Ken and Suradet pacing out possible building sites
on the new property (August 2023).
It's hard to believe but I just checked the calendar again and, yup. In just ten days Ken and I will get on the plane to head back over to Thailand for a very strategic visit at Hot Springs.
For Ken it will be a span of about 2 years and six months since he was last there (for our 45th anniversary).
For me, it will be a matter of 66 days.
This will be the shortest turnaround for me ever since I started traveling back and forth in 2008. I even just left all my summer clothes there because I wouldn't be needing them over the winter in Canada, and I was going to be back again so soon, so why bother? It certainly has made for a more intensive Christmas season than usual, given the preparation work on Sermons and Bible Lessons, and all the other logistics of just getting there.
Ken and Saichom (August 2023)
But it's important and strategic, and the timing is part of that. With the arrival of the long awaited land deed we are now clear to put into action all the plans we've had in the wings to build our new facility. While Ken normally holds down the fort at home, we had always said that when we were ready for this part, he would return and help us work through some of the construction particulars, leading us to all work together with Thai engineers and contractors.
To be clear, we're still at the beginning of things in some ways. While we've had a site plan for quite some time, more detail needs to be added, and the specifics need to be decided. All of this is really, really hard to do on line and off site, like, literally a half a world away off site. Especially with language and measurement challenges, in that some Thai measurements are exactly the same as Western specifications.
And then there's the fundraising piece, which is huge, and needs careful discernment and collaboration, the likes of which are also difficult to come to consensus with when everyone's not in the room.
So strategic and important....and such a huge treat for me to have Ken with me this time!!!
We travel well together, so that's fun. And honestly, it just makes me love him all the more when I see him connecting with the kids.
Reading time!
Paw Ken adds so many sound effects!
We'll be commissioned at Highview on Sunday, January 18th, and we've asked if our daughter, Kristyn would do the honours. Delightfully, she's said yes!
Sponsors will not be sending along packages this time. Instead, we have a newer kind of Valentine Surprise that we'll work out while we're there. An extra, separate email has been sent out for this, so Sponsors, watch for that.
Over the next two Sundays I will have a box set up at Highview for anyone who would like to contribute to a small outing for the children while Ken and I are there.
And also, we will meet up with Esther Weatherall, Highview's own on-the-ground full time missionary working with YWAM in Chiang Mai.
And of course, just to spend the time with the kids and with Suradet and Yupa and other staff members....it's like being with family and so good for the soul.
Excited and grateful and curious and motivated and eager and almost ready.
Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.
Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence
New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church
The mission of New Family Foundation is to
provide a loving home for at-risk and
orphaned children in Northern Thailand to
help them achieve their best potential in
education, vocation and service to society.
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