Beautiful, Beautiful Baptism!!

What a ceremony Baptism is! I love everything about it. Friends, water, music, and the inevitable overwhelming joy and Smile of the one baptised as they practically spring from the water. Ive been to many dunkings around the world. Ive sat through normal church settings with the tub filled part way and its usually situated atop a platform of sorts.. Ive been to the family cabin and seen our two eldest sons brave the frigid cold crick with their dad in front of just a few friends and family in order to engage in Obedience. Ive seen dunkings in the Ucayali River off the Amazon, thick with wama, and watched MK's take the plunge. There have been many other places, but I was remembering that no matter where I have been, I cannot think of a time when the one going under doesnt come up expressing utter joy in some physical appearance! Not only is the physical change different than when they started (soaking wet from all dry!) but there is definately a 'sense' of 'Ive just done something grand'.

Isaak was baptized this past Sunday. This one took place in a pool. Isaak is 11 and we have been talking about this for months knowing the opportunity was going to come. While nervous for the longest time, he finally acknowledged that when it came down to it 'God said to do it, and I cannot wait.' When he came up from the water, he started giggling and I was able to capture some of it. I asked him about it later and his comment was 'I know mom, I just had to laugh, I FELT different and am SO glad I didnt wait.' ' I feel different somehow'. It was precious and a sweet moment for our family. Just wanted to share with you. :)

Krusin' with the Dierdens!

Mot Mee Guest House, Nong Khai, Thailand

Having duck soup for lunch with Ian and Cecilia

My gorgeous man!

The Mekong River from the boat. This is the friendship bridge that we cross every time we want to cross into Thailand from Laos. Laos is on the right, Thailand on the left.
The homeschool co-op kids are memorizing Ps. 19 right now and this verse makes it come alive to me.. 'The heavens declare the Glory of God! The skies proclaim the work of His hands! Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.'! How amazing is our Heavenly Father and even the skies know it! :)

Mot Mee courtyard

We took a ride and had dinner on the blue boat.

Looking at Laos from our guest house in Thailand. This so reminds me of the Ucayali river of the Amazon that I lived on as a girl in Peru.

Our bathroom!

The shower part.

David and I just spent a delightful 30 hours in an obscure, neat little hide-away in Nong Khai with some very dear friends of ours. The 4 of us just needed a mini get away- out of Vientiane just for a bit where we could kick our feet up for a few hours and also take some time to chat about the direction of our homeschool co-op. Im posting several pics for you to see of the location, but of course pics only communicate so much. The sights, sounds, smells and such were relaxing and spirit filled. There was time. Time to close my eyes and think. Time to take in those passing by and wonder what their world holds..what their days are like and what their future will be. Time to breathe in the air and rest. Time to thank God for my health and family. Time to giggle and laugh with friends and build a stronger friendship. Then, I wondered as I often have before- Why, why was I chosen to live this life in such a full and beautiful way.. I feel so amazingly blessed. Man God is good!!!

Youth Group Mystery Dinner

Mystery Dinner night with the kids last night... Great fun, food and awesome group of kids.. Around the World was a theme of sorts, so all food, food names, music and activities were based on that. Lots of laughter too!

We had fun you guys! Up next.... Fear Factor Night!

I'm tired. Its only 9:22 and I'm tired. Dave is tired. We get tired a bit earlier than usual these days. SIGH. Its the New Year.. Its 2009 and I can hardly believe it. We are in 2009. Maybe that makes me tired. Actually, maybe its the neighbors fascination and obsession with karaoke (sp?) and high decibel Asian music that has me tired. We all sorta feel like we've had our house transported to the middle of a discotheque the past week with all the wild parties that have gone on around us. Serious parties. House vibrating, feel it in your chest parties. Maybe that's why I'm tired. Except, I'm also pulling gray hair outta my head. Frustratingly enough, its also in one spot... unfortunately its the top of my head. Hard to hide that bit. So, either I keep snipping away at the 7 that stubbornly (and quickly) push their way back up, and consequently allow for beautiful brown hairs to get snipped also.... OR, I end up Cruella Divilish with a wild gray streak down the middle of my head. Yuck to both. I do not want the streak or a bald spot. I'm just way too young for this. Of course the tired, AND the graying should just slap me into reality that I'm getting old and need to get a grip quickly.
Nah, I better demand youth eh? Raising 6 kids, and in the crazy order they are in demand I stay young. Poor Olivia will only know a momma with gray tho. That's seriously depressing. I suppose I should be more concerned with being the spiritually minded momma tho instead of the vain one. :) Guess I should hide this blog.

The Car...

So... this trip to Udon got more interesting with time... here, we released our van to some guy and left! While we understood he had been a friends mechanic, the reality was our friend only knew him a couple weeks.
We didnt hear from this guy for over a week... he never answered his cell phone, home phone or business phone.. you can imagine our fear and assumptions! David and I both thought, 'our car is SO in Malaysia by now being sold for parts'. We would both die laughing because, of course it would happen to us. What a great (future) story. :)
In the end, we were finally able to get ahold of this guy who apparently had a major trial going on in his own home with his marriage (he is a Believer we were told)... he was finally able to let us know that the van needed a complete new engine rebuilt and that he couldnt find any parts or service the car in Thailand because they dont have this car. Argh!
So... now its been two weeks and our car is supposed to be traveling back here via a Lao mechanic who will take care of the car here.
In all of this we see Gods goodness as this past week not one, not two, but Three cars were available to us to use while folks leave on Christmas leave! :) Whew! He knows everything doesnt He!
Its like this!~ Jen

Adventures in Udon Thani

This past Monday I took Bethann and two of the Cama staff to Udon Thani so we could all visit the dr. and do some holiday shopping. I started out as always praying for safety over our journey and we took off. The border, thankfully, was not busy which I was extremely grateful for because I figured it would give us more 'play' time in Udon. I was in and out of the Dr. in10 minutes, while Sodachan had to wait a bit. As we didnt know how long she would be, Bethann and I decided we better run some errands the other gals wouldnt care about. We had said we would be back in an hour, but realized when we got back to the hospital, it had been 2. oops! Somphou and Sodachan were gone. Not only that, I had forgotten to pay my bill. Massive embarrassement. These poor Thai people thought the falang (foreigner) had gotten tricky seeing the dr. and not cared to pay. As if! So, I nonchalantly paid as if Id planned to return after shopping anyway.... haha and we sat around wondering where the girls were. The receptionist helped us use our Thai phone card to get ahold of the gals who protested ' we were Done and have money.. must shop!' They didnt want to wait around for us and who could blame them. AFter picking them up we decided to head to Nong Khai to get shopping done there as its close to the border and it was getting late. Not 15 min. out of town the gears started sounding funny and we started smelling burning rubber. Hmmm. I tried to slow down and as I downshifted the pedal wouldnt let me accelerate anymore. The gears quite working and the steering wheel started to freeze. We were on a MAJOR freeway going fast... thankfully, there was a turn I could pull into. Forgetting I was in Thailand where we drive on the Left hand side, I turned into the wrong lane (the right) going in and the guard of the premises freaked out... There was a truckload of Thai all laughing at the falang. The steering wheel was now comletely locked up and the car died. I couldnt turn it back on at all and as we sat there, smoke started rising up from the front. Right at this moment my Knight in Shining Armor called me (for the first time that day) and we explained what happened. He had our friend Verdun call a Chr. mechanic in Udon and we worked out a plan to get home. Somphou and Sodachan were life savers explaining why we needed to sit there waiting for someone to get us. I would have been in tears if alone. (i think!) After a while the mechanic came, and stuck a pole under our car and his little truck. He was going to take us to a gas station where Dave would come meet us and take us home. However, he asked us to sit in my van while he towed us. I was cracking up. I dont think so! I knew the wheel was locked and that we could easily (or so I thought...) come undone from the little pole connecting our cars. In the end, his buddy took to our car and the four of us crammed in his little truck. He had to stop the truck at one point and go tell his buddy to quit swirving so much (apparently the wheel was better)... when he came back he said his friend had never driven a car with the wheel on the left side and didnt know how to stay in the lane. We were cracking up. He dropped us off on the side of the busy road and we took all our purchases and dashed across to the other side to wait for David. By that time it was quite late and while we did not get done what was on all of our lists, we did have a great bonding experience with S & S. The Very bad part is, its Fri. and our only car is Still in Thailand probably needing a whole new engine. Sigh. I am grateful that throughout the whole of the experience, I was not angry or frustrated.. just weirded out that it had to happen and yet, learning to live by the phrase 'its like that'. What do you do? And, WHERE is AAA when you need them!? :)

Yes, we are CRAMMED inside this mans little truck. He must have thought we were totally nuts.

Christmas Day... by Isaak Reid Kruse

As I sit on the rugged ground I watch out the window,
And see the sky and clouds which drop flakes of snow
The lights shine on the tree we all know,
It shows the happiness of Christmas, which I wait for in the cold.
As snow men are built with snow fights being made
Surley the anger and shouts of humans shall fade.
The fire beside me pops and cracks
And above it are stockings, that will be filled in heaps and packs
And so with all the joy of Christmas with fun
It was all for the sake of Christ's Holy Son.