pink is the new black for harleys

exhibit A... the whitey mobile. she's a bute.
this is a morning that we documented the kids with their new school uniforms and backpacks that were donated. you can hear in the background the "morning announcements" that go off every morning at 6am.
exhibit B... kristine. isn't she adorable? :)

to the least of these...

hi everyone! so sorry it's been too long since our last update. it's been crazy busy. i don't really even know where to begin. I guess the biggest news is that i was able to go get some great footage of the muslim slums and also skyblue...sounds like a fancy restaurant right? yeah, it's a dump. probably one of the most shocking scenes i've ever seen in my life. as you can see from the last two pics the people there have actually built their homes on top of the trash and live there so they can be the first to go through it and gather the recycling, food etc. out of it. the sad thing is that they don't do that themselves but make their children do it for them. seeing this dump was heavy for me. to think that the children live there, and this was their home just took my breath away. the smell alone was awful enough. i've never seen, touched or played with kids that were so dirty. one kid i could see his bones prominently in his chest and no exaggeration probably 25-30 flies on him all at once. it's hard to explain the scene and i can't wait to show you more pictures. it was an amazing experience...very heavy. matt hasn't seen it yet, so we will be back. and this time i will be prepared with clothes, food, water and maybe a toy. as we were leaving we literally went through our car and gave them everything we could. scrounged up enough water bottles for each of them to have, and they were estatic. i mean like jumping up and down with the biggest smiles. like we just told them they were going to disneyland. all over a waterbottle. it just baffles me.
the first two pics are of the muslim slum. the lliving conditions here are not much better. multiple people, sometimes even families live in not much bigger than 10x10 space. they have to pay to be there, and are overlooked by the muslims. I could feel the oppression just walking through there. the children were as darling as ever as they always are. broke my heart.

long life update

so long life went to chiang mai for surgery but it turns out the doctors wanted to wait to do the surgery... he is set for june 25th. he is now back here with his caretaker and getting used to having people touch him and hold him and talk to him. he is adjusting really well! please pray for him as you think of it.

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.