Udon Thani, Dentist and Meat...

Jackson today getting his braces checked by the orthodontist who comes into Udon Thani from Bangkok once a month.
We have been very happy with their braces and Jackson has another 1 1/2 years before his are off.

He wasnt to thrilled that I took this pic~ hehe

Nathaniel got his braces OFF today while in Udon and has been laughing all day about how funny it is to feel them free of wires! He now has a lovely smile with perfectly straight teeth.. He goes back to Udon on Sat. for his retainer.. of course, they are NOT thrilled with this idea.
Normally, I just scoot across the border with the two older boys, but today the other three boys joined out of pure boredom at being home all the time.
Gabe is THRILLED to be going as you can see. They enjoyed Dairy Queen malts and Mr. Donut.. maybe They should have been at the dentist today eh!? :)
Hudson was thrilled because we also made the weekly stop to the post office and he had 2 birthday packages from Grandparents!~ Gum, clothes, notes, $ and M& M's! Yeah! Its always fun to get mail.

One of my favorite things to do while in Thailand, is to stock up on groceries for the month. I buy 7 kilos of butter, bulk sugar, flour and rice and yogurt boxes etc... But we really go to town on the meat. In our 'western style ' shop called 'Tesco', we can buy beautiful meat MINUS the swarming flies and I take it home and freeze it all, using it as we need it. Normally, we have lots of snickers from Thai bystanders who themselves usually by 1/2 kilo. at a time. From our cart, you can see we load up... Im often tempted to say we run a restaurant... and actually, I might be able to get away with it without lying! :) The boys all the way down the line, found a type of meat today and filled bag after bag for me. Hudson can handle this part, but we have to bypass the fishy, open intestines and bug part... it makes him gag.... not nice in front of everyone. :)
We always feel we are walking into a Walmart type deal when we visit Tesco.. Praise God its here! :)

Thats all for now folks!~

A New Journey Awaits...

A new journey awaits us this week. Ive mentioned our current house has been sold and we are needing to move asap. However, moving house asap wasnt in 'the plans' for the year.. :) While G knows all this my brain is needing to catch up. Its (my b rain) swimming at the moment and full force, while Im dog paddling trying to stay afloat. :0 To many analogies. :) hehe
Basically, our adventure is that we are doing something we have never done before. Renting a house completely empty. Literally. Nothing... we are exchanging great rent (for these parts and the size house), for the 'opportunity' to furnish it ourselves and thereby actually 'owning' something at the end of it all. Its a tad weird in this day and age to admit you 'own' Nothing! Dont spread that one to far! Anyhoo... we have enough money (thanks to a generous donor) to purchase a water tank and pump (gotta shower ya know!) a refrigerator, and then bars and screens to put on the windows (so that none of our 'nothingness' can be stolen right!?) makes sense! Anyway. Thankfully, there was already a water heater in the master bedroom, and we are totally used to using one bathroom, so no worries there. As we are not willing to spend $ we dont have, we will eat Lao style (on the floor) and do the same for anything else since there isnt anything to sit on!
It will be a bit like camping, only, in a really big nice house. Im cracking myself up!
I tubed the other day for a minute thinking that I deserved better, but then realized G is providing a really nice home next to the co-op for us.. this allows us to save on petrol for the next few years and be near an outside market for veggies and the boys favorite meat on a stick. I worshipped to a Hillsong song that reminded me of all the things that G has DONE for us already and was so embarrassed of myself having been so easily swept up again into discontentment. How small I am! I embrace this newness and am eager for God to do as He pleases with me (well, ok, not always so eager...) but willing today. I will ask Him again tomorrow to make me eager once more.
Ill try and post some pics of our indoor camping as well. (dont mock us if your a rough it camper ok!~ I know your cool!)
Jen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUDSON ROSS!

Happy Birthday 9 year old!!!!



Here is Hudson with his new bike. He was so excited to have his own! He has gotten so tall tho, that it almost doesnt seem big enough.. hmmm
I am so overwhelmed with Joy and praise over this young mans life. I praised God tremendously this morning for his 9 years and his amazing health the past 3. God indeed has been good and its no lie that every time I embrace him I am made aware of his past trials and our victory in Christ over Leukemia. In fact, I cannot look at him and not think of it. Its only a passing thought, barely seconds, but it is there. Im not sure when or if it will go away. When Steven Curtis Chapman lost his daughter a couple months ago I was a wreck. How is one chosen and the other left. Of course this is the mystery of life and the questions we all will have for Father one day. I weep with so many emotions when I think of the fact that I still have my son.
Hudsons life is a gift in many ways. He has a grateful spirit for most things that enter his life and he doesnt complain about much (except math maybe!). He loves people and just hanging around with family and is always laughing with this deep gut laugh. He loves the Word of God and prying for people in need and has a sincere faith which I think must have been amplified during his illness.
Thank you God for Hudson and his life.. I pr he would honor you with what you gave back to him and enjoy every moment of it!

Raising Kids

I know every other person does it... raises kids... but, no matter how many families I observe, books I read, prayers I lift up, doctors I talk to or experts I listen to, its still DAILY a full on Question mark... What major decision will I have to make today for one of them. What major amounts of prayer will I need to spend before I can tell them 'yes' or 'no'... what 'owie' will I bandage up today and will it take more than a bandaid (like~ God forbid, a stressful run to Udon Thani?)
I should mention that normally I do Not walk in anxiety. Maybe life here in Laos is layed back enough and their exposure to western ways is limited enough that I am able to be semi-stress free. Once in a while the name 'Nintendo Wii' pops up and the house is a whirlwind of activity about how to get one. While I know Nothing about them, Im pretty sure if its the latest thing its going to cost my right arm to get one. :) How do you answer a question like that?! Does anyone else get complaints at the 'we will see' comment? or the 'Lets all pray about it'? Im sure the kids think its a cop-out and that Im not even interested in trying, but they dont understand our perspective do they? Its the same with Harry Potter. I am NOT a fan of HP... and so far, Ive had an occasional 'can we watch it etc...' comment but no begging or pleading etc... (helps to not be surrounded by it I guess). Its popped up again in conversation.. do we , dont we? While I can see walking my teens through it, our family basically doesnt watch anything that the whole family cant watch.. Anyone else out there like that? And while #1 might be fun and lighthearted (so Ive heard), I think the later ones are darker etc.. do I Want to open the whole closet?
MY guess is that everyone out there BUT me has seen them and you will have no idea what in the world Im doing to my kids. :) Trust me, my kids can quote practically every movie out there including LOTR.. I just find HP different in nature. Sigh.
Ok, thinking on paper. Time to get the tribe up and rolling. I love life. I love my kids and I love questions. Its great to not have everything figured out isnt it? I guess thats what keeps us close to Father.
oooohhh, my punkin' Olivia just came out of bed and said 'bonjour' then kissed me on both sides of my cheeks, LOVING this am so far~!
blessings,
Jen

Going househunting....

Heading out the door in a bit to househunt.. not something I generally enjoy doing, but as moving homes every two years or less seems to be our lot in life I shouldnt be surprised!
Our landlord was meant to come this week to tell us what our new rent would be for the year... we knew it would be going up and were aware we might have to move it it was to high.. but instead of telling us the new rent amount, he said it was now 'Sold'. Hmmm...
Our co-op starts the end of Aug. when our new lease would start, so hopefully we could get the last months rent back (Fat chance - but there is always hoping) and move this month so there is still time to set up and prepare. :)
Anyway... funny how life is huh? I just took this random personality test on facebook that said I was flexible, 'go with the flo', and always needing change, so we will see if its accurate or not!

just sharing some thoughts....
Jen

Over night Fun!!!

Guitar Hero? Painted lips...


Crossing the Mekong River back to Laos.


Our family just got back from a quick overnight party in Khan Kaen (northern Thailand). We needed to 'spice' up our lives - so, you ll never guess! We went for a McDonald's infusion!!! We realized while there it had been a good year since we had last had McD's and that Olivia would not really have eaten there last time we went through (except to maybe chomp on some fries?)... the boys played video games (a very addicting Guitar game.....) and they were thrilled that they got in the Disney Channel in English!!! We were only there 24 hrs, but it was a fun 24 hrs! :) Oh yeah, and Olivia had her lips painted by the make-up counter lady. :)

Inside / Out

Here are some pictures of our group 'Inside / Out'. They are an amazing group of kids and we have had a great year. We have about 12 different nationalities represented this year. We took a picture this last weekend as some families will be leaving soon. Alot of them are wearing the t-shirts we had made with the logo 'Inside / Out' on the front and W.I.L.L. Walkers in Light and Love on the back. We have fallen in love with the song 'Inside Out' by Hillsong and felt that it was something we wanted to be known for... we want to live from the Inside Out.

Olivia is always in the middle of the group during our worship time with hands raised. Her favorite thing is worship and she doesnt budge when the 'Mighty to Save' dvd is on...
We just had a great bon fire a couple weeks ago, but as the Mekong had started to rise, we had to move it to our house.. so Dave and the men proceeded to dig a hole in our front yard for the bonfire. We roasted hot dogs but decided we couldnt invest in $8. marshmellows. Oh well.. we played games (Limbo above) and sang when it got dark... sweet
Jaap-Jan, Anamai, Meri, and Charissa helping paint the 'Women at Risk' house last Sat. WE had a blast serving this way and the kids got the WHOLE HOUSE painted in 3 hours!!! Great job guys. They partied after by painting handprints on each others calves when we were done... seafoam green.. yuck!