Thomas' in Thailand

Home!!!

2010-03-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

My sister (Beth) and her daughter (Tinley) waiting for us at the airport.

Coming off the plane! Back on U.S. soil.

Okay we've been home for a couple days now and it is really cold here. We noticed a few cultural differences; like grass (it's so green and everywhere) the different sizes of people, how they drive on the other side of the road, everyone seems to be following "the rules" and how their are even rules to begin with. We have hit the ground running and kept ourselves busy with appointments, visiting people, Rosalie's wedding, getting jobs, playing on a soccer team and getting settled back in with welcome parties and Ban San Faan meetings. Here are a couple pictures of us getting back into the US. Our first meal was at Red Robin!

This is us at a welcome home party in our "Thai" clothes.

Awards Assembly

2010-03-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of us finishing up our time in Thailand. We handed out awards and watched performances and then saw a really nice slide show that Joel made. Here are the pictures.....

Final day of school

2010-03-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the last day of school.

This is a picture of Joel and I after morning exercise with all the kids.

Here we are starting the end of the year award and performance assembly. The kids got dressed up in their school uniforms and did some dances, received awards and got recognized for all the hard work they put in this year. We had a banner, some nice plants and decorations and a microphone. It was a very nice ceremony.

Last days of school

2010-03-12T23:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of flag salute and morning exercise class from the last days of school. The kids are really excited to see their report cards and start summer vacation.

Ban San Faan Birthdays!

2010-03-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the March birthday pictures! Happy birthday to: Peter, Andrew, Naomi, Phillip, Caleb and Benjamin.

Thai performance

2010-03-09T17:45:00.001-08:00

Malee and Brian took us to the "Kun Kantoke" for dinner and a Thai show. We saw all kinds of traditional costumes and performances and heard some typical Thai music. We ate a table on the ground and hung our feet into the hole under the table. It was a great going away dinner. Thanks Malee and Brian!

Group Pictures

2010-03-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here we are trying to get a Blazer photo with our Blazers gear on. Fun times.....

6th graders graduate Ban San Faan!

2010-03-07T17:48:00.001-08:00

We had a small ceremony for the 6th graders at the Friday assembly last week. This is their final week of school at Ban San Faan and we wanted to honor them. They will continue testing to see what school they will attend next year. Good luck Sarah, Hope and Peach!!!

Thai Markets

2010-03-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots from the other day when Joel and I headed down to the Thai market. These are pretty typical pictures of everyday life here so that you can see what we see
Dirty weeds that are called "vegetables". We eat these almost everyday.
Flowers that people hang in their cars that you can buy from little kids on the roadside.
Busy streets.
Where's Waldo? (the Monk)

Waterfalls

2010-03-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

One of the last things on our list was to go and see the MaeSa Waterfalls. So, here we are with Rebecca (the other teacher) and Inna (a friend from Bible Study) at the waterfalls. It was pretty cool, there were 10 waterfalls in a row and you just hike to each of them and see what you can find.

We love milk!

2010-03-02T22:47:00.001-08:00

We went to the market on Sunday night because there was no school on Monday (some Buddhist holiday). Everyone went; kids, nannies, adults. We packed the van full and then took David on the motorcycle (because there wasn't enough room) and went to spend some money. Malee bought the kids doughnuts and flavored milk. The kids loved drinking their pineapple, lycee or orange milk out of a bag!

We saw a really cute puppy and some bunnies at the market.Here the kids are drinking their milk.

Here are the adults eating chicken's feet and drinking milk (I have an icecream; much tastier than chicken's feet)

English tutoring ends

2010-02-28T19:14:00.001-08:00

We had a final dinner with the students we tutor English with. We have been going after school to teach adults that work at Compassion International. We are finished teaching them now and 2 of our friends from Bible Study with take over as their tutors. They set up a nice dinner for us and gave us some really nice Karin-tribe shirts as gifts. We will miss our new friends!

Badminton and Chocolate

2010-02-26T17:27:00.000-08:00

The 4th and 5th grade class earned all the marbles they needed for a reward day. They chose to have melted chocolate fondue and play badminton. So we ate and played instead of math, and they loved it.

Forts

2010-02-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

The nannies made a cute tree fort for the kids to play in. The kids having been playing house in it all week and love to make pretend food. Here are some pictures of their new house.

Photo Shoot

2010-02-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a photo shoot at BSF. We were capturing some shots for a school brochure or something for the new school to that effect. The kids got to pose in their new school uniforms and we got to pose like we were teaching them. I didn't get many pictures but Joel snapped a few as we were waiting our turn to model :)

Thai things

2010-02-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures of some common Thai things so you can get a better sense of what we see here all the time.Monks, markets and tuk- tuks (little taxi's) are all around.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-21T04:16:00.001-08:00

For Valentine's Day we crossed off one of the things on our list: going to the caves. Joel and I slipped out of the house while the kids were taking a Saturday nap, took the motorcycle about 30 minutes down the road toward the mountain to find a really neat cave. We paid about 20 baht to get a ticket, walked up a lot of stairs and then crawled into a little hole in the mountain. As soon as you got down about 100 really steep stairs it opened up into a huge cave. We walked around for a while and then came back home just in time to play outside with the kids as they were waking up from their nap. Only a couple more things on the list and about 25 days to find the time to do them. Oh, and P'Doh cut my hair. (just a little bit)

Cup Stacking

2010-02-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

We've been working on colors, patterns, following directions, prepositions and working together with cups. We even used them in our Friday relay races. Here are some fun pictures of us playing and learning with the cups.

Rachel and Debbie working on eye hand coordination building cups up.

Benjamin adding to our class pyramid

The babies copying patterns and learning colors

The first graders are putting the purple cup "on the bottom, on top, in the middle and next to" the other cups

February Birthdays!

2010-02-15T07:18:00.001-08:00

We had a really great February birthday celebration this past weekend. Happy birthday to P' Chu, Grace, Daniel and David! I made a cake with chocolate frosting and we ate ice-cream and drank Kool-Aid as well as opened presents and ran around the sala getting all hyped up on the sugar. We also opened up the Valentine's Day cards from the sponsors, which the kids loved. They get so excited to get anything from their sponsors.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Happy Birthday David!

Praying for the birthday kids.

Four Square

2010-02-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

We've been playing a bit of 4 square lately (with zaps and all!). The kids love to play with the new equipment that the Calvary team brought! Thanks again.

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

2010-02-12T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the flower festival. It consists of a huge parade and flowers everywhere. We spent time watching all the cool performances as the parade progressed. They have some really incredible marching bands and floats (all made out of flowers). Take a look...Eating street food

The awesome marching bands

long fingernails

floats

Chores

2010-02-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

Here we are doing our chores. We all have jobs so Ban San Faan stays sparkling clean :)

Everyday Happenings

2010-02-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent events at BSF.
1. P' Tyler came to visit, which is always a good time.
2. Luke is crying and really cute
3. Faith is eating a seaweed snack.
4. Happy Birthday Grace!

5. Staff dinner at a Dim Sum place. Here is P. Tyler and P. Rebecca enjoying the night.

Hanging out

2010-02-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

Here we are, hanging out and playing with the kids after school.

Ice-cream Man!

2010-02-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Bill had the ice-cream man come all the way out to our house! We all got a nice treat on a Friday afternoon, thanks Grandpa Bill.Becky with ice-cream in a bun.

Caleb with an ice-cream cone.

Paul and Nathan with ice-cream "sandwiches"

Abby with an "icecream sandwich" as well.

Friday Sports Assembly

2010-02-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

We danced the Macarena, the Chicken Dance, the Electric Slide, the Cha Cha Slide, the Cotton Eye Joe and the Hand Jive. Dance unit-complete!

Then we went outside and played box ball. Adults and boys vs. the girls and the end result favored the girls.

Tumble Tots

2010-02-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

I saw a free class advertised at the mall for Tumble Tots and looked into it for our babies. We signed up and went for a one hour class down town where 2 and 3 year olds could learn and play at their age level. P. Chu, A. Pong and I took the van to their class and helped them crawl in and out of tunnels and balance on beams. We read a story and sang songs and played with a spikey ball. It was a great free activity for the babies. Take a look at some of the pictures....

100th post at BSF!

2010-02-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

Well this is the 100th post! We have come a long way in 100 blogs, and still moving forward. There are only 6 weeks left of us at Ban San Faan and we are trying to do and see as much as possible before we leave. I have busted out the video camera so that we can capture everything we don't want to forget. I also plan on making a video of our time at Ban San Faan when we get back. Maybe we'll show it at church or Bible Study, so everyone can see what happens here.

Anyway, the 2nd and 3rd grade students have been working on a reward system and finally earned all the marbles they needed to go out to the market shopping. We gave them 20 baht and took them up to the nearest market to spend their money. They had a really great time buying candy, sunglasses, flashlights and pop. They loved the independence of getting to buy things on their own. They also had to practice math because they had to figure out what they could buy with how much money they had left. It was a wonderful reward, and a fun time with the kids.

School, school, and more school

2010-01-26T23:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from school. We just finished up a gymnastics unit that we topped off with some pyramids. The pictures turned out to be very difficult to take before we all came toppling down, but we had a really great time :)

Joel is enjoying some of the fine American treats that were sent with the Calvary team. Thank you for getting us a little taste of home! (in this picture: clam chowder)

The computer classes have been working hard on power point presentations and will present soon in front of their class and the video camera :)

Green Eggs and Ham

2010-01-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

The kindergartners and first graders can almost understand all the English in the book, "Green Eggs and Ham". So, we read the book outloud (with no translation) and then made green eggs and ham ourselves to see if we liked them. The overwhelming vertict was "yes, we like green eggs and ham". Here are the pictures......

Bible Study Retreat

2010-01-25T21:09:00.000-08:00

We went to a houseboat on a reservoir with our young adult Bible study. It was an awesome time of fun and relaxation. We spent a significant amount of time on our diving and cannnonball skills. The food was awesome (they came out to the houseboat to cook for us and left it on the table for us to enjoy and then headed out) and so fresh. Joel and I both finished a book and got to sleep in! And we had some great time around the fire, roasting marshmellows and making s'mores. Everyone got some sun and rest. It was so great to hang out and relax with adults.

Fun Times

2010-01-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the kids in PE. We rode our bikes (and walked with the younger kids) to the government school and worked out on the exercise equipment they have outside.

We also had a fun night out with Katie and Andrew that ended with us getting worked over in a Thai massage.

Goodbye sponsors, we'll miss you!! Thanks for everything you did for us and the kids. We were really encouraged by the staff appreciation night and all the renewed energy you brought us.

More random sponsor fun

2010-01-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of the things we have been doing with the sponsors.Grace getting baptized

Eating at McDonalds

Nathan getting baptized

Doing the Macarena at Friday's assembly!

Pastor Galen and Hope in their cool hats.

Random sponsor pics

2010-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the kids with their sponsors. Some are hanging out at home doing projects and the other pictures of of the elephant show.

Doing a craft with Auntie Cindy

January birthday party at BSF. We ate KFC.

Auntie Kirsten making sugar cookies with the kids.

P. Andrew's new little friends at the elephant show.

Uncle Pete and his friends.

Baptisms!

2010-01-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

Grace, Nathan, Faith and Cheri got baptized on Sunday! Pastor Galen and the Thai Pastor worked together in the small ceremony. Most of the volunteers, all the workers at BSF and the Calvary team showed up for the event (about 70 people). Then we celebrated with a delicious lunch together.

School Building

2010-01-17T23:57:00.000-08:00

The visitors are in Chiang Rai right now touring around the northern most part of Thailand, and we are back to a normal school schedule. The kids are waiting for the sponsors to come back, because they miss them already. So, while we wait for them to come back, I thought I'd post the progress of the new school building.

Here is what the new school looks like so far. It is getting finished really quickly and final construction is being completed. Even the rooms inside are starting to get painted!

The VanHammer has arrived!

2010-01-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

The VanHammer (aka Katie VanHam-Amrine) and Andrew have come to entertain and take us out on the town! We have been enjoying their company and fun attitudes. Here are some quick pictures of us.

The visitors have arrived!!

2010-01-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the Calvary team at Ban San Faan. We have been getting spoiled rotten by them and the kids are having a great time indulging in all the treats. So far the visitors have helped in the classroom by reading and doing math with the kids and homework help after school. They also brought some sweet sturdy toys for the babies, crafts, and awesome sports equipment for me to use in PE. We have been eating a lot of American treats like sugar cookies, McDonalds, KFC, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, hotdogs, etc. etc. etc.

They have been very helpful and fun to be around. It has been a party at BSF since they got here! More to come soon.

The kids waiting for their sponsors to arrive!Kay reading with Nathan.

Patty with Debbie, Abby, Caleb and Grace.Chatting it up with Grandma Edith.

School is back in full swing

2010-01-13T19:57:00.001-08:00

Here are some cute pictures of the kids doing some school work and getting ready for a dance performance with their dance teacher. The little kids are learning how to cut, glue, look at books and string beads while the older kids are doing leadership activities and learning to work together.

Face painting

2010-01-13T02:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from a class reward day. The kids chose to paint each others faces. They got the day off from math and had a good time working together.

Lime Waterfalls

2010-01-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

This was an incredible experience! These are lime waterfalls, where you take your shoes off and walk up and down the falling water! It is not slippery because of the lime. It feels so weird like you shouldn't be able to just walk around but it is totally grippy and solid under your feet. This was a great weekend activity.

Hanging out at Ban San Faan

2010-01-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

Here we are playing with Christmas toys and hanging out around the house. Some kids are working on a puzzle, others are playing blocks and some kids are outside playing in the shade with their army guys and helicopters.

This is P. Doh working on dinner

This is our new nanny/helper: Yu (pronounced "you")

Welcome 2010!

2010-01-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

We started the new year by going zip lining! We went with Rebecca to a jungle village that has a zip-lining adventure. We went riding through the trees and hearing Gibbons, but never did see one. We spent all morning in the trees, hiked up a waterfall and then ate a delicious lunch.

New school

2010-01-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some really sunny pictures of the new school out front. They are kind of hard to see, but the roof is over half way done and they are painting the inside. It's coming along really fast now. Joel is running a meeting after school, so I've gotta go.

New Year's Eve

2010-01-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

For New Year's eve Joel, Tyler and I put on a Ban San Faan "Game Day". We had a rigorous schedule of games and activities all day for the kids. We started the day off with a rousing game of baseball (some staff members played as well) with real helmets and bats. Then we proceeded to some games of duck, duck goose and relay races for prizes. After that we brought out loads of board games for them to play on the sala. Then we had some water balloon games, some tag games under a hose and a staff vs kid soccer game. When all was said and done the older kids went to a new years eve party, played more games and stayed up until 2010! What a great way to end the year.

Chiangrai Trip continued

2010-01-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of the photos from our trip north. We got to see some amazing tea fields and go to a flower festival. We also went to a village and rode an elephant through it. A great vacation!

Chiangrai Trip

2009-12-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, we just got back from a short trip to Chiangrai to look around while school is out for Christmas break. Malee showed us all around and we stayed at one of her friends house, so it was a nice cheap trip :)

We got to see the northern most point in Thailand and look across the border to Myanmar (Burma). We walked around the market there and met a friend who frequently visits Ban San Faan. He showed us the school he teaches at and walked us up to a wat on the hill. Here is a picture from the top of the temple looking on the Burmese side of the border.

After that we went to the golden triangle. It is a point where you can see Burma, Laos and you are standing on Thailand. The river divides the 3 countries and they have a quick tourist stop there. Here is what it looks like.

We also got to go to the night bazaar in downtown Chiangrai and then Joel drove us up the mountain to some of the hill tribes. We saw Akha people in their traditional clothes. Here are some pictures....

Christmas Events

2009-12-29T23:16:00.001-08:00

More pictures from our Christmas party. Hope playing a game where you have 10 seconds to get as much money from the ice as you can. The kids loved digging for money and thought it was the best thing ever.

Her is Naomi and Daniel playing tic-tac -go a game where you have to get three in a row and you have to run to get your pieces on the board.

Here are the boys playing a balloon popping game. The last person with a balloon got a piece of candy.

Here is the Christmas dinner spread, Thai and American food on the buffet line. We contributed won tons that we learned how to make with Malee.

Christmas Happenings

2009-12-29T23:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the Christmas Day events. After we opened stockings and ate Christmas breakfast we did a ribbon craft and waited for the party to start. We started Christmas games in the afternoon while people were arriving. All in all, we had a great party with food, fireworks, presents and lots of games. The kids got to hold sparklers and we sent off some paper lanterns and big fireworks. Here we are opening our presents in a big circle. Everyone gets their presents on their lap and at the signal they all tear into them. It lasts about 30 seconds and then they play with everything and look at what everyone got.

Here is Faith with a sparkler

Here is a game we played where you take a paper star off of the tree and open it to find a number. The number corresponds to a gift and you get to take that present.

Sorry that Debbie is sideways, but she is very pleased with her Barbie head that you can put makeup on. She has been playing with it nonstop for days now.

Christmas Morning

2009-12-29T04:27:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of Christmas morning. We woke up to sunshine, fried rice and lots of happy kids waiting to open up their stockings. After we opened our stockings we did a ribbon craft and waited for the Christmas party to begin.

Christmas performances

2009-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the places we performed. The kids went all over this year advertising for the new school and ministering to the neighborhood, the local government and churches. They did a cute little play about the meaning of Christmas, a stick drama about Jesus and sang some Christmas carols.

more Hmong pictures

2009-12-24T18:00:00.001-08:00

I couldn't fit very many pictures into one post so here are some more pictures of Kru Lek's village having their hmong festivals.

Hmong Village

2009-12-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from a Hmong village. We went up the mountains with one of our Thai teachers (Kru Lek) to visit her home last weekend. They were having a festival with all the traditional clothes and games. We got to play tops and a ball tossing game. Good times in the hill tribes.

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

On the last 2 days of school we made Christmas crafts, played Christmas music and even had a small birthday party for Jesus by playing musical chairs and eating candy. There are snowflakes up all over the home, garland strung and lights on a small, fake Christmas tree. We are getting ready for Christmas here at Ban San Faan!

School Days

2009-12-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

In our second and third grade extra reading class we read the book, "Freckle Juice" by Judy

Blume so that the kids could practice their English reading skills. When we were finished we went into the kitchen and made the secret recipe for getting freckles. The kids each put an ingredient in to the blender as we read them off. Then we drank our "freckle juice", it was disgusting! Some of the ingredients included oil, vinegar, onion, mustard, grapejuice........etc. The kids thought it was so cool, but really they couldn't drink much without spitting it into the drain!

PE Baseball

2009-12-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

We've been learning some baseball basics in PE with the older kids and we finally felt confident enough to try and play a real game. They have not had a lot of experience throwing, catching or hitting and I was a bit nervous about the whole idea. We got brave and played with a real bat, a helmet and gloves (although we still used a tennis ball because I did not want to dream of what a real baseball could do with their skills). And, we even had real sunflower seeds from America to eat while they were in the batting line up. They had a really good time and David even hit a homerun to end the game. Overall, it was a huge success!

Naomi up to bat

The "Kung Fu Master" David

Daniel up to bat

Peach playing 3rd base

Sarah and Cheri eating sunflower seeds while they wait to bat

Misc.

2009-12-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some random things that have been happening. For one, the school is coming along really quick, they are already working on the roof. Secondly, we went to a Christmas party at Grace International School. Thirdly, we bought Thai toothpaste....which is brown.

Joel's new haircut

2009-12-16T00:49:00.000-08:00

I thought it was time to cut Joel's long locks off after it was long enough for the kids to start wanting to braid it.

After a quick jaunt on the motorcycle his bufont looked like Edward from Twilight and I couldn't take it any longer, it was time for a hair cut. I started the journey by watching You Tube videos to learn how to give a home haircut, and then I found some clippers and worked my way through trying to do a "tight taper". I made the bottom a bit shorter than the top and I tried to blend the sides. The picture is of his "good side". Enough said.

Before and after the"new do".

Cooking Class

2009-12-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

Joel and I recently went to a Thai home cooking class. We learned how to make 6 Thai dishes and spent all day cooking. We watched Yui (our instructor) cook the dish, then we went to a little station and cooked it ourselves and then we got to eat it. Needless to say, we cooked and ate all day and were very full and satisfied by the end of the day. When we get home we hope to continue practicing what we've learned because it was so delicious. Here are some pictures of the day.

Ban San Faan Update

2009-12-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hi-

Here are some pictures of the new school that is going up on our property. We've heard it should be finished by the end of February! It's moving along quite quickly now and everyday a little bit more is complete. Along with the new school, we have been having regular meetings to improve staff communication and understanding of what is to come. Joel is leading the weekly teachers meetings and focusing on the concept of "Love and Logic". All is well here and we are benefitting from Joel's counseling background.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T18:20:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone-

We had a delicious Thanksgiving lunch with all the Ban San Faan family (about 50 people) at the Duke's restaurant. It was very traditional and had everything we had been dreaming about. The kids liked to sit in a real restaurant and felt special being a part of a very nice meal (they were also happy about missing a half day of school). We all said what we were thankful for and had a good time together.

Tie Dye Shirt Outing

2009-11-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

We finished our tie dye shirts and decided to go out to Horizon Village (a botanical/animal park) to display our new shirts. Here they are in all their glory.

After the park, we went to lunch together and then mom, Rosalie and Lynda treated us to some Swenson icecream!

Special Day continued

2009-11-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of the special day pictures. They include the snake farm, lunch at the orchid farm and putt putt golf.

Special Day

2009-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Mom and Rosalie took their sponsor children on a special day (Joel and Lynda and I went too). We started in the morning by going to an early morning market where the monks asks for their daily supply of food. After a delicious car picnic from the food we bought at the market, we headed up to the elephant farm. The kids got to ride on the elephants, watch them bathe and sit through a show. The kids had been their before but they loved spending the time with their sponsors and skipping school for the day. After the elephant farm, we went down the road to a snake farm (pictures to come). The snake farm was hilarious and scary at the same time. They put on a show for entertainment and scared us half to death with some of the tricks they were pulling. I'm pretty sure this show would not have made it in the US because of the danger we so close to. After touring around the snakes we went for lunch at the Orchid Farm and ended the day with the kids first round of put-put golf. A day to remember, that's for sure.

Working with the babies

2009-11-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Mom, Lynda and Rosalie helped the nannies and taught the baby classes (among other things). The babies got to play in shaving cream, work with a parachute and learn a ton of new songs. The babies love playing with mom and her friends. Here are some pictures of the great things they did with the kids.

More of Phuket!

2009-11-21T03:10:00.000-08:00

Beautiful, need I say more?

One on of the last nights we went to "Fantasea" a show with Thai costumes, elephants, trapeze artists and lots of dancing.

We had a great time in Phuket! Thanks mom (and dad and Beth and Ian) for the great Christmas and birthday gift!

Phuket!

2009-11-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

For our Christmas and birthday gifts, my mom wanted to take us to Phuket and pay for our trip!!! We went with my mom, Lynda, Rosalie and Malee and travelled to the south of Thailand and visited some islands. Phuket is the place where the tsunami hit really hard in 2004 and it was really humbling talking to people who were there or knew people who had been there. We stayed on Patong beach and according to a local, they lost about 8,000 people to the tsunami. The hotel we stayed in was filled with water up until the second floor. They have really worked hard to restore a lot of the damage and some people say it looks better than it did before the tragedy. Joel just looked up the total death toll from the tsunami and it was almost 230, 000 people. That is crazy to think that we were there and the water was over our heads. Amazing.

Patong night life.

So, we got to learn a bit about Phuket and then we went sight seeing around the islands. We went on 2 speed boats to visit neighboring islands. The water is gorgeous and the beaches are unbelievable. Here are some pictures of what the water looks like.

When we were visiting some of the islands, we got to go snorkeling and saw some beautiful fish. We even swam with a turtle. The fish were everywhere!!

Find the 2 white beacons of light and you have found Joel and I snorkeling!

This picture was not taken while we snorkeled, I was just looking over the side of the boat. Unbelievable!

More to come later of the end of our Phuket trip.

Camping!

2009-11-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

Auntie Jennifer, Auntie Rosalie and Auntie Lynda brought some tents for the kids. So, we set them up right next to the sala and went camping! It was a reward for good behavior so it was a very special treat for some of the kids. We will have to set them up again so all of them can have this fun adventure. Joel stayed in a tent with the boys and I stayed in a tent with the younger girls and there was one tent for the older girls to stay in by themselves.

Little Thailand things

2009-11-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

We were at the Sunday night Walking Street market and took some up close pictures of Thailand things to give you a glimpse of what it's like. Here they are...

Mom's in town.

2009-11-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

My mom and 2 of her friends came to stay at Ban San Faan and visit their sponsor children. Mom came with plenty of activities and projects for the kids. They had fun making tie-dye t-shirts. Take a look at how good they turned out! We are also going to have some fun in Phuket as well as play with the kids.

Our Rice!

2009-11-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

Here is the follow up report on the rice we planted about 3 months ago. It is looking healthy and is about to be harvested. It's not quite as straight as the other rice in the patty, but whatever.

This is what will happen to our little rice kernals next...

Loy Kraton: Full Moon Festival

2009-11-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the festival. It lasted about 4 days here in Chiang Mai; they really know how to live it up. There were parades, paper lanterns floating in the sky, fireworks being shot everywhere and at everyone and people all over the place. We bought a floating flower arrangement called a Kratong and let it float down the river, as is the tradition.

Hot Springs

2009-11-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

School started again today (this is the start of the 2nd term). Before we get to much farther into school, I wanted to put up the last pictures up of our holiday. The pictures are from the San Kampang Hot Springs. Joel and I went on the motorcycle to check it out on Thursday and then we took the kids there in the van the next day. On our way Joel and I experienced our 2nd flat tire in Thailand, but this time it wasn't right outside a motorcycle shop, it was in the middle of nowhere. We started walking to find a place that could fix us up but before we could get too far, a nice Australian lady came by in her car and saved the day. She picked us up and drove us around until we found a guy that would come out and fix it. Praise the Lord for nice Australians!

The water was so hot that you could boil eggs in a basket and then eat them. The kids had a great time dipping their feet in the water (not the boiling water), eating eggs and playing on the playground. It was a great trip to end our holiday.

Playing dress up

2009-10-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody!!!

We had fun with the kids the other day by playing dress up and dancing around to music. There is a full moon festival that is going on this weekend. The festival is called Loi Kraton (don't count on my spelling of that one) and it involves floating things down the river, lighting off fireworks and sailing big paper lanterns into the night. Here are some pictures of the kids playing dress up at Ban San Faan.

Jungle Motorcycle Ride

2009-10-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

This is what we do with our free time......

We go exploring Chiang Mai. This time was a 4 hour motorcycle ride into the mountains to see what we could see. We found a local hotsprings tucked back in a hill village.

We also encountered some steep terrain. A little too steep for our little motorcy. so we had to get off and push.

Back from Bangkok

2009-10-30T00:30:00.001-07:00

We spent about 3 days in Bangkok with a friend for the last little trip of our vacation. We took the overnight bus and stayed at Tyler's house (Tyler is a kindergarten teacher in Bangkok and likes to visit the kids at Ban San Faan). It's a huge city with lots to see. We spent our time at the largest market in the world (pretty much "the black market") and took a river taxi to some buddha's and other thai touristy attractions. It was nice to get out and see a different part of Thailand. Here are some pictures from our trip......

Traditional Performances

2009-10-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

The kids get the opportunity to go with their dance teacher to perform every one in a while, so these pictures are from a performance at a kindergarten. The kids get all dressed up and get to do their dances in front of an audience and it's good practice for them to be up in front of people. This was the first time they performed a dance with bamboo that they had to jump in and out of. I couldn't get a good shot of them dancing because it was too dark, but these pictures will do.

These pictures are from the Sunday Walking Street Market. They are not our kids, but I thought it was cool to see the differences in their traditional tribal outfits. They were trying to earn money on the street while everyone walked around shopping.

Back to the holiday

2009-10-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

English Camp has finish and we are almost back to school, ahhhhh. We spent 2 weeks teaching English to about 50 kids (some from Ban San Faan and some from surrounding areas). Now we have 1 week to recooperate and get ready for school to start.

During the day it's too hot to go outside and play so we made some sweet forts for the kids to crawl around in. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

English Fun Day Camp at Ban San Faan!

2009-10-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

We are one week down on our 2 week day camp at BSF. We have over 45 kids learning English in our home promoting our new school and learning about English and Jesus.

Here are some pictures of the events.

This is our first hour English class.

The kids are split into 4 colored teams and are competing for points in their teams.

Playing some games together.

More games.

Reading a book about colors with BSF kids practicing their translation skills.

2009-10-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last week we had Uncle Murray with us from New Zealand. Uncle Murray is from the sponsoring church in New Zealand and was here at Ban San Faan a few years ago. He did lots with the kids and had a good stay. Here's Murray teaching the kids how to play cricket.

2009-10-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

So about three years ago we started sponsoring a child from Thailand through Compassion International. His name is Dream and three years ago we had no idea that we would ever be living in Thailand. When we came over we were naturally curious about the idea of trying to meet him and it turned out that he only ended up living about an hour and a half away from where we are in Chiangmai. We made arrangements with the local Thailand office and went to meet him last Friday. We went to Lamphang with some of the Ban San Faan kids and had a good time meeting him.

Us with Dream's family and the Compassion project staff.

We took a trip to the local electricity plant.

The whole gang.

A family member of Dream's making preserved fish.

Dream (in the white shirt) with the Ban San Faan kids.

Malaysia

2009-10-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

We had a nice restful time in Malaysia, sleeping in an air-conditioned room and relaxing. Joel is back to his normal self again and had a follow-up appointment at the hospital that went really well. Thank you very much for helping us with the medical costs and for the prayers, we appreciate your support.

Here are some photo's of Malaysia.

Seriously! There were wild monkey's climbing around with babies on their bellies. It was like we were watching Animal Planet.

Here are our newest friends.

And yet more friends.

KL is a big, nice city with twin towers as their most recognizable land mark. (KL stands for Kuala Lumpur)

This is Joel and I at the bird park, hanging out with some more new friends (if only we had as many friends that were people.....)

Support

2009-10-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

We have been getting questions about where to send money to help support our hospital debt. If you would like to get a tax deduction, you can send your support to:

BSF Joel and Brittany Thomas Mission

Calvary Community Church

2655 38th Street

Longview, WA 98632

or you can send it to my mom at:

C/O Joel and Brittany Thomas

3 West Pine Ct.

Longview, WA 98632

Thank you so much for helping us out!!!!

Hospital Adventure 2009

2009-10-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of our Thai hospital stay. We ended up staying a total of 3 days with Joel's bronchitis and lung infection. Most of the nurses spoke English and it was pretty clean. They took good care of us.

Joel got flowers from a visitor.

Joel's nebulizer treatment.

Joel's IV of antibiotics.

Happy October!

2009-10-01T18:47:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone-just wanted to give a quick run down on life right now. I (Joel) ended up getting a pretty nasty case of bronchitis with an infection on top of it. The short story is that I ended up spending 2 nights and 3 days in a Thai hospital. Overall a good hospital stay but definitely an unexpected cost. To be honest my little adventure cost us about $900 that we certainly hadn't planned on spending. We feel bad about asking for more support at this time but if you feel you could help us out a little it would definitely be appreciated.

However...we also wanted to say after this adventure we're heading out on another adventure over the weekend. Before we came over here we had planned on trying to explore any other countries that we could while we were here. We had some money saved up before we started raising support as a means of doing it. So over this next weekend we're heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to go spend a few days there (there's no school during October). So we feel even more funny about asking for extra funds while we're about to head off for a little vacation.

Regardless we want to continue to say thank you for your support for us while we've been here. We wanted to give everyone a quick rundown on the latest and let you know where things are at. I'm still on the mend and Brittany is a little sick as well. Continued prayer for us to get healthy would be appreciated.

Last day of school this term!!!

2009-09-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

We are starting a month break in between terms. Joel and I are finishing up our grades/reports for the kids. They had to take a lot of tests last week and got to celebrate in our classes on Friday by playing some games with us.

Doi Suthep

2009-09-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

Joel and I took a motorcycle up the mountain to visit a Buddhist temple. These are pictures of a very sacred place for buddhist monks so we thought we'd check it out.

A good day trip up the mountain on the motor-cy. (that's how they abbreviate motorcycle- :))

Beauty Parlor

2009-09-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

So I let the girls play "beauty parlor" and I thought this would be a good idea, until they ripped out most of my hair. They ended up making a wonderful braided construction which I was told to leave in for the rest of the night.

A good time had by all until I found out that one of the girls had lice.

Luckily I can report that the lice has been treated, and I did not end up with it.

Chiangmai Bible competition

2009-09-20T08:46:00.001-07:00

Some of the kids recently competed in a Bible memory competition a few weeks back. There were a lot of teams competing and the kids worked very hard. Here's a few pictures.

More treats

2009-09-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

More of our food adventures...

Mexican food at the Duke's

Brittany eating a cup of corn as a snack. Kind of weird snack food but it tastes pretty good!
Lunch.
Ice cream sandwich. Thai style. It's one piece of white bread that is split and filled with a scoop of ice cream...interesting but good.
Spicy papaya salad. Usually made for special occasions and very good.

New children @ Ban San Faan!

2009-09-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend two new children joined the family here at Ban San Faan. Benjamin (5) & Joy (3) came on Sunday afternoon and are already beginning to adjust to life here. They were a little shy at first but quickly joined in playing with the other kids. They've also begun classes and are beginning to pick up on some English words.

Here are some photos of Benjamin & Joy.

Sweet Treats

2009-09-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

So, there are tons of different little food treats in Thailand. Here are some of the latest food adventures....
Making Won-Ton's with Malee.

7/11 is very popular over here, and a slurpee tastes delicious on a hot day.

Cute little bananas that grow on the trees.

A "pumpkin pie" (custard inside of a slice of pumpkin)

Random pics

2009-09-10T23:12:00.001-07:00

David riding a bike after dinner. The bikes were recently just fixed up (thanks to John Veltkamp & Pong) and the kids love being able to ride them!

This is our K-1st grade class demonstrating what the letter "A" looks like.

Brittany with our 1st-3rd grade pe class when we were out for a walk.

Joel and the 1st-3rd class taking a crazy picture while on the walk.

The Thomas' visit the silk farm

2009-09-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

Silk Farm! On our way to our English lesson (we teach adults at Compassion International 3 hours a week), we stopped by a Silk Farm and checked it out.

Sorry, these pictures are in the opposite order (they happen from bottom to top).

A worker on the loom with the colorful silk.
Another worker making some fabric out of the silk.
The silk once it is dyed.
A lady taking the silk cocoons and boiling them and to pull the silk off. Inside is the little silk worm and they just discard it once they unwind the silk.

Friday Activities

2009-09-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

We had some fun with water balloons at the end of school yesterday. First we played a sweaty game of capture the flag and then we cooled down with some exciting water balloon games. We played "hot potato", water balloon toss, and then the teachers had a chance to get the kids, and the kids had their shot at the teachers. Here are some pictures from the event.

P. Joel taking his shot at the 2nd and 3rd graders.
Debbie throwing a water balloon at me.
Water balloon toss pictures.

The Phases of Joel's Facial Hair

2009-09-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Joel decided to show the boys some different styles of facial hair. The little Thai boys were amazed to say the least.
Phase 1: The beard

Phase 2: The nasty handlebars

Phase 3: The "stash"

Phase 4: The Soul Patch

Class competitions

2009-09-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

We had some friendly class competitions at the assembly last week. Here are some pictures of the kids.

Happy Birthday Malee!

2009-08-26T23:44:00.001-07:00

Today is Malee's birthday and her anniversary! We will be doing some birthday outings this weekend to celebrate!

last weekend, we went to the Royal Flora to see all the amazing plants and flowers that grow there. It's a free botanical garden that was built for the King of Thailand. It was an international event where other countries could come and plant their flowers in their section. We took the older kids and are attaching some group shots from the day.

Monsoons and Markets.

2009-08-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

When it rains here, it pours. We got soaked at the local market trying to buy so souveniers. All we really ended up with were some sweet ponchos!

It was a great time spent in the rain with the Veltkamps.

My steller rain gear

Joel's nice side profile (with a bag under the poncho)

A lady selling stuff off of her wheel chair at the market.

Elephants and orchids

2009-08-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

After our elephant adventure, we went to an orchid farm and had lunch. Joel and I decided to take some really quality "senior pictures" there.