One Week of Language School

Our first week of language school is completed! I am amazed at how much we were taught during the first week. 42 consonants and 24 vowels. I can now write my name in Thai, also! I am surprised at how much I remember when I am out and look at signs. Today, our teacher said the name of the consonants and the vowels so we could write them down. She also dictated consonant and vowel blends for us to write. That doesn't sound like it would be too difficult, but it is crazy how the blends go together! The vowels are a combination of symbols that can be above the consonant, below the consonant, to the left, to the right, or a combination of all these! Some vowels are one symbol while others are five symbols all around one consonant! Short and long vowels determine the tone of the consonant-vowel blend. There is so much to remember and still so much to learn! Please continue to pray for us. We were going to try to go every day but with the travel time and school with the children at home and still trying to get adjusted, we decided we would be better off to go only three days a week. It is better to go at a slower pace now and learn the basics well. The children have a tutor who comes to our house Monday through Friday for one hour in the evening so they are learning the Thai alphabet as well. They are doing a very good job!

We had our first "accident" this week as a glass top on a living room end table fell and broke into hundreds of pieces. As usual, it was a combination of things that caused this to happen. In the process, the floor got wet and Caleb slid and fell and cut the back of his leg on a piece of the glass. Randy looked at his leg and cleaned it. We praise the Lord that it wasn't a very deep cut, not even deep enough to need stitches. Of course, since we have just moved here, we didn't have any band-aids so Randy had to go to a pharmacy and buy some. I fortunately had brought some Neosporin with me! This most definitely could have been so much worse than it was. We thank God for watching over us at ALL times!

I also want to thank the Lord for bringing new American friends into our lives. We have been e-mailing several missionaries here over the last few months - getting information and asking questions before we left the U.S. One of the families, Matt & Courtney Jones, came to our house to meet us yesterday. What a blessing! They have four children that almost perfectly match the ages of our four oldest children. Cynthia was thrilled to have two girls to play with that were around her age. We are looking forward to spending more time with them in the future.

To all of you Mothers who read this, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. It was so wonderful to be able to spend Mother's Day with my husband and children! Sunday was Mother's Day in the United States, while Mother's Day in Mexico was Monday. I have been asked by several people which Mother's Day I would celebrate. I found out that Mother's Day in Thailand is August 12th, which is the Queen's birthday. So, technically, I could celebrate three Mother's Days! God gave me a new insight this year - no matter where I am, what I am doing or whether my children are with me or not, every day is Mother's Day because He has given me five blessings to hold, love, and raise, and two who went to be with Him before they were born. I am truly blessed! I pray that I will be the right example for my children. Who knows, maybe one of the reasons that God brought our family to Thailand was that He is planning to use one of our children here in the future to make an impact on this country. My Mom has a magnet hanging in her office that reads: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." - III John 1:3. For her, even though I am so far away, she knows that I am in the Lord's will and that I am right where He wants me. I can't imagine how hard it is for her for me to be so far away. Thank the Lord for technology that I can use Skype and actually see and talk to her at the same time!!! When the time comes for my children to leave home, I pray that they will follow His leading and go where He wants them to go and do what He wants them to do, while I wait to hear of how God is using them wherever they are.