Field Trip

- Song Taws (the red truck taxis here)
- sweaty little kids
- looks of wonder
- looks of bordem at times
- singing songs
- playing air guitar
- strawberry milk for snack
- pork on a stick and sticky rice for lunch
- playing tag in the flower gardens
- sleeping on the way home (me included :0)

. . . all phrases that describe the field trip we took this past Friday.

The Queen's Botanic Gardens outside of the city was offering a deal this month for schools - FREE! Can't beat that ;). So, we loaded up 2 song taws and a truck with our kiddos and teachers and spent the whole day out. We really had a good time. This video shows a snapshot of our day - be sure to watch toward the end where the video comes up of the air drums and air guitar :0).

They were singing the song "Salvation is Here" by Hillsong (one of the boys had a phone that had some songs loaded on it and was playing it in the song taw). However, they don't really know most of the words since they are all in English - but they like to mumble along and play air guitar and the drums. Of course they are 2nd grade boys so they got a bit distracted at times ;).

Reminder: if you want to see the video in full screen (so nothing is cut off in the pictures), click on the you tube bar at the bottom of the video on the 4 arrows pointing to the corners and that will make the video full screen.

Imperfections & Friendship with a Side of Fish

I had a bad day (yes, you can cue Daniel Powter's "Bad Day").

There really was no reason for it. The day was filled with little imperfections just like every day. However, this particular day, I really let it get to me. There was no monumental happening. There wasn't anything life threatening. It was just one of those days full of "UGH" moments and I was in the mood to tally them. I let each one add up. By lunch time, I had decided I was DONE with this day. I wanted a mulligan, a do-over. For some reason, I felt like I left my filter at home and so I was scared to open my mouth. When I stayed quiet - it was the rest of me that failed (i.e. I bent over to pick up my bags to go home and I forgot that I had a full cup of water in my hand and I poured it all over my papers and my laptop bag). By the time we got to the car after school, I was determined to go home, go to my room and hibernate for the rest of the day.

On our way home, we stopped off at the market. We ran into our awesome friend, Khruu Ooy, and invited her over for dinner. Great - now my "hibernate in depression until you fall asleep" plan was blown. I had to be civilized and exert effort and I didn't want to because I was defeated.

Nevertheless, we all went back to our house and started cooking dinner. Khruu Ooy was coming separately from the market - so we started preparing dinner and then would just tack on whatever she brought. We were almost done with our pasta with chicken, mixed veggies and a little bit of cheese sauce when our friend walks in with fish. She got them at the market. You know, where you go up to a bucket of fish swimming around, you point to your prime choice, they pick it up, chop it's head off, scale it and then chop it into 4 or 5 pieces with the bones and guts all intact and throw it in a plastic bag. And then the fun begins. We cook together and just laugh. We put on Zack Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" - change the words to "Fish Fried" and belt it while dancing around and making our Thai friend wonder why country music was ever invented.

All of a sudden, the imperfections of the day, of life - didn't seem so daunting. I think I forget sometimes to just let down my guard - remember that life is SO NOT perfect, so why do I wake up some days and expect it to be? Life happens. Things aren't always going to go my way. There's a reason for that. If it always went my way, I wouldn't be humbled. I wouldn't know what it is like to have Jesus mend my broken, tattered, and defeated self.

Reminder to self: You can get mad at life, tally up everything that isn't going "right" . . . but it doesn't do any good because all you're doing is proving that life is imperfect. Sometimes the best thing to do is just go with the flow, invite your friends over, make the dead fish talk, cook it, eat it, laugh, and LOVE LIFE.

First Weeks of School in 1 minute

I know I have been all about posting videos lately. However, this is just a 1 minute video I made for some churches that support Hope International Schools. I thought I'd share it because it's a good, quick way to SHOW you the first couple weeks of school.