed quite regular. I mentioned to Stephen it might be contractions, but it seemed odd that she didn’t seem to recognize them as such.

The staff were extremely kind and let her & her husband sleep there. I told them I’d be back in the morning.

When I arrived this morning about 8am, I couldn’t find them. I explain to the new round of nurses that I had come in last night with my friend and wasn’t sure where they were. This was all in Karen, but what I understood the nurse reply was, “Yes, the woman with the skin problem?” The word she used was actually “black skin,” but being in a clinic, I assumed it was a skin disease (some things are described more literally than you might expect) and started racking my brain if she had something odd about her skin last night.  The nurse saw that I was confused, and then started pointing at my skin, and said again, literally–“black skin.” I noticed I was wearing a black sweater; was she talking about that?

I was pretty confused. She then helped me in English with “Opposite of you! Black skin.” In Karen I explained again that  I had come with my friend, she was Burmese–not black?–and that she was pregnant–without a skin disease?

It was then that the young couple came around the corner and said my name, thankfully. Right away I saw her husband and realized that he is from Western Burma and from an ethnicity that is primarily Muslim, which in Karen translates literally to “black person.”

I was confused from the start.

The couple showed me to where they were sleeping and I handed them the breakfast I had brought for them. I asked if she was doing well, and the husband tried to say something about, “Not boy! Girl!” I was asking who was a girl and trying to understand what they were talking about when they pointed to their new baby girl!  I hadn’t even seen her in all the blankets on the bed.

She is beautiful!

They had their beautiful little girl last night! The baby hadn’t flipped back to breech and was born naturally.  She is healthy and strong–the second biggest baby on the clinic board! (HIPAA is so far from existing here.)

I was just rejoicing on the way to the next hospital to meet Stephen & Woung Shin, nearly to tears. God is so good, and I am so thankful to see this baby arrive safely. We are just praying for this little family and celebrating the chance to love on them.

This was followed by a hopeful report on Woung Shin: they are not sure it is a tumor behind his eye, but have now said it might be an infection or inflammation. They are going to try some medicine to fight these issues and continue to monitor. We are praying and hopeful!

And then we went for a bicycle ride. Despite taking a few wrong turns, we happened upon the most beautiful sunset in Mae Sot yet. We also made it 22.5 kilometers in all our wrong turns!

Can I say again that we are celebrating these good days? We are also pretty excited to bring home the newest neighborhood addition tomorrow!