Planting for Others

Our trip last weekend included a stop at a farm acquired by Global Neighbors for the sole purpose of supplementing the refugees diet with fresh produce.

We volunteered to go plant some fruit trees.  So we got our gloves and spades and set to work.  Our small group (above) managed to plant just over 50 fruit trees along with some banana trees. 

The energy from our kids was uplifting and their enthusiasm was contagious as they understood what we were doing.

Of course the next morning as we headed up to the camp we had some aching bodies!!  It was hard work but very rewarding.

As a family we’ve continued to talk about our trip to the border and realize again how fortunate we are, and therefore are really obligated to help others.

I’ll share more pictures of our visit to the camp later…

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.  ~Nelson Henderson

Planting for Others

Our trip last weekend included a stop at a farm acquired by Global Neighbors for the sole purpose of supplementing the refugees diet with fresh produce.

We volunteered to go plant some fruit trees.  So we got our gloves and spades and set to work.  Our small group (above) managed to plant just over 50 fruit trees along with some banana trees. 

The energy from our kids was uplifting and their enthusiasm was contagious as they understood what we were doing.

Of course the next morning as we headed up to the camp we had some aching bodies!!  It was hard work but very rewarding.

As a family we’ve continued to talk about our trip to the border and realize again how fortunate we are, and therefore are really obligated to help others.

I’ll share more pictures of our visit to the camp later…

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.  ~Nelson Henderson

Corner View - Pondering

We just got back from our trip to the border.  I’m still a little overwhelmed from what I saw and learnt.  Since our actual visit into the camp (which was Monday) you could say I’ve been pondering a lot these past 2 days. 

What a timely theme for me. we sat together and we listened to a life testimony.  Joshua was so tired after helping and playing with the carnival games for the kids.

One look at the camp and the faces of the refugees ( a lot of them children), you want to hear everyone’s story, because they all do have a story to tell.

I’m still pondering over the realities of their lives. When I think of the alternative and what they ran away from ….. things are a little better.   But why does it have to be like that?

I’m still taking it all in.  I hope to share more later.

But for more on this theme from Juniper, visit Theresa.

Corner View - Pondering

We just got back from our trip to the border.  I’m still a little overwhelmed from what I saw and learnt.  Since our actual visit into the camp (which was Monday) you could say I’ve been pondering a lot these past 2 days. 

What a timely theme for me. we sat together and we listened to a life testimony.  Joshua was so tired after helping and playing with the carnival games for the kids.

One look at the camp and the faces of the refugees ( a lot of them children), you want to hear everyone’s story, because they all do have a story to tell.

I’m still pondering over the realities of their lives. When I think of the alternative and what they ran away from ….. things are a little better.   But why does it have to be like that?

I’m still taking it all in.  I hope to share more later.

But for more on this theme from Juniper, visit Theresa.

Corner View – Holidays.

I love holidays.   Whether it’s getting on a jet and flying somewhere with children in tow or just driving down the road and visiting new places – the goal is always the same – a time to relax, have quality time as a family, to discover and learn and most importantly to have fun – together.

It can get stressful with young kids but that is all part of the fun, isn’t it!?

Here are some photo’s to share.  maybe you’ll notice a theme?!

My village, Pari Village where my heart will always be. We have taken holidays where we head back home. (we don’t do it enough though)

Sequoia, California. 2003

Clear Lake, California. 2006.

Gold Coast, Brisbane. Australia. 2009.

Krabi, Thailand. 2010.

Yes I love the water.  Good thing the family does.  Actually with the kids being young it’s easy planning.  Hopefully as they get older we’ll get to discover some other destinations like maybe Africa, or Bhutan or maybe even Egypt. 

I’m still dreaming.

For more holidays visit Theresa.

Corner View – Holidays.

I love holidays.   Whether it’s getting on a jet and flying somewhere with children in tow or just driving down the road and visiting new places – the goal is always the same – a time to relax, have quality time as a family, to discover and learn and most importantly to have fun – together.

It can get stressful with young kids but that is all part of the fun, isn’t it!?

Here are some photo’s to share.  maybe you’ll notice a theme?!

My village, Pari Village where my heart will always be. We have taken holidays where we head back home. (we don’t do it enough though)

Sequoia, California. 2003

Clear Lake, California. 2006.

Gold Coast, Brisbane. Australia. 2009.

Krabi, Thailand. 2010.

Yes I love the water.  Good thing the family does.  Actually with the kids being young it’s easy planning.  Hopefully as they get older we’ll get to discover some other destinations like maybe Africa, or Bhutan or maybe even Egypt. 

I’m still dreaming.

For more holidays visit Theresa.

Counting Down and Ducks

4 more days till we travel to the border of Thailand and Burma, to visit the refugee camp. I’m a little anxious because I’m taking JJ, but I’m ready for the adventure and experience, as a family.

We’ll be taking the school supplies that people generously donated and purchased for the school that we (the church) supports,  and we’ll also be staging a carnival for the children. 

Hence the ducks.

I thought the game assigned to me “floating ducks’ was suppose to be one of the easier once to put together. Boy was I wrong!  Finding the ducks wasn’t the problem.  trying to get them to float was!  I know their ducks, they’re suppose to float.

Anyway we improvised.  I glued them all to some coffee cup lids and voila…..they now float.

“There are many ways of going forward but only one way of standing still.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

Counting Down and Ducks

4 more days till we travel to the border of Thailand and Burma, to visit the refugee camp. I’m a little anxious because I’m taking JJ, but I’m ready for the adventure and experience, as a family.

We’ll be taking the school supplies that people generously donated and purchased for the school that we (the church) supports,  and we’ll also be staging a carnival for the children. 

Hence the ducks.

I thought the game assigned to me “floating ducks’ was suppose to be one of the easier once to put together. Boy was I wrong!  Finding the ducks wasn’t the problem.  trying to get them to float was!  I know their ducks, they’re suppose to float.

Anyway we improvised.  I glued them all to some coffee cup lids and voila…..they now float.

“There are many ways of going forward but only one way of standing still.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

Do we know if tomorrow will be ours…..

We had a wet weekend. 

All weekend long it was grey and dull and the skies remained open while the rain fell steadily. It definitely had us finding things to do inside our homes.  It also represented the general mood of our small community of the past week.

The school student body suffered yet another tragedy. An 8th grade student lost his life last Monday during surgery.  His death was totally unexpected and the kids have taken it pretty hard. Actually the whole community has. He left behind a mother who is a widow.  I can’t imagine what she must be going through, having buried her husband when her son was only 1 and now she has to lay her son to rest too.

It’s during such tragedy’s like this that I’m reminded how fragile life truly is, and how I just don’t know if we can have tomorrow…….together.  

It’s the last week of school before we have a much welcomed break.  it will only be a week but I think it will do us all some good.

Do we know if tomorrow will be ours…..

We had a wet weekend. 

All weekend long it was grey and dull and the skies remained open while the rain fell steadily. It definitely had us finding things to do inside our homes.  It also represented the general mood of our small community of the past week.

The school student body suffered yet another tragedy. An 8th grade student lost his life last Monday during surgery.  His death was totally unexpected and the kids have taken it pretty hard. Actually the whole community has. He left behind a mother who is a widow.  I can’t imagine what she must be going through, having buried her husband when her son was only 1 and now she has to lay her son to rest too.

It’s during such tragedy’s like this that I’m reminded how fragile life truly is, and how I just don’t know if we can have tomorrow…….together.  

It’s the last week of school before we have a much welcomed break.  it will only be a week but I think it will do us all some good.

Corner View - Green

I know my photos aren’t green for this weeks corner view, but what if I told you that these cute bracelets and earrings were made from paper.  Yes 100 % recycled paper. 

I bought some for my daughters and myself a couple of weeks ago at a craft market.  The vendors explained that all their items for sale were made from recycled paper.  the process – recycled paper hand rolled into beads and then threaded.  the beads are then painted with lacquer.

Ingenious!

For more Green, visit Otli.

Thanks again Otli for hosting CV.

Corner View - Green

I know my photos aren’t green for this weeks corner view, but what if I told you that these cute bracelets and earrings were made from paper.  Yes 100 % recycled paper. 

I bought some for my daughters and myself a couple of weeks ago at a craft market.  The vendors explained that all their items for sale were made from recycled paper.  the process – recycled paper hand rolled into beads and then threaded.  the beads are then painted with lacquer.

Ingenious!

For more Green, visit Otli.

Thanks again Otli for hosting CV.

We Finished the Race

hope your 101010 day was a memorable one.

It certainly was for me.  Actually the whole weekend was.  The kids finished the race around 10 this morning with a final lap of the pool and then we had a celebration service at the church.

It truly was an amazing race, in every sense of the word.  The kids were awesome. competitive but also very respectful and encouraging to the each other (even their competition).

As it is  in every race there can only be one winner. But I saw   every kid that participated this weekend as a winner.  At every stage of the race, some teams excelled, while others didn’t but each one of them was determined to keep on going. to make sure that they would finish the race. 

At the celebration service this video was shared with us and so I thought I’d share with you. (do watch, you’ll be inspired!)

Unfortunately, our assigned spot got washed out yesterday.  not  because of the rain, because we had a ridiculous downpour of rain but because the boat taxi’s weren’t operating due to construction work on the river.

(image taken from Google – what the boat taxi’s look like)

So instead we moved onto the next road block/challenge and helped out there.  It was a smelling challenge.  they had to smell  scents and guess what they were.   Let me just say we had some interesting answers! It was a long challenge.  it went late into afternoon/evening.  this is a photo of the temple where we were able to set up the challenge just outside. 

This morning the raced continued and there was an eating challenge.  Teams had to eat a 8 slices of a pigs tongue, then they had to go into the market and buy all the ingredients required to make “somtum” a spicy papaya salad.  And then of course they had to eat it with chopsticks!! (I heard that last year they ate cockroaches and a tub of ice cream)

I had so much fun helping and watching but now I’m exhausted and I didn’t even race! 

Hope your weekend was a good one!

We Finished the Race

hope your 101010 day was a memorable one.

It certainly was for me.  Actually the whole weekend was.  The kids finished the race around 10 this morning with a final lap of the pool and then we had a celebration service at the church.

It truly was an amazing race, in every sense of the word.  The kids were awesome. competitive but also very respectful and encouraging to the each other (even their competition).

As it is  in every race there can only be one winner. But I saw   every kid that participated this weekend as a winner.  At every stage of the race, some teams excelled, while others didn’t but each one of them was determined to keep on going. to make sure that they would finish the race. 

At the celebration service this video was shared with us and so I thought I’d share with you. (do watch, you’ll be inspired!)

Unfortunately, our assigned spot got washed out yesterday.  not  because of the rain, because we had a ridiculous downpour of rain but because the boat taxi’s weren’t operating due to construction work on the river.

(image taken from Google – what the boat taxi’s look like)

So instead we moved onto the next road block/challenge and helped out there.  It was a smelling challenge.  they had to smell  scents and guess what they were.   Let me just say we had some interesting answers! It was a long challenge.  it went late into afternoon/evening.  this is a photo of the temple where we were able to set up the challenge just outside. 

This morning the raced continued and there was an eating challenge.  Teams had to eat a 8 slices of a pigs tongue, then they had to go into the market and buy all the ingredients required to make “somtum” a spicy papaya salad.  And then of course they had to eat it with chopsticks!! (I heard that last year they ate cockroaches and a tub of ice cream)

I had so much fun helping and watching but now I’m exhausted and I didn’t even race! 

Hope your weekend was a good one!

The Race is On….

I’m helping out today with our church’s main activity for the High School kids.

The Amazing Race, Bangkok.

20 teams, 80 kids and over 90 volunteers.  Hooray church- well done volunteers! The race finishes tomorrow around noon.

The kids will be racing all over Bangkok, using every type of public transportation available,  and of course doing some crazy detours and road blocks!!

Hubby and I have our assignment but can’t share right now. It’s super secretive. 

I wish I was doing the race.  It would be so awesome. Anyway it’s going to be exciting!  I hope to share some photos later….

Oh and by the way – it’s 10/10/10 tomorrow! Anything special planned for the day? if not then join in on the fun and tell your story.  Click here if you’re curious. 

Happy Saturday!

The Race is On….

I’m helping out today with our church’s main activity for the High School kids.

The Amazing Race, Bangkok.

20 teams, 80 kids and over 90 volunteers.  Hooray church- well done volunteers! The race finishes tomorrow around noon.

The kids will be racing all over Bangkok, using every type of public transportation available,  and of course doing some crazy detours and road blocks!!

Hubby and I have our assignment but can’t share right now. It’s super secretive. 

I wish I was doing the race.  It would be so awesome. Anyway it’s going to be exciting!  I hope to share some photos later….

Oh and by the way – it’s 10/10/10 tomorrow! Anything special planned for the day? if not then join in on the fun and tell your story.  Click here if you’re curious. 

Happy Saturday!