We have lightning bugs in Chiang Mai…

The other night Tim brought a lightning bug into the house. He was so excited he let it go just to watch it fly and flash! We don’t remember seeing them at all this time last year; maybe we were still in a fog. Anyway, we were all fascinated by the idea of these flashing insects being in Thailand too as they were absent from our lives while we lived in Melbourne. Now, I think the species may have been a bit different to the ones in Indiana as they flashed a little faster, but none-the-less they were still lightning bugs. Faith and I saw them again last night as we put our helmets on and took off on the motorbike for a study break at the nearby street market that’s on Monday and Tuesday nights each week.

I mention the little things like lightning bugs, night time motorbike rides and street markets as they represent the torn feelings that are beginning to settle in as we settle into a new land once again. Settling doesn’t happen overnight. And it definitely doesn’t happen just because we want the pain and frustration over with so we can get a move on with life. It happens slowly and in different ways for each of us ~ even when we don’t know if we really want it to happen ~ kind of like the story of the velveteen rabbit…bit by bit.

So once again we find ourselves in the land of limbo ~ definitely desiring with all our hearts to be with family, friends, and cornfields for the summer months, but realizing that we actually have productive real lives, possibilities, and relationships here that are being left behind…and did I mention the soup shop and grocery store ladies?

Just in case you were wondering…Scott and the boys are already in Indy for June and July and Faith and I will be joining them this weekend. Faith has to finish her finals at school first and then we’re off. Another funny thing happened with Paul. I was talking with him on the phone for a quick minute since they are already in Indy and adjusting to jet lag. First of all, he lost a tooth already…and of all the 10 teeth he has lost so far…this is his first one to lose in Indiana…and Tim lost one on the plane during his flight over this time. Paul also informed that that it is the rainy season in Indiana…I thought that was funny coming from him…He doesn’t think in terms of winter, spring, summer, or fall…but cool season, hot season, and rainy season. His frame of reference is completely different…as he has spent more of his years away from Indiana than in it. See you all real soon…Love, Cat

On Mother’s Day

We are quite busy around here these days in preparation for our transition back to the USA for the next two month. There are many details to think of and accomplish mixed in with daily life.

The kids are attempting to finish strong at school, but the temptation to relax before it is time is a strong pull. So keeping the kids on task requires a lot of energy going in different directions.

In addition to the daily stuff, we are also dealing with the out of the ordinary stuff. For example, on Mother’s Day, while looking for our dog that had escaped from our yard, Matthew decided to experiment with the laws of physics while on his bicycle. He ended up receiving two stitches in his leg and a sprained arm for his efforts. Conveniently, his experiments were conducted while Scott was away in yet another foreign country.

Paul attended a birthday party on the same day as Matthew’s experiments that nearly put me in the psyche ward from getting him there. When I was a kid I had a reoccurring nightmare of either driving or being in a vehicle that was going up very steep hills only to topple over backwards. Well, I thought I was going one place for the party only to find out when I reached the place on the map that I still had 15 more kilometers to go and it was up a very steep part of the nearby mountain. I found myself on an unknown road with only concrete treads for the tires and red mud down the middle and to the sides as the path grew steeper and more winding. (We are now in the rainy season!) I am greatly appreciative to one of the father’s of Paul’s friend who reassured me through his own concerns for the drive and helped me properly use the tools that were available to me in our 4WD.

I did survive my trip back down the mountain and believe it or not cried most of the way home.

I believe I wept for a lot more than the steepness of the mountain and have since reflected on a couple of things. Twice in one day I was faced by a crisis. And both times I wish I would have had time to consult the manual—car manual for 4WD instruction and the first aid manual for Matthew’s injuries. Because technology isn’t my thing and stitches make me woozy—I usually pass these opportunities off to others. (I nearly fainted at the hospital after it was all over while I was paying. That was a sight!) I am perfectly content to let someone else be the hero. This time I had no choice and no time to consult a manual and decisions had to be made in spite of my inabilities and fears.

How often do we really not know how to utilize the power of the tools for a situation that is before us? Our 4WD had the power to “do that mountain”! It was designed that way. First aid dressings and medicines are designed to be used in medical crises, and God is the power behind the tools He has given us! It is really up to me to know the manual if I’m going to drive the car!

May the Lord be praised that Matthew received great care in a foreign hospital, that we weren’t injured because of my not using the tools, and that I am not being visited by my friends in the psyche ward!

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

Being Green

When I was a kid, "being green" meant something totally different than it does today. I don’t remember even having “Earth Day” on the calendar. Perhaps it was there and I was just clueless. When I was in college, I think that was the time when I realized people were planting trees on “Earth Day” in Indiana. Yet there seemed to be the skeptics and the greenies and those unaware or at least that was how I viewed it. I had grown up with a family compost pile, planting trees because we wanted to, sometimes being charged a nickel for leaving my bedroom lights on, and when we went camping or out for a picnic always cleaning up after ourselves. Choosing to think about the environment was just part of our lifestyle not a political platform.

For today’s youth generation, things are very different. “Earth Day” seems to be getting more and more personal and political policies are being reformed because of what it stands for. There are far more articles written and much more “in our faces” evidence of the effects of all types of pollution and shortages of natural resources around the world. In our school, here in Chiang Mai, environmentally sensitive issues seem to be woven into much of the curriculum throughout the school year...perhaps because the damage is at our doorstep.

Our family has lived in countries where we have witnessed both the pollution and the shortage – not just from a rising price perspective – but from overuse…and our older kids are beginning to “get the picture”. Yet, our views, their views and many others’ too, are still very narrow for what is actually being used and abused here on God’s green Earth.

Faith recently had to write a fictional piece about life with the last bit of water for one of her classes. After having just returned from Australia, the reality of a water shortage was very fresh in her mind and provided a good springboard for her fictional piece...entitled...

4K Water Restrictions by Faith Cougill

I love gardening. Before the water restrictions became so high, I had a beautiful garden, a veggie patch, and a couple of fruit trees out back behind my house. It was my little haven, and if I may be so bold, I reckon that it was the best and most diverse garden in the whole neighbourhood. I grew strawberries, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and I had two apple trees! My husband loves gardening too, and he helped me with everything. He helped me pick out different kinds of seeds, and he persevered with me through the whole planting and growing process. We were a team! But now that we have 4K water restrictions, we can’t even take a shower every day, let alone, keep and tend a garden! Everyone’s grass is dried up (in other words, there is no grass), we can only take showers once every other day for 5 minutes, all the crop foods are more that double their normal prices because the farmers are not allowed to use irrigation, bottled water is now twice as expensive as it used to be…the list just goes on and on! Now I realize that you might think that I am pouting and complaining, and that because I don’t have my garden anymore that I am now depressed and irritable, but you are wrong, my friend. I reckon that it is actually a blessing to have water restrictions as a result of the miniscule amount of rain that we receive. These water restrictions force Australians to think about how much water they are actually using, and how little water they really need to survive, compared to the habitual, desired amount. It places the responsibility on us, as a people, to consider the environment, and to be reminded that organisms other than ourselves might need the water too.

Check out these recent related articles.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6620919.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6610000/newsid_6617800/6617847.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm#