My First two Sponsor Letters :)

Some reflection on and pictures of my first 2 Months of living & loving in the Land of Smiles:
Sponsor Letter 1-- December

4 month update:
Sponsor Letter 2-- February

A photo/video tour of Christhaimas 2011

Focolare came to share the meaning of Christmas with the children. That's the Gospel story being projected on our wall-- Thai cartoon, of course!

Watching intently.

quiz time!!

Nativity play in under 1 minute!!! at Baan Chivit Mai, a Christian organization in our neighborhood that serves children with disabilities.

Wait, where'd Jesus go?????

Thailand's Funniest Home Videos material.

Hosting some grandmothers in our neighborhood for lunch January 23. 

Yaai Somp Chit-- a beauty who devotes every day of her life to caring for her severely handicapped and bed-ridden son.

We were invited to Paa Noi's house for Christmas Eve lunch--  beautiful in its simplicity and gratuitousness.

Mollie makes a friend on the way home from lunch. Even when you're a visitor to our house, the kids know you're there to love them and they give you their hearts right away-- which is fantastic.

Stopping to play... always a good idea!

Spin me!

Christmas Eve dinner at the French parish after Mass. George, 12 (on the left) is a Sri Lankan refugee who made his way across the city by bus by himself to join us for Mass and dinner. We then dropped him off at the nearby English parish so he could altar serve at the midnight Mass. What a STUD. One of my best gifts this Christmas was going to help him pick out a new bike with money that Maria (the woman next to him, who was so moved by him that night) donated so that he could have a Christmas gift.

Thuy looking elegant on the way to Christmas morning Mass at the local Thai parish.

So Thai right now.

The Hello Kitty in the manger scene by the Church door gets me every time. EVERY time.

We visited and brought gifts for a family that has been long-time (20 years... since the beginning) friends of Heart's Home. 

Of course Ket's favorite part of the gift was the hand-me-down toy baby bottle. He used it to feed their cats.  

Christmas joy, of course! A real Nativity image for me.

Erika and I pose with Phii Tim and Ket.

Bye bye!

Christmas lunch with an amazing family from the French parish and a few neighborhood children.

The visiting grandmother and Faa bonded, as Faa delighted in the much-needed affection.

Holding baby Philomene together. I wish I had a picture of everyone in the room adoring her at this moment. 

Monthita, a Thai friend, speaks to the children about Christmas.

Fon adores the baby Jesus.

Time for presents... for 70 children in the neighborhood, all donated by generous friends of ours!

Happily going home to show off their gifts!

Tour of the neighborhood with Marie, Mollie, and our guests. This grandmother is a joy and a half to meet on the way to and from the bus :)

Sharing a peek into my life with Molls was SO wonderful!

Life on the street by our house-- amazing in its uncapturability.

The power of simple love.

Look who we found! Dancing with Oo in the street.

A quiet Christmas dinner with the community.

Marie goes in for the kiss. Thuy looks on disapprovingly (not of Marie's fish-kissing, but of the spiciness of said fish).

New Year's Eve Community Adoration. Of the 50-some-odd saints and holy people in the basket, I picked the intentions of Our Lady of Medjugorje to pray for this year. Providence. For. The. Win!!!

"A great respect for those Jesus identifies with"

From Why Don't We Go Lower and Lower?

by Fr. Thierry de Roucy

I do not like the talks about poverty,

and the summit meetings dealing with this theme, in Sheraton hotels. 

I find them rather scandalous! 

The point should not be to speak, first about poverty,

 but to experience it with the poor people!

I also disagree when we speak about “the poor”, 

even if I myself do it, too much. 

For we already side with the wealthy people; 

it divides and puts us apart from the humble ones.  “Them” and “us” should not be used, because, 

from now on, there is only “us” in Christ.  In our talks, we too often consider poor people as a phenomenon.  We too often go towards them as if we were going to a zoo.  We are certainly not doing a sociological study of poor people.  What we have chosen is to establish 

a communion of love with them, 

a mystical one. 

This is quite different.

We will never show enough consideration for poor people. 

Never will we consider them undeniably 

as human beings, gifted with their very freedom.  We often want to make decisions in their place, 

we often want to speak in their place, 

and act in their place.  We sometimes consider them as two-year old children.  Aren’t we rather supposed to inquire about, listen to and welcome them? 

I am so worried that we might consider the ‘penniless people’ as ‘reasonless beings’.