Getting ready for the party take 1

Clinton and Nan getting the house decorated. He is so creative that we decided that he should be in charge of decorations We had all the children sign up and receive name tags with a number because we had drawings for gifts. There were 87 children who registered, and after that we ran out of name tags. We had 13 staff who were helping. In all there were about 110 of us!!!!
This says Happy New Year in Thai.
I just had to add another kitchen picture...... look at all these women around one pot! Read on in anothe post about how Thai people do things.

Getting ready for the big party

Here's the little boys helping put up all of the tables We had 10 tables with 6 chairs at each table. The kids were sooooo excited!
Nong Bang helping with four chairs! She's a precious little girl and those who gave money will help this little girl go to shcool this year. She is 6 and has not been able to go to school because she has to take care of her 4 year old brother while her mother goes to work. The mother and older chidlren leave the house at 6 and Bang and her little brother are locked in their house from 6am unitl 3:30 everyday except Sundays when they go to church with us.
Wow! Aren't these two little boys strong!
Chase Tanner helping put the table clothes on the tables.

Fish balls anyone??

Here's Saaw and Bang washing the fish balls that will go in the green curry that we are going to eat after the games are over. The kitchen was too full so they had to wash them on the side of the house...... yes, in Thailand we can do this. But I can't imagine anyone in America taking their food to the side of the house to wash it. Can you??? But here, it's seems quit natural. If the sink is not avaliable, go the the next best place... the faucet on the side of the house. : )
In Thailand, everything is a group effort. In fact, when we first came over here, this drove us crazy. If you wanted to take something back, if you needed special assistance, if you are washing fish balls.......... it takes at least 2 to 5 people. Jing, jing!! (really)

How many Thai does it take to make a meal

The answer....... a whole LOT. There were about 7 Thai ladies in my kitchen yesterday helping make food for the party. You will notice in several of the pictures they are squatting on the floor. That's how they do it. I have two perfectly good counter tops for them to work on, but everyone of them went straight for the floor. Here's Saaw, Nan, and Jaw
Here's Jaw and La cutting vegtables
P Noi, Nim and Nan's mom, with Saaw and Naam in the back.
I put in another picture of the tent from the side.

Christmas block party take

Little boy listening to the Word of God being taught Chian and Colton leading out one of the games
Game of catch the flag
Saaw andNim, these two girls are some of our helpers. Saaw, on the left is a gem!!
Kids at the cross stitch station. Mee Kiaw is doing the overseeing

Christmas block party for kids

These are just a few of the precious faces that came to our Christmas party One of the stations that we had was finger painting. After the chidlren were done we hung their pictures on the fence. At one point in the day when I looked over and saw the fence lined with all of these pictures, it brought tears to my eyes.
Here's Clinton at the face painting booth. Thai children love to have their face painted.

After the games we served food. You can see Chian and Chase and the other people who were there to help us. We all had on red shirts.

Bible club

Here is a picture of our kids in Ban Pru Bible Club. We have anywhere from 16 to 7 children that attend each week. Many of them are genuinely hungry for the Lord. Two of the older ones have given their lives to Jesus.

More vacation photos

Isn't he so cute!
Chase Tanner swimming with the wave
Dad's helping Bang get a good jump on the wave. : )

Free family vacation!

Our family spent 5 wonderful days in Phuket for free! This ministry from America came to Thailand and paid for 150 missionaries to vacation for free. The ministry paid for three days and Clinton's mother paid for an extra two days!! The ministry is called Hospitality Network. They go to different countries every year and offer free vations for missionaries. Here are some of the pictures from our trip. We had a very relaxing time with the family. Bang
Boys hanging out at a small waterfall in one of the pools.
Colton was sick so he's reading a book and sucking on a sucker
Some of you say you want to see some pictures of me............so here you go.

2007 Family pictures

Thanksgiving Day

This was the first time in the history of our family(17 years) that we spent Thanksgiving alone. At first I thought I was going to be really sad, but then I decided to be happy that at least I had my three sons and a wonderful husband to spend it with. I really wanted to make this as special as I could since we would be spending it alone...........sooooo I asked the boys what we could do to make it very memorable. They said, "Mom, let's have seafood!" With no quetions asked, Clinton and I went to the market and bought some fresh crabs, shrimp and a whole fish. We came home and Clinton prepared the crabs and fish and I cooked fettuccini alfredo with grilled shrimp. It was an awesome dinner and one the boys said that would always remember!! Here's the handsome men
This was Clinton's plate. He likes to get all the meat out of his crabs, something he learned from his mother, and eat it all at one time. His plate was a master piece!!
I also made some spiced pecans, thanks to Granny who provided us with pecans and the recipe and a pecan cheesecake pie. They were good!!!

Here are a couple of "after" the Thanksgiving meal pictures. I thought some of you might want to know what we did after we ate.............
This picture was supposed to be in with the actual meal pictures.......... oops

Chase Tanner is playing cards... his favorite past time. Colton strumming on the guitar
Daddy and Bang hanging out together