Picture of the Week: Thailand

One of our visa-government-forced vacations. (not that I'm complaining!) We took a little mid-week trip to Thailand. But I'm surprised at what makes a vacation "good" to us now. Is it the stage of life? Place we live? I don't know. But we had fun.

Meeting up with good friends.

Burgers and milkshakes. Dwell on that just a minutes. BURGERS and MILKSHAKES. But, yeah, this is cute anytime.

A bathtub. I'm not kidding. They could have spent all three days here.

Lydia Turns 4 (and shares the Gospel)!

She wanted a "flower" tea party. I convinced her that 15 children with hot tea and dainty cups would not be as fun as she was imagining. Thankfully, she settled for Sprite. 

We had ribbon crowns for the girls and princely pipe cleaner crowns for the fellas. 

Face painting was a huge hit! My friend, Maggie is an artist, thankfully. Because if I had painted we would have had to settle for q-tip shaped petals and a wavy stem. 

Yum, cups of dirt. (Pudding and Oreos)

And cake! 

She wanted flowers in lieu of other gifts. I loved the idea! And our little hostess greeted each guest, ooohed and ahhhed over their flowers and made sure everyone had what they needed. 

Lydia even asked if she could tell one of our neighbors (in attendance) about Jesus. What do you say but "of course"? She walked right over to Hari (a practicing Hindu) and said "Stop believing in pretend gods. Jesus is the true God and He saves you from your sins." We'll work on tact perhaps later, but in the meantime, I am so proud and convicted by her boldness.

We named our firstborn after the Lydia in the Bible (Acts 16) of whom it says "the Lord opened her heart to respond" to the gospel she heard preached and then opened her home for her community. She boldly used her gifts for the expansion of the kingdom of God. I think this 4-year-old is living up to her namesake and trusting in her One True King. 

The Epic of BillyBong

Chicken Noodle. That was Molly's belly name. We found out I was pregnant around Christmas time and I said, "Oh, my little snickerdoodle!" (don't judge...you know you call your kids funny names). Anyways, Lydia thought I said "chicken noodle" and well, it stuck.

This go-round, I thought wouldn't it be nice to have a little "Asian" belly name. Chipati? Babu? Choti? (which by the way...mean "tortilla", "baby" and "small" respectively) Nope. Lydia trumped me again. "BillyBong" is here to stay (for another few months at least).

Lydia got the name from a Richard Scarry book.

My mom knit right along the storyline.

And here she is...not at all kangaroo-like (aside from the kicking). Adorable and a precious gift from our God!

My First Pooja

She had to face east. It had to be on an "auspicious day" in her 7th month of pregnancy. The priests had to be called, the family invited, the calendar searched. The "lap filling" ceremony could then commence. And I was invited.

The bundle of goods...a filled lap.

My friend and neighbor, Anshula is pregnant. We joke there must be something in the water for our building! She came to my door a few weeks ago to invite me to a pooja. Now, a pooja is a Hindu worship ceremony. "Will I have to sacrifice a goat?" I [almost] jokingly asked. "No, no," she smiled. "It's just going to be a little blessing and appeasing for the baby's good fortune. Then we'll have cake and games."

So I went. I watched and asked lots of questions. Her family members filled her lap with dried fruits and money and blessed her with oil. They lit incense. They took lots of pictures. Her mother-in-law danced. And then...we were done. Off to "baby word boggle" and samosas and chai.

I won the game (English is my only fluent language...so I kinda have an advantage). I got a Buddha idol as a prize...which, sorry, Anshula...went in the trash.

Truly I was nervous, but also very curious. I am glad I went. It some ways it seemed like nothing more than a cultural tradition. Yet, I know it's more than that. And despite my "modern" friend's attempts to discount it ("It's just to appease the in-laws") there is serious spiritual warfare happening next door. For Anshula, for Sumit and for their little baby.

I pray my eyes are open and my heart keeps breaking for baby showers that start with a worship ceremony to a false god, for jewelry and markings that say something about what you give praise to, for money given to "sacred" cows, gurus or temples. I pray I do not get immune. I pray I throw every idol in the trash (literally and metaphorically) and trust God that it's not "god" but it's more than a blob of porcelain...and I am weak. He is strong. And He fills more than our laps. He fills our hearts, our souls, our lives. Oh, let Him fill this building!

Picture of the Week: Containment

Sometimes you just have to put your people under a laundry basket.

Ever have one of those days? Actually they did this to themselves while I hung up laundry. It was cute. It was comical. It was...dare I say, helpful?

Picture of the Week: Filter

The light started blinking. Our water purifier needed its filter replaced. Two guys came with a gleaming white cylinder filter, opened up the tank and this (brown, slimy, putrid) bad boy popped out. It looked like...well....stuff that is brown and slimy and you probably don't want to drink. 

Honestly, seeing this made Brian a little grossed out when he went to fill his glass. It made me happy. Our filter is doing it's job! Kinda like that rewarding feeling you get when you blow your nose. Or am I getting a little too personal now?

And for those of you (nurses, hypochondriacs, concerned parents) who are freaking out a bit about our drinking water safety: this is the first of our purifier's filtering systems; the water goes through reverse osmosis and hangs out with a UV light before hitting our glass. 

A Christmas Mix

The Stocks' Christmas are having a very merry, bright and warm Christmas. What recipe would make a prefect Christmas? 

1) A cute girl in a dress and a Santa cap

2) A Christmas party with lots of smiles 

3) Christmas cookies... Yummy!

4) New kid-made Christmas Ornaments

5) A Decorated Christmas Tree

Picture of the Week: Festivals

This picture doesn't really capture the way this country lights up (literally) for a festival. It doesn't capture the noise of the too-big-to-be-legal-in-America fireworks that go ALL DAY. It doesn't show the idols being paraded around, the pictures of gurus adorned and the cars plastered with ribbons, sacred dye and flowers.

But here is one part of festival season: the exchange of sweets. We recently had the largest annual festival, which is smack dab in the middle of weeks of other festivals. It was like Christmas...well, without the Savior and redemption part. Anyways, all our Hindu neighbors brought us sweets. And when I say sweets, I mean the South Asian variety of SWEET! Imagine sweetened condensed milk, but more sweetened and more condensed. Then add some syrupy coating and sprinkle on a few glazed nuts. There you have the most sickeningly sweet thing you've ever tasted.

We got 6 boxes like this.

I graciously shared with my national friends. We at the Stock Household split one piece. 

Halloween

No, they don't celebrate Halloween here. But that didn't stop us and our American friends from dressing up! "Any excuse to party!" as my favorite mother-in-law says.

On our way to the party!

Molly was a caterpillar. She has on 3 onesies to make it look like a lot of legs. 

Brian said, "Let's be Indians." I thought it was punny.

Our little butterfly. She decorated her shirt and wings herself.

Darth Vader, Ladybug, Panda, Cheetah...

Pumpkin painting!

Picture of the Week: Simple Things

Becky (in her pjs...sorry Becky) reading to Lydia

In our job, people sometimes assume we do great and awesome things. Honestly, sometimes I'm carried away by that expectation too!

But in the daily reading stories and chopping up fruit, there isn't much to write home about. A group of women came over from the States a to "love on us" for a week. They got to see the city and works we are doing. They also came to the Stock Household. And I put them to work, un-apologetically.

Patty coloring princesses

They started reading stories, peeling pumpkins and washing lettuce. And I thought, this doesn't seem like a big cool thing I would expect to do on this kind of trip. But truth was, from this view, it was. I felt "loved on" and they served with joyful hearts.

Picture of the Week: Sticks and Stones

It was a common question we got before we came. It was a joke...but perhaps showed the fear of the unknown.

"What will your kids play with there? I bet all they'll have are sticks and rocks."

I have to admit, I was a bit scared too. What will my girls do without 75 stuffed animals? Are two wooden puzzles enough for their fine motor skill development? The playgrounds have tetanus-infested metal slides with gaping holes. The swings are always broken (or about to be). The mosquitoes swarm. Where is my soft-surface, eco-friendly, shaded park with a paved running trail and plenty of parking? Can they manage without their play-kitchen, play-stroller, play-vacuum cleaner, sprinklers and bath toys?

Turns out we miss those things, yes. But sticks, a piece of palm bark and a stone pathway make for a great row boat in a raging river...especially with a friend.

Friends at the botanical gardens