Repeat the Sounding Joy!

Joy to the World is a popular Christmas song, but I use to HATE when we sang it! I didn't like it because it was SO familiar. This year that has come back to bite me because my students are singing part of that song in their Christmas program. That means that I hear it EVERYDAY! Yay! :) We even sang it in chapel today. I feel like I cannot get away from this song. Today as I was listening to my students sing it in chapel, they know the words. I mean they can sing the whole entire song! The heart breaking part is that they have no idea the powerful truth that they are singing. "Joy to the World, the Lord is come. Let Earth receive her King!" Right away that is like a sucker-punch! The King of Kings has come to Earth! "Let every heart prepare him room!" It broke my heart to hear them sing this line and to know that their hearts are full of idol worship and empty hope.

Christmas is such a special time in the States. Even if people don't know Christ, many will still attend church, and the whole country quietly directs their thoughts towards Christ, if only for one night. Here, no one even pauses on Christmas. Everything stays open, schools are still in session, and the only thing that changes are the prices at the beach because so many tourists come through at this time. How sad to be so far from the truth!

Just listen to this beautiful Christmas song that is now taking a special place in my heart and rejoice in the fact that our King has come! Our Savior reigns! Pray for my students, that these wouldn't be empty words but that they would take on new meaning. That they would go deep into their hearts and that they would prepare him room!

Happy Father's Day! :)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."

Exodus 20:12 

This past weekend, we got to do just that, honoring the fathers at our school and the father of the country. It was a wonderful weekend! Here are some highlights from the ceremony in my classroom and the celebration downtown! :) Enjoy!

How amazing is our God!

Today in church it was announced that it is Thailand's national day of prayer! The government came to the Thai church and asked it they would hold a huge national ceremony to call on our God for the nation of Thailand and the flood devastation. How amazing that something as awful as this flood has turned the eyes of the nation to God! He is so amazing! Today from 5-10 P.M. they are giving the church the national stage right next to the huge reclining Buddha...a very holy site for the Thais! How amazing! :)

loving you too much so much very much right now!

I LOVE Thai music! Right now this is my favorite song! I just thought that I would post it on here so you could all get a little taste of what modern Thai culture is like. Getting ready for school tomorrow. It is our last full week before Christmas break! And then we go back to our regular school hours. It will be nice because this extra hour everyday is EXHAUSTING! Enjoy the music! :) -and yes, that is English they are speaking half way through!

back to the grind...

So day 2 of school is almost complete! I am exhausted and worn out and a little bit sick! I have had my air conditioning on really cold at night because I want to burrow in my blanket and pretend that it is winter. I think this winter weather has given me a cold though because my throat is screaming and my nose has been sneezing all day. I feel like I was run over by a truck. I guess this means the AC is going back to normal. I will just put cut-out snowflakes around my room to make it feel like winter now! :)

So almost all of my students are back. Yesterday I was missing 8 and today I am only missing 5! One of my students did not return this semester. Which is sad but also really nice because he was a handful and the whole class dynamic is more relaxed now. AND it means I only have 25 instead of 26 students because I was given two new students this semester! The new boy I got has already slapped a student and gotten his name on the board and missed break time- and he has only been here a day and a half! We will see what the future holds with him!

Until December break our school day is extended one extra hour to make up some of the lost days. That means that I teach from 8-4:40 and I tutor before and after school. It will only make December break so much sweeter because I definitely think that I will need the rest. I was contemplating going to an island for Christmas but staying home and sleeping sounds pretty wonderful right now!

Well I have to go prepare things for the Christmas program, Christmas decorating contest, and Father's Day ceremony. It is the King's Birthday next Monday so we do not have school. It is our last day off for the entire year so I plan to enjoy it! :) Keep well North American family! Thailand is busy but it is so nice to see my students again and to be working! I even missed the school lunches a little bit...but only a little! :)

the end is near!

We have had more scares and rumors about school being postponed even further...there was even a nasty rumor flying around that we would be out of school until December 13th...luckily that was all it was- a rumor! We are officially starting on the 21st! I am so excited! I forget what it is even like to teach! We now have all our vacation days taken away AND an extra hour added onto our school days to make up for all the time that we missed. It means that our school day (until the middle of December at least) will be from 8:00-4:40. Its a LONG day but we have a lot of lost ground to cover so it will be good! I was very productive today so I am starting to feel like myself again, like I have a purpose! :)

Tomorrow all the girls are taking a field trip to IKEA. They just put one in- it is about 3-4 hours from here but it is our last hurrah before the whirl of school consumes us! I am gonna look for some sweet canisters and who knows what else! I have a house to shop for! :) Tonight I am babysitting for a couple on campus. They have a Christmas tree and stockings hung up and I am listening to Christmas as I type this. It's nice to be in the holiday spirit! I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week! We are having a big staff Thanksgiving dinner next Saturday. It should be a really fun/relaxing time! Everyone is bringing a dish and we are all chipping in for a turkey. We have so much to be thankful for this year!

On Saturday some friends and I are going downtown to build some water bottle rafts for flood victims to use to get themselves and their belongings out of their houses. It should be a good time! We are going to go to a local church in the afternoon then that is a bilingual church. Every aspect of their service is in both English in Thai. Its a neat environment and I think it will be a good way to spend our last Saturday of "freedom!" As much as I am looking forward to starting school I am not disillusioned about how much work it is going to be!

i take it all back!

change of schedule again! school now does not start until the 21st....we are all getting frustrated around here and we could use some bolstering prayers! Forget having a countdown to Christmas break, in my house we have started a countdown until class starts again!