Happy 40th Clinton

On July 28th we celebrated Clinton's 40th birthday. We had a wonderful time with friends at a nice restaurant here in Hat Yai. Happy Birthday, honey! Nick Shores, Clinton, Brian Stubenrauch and Ajarn Sutat(our Thai pastor)

Our Judah is gone

Many of you who have facebook already know that Judah ran away, but for those of you who don't know, I wanted to write on my blog so that you could be praying. Judah left for school 15 days ago and never came home. Clinton has scoured the city only to come home with no clues as to his where abouts. One missionary family spotted him at a local mall but he ran as soon as they called his name.
This is the third time that Judah has run away and we are more shocked this time than we were the first. We found Judah on the streets 14 months ago, begging money. He was very malnurished and filthy. We brough him home and began a search for some family. With a social worker in tow, we went to the city of his birth. It was confirmed that his mother and father died of a heroin overdose and that his grandmother has also passed away. His little sister was sold by his older brother, who is now in prison. So Judah was on his own in this world. We brought him into our family without even a thought. About six months ago Judah gave his heart to Jesus and we were certain that he wouldn't run away again...... but he did. Please pray with us that we could find him and that we would be able to minister to the deep issues that are in his heart.
Love,
amber

Colton's graduation pictures

We thought this day would never come..........but now that it has, I've often thought, "Where did the time go??? It all happened so quickly!" Now my baby is a man and prayerfully we've made him ready to face the world. The portrait of childhood is finished and he will continue life on a new canvas.....one of adulthood. We pray that God would be with him as he makes decisions and that he would be a man that loves God and fears God. I love you, Colton! I'm so proud of the man you've become.

A few new family pictures

Catching boa, cooking boa, eating boa...

Sorry these pictures came in in the wrong order............. the boys went to Naratiway and spent the weekend with Uncle Todd and Aunt Carrie. While they were there, they caught an 11ft. boa that had been eating Todd's chickens! Then they had the great idea to cook and eat the boa!!! Just call them Tom and Huck!

Our trip

As many of you know we just returned from a three week, 2700 mile trip to the north Thailand. It was a very fun, hard, eye opening trip. God moved in miraculous ways. We saw many people come to the Lord who had never believed. We also saw those who were back slidden repent.... as well as many healings. Clinton preached 8 times in 5 days. When i watch him preach it brings tears to my eyes because no one can understand just what a miracle this is. To hear him preach in Thai is just amazing! When the anointing is on his life he preaches as if he's preaching in English. It just flows. 

The first five nights of the trip, we slept on the floor in a room that's reserved for extra stuff. There was no air and no hot water for bathing. This was a challenge for me, but God have me so much grace. 

I hope you enjoy the pictures below. 

The breath taking mountains of North Thailand

 

 

the mamma and the daddy

 

 

village life and food

 

Community water

 

Simple lunch

 

Clinton enjoying some papya salad with some friends

 

A real Thai village

Northern Thai grandma

 

 

 

                                                                                                  Community eating/sleeping

Heading further up the mountains

The sights were so beautiful as we were going up the mountain... everyone had to stop to take some pictures. Here's the boys with their band... excluding Judah

The car was quit hot so they opened up the back to get some cool air. 

 

After a very long journey... this was they first thing we saw at our destination...... dinner! I was in shock!

 

 

Church meeting in Lee

 

 

 

Trip to the North

Bank and Judah with the gorgeous mountains of North Thailand behind them.

 Clinton and all the boys... we had a two hour break and the kids opted to go swimming. The heat was overwhelming.

 

 

Clinton preaching the Gospel on Easter morning. 

 

Random pics

This is the local grocery store. But it happened to be Chinese New Year, hence all the red.
Lunch with the Volks... bar-b-q pork, sour soup, with sticky rice
Our large selection of curry to choose from each day for lunch. My family loves to eat curry and rice for lunch. The average lunch for the family is about $2.50

This is a seafood market. The girls selling are Muslim.

Mother's day out

Today is the first day our little Joseph will be in "mother's day out." I never realized how precious my time was until I didn't have it anymore......
Candy my doctor friend, who lives two streets over from me, has a nanny that cleans her house and takes care of her two year old while Candy's at work. Candy asked me recently if I would want to bring Joseph over to play with her daughter one day a week and Ba Sien would watch the both of them. I was like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? What a wonderful idea." So today is the first day for Joseph to go and play. You should have seen his little face when I told him we were going over there to play! He was so excited. He's my most social child of the 5. He and Colton run a pretty close race. He loves to interact with other people and was sooo happy to go and play today.

So now I finally have time to post something on my blog and write some emails! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I'm sure many of you thought that I was throwing in the towel. But never fear.....I'm back!

I hope you're getting ready for the spring! I just love spring!! Although we don't have one here in Thailand, I'm acting as if we do. I have pink everywhere and decided to decorate my blog with the spring theme as well. Hope you like the new layout.

lots of love,
amber
Write me an email, or leave me a comment. I would love to chat!