I have become quite the project-starter since I came to Mae Sot. I start many a craft project, but really struggle to see them through.

While this wasn’t really my previous approach, Stephen can attest to my adoption of this habit.

But, alas, I did finish a project today! I have been wanting to have this quote up in the community space, and it’s finished, thankfully quite close to what I wanted.

It’s a Franciscan benediction that I simply love. It really challenges me, and also encourages me deeply with our ministry in our neighborhood. I feel so foolish so much of the time, but perhaps it somehow brings justice and kindness. And lets be honest, “all our children & all our neighbors” just breaks my heart at every read.

Now we just need to hang it…another task for another day or month.

The good news: this week had zero dog bites and zero hospital disasters. And it did have time with good friends.

We had one kidney stone patient and one morning at the hospital. However, this was actually quite fun & disaster-less as I got to sit with their adorable little two year old. She munched on a neon green goo-filled sandwich, which we then learned was in fact “green,” and we matched it to her neon green leggings and the neon green apples on her shirt. She watched Tom & Jerry on YouTube, and we laughed.

I also received a stethoscope as a gift this week, which just makes it exceptionally clear that my medical skills are over-rated within the community. I will admit that helps me count the heart rate much easier–when you can hear it above the noise of the kids around you. But otherwise, I need some training.

Mong Ey returned from a temporary job on the other side of town, where she lived for about two weeks. We’re thankful to have a friend & translator back!

And our sweet little friends are still here most every evening we are home. This week held the fun of drawing Disney princesses, including these two versions of Cinderella:

Stephen has been quite busy with a video recently, but this Saturday was truly a Saturday. We went for a bicycle ride early in the morning, enjoyed a few photo shoots along the way, and came back for a swim. Rainy season is nearly over here, and it’s once again warm, warm, warm. We have been swimming laps at the pool quite a lot this week.

A friend makes homemade pickles, and I was trying to get her recipe. However, when I saw the ginormous recipe she usually makes that wouldn’t even fit in my fridge, I just asked if I could mooch a jar off of her batch. They are delicious. I also crinkle-cut them, which is just perfectly American.

And then this week, I attended a Jamming Extravaganza: a group of girls coming together to make homemade jams, chutneys, and salsas, which are then divided into jars for everyone to take home. I contributed a pumpkin butter & pumpkin salsa, but then brought back quite a collection, which included pineapple ginger jam, ginger syrup, fresh sweet pickles, apple chili jam, pickled mushrooms, and tomato apple relish. Amazingly fun, and even more delicious.

What wakes you up in the morning?

This morning, it was “Kelli! Kelli! Kelli!” at our front window, and Stephen saying, “They’ve been saying your name for awhile.”

Thinking it was another visit to the clinic and wishing, yet again, that I had studied medicine at some point in my life, I stuck my head around the corner. Yedi had her head through the window, meaning she was standing on the chair below. She was just looking around the room repeating my name in a flat tone.  Then she saw me, and it became, “Come! Come! Come!”

I tied up my sarong, grabbed keys, and opened the door to find three little friends from the same family. The oldest sister could tell I just woke up, and gave her little loud sister a glare. And little Jor Lay is always along for the ride on someone’s hip.

They handed me a bag of meat, proudly. It was a generous thank you present for a hospital trip yesterday.

Well, good morning to you, too!

We made an upgrade to our kitchen this week, and I’m pretty excited about it!

That’s right, we’ve entered the two-burner stove world!  I can now make tortillas and fajitas at the same time; I can make pasta and sauce at the same time! Or for dinner tonight, fish and tortillas for fish tacos.

Our kitchen now looks like this:

Also, over a month ago we upgraded our front room to a community space. I had been hoping to get it all sorted before I took photos and presented it to the world, but who am I kidding? That could be ages, and I don’t even have a clear vision of what that means! Right now, I know I want to add some art to the walls: some paintings and quotes and such.

Other than that, it’s a continual work in progress. Our main goal was to provide a space in our home where everyone could feel welcomed in.  We had Mo Bya build shelves for us. They weren’t exactly what we had in mind, but they are sturdy!  And I’m glad there is a sense of pride that he contributed to the space and that he has unique skills we don’t have.  It also helps to give clear instruction on which shelves the kids can access (dolls, cards) and which they aren’t allowed to play with (medicine primarily).

The magnet board was quite the project, but it has been wonderful!  The kids love it.  The little round tables are great space for the kids playing cards, coloring, and even treatment tables for wounds.

We put up curtains between our house and the community space, which has been really helpful. It allows us to keep the front doors open so that its cooler and the community knows they can call for us, but we also aren’t watched all the time. Sometime it is nice to eat a meal or work on a project without observers. Other than that curtain, we avoided fabrics, which can pick up lice from the kids.

The space has been really wonderful. We can have a huge group of kids in any afternoon, and still sweep it up within a few minutes. We can invite mothers in while we get medicine for a baby, or even just have a clean space for sterilizing wounds.  We can also sit and work in this space in the evening, studying language or reading or editing photos or writing a blog, while a few kids color, play with the magnets, or play Memory. It has really given us space to just be with the community on more and more occasions.

And we’re upgraded! So excited for both!

There are about a million ways to title this post. Most are song titles to the best music of the year.

Stephen has been busy–very, very busy–on Partners’ Christmas video, due out at the beginning of October, and it has made our house feel very Christmas-y! I can hardly wait. The kids are pretty much just confused.

Here are some behind-the-scenes of his genius.

Guys, he created the music himself. He took a classic Christmas tune in the public domain and made it his own, which he then recorded and mixed on seven instruments: guitar, ukelele, cajon, piano, bells, bass and drums.

Wow. (!!)

A sweet couple photo lost and then found amidst the chaos!

While recently in Chiang Mai fora few days, we took a date night.

I love date nights in Chiang Mai. You probably won’t see anyone you know. The restaurant choices feel endless, and the delicious restaurant choices feel inexhaustible. And then there are movies and coffee shops and other things that stay open past 9pm!

And on this date night, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner and went to see Jobs, which Stephen was so excited even made it to Thailand, let alone while we were in Chiang Mai.

We had a little time in between that we browsed the mall, making our only purchase of two new puzzle games for the neighbor kids.

Dinner for two: $13
Movie for two: $6
Puzzles for countless little friends: $16
….having little friends that aren’t even yours, but you miss them in less than 24 hours: priceless.

In a whirlwind of returning from the last trip and heading out to another, we got two packages in the mail!

Everyone kept telling us that the packages would die off as we were here longer, especially after people came to visit and saw that we didn’t really have it that bad. 

I’m happy to say that they haven’t! We have families and friends that really have blessed us beyond measure–allowing us to be here and sending us treasures across very expensive oceans. Treasures that sometimes taste delicious or are really soft or just familiar, in the very best way possible.

I was looking through some photos for a blog while Lay Tah Oo, nearly four years old, played with magnets–and tried to play with everything else within reach. He came over to see what I was doing after I said no to everything but magnets.

“Kelli!” He shouted and pointed to me in a photo.

I switched over to the neighborhood photos, and he started pointing out his sister and friends. He was on a roll, but never pointed to himself, who is (admittedly) in a lot of (adorable) photos.

I pointed to him and asked, “Who is that?”
He looked back at me confused.
“Is that Kelli?”
“No.”
“Is that Yuh Meh Oo?” (That’s his sister, who was next to him in the photo.)
“Yes!”
“No, that’s not Yuh Meh Oo. Yuh Meh Oo is right here. Who is that?”
“Awh Awh Lay?”

He didn’t know what he looked like!  I tested it a few more times–we flipped through photo after photo, and he found all of his friends, saying all of their names clearly. He found a cell phone and other objects in the photos–but couldn’t identify even one photo of himself.

In some ways, it makes sense–mirrors aren’t common in their living situation, or even really in this country. When we have the Partners truck borrowed at our house, the kids like to look at themselves in the shiny bumpers.  We have just one mirror in our bathroom, and that’s it.  I never really see myself from shoulders down.

But he’s almost four!

Stephen decided to try to teach him.

He showed him what he looked like in the mirror, which he thoroughly enjoyed. And then we showed him the photos, and how they looked the same.

We’ll probably be teaching this a few more times, and perhaps adding a mirror to the community space!