Not by Sight

I used to walk paths like this . . .

Walking into the unknown, photo credit Hannah Swift, Shimla, India

. . . . and now I walk paths like this.

This is not me but this is the track where I walk often.

Exercising muscles that haven't been used for a while is never easy. I recently started walking this route regularly again after a bit of a break for the school holidays and it's shocking how stiff I feel. 

Ten times around the track and I find I can barely get out of the car again when I get home! It's sad really . . . . . but I know if I keep at it, the muscle tone will come back. Meanwhile, I'm so grateful for friends who walk with me and keep me motivated. 

I've been exercising another neglected muscle recently too - my faith. We're praying in my salary for Thai Village and waiting on God for some needs in our house in the US. I feel the same stiffness in my spirit sometimes that I feel in my body when I walk. I'm so stilted in my faith. 

If I'm honest, there is definitely a side of me that would much rather have all my ducks in a row - to know how all our bills are going to be paid and when I'm going to get my salary. But then there's a side too that is excited to give these needs to God and see what He will do. I want to grow in my trust and dependence and it's a daily choice to walk that path in faith.

Just like exercising though, I find I need walking companions around me to help me build the muscle.

Many of my friends here in Chiang Mai are missionaries "on support" and depend on God for all their needs. I often hear stories of His timely provision - a car donated in a time of need or school fees covered or a surprise full university scholarship.  Many times it's more than they hoped for or could imagine - but they had to wait on God's timing. It's not all glamour and amazing stories of course - but my own experience and that of many friends here reminds me how generously and extravagantly God provides when we dare to depend on Him and not ourselves. 

The other group that teach me so much about faith here are the poor. For believers who have little wealth in the world's eyes, faith is just a way of life. This week, I sat on the floor of a tiny one-roomed home for three and listened as my friends at Thai Village encouraged a new worker to trust God for her family's future. It was so natural to them and inspiring (well, after they translated to me what they actually said!) Thankfully at the same time, they were also giving her a means to build that very future and all this together is what I love about Thai Village.

Manager Pii Suai discussing work assignments with new artisan Pii Miu 
Afterwards we prayed and there were tears and hugs and hope and it was beautiful!

This week, I also heard from a dear Indian friend who has already been through way more suffering than any person should in their whole life, and I told her how inspiring she was to me in her dependence on God. She said, "I won't ever forget that I am nothing without God." Maybe that's what Jesus was talking about when He said, "Blessed are the poor". That truth is etched deeply in our souls through times of suffering and dependence. 

So, here I am, surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses - yet still I falter, and wobble and squirm in the unknowns! And then I read this in "Jesus Calling" this week.

"When some basic need is lacking - time, energy, money - consider yourself blessed. Your very lack is an opportunity to latch onto Me in unashamed dependence. When you begin a day with inadequate resources, you must concentrate your efforts on the present moment. This is the place where I always await you. Awareness of your inadequacy is a rich blessing, training you to rely wholeheartedly on me."  (Sarah Young)

A timely word for me! And so I choose to exercise this faith muscle. I want spiritual fitness even more than I want physical fitness and though the laps around the track are hard some times, I know it will be worth it. Let's walk together friends - through stiffness, through resistance in our mortal bodies and with faltering steps. There is treasure to be found there . . . . and I'm pretty sure it's of greater worth than a few calories burned. 

Many thanks to Karen B for the beautiful artwork in this post (orchid.karen@gmail.com) 

Taking in the scenery

One of the things I am enjoying about blogging is that I am becoming more aware of the world around me. Somehow, the thought of sharing my experiences helps me notice the beauty in the everyday and find more meaning in the details of life. I find myself clicking snapshots more often, pondering the significance of daily events and storing up moments as content for future posts. It's been an unexpected but welcome side benefit.

This week I have been looking at our muubaan with fresh eyes. Muubaan is the Thai word for neighborhood, literally meaning "group (of) houses". Our muubaan is an eclectic mix of old and new, rich and poor, tidy and overgrown, Thai and Burmese and "farang" (foreign) and all sorts in between. Being close to the city, it's had quite a lot of character layered into it over the years and I enjoy that. 

A neighbor sweeps before the heat of the day hits  

As they say, a picture can tell a thousand words, so here's a few snapshots in an attempt to convey the essence of the place we call home. (Secret - this post is as much for me to have a remembrance of our life here as it is to share our daily surroundings with you all).

Welcome to Nong Pratheep neighborhood

The daily route in and out of our muubaan

One of the first things you notice in any Thai neighborhood are the spirit houses. These are miniature houses strategically placed on the corners of properties as homes for the evil spirits. Often these houses are quite ornate as the hope is that the spirits will dwell there and leave the main residence alone. 

Property owners bring offerings of food, flowers and incense to keep the spirits happy so the spirit houses can get quite colorful and overflowing. This one above has always caught my eye on the corner of the main road and the one below is at the bike repair shop. 

Bike repair is not the only business running out of our muubaan either. Being close to the city, we have a lot of work spaces mixed in with local residences. These range from NGO offices, to laundry services, to AC repair shops and just round the corner from our house, there is a noodle factory.

Bins of noodles awaiting pick-up

These are the yellow egg noodles that form the basis of the Northern Thai dish "Khao soi" for which Chiang Mai is famous. The factory is small and open on one side (probably not the most hygienic) but it means we can watch the process in action. The guys who work there always seem to be having so much fun and give a cheery wave - though they all kept their backs to me the day I brought my camera!

Speaking of food, good street fare is always at your fingertips in Thailand and our muubaan is no exception. From mini-markets, to street-side stalls to mobile food outlets, our Thai neighbors love to eat out and on the go! 

We have just discovered Khun Noi's chicken cashew nut dish around the corner from us and it is delicious! 

Khun Noi - everything is served with a smile!

Kab muu (crispy pork crackling) is sold on almost every corner of our muubaan along with plenty of other kanom (snacks). 

And if you don't want to go out and get your kanom, no worries - they will come to you.

Snacks on wheels Thai style

Scooter delivery is perfect on the narrow alleys (soi)

Our neighbors ordering dinner from the travelling meat cart

One of our regular stops on the way home from school are the fruit ladies - simple tables set up outside homes to make an extra baht or two. Pomelo and mango are some of our favourites.

There are neighbors who are growing their own fruit too like this amazing jack fruit tree, just around the corner.

And I've no idea what this is growing from a vine on the electricity lines! Any ideas?

All these are very typical for a Thai neighborhood and could easily be found elsewhere around the city. 

Wat Nong Bpaakrang

There is one sense though in which our muubaan is far from a microcosm of the wider culture. 

We do have the usual Buddhist temple (left) but I have also counted at least 4 Thai churches in our immediate neighborhood! This is really quite unusual considering Christians make up less than 1% of the population in Thailand. 

River of Life Church, just down the street

I have yet to discover the history of how our muubaan became such a hub for Christian activity (though the presence of several mission agencies here may have something to do with it) but it is wonderful to know that believers are lifting up the name of Jesus on our block. 

So what else do I love about the space where we go about our daily lives? I love the birdsong; I love the greenery and the flowers; I love that the people (and most of the dogs!) are friendly; I love that the kids can bike around freely and explore a space that widens their perspective on the world  . . . . .  and I love that there is much more to discover that I don't know yet.

Chillies growing by the road

Honestly, this post has only touched on some of the gems in our muubaan, and it's already too long! So you'll just have to come and visit if you want the fuller story!

Songkran and the power of play

This week is Thai New Year and we have had so much fun joining the Songkran celebrations.

Thais mark the beginning of their New Year by splashing water on each other to wash away the misfortune of the passing year. Traditionally, they use small bowls to sprinkle flower-scented water on the hands of elders as a sign of respect and blessing.

Scented water and buckets for sale on Tha Phae Road

Over the years though and especially in Chiang Mai, Songkran has grown into a big city-wide water fight lasting 5 days. It's Thailand's most famous festival, it's chaotic (especially in certain places in town) and as far as my boys are concerned, it's pretty much the best holiday in Thailand!

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Water-gun battles between open tuk-tuks and pedestrians on Tha Phae Road 

Refuelling at one of the many tubs placed by vendors outside their stores to facilitate the fun. 

One of the things I love about Songkran is that it feels like a real community-wide event. It is played on the streets with people you've never met before. Old and young, tourists and locals, rich and poor are all mixed up together. Those lines don't exist when you have a loaded water-gun in hand and that's a really good thing in a world normally so divided.

Last year we played with some lovely Thai ladies who were visiting from Bangkok. They invited us to play with them again this year but sadly we couldn't find them in the mayhem.

These ladies taught us how it was done in our first Songkran last year!

This year we played downtown with a mix of tourists and locals and we also played a lot at home with our Burmese neighbors. These are poor refugee families living opposite us who usually we struggle to communicate with. But no language is needed for water play!

I am reminded a little of the Holi celebrations in India. There, we didn't participate in the city-wide festival in the same way since the kids were less comfortable with having coloured powder rubbed into their faces. But Holi has the same community focus, the same chaos, the same focus on play and the same sense of invitation to all.

This was our own very tame version of Holi in our back yard.

I think what these festivals have taught me is the power of play to bring people together. Perhaps it can even influence how we think about our own traditional festivities. I'm pretty sure our Burmese neighbors would feel very uncomfortable if we invited them over for Christmas dinner. But there's something about play that strips away those social, economic and cultural boundaries. I loved seeing that this Songkran and I long for more of it. 

So Happy Thai New Year to all my friends and family! May we find ways to cross the lines that divide our communities in this year ahead. 


Footnote: If you would like to see more of what Songkran really looks like, click here for a fun 1-minute video. (My photos really don't do it justice!)

Green is good!

The rains are here! We were out biking today when the showers hit so we got a little wet. It felt so good!

I have never lived in a country before where we celebrated rain with such gusto. Even in India, where the monsoon always came in with a bang, for us in the mountains it wasn't really a cause for celebration as it brought it's challenges too - landslides and mould amongst others. It did have it's own beauty such as the ethereal mist that covered the mountain and the vibrancy of the fern growth. But for me, it was just the beginning of a season where we didn't get to see the sun for two months. Not quite a reason for a party!

Rhesus monkeys lurking in the mist in the monsoon, Mussoorie, India

But here in Chiang Mai, the Thai people sure  know how to celebrate the coming of the rainy season . . . their whole year's calendar is based around it. Thai New Year or Songkran festival is celebrated this week - it's name comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "transformation" or "change". Our celebrations for Songkran will be a whole other post but for now . . .the change is already coming and we are celebrating that!  

March and early April are the toughest months to live in Chiang Mai. The land is parched from no significant rain for months, the temperatures are high (mid to high 30s) and the air is dusty, dry and polluted. 

This is the season in which farmers burn their rice fields to prepare the land for the next crop . . . it's an illegal practice but the law is not very enforced so the air quality can get pretty bad. It's the particulate matter we watch, especially the PM 2.5 because it can get into your bloodstream and cause longterm damage to lungs and heart.

Board outside the heath center at school

The levels are monitored pretty closely at the chidren's school, measuring good air quality in green through to really bad pollution in purple. If PM 2.5 is over 150 (red or above), the kids have indoor recess and all after school activities are cancelled. We have air purifiers at school and in the kids' bedrooms at home but even with that, we still get headaches often when the numbers are in the red or even purple. It can be a hard few weeks. 

So by the time, mid April rolls around, we are all ready to begin the new rainy season, with it's balmy humidity, lush green vegetation and fresh breathable air. We are yearning for it as the land is thirsty for the rain and we revel in every drop of rain that falls as the season begins to change.

I have always loved green. The lushness of the tree ferns in the monsoon in India.

The unfurling of new life in the tropical plants all around us here in Thailand.

And now there is a new green that I love. This green is really really good!

Family life unmasked

So we have had a LOT of visitors recently! It's been wonderful. If you live overseas, you will know how much of a gift it is when people take the time to come and get to know your world. 

Relationships are deepened. The unknowns here suddenly become known to family and friends and we feel more whole, more connected, more understood. Points of reference are laid for future skype conversations, memories are made and packages of goodies are shared from our other "home".  

We will never take for granted a friend or family member who is willing to make the financial and time investment to come and see us. . . . and we say thank you to those who have come and to those that are to come!

Grandma and Grandad came in February. It was the first time they'd made it to Thailand and it was huge to share our world with them. 

Travelling is no mean feat when you're 87 and we were all so impressed with how Grandad navigated outings with his handy walker.

2 days after waving off the grandparents, our good friend Auntie Susie arrived. Susie wins the prize for my most faithful visitor having visited me in Mexico, US, India, Sri Lanka and now Thailand. She has shared a lot of worlds with us and we love that. 

And then we had the joy of my sister - basically nothing beats sisters in my book. The time went by all too fast.  

Each of these visits were a huge blessing to us and we hope to them. . . .but not without some tension. The thing about having people stay with you for long periods, is you are exposed - family life in all it's glory! This was term-time and life was full and busy. Kids were overtired and overwhelmed, adults were over-reactive and over-stressed and there were times when everything was bubbling over! 

Who wants to go on a bike ride?

We were grateful when guests mucked in to cheer up a grumpy kid, or when space was given to calm and settle after a busy day or when kids were invited out to give me some space to make dinner!

It's in these times that we all want to be shown grace and to know we're not being judged.  In the middle of all these ups and downs, I reflected that if we wanted to preserve a glowing image of our kids and our parenting, then we should probably limit our visitors to a few weeks in the summer when everyone is relaxed and perhaps some time over Christmas break (or maybe not even that!).  But the truth is actually, deep down, we want to be known in our mess - because only then can we be loved for who we are, mummy meltdowns and all.

So we embrace the visitors! We already miss the ones that have gone and we're excited for the ones who are coming this spring and summer (you know who you are!). Just know, there will be no hiding behind masks. If you see our rough edges, we ask for grace and if yours are exposed, we promise to show you grace too. Thank you in advance for loving us just as we are.  

Work - a burden or gift?

I think sometimes our culture paints a distorted image of what work is  . . . either it's something so bad that we have to be paid to do it. . . . . or it's something that defines who we are and gives us our identity. 

Keeping a healthy concept of work is not always easy and this past year in Thailand has given me cause to reflect on this a lot as I have been pursuing meaningful work in a new place and season. I want to take this opportunity to share a bit of this journey with you. 

Work - a burden or gift?

When we first arrived in Thailand, I knew clearly the work that was before me - it was to help settle our family, set up our home, support Tyler and the kids in the season of transition and also to build community here and learn as much as possible about our new host culture. I didn't see this as less important than Tyler's paid job which had brought us here. We were (and are) a team. It was sacred work and it was hard work. It was fulfilling (most of the time) and exhausting (some of the time) and unsettling at times too - but it was what I was supposed to be doing and it was more than enough! I started Thai classes in our first year here as well but other than that, I was full-time working from home. 

 Of course, there are no pictures of me working from home because who takes photos of that? . . . . . but here's some laundry.

. . . . . and here's my kids creating laundry.

At the beginning of our second year here though, as the intensity of our family's transition dwindled, I started to feel a yearning for something more. The motivations however, were so much more than just "finding something to do" here in Thailand.

I think there were 3 main catalysts for this change. 

1.  The desire to use my gifts and passions - some of these had been laying dormant in me for a while (there's only so many spreadsheets you can create as a housewife - ha ha!) and I wanted to be a good steward of these gifts and of the time I had while everyone-else was at school.
2. The desire to be part of something bigger than my family, something Thai, something that Jesus was doing here in this place He had brought us. There was a world out there on my doorstep and I was anxious to engage with it more. 
3. The desire to help provide for our family - of course, a little more money is always helpful and we had some needs that we were praying for God to meet.

So what's next God? 

So I prayed and I talked to friends and I pursued options and filled in forms and met with people looking for just the skills I had to offer. It was not a particularly smooth ride! I considered online options, ministry opportunities, even starting my own business or teaching. In the end, I pursued 3 roles in depth that all fulfilled at least one of the above criteria. Each attempt taught me more about what I was looking for, what I was able to give within the limits of family schedules and what God was calling me to . . . . .but none turned out to be the right fit. 

Rung, embroiderer at Thai Village

Finally, about 6 weeks ago, a friend mentioned that Thai Village were hiring. Thai Village work with local artisans to provide vocational training and income generation opportunities here in Chiang Mai and they combine this with community building and outreach, working with the local church. I found they were a great match with my passions and skill set AND as it turned out, they could also be flexible with my schedule so I could still keep my Mum commitments and keep up my Thai language study. What a gift!

So now a new season of work outside the home is beginning for me. The previous roles remain but I get to add to this, more relationships with Thai nationals and more opportunities to use my gifts in administration and organization to serve them. I'm excited and will be starting to work 20 hours/wk at Thai Village as soon as I have my work permit and volunteer visa sorted out. 

Even though I haven't officially started yet, I have already met some of the wonderful artisans at Thai Village and I've seen their dedication and passion for work too. Sadly, in our broken world, not everyone has the opportunity to choose dignified work and people made in the image of God are forced into other degrading forms of existence just to survive. But I am seeing here at Thai Village what I saw at JOYN in India too - that work is transformative and empowering and that a lot can happen with a little opportunity.

JOYN blockprinters at work in Rajpur, India

Eet at Thai Village - tin smithing Christmas ornaments

Training and longterm job creation provide so much more than just a job in these countries. They provide a way out from oppression and injustice and the best part is, the opportunity just lays the path, the artisans themselves are the ones who walk it and they are changing their own futures and communities. This was such a powerful lesson that I learned during my 2 years at JOYN in India and I know the artisans at Thai Village will have more to teach me. I love seeing how dignified work brings life and joy to a community from within. And I love learning from these artisans what the real meaning of work is.

Work can be hard, yes, but  . . . . . 
Work is a privilege.
Our desire to work is God-given.
Work is part of the image of God in us
Work is co-creating something beautiful with God
Work is not to be taken for granted
And work is sacred - all kinds of work, in every season.

So grateful for this good gift of purposeful work at Thai Village.