Christmas at Khao Yai

Holiday season was very different for us this year. On the one hand it was really great because over the past years we have really been put off by the commercialism of the day celebrating the birth of Christ. Just really feeling like we would like to celebrate in a different way...so in that aspect, it was great. But on the other hand, it was awful being away from our family and friends, ESPECIALLY our children, Brittani and JR and the kids, and Nolan. It was really heartwrenching to be away on the first Christmas that Mia is really aware of the whole Christmas celebration and traditions. We shed some tears and really questioned our decision to make this move but we have learned that it's best to follow God's plan and not your own. So, with that in mind, we know we are supposed to be here, where Maddie is doing so well in school and with volunteer opportunities that will bring her into a closer relationship with God, and with the opportunities for us to grow spiritually. So, even though it was hard to get into the typical "Christmas Spirit", we got away for a few days to Khao Yai, a beautiful mountain area of Thailand, to walk in nature and celebrate our blessings and the birth of Christ. We heard that it was "really cold" there so we should take a light jacket. :) Yes, it's true, it is "cold" there! I guess we have acclimated because we were glad we brought the jackets. We were delighted to discover that, in Khao Yai, the flavor is ranches, cowboys (yes! Thai cowboys!) a good steak, and WINE COUNTRY, lots of Thai wineries believe it or not. Such an interesting place. We stayed the first two nights at "Jungle House" a very rustic cabin in the jungle. It had many hiking paths, great birdwatching spot, elephant trekking, just a really peaceful spot. The last two nights we had prebooked and it wasn't good. Too many falang (foreigners), too far away from the National Park we visited every day, and the room were so tiny we could hardly move. Jeff and I had to share a twin bed, Maddie and Ginger shared the other. Although that might sound romantic, it can get a little uncomfortable after a few hours! :) But the trip was wonderful, relaxing and a great get away for us to celebrate the birth of Christ in the midst of nature.

John and Erin

The day after the Christmas Party at Peter and Deb's we spent the day with John and Erin Macy, a couple from Oregon who quit their jobs and are traveling the world for 10 months! They are an incredible couple we have been emailing with the past couple of months. Our good friends, Tim and Nicole, in Oregon hooked us up and we are so glad they did!

They summed up our day beautifully on their blog (see Dec 23 and a video on Dec 25). Check it out: http://www.johnanderinmacy.com

They are currently in Cambodia, working at a women's shelter for about a month. They will return to Bangkok for a few days at which time we look forward to getting together with them again before they move on to Africa. These are the type of Americans we are proud to call friends. Love these guys! :) You can follow their whole incredible adventure on their blog.

Sunny, Susan and Maddie

Maddie and Sunny.

Maddie and Sunny making the day a little brighter for this beautiful lady. Sunny is an amazing kid. We met Sunny and her father in 2003 when Sunny was about Maddie's age. Unfortunately, Sunny's dad passed away last year when he contracted a deadly disease on a mission in Africa. Sunny continues on in mission work with a heart for Christ. Maddie loves hanging out with Sunny, she is like another big sister to her.

Here's Maddie and Susan cheering another patient. Susan is another amazing woman here in Thailand. She is nicknamed "the Angel of the Bangkok Hilton" which is a really tough prison here in bangkok. She works hard for the Lord, ministering to prisoners there, visiting hospital patients, working at the shelter for abused women and their families. Susan has become a very famous person in Thailand as of late, she is an author of a few books, and has done so much work for the poor and abused. She has become a great friend to us and Maddie is drawn to the work Susan is doing. We all look forward to doing as much as we can to help Susan spread the word and love of God through her ministries.

Delivering gifts, hugs, and kisses

One of the things Maddie misses most about America is the hugging. She was happy to hug all the patients and even give a few pecks on the cheek.

I love this picture!

Maddie has a heart full of love and kindness. We are so thankful to live in a place where she has so many opportunities to share God's love with others.

Christmas Caroling at the Hospital

We were invited to go Christmas caroling at the hospital this year. Unfortunately Jeff and I had to work but Maddie was excited to go. These are all heart, chest, lung issue patients and they were really happy to have Santa and his friends visit them and sing them some songs to cheer their day and they even got a few smiles.

Christmas caroling along with some dancing...

Jamie, Skip, Julia, Sunny, Maddie, Santa (Peter) and Susan.

Really getting into it with the nurses and even some of the people visiting the patients :)

Christmas in Thailand with Santa

Jeff and I are blessed to know missionary friends here in Thailand. On Jeff's first trip here in 2002, he booked a day of birdwatching with Peter, an expert on birds who just happens to be a missionary. We have visited and kept in touch with them over the years, eventually meeting the whole family including Peter, his wife, Debbie, Steven, Kenji, Sunny, Julia and Jamie. Last summer they made their first trip to America and we were blessed to have them stay with us in our home for a few days. We were all amazed to learn that they live about 10 minutes away from where we would be living in Bangkok. We are able to spend a lot of time with them volunteering at the orphanage, women's shelter, etc. We love to see more and more each day, God's hand in our move here to Thailand...

One little girl who may know who this guy is? :)

After the show, Santa shows up to talk with the children from the orphanage. "Santa" is our new friend, Tom. He is actually from Escondido, can you believe what a small world this is? He just met Sunny a few days before this and she invited him and his wife to come to the Christmas party. When asked if he would be Santa, he was happy to volunteer. Tom called Jeff this past weekend and told him the strangest thing happened after this party. He was at a hotel for business here in Bangkok (he lives FAR out of Bangkok and only comes in on business when he has to) and happened to be wearing a santa hat at the time. At the hotel that night, these SAME kids from the orphanage were performing at the hotel and they recognized "Santa" from the party! They ran up to him and hugged him and swarmed him, sitting on his lap and talking to him. He ended up staying with them for over an hour and missed his flight back to his home and stayed an extra night in Bangkok. He said is was really a powerful moment where God spoke to him and it really moved him. Tom has not been to church in a long time and only this Christmas is regaining his relationship with God. Isn't that exciting? :)

These kids did a really good job perfoming their skits and dances, they are really cute and we hope to get to know each one of them better this year as we visit them at the orphanage and just love them. It's hard to believe but some of these little cuties are just abandoned on the doorstep, infant, age 1, 2, 3, doesn't matter. Jeff and I wanted to take about 5 of them home with us that night but then realized we would probably regret it in about 10-15 years. Just kidding, but you parents of teens know what we are talking about...we are excited to start volunteering this year with these kids. In fact, this weekend we will be spending all day Saturday with them.

Tap Dancers

Sunny, Kenji, Jamie, and Julia learned tap this year and performed a couple of numbers for us...

Jamie and Julia are Maddie's age and Sunny and Kenji are in their early 20s...

They did a really great job...

Little Performers

Here are the little ones from the orphanage performing traditional Thai dance...

The little guys doing some pop/breakdancing...

More traditional Thai dancing by the older girls and boys...

Christmas Party

We attended our missionary friends' Christmas Party and it was fantastic. Maddie has taken to volunteering with the women's shelter group. Some of these girls are Maddie's age and have suffered abuse beyond understanding...tonight they perfomed a play (in Thai so I'm not sure what the message was...) and they enjoyed it so much.

Getting ready before the performance...

The stage...

Two Women Named Lois

2008 is almost gone and I have been thinking about resolutions for the new year...and that brings me to thoughts of two inspirational women in my life, Lois Bisbee and Lois Elwell. These are ladies from the church where I grew up. Lois Elwell was the pastor's wife, a Sunday School teacher and piano teacher of mine, and was the ultimate Proverbs 31 woman. Not to say she was the only Proverbs 31 woman that has inspired me but she was certainly the first. I am grateful to God for her (and her family's) HUGE influence on my very young life. Lois is gone now but her spirit lives on in her family. http://www.ehow.com/how_2158942_be-proverbs-woman.html

Next, Lois Bisbee...another huge influence at an early age, my Sunday School teacher, bible camp teacher, gave me by bridal shower and Brittani's baby shower. One year she held bible camp at her house out in the woods, she had the most splendid merry-go-round you could ever imagine and the woods was so fun to play in. This particular summer we learned about the fruit of the spirit and though I don't remember exactly how it played out, we were to seek out paper plates marked with all the fruits of the spirit and see which team could find them all first. I don't know about the rest of the kids but this activity made a huge impression on me. That we were to seek God and as we knew Him better we would acquire these fruits in our lives...I am resolving to seek God through prayer and being still with Him and hopefully acquiring the fruits of His spirit to make a difference for Him in this world...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22)

The word "Spirit" is with a capital "S" - which means these 9 fruits are coming directly from the Holy Spirit - not from us.

I wish all of you a Happy New Year. Please keep us in your prayers.

It was a great day on Koh Samet

Bauer toes in the sand...

On the beaches in Thailand you will see these mobile bbqs all over the place. It's great, this little old lady walks the beach with this pole balanced on her shoulder, and will stop to prepare you some bbq meat or spicy papaya salad, yummy...

Maddie snorkeling on the island...

Motoring around Koh Samet

The plants are beautiful...

Jeff and Maddie playing on the rocks...

So beautiful...

Koh Samet

The love of my life...

Relaxing on the beach...

Another love of my life...sweet Madalyn Rose...

Maddie and Nolan

We have all been missing Nolan this holiday season...some photos we cherish...

Eating lunch at a noodle house in Japan...

One year ago on a hike up Iron Mountain outside San Diego...we love and miss you Nolan. :)

Beach House!

Here's Maddie and Daddy enjoying an "American Breakfast" on the island of Koh Samet. We had our very first pancake at this restaurant since we left America and it was fantastic. We headed for Rayong (the house is actually in Ban Phe, a few miles south of Rayong) on Friday morning, just relaxed. I started driving and I feel human again! The shifting is no problem and I have a feel for where I am on the opposite side of the car so I now feel confident I won't mow anyone down with the left side of the car. We ate dinner at our favorite restaurant on the beach (only about 2 blocks from the house). Maddie and Ginger love to chase crabs on the beach every evening. Ginger comes swimming with us every day in the ocean. Last trip we had to drag her into the ocean every time, this time she just ran right in on her own. She loves the beach house!

Next morning we took a speed boat out to Koh Samet and had breakfast here. We then rented motorbikes and toured around the island for about 3 or 4 hours. It was really fun.

Maddie took this picture...very nice...

I'm not sure if any of you saw this around the rest of the world? This is not a good picture but Maddie wanted to take one of the moon with 2 planets that made a happy face (on our side of the world anyway) It was really cool...

The Imperial Phukaew Hill Resort

We stayed here in August 2003. What a beautiful place. It's up in the mountains in Petchabun Province and it is a little slice of heaven. http://www.imperialhotels.com/phukaew/location.html
We haven't been back since but we were just telling Maddie we are going to plan a trip there soon. I can't wait! This picture doesn't do it justice, the one on their website is much better. Back in 2003 we got a room here that includes breakfast for about $10-$15 per night. The rates look like they are a little higher now, about $45 a night including breakfast for a March booking, probably even lower in August.

These flowers not only look pretty, they smell fabulous. Another great thing about Thailand, the beautiful flowers...

Here's a white variety. The picture of the dog by the shrine was taken here at Phukaew too.

Past trips to Petchabun

This is one of my favorite pictures...a Thai dog sits by one of the many Bhuddist offering shrines next to the tennis court.

This is Jun and Joke. These are a couple of amazing kids. This was back in 2003 when they were about 13 and 11 years old. Their parents were both in the military. The whole family was in a car accident that took the lives of their parents. Not long after the accident, Jeff visited Thailand for the first time and our friend in Petchabun was telling him how she helps many people in the community in different ways, one of which was help in supporting orphaned children. Jeff asked if there was any way to help and next thing you know we were blessed to meet and be able to help with Jun and Joke. They were able to stay with their elderly grandmother and attend school. Jeff and I "adopted" Joke (the boy) and another friend of ours "adopted" Jun. It has been almost 6 years now and Joke is 17 and wants to join the military like his parents. Jun is 19 and attending school to become a dentist. We are so proud of these two!

There are so many families in need everywhere in this world. We feel blessed to do even a little bit to help out where we can. A lot of times, especially in the rural areas like this, the fate of children is grim. We are glad to have friends to show us ways we can do our part to help and we look forward to more opportunities in the future.

Bauers at the Sunflower Fields

More sunflowers...

Sunflower Fields

This place is so fun and beautiful. We bought fresh sunflower seeds...yum! If you are concerned about losing weight, Thailand is not your best bet. They have THE BEST food and desserts.

Mint and Maddie...

It was a wonderful trip!