It all comes down to this...

Jillian reads a report she wrote about the authority of Jesus.
Joy shares a story from her reading book.

Faith reads some of her phonics exercises.

Elizabeth led the opening prayer.

Anna Mei sang a solo.

Jillian receives her certificate of promotion to the 5th grade.

It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was writing about our first dayof school. Last night we had a celebration for the completion of the year and the kindergarten graduation for Faith and Joy. The girls all had individual parts. Each one did a fantastic job--Tony and I were so proud! Sally, Duc and Linh's 3-year-old, came to school with us this year, soshe also took part in the program. Tony gave certificates of promotion. The girls were so happy. They chattered on and on about it at bedtime. They really had a sense of achievement. Very sweet. In addition to Tony and I, Marissa and Enoch, Duc and Linh, Chau, andSusan (a friend from church) were here. What a blessing!

Grace and peace!

Learning With The AAABC's

Duc and Linh's daughter Sally celebrated her 3rd birthday with us May 18. We gave her a scooter like one that Faith and Joy have. Happy Birthday, Sally!

God's goodness is everpresent, even though it may come to us in ways that we don't recognize at first.
I have been reminded of the Vietnamese alphabet. It has no j, no w and no z. BUT...it has 3 a's, 2 d's, 2 e's, 3 o's. and 2 u's ... so in the end, more letters.
God has shown Himself to me like that. Just when I think that I do not have what I need, or think I should have, He shows me something different than I expected, but more than what is needed. It may not look the way I think it should. I may not recognize the blessing in it, but it is there nonetheless. I can complain that it is not "my way"--or I can look for the blessing in receiving goodness from His hand.
May you recognize His good and perfect gifts this day, and joyfully receive His provision for your life.
Grace and peace!

Motoring Down Life's Highway

Traffic in Danang

As you can imagine, driving a motorbike is a great deal different from driving a car. Motoring around Danang and beyond has given me some time to reflect on driving habits...and life lessons.

On the motorbike, the accelerator is on the right handle. There are brakes on both handles. So, to apply the right brake, it is necessary to lift your hand off the accelerator in order to reach the brake (at leastfor me--people with longer fingers might be able to reach both). If I tryto stretch my fingers without lifting off the accelerator, I "rev the engine" even while I am slowing down. In addition, releasing the brake results in a "power surge" that jolts you forward faster than you want to travel. (Note: can you tell I know this from experience?) Moreover, simply releasing the accelerator is a very effective brake; it is amazing how quickly you slow down if you are simply not feeding in more gas.

I tell you this now because I have learned. Do not worry. I am careful. I am a reasonably good and safe driver. I have had no big mishaps to date (thank You, Lord!). Still, yesterday while driving, the Lord dropped this thought into my mind as I rounded a sharp corner (at the proper speed, mind you! :) ) "Whenyou sense something is wrong or amiss, just let off the gas. You will avoid much trouble. Your life is designed in such a way that if you will just stop feeding the acceleration, things will slow down enough so thatyou can get a clearer and better perspective."

It has caused me to think of the "accelerators" I use too often in mylife...too quick to judge; jumping to conclusions; assuming the motives, thoughts, and even facial expressions of others; taking a pessimistic view of "I can't...they'll never...it won't work...things will never change..."

So today, my prayer is that the Lord will grant me the wisdom to let off the hurtful, negative accelerators in my brain and give the Holy Spirit even just a moment to minister grace and help in time of need. A moment is more than enough for Him to come.

Selah.

Grace and peace!

Bikes

Elizabeth
Faith and Joy have shed their training wheels--I can't get Faith to stop long enough for a photo!

Anna Mei sits on the back of the bike to ride.

Hmmm...the back of the bike is a popular seat!

If you know me well, brace yourself...the following account is TRUE. I can hardly believe it myself.

This morning at 4:55 AM, I pulled myself out of a comfortable bed in a cool room to go bike riding with my oldest daughter. It has been a desire of Jillian's to go for an early morning ride for some time now. (Can anyone hum "The Things We Do For Love"?)
We pulled on our clothes and were out the door by 5:10. The morning was very still, light, and pleasant. We had ridden about a mile when...blub-dub, blub-dub...I got a flat tire. Thankfully, we were beside the Han River where there is a lovely brick plaze with benches, landscaping, etc. So, I sat while Jillian rode for awhile.

There were lots of folks out exercising--old and young, men and women. Small groups clustered for conversation. The men were joking amongst themselves, with some of the most elderly playfully boxing each other.

Of course, the real challenge was walking the bike home. Lots of traffic, so many stares, shouts of "Hello! What you name? Where you from?"

The best part was spending time talking to Jillian. That was great. We returned home about 6:55.

I could not help but think of how the Lord must smile at us...the things we find so important, so interesting, so unusual, so challenging...He participates with us, encouraging, affirming, strengthening us through it all.

Thank you, Lord, for teachable moments with my children...and as your child!

Grace and peace!

Facing Our Fears

The brave and beautiful Elizabeth!
Making dentures...

in the parking garage below the dentist's office!

Jillian with Dr. Hung

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

That's a verse, a declaration of promise that we have learned and use often in our daily lives here. We began saying it daily as Elizabeth was struggling with Math--not her favorite subject.
Today, Elizabeth and I both had the opportunity to face our fears, rely on the promise of God and run to the roar.

For me, it involved the motorbike. I had a little mishap over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, the girls took me to see the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (yes, we are very limited here on movie offerings). Any way, Sunday nights at Big C are wild--because of the heat, there is always a crowd out on the streets at night. Big C's parking lot is under the shopping center, with a steep ramp the get in and out. As we were leaving, people were crowding, trying to get ahead. There is no such thing as "lining up" here. Any way, a boy on a bicycle was several yards ahead of me. He managed to get up the ramp, then stopped abruptly to look back at his friends. By that time, I was on my way up the ramp. It is impossible to stop on the ramp, so I tried to hug the wall on the left to miss the boy. Unfortunately, I wobbled, into the wall on my left arm. No biggie, really. I didn't tip over. Jillian and Faith were with me, they didn't even touch the wall. I had a few scrapes and bruises, but it shook my confidence. I wasn't sure I wanted to ride up the ramp ever again. But, today I did, without incident. Thank God!

Elizabeth had a bigger hurdle. We visited the dentist for a teeth cleaning. He found the tiniest of holes in Elizabeth's tooth and recommended filling it. We proceeded slowly, and while it was not pleasant, Elizabeth came through like a champion.

About the dentist, he is a very nice man, named Dr. Hung. Linh told him about our work with orphans and he said that because of our work, all of our dental services would be free. In addition, he said he would treat the children at the orphanage and any children from Tien Phouc and Hiep Duc that we bring to him. What a blessing! By the way, everyone's teeth are in good shape with Jillian and Faith getting a report of perfect!

Another interesting thing about the dentist: his office is in a building with its own parking on the ground level. In the basement, near the parked motorbikes, two men sit at a table making dentures.

The Lord is so good. Marissa spent the day working with workmen preparing to paint the kids' rooms at Dai Loc. How exciting! Their living space will soon be so much better than what they have had in the past.

Whatever is before you this day, I pray that you know for certain that you really can do all things through the Christ who will strengthen you at every turn!

Grace and peace!

Happy Birthday, Anna Mei!

Beautiful Birthday Girl!
Party crew!

Joy takes a ride on Daddy.

Faith loved the goggles!

Cake decorating.

Anna Mei just opened Elizabeth's gift.

The cake.

Anna Mei jumps (backwards) into the pool.

Anna Mei jumps off Dad's shoulders.

On Tuesday morning, May 9, 2000, a tiny bundle of energy and love came into our family. Happy Birthday Anna Mei! What a great day--we had a swim party at the home of our friends from New Zealand. They have a lovely pool and the kids had a wonderful time swimming, jumping in and being thrown into the pool. Anna Mei wanted to decorate her cake, so she and Jillian worked together. (Elizabeth was visiting Duc and Linh and the twins went with Daddy on a long motorbike ride.) We celebrate the blessing that Anna Mei is to us and everyone who knows her!
Grace and peace!

Happy Birthday, Anna Mei

Hello, all--

Tonight I put to bed a sleepy 8-year-old, knowing that as the sunlight gradually overtakes the night, Anna Mei will begin the coming year as a 9 year-old. It hardly seems possible.
Tonight, she asked again to hear the story of the day she was born. She never seems to tire of it.

Nine years ago tomorrow morning (May 9), Tony called me from his office to say that by the afternoon, a baby we hoped to call our own would be born at the hospital. I was taking care of Jillian, who wasn't feeling well, at the house. Thirty minutes later, Tony called back to say he was on his way to pick me up and we would head for the hospital--things had moved along more quickly than anticipated. Even then, this little one was in a hurry!

"Aunt" Aurora stayed with one year old Jillian. Tony and I arrived at the hospital just after a 7 lb. 2 oz., 20 1/2 inch bundle of energy and joy entered this world. I carried her from the delivery room to the hospital nursery. I rocked her and sang her special song--"My Help Comes From the Lord" by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. (She loved it, of course.)

It was an exciting day--Tony returned home late in the afternoon to find a fire truck, an ambulance and a small army of emergency personnel at our house--Jillian had become worse, and Aurora had called for help. She was hospitalized at a different hospital from Anna Mei, so I left our sleeping newborn in the loving care of her nurses, and met Tony and Jillian at the ER.

Two days later, the sisters came home from their hospitals.
In the house, Jillian climbed up on the couch, held out her arms and said, "Hold her!" And she did, with her little arms propped up on pillows.

Now, my two "big girls" consider themselves "pre-teens." Without a doubt, they are the "big sisters" of this tribe.

Happy Birthday, Anna Mei. You are every inch your nicknames...

Anna-mazing

Anna Mei-tion

Peanut

We are blessed, indeed.

Grace and peace!

Busy Days

Jillian finishing up her art work. Chau is in the background.

Faith and Kerry get started.

Elizabeth loved the paper mache!

Ready for take-off!

Hello, all--

I didn't realize it had been so long since I had sat down to write something about our daily lives. Here's a quick "catch up"--


This past Sunday was a big day for our family. Along with our entire office and household staff, we performed a sign language interpretation of Helen Baylor's song "Lord, You're Holy." We practiced long and hard to get the signs down for the Sunday morning service of a conference for Vietnamese deaf here in Danang. The service began at 8:30 am at a local tourist location, so 16 of us loaded up on 7 motorbikes at 7:45 for the 35-minute ride. After 4 days of rain, I was more thankful than you can imagine for a sunny day. The song went great--then we were off to the service at the Danang International Fellowship where I had the opportunity to preach (our pastor was preaching at the deaf conference service). A couple folks at the conference took pictures (and even video)--they are sending them to us, but we don't have them yet.


I shared on Paul's prayer of "grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ"--a prayer/wish that he repeats in many of his letters. I will post some thoughts on it separately. What a power-packed statement!

We ate out after church. Normally, I enjoy cooking on Sunday, but we had left the house so early, it just did not happen this week. Oh well...no dishes!!!

Then we came home and prepared for a snooze in the living room while the kids watched a DVD of a movie "Monsters vs. Aliens." Unfortunately, our DVD was in German, with Vietnamese subtitles. The twins liked it any way.

Today we had a wonderful treat. We recently met Kerry, a teacher from Australia who has been teaching English as a volunteer here in Danang. Although her time here is almost finished, she offered to come help at the office and do some art classes with our girls (she teaches art and music at the primary level). So today, we did paper mache in the kitchen! What a mess! What fun! Kerry will return Friday for some finishing touches on the "animals," then next week we will paint them.

I am getting more and more comfortable riding the motorbike (though not in a careless way--every trip brings a "reality check" which prevents relaxing). It never ceases to amaze me to see what people here carry on a motorbike. Today, I saw two men carrying a tree, roots and all--about 10 feet in length. Awhile later, I saw a couple transporting a large mirror- about 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 feet. Scary.


After joining FaceBook three weeks ago, I am enjoying reconnecting with friends. I am also enjoying the many quizzes that are available on FaceBook. So far, I have found out that I am a genius (ha!); if I were a candy, I would be M&M's; if I were one of the 7 dwarfs, I would be Happy; if I were one of the 12 Disciples, I would be John; if I were a book character, I would be the teacher from "Dead Poet's Society"; I use my right and left brain equally; and, I have a Sanguine personality. How's that for self-awareness? Thank you, FaceBook.

I am more aware than ever that there is more to do every day than I can accomplish. I have been practicing a keyboard a little (literally "playing"). I have to get the girls to bed now, then prayerfully work on song selection for this Sunday's church service. Life is full these days. God is good. I am so thankful to be here.

Grace and peace!