Sterling's Friends

These are the ladies that come and clean our house on Saturdays. Our house is big and is all concrete floors, so it needs lots of cleaning. The pollution here is pretty bad, so any time you walk around without shoes your feet end up black (and so do Sterling's knees when he crawls around!) So we really love these ladies and are thankful for them. They love Sterling so much. Every week they come in and take him from us no matter what is going on so that they can play with him and give him kisses. They have been telling us for a month already how much they are going to miss Sterling when we leave. They want us to be sure to come back to visit them so they can see how big Sterling is getting. They call him "Nong Neung" which means, "#1 kid".

Ok, i've been creating new posts and they aren't posting...I can't figure out why. I just wrote this to see if it would post b/c I don't want to go to all the work of adding pictures if it's not going to work...we'll see.

Youth Unlimited Festival

On Sunday afternoon Luke and I took all the kids in the youth group to a music festival in downtown Bangkok. There were lots of Christian Thai bands and the kids had a lot of fun. The festival was located right in the middle of a very busy section of Bangkok where teenagers and young adults hang out. The music attracted quite a crowd. Sterling had fun too, although the music was too loud for him, so Luke and I took turns walking around with him.

Party

On Saturday night we had a party at the church for Jezreel, a daughter of the missionaries. Everyone in the church came and we had a blast! Sterling especially liked getting to ride around in the wagon and getting held by every Thai kid there :) The bottom picture is Sterling with his buddies Mark and Owen. Mark and Owen both turned one this week and Sterling is 8 months...but he's every bit as big (or bigger) than they are!

Cards!

Sterling doesn't quite fill out his Cardinal shirt, but he was supporting them this morning as they played game 5 and won!

Luke and Kacie

I thought this was a good picture of Luke and I. We forgot to take any pictures while we were out on our date for my birthday, so this was in the taxi on the ride home. We really enjoyed having a night out without Sterling...we love him, but it sure is nice to have a break every once in a while! Our teammates babysat him. (and by the way, we are REALLY looking forward to Sterling getting to spend some quality time with his grandparents while Luke and I have little breaks in America...!)

A Long Morning

The other morning Sterling woke up at 4:30- and wouldn't go back to sleep. Luke looked at the clock and actually thought it was 5:30...and we didn't realize for a whole hour that he had read the clock wrong and that Sterling had actually woken up at 4:30 in the morning. So we had actually gotten up with him and changed him and everything before we realized the mistake. These pictures were taken a little later in the morning when Sterling was starting to feel the effects of getting up in the middle of the night. He couldn't even hold up his head!

Eating

Sterling really enjoys eating...and he will open his mouth as wide as it can get so that you will get that food in there as fast as possible! We don't have a highchair so he eats in his stroller. It works! He has a seat waiting on him in America.

Kacie's 25th Birthday!!!

I know it's not Kacie's birthday yet, but I really wanted to post this for everyone to see. Sterling and I made Kacie a cake. So, here's a picture of us together and one of the cake. It's a yellow cake with white chocolate chips on top, and a surprise inside! We really wanted to make this birthday special for Kacie. She really wishes so many of you could be here to celebrate with her.
(If you don't know, Kacie's birthday is Sunday the 22nd) We'll let you know how the cake tastes.

Taking on the Stairs

When we play downstairs (in the morning before it gets too hot to play down there because we only have air con upstairs) the first thing Sterling wants to do is climb up the stairs. Luckily he can't get too far YET, but of course, it's only a matter of time before he can.

Teeth and Haircuts

Sterling is getting his two top teeth in (which have created some very fussy days for us all). You can barely see them in the bottom picture poking through. The top picture is after he fell and busted his lip for the first time. What was unfortunate was that he fell again that evening and busted it again...poor little guy. He's going to have to get used to having those teeth up there! Oh yeah, and you probably can't tell, but we gave him a little haircut. We trimmed it up around his ears and in the front- he looks very grown up to us now :)

Standing and Climbing

Here is Sterling just being himself these days- climbing all over everything. Most of the time he gets stranded standing up and can't sit back down without falling. He's becoming a little daredevil and climbs up on almost anything.

We took these pictures last night when Sterling was taking his bubble bath. He was just giggling and laughing and thought it was great fun. You can tell he already has a little farmers tan from the Thailand sun. I think his eyelashes look so pretty in this first picture...definitely a trait from his dad, not his mom.

More News On Rachel

Here is an email from the Parsons giving some new information about Rachel. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. They are such dear friends and teammates to us:

Dear Friends and Family,
On Wednesday afternoon the 11th of October Rachel had an MRI test done to determine conclusively if there was anything amiss with her brain. Unfortunately, the neurologist found a small area of her brain that was abnormal. She has been diagnosed with Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) and following the doctor's recommendation has immediately began taking anti-seizure medicine. It is difficult to explain exactly what FCD is but here are the simple terms the doctor used to describe it for us: Focal Cortical Dysplasia describes a situation in someone's brain in which a certain part of the brain contains a mass of cells that are thicker than normal brain cells. This condition is a known cause of seizures in people of all ages. It is non-hereditary and occurs "in utero"--so Rachel's brain has always been like this. The condition normally seems to first manifest itself in children, although it is not abnormal for someone with this condition to have their first seizure as an adult. Our doctor here (at a very fine hospital) recommended Rachel take anti-seizure medication and as long as she is seizure free (and not allergic) she will continue to take this medication for life. Our family is processing all of this news and trying to make decisions about whether to return from Thailand sooner (as opposed to in early December) as well as the logistics of keeping someone with Rachel at all times while we see if the medication is working. Please pray for our family during this time, our little ones can sense the big things going on, and we want them to feel peaceful and secure. We feel very grateful for God's presence and grace in this season. We are grateful for the circumstances surrounding the seizure, as well as the great medical care Rachel is receiving here. Also, we are so thankful for the prayers that so many people have offered to God for our family. We can sense His presence and care and feel peace about His plans for our future. Thank you so much for your concern and prayers, we will keep you updated on our plans and Rachel health.

Sincerely,
Nick and Rachel Parsons

Wa Pi Patuum- The Village Mission Trip

The top picture is Sterling hanging out with all the guys. He thought he was big stuff. Before we left we gave two soccer balls to the village kids as gifts. The other picture is two boys from our church that came- Rak and Ben. They were cute little guys and really loved to play with Sterling.

That evening we invited all the kids and their parents back for dinner. We had a great time hanging out and the adults that came with us from church were able to give their testimonies.

While we were at the village, the youth group got to put on a skit of the prodigal son; Sterling wanted to be a part of it too...although we're not really sure what kind of hat this is! They also told the kids the story of creation and the kids all listened so closely. It was so neat to watch them hearing the Gospel story for the first time. After the skit and teaching, they went out to play games. The losers had to put baby powder all over their faces.

There is flooding going on everywhere in Thailand right now- it's the worst it's been in 25 years from what we've heard. The people in the village were telling us that if the flood stays for a day or two longer, their entire rice crop will be ruined. The pictures above are the kids, Luke and Sterling in the rice field. As you can tell, the water is high and goes on forever- it seems like they will lose the crop. While we were driving home the roads were flooding and sandbagged because it just continues to rain day after day. The only benefit is that they all put fishing nets out and can catch fish to eat.

Luke just had to take some pictures of the cows. They are pretty different from what we see in Indiana and Iowa...any ideas about the kind of cow these are?? The top picture is one of the men that keeps these cows. How many farmers do you know that wear flip flops out to check the cows? :)

This is the room we stayed in for the first night, the night Sterling was up crying. The second picture is a house in the village to give you an idea of what the houses looked like.

As soon as we arrived the kids found the cows and started feeding them- Sterling enjoyed it too! The top picture is Am and Ploy, girls in our youth group. The village we went to is Am's grandparent's village.

A Summary of our Trip

Well, we made it back safe and sound this evening around 6 pm. I'm too tired tonight to get all the pictures on, but I promise to do it tomorrow. They are some great pictures and we are excited to let you all see a totally different part of Thailand. We live in Bangkok and it is similar to any major city in America-- it's got a subway and a skytrain, traffic jams and malls everywhere. The place we went to had outhouses and cows in the middle of the road- it was quite a contrast! We had a great trip overall, but it took 8 hours to get there, which was much longer than we thought. Sterling did well on the car rides, although he was definitely tired of his seat by the end of the trip. While we were there we were able to meet lots of people in the small village where we stayed. They all loved Sterling and wanted to touch him. It is very rare for them to see white people, especially white babies. Sterling did pretty good with the heat and conditions (we stayed in a barn-like house) but he did wake up at 1 am the first night and he cried for about 2 hours. He actually woke up the entire village because no one has good walls, air conditioners, or anything to keep out the noise. We felt terrible, so we went on a drive to get him back to sleep around 3 am. We spent the rest of the night sleeping in the van because we didn't want to take the chance of waking everyone up again. The next night we stayed in a "hotel" about 20 miles away. It was nothing like we would have in America, that's for certain, but Sterling slept much better.
We've never been happier to see our neighborhood or our house than tonight. We feel like we live in paradise after having spent those 2 days in the village...It definitely teaches you that life can be much simpler, much slower and more relaxed. We learned that we can survive on much less than what we think we "have" to have. And we re-learned the lesson that there are so many people out there that God created that are so different than we are- that live so differently, that believe so differently, that eat so differently... And they are just as valuable and lovely in His eyes.

Mission Trip

We wanted to let everyone know that we are going to be going on a 3 day mission trip to a province north of Bangkok, so we won't be posting anything until we return. Pray for the kids as we minister to the people of Mahasarakam. We will post pictures when we get back on Wednesday. And while you're at it, you might pray for Sterling to be well behaved while we're on this trip- we all know what a little trouble maker he can be!

Update on Rachel.

Thank you all so much for your prayers on behalf of Rachel and her family. Rachel was allowed to come home this morning. The doctor said the seizure was most likely due to fatigue and stress. She will go back to see the doctor in a month for a check up. Thank you for your prayers and responses; we all greatly appreciate them.

Prayer Request

We would like for you all to be in prayer for our teammates, the Parsons. They have been sick for the last two weeks with colds and then the flu (unfortunately, we passed the flu on to them.) Today Rachel had some sort of seizure and then passed out and was rushed to the hospital. She's been throwing up all day and they don't know why all of this is happening. The CAT scan came back fine, so now they will meet with a neurologist and wait for blood test results. We are with their two kids. It has been a really rough time around here with everyone being so sick, so pray that we could all get healed quickly and completely, especially Rachel.

The time-out chair

The other day Sterling did something he wasn't supposed to do-- I can't even remember what it was now, probably something like pulling on the electrical cords. So anyways, he just kept doing it so Luke decided to put him in this chair and tell him he was "in trouble". I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the little criminal enjoying his first "time out". For all you disciplinarians out there, don't worry, I won't always make a joke when he gets in trouble...it was just too cute to pass up this time though.