Dear diary ... 

First time writing here since we left Thailand for our visit to America. It's taken a bit to get my legs under me as I ended up sick (but maybe not with a virus...it more has seemed like my body exhaled and then broke down). But this morning I'm feeling pretty good so I'm going to write while I can!

The Sunday we left home, the driver of the van we rented to take us to the airport (because it's a very taxing drive for Robbie, Hannah, or Abi to make the 6 hour, overnight drive to get us there and then turn around and return home) arrived 8 hours early and asked if he could hang out in his van on our property until it was time to leave. We told him he was welcome. So he did, but he kept the van running the whole time.

Fast forward 8 hours and we had prayer, said a tearful goodbye, and got in the van to begin our journey. Things started out smoothly and I decided to sleep. But about an hour or so into the trip I heard the driver yell, "Naam too-um" which means flood. One thing I forgot to mention is the serious flooding much of Bangkok (where the airport is) had been experiencing. While Bangkok is what had been at the forefront in the news, it wasn't only Bangkok that was struggling. After hearing him yell that out, I opened my eyes, sat up, and looked out my window. Sure enough, we were in water we had no business being in unless the van was also a boat, which it wasn't. We made it out the other side but it was obvious the driver was a bit nervous. Not too long later, he pulled into a 7-11 (without gas pumps). He opened the door for us and told us to get out for a bathroom break and then he disappeared. Unfortunately, someone had previously thrown up on the ground right where he had parked and when we tried stepping out of the van, it was very difficult to miss stepping in it. We went to the bathrooms and then returned to the van but he popped back up and said he'd be back in 10 minutes. We saw him drive away on some random person's motorbike but we had no idea why and suddenly we weren't so sure what we'd gotten ourselves into.

True to his word he showed back up. He had a water bottle filled with diesel which he put into the tank. Then he went to start the van without success. Okay, pieces were starting to come together. He'd let the van run for so many hours that he'd run it out of fuel shortly into our trip. He started throwing everything off the bench behind the front seats and then moved the seat back to access the engine. We could hear a pumping sound which seems like he was priming. He intermittently did this and then tried starting the van several more times to no avail. He grabbed two bigger water bottles from the floor of his van and told us he'll be back. He went over and said something to a young girl sitting nearby with her motorbike and suddenly he hopped on and she got on behind him, never really even pausing the scrolling on her phone she'd been doing. Keep in mind, these are all strangers to this man but their intractions look as though they're old and trusted friends. My western mindset was blown. Also, we were beginning to wonder if we'd make it to the airport. I wasn't convinced he hadn't taken water into the intake while going through that flooded area. I know nothing about vehicles, though, so I comforted myself with that.

Ten or 15 minutes later, he returned. He parked the borrowed motorbike and nodded at the young owner and then ran over with the two water bottles and at this point he was looking a little wild-eyed and apologetic. As he was trying to make eye contact with us to convey that he was sorry, he forgot about the vomit on the ground by the van and slipped in it and nearly fell right onto it. The poor man then went to the far side of the van and gagged a little and tried to clean off his shoes. Then he came back and put the diesel in and got back to work priming. Several more attempts were made to start the van without success.

As all of this was happening, I was in the van with the boys and we were observing but also praying. Levi said maybe this needed to happen to give God an invitation to work in the man's life and so we focused our prayers on the man instead of our flight. We'd shared with a few people what was happening and asked them to pray and Robbie had actually gotten in the truck at home and started to head in our direction, just in case the van never got started. But after about an hour, the engine suddenly roared to life and the man about died of joy. We prayed and thanked God and let Robbie know he could go home and back to bed.

Four 7-11 stops later, for our dear driver to eat and drink, and we made it to the airport ahead of schedule. God is very kind!

We had no problems at the airport other than the fact that the airline, for a second year in a row, didn't get our request for vegan meals. Never mind. Everything else we smooth and easy and we were grateful to be getting on the way. We arrived in Vancouver 13 1/2 hours later and by that point I was definitely feeling a little more worse for the wear than I usually do on these flights. We had to go through passport control and then take the ticket the machine issued us to the attendant. She asked me how long we'd be there for to which I responded, "Oh, we're not really here." She looked at me quizzically, paused for a moment while looking me straight in the eyes, and then nodded and handed our ticket back and waved us through. I never even realized what I'd said that had puzzled her. But after we walked away, the boys started laughing and told me. They all knew I just meant we weren't leaving the airport, just transiting, but she clearly didn't immediately understand that. It likely sounded to her like I was telling her she wasn't really seeing us at all. 😂

They didn't offer any food at all on the second flight and so by the time we landed in Toronto roughly 20 hours after the first take-off, we'd barely eaten. Not a problem for an adult, but three young boys of mine were feeling it, although they kept telling me they were fine. I started looking for healthy food options in the airport. I'd see small bags of nuts or dried fruit and the price tag was enormous. We saw a burger place with an option for a meatless burger but they were priced outrageously and I couldn't convince myself that was healthy food anyway. Finally, we found a smoothie bar that served bowls with "superfood" add-ons. The price was outrageous but I decided God could bless the output of the required money since it could actually provide nourishment instead of just calories. The boys were so delighted to have something substantial to eat after so many hours. We boarded our final flight soon after and landed in Charlotte around 9pm Monday. Alex picked us up and took us the the condo of Cheryl's twin sister, Cherie, where Micah and Nik met us. Being allowed to use this condo has been such a blessing! We visited until just after midnight before they headed back to their house (not far from the condo) and we went to bed.

The past few days have been so nice getting to just be with the boys. All six of my biological sons in one place, enjoying spending time together, has been a gift to watch. Getting to cook for my boys has also been a treat! I made a pot of bean and rice and potato soup and served it with Ezekial bread last night and they acted like it was the best thing they'd ever eaten. 😂 I'm so grateful for the soft-hearted kids I have!

As I wrote at the beginning, I've been struggling with feeling pretty awful, though I don't think I'm "sick". And my lower back and hips have been coiled up like springs and it's been painful to the point that I have to pace because sitting hurts too much. Last night, Micah, who majored in kinesiology, walked me through some stretches and hip openers and the relief I experienced was almost immediate. I've had to repeat the stretches because the pain returns but I'm thankful for some new ways to stretch that I hadn't know before. This morning I'm still feeling much better than the past few days!

Levi, Quinn, and Zach are starting back at their school today. Because it's an online curriculum, the year is mapped out with a calendar and the assignments have due dates. They had worked ahead so they'd have a buffer for travel and jetlag. But today they're starting and they're not upset about it which I was surprised by. They've actually really been enjoying school this year.

Walking has been a bit out of whack. Not that I haven't walked, but I haven't thought to record anything until yesterday. And also, we're currently in a city and walking here isn't quite the same as walking in nature. But yesterday I went on a walk with Nik while Alex had the boys with him to service a pool he manages. And then in the evening, the boys and I went for a walk with Nik while we waited for Alex and Micah to arrive for supper. Not long walks, but it was a start. Also, I'm writing this on Friday morning so I have no idea what the step count for the day, or miles walked, will be. :)

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Today's step count: ??

Today walked: ?? intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 109.44 mile

What an interesting week it's been. So much has happened but I haven't had the time or energy to sit in the evenings and write about it which now means too much has accumulated and I just can't do the week justice. I'll do the briefest overview.

Hannah and Abi left Tuesday morning around 4am to go to Chiang Mai. They were to meet the visa agent to get their work permits that morning and that all went off just fine. They went and picked up Wind and Sky and spent the afternoon with them before going to the little place they'd rented for the night. The plan was to meet the immigration agent the following morning at 7:45am. They got there and after waiting with the masses for awhile, they learned they couldn't get in the queue that day or the next. They were told to come back at 8am on Friday. That made the trip much longer than anticipated and they had our two youngest with them. It also gave Robbie and I a bit more to juggle since the girls weren't here. Levi, Quinn, and Zach, as well as a number of our older Thai kids, jumped in and helped.

We went to immigration on Wednesday and we couldn't/wouldn't meet the terms for visa renewal so we were sent away. Thursday was a day full of confusion and documents and then Friday morning we left at 9am to go back to immigration. We still couldn't/would't meet the terms and literally everything that happened in that office seemed wrapped in mystery. I had prayed that if God was going to allow the visas to get down to the wire, and then allow us to get them in spite of everything, that He'd do it in a way that would magnify HIS power and He'd be the only One to get the glory for it ... in our minds, in the minds of the officials, and in the minds of our staff. That seemed critically important to me for so many reasons. All I can, or will, say here is that isn't what happened, at least to our finite minds. The truth is, I don't know what happened but I do know it wasn't God getting the glory in the recounting of what happened by staff involved and tensions were high between them as we left. We did, however, get the visa extensions. As did Hannah and Abi though they were at an immigration office 5 hours away from us.

I don't know what to make of it all, and perhaps the break will offer time to pray and hear from God more clearly. I'm admittedly overwhelmed and very, very tired. Levi, Quinn, Zach and I leave in a few hours to make the drive to Bangkok for our flight out Monday morning at 7:05am (Thai time). My big boys are picking us up on the other end and we're all so excited for that! Sadly, Bangkok is experiencing really bad flooding right now. I won't let myself look up about because I struggle so much with dark thoughts when I see things related to flooding, but I did see some pictures that were posted in the missionary chat and it looks bad. We're praying for all those people being impacted. We're told there's a clear path to the airport and that flights are still running, so our plan is to stick to our original schedule unless God clearly overrules it. I haven't put a single thing in a suitcase yet but I've accomplished most of my list that I felt I needed to get done before leaving so I feel good about that.

A week or so ago, sixteen year old Namwan asked if she could do the sermon this week. She said she believed God had put something on her heart to share and she believed she was supposed to do it before I left for the US. So yesterday she presented the sermon and I was shocked by everything she'd packed into it. God has really been speaking to her, she taught us some things we hadn't seen before, and she tied it all together in a way that made sense to even the younger kids in the group. It was such an encouragement to me that these kids really are having an encounter of their own with God.

The rain here continues intermittently but oddly our water levels started slowly dropping again. Not a significant lowering but enough to notice it. If they push water our way, we'd likely experience some flooding with as high as the water is around us right now, but we have NEVER made it to the end of September without having already flooded. The girls tell me not to stress or overthink about the flood waters rising after I leave ... they reassured me it doesn't bother them in the way it does me and they'll all be fine. Robbie will also be here which means just one of us adults will be out of the picture. And since it's the one that has a history of playing worst case scenarios in her mind like a riveting television series, it may actually be easier being a man (or in this case, a woman) down.

We leave in 6ish hours for the drive through the night. Hoping to get some walking in at the airport. The air won't be fresh in there but the floor also won't be muddy. Sometimes you gotta do a little give and take.

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Today's step count: 11,162 (although I'm writing this around 2pm and hopefully I'll move more😂)

Today walked: 3.23 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 107.24 mile

The past two day have been a challenge. So much so that it seems, to my human mind, that there's nothing else to write about. And while I've discussed the challenges with the appropriate people as we try to work through them, I don't think it's best to record it all here.

Here's what I will say: We will be waking up to Friday soon and our visas expire on Sabbath (Saturday). Tomorrow we are taking one last attempt at getting them. We are planning to go to immigration between 9-9:30am. We've done what we can, and others have helped us by doing everything they can. God will have the final word.

Amen.

I'm tired because there's been a lot happening. It makes it hard to have the mental energy to sit down in the evening and get words out to recap the day, which is why it's been four days since I've done it. But today something happened that needs to be recorded so I'm pushing through to get it typed out.

Sumita came home from school today and told me that she and Gita talked to another student at school about God and "he decided he wanted to change his life." Apparently this young boy had a wristlet on that is commonly worn in this country with hopes that it'll bring protection. Almost every single one of our children has come to us with these strings tied to them. But the boy also had something on him with red eyes that, to the girls' minds, represented Satan. So Gita started by asking the boy if he wanted to know about God. At first he said no but then he changed his mind and both Gita and Sumita told him about the God who protects them and helps them not be so scared of things like the other children are. They told him about the evil angels that will come when we invite them and that playing evil things or wearing things like those strings are an invitation. But they also told him that God has good angels that are always ready to help and protect. They told him all about how good God is and what He has planned for us, including heaven. This conversation sounds like it went on for quite awhile considering it was a school day. The boy took the string off and whatever else he was wearing that the girls' told him wasn't good, and he got rid of them. And then Sumita told him that he can start by praying "in the evening, the morning, and the afternoon" and to try to learn to thank God for what He gives him. The boy prayed his first ever prayer right there in that school today. He asked if they had a book or Bible that he could read to learn more about God. So Sumita asked me to take her to our office so she could choose books she believes the boy would read. She ended up with quite a stack to carry in her backpack because some other kids were listening today, too.

The joy and excitement Sumita exuded as she was telling me was the most precious thing! Gita had homework after school so she was in the tutoring room and I didn't really get a chance to talk to her until I was tucking her into bed tonight. And then she told me she was so happy to get to teach her friend about God! I was happier than I could possibly express to them about their experience, but I tried to encourage them that what they did today was exactly what God wants them to be doing. They shared openly about what they believed because they wanted to help this boy. When he didn't want to hear it, they respected his choice. When he changed his mind, they were eager to share as much as he'd hear. And then they were making plans to disciple him instead of just leaving him to himself.

As I was listening, it felt like the last seven years culminated in this moment. Obviously, that's an oversimplification, but it sure felt that way. THIS is what we're here for.

FoGat (pronounced similarly to forgot but with the front end spoken as foe instead of for) needs prayer as the enemy certainly won't stand by and allow him to be stolen without a sure fight.

Robbie's work permit was kicked back today for the fourth time. We are 4 days from the expiration of our visas. We go to immigration tomorrow to apply for the one year extensions, without the work permit which is a requirment to be eligible for this visa. He does have his expiring work permit that was issued two years ago, but it has only one week on it so God will need to intervene to cause the officials to accept it. Our experience with immigration has gotten increasingly more difficult which just means that when the impossible happens, God gets the glory! And if things turn out differently than we hope, I can't think of a better way to explain it than did the three Hebrew boys when faced with the fiery furnace ... If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17–18

If we get the visas, He is God and He has a good plan. If we don't get the visas, He is God and He has a good plan. We'll see how it unfolds tomorrow.

We got to spend Sabbath (it's Tuesday night now but I'm just catching up a little since I'm behind) with Jonathan and Hannah and it was so nice! Jonathan played the piano (well, our version of a piano which is a keyboard) and it was BEAUTIFUL! Hannah brought a yummy tomato dahl that was so good over rice. We got to talk and walk and it was such a blessing to have friends here in person. They are sweet people!

Hannah and Abi drove to Chiang Mai this morning for their own work permit and visa stuff. They were successful today in getting their work permits and tomorrow they go to immigration to hopefully get their visas. They got to go pick up Wind and Sky and take them out to spend a few hours with them which was so nice!

We're packing for our trip which is so close it's literally almost here. Five days until we head to Bangkok!

Until next time ...

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Today's step count: 15,159

Today walked: 3.01 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 99.19 mile

Today felt very productive although I didn't get a huge variety of things done. It was more that what did get accomplished was big stuff. Hannah and I spent some time working together on accounting because she handles the petty cash drawer and receipts and I handle all the bank transactions. We rarely work on it in the same room so today was helpful and it was also much more pleasant doing it with a "friend". The fact that I'm even doing accounting or bookkeeping at all is a little wild because I secretly use my fingers to count.

Yesterday was Naam's 7th birthday. Abi brought her here to the property so she could blow out candles and open her gifts. She got three small packages and one contained a shirt. Her sweet little face lit up just as if that shirt was a beautiful doll or something. Today, Gauv worked around the house to earn money so he could go buy Naam a birthday gift before she came home from school. He chose her some paper dolls and when she saw me after he'd wrapped and given them to her, she ran up excitedly and said, "Gauv worked so he could buy me this!" Ahhh, these kids make us tired but they do it while simultaneously being overwhelmingly precious!

Tomorrow is Zachy's 12th birthday. Truth be told, it's also Evy's (our dog) first birthday and Zach is fully invested in celebrating his birthday twin. Today he spent quite a bit of time making her an outdoor "play pen" out of some wire fencing and pvc pipe he found by the shed.

I was mopping the kitchen this evening before sunset and as I swiped just under the fridge, something black poked out. And then it happened a second time which is when I realized it had happened the first time. 😂 I jumped a little, not sure if I'd caught some kind of wire or if it was a snake. Robbie surveyed the situation and found no snake so now all I can do is hope it didn't go up inside the bottom of the fridge to hide. I think the best thing I can do is not mop anymore. It seems dangerous.

We're often asked to address interpersonal situations among those we work with and minister to. Not being able to communicate with fluency, results in miscommunications while we're trying to help. Often it feels like we take a step backward when attempting to resolve something. Yesterday we were approached about something that Hannah and I immediately knew was beyond us. Hannah pointed out that while we pray daily and often for everyone here, we don't make united prayer over these individuals a priority. She suggested that we could start gathering together for a time of intercessory prayer while Robbie and Bunmee are leading worship with the rest of the staff. So this morning we started that and Levi, Quinn, and Zach joined us. We're committed to praying together in this same way every day, including weekends when the staff are off work.

I just got a message that Jonathan and Hannah are joining us for church tomorrow! That'll be a fun treat. We seldom have other missionaries here to worship together so we're very much looking forward to that fellowship!

We've hit a few hiccups with the work permit process and they've requested additional documents several times. So we've now headed into the weekend with that application still pending, though the estimate was 3-5 days for approval. It was submitted Monday and we're closing out Friday. Our visas expire one week from tomorrow. I have no idea what God's plan is but I do know that if He wants us to have the visas, there's nothing anyone can do to stand in the way of us getting them. Because faith isn't believing a thing into existence. It's knowing that no matter what happens, if you've surrendered it to God, He'll work it for good. I believe God intends good for us and our Thai children and staff. I believe He intends good for those in our village and beyond. And I'm thankful for every way He allows us to be a part of their stories, even when that doesn't look the way I hope or expect.

Before I sign off, I have a question for anyone seeing these diary entries through Epistle. And I want you to be honest. Are the frequent email updates from these literal ramblings even remotely annoying? Are they cluttering already full inboxes? Would it be better if I just posted these entries on the website for anyone who might want to navigate there organically rather than from an email link? Should I save Epistle emails for more meaty updates? I'd really like to avoid being a nuisance so I'm looking for genuine feedback.

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Today's step count: 15,356

Today walked: 2.93 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 90.32 miles

So much rain today. The sky would rumble and then I'd hear rain hitting the roof for a few minutes before stopping. There'd be a period of quiet and then it would repeat. This afternoon Zach and I went out to have a walk and as soon as we got outside it started to rain on us. I've been enjoying trying to be outside even when the weather isn't ideal but today felt a little hard to push through and walk in the mud. Not many steps happened.

Fahsai was home sick with a fever. I can just keep trusting that this will eventually pass. So far it hasn't spread too much and instead seems to keep hitting the same kids.

Micah called me last night just after I'd gotten into bed. We talked for a few minutes when suddenly the line went totally silent although the call didn't disconnect right away. He'd been on his way to work to meet a client and when I couldn't get in touch with him after the call dropped, I checked with Nik to see if he knew anything. Thankfully, there's an airtag on the keychain and Nik could tell Micah had made it to work and he assured me Micah's phone had most likely just died. I knew he didn't have much time before meeting the client so I chose not to think the worst and I went to sleep. I woke to a message from Micah letting me know his phone battery had, indeed, died and all was well.

Alex sent me a picture this morning of Frank. He goes outside, where Frank has now chosen to live, and spends time with her most days. It seems as though Frank makes a friendlier outdoor cat than an indoor one. In the picture Alex sent me, she looks almost to be smiling as she hangs out with him.

Tonight Bpao walked up to me and asked if I'm a grandma yet. She said my hair looks like a grandma. Little darling. 🙃

I visited Abi at her house today before she left to switch with Hannah at the house in town. She showed me her cute little flower garden and the pretty zinnias that are blooming. She told me all about how she's waging war against the spiders that relentlessly try to take over her home. And she showed me the things from her house that she had washed because it was so easy to just walk right outside and pop it all in the washer now. Then she swept her porch before leaving to go meet Hannah. They did the weekend grocery shopping together before parting ways and Hannah came home.

Levi, Quinn, and Zach have been diligently working to get ahead in their schooling so they have some wiggle room while we're in the US. And they've been trying to out-step each other every day. As I type this Zach is walking circles in the room next to me.

Tonight at supper I looked up and saw Yim, Namwan, Nuu, and Alu all looking at me smiling. When I asked them why they smiled bigger. Yim said they just loved me a lot but I know better. There was something behind those looks and smiles. They were probably thinking I look like a grandma, too. 😂

It's 8:15pm and I'm ready for sleep. I'm very hopeful it'll be a night of sleep where everyone either gets or stays well.

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Today's step count: 11,662

Today walked: 1.58 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 86.34 miles

I'm finding things too busy to write every day or evening. Sometimes I could spare the time at night, but I just don't have the mental bandwidth to get words out, so I don't try. Last night was one of those times.

We'd left around 4:45am yesterday morning to make the trip to Chiang Mai for more work permit (visa related) requirements. Sukhothai had turned us away and Gop was very hopeful we'd have better success in Chiang Mai. And he was correct. In fact, and official at the second place we tried yesterday offered Gop some insight into why the online system wasn't working for LFA volunteers. And with that, Robbie's application was submitted and we settled in for a 3-5 day wait to see if it'll be approved. If it is, we have to make sure we have the letter from the governor from our local City Hall and then we can go apply for the visas at Immigration. More than likely we won't go to immigration until next week so we've got a bit of a wait to see how it all goes. Our visas expire September 26. We got home last night around 8pm and by about 8:30pm we were all in bed. How is it that sitting so much is more exhausting than being physically active?

I know I already wrote about more sickness going around. We really don't know what's happening. It's much the same symptoms as the first bout a few weeks ago and all the sick kids so far this time were also sick the first time. I don't know if it's a very delayed relapse (we've changed toothbrushes, etc) or something entirely new. But some of the kids have run fevers that are hanging on for several days. Some of them are vomiting for days and some complain of sore throats. All of them have said they were dizzy. In fact, dizziness has been the first noticeable symptom for almost all of them. Charlie spent Thursday evening, Friday and Sabbath recovering. By Saturday night he was pretty close to being back to his normal self. Sunday morning he was doing great and we allowed him to go for his planned trip to the go-karts. He did throw up while there but he was driving a little vehicle and we assumed it was motion sickness because it feels like about 110% of our kids here get some form of motion sickness. He went to school on Monday and was fine all evening and then last night, we returned home right before bedtime and I walked into the living room to see Charlie curled up in a blanket on the couch. I asked if he was sick and he said, "I don't know" and laughed. He says I don't know a lot so I assumed he was just tired. But by this morning he was clearly sick. Bifern is also home again today. Her fever seems to be gone but she still can't get herself to eat. So far Chotika, Chia, Fahsai, Charlie, and Bifern have been sick this second round.

The water is continuing to rise little by little. We're living on an island full of germs. :) We can still be thankful, however, that we aren't flooding and the road in and out of here isn't flooded, either. That is a HUGE blessing!

Yesterday in the car I watched a good number of interviews of survivors from 9/11. I was humbled by some of their stories and encouraged by the kindness and unity they described as they worked to get out of those buildings. One very well spoken man, who was 22 and on about day three of living in NYC and day two of his new job, said there was no pushing, screaming, or trying to save themselves at the expense of other people. He said at one point, when they got down to the floor where they saw so much death and horror, it was like they all locked arms and determined that they were in it together and, if they were getting out of there, they were doing it together. He described seeing empty wheelchairs where it was obvious people who couldn't walk had been picked up and carried down. We see and hear so much about people at odds with each other these days that it was truly a gift to listen to a time full of so much darkness, where those people saw so much light coming from others. And I'm almost positive each interview I listened to by those survivors included a testimony of something miraculous that happened to save them, or a person who was almost certainly an angel appearing to offer help, or how they gave their lives to Jesus following that day because of what they'd been through. I'm glad I listened.

I will also say I very clearly remember being a young mother of three little boys (I was 24 at the time) when it happened and of being fearful of every sound I heard that night. We didn't have a tv so I went to my in-laws' cottage on the river a few minutes from our house where there was a tv with a channel or two that came in using rabbit ears. It's so interesting how some things just stick with you and so much about that day is clear as a bell in my mind. I can only imagine how eager God is to put an end to all this madness. But I cannot imagine how hard it is to wait, letting it play out just a little longer, so every person has a chance.

I wrote all of the above this afternoon and now I'm back to try to close it off. Evenings are a flurry of activity, especially for the one/s who do the wind down shift. Overseeing showers, making sure they tidy their spaces, keeping them calm, and doing it all between three different houses keeps you moving. I had very few steps today for various reasons but I got quite a few just during that hour or so this evening. One of our middles has been having frequent meltdowns and that alone can consume an hour or two with just that one child. Tonight was one of those nights but thankfully the situation was diffused within 30 or 40 minutes. I squeaked out some time, however, to catch the accounting ledger up. Every week I get it all up to date and it's so nice that I tell myself I'll be better from here on out and it won't get behind anymore. It's not true. I need to stop telling myself that.

Also, Robbie just recieved an email about the work permit application I mentioned above and they're requesting further information. This is a process that took Hannah and Abi more than a month to get to the end of. Three to five days for processing, as Robbie was told to expect, is a hopeful estimation but it certainly wasn't their reality. God is known for doing things we think He won't. Sometimes we even dare to think He can't. All I know is that if He doesn't, He has a really good reason and I don't have to understand it to know that to be true.

Alright, I'm tired. The day has been productive and I'm going to bed thankful for what got done. Not the least of which was that we moved one of the two washing machines behind our house down to Abi's porch for she and Hannah to use. They live right next to each other and they always have to haul their laundry all the way to my house and then come back to lug it wet back to their houses to hang. I made that sound harder and more dramatic than it actually is but it certainly isn't convenient and their days are already very full. We kept saying we'd get them a machine but failed to do it. I have no idea why we didn't think to move one of the ones we already had. We definitely use both machines even though all the older kids (including Levi, Quinn, and Zach) wash their own clothes by hand, but it's just as easy to haul uniforms to their side as it is to ours. Abi ran a load already today and she was pleased as a pickle.

Until next time, which probably won't be tomorrow ...

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Today's step count: 10,026

Today walked: 0 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 84.76 miles

We leave for the US in 15 days. The boys are excited and I'm trying to keep them sanitized and in solitary confinement (not really, but sort of) in preparation, because I do NOT want them to be sick and people here keep spreading new sickies!

Robbie went back to the Labor Department on Friday to request to be able to submit a paper application for the work permit required for the visa application (that was a mouthful). Request denied. They told us they won't accept it unless it's online, even though they understood we can not file online. We were directed to try in a different province so we leave at 4:30am tomorrow (Monday) morning to go try in Chiang Mai. We plan to make the 10 hour round trip in one day and we're hopeful they'll accept and approve it tomorrow. The next step would be to go to immigration back here in Sukhothai on Tuesday to apply for the actual visas. We know God is in control so we'll keep doing what they tell us to do and see what unfolds.

On Sundays the house, including my room, is a stream of big and small people. For the safety of my computer, I have a little office area set up in my bedroom because while I have lots of visitors, it's certainly less of a thoroghfare than other rooms. But it means I often have kids needing to be in here for a school assignment or to practice guitar using video tutorials. Today was no exception but because things have been mildly overwhelmingly chaotic over the past week, I was overstimulated and desperate for some quiet. I had the brilliant idea to escape to Hannah's house because she was on shift with the kids at that time, and I could hide in her bedroom for awhile. I asked for permission, it was granted, and I napped on her bed. It was delightful. The kids in the house never even knew I ran away from them.

Abi took a small group of our boys on an outing today. A couple weeks ago she had come up with four different "big"activities to let them sign up for. Each child could only choose one and they included go-karts, a splash pad, white water rafting, and camping. Today was the go-karters turn and since it was just a few boys, Abi braved it alone. She got there after having planned things meticulously, to find the rules were different than she'd been told. Only two of the boys could ride the actual go-karts. The other two were given a different kind of vehicle made for smaller kids but it turned out to be a blessing. Actually, the blessing might have been if they'd been denied entry entirely because Gauv nearly ran over multiple people, Chai ran over the attendants foot and also drove his cart under a table and got stuck, and Charlie threw up. Fifa seems like he was the only one who managed to not make a reputation for himself. Abi arrived home and slumped into the seat beside me and said, "Well, I can definitely never go back to that place again!" She said the poor lady was very sweet but very, very stressed. Maybe we shouldn't let ourselves out of our cage anymore.

A few of the girls always ask me if they can make bread on Sundays. Today it was Chia, Lao, and Sumita. They made the bread, got it baked, and cleaned up the kitchen. But as Chia was wiping the counter, she accidently knocked off a cute little wooden decoration I'd been given. A few days ago I said I always cringe a little when I get something pretty because with so many kids and so much activity, I know its lifespan may be short. The little decoration broke and she came to find me not too much later. She looked nervously up at me and said she was going to tell me something and asked if I could meet her outside. I did and she said, "I have to to tell you I'm sorry because I broke something that is yours." She then explained what she'd broken and how it happened and came and hugged me and told me how sorry she was. I hugged her back and thanked her for being honest and assured her she was forgiven. She said "thank you" and then started to walk back inside. But when she got to the door she stopped and turned back to me and said, "You're not mad at me, are you?" And I just thought to myself how good God is that she not only told the truth, but that she wasn't scared I would punish her when she confessed ... she was just scared I'd be disappointed in or upset with her. I can tell you without a sliver of doubt that a year ago, the whole scenario would have played out very differently and I likely wouldn't have known who'd even broken it. I'm thankful when we get to peep growth.

Headed to bed. It'll be an early morning with lots of car time and I'm really not very good at resting in a car.

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Today's step count: 14,218

Today walked: 2.6 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 84.76 miles

The past few days, weeks really, have been largely consumed with a situation that has turned aggressive. Navigating that, keeping in mind eternal implications and a deep desire to help, we've all ended up feeling confused and defeated. Missionary work feels best when it feels successful. It's difficult to know how to share about the times where the whole things seems to be on fire. I'm thankful the way we feel often doesn't reflective the truth as God sees it, but Satan is a determined accuser.

On a lighter note, my older kids somehow came across this cute app that has walking challenges and they entered into a challenge with each other. But this app has a fun twist because it's not just about who gets the most steps. You get "power ups" every 2000 steps and while some of them are a boost you can use personally, others are like wild cards you can use against your "opponents". Like, you can give someone a leg cramp or a detour or a reverse card where all the steps they get in the following hour get subtracted from their tallied steps. It's cute and funny and also motivating because I don't want to let my kids beat me. 😂 Today I got well over 20,000 steps and I enjoyed every minute of it! Good therapy...thanks kids!

That water is rising and those rice paddies which were mud just days ago, are now lakes. Butttttt, as the sun was sinking today I looked out over the flooded paddies with the mountain reflected in the waters and it was just so beautiful. I'm thankful God can make beauty out of anything!

Robbie went to the Labor Department this morning to renew his work permit and they told him he needed to apply online. But LFA has been running into problems with the online system and the applications don't go through. So Gop sent a screenshot of the message that comes from the online attempt and we're supposed to go back to the Labor Department again tomorrow to ask them to accept an in-person application. Right now we're scheduled to be at immigration on Tuesday but we need the work permit before we go there. It's in God's hands and, while we're trying to make sure we don't sit and do nothing, we know His plan is a good one.

Hannah and Abi are supposed to make the trip to Chiang Mai on September 22 to get their visa extensions. That process has taken roughly three months but thankfully we haven't hit significant snags with it.

Cho is in bed with a fever. She was one that was sick during the round of covid over the past few weeks so we don't know if this is something new starting to circulate or what's happening. Cho had kidney failure a few years ago and has been very health fragile since then. Overall, she's doing great, we just have to keep a good eye on her.

This afternoon the boys (Levi, Quinn, and Zach) went out to the backfilled field to clear a tree that had fallen over the path that loops the whole thing. They were using an axe and a saw and after awhile Zach must have started to fatigue. True to his usual wit, however, he blurted out, "I'm ax-ually sawing to get a little tired." The funniest part of it was how funny Levi thought it was. 🤣 Zach produces seemingly endless one liners like that and the twins clearly love it!

Bible study this morning was more like a therapy session and we were thankful for the support! God is good to put exactly the right people in our family and in our lives!

I just peeked and I'm headed to bed in first place in the family walking challenge. I considered throwing a leg cramp at Alex who gets a crazy amount of steps every day (our night is his day) but I didn't have a leg cramp in my stash so I couldn't. I'm not looking forward to the notification telling me he's taken over my lead while I was sleeping.

But really I don't mind. Just don't tell my kids.

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Today's step count: 22,174

Today walked: 6.85 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 78.1 miles

I don't feel like there was much that happened today worthwhile recording. We fielded some problems as they arose, did some trouble shooting and planning, worked on getting old receipts filed in order, had an accounting meeting by video, and nearly got blown over by a sudden wind storm that barely produced even a drop of rain.

Abi and I decided to take a walk to work with Evy, trying to teach her to stay with us when we take her outside without a leash. Things were going famously until Evy spotted a stray dog and took off, paying absolutely no attention to us calling her back. Levi had joined us a few minutes before Evy went rogue and, like a hero, he sprinted after her. He'd been mowing and was wearing knee-high rubber boots and the harness for the weedeater when he went in pursuit of our little dog. He knew one bite from the stray would be the end of Evy because she's so tiny. But as he ran over the uneven clods of mud trying to catch up to her, he fell forward and broke the fall with his hand. We aren't sure if he hyper-extended it or if it's possibly broken. Being heroic is painful, apparently.

The happy news is, he got Evy and the stray ran away.

The unhappy news is that since we've been in Thailand, Levi and Quinn have each broken a pinky finger, Zach broke an arm, Levi broke a foot and Quinn fractured a toe. Now Levi is nursing a battered hand. These boys are a mess!

Bunmee saw two cobras tonight so everyone was put on high alert. And the water is rising because, although we aren't getting much rain at all where we are, other parts of Thailand are getting a lot. I suspect they're currently pushing water at us to bring relief to other areas. Thankfully we have room for it before it causes us flooding, which is basically unheard of at this point in the season.

We've been told we're to go to immigration in Sukhothai on September 15 to renew our visas. Last year that didn't go so well but they still seem to be indicating they've had a change of heart this year. God is in control and I have peace.

Tomorrow is Wednesday already. Unbelievable.

God is a good, kind, and faithful friend. That's the thought I'm ending my day with.

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Today's step count: 15,236

Today walked: 2.12 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 69.93 miles

Today was the day I realized I really may need to do something about the amount of administrative work I have. I cannot keep up with it, plus my other responsibilities, so I need to figure out how to streamline it. I considered the whole thing today, while I felt like I was drowning a little, and I couldn't come up with much that I can remove. I've already delegated and everyone else also has more than plenty on their plates.

But something has to give and so I'm going to pray about the situation until God makes it clear what that something is.

I made up all the papers for the children that we hand out each week and sent them to the printers. That's always a huge relief to get that task done. Then I opened up our spreadsheet and got it current. I printed and filed receipts in order of dated transaction. As soon as that gets a little bit behind, I'm overwhelmed. I have a video meeting each Tuesday morning regarding the accounting and that keeps me motivated to get it done. So I pushed through and I feel pretty ready for the meeting.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. The older I get the less old my mom seems. She had my older brother when she was 16 and me when she was 19 so she's really not that much older than me, which is sobering. :) We'll be seeing her in a couple weeks and we'll celebrate her real good when we do!

Levi, Quinn, and Zach have continued their quest to mow the entirety of the backfilled fields (roughly half our 9 1/2 acre property) using weedeaters and a sickle. They're just about done and should be completed by tomorrow. They're sore but rather than wearing them out it seems to have almost energized them. Good old hard work truly is a blessing!

Abi took Yim, Namwan, and Nuu (along with some of their friends) to hike the mountain behind our property yesterday. It looks close but it's a roughly 45 minute drive. Some of their friends wore slides and ended up barefoot by the end of the whole excursion. I can't imagine the pain their feet must have been in. Abi said the hike back down is worse than the climb and they could see each other's legs visibly shaking from the sustained forward thrust. Today the girls have been caught groaning during simple movement a few times and it's been rather humorous. I'm very thankful Abi was willing to take the whole gang and that God provided protection, because nobody was injured.

As I'm about to close down the waking hours of my day, I'm faced with the reality that I didn't really meet most of my goals. The day was productive but I failed to prioritize some critical things, like getting a walk in. I didn't drink enough water today and I also failed to wear my step tracker again. I should probably be happy I forgot because it would have tattled on me and I don't need that kind of negativity. :)

I only made one meal today which means we ate Thai food for breakfast and the boys ate whatever could be found in the fridge for supper. For lunch I cooked lentils with a few potatoes, some tomato paste, an onion, celtic salt, and a little nutritional yeast. I like lentils just fine so I thought it was good. My boys are good to me so they tried to pretend they also thought it was good, but I know them and I could tell it wasn't from the heart. So I told them as much and Levi said, "I'm just not used to lentils" to which I responded, "I guess I better make them more so you can get used to them."

He looked bewildered. Checkmate.

Tomorrow is a new day with fresh opportunities to do better than today. God is good!

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Today's step count: Forgot to wear my tracker

Today walked: 0 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 67.81 miles

Today was Sabbath and while it was a full day, it was also a good one. The pace on Sabbath changes, which is nice, even though there's so much happening. The way it works here is that there's always one person "on duty" who is responsible for making sure things are flowing and everyone is safe and accounted for. If we didn't do it this way, there's too much risk that everyone would assume someone else knew where the kids were and that's dangerous. So while one person is on duty at all times, it doesn't mean everyone else is twiddling their thumbs, child-free. The kids flow in and out and all around, just like in any other home.

Sabbath's are different in that we all take a one hour shift in the morning, then we split up for Sabbath School followed by the church service and then lunch. I teach the teens, Hannah teaches the middles, and Abi teaches the littles. Robbie handles miscellaneous tasks to help things keep moving as we make the transitions.

This morning my Sabbath School class discussed success and what it truly looks like. We covered various verses in Scripture and then they split into two groups. Group one was tasked with designing a person fashioned after the world's definition of success. Group two put together a description of a person fitting God's definition. They definitely understood the assignment and were very detailed with what they came up with. At the end, they discussed which of the two "people" they would tell something to in confidence, or turn to for help, or trust to be there when they needed them. Every one of them answered, without hesitation, that the person with the character reflecting God, rather than the world, would be the kind of person they'd want as a trusted friend. When we have these discussions, occasionally someone digs in their heels and argues with the others a little, so it was encouraging that today they were all in agreement.

This morning as I was praying while out walking, the sermon topic finally came to me. We've been really encouraging the kids to go deeper in their personal times of worship, but some of them have admitted they don't know how. So this morning I shared some ideas for ways to get into their Bibles and to help make prayer more meaningful and connected. Namwan did an excellent job translating. We gave them each a clipboard with a piece of paper and a pen and told them to take notes so they could tuck the ideas into their Bibles for when they feel stuck or stalled out. I was surprised when three of them spent the entire lunch period writing more notes from what we'd talked about. I'd put a few things on slides quickly this morning and they borrowed the ipad to copy more of them than they could get written down during the sermon. Now we sort of think we should ask them to take notes during the sermon more often.

We have quiet time after lunch and then at 3pm we have a pre-planned activity. I'm the leader of the activity period but Abi has recently taken over planning it out. This week she came up with a new idea that turned out to be a really good one. We divided the children into 5 groups and each was given a card with three random words on it. Their task was to create a story with a spiritual focus, that contained each of their assigned words. Each group was then given the chance to tell or read or demonstrate their story. They surprised us with their creativity. Sometimes it's difficult to find activities where you can engage kids from ages 5-18 so it's a happy thing when something works well as it did today.

I snuck in a walk right before supper and while it sprinkled a little and thundered a lot, it never truly rained. I was thankful because while the day was full, a lot of it happened without much movement. I needed to stretch my legs and expand my lungs.

Tomorrow morning, just after 6am, Abi is leaving here with Yim, Namwan, and Nuu to go pick up some of their friends and then hike the mountain behind us. It's a difficult hike and I'm not entirely sure some of the girls have been intenionally active enough to tackle it, but tomorrow will hopefully prove me wrong. They'll be gone all day and the girls are very excited ... Abi, on the other hand, spent some time this evening putting together first aid supplies.

And then at 8am Hannah is participating in the JFA 24 hour prayer call by walking around the property while the group assembled on Zoom for that 30 minutes is praying over the work here. They do this regularly although we haven't joined very many times due to our schedule here. We need to make the time more often!

After lunch tomorrow, Robbie is taking Jing and Bpa to town for their birthday's, which were last week. They're taking some of the other boys along for a little excursion off the property. They won't likely do a whole lot but with so many kids, just getting away to do something (anything!) different is a treat in itself.

Hannah and I will stay here and hold down the fort while Levi, Quinn, and Zach get back to work trying to weed eat and machete the whole field that was recently backfilled. We don't have a tractor or mower and we tried having the goats eat the grass, but they're failing. I've heard of goats who eat tin cans while we're over here with goats who are picky even about what grass and brush they eat. So on Friday the three boys made the decision that they can handle keeping up with the whole field by hand. We were skeptical but told them to go ahead and take a swing at it. I was shocked that by Friday afternoon, they had a huge amount of it done, while also having finished all their schoolwork. Their goal is to finish it off tomorrow so that when Jaew, our maintenance guy, comes in to work on Monday he'll be pleasantly surprised that it's done. He did NOT think it would be possible. We shall see.

Twenty-three days until we see Micah, Nik, and Alex!

If I go to sleep quickly, I'll wake up and it'll be 22 days. :)

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Today's step count: 10,792

Today walked: 2.83 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 66.17 miles

Hard day. I think I identified that the "trigger" for it was a poor night of sleep but I struggled with overwhelm all day. At one point mid-morning it felt like my brain couldn't take any more and I climbed into bed. I told myself I needed to sleep it off and I'd wake up better. But as I laid there trying to squeeze my eyes shut against the cyclone of emotions, I sensed God nudging me to get back up. It was like sudden clarity came over my tired mind and I realized that laying in that bed and abandoning my duties was going to make me feel worse and not better. I was literally so thankful to not only be able to recognize what He was calling me to do, but that He'd also given me the desire to obey.

I got up and made tortillas and even though tortillas are a very simple thing to make, doing it gave me a quick but sure victory over my feelings. Cooking was the last thing I had wanted to do and yet there I was, cooking anyway. I heated up the leftover white beans and purple rice from yesterday, made a cashew cheese sauce and then I chopped up a few tomaotes and an onion and splashed it with lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. We had soft tacos for lunch.

The rest of the day remained a struggle. I actually never got a walk in and I have no idea how many steps I got today because I forgot to strap my watch back on after showering. I almost didn't write anything here tonight because it felt like it would be negative or whiny but I want to be able to look back through this season and see the ways Satan tried to destroy and also be reminded of the ways God protected me from him. The battle for the mind is real and while I don't want to dwell on the difficult parts of it, I want to acknowledge that God is a strong defender.

This evening I made the boys blackberry muffins using frozen berries and then I mixed some almond milk, more of the berries, peanut butter, pea protein powder, a scoop of greens, a little honey and called it a smoothie. They drank it with their muffins, some grapes and sunflower seeds. I had lots of little girl helpers in the kitchen while I made it and they were even excited to clean up. They went across to the big dining room and ate Thai food for supper but they enjoyed helping to make the "American" food.

We have Bible study with friends through Zoom every Thursday morning and all 8 of my biological kids join. Today's study was a continuation of last week's, which was on prayer. It was a good discussion and then the kids and I spent the better part of an hour talking after the study before ending the call. I enjoy my adult children so much!

The boys updated us that Frank has not only once again become an outdoor cat, but also that she's now brought home a friend. Alex thinks the new friend is also a girl but I already know not to trust his gendering abilities since he thought Frank was a boy for a week or something like that. I think they should name her Lynn because then they'd have Frank and Lynn, like Franklin. Alex named his childhood cat, Tomato, and Nik named his childhood dog, Tippers. Maybe they should let Micah take a crack at naming the new cat. 😜

I'm headed to bed. Tomorrow is a new day, and for that I am thankful.

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Today's step count: Forgot to wear step counter

Today walked: 0 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 62.19 miles

Today got off to a slower start as I got out of bed a few minutes later than normal. For the first little bit it felt like I was walking in quicksand and I'm really not sure why. Thankfully, it got better and I made my way around the pond about 1.3 miles worth. But then I went up on the big porch for morning worship with everyone and I forgot to stop the timer on the app. So it looked like I may have actually been walking in that quicksand. Never mind. I use the app for the sake of accountability, and not to impress anyone, which is a joyful thing.

Fahsai and Awa lost all their school socks somehow (again) and they asked if they could each use their points to buy a pair from our little store. So right before they loaded into the van, I sprinted over to the store and was surprised to find my body felt much less stiff and wooden as I ran than it normally has in recent months. It was a small thing to notice but I felt it surely must be positive progress.

Last night Levi had asked me to make french toast for breakfast today. I inwardly cringed because sometimes my cast iron pan underperforms when asked to take on french toast and things end up getting a little sketchy. But I love my boy so I mixed up some almond milk with a little flour, nutritional yeast, a splash of vanilla, celtic salt, and a little coconut sugar and then I dipped the bread it and held my breath as I placed it in the skillet. The pan must have been seasoned just right because it cooked up beautifully and Levi was pleased as punch. I melted some coconut sugar in a pan with a little water and drizzled that over the slices on each plate and gave everyone some apple slices, dried banana, sunflower seeds and a few nuts. We called it breakfast and then we cleaned the kitchen together.

I sent the boys across to do school without me again today because I had so many things I needed to accomplish. But I still participated in their schooling by grading their completed work, and checking upcoming projects (the curriculum assigns) to see which of them we have the materials for. I unassigned the ones we don't have the supplies for and told myself they'll turn out okay somehow, even if they don't have a microscope. I hope I'm right.

I got a good bit done and I now have my Sabbath School lesson all planned out but I'm presenting the sermon this week and I still don't know what to share about. I'm hoping and praying I'll come up with a topic soon.

I made lunch using the leftover pasta and sauce from yesterday but it wasn't enough for a complete meal. So I cooked up some white beans and purple rice because what else could possibly compliment pasta and red sauce better? The beans took so long to cook through because my pressure cooker broke and I had to cook these on the stove top. They finally softened and I served up the plates and was pleasantly surprised to find that mixing it all together actually tasted pretty good. I realized afterward that I should I served salad, but it wouldn't have mattered if I had remembered beforehand because I didn't have much in the way of salad fixings. Note to self: plan better. I'm telling myself the kids will turn out okay even if I sometimes forget the salad. I hope I'm right.

After school today I opened the store for the usual hour so the kids could do their shopping. They earn points each week for chores, extra jobs, acts of kindness, etc and then they can redeem the points in the little store. They come there to get things like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, laundry soap, school socks, umbrellas, stuffed animals, small games/toys. It's a highlight of their day and it has helped to teach them money management as they've learned to budget their points.

Anyway, as I was ringing kids up, I saw Robbie walk through the door holding our smallest goat in his arms. I've had cats and dogs come in looking for a handout, but never a goat. Oddly, the goat looked relaxed and happy being toted around. I spoke to her and she answered by bleating. I'm glad she came to visit.

I sat on the floor of the store for awhile talking with Namwan and Yim. They're excited about a hike Abi is taking them and some of their friends on this Sunday and also about life in general. They were happy and lighthearted, all except for when Yim would say she didn't understand something I had said in English and Namwan didn't believe her. Then they'd argue playfully until Namwan finally gave in offered the translation. It was clear by her grin that Yim had understood but enjoyed making Namwan work ... and I enjoyed their friendly banter. They're sweet girls and, while they're not blood related at all, they love each other like sisters.

Tonight I went out for a last quick walk because I needed to clear my head before I got ready for bed. I thought to myself that surely I was getting faster at these walks and I told myself it used to take me a full 20 minutes to walk a piddly mile. I then glanced at my app just as it crept toward the one mile mark and I was humbled to see it showed over 21 minutes.

I'm not really that slow it's just that I get busy talking to God and I forget to walk fast. That's all.

Here's the blog post I wrote today: Mission Update: Q & A (Part 2)

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Today's step count: 16,425 steps

Today walked: 4.21 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 62.19 miles

The first day of a new month always feels a little like a fresh start, even if it falls in the middle of the week. I like fresh starts. Sometimes I take a 20 minute nap when I seem to be making a mess of things and then I tell myself it's a fresh start when I wake up.

This fresh-start-Tuesday got off the ground with a bang. Or a splash, really. I went out at 5am for my walk and at that hour it's still very dark. I use the light from my phone to keep an eye out for snakes but the older my phone gets, the dimmer that light is. So I was walking along with my dim light, praying right out loud, when I heard a sudden and VERY LOUD splash in the pond to my left. Now, it's not at all unusual to hear splashes in that pond. Big fish jump out and smack the water. Monitor lizards skitter down the bank and thrust themselves into that murky mess. Our ducks make quite a ruckus in there sometimes. But this splash was different. It sounded like something large had hit the water and then struggled. I flashed my light around and saw nothing so I put it from my mind and kept walking. I made it about 3/4 of the way around the loop that wraps the pond when I saw flashlights going this way and that, coming from the gate of the property. I took notice, but didn't think a lot of it because the rice farmers/fisherman in the area seem not to sleep, so it's common to see and hear them out there while it's dark. But as I rounded the last bend leading to the stretch where I had first heard the splash, I heard loud voices by the gate and then saw a flashlights moving inside the fence at the pond area. And of course my very active mind immediately knew we had a problem on our hands. At first I thought maybe someone had been running to hide and they'd jumped into the water to get away from whoever was pursuing them. Then I worried that someone had been at the water and fallen in and these people were looking for them. I felt terrible that I had assumed it was nature making nature sounds instead of helping.

I told Robbie and we both went out to look, but by that time, the men with the lights by the gate were nowhere in sight. The light from the pond was still flashing around, though, so we kept pursuing answers. Several minutes and a lot of laughter from our kitchen staff later, we learned it was Bunmee, our Bible worker, throwing nets into the pond and checking whatever nets or traps he'd put in there for the overnight.

I still don't really understand why the other men were there with lights and loud voices, but it's whatever. All is well and everyone is safe. Maybe I can be a hero some other day.

I sent the boys to do their school in the classroom without me this morning as I really needed to clean out the pantry. A few months ago I asked Robbie if he could make a wall at the back corner of the living room so we could create a little storage pantry. We already had the materials from the building projects so it was basically free and I was elated to finally have some storage for the things stacked in my kitchen. But like everything else here, it gets really dirty, really fast. I pulled everything from all the shelves, wiped it all down, and re-organized. It made me feel productive and happy to get that job done.

Then I made some spaghetti sauce. Levi had requested lasagna, but after spending so much time cleaning the pantry, I didn't have time to make the lasagna noodles. But I did have some store-bought pasta Robbie had recently brought home. So we had pasta with sauce and lettuce, tomato, pesto sandwiches. When we can find the right kind of basil, fresh pesto is so yummy. I just add the basil, cashews, garlic cloves, lime juice, nutritional yeast flakes, olive oil, and celtic salt so it's super fast and a fun flavor change.

This evening Abi made a fire by her house and invited me down. I was watching the kids but I kept sneaking away to sit by the fire with her. Earlier in the day I told her to do something that sparks joy and I guess she took me pretty seriously because those were real sparks in that fire.

Today is Bpa's 14th birthday. Three days from now is Jing's 13th. Two weeks later Zachy turns 12. Someone is always trying to get older around here and I cannot convince them there's truly no rush. Fun little fact: Zach always teases that he needs a twin because Levi and Quinn have one. For Christmas last year my mom and stepdad gave a gift of money and we got Evy, our little dog. Turns out, Evy and Zach share the exact same birthday and he's finally satisfied that he has a twin, too.

We leave for our trip in 27 days! I hope our big boys are ready for the level of excitement we're bringing with us. Also, I'm hearing rumors that Frank isn't thriving as an indoor cat and keeps escaping to the outdoors. It could have something to do with Micah's rather strong dog, Saint, who seems set on eating Frank for breakfast. I don't know, exactly.

I just peeped my step count and saw that it's hovering around 14,000 again but what made me laugh about it is that the vast majority of those steps happened between my kitchen and little pantry as I was cleaning. Who says housework isn't exercise? Probably nobody who's done housework actually said that, but anyway.

I'm ready for bed. And tomorrow I hope my morning walk will be less eventful.

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Today's step count: 14,220 steps

Today walked: 1.16 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 57.98 miles

I took a few days off from writing here but it really didn't help me have more ideas of what to write about. :) I sort of want to make up some fun stories and tell them like they're real but that seems deceptive so I won't. Instead I'll tell things like it's raining and it's been awhile since I've seen a snake (which I'm happy about!).

The last few days have been a lot of the same things on repeat. I did have another super productive office day yesterday which set me up strong for the week. All the papers I create for the weekend (campus newsletter, church bulletin, Bible reading plans for each age group) are done and printed, which is always a weight lifted. Hannah got the morning and evening worship schedule/plans done and printed as well as the church responsibilites scheduled and posted for September. Every single thing we get planned out well in advance is so helpful in the day to day. Abi found us a new joint app for scheduling responsibilites where we can all see the progress we're each making. We were using a different app but we all kept getting locked out of it so it was time to find a new one.

I'm noticing my brain doesn't feel so muddy and I don't feel overwhelmed by the day before my feet hit the floor. My body also isn't as sore and painful. In fact, it really isn't at all. I'm still quite tired during the day but the strong and continuous pull to crawl into bed has weakened. These all seem like really positive things and are helping to motivate me to keep doing the things.

Harvey and Brenda sent us a far infrared setup that belonged to Dr Dreher. It feels sad knowing he doesn't need it now and at the same time I'm thankful he's at peace and his wife, Lorna, is back surrounded by family. I'm very hopeful we'll all find this light therapy beneficial. I recently watched an interview about the amazing benefits so I'm thankful to have the opportunity to try it. We've still been taking our "UV walks" during the days and the boys have gotten better color in their faces from them.

I'm continuing to write the Bible but my pace has slowed with my more limited time lately. I'm only in Genesis 7 right now but I really, truly enjoy the process of writing each word out. It's a totally different experience than just writing something random but it's hard to explain how. Anyway, even when I only have time to write a few verses, I still grab my book and pens and do it. Robbie found me a fountain pen so I'm going to try using that.

I've gotten to talk to each of my older boys recently and I'm thankful for every opportunity. This morning I talked with Micah for over an hour. It reminded me of when he was in high school and he'd wait until his younger siblings were in bed and then he'd come find me for a chat. Sometimes I'd be in bed myself but I don't regret a single time I woke up, or stayed awake, to talk with him or any of the others. I learned so much during those quiet nighttime sessions. Getting to talk to them is still so fun!

I'm hopeful the soft rain hitting the roof will bring about good sleep. I don't like the violent rainstorms we sometimes get, but the gentle rain is definitely soothing on the tin roof.

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Today's step count: 14,044 steps

Today walked: 2.99 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 56.82 miles

The tide seems to be turning. Fewer are sick now and those who were, are healing well. Gita was still home today but I think we've reached a point where she almost got used to being sick and had to be reminded she's allowed to be well now. This evening after our chat, she was caught smiling and laughing and having her usual energy. The mind is a powerful thing!

Everything tastes weird since I got sick this time. Water tastes awful and it's a chore to get it down. I mentioned this fact today and others agreed. We all hope it's short-lived.

Online school continued but we tweaked some things from yesterday and it was much smoother.

The water levels continue to go down and it's just the happiest sight. Which is good because the smells aren't quite as happy. I suppose it's rotting vegetation mixed with fish and maybe even sewage but the air is just a little more pungent right now. No need to focus on the negative, though. I'll take stinky smells over evacuation every.single.time.

One of our staff members has been looking up sentences she can say to us in English, practicing them, and then using them on us. I noticed she kept talking to me in English, which wasn't common for her. And then last week when we were in the hospital with one of our girls, this staff member walked up to me after we'd been sitting in different places and told me something about immigration, but she said it in English. It stood out to me because she doesn't typically put sentences together with such accuracy. And then the day before yesterday I was passing her and she asked me if I ate lunch yet or not, in English. She's asked me that plenty of times before, but always in Thai. So I told her she's been speaking such good English and she giggled and clapped her hand over her mouth and then admitted she's been looking up sentences and practicing before saying them to me. Sometimes adults are adorable, too.

There's a pack of stray dogs that lives on our road and the whole gang enters our property after dark each night and it seems their entire purpose is to tear up any trash they can find and kill everything they can get their teeth into. Multiple times in the past week or so we've gone outside to kittens that have been killed by them. And they've killed our ducks. Abi suggested we get a german shepherd to patrole the property at night. I can't decide if Abi just wants another dog or if this is actually a good idea. Evy tries her best to scare those dogs away but they just don't seem too intimidated by her presence.

This morning Quinn told me I should read Romans 12:18 and then I forgot to actually do it. So this evening some of us went for a few quick laps around the pond and he asked me again if I'd read it yet. I hadn't so I came in and did. Then I realized I have it memorized but I had detached it from the reference. It's about living at peace with everyone, so far as possible. I'm not sure if he was feeling convicted, or if he thought maybe I was struggling, or if God was using him to issue a reminder about the verse because something is just ahead. But anyway, it seems worth recording since it was so much on his mind that he mentioned it several times.

Seven years ago today we stepped on that first plane to start our journey to this country. It was a circus of luggage that was overweight, but the airline attendants checking us in let it all slide and didn't charge us a single extra penny. Then we hugged all our friends goodbye and cried buckets of tears at the enormity of loss we were feeling leaving everything we knew behind. Then we got to the escalators we needed to take downstairs and realized our three little boys had never been on one and trying it the first time with their carry-on suitcases was not a great idea. They got nervous and stepped on and back off that escalator multiple times before their luggage finally started tumbling, end over end, without them. Nobody and nothing was injured, except the family pride. We then got to security and they separated Hannah from us and she burst into tears and basically terrified the security guard. By the time we made it to our gate, we'd essentially been through war. Two layovers later and we touched down in the Land of Smiles and cried some more.

It's good we got all those tears out then because we haven't had so much time or energy to use them since. God has been unspeakably good to us over the past 7 years. The journey doesn't have to have been easy for us to see His goodness throughout it and we are abundantly thankful for every beautiful child we've come to love and be loved by!

Also, THIRTY-ONE days until I see my boys!

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Today's step count: 14,350 steps

Today walked: 2.74 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 48.86 miles

First, a few words regarding how the online classes went today: ughhhhhhhh. Okay, that was only one word but I think it summarized my thoughts well so I'll move on.

Gita was sick again today and she was willing to try the garlic and lime mixture we take when fighting a virus. I was shocked by her agreeing to try it because she's not been super agreeable during this illness and also she seems to be very sensitive to foods she doesn't like. But she drank both doses we gave her without a murmur or complaint. She also consumed a good amount of coconut water plus plain water, which I'm hopeful is helping her rehydrate.

Tonight we've got Abi, Gam, Phot, Quinn, Gita, and likely Chia down with this ick. Everyone is doing really well, though, and we're thankful to God for that! I've been trying to make sure there's palatable American foods for the American sickies among us because right now Thai food feels impossible. I boiled some potatoes and carrots tonight and added onion, garlic, nutritional yeast, celtic salt, and cashews blended creamy. I was hoping to create something with some nutritional density that would also feel like a comfort food because who really wants to eat when you're sick? They each got a bowl of it down which made me feel better.

In a strange and completely unrelated twist, Hannah's dog Izzy obeyed when Hannah called her out of the pond water this evening. I can't express how significant this truly is. We've called that dog for more than an hour at times, trying to get her to stop swimming after the ducks. She acts completely deaf to us when she's in that water. We've actually worried that she'd swim so long she'd just sink and drown. But tonight Izzy came and we're going to just sit with that and celebrate it and let the past be the past. Time will tell if she's truly ready for a new, and more obedient, future.

Sumita and Fahsai came to me after school (only the upper grades of the private school are doing classes online) and told me Fahsai's teacher had turned on a ghost movie today. Fahsai said, "I was so sa-keered because I know it not good to look that!" And then she told me Lao, who is also in her class, asked the teacher if the girls in the class who live with us could do something else while that movie was on. I nearly melted with the joy of hearing it! Sometimes you wonder if they're really getting it. If things are really sinking in. God is faithful!

I went out for a walk tonight, not because I wanted to or even felt like I needed the extra movement. I went out for the sake of consistency because I have the absolutely terrible habit of letting everything derail me. Hannah perked up slowly throughout the day today and then was a dear and watched over the kids tonight and got them tucked in. So I went out for a walk and listened to the first four chapters of Ezekiel and then Alex called. I was just about to stop walking when the phone rang but I decided to keep going while I talked with him and I was glad for it. Also, how amazing that we can pick up a phone and hear the actual, realtime voice of someone we love on the other side of the world?!!! I got to catch up on his life a little and listen as he talked about doing mundane things like watering his plants or cleaning up the backyard. I love the mundane stuff! Frank, by the way, is settling in and giving her three dads some relief from the constant yowling.

During Bible study this morning, our friends told us about severe flooding in Nepal and China. I haven't been able to bring myself to read about it, but we're certainly praying for all those people! Life is so fragile and I'm thankful that this world is only the beginning because it sure wouldn't make a very happy ending.

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Today's step count: 18,668 steps

Today walked: 2.8 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 46.12 miles

Covid has entered the arena. And I quickly realized I must live under a rock because, while I knew the virus was something people still exercise caution over, I wasn't aware it still closed things down. But today we were told someone, in the upper grades of the private school most of our children attend, tested positive and that school for those grades will be online for at least the rest of this week. The students in the other grades are required to wear masks but in-person classes haven't been cancelled at this point.

We'll see how it goes. We have multiple sick tonight, including Hannah, Abi, Levi, and Zach. Actually, that's all with acute symptoms right now. I'm feeling much, much better and Robbie was also much improved. The other children who have been sick are bouncing back nicely and we're hopeful that trend will continue.

Yesterday I picked up Evy who usually fusses herself silly for the attention. She politely allowed me to hold her but she turned her face away from me the entire time I did. The boys saw her do it and we all laughed because it was like she was afraid I might infect her. I can't blame her, really.

Other than that, there's just not much to write about. Life right now is consumed by getting well and helping others to get or stay well. There's not a lot of time for anything else. I did notice the water went down last night which was nice to see. We're almost to September without an immediate threat of flooding, which is a beautiful thing and I praise God for it!

I only got the smallest walk in this morning because I got out of bed a few minutes later than usual due to fatigue. I made it maybe a half mile. Anyway, the day was busy and I can only do what I can do so I'll be thankful for the short time I got out there walking and praying. And that it wasn't raining!

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Today's step count: 10,832 steps

Today walked: 0.61 miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 43.32 miles

Well, turns out there was a solid reason God helped me be so productive with my office work on Sunday and that's because by Monday (yesterday) I woke up sick and steadily deteriorated throughout the morning. By lunchtime, I was out of commission. Robbie also woke up sick but we had very different symptoms which seemed odd. He hung in there yesterday with Abi and got the afternoon/evening things taken care of and then today he was pretty much down for the count. Last night Abi had Bpao and Gita sleep with her again due to sickness and Gita kept them awake nearly all night. Needless to say, Abi dragged into worship this morning a little wild-eyed but with a great attitude. Hannah has been at the house in town with the littlest ones so she's missed out on all this fun!

I had to take Bifern and Alu into school late today and Yim, who was off school for the day, went along. We ran into Makro after the dropoff and bought fresh fruit and some other items we needed to restock the fridge with. I'm always amazed at how expensive if is to eat healthy foods and how cheap it is to eat junk. My small cart of healthy foods cost over $100. I can save a little money by going to the outdoor markets but not a substantial amount and I can't get the American "comfort fruits" at our markets. Some places throughout Thailand have many more fresh options than what we have in Sukhothai. So our options are more limited and more expensive.

We currently have two boys with fevers, Zach and Chai, Phet who's feverish but won't admit defeat, and a few girls whose lips have paled out this evening. It'll be interesting to see what the night holds. I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight after everyone had gone to bed and Yim walked in with a crying Bpao and said Bpao wouldn't sleep. Bpao said she couldn't sleep because she has a nose. Yim's a little tired from Bpao's sick-and-not-sick yoyo so she didn't see the humor in her declaration in the same way I did. I got Bpao a bit of oil to mix some peppermint into and dabbed it under her nose and got her some extra pillows to elevate her head while trying to sleep. I also clued her in that crying makes your nose feel stuffier and she seemed most appalled and immediately started swallowing hard and rubbing her wet eyes with her shirt.

I sure hope Abi gets some sleep tonight since she doesn't have any kiddos in her house this time.

With so many germs floating around, I cleaned my kitchen extra well today. Moved everything and scrubbed under and behind it all. And I was honestly just horrified. WE clean daily and when you walk in our house, it looks like it's cleaned and well-cared for. But when I moved some of the things that don't regularly get moved, there were soooo many lizards dropping and so many spider webs. I felt a little green around the gills thinking that we eat food from a kitchen that I can't keep any cleaner than this! But when you have lizards running literally everywhere and debris that falls from your ceilings, what else can be expected? I do know I decided I'm going to have to increase my cleaning vigilance because there's just no way I can unsee all that yuck.

Update on Bpao: Yim just brought her back and Bpao's exact words were, again in English, "I still have my nose." I think right now isn't the time to teach her the correct way to say that because I'm also teetering on the brink of exhaustion trying to recover from my own illness while tending to the little people. I'll let her say it cute-ly so it keeps making me smile. Bpao is tucked in on my couch now so Yim can have a break from the marathon she's been running with her little sister's nose. Yim also warned me that Lao is complaining about her nose, too, so my guess is that's it's going to be a fun night! The ones with fevers are much quieter. I've done some ice rags when they feel a little warmer than I'd like, but mostly the fevers have been doing their jobs and burn themselves out pretty quickly.

I didn't get out for a walk today because the day was busy from sunup to well past sundown. But I still logged over 15,000 steps so hopefully it counts as exercise even if it happens by accident.

Also, are diaries supposed to be this boring? I always feel like people who keep them must have really exciting lives but I don't have exciting things to record.

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Today's step count: 16,129 steps

Today walked: No walks taken

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 42.75 miles

Sundays are always full of activity. This particular one, however, got off to a slightly slower start since a number of our early risers were either not feeling great or trying to sleep extra to help themselves not succumb. I got to walk from 6am to about 6:45am before the first bedheaded cuties started to appear. It might seem strange to some that our kids go outside when they wake up, but we spend the vast majority of our time with the children outdoors. It's good for them, it's good for us, and it's just quieter to have a large group in the wide open than it is in a house. They start the weekend mornings doing their personal worship outside.

Today we didn't have to go to town and that's a rare treat! We had our Sunday meeting during the kids' quiet time and we got some more weekly tasks assigned and organized. Every week it seems like it gets a little better. By the time these kids are grown, this place will be running itself!🤭

I didn't get to writing out the next verses in Genesis yet today. Because the purpose is to take in more slowly what I'm reading as I write it, it's hard to do when there's a lot of activity buzzing around me. I'm planning to write some tonight before bed. I've actually never done it at that time of the day so we'll see how my eyes handle it. I still stand by the act of writing out those verses being the absolute best antidote to those horrifying images that so easily pass through my mind. And as I've been faithfully intentional to add healthier activities into my days, those images have been less. I need to stay the course!

I just realized my sweater dropped off the back of my chair and onto the floor beside me and that Evy, our little Maltipoo, is curled up on it. I'm not a dog person at all but this dog won me over right out of the gate. She's so sweet and adorable and she doesn't smell like a dog or shed. What more could I want than a small, red, curly poodle-ly dog that lays down close to wherever I am? If I get up to leave the room, even if she's deep in sleep, she seems to feel obligated to interrupt her own nap to follow. Maybe she thinks I'm trying to get away or it's possible she thinks I'm not safe on my own. I can't be sure, but I do know it's awful cute.

The wind is really blowing which is soooo nice and is probably just exactly what we need to blow the germs out of here. The only problem is how easily the branches fall from the trees. When the wind starts to really blow, we always have to call the children out from under the trees in case something drops. This feels excessive and dramatic until you walk around and see the fallen branches.

A little earlier Charlie starting running a fever. He was determined to outrun it but it didn't work and he finally had to accept defeat ... which means he had to rest. Now Chai, his faithful little bestie, wasn't about to let Charlie rest alone and risk feeling abandoned. And so this evening, Chai made Charlie a makeshift bed on the second story porch outside the boys' room. He set up a mosquito net and everything and gave Charlie the birds-eye view of everything happening around him outside. Get you a Chai, is my suggestion to everyone. And a mosquito net.

I got so much office work done today, even with endless little people popping their heads in asking for an apple, or to borrow my tape, or give me flowers. I like starting the week ahead and I feel more ready for Monday than I often do. Kwan messaged me tonight from college and I just thought how crazy it is that I have a Thai child in college and she's messaging me because she loves me. God is good.

Also, Namwan was standing outside the older girls' house tonight where she sleeps and said, "I love this house!" which made me wish Ethan, Luke, and Austin could have heard it so they'd know just how grateful those girls are. And I love that it's literally right beside me.

Countdown to our visit to the US is on and Levi, Quinn, and Zach are steadfastly gearing up for a friendly soccer challenge against their three older brothers. Right now the big question is, are they going to play in bare feet or wear cleats? Time will tell. Speaking of time: 36 days!

I pushed my leg into my pajama pants tonight and out popped several winged intruders who like to stow away inside our clothes while they hang to dry. You need to shake out your clothes, check your shoes and watch where you step around here.

And you'd better be sure I'll be taking a peek under the covers before I slide in tonight. Centipedes are painfullllll and also plentiful.

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Today's step count: 20,008 (full disclosure-I saw it was close so I stood back up and walked around the house until it hit 20,000 🙃)

Today walked 5.88 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 41.1 miles

Last night was one of those wild nights you survive and hope you never have to repeat. Gita had gone to bed with a fever, but nothing concerning. Whatever this virus is has been slowly winding its path through us. Some have gotten fevers and others haven't. But in general, it's been quick and not too bad. But Gita suddenly woke in the night screaming, "Mama, help me! Papa, help me! P'Hannah, help me! P'Abi, help me!" She was very thorough in calling us and it terrified the other girls. She kept yelling that things were falling in the room and she didn't know who was doing it and, obviously, that also unsettled the other girls. Yim, 18, sleeps in the room with them since she's adult age and we always want an adult with them. She came and got me and I could tell she, herself, was a little rattled. I immediately grabbed a pot and filled it with ice water and a rag. I knew Gita was likely still feverish. I got to the room and found multiple girls very much on edge. I got Gita settled back into her bed and placed the icy rag on her head and prayed with her. She was nice and calm and I sat down nearby so I could continue changing the rag as it warmed.

About an hour or so later, her body was much cooler and I put a fresh, cold rag on her head and found a spot to lay myself down close to her bed. I wasn't comfortable so I didn't fall asleep quickly but clearly I must have slipped into sleep because the next thing I knew, Gita was up and screaming out again. The interesting thing is that everything she was yelling was in English instead of Thai. I got to her and prayed with her and she calmed down. I put a new rag on her head and she seemed to drift off again. I laid down and not much time passed before she was off her bed, blanket balled up in her arms while she spun in circles, yelling things out.

I got her laid down beside me and she went to sleep. It was a long night and I was actually relieved when morning finally came. I went outside to the usual spot I sit reading my Bible when I have the early morning shift watching over the kids. Wawa came out with her Bible and did her paper and then told me she didn't have strength. She threw up at breakfast so I guess she was pretty serious. Happily, both Gita and Wawa are fine this evening.

I spent most of the day in bed, however. I got a short walk in this morning after I had worship and then I slept for hours while Robbie, Hannah and Abi picked up my slack. I even slept through church. In the afternoon, Robbie gently forced me out for another short walk and I came home from that pretty sure I was sick and not just tired. By the time I made it back to my bed following the walk, I was aching all over. More sleep and more shirking of my duties later, and I'm feeling much better. Seems suspicious, even to me, that I feel much better after the work of the day is over, and other people did most of it.

The water has been on the rise again and I'm not even going to pretend that doesn't bother me. But Quinn just walked in and told me, totally at random because I had said nothing about the water or the rain that was violently hitting our roof: "Don't worry. The rain isn't going to flood us tonight." And then he walked away. I'm going to assume God sent Quinn to remind me worrying is a waste of time.

If everyone can sleep through the night tonight, that'll be great. If the rain doesn't cause us to flood, that'll be greater. If neither of those two things happen the way I want them to, God is still greatest.

Goodnight.

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Today's step count: 7,866 🙈

Today walked 2.53 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 35.22 miles

The ick is still going but I can't be certain it's not more than one kind of ick. Bifern was back at school today but tonight Gita has been running a fever. She hasn't mentioned a stomachache and instead cried that she was hungry after opting out of supper. We got her some fruit and she calmed. I'm hopeful by morning the fever will have burned itself out and she'll be perked up. Tonight at worship I heard a sudden splash of liquid on the ground to my right and then I saw kids jumping aside. I was absolutey certain someone had vomited. You can imagine my relief when I learned Lao had just tipped over a bottle of water and it had gone everywhere. No vomit today.

The mosquitos are awful. There, I said it. One of the kids asked me why God created mosquiotos and it reminded me I have so many questions for Him. I think it's going to be so fun (fun isn't really the right word but I can't think of a better one right now) to sit and just talk with Him and find out the whys and wherefores of life on this planet. And honestly, I have a sneaking suspicion He's very much looking forward to answering and explaining. He's waited a long time for the chance to sit with us face to face. I think of how much I miss my boys in America and it gives me the tiniest peek into how He must feel about missing us.

Alex was in an accident in his truck a few months back. Thankfully, nobody was hurt but his truck was totaled. He's patiently waited to buy a new truck until he felt able to handle it and yesterday he brought one home. He went into business for himself earlier this year and not having a truck to haul his tools and equipment was taking a toll. The truck is big and blue and that's about all I know about trucks.

No new updates on Frank. I wonder if she likes knowing she's a girl? I did learn they're keeping her name so I hope they at least make her feel pretty or something.

The immigration police came today to interview Robbie. It went well and the lady from our local immigration office tapped him and said, "See you next month" which seems like a very good indicator that they plan to issue the visas. The same lady was the one who flat-out rejected our application last year and she was unmovable about the matter. The only reason we ended up getting them approved was because one of our social worker's father is in the government and he made some calls to friends even higher up in the goverment and they responded by overruling the local office's judgment. We were grateful then, and we're grateful now, and also we'll thoroughly enjoy if we get to walk into the office and get the visas without the drama. But God uses every encounter in ways we can't always see or know. One thing the licensing of BTY and the 90 day immigration check-ins, and the yearly extensions have offered us is a lot of interaction with government officials. That can't be a bad thing.

Tonight I walked and listened to the Bible and then made a couple loops with my girls. The rain held until we were done. Thankful!

Lastly, I have a missionary friend in Panama who is currently sleeping with a box of baby chicks in her bed between she and her husband, trying to keep them alive since they've been hit with lots of cold rain lately. They're off-grid and don't have heat lamps so she's doing what she's got to do. Getting her picture and messages this morning made me feel like I need to step up my game. I'm considering going to grab one of our ducks and tucking it in beside me tonight. It's raining, after all. But really, there's no way I'm going to do that.

You win, Cindy. ;)

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Today's step count: 15,063

Today walked 3.57 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 32.69 miles

The rain started yesterday and just hasn't stopped. It was gentle, mostly creating mud and not huge swampy areas like is typical. But today it's gotten harder and more persistent. This evening is defintely swampy. I didn't go out for a walk to pray this morning because of the rain so by the time we got through lunch, I had been very sedentary and I messaged Hannah to see if she wanted to go with me. Thankfully, she did.

As we were walking, Hannah look over toward a field full of mud clods and said, "Look! It's so pretty!" I obeyed and looked and then tried to figure out if Hannah was serious. Because I saw mud clods and not beauty. But she wasn't joking. I looked again and I said something like, "I'm glad you pointed it out because I never would have thought that was pretty." The truth was, I still didn't think it was pretty. I just didn't want to be a wet rag. And then she said, "Look at it! The field, the sky, the clouds...it all works together and it's beautiful!" Then she pointed back toward those mud clogs to an area where water was sitting just over their surface and she told me how beautiful it was the way the raindrops were disturbing the water. I finally saw it. I took in the whole scene and realized I was looking at beauty without recognizing it.

The rain started to fall again and I popped my umbrella up and suddenly had this surge of determination come over me that I want to get into nature, no matter what the weather is. I want to notice the beauty in mud clods.

Levi, Quinn, and Zach built a little shelter, inspired by their new position as goat herders. They spent much of the afternoon under it, beyond proud that it doesn't leak. Now the shelter happens to be in a tree so I decided I'm just not going to look. Robbie said it's safe and I'm choosing to believe it's true. They came in having thoroughly enjoyed their time up there.

We haven't completely escaped the spread of the stomach ick, as Bifern was home from school today. But it doesn't seem too bad so even if it keeps making its rounds, I'm thankful it seems fairly mild.

We had Bible study this morning through Zoom with some good friends in the US, like we do each Thursday. All 8 of my biological children get on and I cannot ever explain in words how grateful I am for that. We go long stretches without seeing each other in person but we get to study together each week and then we stay on the call with the boys after the study is over to hang out and talk. The whole thing is definitely a highlight of the week!

I just glanced at my step count and realized I'm going to have to pace the house or something. I really want to get to at least 10,000 today even though the rain has been relentless. I wonder if pacing the house really counts as physical activity? 😂

Tomorrow the immigration police will be coming here to interview Robbie as part of the visa renewal process. Each year this is a challenge and it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out this year. The interview part is expected to go smoothly, as it did last year. It's the rest of it that gets sticky. God will have His way.

My sister got engaged this week. She sent me pictures of the beach proposal (she works in marketing at a beach resort) and she looks as happy to be proposed to as Adam looked to be proposing. I'm so happy for them!

As I type, the rain keeps pounding on my roof and I just keep telling myself I like the sound. I'm almost starting to believe it. As long as I take my thoughts captive about the flooding, the sound of rain really does induce good sleep. I'll focus on that because I could use good sleep.

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Today's step count: 10,312

Today walked 2.09 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 29.12 miles

My alarm sounded at 5am this morning and at first I considered ignoring it. But the very conscious thought of wanting to connect with God came to my mind and I got up and went out to walk and talk with Him. My sandaled feet got muddy because it rained yesterday. But by the time I'd covered more than a mile and a half, I genuinely sensed the connection and I was grateful to have dirty feet since it meant I'd had time alone with Him.

We all had worship together on the porch while the mosquitos thanked us for our presence by treating us as their morning buffet. We had lots of fans going to help keep them away but lately they've been especially numerous and persistent. Rainy season seems to do that.

After we got the children loaded into the vans and Robbie and Bunmee headed to the schools, I finished getting ready for a day at the hospital with one of our girls. We picked up her grandmother at the bus station and arrived at the hospital just as a parade from a nearby school was blocking all the lanes. Parking was not an easy feat. Today she had two different appointments and the second one was long and stretched through lunch, which turned out to be a blessing. No need for hospital food. We just drove home and ate a late lunch.

I skipped over the middle parts where the day at the hospital, and the meeting after, felt heavy and stress tempted me. I'm trying to focus on the things I can find to smile about so I can teach myself to recognize that even when things feel too much, God offers moments of lightness and I want to be grateful for that.

One such thing was a text message I woke up to this morning from Alex. A few weeks ago he found a cat that turned out to have no known owner. So he took the cat home to the little house he shares with my other two adult sons. That cat has meowed until they thought they'd lose their minds, but they hung in there and named him Frank. We get fairly regular updates about Frank and last night I learned Frank had run outside and was now "an under the house cat". But this morning there was a plot twist. The message read: "Back inside again. Frank is a girl now, so that's big news." Something tells me that though Frank was initially mistaken for a boy, his very boy name will stick. I sure hope Frank the girl cat stops meowing all the time.

Something happened last evening that should probably concern me about myself more than it does. I was tuckered and ready to shower so I could crawl into bed. I grabbed my pajamas and went to wash away the dirt from the day. However, I got into the bathroom (after flipping on the light which is outside the room), locked the door, and got my things settled. Quite unexpectedly the light went out. Electricity in our part of the world isn't the greatest and we supplement with solar. But during rainy season the batteries don't charge well and the solar switches back to the grid earlier than during times of sustained sunshine. Also, most of our wiring is more than a little wonky so I don't know if the light went out due to a malfunction or a drop in current. What I do know is that I had two choices: Exit the bathroom to go find a flashlight or shower in the dark. I'm not even kidding you when I tell you I laughed out loud as I opted for the latter. Because it was DARK in that room and I already don't have great eyesight. I could see nothing.

I felt my way over to the area under the shower head and fumbled around for the lever that turns the water on. I found it and as soon as the water hit me, I realized my mistake.

I was still fully clothed.

In all my effort to find my way in the dark, I'd forgotten critical elements for a successful shower. I stood in that dark bathroom, fumbling again for the lever, this time to turn the water OFF. The whole thing became a challenge I was ready to conquer. My friend in the US recently did an Ironman and I knew if she could do that, I could do this. I'm happy to report, I did get both clean and dry, without going to get a flashlight. Upon exiting my dungeon at the completion of my challenge, I tapped the switch and sure as anything that light turned right on. I have no idea what had happened but it gave me a giggle so it's whatever.

Today was full and busy and some moments felt tense. But tonight when I shower, I'll go ahead and keep the light on.

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Today's step count: Forgot to put my step tracker on after charging.

Today walked 1.64 intentional miles

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 27.03 miles

Tonight I went to put the girls to bed and found that both Awa and Wawa hadn't put their school uniforms in the laundry basket, which meant they didn't get washed. I held them up and told them throwing their clothes on the floor is not an acceptable method. Awa, full of vigor after her day of vomiting yesterday, rushed up to me and said, "Oh mom! I can not do it! That's why. It's okay." And then I knew I'd heard the best excuse for throwing clothes on the floor I'd ever heard. Because if you can not put them in the basket, then you simply can not do it.

Tomorrow we'll make sure Awa learns she can do it. Wawa didn't dispute her choice, or her ability to have made a different one. So that seemed like solid progress.

Every day that I'm free to do so, I sit in the classroom across the pond from our house with Levi, Quinn, and Zach while they do school. We switched to a computer curriculum because I'm so often pulled away causing consistency in their schooling to be sadly lacking. I was tired of beating myself up and also tired of them not knowing what grade they're in because did we finish school last year and move up? Or no? This way they have a set amount to do every day, and when it's done, most of it is already graded. What I do have to grade is minimal, which right now, is very, super, incredibly helpful. But I'm right there with them to explain things they don't understand and to answer questions or to reset assignments they don't do well on. It's given me the funniest glimpse into the varying personalities of my three youngest biological boys.

Levi and Quinn ask me to reset most anything that's below an A. Zach, on the other hand, likes a little spice in his life and seeing more of the alphabet in his grades doesn't bother him a bit. He'll come celebrating an 80% on an assignment because he didn't even have to ask for help! All three boys are doing well, though, and I thoroughly enjoy those hours with them in that classroom. It's where I sit writing out the Bible and somehow the whole time in there just feels peaceful.

Today Abi, Gam, and I took a walk around the recently backfilled rice paddies. Because of rainy season, the weeds have grown up in thatches out there. We don't have a tractor or anything and it's a huge expanse to try to tackle with a weed eater. As we were walking the perimeter we suddenly had the idea to set the goats loose in there! So we did and then we played shepherd which resulted in all three of us running like crazy people trying to herd the goats away from Bunmee and Nun's beautiful vegetable garden. I saw Abi grab one of the goats by the horn to direct it where she wanted it to go and I thought, I can do that! So I kicked into high gear to chase a goat down, got her cornered at the fence, grabbed a horn, and then wrestled her the whole way back to where we wanted her. The entire time I had her horn she was trying to turn her head to ram it into me. I think it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

But I also thought it was a vastly better idea to go hunt Levi, Quinn, and Zach down and convince them they'd always wanted to be shepherds and today was their chance to make that dream come true. They politely side-eyed me and then headed out to their post. They ended up perching in a tree to "watch over them". How come it worked for them to sit afar off but for us we had to chase those goats? Anyway, it doesn't matter because I have no desire to be a shepherd.

I guess in the case of goats it would be a goat herder and not a shepherd but that's okay.

Tomorrow I'll be at the hospital most of the day. Everything happens a little differently here than in America. Routine medical appointments happen in the hospital. Some immigration offices are inside shopping malls. You pay your electric bill in 7-11. We even once mailed a package at a laundramat.

When we're at the hospital over lunch time, I always take the social workers who go with me, and the child we're there with, to the hospital cafeteria. It's basically a big room with tables, and a good many food vendors serving Thai food and white rice. They choose their favorite option and tell it to the ladies wearing the aprons who then go and serve the food up and then call out for them to go get it. It's almost like you're eating from each individual vendor's personal kitchen. I've not yet been able to order food for myself from there. First of all, I'm vegetarian and I've never seen a meatless option not being served right along side the meat options, using the same utensils. I don't know when I became so sensitive but I can't handle it! But also, I've never understood how people manage to eat in hospitals without any problem. Tomorrow I'll be fasting through lunch.

We seem to possibly have escaped the stomach ick from spreading beyond the first two girls. I wouldn't say we're out of the woods of having new cases, but it's certainly hopeful since nobody came down with it today. Bpao had a close call, though. Because Awa sneezed near her resulting in Bpao spending the next several hours convinced she was sick. It's amazing what the mind can tell you because that little girl truly believe she immediately became sick after the now-better Awa sneezed in Bpao's space.

I'm happy to report that, as I leaned down at Bpao's bedside tonight to pray with her, I asked her if she was feeling better (because she had waaaayyyy too much energy to truly have the sneezy flu) and she grinned sheepishly and admitted she forgot she was sick. I patted her little head and told her I was glad.

Because I am.

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Today's step count: 16,737

Today walked 3.78 intentional miles (2 walks)

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 25.39 miles

Today felt long but that's generally the way it is when you have kids with a stomach bug.

I told Abi today that I literally think it's my fault this belly ick hit because not more than two or three days ago I was thinking how amazing it was that we almost never have vomiting (from a virus) children here. And if in all our years here a stomach bug ever raged through, I don't remember it. I was thinking it in a thankful way but then today Lao threw up in the van on the way to school and then Abi messaged that Awa was throwing up. She'd already stayed home because her head hurt so it wasn't super surprising. Poor Awa spent the day throwing up intermittently but by evening seemed to be perking up a bit. She and Lao are both at Abi's house so we can try to isolate them from the other children. Abs has been a dear to spend her day looking after them in spite of their cooties. :)

We had a meeting today through Zoom that felt hard but also it went well. Sometimes difficult decisions have to be made and we struggle making them. We were thankful for the fellow missionaries that helped us work through things today. This week is full of medical stuff for one of our Thai girls and I'll spend most of Wednesday in the hospital for appointments with her. We're definitely hopeful for some helpful answers.

This evening I sprawled across my bed for a quick minute before evening worship due to fatigue from the day and I ended up sleeping through until 7:30pm or so. I had to force myself up because I've let our accounting spreadsheet fall behind and that's never good. I have my weekly meeting with Todd tomorrow to go over the spreadsheet and I wanted it to be all caught up. By God's grace, it is.

All the kids are in bed and I'm going for a few loops around the pond to settle my mind before I climb back under the covers myself. I use the cover more to keep the mosquitos from biting than because I'm cold. I'm defintely not cold. I'm trying hard to get to bed by 9pm each night but mostly it feels impossible. I'll keep trying, though. I know the efforts for better mental, physical and spiritual health I've been making are having God's blessing added to them. I'm so thankful for how personal He is.

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Today's step count: 13,539

Today walked 2.34 intentional miles (2 walks)

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 21.61 miles

The day got started early; much earlier than I had hoped. I'd gone out for a walk before dawn and gotten a mile or so in by circling the pond. But then I heard the familiar sounds of children scuffing along in the gravel. I accepted that my walk, and quiet, was over and I made my way to the sala that sits out over the pond. The children started coming to me with Bibles and their Bible reading plan papers we give them each Sabbath. They sprawled themselves around the sala benches, found the day's reading in their Bibles and then scratched out the answer to the related question on their papers. I signed each one in turn, evidence that they had, in fact, done it that morning rather than rushing to do the whole week's worth on the day the papers are to be turned in.

We're trying to teach the children to establish a habit of personal worship each morning and evening. We've modeled it for them over the years but in the past year we've been more intentional to "teach" it to them. For many of them it's still getting done because it's required. For others, it's becoming a part of their day they look forward to.

Leaving the sala around 7am, I rang the bell for the kids to start their morning chores. Barely had the tinkling of the small bell stopped sounding in my ears than I started to hear angry voices escalating into a fight inside the younger girls' room. One girl's things had been taken and she had a suspicion as to who'd done the taking. The accused didn't receive the accusation well and she stood, arms poised for a fight, voice rising to match her indignation.

Here we go again, I thought. How fun that they're fighting already. I gave them a few minutes to see if they could work it out without intervention. We've been working hard for them to know how to deal with conflict in a healthy way. Sometimes they nail it, other times they fail it.

Today was a fail and intervention was required. I finished supervising chore time, while periodically calling out to Charlie to stop screaming like he was at war, and then rang the bell for group morning worship.

And that's when the accused from the earlier spat remembered she was supposed to be angry. And she started to howl. And then the howls got louder and she settled into her anger with conviction. I placed a hand on her back and guided her through the crowd while throwing them my best fake-it-till-you-make-it smile. I walked her away from the worship gathering and over to the firepit where we have Friday evening worship. I got her seated on a bench, prayed with her (though my words were drowned out by her shrieks) and then let her know she wasn't to leave the bench until I came for her. I then walked back to the rest of the children until worship was over. Her cries slowly died down as she'd lost her audience and my patience regenerated as I gave God a moment to remind me why we're here.

The morning continued with breakfast and then a swap in shifts as Hannah took over for me while I ran some of the older girls to town quick and Robbie took two of the boys for haircuts. By soon after lunch, Robbie, Hannah, Abi, and I met on the porch of the girls house for our weekly meeting while the kids had quiet time in their rooms.

It was like an exhale, and while we talked and problem-solved and planned, we also laughed and enjoyed a reprieve from the childish drama that surrounds us.

Following the meeting and quiet time, the day continued very much as it had started. None of us know why the kids were in such sorts but it was hour after hour of this thing or that. We were all happy to reach bedtime.

When tucking them in for the night, the younger girls have all started to ask for us to pray with them individually, instead of over them as a group. After a long day, it takes grit to hang in there for that extra time before you can retreat for some peace. It's as awful to realize in the moment as it probably is for someone to read it. But feeling like you don't have the energy for something doesn't mean you don't do it. And in doing it, we always realize how sweet those moments are when their soft voices pray to a God they're sure can keep them from bad things in the night.

And He does.

I flipped off the lights and called out a final round of i love yous and I'll see you in the mornings and then I made my way to quiet for some rest.

Because tomorrow we get to do it all again.

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Today's step count: 9,539

Today walked 1.44 intentional miles (1 walk)

Total intentional miles walked since 8/9/2026: 19.27 miles