And then we went bowling!

The kids did so great and so much fun. Drew even gave us some jumps for joy 🙂

I won the prize for best form.

And Ker for best facial expressions!

Afterward we went to All Aboard restaurant, which has now made my favorites list. All of your food–good food, I thought–is delivered to your table by train! They run all around the restaurant and then land with oohs and ahhs at your table. Some of the oohs and ahhs were from the kids; some were very much from me!

And they give out these adorable little hats.

We went out another night to YaYas, which is most definitely on my favorites list in America! Delicious food and lovely company.

For a weekend while we were home, Stephen’s sister Kat & her husband came to Little Rock to visit–with their sweet Finley! As we all sat around the dinner table together, it was encouraging to see how {relatively} easy it was to have Stephen’s entire family all together. For my family, three of the five kids are on different continents, so it’s a little harder for us to pull off dinner around the same table. It was really nice to see all of the nieces and nephews splashing together in the pool while we sit around together to play a game.

We also spent one evening cooking out at a nearby lake. It is times like this that I am so thankful for Stephen’s amazing photography skills: he did a great job capturing his family & the summer sun.

Stephen’s family also gave him a fun one-month-early birthday surprise since we aren’t usually around for a celebration. So much fun!

My sweet niece, Emma Kate, took the plunge and stopped sucking her thumb while we were there. As a reward, she got to go to the ice skating rink for the first time. It was originally a trip planned with her mom, but we were all a little uneasy about her being six months pregnant. Instead, Emma was able to choose who would go with her.

And I won.

This is a pretty big achievement for the far away aunt! Emma really was so sweet to enjoy time with us and tell us how thankful she was for us to be there and for any time she had with us. Basically, she knew how to make me cry.

But the trip to the ice skating rink was such fun!

And then we got snocones. I’m telling you: we soaked up our American summer! 🙂

With my family, we went away for couple of days to a friend’s cabin to spend some time together and celebrate my sister’s 30th birthday.

And birthdays, of course, start with making cinnamon rolls. Drew & I were put on the task.

He did convince me to put green frosting on at least some of them!

I love Coke’s new marketing strategy! I totally fell for it, but despite my attempts, I was unable to find a “Stephen” or “Kelli” bottle or can. If you find one, keep it for me until we get back–empty or full!  I don’t even really drink Coke!

We’re back in this lovely place we call home, and we’ve hit the ground running with English classes and hospital visits and confusing conversations. But before I blog on life here again, I really want to take a minute to relish the month we just had in the States.

It was wonderful.

There were parts that were challenging, yes; we had many hard conversations and asked difficult questions. But really, the entire trip was an unexpected gift: we didn’t know we’d be going back for a visit, we didn’t know we’d get to meet a new niece and new nephew so soon after their births. We didn’t know we’d attend a friends wedding and see Stephen’s sister & family before she moves a few hours away.  We didn’t know we’d get to meet the new organizations we are partnering with! We didn’t know we’d get to enjoy an American summer. We didn’t know we’d get to enjoy an Arkansas summer with the best weather ever.

But we got to enjoy all of these things!

So sit back to enjoy a small mini-series of photos, named in honor of The Lego Movie that Stephen quoted regularly while we were there.

First, our arrival into the loveliest and most horrible place on earth: the airport.

Seeing this photo makes me re-live every emotion of this experience: so much joy, so much embarrassment, so much exhaustion.  Who do you hug first when you love them all?

Then we decided to overwhelm the local Chickfila. And we enjoyed the neighbors’ love snack for dessert!

Thank you, Leslie, for your positive attitude in trying unidentified food products from around the world!

We made it back just in time to attend two friends’ wedding! We watched them fall for each other on a short-term trip to Mae Sot two years ago, so it was pretty wonderful to get to be a small part of their wedding!

And we met little Silas Calk just six days after he was born!

We also got to meet little Finley!

We often try to visit the States during winter months–or really anything but summer–since we live in what feels like an endless summer here. I didn’t realize how much I miss American summer and some of the classic family activities!

The kids have learned, but are still perfecting, the art of photo bombing. It does make for some great faces.

We played a lot of this game and even received it as a gift to bring back with us over the ocean!

This is year-round, I suppose, but I still love it.

That’s all for now, but more to come!

On Saturday–twenty four hours before we were leaving–I was up early to get the house cleaned from Friday’s community dinner and finish packing and preparing to go.  Jee Miew came over just after 8am and asked if I could drive her and a friend to the market.

I was a little confused why, but she just kept asking, so I agreed. It was a little chance to spend some time with these ladies, and I figured we’d sort out our details later.  And by later, I mean after midnight when we were just aching to go to sleep, but that’s neither here nor there!

About 9:30 three of us piled into our little Zuk and headed to the market. I was trying to put the pieces together of what they needed and why now. It was pretty unclear through the whole trip: they bought large amounts of rice flour, MSG, sugar, oil, ghee, and what looked like sand.

I was pretty confused, but figured it wasn’t really vital. We spent the time together, laughed about how I shouldn’t get confused and end up at Mae Tao, and called it a trip.

I went back to finish packing and cleaning.

About three hours later, Jee Miew came to the door. She said we should come “look at this–come look!”  We found a group of men and women gathered around a huge fire and a huge wok, stirring what looked like a large glob of taffy.

It was epic. It was so sticky, so thick, and so hot. They were using all of their strength to stir this and broke two spoons in the process.

And with much explaining, we learned that they were making a Burmese snack for us to take back to America and share with our friends and family! All the ingredients they had purchased that morning were for this snack for us to take back with us. They had been cooking and stirring over the fire for three hours!

And we sat while they continued to work for another hour, mixing in a few more ingredients while the substance got thicker and thicker.

And then we were served up a plate to try.

The snack itself actually had a great, coconut-y flavor. It was incredibly sweet, and you did have to ignore the large amounts of oil.

You could tell it was a delicacy of sorts–all the kids were excited for a bite and the adults were wiping clean the pot and licking off the spoons. Not something they make or get to have everyday.

And in the end, we were delivered two HUGE containers of this snack to take back with us to America! A whopping 14.5 pounds worth of it, in fact!

We were a little worried about taking it all back with us, namely because it was a suspicious looking substance in an unmarked container. What would TSA think? And will this container even hold? How will we ever get that sticky, oily substance out of our bags, clothes, and shoes if it spills?

But, y’know, they had sacrificed so much to make this for us–a large amount of money in their world, a day of labor, and whole lot of love.

I put a container into a Ziploc and then into a trash bag. I put it in a box with Ziplocs filled with air to pad it. And then we strapped it into our checked bag, with a few prayers that it stays sealed and we aren’t questioned.

Within five minutes of getting in the door at Chiang Mai Airport, we were pulled aside to inspect it.

Hmm…this love snack could make this trip interesting!

We had such a lovely day on Friday. It was full, and to be honest, it isn’t good when you aren’t sure when you wake up how you will fit in time for meals. But it was a day full of really lovely moments and memories.

We visited around to the different families and homes on Thursday afternoon to invite everyone to a community dinner on Friday. We explained that we were going back to America for a month, but that we would be coming back. And we also introduced the lovely Bex, a volunteer who is staying in our house while we are going and taking on our chaos.

These visits were sad. It was hard to tell people we were leaving; we could tell they were worried. They would ask: what do we do if it floods? Bex will be there, and she is happy to help, too. That’s why we’ve asked her to stay in our home. What if I need medicine? Bex will help with that!  What if the police come again? Well, Bex will do the same thing we do–very little, but the best we can.

In that moment, I was so grateful that God provided Bex here, now, and looking for a way to plug into a local community. There is still fear: we don’t know who will be there when we come back and what changes will have happened. But we are trying to rest in the fact that we are doing what we feel God has told us to do, and we have to trust that He’ll fill in the blanks for us.

And while we wait, we give good hugs and throw huge dinners!

Friday morning Bex & I headed off to the market with two ladies, Thida–an amazing mom of seven–and Jee Miew, who is now helping me with Karen translation all the time since Mong Ey moved a bit further away.

It was a fun little adventure. I gave Jee Miew some money–about $90 to feed 150 or so people–and told them to go for it. They knew how many we were hoping to feed, and we requested both meat and vegetables. They gave back about $15, and we came home with piles of food, including 15 kilograms of raw chicken to stuff in our fridge until that afternoon.

The market is a pretty crazy place, and this was the first time I had driven through with a car. I usually take a motorbike or bicycle, and do my best to park somewhere nearby and walk. It’s just absolutely chaos with all the vendors oozing into the already narrow streets, with pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, motorbike taxis, tuk tuks, carts, and cars.

By the time we were leaving, I just wanted to get out of the over-crowded areas, so I told Jee Miew that I was just going to get away from the people and we might take a longer way home. I made a couple more turns until I knew where we were, but then noticed we were near Mae Tao, the primary clinic where I take everyone. I asked her in Karen if I could show Bex where that was, since she didn’t know yet.

Somewhere, though, I didn’t say all this. I headed towards Mae Tao and pointed it out to Bex from the road, and then turned around to head back to our house. Jee Miew and Thida were just rolling with laughter, leaving Bex & I confused.

I learned later that Jee Miew thought I had gotten confused trying to get away from the market, and somehow just started heading towards Mae Tao since that is where I usually drive our neighbors. She thought it was absolutely hilarious that I just got confused and drove to Mae Tao. And this is now our inside joke. When we get in the car together or when I would head off somewhere, she’d shout to me: Don’t get confused and just take them to Mae Tao! 

I’m not sure I really understand the humor of it all, but I love that she laughs so hard and that we have a little joke between us!

When we got back from the market, I headed off to visit my Karen teacher and to see her three month old twins before we would be gone for a month. It started pouring as I headed out the door, so a number of women were gathered under our porch. One sweetly ran me out to the car with her umbrella, and I just smiled with joy. It was just a little reminder of how we help each other out and look out for each other, and somehow we all get by with that little help from friends!

The cooking commenced about 1pm, starting with most of the women and children chopping vegetables and spices.

They don’t usually use cutting boards, so they chop right into their fingers. This is terrifying for me, being the opposite of what I was taught, so I would use my thumb to slice. Either way, I was working with a butter knife and lacking a cutting board or counter, and they found it hilarious how horribly my onions came out!

The men & boys helped to “clean” the chickens by the well (water from the same water table that we have found hundreds of colonies of E.coli in) and chop it.

And then everyone collectively cooked and spiced. Instead of buying rice this time, we just asked each family to bring a pot of cooked rice to contribute to a community bowl.

The kids were a little crazy to wrangle for the four hours it took to prepare all the food. We started with games and toys, moved on to coloring, and then commenced with watching Cars on the iPad. I laid out a row of books and instructed everyone to stay behind the line, not to touch the iPad or speakers. I came in a few minutes later to find Pyi So sitting right in front of the line.

They enjoyed the movie, though, and it kept a fewer number of kids near the fire!

Bex was so great with the kids and so helpful. She was also great at taking everything in stride and will be perfect for fitting into the community while we’re gone! After we left Sunday at 10am, we got a text from her at 1:30pm saying, “…already had our first little medical emergency blood everywhere lol so been an eventful afternoon…”

Pyi So has just figured out how to pose for the camera and now absolutely loves to see himself!

Before dinner, Stephen headed up a small meeting with the adults to make sure everyone understood that we were going, but also that we were coming back! He introduced Bex again to everyone, and we gave out little cards with her photo, name in Burmese, and phone number. We also gave them a little calendar showing the dates we’d be traveling, with a little airplane on the day we’ll arrive back to Mae Sot.

At the bottom, we gave them a schedule for some activities we’re going to begin when we get back: we planned English classes three days a week, with once class for 0-4 year olds, one class for adults, and two classes each for 5-9 year olds and 10-14 year olds.

I am also going to start making trips to the market once a week, where I can take a couple women with me. Our hope is that we can encourage them to coordinate together and buy things in bulk to save money. It also gives me a regular outing with some of the women.   And last, one morning a week we’ve invited over the moms & kids-too-young-for-school to play.

This was all explained into a schedule so they know when we’ll start when we get back and what to expect every week. They were so excited about the English classes coming to fruition, and overall just seemed to encouraged to see that we are not only coming back, but we are excited to come back. I think this helped all of us to look forward and feel like things will be okay, rather than be fearful of how they might change.

And then food was served, or inhaled, and the chaos really began!

I would pick off little pieces of chicken or potato to give to Jor Lay, and he absolutely loved it! He’s such a ham.

And then we crashed. We grabbed dinner out–which we always do after community dinners to sort of close the doors on the chaos and prevent our house from being flooded with “help” in the clean up process. And then we crashed, really thankful that God gave us such a good day and such good community around us.

We get by with a little help from our friends!

The other day three little girls brought by a make-up kit, and it seemed the best thing to do was just go along with it.

Would the 10 baht make-up destroy my face? Probably.
Would I be able to get this wax off? Not without some patience.
Would the shop owner look at me oddly when I made my purchases? Most definitely.
Were the girls overjoyed to smear it all over my face? Of course!

A before photo that morning. Clearly we needed some more color!

This is Zen Yaw, a nephew to the little girl in pink and a cousin to the little girl in red. They are his primary caregivers, leaving them to either not attend school or take turns every other day. We are working on that and how to help, but obviously he is not a big fan of white people. It’s a little difficult to just take him–even for a photo!

Because sometimes you just can’t help but be catching up.

_______________________

Every day looks different around here. This particular morning, Stephen was out to breakfast with a friend, and I was sitting down to bowl of yogurt and granola.  Since we were up early enough, we had visitors before school.

The kids walk to school together around 7:45am. From about 7:30 to 7:45, we have kids popping in and out to say hello as they wait for the crew to be ready. They come in and plop their lunch baskets on the table. They’ll sometimes play with magnets, sit on laps for a moment, or pull out a quick puzzle.

And on some days like this one, they said they hadn’t had breakfast when I asked. I offered some yogurt and granola. They really liked it.

And then before long they are called to go and head off to school.

Mornings like this are very nice.

_______________________

A few weekends back, a neighbor family bought a bunny. We learned pretty quickly that they bought a female bunny and intended for little Kayak to get her pregnant.

She was pretty cute. She had one ear that stuck up and one that flopped down. We gave her the name Lucy.

We did try to put her and Kayak together, but he sort of panicked a bit. Did you know bunnies can growl? They can. Our sweet little Kayak kept trying to bite Lucy, and when Stephen picked him up, Kayak bit him and left teeth marks.

We tried, but decided it might not be the best idea.

Either way, the kids were very happy about “Kayak two!” We are pretty sure they think “Kayak” is English for bunny rather than a name. Whoops.

_______________________

We got a little grill this week and used it for the first time to make burgers on 4 July!

Yes, it’s very little.

Yuh Meh Oo was helping us cook and took the phone to take some photos. This is one of about forty!

We also made a cake for a 4 July party, and the kids helped to whip the icing. Afterward, I told them they could each was their hands with soap and then stick one finger in for a lick.

_______________________

More children experimenting with the art and error and phone photography.

_______________________

After the said 4 July party, I was going to jump in the shower before bed. I changed into my towel and headed toward the bathroom, but was distracted–this happens often–by Kayak. He was sitting in his cage but kind of antsy; I wanted to get him some sand to sit in.

On the top shelf in the kitchen I have a basket of plastic containers and jars that I use. I reached up, took out the container I needed and went to put it back. On the way, however, my towel started to fall, and with four large windows in the kitchen, I shoved the basket up there and grabbed for my towel.

I didn’t get the basket on far enough. It fell, along with all the plastic and glass jars. The glass jars and made locally and are quite cheap glass. They were all hitting my head and shoulders, shattering everywhere. I was up on my tip toes, with shards of glass sticking to my feet, my arms, and my head. Kayak was also just to the right of me, and I was scared glass was just pummeling him.

I wasn’t able to look up or try to catch anything for fear of glass getting into my eye, so–with great logic, I’m sure–I screamed. I screamed and screamed while tons of glass hit the ground.

And I continued to scream until Stephen just lifted me out of the glass mess and set me down across the kitchen.

He then proceeded to sweep up about ten broken jars worth of tiny little shards of glass. Whoops.

_______________________

And this–proof that despite having no children of our own, we have so, so many children in our lives!

Meet Jor Lay.

We’ve known him since the day he was born. He was delivered to our doorstep during a flood when he was five days old; I held him until the mother was delivered a few minutes later on an inner tube. The father and older children helped to get valuables and the littles out from the rising waters.

He was one of the first little babies to like us, and he was often left for me to hold. He learned our names, he learned high fives. He peed and vomited on our floor more times than I could count.

And now he will be two years old next month. He ran in and out of the chaos while we helped tear down their bamboo hut and rebuild it half a kilometer down the road just four weeks ago.

Since they are just a half a kilometer down the road, we usually see at least one member of their nine-member-family every day. The kids are often around to play or to see friends.

But in some ways, half a kilometer is really far. They used to be just steps away.  We used to see everyone day after day, at wee hours of the morning and wee hours of the night.

Today, I was making bread in the kitchen when I heard a little voice shouting our names.

I’m getting better at recognizing, but I hadn’t heard this one in awhile. And he’s pretty little to be walking over by himself. I shouted to Stephen anyway, “Is that Jor Lay?”

Sure enough. He had walked over with his mom and five-year-old sick brother, Jor Gee, to visit!  We sat outside chatting for a minute, got some medicine for Jor Gee, and gave high fives and hugs.

Apparently he had asked for us all morning, saying in Burmese, “Kelli Stephen house go!”

So they came. And we loved it.

And it was an answer to prayer.

Just hours earlier I was praying for God to show us the ministry we have here. Sometimes it feels like we are just crazy: to live here, to make this our lives and now our work, to think for a second that it makes a difference. To hope that maybe, just maybe they might see Christ in our daily lives.

The doubt creeps in–more days than I’d like to admit–and all the decisions we made boldly suddenly look pale.  Today was one of those days. I just prayed that in the next couple weeks before we go to the States that we might see the hope of why we live here, why we will come back, and what He has planned for us ahead.

And then Jor Lay came, and we saw the relationships with these beautiful families. We saw their beautiful smiles. I was reminded of how my heart jumps when I hear voices I haven’t heard in a few days!

Because God is good, even through little bitty almost-two-year-olds.