3 holidays in one

This year the Thai holidays of Loi Krathong and Yii Peng fell on the same day as the American holiday of Thanksgiving, so we celebrated all three in one night last week! It was a feast for the senses - fireworks, lanterns, sparkling lights in the river and in the sky, lots of colour everywhere, good food and good friends . . . and crowds of people on the streets.

At this time of year, Thais like to decorate with colourful lanterns (khom fai) so the city is really beautiful and vibrant.

Lanterns hanging at Wat Lok Moli

Thursday night after school, we made our way to our Thanksgiving dinner invitation across the river carrying pumpkin pie, apple crumble and pumpkin brownies and taking pictures of all the pretty stalls along the way.

Beautiful krathongs for sale along the river

 Loi Krathong is celebrated by sending elaborate floating "krathongs" down the river to symbolize letting go of past transgressions and waving goodbye to the misfortune of the previous year. Our friends live along the river so in between courses for Thanksgiving dinner, we joined the throngs on the river banks to add one more krathong to the mass of twinkling lights in the Mae Ping.

Lanterns were already being set off for Yii Peng which is a spectacular and mesmerizing sight. Our stomachs were full from a delicious Thanksgiving meal, our hearts were full of gratitude for wonderful friends and family and it felt out of this world to be watching these lanterns fill the sky around us, carrying with them the hopes and wishes of those who released them.

Yii Peng lanterns on Nawarat Bridge, photo credit Jessie Langr

The moment of release, photo credit Jessie Langr

It wasn't until the following night that we got to send off our own lantern (khom loi), this time with our sweet Thai neighbours. Certain members of our family had actually opted out of braving the crowds again the second night and we planned to stay home, but the neighbours started lining the driveway with candles and invited us spontaneously for sparklers, fireworks and a lantern release. So lovely to participate with them in this Northern Thai tradition. "What are you wishing for?" they asked, as we prepared to release the lanterns. They know it's superstitious just like when we blow out Birthday candles, but it's still fun, especially for the kids, to send their wishes up in this way.

This year, I could wish for a lot at Yii Peng - there is much I am hoping for and praying for.
I could also say sorry for a lot at Loi Krathong - there are many thoughts and actions that I have not been proud of this past year and many experiences I would like to put behind me.
And of course, I am grateful for a lot this Thanksgiving season too - for family, friends, adventures, experiences, work, grace in the present, forgiveness for the past and hope for the future.

Thanks for reading and sharing the adventures!

My small thoughts and His big plans

As you may have seen, I just got back from a jam-packed 12-day sales tour of the UK with Thai Village. This whole trip was a leap of faith for me - buying the ticket to go when our finances were tight, not knowing whether I would have enough events booked to make it worth it, leaving the family here for 2 weeks in a busy intense season etc etc. But in it all, I had a peace and following that turned out to be a whole adventure in learning how God's ways are so far beyond our small human understanding.

The whole thing actually started off with a big diversion from my original plan as I had initially thought to go to the US instead of the UK. Despite making some inquiries there however, it clearly wasn't the time as doors weren't opening and then some friends in the UK suggested I come there instead. From there, the ball was rolling and I ended up with 14 events booked in 12 days. The doors were clearly opening elsewhere.

Honored to have a table (top right) at the Healing Space, Storm Church, Worthing

My hopes for this trip were to raise some support for my work with Thai Village and to expand our market for our handcrafted products, which had previously been mostly in the US and Thailand. Seemed like a pretty good plan to me but I realized fairly soon that God's plans were much bigger than just that. I felt foolish in the end that whilst I was focusing on the numbers, He was focusing on the people (of course - duhh!). I was amazed at some of the conversations He led me into, and the way that some events turned out to have a different purpose than I had imagined. Oh how small my plans seemed in comparison! In addition I got to be with my Mum again, just 3 months after the loss of Len, her husband, and that turned out to be really well-timed too.

With my Mum at one of the many events she helped me with

Wonderful time at Zara's house

Another thing I learned was that even when it came to sales of our products, God was turning my expectations on their head! My two "big" events with lots of foot traffic actually made little sales and my best event by far in terms of numbers was at the house of my ever-faithful godmother in London with her neighbours and church friends. We reflected afterwards how the event had more than surpassed any of our expectations. After this, I was actually so low on product, I had to order more to be express shipped from Thailand!

With my godmother, Juliet 

Finally, I want to end with a fun story that illustrates this lesson of my limited human understanding so well. As I said, I had a jam-packed schedule for this whole visit, thanks to the many friends and family who helped me set up events and hosted me. Unfortunately one of my larger fairs on my first Saturday in the UK fell through at the last minute. I should have known to trust and not to worry but I was disappointed and frustrated that all the other fairs for that day were now fully booked and it was too late to organize a private event.

On the morning of that Saturday, I woke up with such a drive to find something and I prayed one more time for God to open a door, before quickly scrolling through a local events listing on my phone. The only thing I saw that I hadn't already tried was a church bell-ringing fundraiser being held about 20 minutes from my Mum's house. I wasn't that hopeful that they would want to have a random lady from Thailand at their fundraiser at the last minute but I tried the phone number just in case. No answer. Not sure why, but I wasn't in the mood to accept a closed door that morning, and after breakfast, I decided to just fill my car with all my stuff anyway and drive over to the church and wait to ambush the organizers! 

So when the bell-ringing ladies arrived that morning with their cakes and raffle prizes for their event, there I was accosting them at the gate with my story of plans falling through and hopes for a venue. God was at work and they were very gracious! I was able to give a few items towards their fundraising raffle and they welcomed me with open arms to share their space, giving Thai Village a little table in the corner of the church! That day I got to ring bells for the first time in my life and also met many lovely people from churches all over Worthing. Sales were not huge but the people were huge-hearted and since many churches were represented, I got several invitations to other events locally and I'm excited to see where this will lead for Thai Village! 

Thai Village at Findon parish bellringers fundraiser 

This was one of the lovely ladies that I ambushed outside the church door!

 All in all, it was an incredible trip . .. and my family back in Thailand survived too, despite coming home to a house with no power and water because I had forgotten to pay the bill before I left!! Oops.

Today is Thanksgiving in one of my adopted countries and today I want to thank all of you who helped make this UK visit such a success - especially my Mum for her huge efforts (and for keeping the heating revved up way above her comfort level the whole time I was there), but also Sue, Zara, Juliet, Susie, Jon and Elma, Janet, Ginny, Lynn and many others at New Life and of course the bell-ringing ladies! Above all, I give thanks to our God who works so far beyond our small human mindset to bring about His good purposes in all of our lives. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways.' declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55: 8-9 

P.S. If you haven't checked out our gorgeous Thai Village products yet, you can do so on our website www.thaivillage.org. US folks can order through the website but UK orders need to come through me for now! Thankyou!

My favorite Thai words

We are now well into our third year in Thailand. I firmly believe in learning the local language when you live overseas but boy, the Thai language is hard and my progress is much slower than I want it to be. 

Amidst grappling with the unfamiliar script, the 44 consonants, 28 vowels, 5 tones and lots of alien sounds to get my mouth around. . . . . I do however find language learning fun and a fascinating window on culture and life here. Here's a few of my favorite Thai words I've learned so far.

ถุงเท้า (tung taao) means sock. Some words in Thai tickle me because of their simplicity. This word literally means "bag for your foot".

กินข้าว (gin kaao) is a phrase we use here all the time. It means to eat rice but is actually used to refer to having any kind of meal. Most Thai people do eat rice at every meal, but even if you don't, you can still use this word. The word ข้าวเช้า (kaao chaao) means breakfast or literally morning rice! 

Rice varieties, Sansai Market, Chiangmai 

If you agree with someone in Thailand, you say เห็นด้วย (hen duai) which literally means to see together. Similarly to sympathize with someone is เห็นใจ (hen jai), or to see their heart. How beautiful is that?

ไม่ใช่ (mai chai) is the word for no in Thailand - or literally "not yes"!  I might be reading too much into this but somehow this fits with a culture where people don't like to disagree with you to your face. With this phrase, even when they're saying no, they're still actually saying a modified form of yes! 

The word ใจ (jai) meaning heart, is used a lot in the Thai language to describe people and feelings. For example, being kind is ใจดี (jai dii) good-hearted and being impatient is ใจร้อน (jai roon) hot-hearted but my favorite is generous, มีนํ้าใจ (mii naam jai) literally "having a heart that flows like water". How about that for a description of what generosity really is. 

Water flowing in abundance at Mok Faa Waterfall

In the same vein เข้าใจ (kaao jai) means to understand in Thai, in other words "to enter your heart". Oh how I am hoping for more of this fascinating language to enter my heart soon and with it, a deeper appreciation of this beautiful culture and people.

Hope you enjoyed this little taste. Thanks so much for reading!
สวัสดีค่ะ Sawatdiikha

Watering can prayers

I have a confession. I am not very disciplined in my prayer life. I shoot up lots of "help me" prayers and I try to thank God often but when I sit down to pray more in depth about something, I get distracted easily and drift off. I think that's why I'm constantly looking for friends to pray with.

One thing I have noticed here in this predominantly Buddhist country, is that the temples provide many physical and symbolic ways for people to offer their prayers and invocations. We have these in the Christian tradition too but not so many.

There are the offerings of the symbolic lotus flower to represent the desire for a pure spirit.

. . . . the rubbing of a gong to aid meditation

. . . . the incense to burn, the stupas to walk around while you make your chant, the prayer wheels to spin, the candles to light and the bells to ring.

I've been quite fascinated by these physical aids to worship in my visits to Buddhist temples here in Chiangmai. You can certainly see how they increase habits of worship and aid focus by engaging all the senses. 

I have found my own physical way to pray recently too and it has surprised me how much it has enhanced my prayer life. One of my daily chores here is watering our plants at our back door. 

It didn't start as a prayer, it was just something I needed to do, but I found myself praying for God's Spirit to water my kids' hearts as I tended to my plants. Turns out "watering can prayers" have a whole load of applications. How badly I need His Spirit to water my own soul in all the dry and stubborn areas of my heart. I have prayed for His watering of our marriage, for His Spirit to pour out on the people of Thailand and for the seeds sown at Thai Village to be saturated with His Spirit and flourish.  It has been good to have a symbolic and physical accompaniment to my prayers and somehow, it has engaged me all the more in believing and persisting in prayer as a daily habit.

My plants are growing well and I enjoy them every day. Now they are a constant reminder too of the source of all our life and flourishing. My prayer life needed a boost and I found it in my own back yard! Prayer can be so much more than words sometimes.