DELIGHT | Expat Eyes

My favorite cafe with my favorite guy!

The layers of expat living can be overwhelming at times, because even the most mundane tasks (like grocery shopping) are more complex than you might imagine. So when something more serious occurs (like an unexpected health crisis), it feels like you're simply treading enough to keep your head above water. Such was the case for us just after Christmas. Time stood still these last 3 weeks as we waited for appointments and tests. Praise the Lord, we received the best news possible at the end of it all, but there is still a journey of healing ahead. Between this, the unexpected death of a friend, and the finality of the big holidays, we were ushered into the next phase of our lives - the beast called International Move.

Something I've learned about expat living is that when facing with an avalanche of hard and heavy things (which seems to be a common thread among expats), the best thing to do is slow down, step back, and soak in the every day mercies and blessings God has given you. Proverbs 19:23 says, "The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm." To fear the Lord essentially means to respect, revere, or be in awe of who God is. I once read a phrase "the fear of the Lord silences all other fears" and it's true! In the face of painful situations, the fear of the Lord keeps the main thing in our lives on track and clearly paved the path our feet will travel. January has been our month to slow down and reflect on the goodness and character of the Lord while also moving forward in the direction He has called us to go.

Here's a few January blessings & delights ...

Ellie's first sparklers for New Year's Eve

1. New Year's Eve our friends joined us to ring in 2023 with appetizers, sparklers, games, and fireworks. It was so much fun! This was the first year Ellie got to enjoy sparkers and her entire countenance exuded the sweetest joy. She also stayed up until nearly midnight, and remained pretty joyful for the whole evening until her little body just needed sleep. The thing I have loved about our house is that every year we have watched the most wonderful fireworks display from our porch. This year the husbands took the kids to the park to watch fireworks, while my friend and I enjoyed some Adam's Sparkling Apple Cider (it's no Martinelli's but it's a great substitute), chatting away as the fireworks illuminated the sky. We have been blessed in this home and blessed with sweet friends that pour life into our family.

Happy 2023 to us!

2. Every New Year's Day since moving to Hatyai, we have invited friends over to enjoy games and a cheese board. We don't have a lot of options when it comes to cheese here, but it's become such a delightful treat for our family to once a year enjoy real cheese on what's become a special New Year's Day tradition. (And yes, we are really looking forward to enjoying real cheese once we get back to Oregon.) We also taught our friends the game Parks, which has absolutely become one of our favorite game in the last year. With our littles playing, and the four of us "hiking through those national parks," we were delighted by this slower paced day. Another grace of God, delighting in the food and fellowship He graciously gives us.

Love these peeps!

3. We hosted a thank you dinner for this sweet group of friends, who make everything flow for our Saturday English programs. God has brought the loveliest people into our lives and we are thankful for every single one of them. This concluded the back-to-back New Year's party trilogy. I'm going to miss doing all these things next year, while at the same time, I can't wait to be with our families to enjoy all that we've missed since being away. It's been an interesting month walking with our oldest daughter as she verbally processes her feelings about returning to America. Excitement, joy, worry, and fear - we are all processing these emotions, but at least we're doing it together.

Love when I get to read *real* books!

4. This month I started reading the book The Life Giving Home: Creating A Place of Belonging & Becoming by Sally Clarkson & Sarah Clarkson. I borrowed it from a friend a few months back, but wasn't able to start reading until this month. Oh my goodness, I'm halfway through and absolutely LOVING it. I will have to buy it once I get back to America because it has so many ideas and tips. It's been inspiring me to implement life-giving routines into our family, especially to carry over from Thailand to our life in America. International moves can become especially unnerving for children, so establishing joyful family norms today that can carry over to this new season will be so helpful for our girls, especially the littles as they know nothing about life in America.

* Grateful * Thankful * Blessed *

5. Some dear friends made us personalized mugs for Christmas. They created these "His & Her" mugs with pics from our Facebook. What they didn't realize was actually how meaningful this gift would be to me. The picture on my pink mug was from 5 years ago. No one knew what was happening behind the scenes that day. We were going through some intense days of counseling in Chiang Mai and had stopped at a coffee shop for a brain break. We were so emotionally exhausted, feeling hopeless, and wondering exactly what God had in store for our family because the future felt grim. On the other side of the mug is our family Christmas picture from 2022 (like what you see on Kiel's blue mug). What a contrast! Our friends didn't realize these two pictures were actually a declaration and remembrance of God's faithfulness. Everything has changed since then. I couldn't see hope that day in the Chiang Mai coffee shop, but how incredible were the miracles He had in store. And the story isn't over! God is constantly training us for greater things, refining us through our struggles and sufferings, building our faith, and drawing us closer to Himself. I've been encouraged by this verse the last couple days ...

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." - Hebrews 12:11-14

2023 Gingerbread House!

6. Since moving to Hatyai, we started a new tradition of making a New Year gingerbread house. It wasn't intentional, but with babies, it just kept getting pushed back. So this year we decided to embrace this unintentional tradition. The only place I know you can buy a gingerbread house kit in Thailand is the Bangkok IKEA. Since there is no IKEA in Hatyai, my Bangkok friends keep an eye out for me. Typically Christmas at IKEA arrives around the end of October. If there's one thing I learned from living in Bangkok, you never wait to grab your IKEA Christmas goodies because the expats pillage everything well before Thanksgiving. This year a sweet friend bought us a kit for Christmas because she knows much we love all the Christmas traditions. It was such a blessing & joy for our family. Thankful for friends, who love us in such special ways like this. Who knows, maybe our next Christmas in Hatyai (2025), I'll be motivated enough to design and create my own gingerbread house like my dad use to do when I was young. I guess we'll just wait and see.

Children's Day 2023

7. Thailand has a lot of really fun and unique festivals. Children's Day is celebrated annually the second Saturday in January. Historically speaking, parents use this day to bond, celebrate, and enrich their children's lives, reinforcing good values and role models. As a nation, they celebrate the development of their kids, as well as their future contributions to society. Activities, freebies, and festivals take place across the nation for families to enjoy together. We decided to take the girls out to play at the Songkhla Park, enjoy the swings, and sun. When it got too hot, we jumped back in the car and went for ice cream at Swenson's, which really has the best ice cream in Thailand and was Evie's #1 request. Kids Day, Kids Choice!

Some of the best market strawberries I've seen!

8. The best things about January in Thailand? It's the height of STRAWBERRY SEASON!!! Northern Thailand has "winter" (though it never snows), but now is the time it gets cool enough to grow strawberries. Fresh berries is what I miss most living in the tropics. We have a lot of amazing fruits you can't get in Oregon, but goodness, how I miss Hood-berries. You can find imported berries in the stories sometimes, but they are pretty expensive. So January is my month to enjoy fresh strawberries and I savor every bite until the next year. Also a fun tidbit, you often receive some sort of seasoning/ sauce packet to "enjoy with your fruits, either sweet & salty or savory & spicy. Thailand has an abundance of sauces/ seasonings for most everything, and most are so wonderfully flavorful. Other are ... unique. For me, I love my fruits fresh, plain & simple.

Treasuring every moment with my girl!

9. I view my life in terms. A term is 4 years overseas in Thailand, plus a year in Oregon. When we first moved to Thailand in 2015, I knew we had 3 terms with Evie. We are now staring at the very end of her 2nd term. One more and then she goes off to college. Lately, my husband and I have been talking about all we want for our oldest to experience during her last term in Thailand. One of those things is designated one-on-one time with both mom and dad every month. This was our normal for a long while, but between adding littles to the family and the pandemic, it was placed on the back burner. It's taken some time to find our footing as a family of five. Evie loves being a big sister, but she also misses that 100% attention from mom and dad. So my goal is to create more opportunities for this girl to thrive and share all that's on her heart, especially with such big life decisions ahead. The rules were simple - no school and no littles talk (because I found most of our conversations revolve around those two topics). We went to one of our favorite cafes for ice tea & pie, we watch the sunset, and had a little adventure checking out a new cafe that has a pond with at least half a dozen unique bridges. It was so good for us, spending this precious time together. I can't wait until next time!

Visiting mama puppy & Em wanted to stay forever. Sometimes it's hard being 2!

10. Now that the monsoon rains are letting up (sort of), we started taking family walks in the mornings. We have TONS of street dogs the exist at the entrance of our neighborhood (at least 20 dogs, which is by no means an exaggeration). There is always a litter of puppies around, and this time we found where a mama had given birth to 7 puppies in the bushes close to the security guard's gate. The Littles are completely enthralled with these sweet puppies. True, there were a few big emotions when they are told it's time to leave, but it's become a pleasant morning routine for our family to share together.

Reading to my sleeping beauties!

11. As a girl, one of my fondest memories was when my mom read to my sister and I until we fell asleep. The next night we would tell her what we remembered last and she would start off from there until we fell asleep the next night and so on. These two are not at the chapter books stories yet, but now that Elle & Em are on the same sleep schedule, I adore this new reading routine we've got going on. I also love that once they are finally asleep, I can peer into their sweet little faces to pray peace and bless over my little angels. More than anything, it causes me to slow down, settle my heart, take a deep breath, and once again, praise the Lord for these two little miracles that I never saw coming.

Lord Jesus, thank you for blessing our lives with little delights. Thank you that in Your Kingdom, life is not dictated by hard news or fear, but by Your Spirit. Thank you for the promise that comes with walking in the fear of the Lord. Let us never forget to bask in Your presence and give You glory for all You have done in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.