My Schedule; God's Plan

Last week was our first week of school. After a season of birthdays, I was ready to settled down into a routine and get some formal learning done. I had planned that the first week would be uninterrupted - no play dates, no extra shopping trips, five "full" days of school. Then on Sunday, I met a single mother of two from Ukraine who has been traveling around Asia for the last year and a half. Everyone at church thought that her little boy was a second Simeon, and her daughter fit in right between Hollis and Meriel.

As our kids played together, she asked about things to do in Bangkok. She had another week before her flight to Kiev. I mentioned the Children's Museum and Jatujak Park. Thinking ahead of my full week of school, at first I wasn't going to offer to meet her. Then I thought, What is more important: getting in as much schooling as I can and getting on a good schedule or loving people? Besides, I don't often get a chance to spend time with other mothers, and all of us would enjoy some time together. So we agreed to meet at the park on Wednesday, and indeed it was a blessed, enjoyable time. Our kids played, we encouraged one another, we prayed together. I had a chance to get to know a sweet sister in the Lord.

Another friend had been planning on meeting us at the Children's Museum for Simeon's birthday the week before, but he had been sick. Since he was so disappointed and we hadn't gotten together in a few weeks, I invited his family over on Friday. Once again, I realized that the opportunity for growing friendships was a higher priority. We are in Thailand to show Christ's love, and we can't do that very well if we don't take opportunities do spend time with people. We did some science projects, including erupting soda geysers and chocolate quicksand with baking soda with vinegar reactions (also know as erupting chocolate oobleck), so we kind of "did school."


This same friend turned seven years old on Wednesday this week and invited us to celebrate with him. We had a great time exploring a garden, trying some Thai coconut milk cake, and rollerblading. It was also a chance to practice our Thai. Suksan Wan Geun! (Happy Birthday!)

Today, we went to a City Gardening Fair with some other Thai homeschooling families. Next week, we have to do our 90-day report at immigration. Then another friend we met a couple month ago and haven't seen since will meet us for a play-date. I remember how much I prayed for friends and for people to help us learn Thai. This may not be exactly what I had in mind, but God is providing and allowing us to be His light here. What better lesson to teach my children than to be ready to follow God's plan and take opportunities to show His love, even when to do so interrupts "our" schedule.

Presents for Simeon

Each of the girls were thankful and happy with their birthday presents this year, but Simeon's excitement and delight with his surpassed them all. There's just something about the simplicity of a two year's old joy. After five birthdays in the last few months where Simeon got to give presents, at first he didn't understand that these gifts were for him. He kept trying to give them to someone else. On the third or fourth package, he understood - all these are for me!

So what are these wonderful presents with which Simeon is so enthralled? Twelve little, plastic kittens to carry around, put in and out of containers, and play pretend with his sisters.

 A set of plastic farm animals, including a Thai water buffalo, to join his farm set. His own leather wallet to put cards in and out of, to snap open and closed, and to smell. New shorts that fit; his favorite have a shark on them. A pillow and sleeping mat for sleeping in the big kid room with his sisters. Two new books. A little stuffed dog named Timothy that was Mommy's when she was little.

Socks - he likes socks but hasn't owned a pair since he was three months old. A colorful xylophone to play a complete octave; he can join in with Mommy and Meriel now. And two race cars to zoom down the pvc pipe ramps on the stairs.

                                                      No two year old could be happier!

The best part of his birthday was seeing the love his sisters lavished on him. They were so excited for his first taste of ice cream, to give him his gifts, to have him sleep in their room, to give their brother an extra special day. We are blessed!

Thailand: Developed or Developing?

Some people have asked me whether or not Thailand is a developing country. The quick answer is yes. Of course, there must be a long answer, or I wouldn't be writing this. There are several different measure of development, and the main ones do not merely divide countries between developing and developed. The UN uses the "Human Development Index" encompassing life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and quality of life. The countries then fall into one of four categories of development: very high, high, medium, or low. The countries in "very high" are developed, those in "high and medium" are developing, and those in low are underdeveloped. Thailand in is the lower end of the "High Human Development Index" group. The World Bank classification is the other major  measure; this focuses more on economy than indices of living. It also has four divisions based on income: high, upper-middle, lower-middle, low. Any country that is not "high income" is considered developing. Again, Thailand falls in the lower end of the upper-middle group.

So what does all this really mean? Basically it means that the basic standard of living in Thailand is quite different than that in the United States, Western Europe, Japan, or even South Korea but not as drastic as that in East Africa or Haiti. Thailand is in that middle ground where some people live very well indeed and others live quite poorly. My personal experience only extends to Bangkok. I don't know anything about rural Thailand since it requires a personal vehicle to explore, but I imagine the standard of living there is lower than most of Bangkok. Bangkok presents an interesting amalgam of developed and developing worlds.

A visitor to Bangkok could fly in to the main airport, take a taxi to a ritzy hotel, travel around only by Skytrain to see fancy malls and expensive restaurants. Another visitor could stay in our house, travel by non-air conditioned bus, shop in the stinky "wet market," and eat in open air neighborhood restaurants. These two people would experience totally different cities. The second would see how more people in Bangkok actually live, though many more are crowded into small apartments and shacks along the canals with fewer amenities than we. I think the reality of Thailand's "upper-middle" categorization is that most Thai have enough to eat, the majority receive some sort of education, many are literate, most have access to some sort of health care. Definite room for improvement, especially as far as quality of life and safety for children, but overall not horrible.

I feel that this sign in our church bathroom gives a pretty good idea of the mix of lifestyles in Bangkok:

Some people have never considered that one should not throw toilet paper into the toilet to flush; it needs to go into a separate trash can. Others have never seen any sort of toilet other than a squat one on the floor and need to be instructed to sit on the seat. This is the development rating for Thailand in a nutshell.

Five to Six

Each child develops differently with spurts of growth at various ages. For Meriel, this past year has been one of rapid maturation. She has gone from a cute, little girl to a beautiful young lady. She is becoming aware of the world beyond being the center of the universe. Learning, loving, praying, wondering.

She is beginning to learn the value of hard work. She has struggled to read, making great progress, delighting her younger siblings by reading "Peter and Jane" to them. She has pressed through daily tin whistle practice, successfully mastering two fun tunes. Many days, I have to make her read to me and mandate her whistle lesson. But the joy on her face as she plays for Daddy makes it all worth while.

Meriel's self-control has increased greatly, as well. Yes, she still has her tantrums, but they are less frequent and often shorter and less boisterous. She is responsive to a gentle reminder to calm down and, if caught in time, often manages to avert a tantrum completely. She thinks of others above herself - sharing special treats, including her little brother in a game, making room for another sibling beside her in the rocking chair.

When Meriel asks a question, she will keep asking until she understands the answer. She really wants to understand the world around her, what a Bible story means, what Mommy and Daddy are discussing, what Eris is talking about. If she doesn't comprehend the answer, she won't pretend she does. When she finally "gets" something, she won't forget it; she is beginning to be able to incorporate what she learns one day into a different concept another day. She listens and really cares about what each person has to say.

Meriel loves Jesus but is also honest about her limitations. She explains that she is not ready to get baptized yet because she does not really understand enough about what is means to follow Jesus. She realizes that she does bad things and sometimes is not ready to try to not do those things. She knows she can pray and talk to God. She remembers prayer requests and daily brings others to the Lord. When she decides to follow Jesus completely, it will be her own choice from which she will not turn back. I am so proud of my six year old!

Lazy Friday

It's just that kind of day. A lazy Friday afternoon, not too hot, had an early lunch, a simple supper planned. I can just relax (after I hang up the laundry). Babies sure don't have trouble getting comfortable for a nap when they need one. Here's my sweet Simeon showing off some comfortable sleeping positions.

 

Thoughts on Hanging Out the Wash

Of all the daily chores, the one I probably mind the least is hanging out the wash. Whether from my small garden in Beersheva, my backyard in Terre Haute, or my balcony in Bangkok, I feel a sense of unity with women across time and place. My mother, grandmothers, great grandmothers all pinned laundry on various types of lines to dry in the sun. Women in Kenya, Turkey, Bolivia, Australia, Ireland do the same. The items on the line may look quite different, but our purpose is the same. We are women, taking care of our families.

Sometimes I get the chance to hang the laundry while the morning is still cool. I enjoy listening to the morning birds coo and warble. In the heat of the day, it's not so pleasant, but I still take the opportunity to watch a squirrel gathering leaves and grass to build a nest. The kids like to take advantage of playing somewhere that's usually off limits. I do have to pay attention that Simeon doesn't try to climb up the railing and fall over the side, but his sisters usually watch out for him. I have lost a few clothes pins by Simeon throwing them into the overgrown lot next door.

No matter what the rest of the day holds, I at least get outside twice a day. Except for when it rains, in which case, the price of having to hang clothes in the way inside is worth the cooler temperatures. On days when I don't have a full load of clothes, diapers need to be washed and hung. Or someone has a an accident or makes a mess that necessitates an immediate washing. If the washing machine is available for a day or I can get two load done in a day, there's always towels and sheets waiting for a turn. Since I need a free laundry basket to lug laundry out to the line, I am motivated to keep up on folding and putting away. Otherwise, I'd have clean clothes dumped on to the floor which would not stay clean and neat for long.

Even having to run out at the beginning of a rain storm to bring in laundry has its excitement. The girls are all very good at asking me if I have laundry up at the first sign of rain. I'm better at reading the clouds than I otherwise would be. I'm usually right when I note that those clouds won't dump on us or it looks like rain is heading this way. On the other hand, sometimes I am wrong, and it starts to rain just as I've spent the last fifteen minutes hanging up laundry and have one sock left. Grrr! That's the worst.

In the evening, sometimes I'll slip upstairs by myself to take down laundry while the kids are in the shower. It's so peaceful up there. I look at the moon, planets, and stars; watch the bats flit around, until I hear someone calling for me. Often I'll pray, sometimes I'll sing, even dance. Other times I just enjoy the connectedness, my laundry line reaching across time and space to yours.

If You Came to My House...

As I was washing dishes today, looking up at the plant leaves pushing their way through the slats in the cement walls with splashes of water missing the drain hole in the cement floor hitting my feet, I thought about some things about our house that seem normal to us now but would be odd to a visitor from the United States. In the U.S., builders are very good about hiding details of the inner workings of a house. Here, electrical wires wandering around the walls and ceiling, demonstrating exactly how everything is connected. In a similar fashion, blue pvc pipe decorates the walls in the bathroom and kitchen. In my outdoor kitchen, the pipe underneath the sink does not quite reach the floor underneath. If the hose gets bumped by a reckless toddler, the water from pouring out the hose misses the hole altogether and splashes all over the floor.

Another striking feature is the open gray water ditch in the outdoor kitchen and around the back of the house. Water from the washing machine is visible dumping out the pipe in its back and into this ditch. Water from the sink can be seen causing a ripple in the back ditch as I dump out the dishwater. Fortunately, the number of items Simeon has thrown into this murky water has been few. I've managed to discourage him from playing there by providing him with clean water to splash in.

The last item I thought about was the jungle growing next door. No city ordinances regulating the height of the grass. I have to keep at the vines snaking through the walls into our house if I don't want to be encroached. It's nice to not have neighbors peering over our walls and to be able to hear the birds in the mornings and frogs in the evenings. I'd prefer not to have the huge spiders visiting but overall I appreciate the "empty" lot next door.

"The Jungle Next Door" from our second story balcony