He's here!

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of

Gavin Kenneth Alan Esau 

February 4th, 2015 @ 1:59am.
6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19.5" long 

On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, I saw my doctor one last time and she gave me the news I had been dreading... considering I was already 10 days overdue, I would need to arrive at the hospital at 6am the next day for induction.  I left feeling very discouraged and defeated.  I had really wanted to avoid induction.  After getting home from my appointment that night, I called the American nurse that would be assisting with the delivery and told her the news.
She prayed for me over the phone and asked that God would allow this baby to come on its own that night and that induction wouldn't be necessary.  I wrote to my family and asked them to pray for the same thing.  
And wouldn't you know it!?  I went into labour a mere hour later!!  We arrived at the hospital at midnight and by 1:59am, I was holding sweet Gavin in my arms! Such a testimony of answered prayer and the gracious love of our Father!!
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me throughout this pregnancy and offered words of encouragement and support!  We truly felt covered in prayer and are so thankful for the network of people we have around us, loving and supporting us.

MINA highlights to date

Because let's be honest, our MINA has been WAY busier than I ever imagined and unfortunately, I simply don't have time to recap everything that's happened so far.  So instead, here are some highlights via pictures! Enjoy :)

Gods' beautiful creation

Evening hiking near the house we're staying at

"High Tea" dates with Nammy

Celebrating Marek's 2nd Birthday with family

Enjoying bathtime in actual, real sized bathtubs ;)
(something we don't get to do in Thailand unless we're at a hotel) 

Taking in the beautiful British Columbia scenery

Fun at the Adventure Centre in Prince George, BC during our road trip up North

Park time in the cool, fresh air

Making new friends on our road trip to SK and having an early birthday celebration together!

Reconnecting with old friends in SK

Having all the Glen family cousins together for the very first time!   

Birthday morning breakfast with Grandma

Celebrating Callie's 5th Birthday with family

"Elsa" on her special day :)

More cousin time!

Throwing a 40th Anniversary party for my parents with my siblings!
So special to get to be here for it and have our whole family a part of it!

Riding the train at Stanley Park for the first time (Vancouver, BC)

Cooling off at the splash park on a little family day off!

So, obviously, amidst all of this, we've also really enjoyed our time sharing at various Care Groups and churches and connecting with many of our supporters.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures of everything, but we've been thankful for this time with people we love and the support and love we've received from SO many, thus far!  Thank-you to everyone who has made time for us and we hope to connect with many more of you before our early September departure!!

Happy Summer everyone!

Nearing the end...

Well, we're almost finished our 2.5 years in Thailand and I'm having to remind myself of this a lot these days....

Hahaha.... I'm kidding (kind of) ;)

But there is indeed a lot to get done in these last days.  For quite a while, it felt as though the list just kept getting longer and longer, but rather than getting things checked OFF the list, they were being added faster than we could accomplish them.  It was getting to be a bit defeating at times.

 But, I'm happy to report that we're making good headway on crossing things off now, and its helping the stress level diminish, which means the excitement can build!!

As I look forward to re-engaging in Canada with friends and family, I must admit there are still many things I will miss about our life here in Thailand.  

Here are a few of them, in no particular order......

Ganyaa.... this woman is near and dear to my heart.
Gonna miss her a TON!

Ganyaa & Mae Dtu... love these women and so thankful God brought
them into our lives.  Still confident they WILL find Jesus! 

Our teammates, Jason & Corina.
When we return to Thailand in September, they won't be here anymore.
Just writing that makes me teary-eyed.
OK, moving on before I completely lose it.... ;(

Each one of the kids that come to our Sunday morning outreach every week.
Love these kids.

Ridiculously cheap and DELICIOUS Thai food and drinks.
Honestly... nothing compares.

Our house.
This place has become a true haven for me.
A place of peace and rest.
Thankful for it everyday.

Sunshine.
Now, don't be fooled.
I WILL NOT miss the humidity, but I will miss the guarantee of sun everyday. ;)

Our teammates

And of course,
my dear, dear friend, Lauren.
Literally wouldn't have survived these last 2.5 years without her.
Her friendship is one of those rare and precious gifts that comes along once in a lifetime.
Though we don't live in the same city anymore,
I'll still miss being in the same time zone as her and our regular texts and FaceTime calls.


So as I reflect on this past term, and I look at these pictures (and there are many more I could add), 
it reminds me again of the fact that God has never once left our side.  
There have been some tough times.... and I mean, tough.... 
but the gifts he has blessed us with... 
the relationships, the opportunities, the people....

I know this is where we were meant to be.

God has taught us more about ourselves than we ever dreamed possible.

He's stretched us and he's moulded us into more of the people he wants us to be.

And more than anything, He's shown us more of who he is as our Father...

loving, gracious, compassionate and oh so patient.

I'm humbled that He's called us to this journey and I'm eternally thankful for the fact that He promises to be here every step of the way. 

I can't wait to see what He has in store for us next :)

"Though you slay me"

One of my dearest friends shared this song with me this week and its so unbelievably good, I just have to share it with you.  I'm pretty sure we can all relate to the deep, moving lyrics of this song, at some point in our lives....

("Though you slay me" by Shane & Shane ft. John Piper)

.... in a lot of ways, this song sums up a lot of the last 2.5 years for me.  The beautiful part is that I know  the stripping down, the tearing away, the remoulding, is all for a greater purpose.  A purpose I rarely see or understand, but am starting to slowly lean into, because if there's one thing the last few years have taught me, its that His plans are always better than mine.  Always.

Nostalgia...

Not sure where it came from, or why exactly it showed up, but today, I was struck by an incredible bout of nostalgia.  

Does that ever happen to you?  Suddenly, completely out of the blue, you're bombarded with memories from the past... totally overwhelmed with how fast time has gone... and though you can't get those moments back, thankfully, they're etched in a special, deep place in your heart, never to be snatched away.  

That's been today for me.  Specifically from when we first arrived in Thailand, almost 2.5 years ago.  I suddenly couldn't help but look back at pictures from that time, and remember the very teeny, tiny, little Callie that we brought with us. 

Curly blonde hair, a button nose, rosy & round little cheeks.... just pure, innocent cuteness.  She literally had no idea just how much her life was about to change.  But she had us and so, everything was a-ok with her.   

 I'm so thankful for the way she trusted us...... how it was just the 3 of us on this grand adventure.

Though those first months were TOUGH, I have such happy memories from that time in our lives.  Such happy memories of my sweet little girl.

I found out a mere 3 weeks before we left for Thailand that I was pregnant with (who would eventually become) Marek, and at the time, the thought of that was totally terrifying and so far outside the plans I had made for our family for our first year in Thailand.

But then, that sweet little bundle of goodness arrived, changing our lives forever... for the better.... and I smile at the instant reassurance I had that this was indeed, a far better plan than I could have ever dreamed or imagined for us.

A child full of joy, love and excitement for life that is hard to match.  Just what this culture-shocked Mama needed.... and continues to need.  

And now, we prepare for our upcoming MINA (Ministry in North America) and they suddenly feel so..... grown up.  And I'm trying desperately to cling to the moments of when they were "littler." Yet, at the same time, am absolutely loving their "grown-up" personalities.

So, today... my heart is full of thankfulness for the memories that have been, and the ones that will be.  Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing. 

We're baaaaack! ;)

Wow.  My last post was literally months ago.  Sorry about that!  My excuse?  Well... the same as everyone else, I guess.  Life has been busy and I actually kind of forgot about this blog all together, to be honest :)

But, lots has happened over the last few months and so I'll try to get you caught up via pictures.

For starters, our kids are growing up WAY too fast... especially Marek.  And he's such a character.
Jon had given him a custard bun to eat on the way home from a meeting and turned around to see this...

... so exhausted he couldn't even finish his mouthful ;)

And Callie, well... she's so grown up as well.  Even started golfing with her Daddy...

Speaking of being a little character...

We had a chance to do a little weekend road trip up to Chiang Mai a couple of months ago.  We had to drop off our car (our friends are selling it up there for us) and also wanted to see some of our dear friends.  Considering the 9 hour drive, the kids did really well.

Callie and Daddy were delighted to find corn dogs at one of the gas stations we stopped at...

... and we were so excited to see some of our old friends at our favourite market in Chiang Mai.  

Dtan and her husband have the best restaurant in the market, by far! :)  We've missed our almost daily visits to their spot in the food court.  

Marek loved meeting their daughter, Dtenggwa (which is Thai for "cucumber").  They're just a few months apart in age.

And of course, Marek was pumped to see his little buddy, William.  It was so fun and refreshing to be with our amazing friends, Lauren & Steven, again.  

And of course, our dear friend, P'Boh and her family.  She was our maebaan (house helper) during our year in Chiang Mai and is honestly like family to us.  We surprised her with our visit and it was honestly one of the most heartwarming things watching Callie run into her arms and embrace her!  I couldn't help but tear up.  We had such a great visit with them!

Even though Marek was only 5 months old when we left Chiang Mai, I swear he remembered P'Boh.  

He loooooved being with her :)

In September, Jon and I were able to take a little solo vacation for 3 nights.  We celebrated our 8th anniversary in August so this was our chance to have a little "us time." We found an INCREDIBLE seat sale with Air Asia and had booked it over a year ago.  We managed to get roundtrip flights for the 2 of us to Krabi for only $60!  Taxes in and everything!  We just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!  So, bless "Auntie" Sandy's heart for being willing to come stay with our kids while we got away for a little R&R.

And boy was it amaaaaazing!  Krabi is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful and we had such a fun time relaxing together and stepping away from the busyness of life for a few days.

I mean, really.... isn't that water incredible!?  I took these pictures with Jon's phone so there wasn't even a filter used.  That was literally the colour of the water.  So.beautiful.

As for ministry, we had a bit of a lull last month and had to cancel our weekly outreach several times (due to rain & flooding, etc.) but we started up again last week and are thankful for the same faithful kids that have continued to come, week after week, for the last (almost) year!

Couldn't resist posting one more... such a ham!

And the biggest news of all... WE FINALLY MOVED!!  

Most of you have heard that already but if not, let me know and I'll send you our last newsletter that tells the miraculous story of God's provision of a new rental house for our family!

We've been in our new place for a couple of weeks now and are slooooowly getting settled in. Between having Jon gone for a week (to Canada) and being at MB Mission's ASRAC (Asia Retreat and Consultation) for a week, we haven't had a ton of time to unpack.  But we're starting to make some progress and it feels good to check things off the list! We absolutely LOVE our new place and are enjoying the convenience of living closer to everything as well!

Well, that's all I've got for now.  But thanks for continuing to check in and I'll try to update more often! "Try" being the key word there ;)