What are you living for?

I want to dedicate this post to a very special lady named Joni.  I've been meaning to write this for a long time now and after talking about it a few times recently, with some friends of mine, I figured... no better time than the present. :)

Probably within the first month of being in Thailand, a friend from our sending church, Joni, sent me this link to a Francis Chan sermon.  As many of you know, I had a rough start to life here and have definitely had many moments of questioning whether we should be here... fighting feelings of extreme homesickness... missing all things familiar.  But little did Joni know, that this little clip would bring a WORLD of hope... proper perspective... needed refocusing for me.  And I have called it to mind, time and time and time again.

You see... whenever life over here starts to feel heavy, or I feel as though what I've "given up to be here" is too great, God has brought this sermon to mind.  And suddenly, its as if I get snapped back to the reality of what I really, truly, actually want.  And what I want is, to stand before my Father on that Final Day, and be able to say that I followed obediently and did my best to fulfill what God has called me to do.  I want to know that I lived life in light of the white part of the rope, rather than the red.  That I treated life as the brief gift that it is, and made every effort to live out and share God's truth and love with the world.

Are there still days that feel really hard?  For sure.  Do I still miss my friends and family everyday?  Absolutely.  But I also know that I get to spend the "white part of the rope" with them, and therefore, the sacrifice of the "now," is SO worth the reward at the end.

So, Joni... I cannot thank you enough... for caring enough to think of me... for caring enough to take the time to send this... and for being used in a mighty way, by our caring Father, in my life... over and over again.  Thank-you.

1 year...

It really is hard to believe that its October 14th again.  It feels like just yesterday we were stepping off our Cathay Pacific flight, after a LOOOONG journey from Vancouver to Bangkok.

So much has changed since then.  

One of the biggest things being, that there were 3 of us when we arrived in Thailand on October 14th, 2011,

and now there are 4 :)

Not to mention all of the crazy things that happened in between.

All in all, its been quite the year.  I'd say one of the deepest truths we've had reaffirmed since we've been here, is that God truly, truly is FAITHFUL and hasn't left us... not even for a second.  There have been some dark times... some of the hardest times of our lives... but also some really incredibly rich times.  And through it all, God has remained the strength that has got us through and the joy that has shone through, even when we felt like we couldn't do this.  

And I guess what I just really want to say in this post is THANK-YOU.  

Thank you to all of you who have believed in us... who have walked alongside us on the long road that got us here... who have supported us financially... who have supported us through prayer... who have sent us ridiculously awesome care packages... who have emailed and FB messaged us, just to say you're thinking of us and praying for us daily... who have taken time to Skype with us... who have come (or are planning to come) visit us... who love us... who want to see us succeed... who have made this entire last year (and the many to come) possible.  We feel deeply, deeply blessed by all of you.

Thanks for being a part of this crazy journey we're on!  We honestly couldn't do it without you and we're so thankful you're along for the ride! :)

So, as I reflect back over this past year, I guess my heart just feels really thankful.  Thankful to God and thankful to all of you.  And I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the year to come.   

You decide...

Here in Thailand, we get delicious, yellow watermelons-- but, here's what I want to know.

Based on this picture we took the other day, which would YOU classify as a yellow watermelon?

Do you judge this 'book' by its cover or by its inside? 

Tricky question, isn't it!? 

Its the small stuff...

When you live away from "home" and can't get familiar foods as easily, it really is the small things that make all the difference.  For us, home cooked dinners are an incredibly comforting thing these days but really don't happen all that often.  As I've mentioned in other posts, it doesn't always pay to cook at home when our whole family can eat Thai food for $3 total.

But, nonetheless, I've really been craving good-home-cooked-meals lately and so I've been doing a bit more in the kitchen these days.

I made BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for supper last week and we all enjoyed it so much, I'm going to make it again tonight.  This may seem funny to you, but let me just say again...

Its the small stuff that makes ALL the difference. :)

The start of something new

Seeing as our journey towards being missionaries in Thailand is a completely new phase & chapter of life, it seems only fitting to start a blog that is completely dedicated to just that.... our journey to Thailand.  I also want to be able to offer updates & news about ourselves to a more broad spectrum of people, especially once we leave North America so I think this is a good place to do so.

I don't have a whole lot to report tonight, but just want to say thanks for stopping by & feel free to check in for more frequent updates from here on out.  We look forward to having you join us on this journey!

Image taken from here