Merry Christmas from our crazy family to you!

This is our first update since we have been back. It's been about 3 weeks since we were in Thailand and about 2 weeks since we've been back at our house. Our jet lag wore off, and we are finally settling in and getting ready for Christmas.

Our flight to Thailand was an adventure! Because we weren't sure if Evangeleen and I would be heading back when my wife went back, we purchased Chitty a round-trip ticket and figured we would buy tickets when everything else was in place and we sensed that God was calling us back, but hoping we would be able to go back together. Well, we ended up being able to come back at the same time. Evangeleen and I bought tickets to leave 2 days before my wife, but for some reason, Korean Air decided that Evangeleen needed a fit-to-fly certificate, so we jumped through their hoops and got it. Then when we turned it in, they said that since it wasn't a pure Korean Air flight, they couldn't approve it, and Evangeleen couldn't fly. It was a very long and complicated process to get to that point where we had to cancel our flight and buy new tickets.

Evangeleen and I on the plane, Good bye America!!!!

We ended up getting tickets on the same flight as my wife for the first leg. There was heavy rain in Seattle and it ended up delaying our flight an hour and a half. Evangeleen and I had time to get to our next flight, but my wife's flight had already left by the time we landed, and she was stranded in San Francisco. She ended up with 20 hours in layovers and traveling for way too long. She was supposed to get to Bangkok before us and ended up arriving a day later. We were all happy to be together in Thailand when she arrived and praised God that we were able to make it back in one piece.

Making Christmas cookies with the kids! Homeschool is so much fun!

Switching gears, we are now turning our attention to Christmas! Christmas may be controversial to some, but not to us! Living in a Buddhist country for so long, where no thought is given to Christian holidays or the Christian perspective, it is great to have a time of year where it is so easy to start a conversation about Jesus Christ and His birth on this Earth and a time to focus on our Savior. I know it's not the real day of His birth! When we were in On Nut 49 in Bangkok, it was an awesome time to have a big party and invite all the kids and their families to come and enjoy good food and fellowship, as well as some presents and games. We were able to meet a woman who is married to a Muslim man and had read some books about Christianity. She came to our party and questioned me about many things and ended up attending our church and being baptized a few months later. We love this time of year to teach our kids about giving and being able to evangelize so easily, as well as giving our kids some presents! The only holidays these kids know or have celebrated are Buddhist ones like Loy Krathong or Songkran; it is so nice to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior with them.

Matthew 5:16 - "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

We are also super stoked to see the youngest of our first batch of kids grow up and is about to graduate high school! Sam is growing into an amazing man, and we couldn’t be prouder of him. When we got him, he was 12 years old and addicted to his phone, always in trouble, and wasn't really liked by his mom. His GPA for the first 3 years was stuck between 1.2 and 1.7, and he didn’t think he could do any better than that. I asked him last night when he thought he was capable of the grades he has now. He said about 3 years ago he tried really hard and surprised himself with a 2.75, which he didn’t think was possible. He has strung together grades above a 3.0 for about 2 years now and is finishing high school with a 3.09 and, Lord willing, will be able to raise that to 3.1 or 3.2.

Sam has a present for you, its his grades!

Yesterday we were all surprised to see that he was accepted to Asia-Pacific International University in Muak Lek, Thailand. He decided about a year ago he wanted to be a nurse, and APIU has one of the best nursing programs in the nation. Some of his friends wanted to do the same thing but were denied because of poor grades. We are excited to see what the future has in store for him and excited to see him go to a Christ-centered university! Please keep Sam in your prayers; the nursing program isn’t easy, and he will have to work hard! The program costs about $5,000 and requires a $1,000 down payment before January 2, so please pray that God will supply all of Sam’s needs for college!

Chiang Mai Adventist Academy Christmas celebration

We are also about to be grandparents! Kartun has been married for about a year and is about 3 months pregnant as of today. We are waiting to find out if it is a boy or a girl, and I am super excited. My wife is not nearly as excited as I am but is happy. I am excited for Kartun to experience the ups and downs of parenting and for her to see the wisdom in why we do the things we do and why we give her the advice we do! I am just so excited to meet Kartun Jr!

Isaiah 40:31 - "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

All in all, we are very happy with how everything is going since we have been back! Has anything been easy since we have been back? No, not really. Home school is slow, fundraising is slow, kids cause problems, and now our landlord is coming to check out our house that we have had 30 kids in for the past 6 years. You can imagine the damage that has been done. We have fixed the important things and let some stuff go and figured we would fix it before we moved out; we can’t call anyone to fix it, and when something breaks, we have to pay for it ourselves; Thai rental laws aren’t very good. There is stress everywhere, and smoke season hasn’t even started yet! When we take our focus off of Jesus, it looks like everything is against us! That’s why we are staying focused on Jesus and treading forward!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and pray for us to keep making progress with our kids!

Philippians 4:6-7 - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Merry Thai Christmas!

Love instead of anger

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