It's A Boy!

14 hours.  I waited 14 hours from our social worker's Line message about being matched.  At 8:40 am the next day (I simply could NOT wait any longer!), I sent her a "good morning" sticker.  She immediately wrote back that she was not at the office and had to go to a meeting so couldn't tell me anything more until the afternoon.  Okay, I understood.  I resolved that I would be distracted by teaching for the morning and could wait a few more hours. 

But 25 minutes later, I noticed my phone started dinging like crazy.  It was during a weekly prayer time that I have with some friends, so I waited.  When we were done, I checked my phone and saw that they were messages from her.  So I went upstairs to Matt's classroom (it was almost time for morning break), and waited for his kids to leave.  There were a couple kids who needed help with math, so I helped for a minute but then told Matt that we had messages from K. A and asked if the kids could do the math later... :) 

We read the messages together and learned that we had been matched with a BOY! And that he was born in February 2015.  Matt said, "2015?! So he's 2?"  We were truly shocked by this as we were open to kids ages 2-8 and even sibling groups.  Our understanding was that most adoptive families preferred younger children, so we just expected we would be matched with older.  So, shocked, but very happily.  

She asked if we accepted the referral, and we wrote back, "yes, of course" and then immediately started receiving pictures of our handsome son!  His face, y'all.  The sweetest.  I mean, he is just.so.adorable.  (But we will not be posting any pictures publicly until the adoption is finalized, per the understood guidelines of adoptions in Thailand.) 

After the first time we said we accepted this match, we learned about his current orphanage and a little more about his birth family.  After we said we accepted again, we learned a little more.  

We stayed in Matt's classroom for a minute soaking everything in and reading the messages over and looking at the pictures.  Then we said we wanted to go tell Tyndall.  But as soon as we got downstairs and saw Krissy and Abby & Bryn standing right there, we had to tell them.  Krissy saw our faces and said, "you know?!"  And we ran toward them and did a big group hug and I said, "WE HAVE A SON!  AND HE'S 2!!!"  And we burst into happy tears and jumped up and down.  And took pictures.  Because we want our son to know that this moment...  This moment that we found out about him and "met" him through pictures was the very moment God placed him into our family.  Just like it was with Tyndall.  It is indescribably precious.  Even with students crowding around "why are you crying, Mrs. Tricia?" and other teacher-friends sharing in our joy, at that very moment, God sunk this son of ours in our hearts.  

Before we realized it, break was over and students were going into both of our classrooms.  We realized we had to do real life for a little while.  As my students came in and got settled, I did call my mom and send her a picture of her new grandson.  :) I then told my first graders that I had just found out I have a new son.  They didn't really understand, but it will be fun teaching them more about adoption this year.  That was the hardest English lesson I've ever taught, and Matt would probably say the same.  

Right after English is lunch time, so we went to find Tyndall in the lunch room.  We wanted to tell him he has a new YOUNGER BROTHER!  We told him and showed him a picture.  Right away, he grabbed my phone and gave it the biggest hug and then started showing his friends "This is my brother".   We spent a lot of time hugging and processing this news together (in the cafeteria filled with 1/2 of the school).  Other teachers were hearing our news, and we were able to tell people who have been praying with us for these last 2 years that God has given us a SON!  

Needless to say, Tyndall didn't go back to class.  He probably would have been too distracted and distracting to others.  Matt and I went to Chapel after lunch, and I could barely keep it together singing worship songs like, "My God is Powerful" and "By Faith".  I took the rest of the afternoon off, and Matt came home during his planning periods.  We tossed around a few names and then settled on a name we all liked as a family.  That will be another post.  

We learned more about him through the day (all through Line messaging) and just couldn't believe the way that God had given us another perfect boy to join our family.  

Little boy, you are so very loved already! 

Will you be praying for our boy?  Will you pray for his little heart to be prepared to meet his forever family soon?  Will you pray for us the next few weeks as our files go before the adoption board in Thailand for final approval?  It's possible that he will be home with us before Christmas.  It's a lot of change to happen in the next few weeks.  Please pray with us during this time.  

Spring Semester Recap!

Spring semester at GES brought more changes for us.  I started long-term subbing in Grade 1 for Kristin who was out on maternity leave.  Tyndall changed classes to K-1 since he was (mostly) potty-trained and needing a little bit more structure.  That meant he also changed to having a "farang" (foreign) teacher instead of just Thai teachers, so it also made it easier for us to communicate and understand how he was doing during the day.  He has loved being in the preschool class, and it's been a great change for him.  

Because my job changed from part-time to full-time, we needed a helper for Tyndall after school and around the house.  God brought P'Nui into our lives, and she has become more than Tyndall's nanny, our house-manager, shopper, dinner-prepper, Thai teacher, but an incredible friend!  She is a sweet sister in Christ, and it's so neat to get to know her heart for others and for Thailand!  She's one of the worship leaders at her church and helped lead Thai worship at our lower elementary chapel one week.  We are excited for her to start seminary soon, even though we won't get to see her as much!  George and his family also help us out a ton, mostly on Saturdays when we teach Joy Club.  We are so thankful for them as well and continue to learn so much through their friendship.  These friendships have been unexpected blessings, but definitely some of the most treasured ones of our first year here! 

My Grade 1 class was full of life and adventure.  I had (most of the semester) 23 kiddos who kept me on my toes daily.  I loved hearing different accounts of their days and having lots and lots of questions and opinions and comments from their little (and big!) personalities.  :)  Thankful that I was allowed to spend a few months with them and prayerfully show them more of Jesus.  I look forward to seeing a lot of those relationships grow over the years.  Now that Kristin is back from maternity leave, I'm spending time with the lower elementary ELW (English Language Workshop for Grades 1-3) teacher since that's what I'll teach next year.  

Matt has enjoyed teaching Grade 2 again (it's what he taught when we were here in 2008-2009), and he will be teaching Grade 2 next year, which means he will have a lot of the students I had this semester.  That should be interesting! I really love seeing Matt as a teacher!  He cares so much for the kids but also enjoys teaching them new things.  It's just neat to see!  

One thing that I've really appreciated too is that we live approximately 143 steps from our classrooms.  It's so nice to run home on breaks and (for me) have some alone time.  Most of my lunch breaks, I get like 20 minutes to myself which can help recharge me for the rest of the day, and I usually get a mini Thai lesson from P'Nui during lunch as well.  It's not always easy having the school right outside our home, but a majority of the time it's a blessing!  

In addition to teaching the regular daily school schedule (7:30-4:40), we both did a lot of tutoring and continued to teach the Saturday school, Joy Club.  This has had its pros and cons but overall, it's allowed us to get to know more students and build more relationships with parents as well as have more spending money and giving money. I think it also helps us enjoy our family time a lot on the weekends.  Matt and I typically have an afternoon date on Saturdays and then Sundays are full days with meeting with our church, eating lunch at Que Pasa with friends, naps, then hanging out in the evenings (lately we've been swimming in the evenings which has been fun!) and prepping for the week. 

We had our first visitors in March!  Emily and Sheila came to Thailand for their Spring Break, which was way too short.  They were troopers powering through jet lag and experiencing Thailand in such a short amount of time.  We didn't see them as much as we would have liked (in retrospect, we should have taken some days off), but we were super thankful for the time we did hang out.  Loved hearing about their adventures in Kanchanaburi and Cooking with Poo and their day trip to the beach.  My favorite was hanging out at their condo pool and getting dinner and foot massages on their last day.  Can't wait for our next visitors to come at the end of May! 

So thankful for friendships that have grown this semester! This stage of life with 2 working parents and an incredibly active little by would be incredibly draining were it not for life-giving friends.  The kind who bring coffee and random snacks to your classroom.  The kind you go get massages with.  The kind whose kids play with yours.  The kind who babysit for date nights.  The kind who come over for dinner and don't mind making themselves at home.  The kind who do games.  The kind who do movies.  We are thankful.  

Overall, we continue to love our new lives in Thailand.  Sure, we have rough days and days where the cultural differences and not knowing the language are hard and challenging and frustrating.  More of them lately with trying to do business-sy stuff. But that's part of living cross-culturally.  And we understand a lot of those things better this time around.  The cockroaches and spiders and snakes and smells and heat... still not our favorite things.  But it's easier to take the good with the bad.  

All that being said, we are super excited to have time in the States this summer.  We miss our family and friends A LOT and can't wait to see everyone and have quality time with everyone soon.  I'm also excited for everyone to see Tyndall and see how much he's grown and what an incredible little boy he is.  It's going to be GREAT to see him playing with his cousins and our extended family again. Only about a month away, and lots of fun to be had in the meantime! 

Pictures are on Facebook.  I'll maybe add some in here later for my own sake, but for now, I feel accomplished having gotten this done. ;) 

First Semester Recap

In a perfect world, I would have been posting a lot more regularly and done {at the very least} monthly updates.  It would be a great way to connect with family and to help me remember in years to come what our lives look like these days.  That would have been nice.  

Instead, I was busy and consumed emotionally with transitioning to our new lives in Thailand.  I'm allowing myself some leeway.  However, one of my 'outlets' and ways of processing is to write.  I want to document these days for the reasons above and also to help me truly experience and find joy in the present.  So, I will be a bit more active here.  

In the interest of chronology, and because I'm a bit too particular to start with now, here's a bit of a recap of our first 5 months in our new home.  

August~We literally landed in BKK on the first of August which makes it wonderfully easy to remember how long we've been here.  Most of August was spent in the awe of being back here with our son in tow.  We made LOTS of trips to Big C (the Nonthaburi equivalent of Super WalMart) to make our home more home-y.  We eventually purchased some living room furniture, a 50" tv, some rugs and decor to help us settle in.  Each day, this new place became more our home.  We spent time reconnecting with friends and students who were here 7 years ago as well as beginning to get to know all the new faces.  MUCH has changed.  Some things are the same.  Once school started, we liked getting into the new routine and learning the new schedules and students and systems of life on a school campus.  We had a couple of weekend outings to explore the city.  We went to Dusit Zoo and got annual passes to Ocean World. Mostly, we focused on adjusting to our new jobs and home.  Speaking of jobs, here's what we do: 

Matt is teaching second grade and has 14 kids in his homeroom.  He also teaches the higher-level English students for all of Grade 2 and Science for both Grade 2 classes.  In the first semester, Tricia was working 3 days a week as a substitute teacher for all grades.  When she wasn't subbing, she was working in the office as an assistant to one of the school administrators.  (This is changing for 2nd semester.) Tyndall goes to Nursery Monday-Friday from 8:00am-3:00pm (naps for a couple hours there).  It's on our school campus, and we get to peek glimpses of him during the day.  

September~September was definitely about settling in.  We had a staff retreat out of town for a couple of days.  During that time, Tyndall fell off an incredibly tall ladder, so we had a bit of a health scare.  Thankfully, he was totally fine, but it was definitely a monumental day for our family.  I think it helped us become closer to more people here as well.  In September, we started investing more in relationships with people here.  I had a couple of one-on-one coffee morning dates with new friends, and we went out with a couple families for dinner.  We also spent a lot of time in the evening watching shows like Parenthood, The Walking Dead, and Bones.  I started doing a women's Bible Study group through our church on Monday evenings and was teaching ESL at our church on Tuesday evenings.  We also had Overnight Camp on campus where all of elementary school kids have extra time at school (grades 2 and above spend the night).  Matt became really sick that weekend, which caused him to miss a couple days of school the next week.  Everyone said our immune systems would be weak this first year as we adjust to a new environment and living at a school.  Which brings us to October... 

October~was a very different month.  We had committed to teaching Joy Club, which is English school on Saturdays for (mostly) kids who don't go to GES.  Matt teaches K2&3 (ages 4-6), and I teach K1 (ages 2-3).  We started that on Saturday mornings, but we were both feeling run down.  Matt started feeling better after about a week, but I started feeling worse.  I broke down and went to the doctor one day and found out I had pneumonia.  Yuck.  They wanted me to stay at the hospital, but that was intimidating to me in a new country, away from my family, so I opted to just travel to the hospital each day for breathing treatments and IVs.  That lasted about a week, and then I just had to go a couple times a week.  By the third week in October, I was starting to feel better but was still just wiped out.  That happened to coordinate with October Break for the school.  We had originally planned to travel to Cambodia for the break, but opted to stay home and do day adventures instead.  We did things like Imagania, Ocean World, Safari World, Ikea, Tyndall's first movie at a theater, and hanging out with families at the school.  The Ikea trip was fruitful in that we got lots of more things to make our home more home-y.  My birthday also fell over October Break, and I share a birthday with another teacher here.  So, we took our families to lunch and to the Children's Museum together.  Then, we left the kids with Matt and went and got foot massages. Then she babysat Tyndall so Matt and I could have a date night.  So sweet!   Even though I probably should have rested a lot more, October Break was fun!  I remained pretty exhausted and out of gas for the rest of October, even though I returned to work, and we both started tutoring kids after school.  Our friend George started hanging out with Tyndall after nursery while Matt and I were tutoring.  My pneumonia stayed around until the 2nd week of November, but I was feeling much better by the end of October.  

November~November was busy.  I did a LOT of subbing and even worked extra days to make up for time that I would miss from school in December.  We also had a lot of teachers out for various reasons, including the birth of a new baby. While the new daddy was out for a week, I taught his high school chemistry classes.  Hilarious.  I also spent a few days shadowing one of the first grade teachers because I will be long-term subbing for her while she is out for maternity leave.  Between normal jobs and tutoring and Joy Club, we kept ourselves busy.  In November, I was also back to Bible Study and ESL on Tuesdays most weeks.  But when I committed to teaching full-time this coming semester, I knew I wouldn't be able to teach ESL as well.  I was a little sad to give that up, but I know I can do that in another season.  I realized that my time at home with Tyndall was becoming pretty limited, and I want to have more of that.  Thanksgiving was definitely different.  On the actual Thursday, we ended up having friends over for dinner at the spur-of-the-moment and didn't actual realize it was Thanksgiving dinner until after. Our school did a BIG Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after.  We had about 100 people.  Ham, chicken, and sides-a-plenty!  It was good.  Definitely started missing family (and familiar traditions) more though.  

December~was CrAzY.  Matt was getting his kids ready for the big Christmas program, and for the end of the semester.  The first week of December, I worked extra days to get ready for the time I was about to be off...
On December 5th, I flew to Cancun, Mexico for my best friend, Ginger's wedding!  Mom met me there, and we spent a few days on a beautiful resort hanging out with the Henry~Hudson wedding guests which was so much fun.  It was honestly the best resort I've ever been to and the people were really fun to get to know.  Very, very fun and refreshing few days.  Not to mention getting to watch Ginger marry the man of her dreams, a man we have prayed together for for years!  After Cancun, I flew to SC for a few days and spent a little time trying to see a lot of people and get a lot of stuff done.  Overall, it was a great few days.  I feel like I got to have time with almost everyone I wanted to and it was even quality time.  I got to see Valerie and Zeb's new house and dance around to Disney songs with my niece Sadie.  I got to have a mock Christmas breakfast with the Flagler fam and even a typical Sunday lunch on my "bonus day" (my flight was delayed leaving Charleston, and by then I had missed all connections to Bangkok, so I had to stay an extra day).  Got to see the James Island Christmas lights with the Flaglers and my other nieces, have Panera dates with friends and even an airport breakfast with the fresh-from-her-honeymoon Mrs. Hudson.  A great, whirlwind trip for sure, but praise God, jet lag didn't put a damper on things!  Once back home in Bangkok with my boys (and SIX suitcases!), it was straight to working in the office then time for Christmas program (a 3 day intense event right in our front yard.)  Tyndall handled the change in schedule and loud music outside his bedroom window quite well.  But we were also really glad when it was over because then it was time for CHRISTMAS BREAK!  

{Forgive the lack of pictures.  Again, this is really just for my remembrance down the road.  Plenty of pics can be found on Facebook.}

Tyndall Adjusting to Nursery

(Originally written in Spetember)
The first week, Matt and I had trainings and orientations during the day.  As a part-time teacher, I didn't have to go to all of them but most.  Our friend Ro watched Tyndall a lot of the time the first couple days, but one of the days she wasn't able to.  So, I took him to the Thai nursery for the first time. 

That was hard for my Momma heart... It was just for an hour, but I knew it would all be in Thai.  He was in a new country--lots of new surroundings, new language and new people. He did well the first time since it was just for about an hour.  The next day was a couple hours and the next day was a few hours more.  

The next week, we started easing into our work schedules.  I work full school days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Those were long days for him.   He started crying when we dropped him off which was brutal. And I would get reports throughout the day that he was crying a lot. We were really struggling with whether or not Nursery was the best situation for him.  It didn't help that none of the other teachers' kids were in school that week.  

Once school started, it got a little bit better where he wasn't crying as much through the day.  He also got on the schedule with the other nursery kids where he was taking naps with them too... that has made a world of difference! It also helped that the Nursery class changed to a new classroom... a bigger, brighter classroom that is not within eyesight of Matt's class building.  (Tyndall used to stand at the nursery door and get upset when he saw Matt go in or out of his classroom.)

in his school uniform

Now that we are about 10 days into school, it is going really well.  Tyndall didn't even cry when I dropped him off this morning.  He is absolutely adorable in his nursery uniform.  And I love that he is learning Thai AND Chinese and is in a fun, structured, loving environment.  It also helps that he's super close. He's making friends and even talks about his teachers and nursery friends when he's not there.  So thankful we decided to stick it out.  

with Kru Nok on a Thai-style Friday

Update: We are 3 months in, and the child LOVES Nursery!  He talks about it all the time when he's not there.  He talks about his friends. He sings songs from 'school' and busts out with Thai words randomly at home.  
  

Settling In

Have we really been here almost a month?!  Wow! It's cliche but true: some days it feels like forever and others feels like we just arrived.  




Here are some of the bullet points from getting settled in:

• We arrived really late and were missing a bag.  Took awhile to get that figured out, especially in another language. We are truly so fortunate that English is so universal. 
• We met up with another new teacher in the airport who I had 'met' on Facebook prior to arriving.  That made it a little more fun waiting for the school van and getting together with the other couple who flew in that night. 

• We got to the school (our new home) really late on Saturday night, and we spent a few hours getting acquainted with our new place.  



Jet lag was rough the first few days.

• Our townhouse is on campus, fairly close to the gate. Above an office, beside the textbook storage room, you take a few steps up to our door. Up that first flight of stairs, you find our living room, bathroom and kitchen.  It was recently remodeled and looks great!  
• Up another flight of stairs is the 2 bedrooms.  Tyndall's room has a twin bed and a wardrobe and dresser.  Our room has a king bed with 2 wardrobes, a dresser, and a desk.  
• 3 rooms in our house have 'air-cons' which help cool the rooms down.  We are not supposed to leave them on when we are out of the room.  The 3rd floor rooms get especially hot, but we have learned to turn on the air-cons awhile before we go up for the evening. 

 

Went to Big C first thing when we woke on up Sunday for 'essentials'.

• A couple weeks into being here, we learned that we are not supposed to be flushing our tp.  That has been an adjustment. 
• The campus has changed so much and is much nicer!  
• As we expected, we LOVE having playgrounds so close.  And having other families around who are in the same boat.  

• We have spent a lot of time with 'familiar' faces from our first time here and also getting to know others.
• The town is changing a lot.  Growing UP (there are skyscrapers we can see from our house!) and out. Several teachers live off campus now which is different than before.  Apparently the BTS (sky train) is being built really close to here now.  
• Big C is still the go-to store, which is a short tuk-tuk ride away.  The most immediate area hasn't changed much at all... the main difference is in the people.  I noticed today most of the workers in the street shops were looking on their smart phones... such a paradox.  Live chickens and fresh eggs and no advanced sewer system... but smartphones.  
• I think the biggest, noticeable change for me has been the community of the school.  I'm sure most of that is because we are mow and old, married couple with kids.  But the general campus makeup is now families.  There are almost more kids than adult who make up the 'farang' (foreign) community.  Very, very different from 2008-2009 where most teachers were fresh out of college. 



Jet lag had Tyndall up before 6am most mornings the first week. 
Lots of snuggling in bed and watching shows on the iPad.

• I LOVE watching Tyndall embracing life here.  He's fearless.  No surprise there.  

Here We Are Again! (Thailand)

It's our 12th day in Thailand, so I figure it's time to start catching up and processing/documenting things before I get too far behind!  

I LOVE having the blog book from this blog last time around, so I know this will eventually be a great resource of looking back and remembering the great things God does! An "Ebenezer stone" of sorts.  

I guess I should start with how we got here.  I remember being on the beach one day with Matt and Tyndall.  We did it a few times this summer, which was super nice.  We were talking about our long-term goals for our family and our dreams for the future.  Our current situation (at the time) was not sustainable.  Matt was working 3+ jobs, and we literally had opposite schedules.  Our family time was pretty limited, and we felt very stressed and worn thin.  It was not fun seeing my husband like that when he is generally such a laid-back, easygoing guy.  So, we had known that something needed to change and had been tossing around options for awhile.  

On our beach day, (June 23rd), we decided for sure to sell our house and simplify our life.  Get rid of STUFF.  Live more simply.   We met with our realtor the next morning and were thrilled with finding out the state of the market and our house's value.  We could pay off all of our 'bad debt' and start fresh.  But the "where do we live?" was harder to answer. We talked about what we wanted... to live with more purpose. To be able to do ministry as a family.  We looked into Cares again.  We looked into other schools overseas, and we even applied to a few.  And then we started talking about being back at GES.  For some reason, it seemed quite obvious.  Things would already be somewhat familiar.  We would know some people already.  It wouldn't be as HUGE of an adjustment as the first time since we would already somewhat know what to expect.  Within that next week, we applied, we interviewed, and we were offered positions.  (Matt's IDEAL position, by the way, which wasn't available when we first started interviewing only a few days earlier!) We had lots of conversations in the meantime and started throwing the idea around to family... Tyndall and I actually were able to be with my family in Saluda the weekend of July 4th which was wonderful family time!  While I was there, the house went under contract after only 4 days on the market. 

So we decided. Back to GES. It was confirmed in our hearts, in our spirits in so many ways.  Just a few days later,  the house contract fell through... time for the 'test'.  Did we really want to go? Was this the right timing?  Lots of prayer and conversations and Scripture, and we still knew we were to go.  So we continued selling all our things, closing down my Mary Kay business, preparing to go.  Visas, passports, original documents all mixed in with the details of selling a house and packing up our household.  Then the house was under contract again, after only 5 days this time.  I was VERY happy to be done with showings.  Keeping the house tidy and leaving for extended periods of time with Zoe and Tyndall was harder than I imagined it would be.  :)  But, we made it, and it was a pretty short amount of time.  Thank You, Lord!  

The whole process was only a few weeks... less than 5 weeks.  Kinda crazy.  Very faith-stretching.  Very humbling and even painful in some ways.  But, through it all, we pray we are being made more like Jesus.  Less earthly stuff.  More focus on eternal matters.  As hard as it is to leave family, especially this time with Tyndall, we knew we were supposed to be heading into this new, different season. So, here we are again!   

 

Playing Tourist with Tiffany

A couple weeks ago we got to see a friend from Thailand. Tiffany lives in Hawaii now, but she was in Charleston for a friend's wedding.

Matt and I got to meet up with her downtown for a nice lunch. Then we walked around downtown for awhile. It was a GORGEOUS day in Charleston, and it was nice to do something a little out of the routine.But the BEST part was connecting with a friend from Thailand, such a fun stage in our lives. And one that can really only be understood by people who were there too.

By the way, we are ALWAYS up for visitors, so come to Charleston anytime... :)

Two Years ago This Week...

... we moved to Thailand.

Been missing it some lately. Been missing these kids a lot.



The video is about 8 minutes. Pray for these kiddos as you see them. Pray for how God is working in Thailand.

Grad School?

My Facebook status currently says: Matt and I may or may not have applied for grad school last night. Got some interesting responses already:Well, we did. Not sure if we're ready to spill all the beans because let's be honest: Matt and I can be pretty fickle people, and we tend to jump into things pretty quickly.

Where did this come from?
1) Matt loved teaching in Thailand and really thinks it might be what he would like to do as a career, as scary as it sounds to commit to a whole career.
2) If he does decide to teach, he needs to get certified.
3) He would want to teach overseas again.
4) If he is a teacher overseas, I would like to go with him.
5) It's easier for him to get a teaching job overseas at a school which will hire me too if I also have a teaching degree.
6) Though teaching in Thailand definitely had it's wonderful moments, it mostly drained me and I thought I didn't want to be a teacher anymore, even that's what I thought I would want to be from middle school forward (besides a wife+mom!)... BUT we think if I have training and more prep time, I will probably feel more competent and enjoy it more.
7) We have to do something we love and that makes a difference for eternity.
8) Recently, I got a letter from one of my fourth graders that made me cry and I had one of those "ah-ha moments" when I realized that though it wasn't always easy, it was a place I saw God working.
9) Aimee was a teacher, and in her shortened life, there were sooooo many lives God used her in as their teacher, who have come to know Him as a result. Pretty inspiring!
10) The application was free, and we'll only be charged if we actually enroll. ;)

What may be the result?
-Masters of Teaching, with concentrations either in Elementary Ed, English Ed, or Special Ed.
-Majority of coursework done online but 3 classes on campus.
-Nationally (and Internationally) recognized teaching certification for the both of us!

Now what?
1) Finish the applications. (Transcripts to be exact)
2) Get financial aid, LOTS of it.
3) Get started. It's only 12 classes, but they all have to be completed within 5 years.

What do you think? Really.

And, it probably goes without saying, but we'd really love your prayers for this next (possible) step and for financial aid to work out because we are not sure if we will follow through if we have to take out student loans.

2009 wordle... as promised

Can you think of anything I missed?

I created this here.

The Thailand Wordle

I sat down and thought about lots of words that came to mind when I thought about Thailand and then created a wordle.

Here's what I got.

Favorite Memories/Quotes from Thailand (from Matt)

Posted on April 14, 2009 by mattflagler

Lately I have been consumed of thoughts and memories of our time here in Thailand. I guess that’s normal since this is our last day here. I thought I would write a post of some of my favorite memories of Thailand and fun things I remember about my kids:

• Elephants walking down the street.
• Food carts everywhere.
• Seeing movies and having to stand for the king’s anthem.
• Thursday night poker games.
• Eating at Sombats and Que Pasa
• Our small group
• Hanging out with the Seaman family, playing Settlers with them, and spending time with their kids.
• Soi dogs
• The Black Swan
• Dome pretending to be a cop:
• Dome: “Pause Mr. Matt!”
• Me: “Pause? I think you mean freeze.”
• Dome: “Oh yeah, freeze Mr. Matt.”
• Web: “I want to eat Mr. Matt.” “I want to eat chew gum.”
• Web wanting to tutor with me everyday and never wanting to leave once tutoring was over.
• Daonua and GiGi fighting over which one loves me more and who can sit in my lap.
• Questions the kids asked every single time we had show and tell regardless of what was being shown:
• “How much you pay for it?”
• “Where you buy?”
• “What is it’s name?”
• “Is it a boy or girl?”
• “What color is it?”
• Minty treats with Tiffany
• Kids crying over the dumbest things.
• Christmas with the Lawsons and skyping with family.
• Chiang Mai and Krabi
• Giant spiders, geckos, and lizards in the house.

And so many other things that it would be impossible to mention all of them. Thailand and the kids that I taught have left a lasting impression on me. I am so thankful that God gave us the opportunity to come here and have a small part in the lives of the kids that we taught.

Farewell to Sombot's and Nee's

Sadly, Sombot's restaurant is closed for three weeks, so we won't be eating at our favorite place again before we leave. Our last time eating there was actually the day we left for Chiang Mai... though we didn't realize it at the time.

We eat an average of 4.5 meals a week at Sombot's. His wife cooks in the outdoor kitchen, rain or shine. It's mostly covered, but she's gotta get hot with two fires going... especially on the muggy days! It's the best place I've eaten Thai food. It's very affordable, and the walk is just about the right distance away from school.
It's a small place, and sometimes it's absolutely packed when we go. GES teachers probably give them most of their business, at night (as you can see in the picture below) but during lunch time, it's filled with locals. A lot of Mondays and Wednesdays, Matt and I would walk done there for lunch and end up sharing a table with a local businessman on his lunch break too.
Oh, the food was delicious, and even though I can get tired of Thai food kind of easily, I know I will miss his cashew chicken or beef, garlic chicken or beef, chicken fried rice and yellow curry. Matt will miss the chicken salads, sweet and sour pork or chicken, spaghetti with pork or chicken, and many 0f the dishes I mentioned too. Thankfully, I was able to say goodbye to my second favorite food vendor: Pee Nee. She's the lady who makes the yummy fruit drinks and cocoa cafe' yens. And I'm pretty sure I'm her most frequent customer... which is the GES Teacher award I got on the night of the farewell dinner: "Most Likely to be Pee Nee's Most Valuable Customer".
Nee is a sweet 45-year-old woman who's dating an Irish guy who lives in Iraq. She lives with her parents (who are in their 80's), at least 2 siblings, and between 4-8 neices and nephews, depending on school and work schedules. I would walk to her drink stand and her family's restaurant at least once a day... sometimes more.

It was sad saying goodbye to her. We exchanged email addresses, gave blessings to each other, took pictures together and said goodbye. I've loved getting to know her but really wish that I spoke Thai so much better so that I could communicate easily with her. Hopefully, we will keep in touch over the years. Prayerfully, there will be many more Christians who love on her and show her the way to know Jesus and the eternal life available through Him.

Fun Awards in Grade 4!

Award for:

Having the Best Smile: Beb and Praew
Having All the Girls in the Class Like Him: Boom
Asking to go to the Bathroom: Fay
Having the Biggest Poo-Poo Eraser (it's a Thai thing): Dream
Having the Best Eyes: Gade and Golf (the twins)
Asking Permission to Go Drink Water: Jame
Being Late to School: Junior

Having the Best-Looking Hair: Karoon and MoMae

Getting Hurt in P.E. Class: Manna
Being Gone Somewhere on Vacation: Max (who, ironically, was on vacation)

Bringing in Gifts for Friends: MeeMee
Having His Shirt Untucked: Meen
Asking to Borrow a Pencil: Yok
Hating to Run Laps in P.E. Class: Mew
Forgetting His Homework: Seven

Buying Snacks at School: Mine
Always Laughing: Pon
Spending the Most Time in the Classroom: Pukboong
Doing Everything Really Slowly: Plagrim
Sharing a Prayer Request: Nat

By the way, they all voted on these instead of me picking the winners for all of them. They really enjoyed it, I think!

Final Days with Grade 4

They're gone. So sad!

It was a crazy week in that I was frantically trying to finish a little project called 'the binder'. GES has not received official accreditation from the Ministry of Education, so we have to prove (with pictures or worksheets or some other type of documentation) that we meet the national set standards. So, not only do we have to teach the things, but we have to document that we taught it. But it's done now! Hooray!

Aside from doing that, we watched a lot of movies, played a lot of games and went on a couple of field trips. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Ice Skating field trip that we went on Wednesday because our camera had some issues. Ice skating was not my favorite thing, but a lot of the kids definitely enjoyed it! Only 14 went, so it was easier to keep track of them. We joined grades 5 and 6 for that trip. The other 'field trips' were just to the nearby 7-11 where I let the kids buy whatever they wanted.

Our last day, Friday the 27th, was the most memorable. We did a 7-11 run first thing, then we had our last flag time and went to chapel. During chapel, we sang some of the kids favorite songs, then we gave out awards for each class. These were the official awards like "Citizenship Award", highest score in P.E., Computers, Music, and then the Honors Awards.

After that, the kids were with their Thai teacher for awhile cleaning and packing up the classroom while I was finishing getting our house ready for the day.

Matt's class came over for a little while and watched a movie and ate pizza. Then, I cleaned up and got things ready for Round 2. Grade 4 (only 21 kids, plus 2 Thai teachers, plus some parents) came over after lunch. When they first came, I showed them the movie I had made for them (can't upload it because it's too big). They really loved it, which made me so happy. This is a picture of them watching it.

After showing their movie (which they each got a copy of), I passed out the class awards. These were silly and fun and everyone got one. I think I'll do a separate post for who got these awards. But, they were well-received, and everyone understood that they were meant to be fun and not too serious.

After the silly awards, the kids got to play Wii. They loved it! Seven had brought some games too, so since everyone couldn't play Wii, some kids played some of his games with him. They were at the house for about 3 hours, and they had a blast! It was so much fun to spend our last day together just hanging out.

I didn't want the afternoon to be really rushed. It was important to me to be able to say goodbye to everyone and not feel too hurried. So, we had some good time back in the classroom where we talked about our favorite moments of Grade 4. Then, I got to pray over them. Then, their Thai teacher handed out their report cards and they finished cleaning the room. As each of them left, I hugged them and said that I love them and will be praying for them.

I didn't cry, and I don't think any of my kids did either. It was a good last week, but I know I'll miss my students a lot!

Wrapping Things Up

We will be arriving in Charleston 3 weeks from tomorrow (which is SO hard to believe), which means things are really starting to wrap up here.

We aren't teaching, taking attendance, or grading anything this week, but technically the last day of school is Friday. We still have one last field trip and a big class party planned for the week, of course. Today was the last day for one of my students though, and it was pretty sad to say goodbye.

This past weekend was full with many 'farewell' events. We didn't have regular school on Friday, but there was a graduation in the morning for Kindergarten, and then one later for Grades 6, 9, and 12. It was unlike any graduation I've ever been to! Lots of dancing for the kindergarten one. Lots of speeches for the older kids one. But, overall, it was all done really well. Even though we didn't teach any of those classes, it was nice to be there while they said their formal goodbyes.

Friday night, our church here, Chaengwattena Community Church, hosted a dinner for all of the GES teachers. It was a really nice meal with a fiesta theme, and some time was given for each of us to reflect on the year and share one word that described this past year. We wrote the words on rocks as 'stones of remembrance.' Matt's word was "Father", and he started off by saying, "well, I chose the word father because Tricia and I have a little announcement..."! HAHAHA! Then, he explained that he really chose it because some of the kids in his class call him their dad at school and how that has gotten him to think a lot about being a dad, and about his Heavenly Father. My word was 'reality'. Even though it's been a tough season in some ways, I do feel that God has taught me a lot about living in today. I know that on days when I am enjoying life here in Thailand, my days are so much better than the days when I am wishing that things were like they used to be, or like I want them to be in the future. I'm thankful that God has been teaching me about this, and I pray that I will always remember that today is my reality. :)

After the dinner at church, most of the teachers went out to a restaurant/hookah bar downtown and enjoyed some drinks, hookah, and dancing. It was a fun time to just be out and enjoy all the other teachers... and in some cases, laugh hysterically at them while they were dancing/lurching themselves across the room. :) The atmosphere of the place was really cool though, and it made me want to handpick several friends from different times of my life to spend a few hours there. Anyone want to come?

Saturday, we got some work done during the day. Matt finished editing our honeymoon video, and I made a movie for my class. Then, we headed over to the Seamans' and hung out with the kids while Dan and Kristen went out. When they got back, we played our last two games of Cities and Knights of Cataan all together... Dan leaves this week for a long trip so we won't get to hang out all together anytime soon. We will really miss those game nights with them!

Sunday, we went to church and then had a cookout/pool party for the afternoon with our LifeGroup. It was kinda a send off for us since we're leaving soon and since it's the last time everyone could get together. We have loved our LifeGroup, and it has been a great mid-week refresher. It's been nice to get away from school, be around people who aren't teachers, and get to know some other incredible people. There was recently a pretty sad moment in our group when one family left because they weren't feeling welcome or secure anymore after a slightly intense conversation. This was incredibly sad for me and something I think I've learned a lot from. So, despite that family missing, it was a wonderful day of fun with our group. They cooked out steaks and chicken on the grill; we played ping-pong; hung out in the pool; and lots of other fun things.

Last night, we just took it easy and got stuff ready for the week. But I've been thinking a lot about how thankful I am to be able to have good closure for this time in Thailand. It really is a blessing that we've already had some events that have helped us think through what we've learned and what we're going to miss about Thailand. And we still have 3 more weeks to enjoy here which is another thing to be incredibly thankful for!

A Day in the Principal's Office

This past Tuesday was a crazy day in that I spent two hours in the principal's office. During prayer requests on Tuesday morning, Mine shared about a flier that had been given out about her. I didn't fully understand the situation, but we put it on the board and prayed for God to work in and through it. I was planning to ask Mine about it later that day, but while I was frantically trying to finish putting together their last final test, I overheard conversation between the principal and one of the Grade 6 teachers.

I walked over just to hear about it because I could tell that it was really important to Mine... then it turned out that I needed to be involved.

The basic facts are that there is a group of 6th grade girls who really pick on Mine's older sister, Mew. Mew is a pretty easy-going girl who lets most of it roll off her back, but Mine (in my class) is not. She takes things personally and sticks up for her sister, probably more than she should.

Some things happened last week between the 6th grade girls and then with Mine and Dream (also in my class) that helped to escalate the situation. Last Friday, one of the 6th grade girls wrote an email to most of the 6th grade students really talking badly about Mew and Mine. The end of the note included threats to them and included a death threat for Mine.

When Mew and Mine's mother saw this email, she kind of flipped. It wasn't known at the time, but she had apparently been trying to meet with the teachers and principal for a long time about this 'feud' in grade 6. The email was the last straw.

She wrote up something to the effect of, this is a great example of the type of student who attends GES. Look at the excellent grammar and personality of the students. This is a wonderful testimony to the parenting of [student's name--we'll call her Minnie]'s mother. For parenting advice on how to raise excellent children, contact [Minnie's] mother at [address and phone number given].

She made over 100 copies of this, along with the email [Minnie] had written, then hired people to stand at the school gates and hand them out on Tuesday morning. Whoa!

The Grade 6 teachers and the principal had their hands full working on that for most of the day. Since my students weren't so directly involved, I only had to spend two hours in the office listening to the different points of view and stories that were involved.

I'm still not sure how it all got worked out, but I'm continuing to pray that everything is diffusing and that forgiveness and grace will prevail, showing Christ to all involved in this situation. To my knowledge, none of the people involved are believers, but I'm not really sure.

Needless to say, I did not finish getting the final test ready for my students, so they had an extra day to study, which it turned out they desperately needed.

The whole situation was nothing that I could have seen coming but a great reminder of life beyond the classroom for me.

Field Trip to Dream World!

Thursday, March 19th, I and 21 of my 4th graders, plus their Thai teacher, plus Grade 5 went to Dream World. It's a theme park that's some sort of mix between Disney World, Carowinds, and the fair.

I put the kids in groups, made sure they had at least one cell phone in their group and set them loose! That's right. Twenty-one 9- and 10- year olds set loose at an amusement park! They were required to call me every two hours and meet for lunch at noon. One girl went home sick after the first hour, and the Thai teacher took her to meet her mom. I never saw the Thai teacher again until the end of the day. I didn't have any major problems with the groups. One group failed to check in at the first call-in time, but it was because their cell phones had lost service. They found Miss Shaela (Grade 5 teacher) and asked her to call me for them. Everyone came to lunch on time, if not early. And the same group failed to call in during the second check-in, but after I called around, I found out they were actually with their Thai teacher. I was VERY proud of their behavior overall.The park was really, really fun! There was a good variety of rides, and it was small enough that I frequently ran into GES students or the other teachers, which was nice. It was really fun being able to be silly and goofy with my kids.

My favorite part of the park was probably Snow World. You walk into this big warehouse, and they provide you with a big jacket and some boots. Then, you walk around in the snow for awhile, have snowball fights, then go sledding. You pick up a sled, walk up the icy, frozen stairs, put your sled down, get in, then the guys push you down. Weeeeeeee! Then, you do it again. So much fun!

I also enjoyed riding the Viking, which is the big pirate ship ride thing that swings really high and fast. The haunted house was amusing because my poor 4th graders were fooled into thinking that I would protect them during the walk. (This is a bit ironic because the last time I went into one of those things, I walked out having peed my pants from being so scared.) But, there comes a time for all grown ups to act their age, so I bravely walked through the haunted house with 3 4th graders attached to me the entire time, screaming at the appropriate places (of course only for the effects) and holding tightly to their hands, saying 'it's okay' at all the right places (for them, of course), and even running with them through the parts that were extra scary (also for their sake).

We also did water rides at the very end which was really fun because it had gotten pretty hot by then. Unfortunately, the pants I wore that day were of the see-through-when-wet variety, so I found a solution by adjusting a parka to fit from my chest down. That way, it protected my pants from becoming see-through, but it allowed me to get wet and cooled off a bit. My kids laughed at me for awhile, and I'm pretty sure I embarrassed them during the 30 minutes I wore it. But it served it's purpose.

The last call-in time was at 2 pm, and I told everyone at that point to meet me at the front gate at 3:30. But I got a call around 2:45 from the Thai teacher saying we needed to, in fact, meet at 3. So, it was a bit crazy for awhile calling around to everyone (while waiting in line for one last ride!) to change the meeting time. After our last ride, we made a mad dash through the park (because, of course, we were at the furthest end from the entrance), grabbed some snacks for the bus ride home, and made it to the meeting point at 3:02. Whew.

At that point, I started taking small bites of a snack I had purchased--a pancake on a stick! Pure genius.

The day was amazing! The students were so fun and well-behaved, and I think we got our money's worth of the park.

For more pictures and commentary, view my Facebook Album.