February 2023

As promised – we have been super busy on this side of the world!   Once the kids and I left Lexington and said our good-byes to everyone in Kentucky (which is never easy), we made our way to Thailand – “The Land of Smiles”.  I believe history says the reason Thailand is called the Land of Smiles is the Thai culture is to generally avoid conflict, confrontation, and argument, so they just smile.  In my case, I think they may be smiling as more of a “bless her heart” gesture because I’m generally stumbling around my words or trying to figure out what something says with Google Translate.  I think I will start responding back with a smile of my own and quote Numbers 6:25 - “May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you” because it is somewhat refreshing to look up and see a smiling face in the middle of a frustrating moment (even if it is at my own expense!)

Garrick was safely back in Thailand and waiting for us at the airport when we arrived – with chocolate bars!!  After two months of not seeing one another, it was a very happy reunion – even if we were all tired and probably a little bit smelly after 30+ hours of travel time!  And he brought chocolate in case we were grouchy, because he knows – chocolate makes things better!  He’s a good man.

In the short time that we have been here, we have found a house to rent, moved what things we had in storage from last year into the house, laid some flooring, and built an in-home “dance studio” for Perry.  It’s not perfect, but she’s making it work.  Once Ruddy started jiu jitsu back up, I realized his new gi needed some alterations, so I acquired a sewing machine and went to work.  we started and completed our first week of school – managing to “almost” catch up on everything!  Not too bad for one week in the house!!  Now we are trying to navigate living on the opposite side of town from where we lived last year.  We will have to learn the area to better understand where we need to shop for food, home goods, etc.  I’ve been shopping on Facebook marketplace and found a family right down the street from us who is moving back to the US (and who also happen to also know someone I graduated with from Lawrenceburg), so I’ve been watching their Facebook posts!!

The house is a huge praise because we now have a place to be able to invite people to join us on missions overseas and I pray that can begin to happen in the near future.  Several of you have shown interest in this and I am so excited to be able to bring that opportunity to life!  There are many steps to make that happen, but one of the big ones is out of the way – where to put you!   We could easily put you in a hotel, but the keeping the cost down is a priority for us and this is easily the most cost effective way to do that!  So, pray about it – if you have any interest at all, please shoot me an email and let’s talk!!!

We are actually going with our church tomorrow to a school/orphanage for an outreach program.  We are excited for this and are looking forward to beginning a relationship with this organization for future endeavors.

It’s going to be a busy time ahead and I hope you choose to follow along on the website and Facebook page – I promise to try and do a better job of keeping both updated in the future!!

Praises …                                                                        Prayer requests…

·       Reunited with Garrick                                            *  Garrick’s upcoming visa run    

·       Garrick’s safe return to Thailand                           *  Bank account

·       Relationships being made with karen villagers         *  Budget for 2023 is met

·       Found a house and got settled                                 *  Karen villagers avoid bombs

·       Connecting with organizations                                *  2023 Rent Budget  (Still need $2500)                                               

$23        in         ‘23

Fundraiser

This is how I hope to fund our rent this year for housing in Thailand.  I am hoping to get 50 people to commit to donating $23 per month for the year 2023.  That would cover our rent and living expenses while abroad for the next year.  Please pray about this and if you feel like it is something you can do, there are several ways you can give to our organization and remember – all donations are tax deductible!!!  We are a nonprofit organization – a registered 501(c)3.  there are still other expenses such as airfare, insurance, special projects etc. that one time gifts are wonderful for.  having a consistent, reliable income for the recurring monthly expenses is really the best way for us to budget for those.  Thank you all so much for everything!  We couldn’t do this without your support, belief in us, and your prayers!