Dad We Need You

My children have an obsession with Angry Birds. So, yesterday while waiting for early dismissal for our parent teacher conferences I gave my students angry birds valentines for them to color and give to whoever they wished. I was playing a Proverbs for the Family CD which has different verses from Proverbs and then a song about that proverb. One caught my attention.

“Dad we need you, we need your care, we need you there to always help us through. To show us the way so we’ll all meet in heaven one great day. Dad we just need you. A precious thing a kid can have is a dad who is wise and true. A dad who is kind and fair and always there for you. He listens when you talk, he hears the words you didn’t say, he patches the cuts and lifts you up he is there in every way. We need your strength to keep us safe, we need your hugs and touches too, we always need your wise advice to show us what to do.”

This song struck me because I looked at my five precious 4^th grade students and I realized four of them don’t live with their dad. Then I counted out of my nine 3^rd graders four of them don’t live with their birth fathers and one’s dad isn’t always home. So out of fourteen kids nine of them don’t have solid father figures daily invested in their lives. Some of those kids do have loving dads, they just had to be sent away to go to school and therefore can’t really speak into their children’s lives since they don’t see them often. My heart breaks for these children who have to grow up without a godly father to teach them how to be strong, hard-working, and honest. They are steeped in a culture that says that men drink, smoke, use women, and are lazy. They are immersed in a culture that says being an effeminate man or even becoming a woman is more valuable than being a man.

I looked at my girls and thought about how important it is for them to have a loving dad who protects them, tells them they are beautiful, and that they have great worth. Instead it is more normal for them to have dads who force them to work, who put them in danger, who neglect them.

Later in the afternoon, during the parent teacher conferences I was talking with the dad of one of our students. This is a father who I don't know well, but who I respect for the little I do know about him. I know that he teaches his son right from wrong, he teaches him honesty and respect, and I know that his son respects him. After several minutes of talking we got into some interesting topics. He told me how he was so not happy that his son's only option was to go to a government school and that at that school his son was forced to worship Buddha. (Every government school, as far as I know, has a time of meditation in the morning). He prayed that the Lord would bring a Christian school that his son could learn about God and that he wouldn't be required to serve another god. He views our school as a direct answer to his prayers, several other parents I talked to said that as well.

Then he told me how he came to know the Lord. He said that his life consisted of drinking and smoking everyday along with other not so wholesome activities. His friend invited him to church and the pastor told them that if they wanted to change their lives they needed to pray and ask the Lord to help. So this father prayed asking the Lord to change him, that was on a Sunday. On Monday he didn't want to drink or smoke or live the way he had. His friends all asked him, "What happened? What did you do?" And he told them, "I didn't do anything, I couldn't do it on my own. The Lord changed me." Since that day he has been walking with the Lord and he desires to bring his children up in the truth. His son's Thai name means Peace. Because he has come to know the peace of God.

In watching my children I've seen the obvious gap an absent father leaves and the pain that causes. I've seen good qualities instilled in my children from a godly father. I would never wish for the former for anyone. I'm thankful that the Lord is a Heavenly Father, and I'm thankful that He redeems lives in spite of circumstances. Because of this I know there is hope for each and every student no matter their backgrounds.

This is one of my biggest prayer points for my boys, that they will grow up to be godly men, faithful husbands, and loving dads. I think that is one of the biggest keys to breaking the cycles of poverty and oppression.

What Love Sees

So, hands down one of the sweetest moments happened today at school. Behind our school in a small "shed" lives a family. Last Christmastime when the pink baby blankets started appearing on the clothesline we thought it must be a girl. Shortly after I found out that the wife had given birth to a little boy. He's over a year old now and through the past months we've interacted with him some, but since he has become mobile he now toddles over to our PE class, assembly or recess. At least once a day he's in our arms or we are making faces at him or chasing after him. He is one of the cutest babies. Now, if we put our arms out he'll toddle over to us and put his arms up.

Today, some of us English teachers were sitting at a table outside eating lunch. My roommate went to the noodle shop (where his mom works) and came back with him and a butter/milk sandwich. I was holding him and one of my 3rd grade boys came over and sat down with me. I watched as he gently talked to the baby, rubbed his back, jabbered at him, and had this look and manner that I have never seen on him before. He tried to get the baby to go to him, but he came to me instead and my student said, "He likes Miss Emily." I thought my student would lose interest quickly and go running back to his paper airplanes, but he didn't. He sat next to me and loved on our sweet little friend. After a few minutes the baby reached over and gave my student a big hug. And my sweet little boy gave him a big hug back. My student picked up the baby, who is not too much smaller than him and held him in his arms. He played with him and let him wrinkle up his paper airplane. When the bell rang and it was time for our students to line up my boy hugged the baby and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek and then ran to line up.

I can't explain to you how precious this was. Precious because of a broken little boy who hasn't had the love of a mommy or daddy. A boy who struggles everyday to not give up, to throw his hands up and say he can't. I am amazed by the love I saw shining in his eyes and by his gentle manner which contrasts deeply with his often harsh attitude. In those minutes I saw hope and I saw the goodness of the Lord.



"Tell me your story, show me your wounds, and I'll show you what love sees when love looks at you. Hand me the pieces broken and bruised, and I'll show you what love sees when love sees you. I see what I made in your mother's womb. I see the day I fell in love with you. I see your tomorrows, nothing left to chance. I see My Father's fingerprints. I see your story, I see My name. Written on every beautiful page. You see the struggle, you see the shame. I see the reason I came. I came for your story, I came for your wounds. To show you what Love sees when I see you. When I see you."
~Mac Powell "When Love Sees You"

I know that Jesus was watching us: dirty baby boy who is growing up in a shed, broken little boy who isn't quite sure that he is loved, and weak teacher whose inadequacies glare... He saw us there around that table and He loved us the way He has since before we were born. We bear His fingerprints and I saw them today in the love in an eight year old's eyes.

Soil...Who Knew

(after school gardening club...boys love that dirt)


Science class with 4th grade on Tuesday was filled with laughter. Mostly because we were talking about worms (because we just started talking about soil) and one of my girl says, "You know you can make medicine from worms." I'm thinking, really? Isn't that interesting. Then we discuss how her parents make medicine from worms, but city worms are no good because they are dirty, they have to be worms from a particular place. Then my other little mountain boy chimes in with a word in Karen that only one of my kids understands. They tried to work out what word he was thinking of (he couldn't remember it in Thai). Eventually we decide that he is talking about snails. His family makes medicine out of snails. I told them if I got sick I would ask them to make me medicine. They laughed and said, "Oh, we don't know how to make it, we just watch our parents." Apparently making the medicine involves squeezing the creatures in question. I'm not sure though because I think this was the point I directed the conversation back to the actual lesson. During that Science lesson I also learned the best way to catch termites for eating. I asked each of my students if they had ever eaten termites. Only one said that they hadn't. Not gonna lie I was a little grossed out. But mostly it was so funny. Anyone walking by would've thought we were crazy.


My favorite part though was when I asked the students what things we might not have if we didn't have soil. They answered, "houses, food, clothes, etc." But then one boy, the one who thinks he isn't as smart or as good as everyone else answered, "Well, if we didn't have dirt then we wouldn't be here because God made us out of dirt." I was amazed, I hadn't ever thought of that application. Then another student responded, "God did make us out of dirt, but He can do anything so He could have made us out of water if He wanted to. Then we'd all live in the sea!" They never do cease to amaze me.

Student Stories

Please take 5 minutes and watch this new video from the School of Promise. It highlights the stories of three of our students and some ways the Lord is working in their lives through the School of Promise.



I'm so thankful to be back after a great trip to the States. I'm blessed to be a part of these kids lives and thank God for how He is working in all of us. I'm glad to be home where we find a gecko in our sugar bottle, we drive down the road all breathing through one jacket to filter the terrible fumes, and where we shut my roommate's fiance in the bathroom with a flip-flop so he could kill a cockroach. Home sweet home. Seriously though, I am so happy to be back. I missed my kiddos, roommates, friends, and crazy life.

Two Worlds

December is here and Christmas is fast approaching. I've traded my skirts and flip-flops for jeans and scarves. I can understand stranger's conversations (don't worry I try not to eavesdrop). There is Christmas music, decorations, and snow. It seems rather surreal. I have to remind myself to stay on the right side of the road. I'm still surprised when people tell me Merry Christmas! I think the grocery store is like an amusement park with all sorts of strange new things to discover, many of which make me laugh out loud. I'm amazed that there is a kitchen gadget for absolutely everything. I'm confused by the lack of fish sauce and rice. I'm enjoying the potatoes and biscuits and of course green chile on just about everything. I'm thankful for the drive-throughs here, but miss the fact that over there they pump the gas at the station. It's so cold I wish they would do that here.

I miss the little voices who chatter away in Thai and the hugs they give. I miss their smiles and quirks. Yet, I am so thankful for the sweet friends on this side of the world, who don't stop loving even though we're far apart. I'm thankful for the time with them and their wise counsel.

These are two very different cultures, styles, places: the Asian and American. Both with their good and bad and both with people I love. I'm thankful for the time I have in both worlds.

Things I Loved About This Week

(Two of our van kids. It takes us about an hour to get to the last kid's home and more often than not there are some sleepy kids.)


Singing with Viirawit in the school van on the way to and from school in the mornings and afternoons. Talking with him about Bible stories, hearing him tell about Abel sacrificing reindeer (I think he just got confused about the English word) ;). Having him tell me he was on blue.


Driving up to Naamfone's house and seeing her standing out on the road waving at me. Having her hugs and her slipping her tiny hand in mine as we go to the bakery store. Working through metric conversion problems in the store just because we could. The way my heart breaks a little when she tells me not to go visit the States, that I'm her big sister and I need to stay.


Visiting our newest first grader in the hospital. I don't like that he was sick, and I don't really like hospitals but I enjoyed the time with him. Reading, coloring, and practicing English. Remembering how when we dropped him off with an older man in a wheelchair last week he was so enthusiastic about waving to us while pushing the wheelchair that he ran the chair into a pole.


Sitting in our little clinic room and praying with my smallest 3rd grader who was feeling sick this week. I asked him if I could pray and he said yes, so I did and when I opened my eyes his were still closed with his little hands folded.


Watching our 4th, 5th, and 6th graders all brushing their teeth together at the outside sink at our school where we wash our hands. The dentist from the local hospital came and said that our children have very poor teeth and so we now require them to brush their teeth after lunch at school. So funny to watch. The older girls squat hiding in the grass and the boys who try to be so tough and manly just can't keep up that image with the toothpaste around their mouth.


When my third graders asked me, "Why don't your parents just come here if you want to see them?"


The chaos that is the school van on the ride home in the afternoons. When there are two girls and one boy shouting math facts, at least three different conversations being passed from the front to the back, me on the phone speaking Thai trying to figure out if we should pull over and pick up Naamfone's brother at school. When I am in the middle of trying to tell Amy something and inserting the word favorite into the sentence just because I saw it on a sticker on her hand and subconsciously said it, making no sense. My boss calling the teacher in the seat next to him on the phone because he was thinking about dropping her off when he actually meant to call his wife. Deciding that pretty much our whole team is crazy.


Hearing my children speak English and wondering "Where in the world did they learn that?" And then realizing, they sound just like me.


Seeing a little boy, who was in our summer school, on the street where we drop off one of our students. Waving to him and having him wave back enthusiastically with a big smile. Please pray that he might come to our school next year.


In the city on the last night of Loy Krathong (a huge Thai holiday) where old monks were grinning from ear to ear and repeatedly almost catching people, trees, and a temple on fire with lanterns with fireworks attached. I actually took off running from him once, and another time collided with a stranger because I was trying to escape from another lantern. We said that we probably could predict which of our boys will be the ones almost catching people on fire when they are 70 years old.


When the water in our house came back on after being out for two days. (I take that back, it's still not really working.)


When one of my students did something against the rules and another of my students told him, "Bad choice." In English.


Teaching our cook/janitor English after school. She is such a sweet and generous woman and I enjoy spending time with her.


Hanging out with our Thai boss who is super funny and always selfless and serving.


Driving the previously mentioned school van because our boss had to take care of his kids while his wife went to Laos. Happening upon Naamfone and her brother on the way to school, stopping on the small street, waiting for Viirawit to freak out and rescue her from a spider, and then heading off to school with an extra passenger. Although it is infinitely more fun being in the back with them.


Being a "coach" during our basketball club after school, trying to remember what I learned about the sport when I was 9. Wondering how my little group of 1st and 2nd graders was going to play knock out because they rarely make a basket even though the one they use that is only about four feet tall.


The fact that we didn't get in a car accident! And our car was only in the shop once this week.


My student who usually gets low scores got the highest grade on our Science quiz this week. It seems to come so naturally to the other kids so I was glad he got a chance to have the best grade. He wasn't just guessing the answers either, who knew refraction of light was something he was going to understand quickly.


Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our week. :)

Basketball club...
Above: I'm trying to get one of the little girls to not put her head on top of the ball before she tries to pass it.
Below: My third graders playing with Miss Amy

Signs...So Funny

Just for fun...

Please check out the following post on my roommate's blog. It is a hilarious collection of signs that we've seen around Thailand.

http://arambikur.blogspot.com/2011/10/signs.html

Feel free to check out her other posts as well. :)