Party Time

On Halloween night we had our first annual Brandermill Cul-de-sac party.  We had a great time with our neighbors playing games and eating well!!  It has been really fun to get to know these families over the past year.  

Boy I love this little monkey!
Daddy had a crazy weekend even though you can't see the exhaustion in his face.  They both look delighted to be together!  Mike spend the entire day tiling the neighbors bathroom. He did a great job.  The next day Campus Outreach sponsored the 1st annual Tangle in the Triangle.  They had students from NC State, Duke and Chapel Hill playing in a flag football tournament.  It was a huge success.  A great way to build relationships and try to build interest in getting students to go to Atlanta for our Christmas Conference. 
This is the grand finale of Halloween.  Avery came in and sat on the steps and went through her bag of candy. She got to eat one thing that night and then chose one thing every day until it is gone.  She is delighted and even though I thought we would never get her in her costume again she asked to wear it to bed.  The next morning she even woke up and wanted to wear it to the Flag Football field.
The Fairy and the Incredible!  What a match.

Such a cute crowd.  Avery loves the Learys!  She can't wait to get to there house in the mornings.
This is a 30th Birthday party for our friend Chris.  We had such a good time decorating and celebrating.

Mike and I have enjoyed watching Avery grow up so much this week.  Even today on the way home from the store she started sighing in the back seat.  I just laughed out loud because I obviously had been sighing.   She constantly makes me think about my reactions to her.  Mike and I have both  seen how we need to watch our words in front of her. Today I spilled yogurt on her shirt and said poopy Snot.  She quickly replied with a repetitive poopy snot.  Oh Well could be worse : )

Mike is working hard on campus.  Things are going great at Duke and NC Sate.  I am plugging away at becoming Bradley Certified.  Hopefully by next week I can have all of my work in to the Academy.  Please pray for energy for both of us. We have been dragging slightly with the chaos of life.

Oh By the way, I know just last week I put the picture of Avery in her crib.  Well today we got some Halloween money in the mail from MaMa and I took Avery to pick out a new pillow for a Big Girl Bed.  She picked it out and when we got back home she climbed in a big girl bed and took a great nap.  She did fall out after about 45 minutes but I helped her back in and she slept another hour and a half.  She went down great tonight also.  Lets hope the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon!

Fall Fun!

Fall is my favorite time of year!  It has been so beautiful around our home with the trees changing colors and the leaves covering the ground.  Every time we get in the car I tell Avery how beautiful God has made His earth.  It has gotten to the point where she just says "aren't the trees pretty."  In so many ways fall is such a refreshing time of year.  We are beginning to see the fruit of ministry at NC State and Duke,  we are seeing Avery grow up before our very eyes, and we get to celebrate yet another year of growing in marriage.  

This past week has been quite an adventure for me personally.  Right after we had Avery I became very excited about the possibility of teaching other couples the natural childbirth method that Mike and I used.  We had such a great experience and it allowed Mike and I to grow closer.  This past weekend we finally put action to desire and I took a four day course in Atlanta.  It was a lot of fun, but very exhausting. I haven't sat in one place for that long in a very LONG time.  I also had a to study for a test.  Please pray that now that I have taken the class I can finish up the additional requirements and begin teaching.

These pictures are a sneak peak at our little Halloween Fairy. I bought the costume a few weeks ago and Avery tells me everyday that she is not going to wear it.  Needless to say, I kept the tags on just in case she meant what she said.  Well, yesterday she looked at me and asked to put it on so with great joy I got her all dressed up and told her we had to take pictures. My fear is that these may be the only pictures that we get.  We will have to see if she puts her Fairy costume back on Friday.

 

These pictures below are from our Fall Retreat in Myrtle Beach, SC.  We had a great time and were so excited to see how God is moving at NC State, Duke and UNC.  We had 64 students attend the retreat.  Mike did a great job  using Jacob's life to talk about how we tend to search for blessing in worldy gain and not in Christ as our Savior.  I think it really hit home with the students as they live in a culture that tells them such the opposite.
This is Avery on the beach.  We couldn't drive all the way to the beach and not touch the sand.  However,  this little girl is such a mess.  She immediately started crying when sand got on her feet and wanted me to wipe them off.  Who knew a two year old could care so much about being clean.  This is her distressed look I guess.  She is probably wondering why everyone else doesn't mind standing in the sand : )
Such good Buddies!  We had such a blast with our friends at the retreat.  I was so refueled getting to spend time with my friends Lia and Wendy.  Our little girls also had a blast together.  It was hard to get them apart at the end of the day.
This was a last resort activity. What you can't tell from this picture is that it was raining and less than 60 degrees outside.  Abby and Avery don't seem to mind.  I was in the hot tub also but with my head all the way in the water.  

Mike has turned a new leaf and started doing P90X very faithfully. He even has a few followers as you can see.  They look very intense, don't they?

So many activities must be followed by good rest.  I know that it is time to move Avery from her crib but look how much she enjoys it.  She uses her bumper as a body pillow.  Maybe one day I will get her out of that thing!

Thanks for catching up on our lives.  It seems like this time of year can be so busy but it is fun to sit quietly for a few moments and record where God has us in the Season and rejoice in all the He has done and continues to do in our family. 

Fall is in the Air!

It is hard to believe that we have been back from Thailand for two months.  We are just now starting to feel like we are back in a routine.  We spent the month of August traveling to see family and supporters and we spent September adjusting to our new campus.  We are now doing ministry at Duke and NC State.  We have really enjoyed the staff and students that we have gotten to spend more time with this semester.  Mike has also had an opportunity to meet more Duke baseball students through Matt, the Duke student that went to the beach project this summer.  

It has also been fun to see how much Avery has grown and changed since we have been back from Thailand.  Her vocabulary has taken off and we can now have little conversations.  I am doing a Wednesday Bible Study and she has also been doing much better in the nursery.  She gets so excited to go be able to go and see her friends!

We are gearing up this week for our Fall Retreat.  We are taking 50 NC State Students and 20 UNC Students to Myrtle Beach, SC.  Please pray that these students will hear and receive the Gospel.  Please also pray that God will give Mike wisdom as he prepares the talks for the weekend.  He will be speaking three times to the students. 

Avery has enjoyed being back to play with Jordan, Payton, Blake and Madison.

We look forward to sharing more after we get back from the retreat! 

This week has been a little different on campus.  In Thailand there is something called "Freshy Games."  All of the freshman are required to take part in the games.  They play soccer, badminton, fut sol, cheering, and basketball.  One of the students we have asked you to pray for, Kaen,  played on his major's basketball team.  They didn't have enough students to play so some of our guys were able to participate. It was a lot of fun and a huge momentum builder.

This weekend several of our students have gone on an evangelistic retreat.  Many of the students we have spent time getting to know are going.  They will be exposed to the Gospel and get to spend extended time building relationships with our students and the Thai Staff. Please pray that the weekend would go well and that the students would come to know and believe the Truth of the Gospel.

For our ministry training this week we continued our study of the The Kingdom. This week we focused on the places God calls us to live out the Kingdom such as the Church, Culture, and Work.  We also spent extended time talking about the Sabbath and what that really means. One of the things that stuck with me the most this week was the fact that "External rest is impossible without inner rest from anxiety and strain.  It takes a deep rest in Christ's finished work for your salvation to avoid over-work."  I see that this is so true in my own life because if I am not resting in Christ then I have this over arching anxiety that leads me to find in work what I am lacking in Christ and this never satisfies. 

In light of our Sabbath study most of our team went on a relaxing tour of a Dam about an hour from Khon Kaen.  It was an awesome time of taking in God's creation and resting in fellowship.  

We all road on the Sung Tow.  We even wired Avery's carseat into the truck so that she could ride.  It was quite a site and our Driver(Koon Loong)  thought it was an awesome idea!

These are just a few of the awesome pictures that we took.  It was great picture of God's great imagination and how creative He is.  It was so beautiful!

We also ate while we were out on the Lake.  As you can see Avery is entranced by her sticky rice.  She has fallen in love with rice since we have been here.  Every day she ask for rice, Soup and Beggies(Vegetables).

This is a typical meal in Thailand. Fish and Shrimp.  They were both really great!

After lunch we went for a dip in the Lake.  Avery had a blast swimming with Stacey on the tube. She wouldn't get in the water but hey there was seaweed every where!

What would lunch be without ice cream! 

After lunch we took a trip to see one of the largest Buddha statues in Thailand.  It was huge.  In the picture below I don't know if you can count but we had to walk up over 1,000 Steps to get to the statue.  We weren't going to walk but Avery insisted.  She made it about 10 steps and then up to Daddy's shoulders.  We had our workout for the rest of the week.  I am still sore : )
This is a picture of one of the statues in the temple.  It is so sad to see people bowing down to an idol and have no knowledge of Christ.

This is Avery with her Thai Grammy!  From day one Avery fell in love with this lady and the feeling is mutual.  She works at our apartment complex and absolutely loves Avery.  They talk to each other every breath but of course they can't understand a word the other one is saying.  We have fallen in love with Grammy and will hate to leave her behind.

Thank you again for your prayers and support.  Please continue to pray that we would finish strong on the campus. We only have three more school days because next Thursday and Friday are Holidays.  Pray that we would make the most of our time and that we would leave Thailand transformed by the power of a mighty God.

Celebration TIme!!!

Let me begin today by saying that Mike and I have decided that the saying "when it rains it pours" was created in Thailand.  Really when it rains here you have no idea what the outcome will be. It rained a lot last week and as a result we haven't had internet in over a week and our water has cut off several times.  It is no big deal to the Thai people.  When we ask about the internet or the water they just reply with a simple, "Well it has been raining a lot!"  Needless to say that is why our blog hasn't been updated in a while.  

These past two weeks have been a lot of fun as we have continued to see God use the students to establish relationships with the Thai Students.  We have also been able to serve the Campus Outreach Thailand team in exciting ways this week.

Every day after ministry training we head to The Complex for lunch.  This is where most of the students eat lunch.  We set up meetings with students or just meet new students.  This serves as their cafeteria.

These are two students at KKU that we have been spending time with.  Meow and Jade are sophomores on campus and have been doing stuff with the Thai staff since they were freshman.  It has been neat to see our students build a friendship with these girls.

Even though we are in Thailand we couldn't go without a July 4th party.  Well actually we celebrated on the 5th but it would have been the 4th in America : ) We got to go to the pool for the first time all summer and we had a cookout.  It was a lot of fun to celebrate with the Thai staff.

As you can see on Avery's face, She had a BLAST!!

Another way that we were able to serve the Campus Outreach Thailand team was to help throw a birthday bash for two of the wives.  We did everything from helping decorate, babysitting, teaching shag lesson, and serving at the party.  It was so much fun to see the team get to dance and enjoy one another. They kept saying how they don't get to do things like that often. It was also neat to see the Thai's learning South Carolina's state dance.  

These are all of the girls on our team.  We took advantage of the wonderful Thai massages one afternoon last week!  It was so refreshing and helped us renew for the rest of our time in Thailand.

This week we have been learning about The Kingdom and The church.  Jeremiah 29:7 has made a huge impact on us this week.  "But seek the welfare of the City where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."  We are thankful that for this season God has placed us in Thailand to Pray and serve on its behalf.  Please continue to labor alongside us for the people of Thailand!  We are eagerly awaiting all that He has in store for Khon Kaen Univeristy!

Living and Learning

Well, another week has flown by and once again God has been faithful to teach our team so much about the Truth of the Gospel.  This week we were learning about being Children of a big God!  It is so easy for me to forget that God has adopted us a sons and given us everything we need.  So often I struggle in my own strength and don't rest in the power of a Mighty God.  As we approach halfway this week, my prayer has been that we will not be filled with a ton of knowledge only to return without application.  

This week has been one of the harder weeks for me personally.  It has been SOO.. HOT and Avery has gotten a little restless in the room.  It has been really good though to be stretched and taken out of my comforts.  

Avery continues to be a lot of fun!  She learned how to spell her name this week which blew Mike and I away. One day I was just sitting here writing and she spelled her name out for me. She never ceases to amaze us.  She has also been really excited about makeup lately!  We were in a meeting last week and looked over to see her playing in Stacy's makeup.  We couldn't resist capturing the picture : )  Of course she thought it looked beautiful!

Mike and I had a chance to go out on a date this week. It was so much fun to get a little time away to talk and catch up with one another.  We went downtown and ate a restaurant called Kiwi Cafe.  It was really good and we got to eat French Fries.  They were such a treat!

One of the most emotionally difficult parts of the week was going to an orphanage here in town.  Mike and I went to the two year room and helped out there.  There were over 30 two year olds in a tiny room where conditions were not very good.  Most of the children latched on to the students and just wanted to be held.  This little boy didn't want anyone to get too close to him.  They were all so beautiful and it brought to mind a true picture of what it means to be chosen by God and adopted as Sons.  The only chance many of these children have is to know that they can be sons of the living God.

Avery had a great time playing with the Children.  This little girls name is Meko and she was so thrilled to have someone to play with and pay her some undivided attention.

All of the children that were really afraid were sent to a special room with a lady they call Mama.  Only four of us were allowed in the room and they continued to cry until Mike pulled out the guitar and started to sing.  All guards came down and they had a blast dancing and singing.

Please pray for these children that some how the will grow up with the knowledge of a God who loves them and holds them like a Father.

Campus has still been really good this week.  Students are still enjoying Futsal with the guys and the girls are doing a book study on the "Reasons for God" by Tim Keller.  It has been really exciting to build relationships with the Thai students.

The last thing we wanted to share is a video of Avery saying hello in Thai.  We couldn't edit the video so it is a little long but she actually says hello in Thai three times.  

Thanks for investing in our lives and taking the time to stay connected.  We are very thankful for you all!

Making the Most!

The weeks are passing so quickly and we are getting more settled into life in Thailand. We are truly having an awesome time.  This week we have spent lots of time on campus and have gotten to explore the city a little more as well.  We are all growing to love the food and Avery has gotten really good at saying hello in Thai.  You have to fold your hands in front and then bow your head and she does it all!  Futsal has continued to be a great way for the guys to meet people.  One guy in particular, Kaen, has being spending a lot of time with our team. He is asking a ton of questions and even asked for a Bible tonight. Tonight Kaen was at the point of tears wanting to understand "the truth" about life. Please pray for Kaen and for the many other students that we are interacting with.  The Lord is working in Thailand through your prayers!

Avery is still a highlight!  Events where we get together and eat and hang out are working well for meeting girls.

This is our lovely car for the summer.  It seats NINE people.  Avery thinks you don't have to ride in a carseat anymore because no one here does.

We also have this Song Touw for the summer.  The driver's name is Koon Loong (Uncle) and he doesn't speak a word of English. It is quite comical trying to tell him where we need to go.

This past weekend we went to a King Cobra snake farm in a little Thai village.  It was crazy to see men, and small children head butting and kissing King Cobra's.  Avery was actually brave enough to touch a Boa!

Boy's will do anything!

Avery is making some great friends in Thailand. One of the staff couples is very generous to allow us to go and play at their house weekly. It has been a lot of fun! 

These are just a few glimpses of what life has been like in Thailand so far. God is really starting to break our hearts as we see the barriers to believing in Christ among the Thai people.  Mike and I are seeing daily how blessed we are to live in a culture where Christianity is so accessible. We also are seeing daily how much we have been provided for!   We miss you all and look forward to sharing more soon.