Taking Sadness And Giving Someone Else Joy

My morning started off with some terrible news from my mom. My dad had been taken by ambulance to the hospital, and many things began unfolding with his condition. (for more details you can check his blog- randysfightagainstcancer@blogspot.com )

I had such a hard morning, just feeling so helpless not being there and knowing my parents were going through all of this without me. A lot was still unknown, as he was later being transported from St. Mary's hospital to City of Hope. I shed a lot of tears that morning. But I knew it was Tuesday, and with that being something special I had planned with my Ladies Tea Girls. Read below to see how God turned my sorrow to joy. 

This is Nondanee and her four children. This is the family that I told you about; while we were in California visiting my dad, Nondanee's husband committed suicide. Ajai, the oldest looking boy, walked into to his house one July afternoon to find his dad had hung himself. This has been traumatic for this family, and they are now learning how to live without their provider and protecter. Whenever we have fish, we always give them some, since they no longer have a fish provider. And now as Christmas time rolls around, it is tradition that most families (only Christians celebrate Christmas here) have new outfits to wear on Christmas. 

After Ladies Tea this week, I asked the girls if they would like to be involved in doing something hands on. After all the studying this year at Ladies Tea, I thought it was definitely time to let them experience what it felt like to give back and bless a family. We all immediately agreed on this family, as many of the girls have watched Nondanee cry with helplessness of not being able to provide for her family. I took a couple of girls shopping and they picked out all of the clothes (I just handed them the money to pay for it; because, if the shop workers see me, then the prices can shoot up). The rest of the other girls wrapped all the clothes, and on family night we brought Nondanee's family into the house while everyone else was outside playing games. The girls got to present them with the gifts. It was so exciting to not only see smiles on their faces, but also on my Ladies Tea girls. It made my day to just see how joyous they could feel when they knew they did something to make a difference. I was also joyful inside to see a family with smiles and excited to have new clothes for Christmas. So "thank you" to our Sri Lanka team for making this possible. 

Our Busy Monday

Cody spent his morning putting in a couple of fans (including all the electrical) for our neighbors.

I spent the morning with my Ladies Tea girls. This week we did something different. We broke up into groups and I gave each group different passages to read and talk about together. I had each group perform a drama for the rest of us, to give us a visual on what everyone learned. It was a lot of fun and some of my girls are great actresses. I put together a little video of most of the dramas. The one I was in wouldn't work- kind of glad for that; I'm a terrible actress. 

In the afternoon, Cody went and bought a cake and decorated it. It was Pastor Andrew's daughter's birthday. We took the kids and went to the party around 4:00. 

After the party, I went with Sharmelee to the hospital to visit her Auntie. Two of her Aunties got in a fight and one hit the other over the head with a chair and split her head open. I was able to pray with her Auntie over the pain and also the healing in that relationship. The Auntie in the hospital was Chootiepatah's mom. 

After the hospital, Sharmelee and I went home to shower and change for the next party. One of the Surf Club boys' cousins had a big girl becoming party. The families that are a little wealthier make it a huge event. This one was at Local Putah's (Siril Preneth) hotel. Here some pics of the fun times. 

It was a long day and we were so tired when we got home. Long day, but fun day :)

A Day Never Forgotten

Cody decided to take 4 teenage Muslim boys out fishing on the boat. They live in a fishing village, yet had never been on a boat. Needless to say, they had quite an adventure. Three of the four boys were sick the entire time and did a lot of chumming. They ended up enjoying their time still, and brought back an ice chest full of fish. The neighbor boys were stoked on it too- we threw all the boys in the photo. 

Cody split the fish between the four boys and they were so stoked to take it home to their families. Cody went to visit one of the families the next day, and the mom kept saying "michum nundri, michum nundri" which means thank you very much. She had her small baby in her arms, and explained to Cody that her milk had been gone and the baby was no longer breastfeeding, but after eating so much fish, her milk had come back and the baby was nursing again. We had been aware of the baby being sick and just a few days before had given them enough money to take the baby to the hospital and get medicines, and we knew that the baby wasn't eating; but how rad is it that Cody just wanted to bless the boys by taking them fishing and God used it to start nursing that baby back to help!