Headbutting

At Sterling's age it seems like he is changing so quickly and doing new things every day. A couple of days ago we caught his newest trick on camera- headbutting. He is doing it to Luke in this picture, but he generally does it to anything. He also likes to do push ups with his dad. Anytime Luke gets up on his hands and feet to do push ups Sterling gets up too and just smiles like he's so proud of himself for copying his dad. And for those of you who are keeping up with his every move, he just started crawling on his hands and knees (instead of the army crawl) last night (Thursday). Today he is moving so fast and getting into everything!

Visa Trip

We took our visa trip to Singapore this time. We just went for one night, so it was a quick trip. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was still fun and as always, Singapore was beautiful. It is such a clean and spacious city/country and we enjoy it so much in contrast to busy and polluted Bangkok.

Books

I got tagged by Kelsey at www.mkmfam.blogspot.com Here are my answers to some book questions:

Book that changed your life: I'm going to have to agree with Kelsey on this one, the Bible has definitely been the most life-changing and the one that continues to be. Others that have challenged me and changed the way I think about things would be Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin McManus, Desiring God by John Piper, Prophetc Untimeliness by Os Guiness and all of Gary Thomas' books (Sacred Pathways, Sacred Marriage, Sacred Influence and Sacred Parenting).

One book that you have read more than once: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Favorite Book Ever: That's an impossible question. But I really liked The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

One book that made you laugh: Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. I'm sure there are a lot funnier books, but that's the last book I read that I laughed out loud at.

One book that you wish you had written: I don't have the talent to write a book. BUT, if I could, I guess I would want to write something fiction, like The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan.

One book that I wish had never been written: Christine by Stephen King. I read it when I was younger and it scared me to death.

One book that you are currently reading: The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen

One book that you have meant to read: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

The Bangkok Call

This is at the Bangkok Call, the 2 day youth event for all of Thailand. They were hoping for thousands of kids to come, but we're pretty sure they didn't reach their goal. Either way it was an awesome time. On Saturday there was 12 hours of non-stop worship bands and on Sunday there was evagelistic preaching and more music. Our kids had a blast. Sterling and I went for most of the day on Saturday and we were suprised to find that he really enjoyed the music and the lights. Lukewas so proud to wear a "staff" tag for about an hour because he helped lead a prayer group.

Playing

Here are just some cute pictures we took the other day of Sterling playing with his toys. He is especially starting to like balls. He likes that it rolls away and he can finally chase after it!

One of Sterling's Favorite Passtimes

One thing Sterling likes to do is look at books. So we take turns reading his favorites: Dinosaur Roar, God Loves You Just the Way You Are, and First Words.

Ruminations on Our Internship

Well, Luke and I have been thinking a lot lately about our time here in Thailand and what it has meant to us. Here are some of the things we were able to think through while we were away on our vacation. Here is what we have learned:

1. What it means to go through culture shock and how to deal with it. There are so many things you have to go through when you move to a new country. There are a myriad of cultural differences that you must adjust to and incorporate into your lifestyle, such as different weather, food, transportation, etc. We made mistakes at times, but it was so valuable to have the missionaries here to learn from. We’re so thankful that we had these two years to learn cultural sensitivity, to learn how to contextualize and embrace the differences in the various countries around the world.
2. How to set up a home and acquire essential items. We wouldn’t have thought of it before we got here, but setting up a home in a foreign country is very difficult! Simple things like knowing how to rent a home, how to communicate about a contract, how to buy a cell phone and what numbers to dial…it’s all new and different! We felt like the missionaries came along beside us to guide us in these valuable lessons so that we will be able to do it on our own in the future.
3. How to work on a team. Before we came to Thailand we had never worked on a team before because we had just graduated from college. These two years have taught us so much about how to live, work and play with teammates, who become as close as family. We learned much from the missionaries in this area too, as they spent time teaching us about how to deal with team conflict and resolution, as well as having times of accountability and mentoring.
4. The need for spiritual discipline. This team of missionaries that we came to work under provided a context of prayer, fasting and meditation on God’s word like we’ve never known before. They have learned that without these key elements, missions cannot succeed. They have engrained this into our lives as well over these two years and we are thankful that we will take this into the next stage of our lives.
5. The value of strategic planning. The missionaries have been in Thailand for over 14 years and have tried many different ways to evangelize and reach the Thai people. The downside of this is that they feel they never truly nailed down the vision of what they wanted to accomplish, so that in the end, they’ve tried a lot of things instead of strategizing and focusing all of their heart and strength into that vision. This has taught us that we must pray with all our might as well as be strategic in our plans and goals.
6. Our capability of learning a second language. As Americans, we take one foreign language in school and most of us feel somewhat inept when we are finished. This can be discouraging. But after submerging ourselves in the Thai language for two years as well as studying, we’ve found that we really can learn a second language!
7. The importance of not creating your own “subculture”. As a coping strategy, we found ourselves wanting to retreat out of Thai life and only be with the other Americans we knew in our neighborhood, only going to American style restaurants, etc. We learned that those kind of actions cannot produce meaningful evangelism. We’ve learned that it is difficult to build true and deep relationships with the nationals, but we’ve come to realize how important it is.
8. How to be a family away from our family. When we left America two years ago we weren’t sure how we would handle being so far from home. We have learned that God gives us grace to do this and he also provides good gifts to keep us connected with them. We were able to find good phone services, emailing, webcams, and even visits from parents, not to mention the times He allowed us to come home.

As you can see, we feel that our time spent in Thailand has been time well spent. Not only did we learn all of these things, we have also had a lot of fun. It has been amazing to get to know the Thai people and having new friends, setting up the youth center, being involved in the church and the kids lives’, exploring a new country and trying new foods. We wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The Scooter

Mitch and Luke rented a scooter for a day while we were in Huahin, and we all had fun driving it. Linda and I only drove it around the parking lot, but the guys took it into town. It was only $4.00 to rent it for 24 hours!

Us and the Trusty's

During our vacation we got to meet up with our friends the Trusty Family. Sterling thought Havelah and Cosette were so much fun. They all had a blast playing together, and us adults had a lot of fun catching up and being mutually encouraged. We enjoyed eating together, swimming, and they even got to spend the night at our house for one night!

Family Vacation to Huahin!
We left last Saturday afternoon to head to Huahin, Thailand for a little family vacation. We were able to stay at a hotel that was nice but very reasonably priced (cheaper by far than anywhere in America!!) and we had such a great time. Sterling enjoyed everything and as you can tell from the top picture, he was ready to hit the beach!

At the beach. The beach was nice at Huahin. It was really soft and Sterling liked to feel it with his toes and hands. We went on a walk one evening and there was a really pretty sunset on the beach.

At the pool- As we all already know, Sterling loves the pool. He had lots of fun swimming and playing and even getting dunked under water by his dad!

Sterling riding on the "Tuk Tuk"; a motorcycle with three wheels and a passenger area. He thought it was a lot of fun to have the wind in face.

Luke and Sterling enjoying a morning at Starbucks. Actually Sterling was really ready for his coffee. Just kidding.

Anyone a U2 fan??

Yes, it's true, we have our very own little Bono crawling around the house! We think Sterling looks just like him in his very cool shades. He got these as a present from our friends Jina and Travis.

Sterling in motion

Sterling has been trying so hard to crawl and his latest thing is to get in a push up position and just rock back and forth. It looks pretty funny with his little rear end up in the air :)

Fun at the Youth Center

I took these pictures last week when Sterling stayed and played all day at the youth center. As you can tell, by the late afternoon, he was totally out! The kids love to play with him though and we're hoping he might even pick up a little Thai :)

Stopping to smell the roses...or whatever kind of flower these are

Yesterday we went on a walk in our neighborhood. It started to rain, so we had to go inside, but I captured these moments before it poured.

Being Sterling

Sterling has been so cute lately. He's really starting to move around and get places. This top picture was taken in his room. He was playing in his bed and just being sweet. He chews on anything he can get his mouth on because he's cutting teeth. The second picture shows what he's been doing all the time since he got his first tooth- sucking on his bottom lip. I think he likes how it feels on his tooth. The bottom picture is him doing his army crawl- although he can only go backwards and in a circle (which can get really frustrating for a little guy who wants to go forward to get a toy!) Our floors are all concrete, so it's kind of slippery and he can't get much traction (not to mention that if he falls, it will definitely leave a mark!)

Water Park at the Mall Bangkae

We took the youth group to the water park yesterday. It is on top of the mall that is close to our neighborhood. It was a lot of fun and as you can tell, we all had to wear swimming caps! It was pretty hilarious, but I guess it's a rule. Sterling looked esp. funny in his bright pink one that he borrowed from one of the missionary's daughters. The top picture is a kid that has started to come to church named Dun. They all seem to really like Sterling.

Church

These are pictures that we took at church this morning. The youth led worship again this morning and did a great job. They continue to improve all the time because they are practicing so much. Sterling has started to go to class during church now, so these are pictures of him with his friends in Sunday school. He loved feeling like a big kid in the little chair. Even after the rest of the kids got down to play Sterling stayed in his chair playing!

The New and Improved Youth Center

These pictures were taken Sunday afternoon at the youth center. On Sundays we study through Proverbs with the kids and then they have the rest of the afternoon to hang out, do homework, play soccer, whatever they feel like. A team from Arizona came and helped us re-do the youth center and it looks great now! We have a soccer corner with a foosball table, a loft, cool couches, and soccer ball beanbags. The kids love it!

The Little Farmer

Luke is forever trying to get Sterling to look like a little farmer, so the other day he had him try on the Birt Farms hat. Luke thinks that before too long it will fit him...we'll see :) I think the bottom half of his face looks like his cousin Zion, does anyone else agree?

Siam Ocean World

These pictures were taken at Siam Ocean World, the largest aquarium in the Southern hemisphere. We had a lot of fun looking at all the different sea life. Sterling liked it a lot more than we thought he would- he just stared at all the different fish and seemed to enjoy it. Kacie was the least thrilled out of the three of us! We went with Nick and Rachel, so the top picture is all three of the kids looking at the fish together...well, Colette is looking at the fish, the boys are more interested in one another!

3 Months Apart...

These pictures are almost 3 months apart from each other. Hopefully you can see how much Sterling has grown from these pictures. He is really filling out clothes that are supposed to be fitting him right now, and some that are supposed to be too big. This is one of our favorite outfits. We think he looks like a little basketball player.