A Slight Deviation

I returned home for a week to be with the family. I am so thankful that God allowed me to make the long trip back to the States to be with family as we mourned the loss of David but also celebrated his life. God never ceases to amaze me. On my journey home I had a lay-over in Tokyo and I met a girl who happened to go to Corban and was on her way home during a break from teaching in Indonesia!!!! That was totally God!!! We both happened to be wearing Corban t-shirts and were waiting for our long flight to Seattle. It was soooo nice to be able to talk to someone (I usually don't talk at all during my trips). I think I needed to have this confirmation that going home was were I needed to be (I had struggled a bit with leaving and having to miss the first day of school). 

I made it back to Thailand just fine :-). It is so nice to be back and to really start my job! I love my job!!!! I have successfully taught grades 1a, 1b, 3, 5, and 6!! I just love it!! There were a few hiccups, but overall it went well. I had to do some impromptu drawing for my 1st graders. We were working on a worksheet that had pictures of different items on it. They had to color the items that had the same sound/letter at the beginning. After receiving blank stares, I realized they didn't get it. I wanted them to see that the letters were the same, thus making the same sound. Writing the names of the items on the board wouldn't have meant anything to them, so I had to draw the pictures and then write the name underneath. I can tell you right now that I have problems drawing stick figures, but somehow managed to draw on the board a towel, zebra, zipper, football, kangaroo, pie, and a turtle among other things. It actually looked really good!!!!! Some of them were guessing what it was before I even finished!!! Even Brittney was impressed and that is saying a lot! One thing I didn't expect to find was how quiet they are! I burned through an hours worth of material in half an hour because they hardly responded to anything, except my 6th grade group which consists of 6 boys.....they had no problems talking :-).  After talking to some other teachers, I felt better. Apparently they are all quiet until they get to know you. We did get to play learning games though....I played Rhyming Bingo with some of my students and they loved it!! Especially when the prize for winning is candy from America. My 1b group was disappointed the second day because they didn't get any candy.

I truly did miss being here and was so happy to be back :-). I just can't imagine being anywhere else.....God has the perfect plan!!!

Me at dinner :-)



Brittney's beautiful artwork :-)



She was very friendly :-)

Hurting Heart

Romans 8:28

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.

This is a verse I will cling to in the coming months. I may not understand why God called home the man who I loved so much as a father for the last 7 years. The man who took me in and has loved me as one of his daughters. I absolutely hate going through the grief process. I keep wanting to ask why. Why do I have to go through this all over again? I may never know while I am on this Earth. One thing that I do know is that everything that happens is all apart of God's plan for my life. I truly believe that this tragedy is one of the reasons God sent Brittney to Thailand with me. I don't think I could go through this pain and sorrow by myself. He knew I would need someone to comfort me. Someone who knew David...even though she only spent a week with us. She is my best friend, she knows how to comfort me. I will also cling to Jeremiah 29:11. My life verse....God has a plan and a purpose. I don't yet know what that is. I know I will have a difficult road ahead of me..It has certainly been hard and I have only dealt with this pain for 12 hours..but God will be there to guide me. What a comfort that is in a time of hurting!!

Please pray for me and my family.

Sensitive Palate

I have started to realize over the last few days that my taste in food is not as extensive as I thought. I am all for trying new things, but with Thai food I am finding that I don't like 2 out of the 3 things I try. So far my likes are garlic chicken and rice (sooo good!!!); cashew chew chicken (AMAZING!! possibly the best thing I have ever tasted); roti (ooo...so delicious dessert);  fried rice (my fail safe choice).

I do have a list of things that I do not like. Some of the things I don't quite know what they are..I got them from the school cafeteria. One thing that I know I don't like is called som tom. It is like a papaya salad and we ordered chicken with it....won't be ordering that again!! I am so glad that fried rice is usually at any restaurant. Things that I get on the soi (street) will be more limited in choices. There is one choice that is not tough to make: going to the roti guy :-) For 10 baht (approx. 33 cents) you can get a piece of the most incredibly delicious dessert! It is like a piece of flatbread that is fried and sprinkled with sugar and sweetened condensed milk. There is one ingredient that is orange that we have no idea what it is. I am perfectly fine not knowing :-). Ohhhh...so good!!! I am not giving up on food yet!! There are many things to try still!!!

My Classroom!!!!

I am so thrilled to have my very first classroom!!!! Ahhhhh!!! I was a bit overwhelmed at first. It was a mess in the room and all of my books and materials are in boxes. I started to go through a few and found that there isn't a system to the contents of the boxes, sooo...there is a bit of organizing to be done. Also, the air conditioner also isn't working  properly :-/ so it gets hot in there fast! We (Brittney and I) still worked away today and it now looks like a classroom! It even smells good too!! :-) Phase 1 is complete! Monday phase 2 begins....organizing and going through resources. I also learned today that I will be getting a projector put in that I can plug into my laptop! Yay!!!!

Still need to do bulletin boards and these two desks will have computers :-) You can't see it, but there is a white board on the wall by the door and the blinds on the floor will be removed lol.



I have lots of table room and storage space!! I even have a pole to hang charts on!!

 My desk!! :-D I feel so much like a teacher!

I am just praising God for this amazing opportunity He has provided for me! I truly do feel that this position that I have is perfect for me!! I can't wait to get started!!! 

New prayer request: That I find all that I need in the resources available to me for teaching.