she is the daughter of David and Goi 
and sister of Dee-Dee, and she is so cute! Today after holding her for 3 seconds :), I gave her over to Sarah to be spoiled!
This included hiking down to where they get their water and hiking back up the hill. 
I don't think I have exercised that much in a long time. I suppose I should change that! 
It was fun though and good. I think Dang and Michelle got a lot of information, and got more practice with my new camera. Today we went to visit Pau Luang Pongsak in Heuy Khray. Love that place! Sometimes, I think that I could easily live there. It's so peacefull and has been cool every time I've gone. It's in a really scenic area on the side of a mountain. Pastor Pongsak's wife made us a delicious lunch! 
Uh-mazing as usual, complete with my favorite Hmong "salsa" they make. All the teachers from the school joined us. Before that, Suphan gave us a tour of the rice mill and church 
and then took us to visit the school 
where we sat and chatted with the principal. Our visit was over quickly it seemed and then before we knew it, we were at the airport and on our way back to Bangkok
Goi is so cute pregnant! Her and her husband Seth are expecting a little girl in April! Here's Sarah, Ar and Goi hanging out. 
And here is Sarah and Waen having fun. 
After church, we finally got a group together to begin finishing the painting project one of our short-term teams started last summer. They already had finished pretty much the whole project, but didn't have time to finish the ceiling over the lounge area. So after lunch, we had a luncheon and then everyone who came, changed clothes and got to work...sort of. We had a lot of characters in our group, so mostly we had fun and painted on the side. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Guess the paint's not actually dry Joe!
Already on a coffee break.
No joke folks, this weekend Ping, Bruce, Sarah and I went on an excursion to Chokchai Farm "Ranch" in Khorat! 
Known for it's burgers, steak and ice cream, we were told that this was a place we had to experience- or at least they were burgers that must be eaten. We rented a van, and upon arrival, I felt bad for not dressing like I was in an old Western movie because everyone else was! I could have at least wore blue jeans Ping! Anyway, we scoped the place out while we waited for our tour of the farm to begin at 11 o'clock. Bruce turned down the opportunity to buy a cowboy hat and then we shuffled in with the rest of our tour to watch a short video on the farm and it's founder. The first part of the tour was seeing the original tractor and truck that started it all. Then Sarah and Ping got to milk a cow! 
Good job ladies! We then hopped on a tractor through the main property and stopped to see a cowboy show explaining all the tools of the cowboy trade necessary for riding a horse, roping a cow, and branding it! 
At the end we even saw a dog show and fed deer in the petting zoo! Then came the time we were all waiting for- burgers!!! Bruce was happy, so happy we forgot to take pictures and had to buy another hamburger to do so! 
After some ice cream and a stop at the mall for clothes, shoes and Starbucks, we headed home! My home that is, because it was then girls night at my apartment, complete with pizza and chick flicks!
By the time we got there, they had successfully put the fire out and were still spraying hot spots. We went to the daycare first where the children were surprisingly still napping. We then got a chance to walk into the community itself and see the damage firsthand. Walking into the community, it was a ongoing blur of activity, that we kind of blended into (an amazing feat for foreigners). Rescue workers had food and water stations set up and working, families who weren't affected were moving belongings back to their homes, and every person was at a different stage of excitement or agitation. Older school children were returning home from school and inspecting the damage, mothers were experiencing relief that this happened while the children were in school that way they didn't have to worry about where their kids were during the fire. Every person who lost their home was grieving in different ways, but I noticed something unique; none of them were alone. There was a hedge of protection around each of them. As one woman related her story to P Gorp and P Dang, she had one friend fanning her, another holding her hand, patting her arm and another speaking words of comfort. While Dang and Pastor Carl inspected the damage from one alleyway a woman came up to Sarah and I in tears and reached out to me for a hug. She too had an entourage of supporters who went along with her to see the damage of her house that was destroyed. At the backside of the slum, some people sat protecting the few possessions they managed to get out of their homes before the fire destroyed them. They all seemed to be the same things from each home. Everyone brought out their Buddha statues and pictures of the King. The next thing was their electronics like TVs, DVD players, fans. If they had time, they brought out their clothes and that was it. That was all they needed. One thing we saw there that we wouldn't see or do after a fire in the US is people crawling all over the ruins while the ashes were still smoldering. We were able to cross through the red tape and walk into the area. 
The narrow passageways were filled with glass, charred clothing, water damaged books, electronics, furniture and lingering smoke. Residents were already digging through the remains of what was once their home in order to find whether anything of value still remained. 
It's incredible how quickly this all happened. We got a call at 12:45pm and by 3pm we were leaving the slum. Tomorrow when we get more concrete details, we'll be able to write up some grants and proposals to try to get these people some help. We thank God that no one was hurt, that the safety workers were able to do their job quickly and efficiently without injury, and that we have this chance to show the love of Christ to a people in need. Please keep them in your prayers.
