everything glorious

yesterday we got to got to be a part of something so heart wrenching yet glorious. the pictures above are of a little boy named po thet say... which translates to "long life" in english. he was conceived 10 months ago... his mother (a burmese lady) did not want him and took an abortion pill to kill him. after 5 months she began contractions and she went to the burmese refugee clinic here to essentially get what she thought was a dead baby out of her. po thet say was born weighing in at less than 2 pounds and alive... a miracle. the mom still wanted nothing to do with him and left him there the very same day at the clinic. this is the clinic that we went to yesterday to pick him up... he has been there ever since. the conditions are pretty bad there and they are understaffed. basically he would get fed when nurses "had the time." otherwise, he would lay on the floor of an office (where we got him) all alone. now 5 months later, it is miracle that he is still alive. he should only be 1 month old if he had stayed in the womb the normal 9 months. this is why the nurses decided to give him his name "long life." even they were astonished.
po thet say is healthy other than not being able to see as of right now. we picked him up yesterday with the idea that as soon as life impact could find a thai care giver to look after him in the hospital in chiang mai, he would go and get eye surgery and should be able to see. the cost of the surgery is about $2000.
so by 2:00 yesterday, there was a new addition to the family here at life impact... long life. and this is a great example of just how this organization works... they see a need and meet that need. giving kids a new life. before yesterday, long life was an premature orphan baby lying on the floor of some office with no one to feed or hold him... he was rejected. and later that day he had new life. a family that would love him. people to hold and feed him. people that wanted him.
we had an opportunity to try to lighten the load here for the staff... long life spent the night with us last night. he will again tonight. but tomorrow...
he is going for eye surgery in chiang mai!!! one of the thai staff here at the children's home is going to chiang mai with him to act as a care giver! yet again, the staff is meeting the need and rearranging to make it work. all the details have yet to be worked out but by monday, long life will have new eyes!

"my eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that
YOU make everything glorious" - david crowder band

truckin'

bambooyea!

this is a video of some of the work we are doing out at the land that life impact just purchased. in the fall, they are going to begin construction to build homes on the land... this is huge because right now they have 4 different homes throughout town. once buildings are on the land then everyone will be together and they can begin having family style living in small homes. the kids and the staff are sooo excited about this land and they say it is like the "promised land." it has an orchard with fruit to pick, a creek, and a pond. it's beautiful.

perspective

this is a picture of kristine passing out clothing to the kids. every month or so the kids get to trade in their old clothing for new clothing... and when we say "new," they are clothes that might not even pass the goodwill inspection. some have holes, some don't. however, you would think these kids are receiving gold! they are so grateful. the thought doesn't even cross their minds that it isn't brand new or it has a stain. it's all about perspective. for example, we were talking about how we feel so blessed here and how we have conveyed that on this blog... but we didn't even mention the cockroaches we come home to every night, the over 100 degree temperatures, the bugs, the smells, etc. one might wonder how we could think we are blessed but the good far outweighs the bad. we have seen god's faithfulness so much and our perspective is that we are sooo blessed... beyond belief.

An Update in Kristine's Words!

Today we got a little break from the very busy schedule and got to sleep in and relax. It has been awesome. The people here are amazing...especially the children. they are so precious and each of them have this incredible story. God literally has hand picked them to be here. I love them already so much and i've just started to be able to pronounce their names!!! :)
It rained here so its been a little cooler (we are in a little town called Maesot now) but still very humid. the heat is unreal. i've never been so hot in my life. Matt and I usually hate being in a car, and it's so funny cause here the car has AC and so both of us are like, What? a car ride? hallelujah!!" I've never been more grateful for things like AC, water we can drink at any time, more than two places to eat in a whole town...i'm serious, there are two restaurants. it's going to be a long month. :) little things we take for granted that are just convenient for us and they either don't have it, or it takes a lot to get it.
I promised myself that I would keep this light hearted, but I will admit to you that I spent some time this morning in tears. the kids and the hearts of the people here are unreal. there are no words to describe it. I wrote in my journal, just baffled how these people can have so little and yet be so grateful and giving and just full of this incredible joy.
Matt and I bought them a movie, cause every friday/saturday night is movie night, and it resulted in dancing, screams of delight, hugs and a bunch of thank you's. I wanted to buy them 100 more!
I have so many stories to share for those who would like to have a reality check, or their heart broken, or maybe just to see/experience an unreal kind of love... like to hold in your arms, the cutest little girl who was thrown in a passing car by her father in burma cause he knew they wouldn't survive and just wanted to know that his little girl would live... yeah, those kind of stories, just let me know. there are about 30 more...basically one for each child.
It's a bit overwhelming, and the need is so great. Just keep praying for these little ones. Rejoice that they have been rescued and pray for the ones still to come. Pray that God will keep providing safety for them and finances. They just bought this awesome piece of land and will be building on it next year. it has tons of fruit trees and areas for the kids to run around in and the thought is to have them in "houses" where they can build more of a family like environment for them. It's truly a promised land.
I know we seem so far away, but really do think of all our friends and family often. we love you guys and just are so thankful for all your prayers and support!
talk to you so soon!
xoxo, k

home for a while

we are now in a little town on the border of thailand and burma and have met everyone here at life impact international. we have been over whelmed by how blessed we are. god has taken care of us every step of the way above and beyond our expectations. we are spoiled. the people, the kids, the food, the accommodations... it's all been amazing!
we have been getting educated by the girls about the human trafficking here and everything they are doing to fight the problem. what a huge problem! but they are saving one kid at a time out of a life of slavery. every child's story is absolutely heart wrenching... we have to fight back tears each time one of the girls tells us of yet another story of where the child has come from and how god opened up the doors for life impact to save them. this organization (life impact) has a heart of gold. they are doing so so much and we have only seen a sliver of it... and they continue to say that it is only by the grace of god and his desire to free the oppressed that it is all being done.

thailand bball

this is the day

a little taste of chiang mai, thailand

chiang mai!

so minor change in plan... we have spent the last few days in chiang mai and it has been absolutely amazing! we flew in with no problems whatsoever and got through customs and immigration sooo smoothly... no questions at all. to our surprise our ride was a bit late which made it interesting trying to comminicate in a different language. they showed up shortly after and are great great people! they put us up for a few nights here because they had some stuff to get done in town so we have been living it up and doing a few touristy things... it has been so good to do this to get our bearings straight and get some sleep before heading out of town today.
also, to any who are worrying about the current political situation here (larry white!) it is no worries at all.
hey kristine here! have just showered and am dripping sweat already! where to start?? Between tuk tuks (crazy travel carts), chiang mai zoo, ngong (sp? crazy but very sweet tasting fruit, 6 dollar massages, and so much more!! its hard to describe in words how awesome it has been so far. God has been sooooo good. we have experienced no jet lag, which is a miracle in itself and have just been super blessed by the girls here and the people are amazing. matt and i have already fallen in love with the little thai people here...especially the women who are a whole head and shoulder smaller than me! and weigh about 80 pounds! anyways, have to run for now...kop koon ka (thank you) for all the prayers. we have definitely felt them.

are we there yet?

hey guys! well we just got done with our 12 hour flight to taiwan and are waiting a few hours for our next one into thailand... to our surprise we have internet in this airport! so we made the first leg of the journey... kristine slept as well as one could on a plane and matt slept as bad as one could on a plane. this could be due to the fact we had a terminally ill hacker right in front of us, a whaling baby right next to us, and an overmedicated snorer right behind us. luckily the meals were wonderful... wait scratch that. we survived on our snacks that we brought on the plane! needless to say, we are both in a fog!
also, we were talking on the plane and just wanted to let everyone know who gave us money as a wedding present... that money was saved for the last year and a half and it is helping us do this whole trip. thanks so much! what a wedding gift!
next stop... thailand!