Poinsettias

The front area of our house is now bright with colorful poinsettia plants. It will be fun to plant the larger ones (native to this area) in the ground after Christmas and enjoy them throughout the year.

Doisaket Peace Home

Today was the open house and dedication of the Doisaket Peace Home and we were blessed to be in attendance. Our prayer is that God will nurture and grow these children to know and serve Him. We so appreciate Pastor and his wife that take care of the children. The home now has seven boys and one girl that live there. It is a joy to be a small part of their lives.

I added a few pictures of the dedication time.

 Larry praying for the children and guidance for the Pastor and his family as they care for the children and nurture them in the love of Jesus.



 Ribbon cutting ceremony.



 Six of the children and Pastor Narong and his wife inside the home. In the background is one of the bunkbeds that a donor gave them recently after the flooding. They had heard of how snakes had come in on the floor where the children were sleeping and wanted them to have beds to sleep on.

 The bedroom with six beds. If you notice each bed has a long pillow:) We asked the orphanage parents to help us find Christmas gifts for the children...something that they would like....one of the things they all decided they wanted was these pillows to cuddle with at night because they miss their own moms and dads. I am so glad they like them and it comforts them.

The dedication/open house group in attendance. 

Pastor Narong and his wife along with six of the children that were there today.

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Yesterday we visited the orphanage that is near the village school we teach english at. We have enjoyed being a small part of this ministry along with some of our family that have given gifts too.

The Pastor and his wife were so happy to see us. We had brought them a box of our Christmas cookies. Two of the boys came home for lunch so we took a picture together.

(Kang is the little boy on the left and he was very thankful for the gifts that you sent him Kadence.)

This is a field near the school...the rice was just harvested in the last few weeks. Now they have flooded it and will begin preparations to plant again. Growing rice takes a lot of time and energy.

Christmas week

I finished writing Christmas cards... our small way of showing appreciation and keeping in touch with friends and loved ones during Christmas.

After finding needed ingredients...

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 I started in on baking Christmas cookies. This year I did 6 different kinds...well, minus one batch that wasn't meant to be:)

I really made a big mistake in buying the candy canes...first, they were too expensive and the batch of cookies just wasn't meant to be as it turned out....that is a story for another day.

We boxed them up in some fun Christmas boxes we found.

I had a good helper getting them ready:)

The finished boxes that were delivered to our Thai staff today.

Yellow flowers blooming

While Ellie and Owen were here visiting we planted some sunflower seeds in a planter that was in our yard. They have turned into beautiful flowers but must be a miniture variety of sunflowers as you can see.

That corner of our yard is sure beautiful now with bright yellow flowers.

I was practicing using the macro setting on my camera and even captured some type of insect on the flower.

Check out this...

Check out this blog allthingsundertheson.blogspot.com for a grand picture tour of when our daughter and family came to visit us. We put several posts full of pictures.

Rice selection...

What kind of rice do you prefer to cook with?

A great assortment to choose from at most markets.



wings like eagles...

I really like my reminder of Isaiah 40:31

hanging in my kitchen.

"but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint."

 

Avocado seed ready to plant...

The avocado seed is now sprouting out so soon I will plant it outside and watch it grow.

This is the only one of the three that survived.

Strawberry Farm

On our way to the strawberry farm we saw some elephants along the highway.

It was a beautiful drive up through the mountains.

The entrance to the strawberry farm. 

Not sure what it says but at least we could recognize the pictures of strawberries:)

 A very beautiful area.

 Lots of strawberries growing...the peak season will be in February we were told, so these are the first pickings and the berries a bit smaller.

Some workers pruning off leaves to improve the fruit production. 

Delicious!!!

Royal Flora 2011

The Royal Flora 2011

in Chiang Mai, Thailand

 

I know this was a lot of pictures but it is a large area and this doesn't even cover very much of it. Next time we will go in the evening and I will try to get some of the area with lots of lights and flowers.