"The Best Picture"

I printed this picture for Hannah this evening after we dropped Scott off at the airport. She had told me that she was worried about forgetting her Daddy’s face. After I printed this picture for each of the children, Joshua announced that this was the best picture ever. I think because we all look like ourselves. I mean I just grabbed a cloth and through it over our bookshelf for a background, and then we set the camera on the desk. I was in a hurry for a picture that day and barely got everyone together I didn’t even worry about what everyone was wearing or how our hair looked. So this is a picture of our family. The last professional picture we took did not have Elijah in it and Scott had a beard. This one has our complete family in it.

Scott will be flying for Thailand tonight. I miss him already. In fact as soon as I drove out of the airport I felt sad. I had hoped we would get to go inside with him but we wound up having to drop him off at the door. We let the kids out of the car to give him a hug before he went in. Then we went and parked in a free parking area at the airport. I had hoped Scott would be through all the lines by the time I was finished feeding Elijah but when I called him he was in a long line and had bad cell phone reception. I couldn’t hear much of what he said but I knew he would call me if he had problems. I decided to go ahead and go. Scott did finally call me and told me that there were no problems. He made it through all the baggage checks and was sitting at his gate. It will be a long flight for him and I know he will be extremely tired from the jet lag.

So why is he going to Thailand? That is the question I know is on a lot of minds. In February or March I had seen that there was a team being formed of volunteers to go on a Short Term mission trip to Thailand to help the Missionaries there work in a village school teaching ESL and basketball. At the time I mentioned it to Scott but he had somehow dismissed it and wasn’t considering going. I guess it was because he had just gotten back from a Mission trip to Paraguay and maybe he thought it was too soon for another trip. I’m not really sure.

Instead we planned to go to the ABA meeting which was held in West Virginia this summer and afterward we thought we would take the kids to see Washington D.C. and then take them to visit Scott’s family in Michigan. Then in May the missionaries in Thailand sent out a plea for an Emergency back up team since the original team was considering backing out due to the political troubles in one of the major cities in Thailand. As soon as I saw the message about the need for another team, I felt like if I could go I would. I knew Scott was good at that kind of ministry and so as soon as I saw it, I approached Scott with the possibility of him going. He said he would have to pray about it. I think he was waiting to see if the other team really backed out or not. We thought he would have a week to decide. Then another plea came out after a few days telling that the team did back out and that this would be a major disappointment to the village. The missionary and his wife were still going to have something over there even if no one else came. I went to Scott and had him read the message. He wanted to go but couldn’t see how we would have the money that soon.

We weren’t expecting any money in until June and that would be too late. I asked Scott if he had checked the bank lately. He said he hadn’t in a few days. I told him, “I’ll call the bank and if the money is there maybe you are suppose to go.” I called the bank and sure enough the money from our Tax refund had come in early. There was enough to pay for his airfare. I handed him the phone so he could hear the amount in the bank. He looked surprised and said, “Well, I guess I’m going to Thailand.” I wasn’t too surprised because God had done that kind of thing in our lives before. I remember early in our married life and in Scott’s ministry we used to wish God would just show us a neon sign, when he wanted us to do something. But now I known he has always shown us His will. We just have to keep our eyes open to see it.

I’m glad that our church hasn’t given Scott any problems with going on short term mission trips. I think it is good for him to go and use some of the talents he has for the Lord’s work, that he is unable to use as much at home. Scott loves learning new languages. I have often wondered why he would want to learn a language that he may never use. He worked on Russian and Ukranian for our short term trip to Ukraine. He speaks Spanish well and was able to use it a lot in Paraguay. He has also been working on Chinese and Japanese lately. Then when he started preparing for going to Thailand, he started working on Thai as well. (He has admitted that Thai sometimes gave him a headache to learn.)

We went to some of the Asian markets in Houston where he got to practice a little of what he has learned. We’ve even eaten out at a couple of Thai restaraunts. He talked to several of the owners about his trip and asked them questions about which part they are from.

I have come to see that most people are proud to talk about their homeland and are excited to hear someone try to speak their native tongue. Scott isn’t afraid to speak at all. I have more of a tendency to worry about what they might think if I mess up. Someday I’ll try to work on a language but right now, I’m undecided which one I need to focus on. I’m not good at doing like he does and learning several languages at one time.

I definitely am missing him. This month I have quite a few plans for the kids and I while Scott is away. We will be visiting my family here in Texas for one week and Scott’s family in Michigan for the next week. I know Scott will miss getting to see his family. But we would not have been able to go see them at any other time this year. So I decided that Scott’s mother needed to see the kids. Especially since she has not yet met Elijah.

I will be continuing to blog as much as possible during the time we are traveling. I do not expect to hear very often from Scott, but as I find out how he is doing I will post that as well.

Please pray for Scott as he is helping out in Thailand. And pray for me as I travel across America with our 5 children. It’s going to be hard to travel without Scott beside me to help me with decisions that I’m sure I will have to make. But I know God can help me make it through these next few weeks.