Hi Everyone,
First things first, we will be in the US this summer from June 1st until July 22nd. Like last summer, we’ll be based in Fort Wayne and live at one of Avalon Missionary Church’s mission houses. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.
Adoption Update: the process is still ongoing. We had a bit of a hold-up, and things that should have been finished last August were stalled until this month (April). It is a long story, but we’re hoping that we are in the final days of that process and that everything can be finalized while we are in Fort Wayne this summer. The lawyer has told us this is possible, but Ken’s return ticket is flexible, and we might have to extend his stay in the States until the final adoption hearing.
We moved to a new home in November. The community is called Graceland (No, Elvis hasn’t been located yet). Graceland is across the street from Grace International School; Stephani and the girls have a 5 to 10-minute walk to and from school daily. We are slowly but surely settling in and making this our long-term home. We’re also enjoying getting to know our neighbors. Most of the families have some connection to Grace International School. Just in case you’d like to send us mail, here is our address:
99/128 Graceland Family Residences
Moo 3, Harn Kaew,
Hang Dong, Chiang Mai, 50230 Thailand
This school year has been much easier for us. Last year, we endured too many transitions, and it was emotionally and spiritually exhausting. But this year, after going through some debriefing counseling with Ken’s coach last summer while we were in Indiana, we’re doing so much better.
- We’ve resettled into a new fellowship, The Gathering International Church, and enjoy being connected to this body of Christ. The girls are involved in their youth group and building solid relationships with their peers, and we couldn’t be more pleased.
- Stephani has settled into her new teaching responsibilities; she’s teaching middle-school Language Arts (6th and 7th grade) and one Bible class (6th grade) and enjoys her students and work. She had the opportunity to use her Chinese language in a parent-teacher conference last October. GIS has been a wonderful place to work.
- Ken has also assumed coaching responsibilities with our organization and is connecting to a group that works with refugees in the border areas north of Chiang Mail near Myanmar, where a civil war is occurring.
Some highlights from this year:
- We need a car to use this summer.
- Our calendar is open; if you’d like to catch up with us, hear about our work in Chiang Mai, or explore how you can join us in our work, respond to this email, and we’ll get you on this summer’s calendar.
- We also need your prayers:
- The next six weeks will be busy, and the logistics of ending a school year and moving everyone across the world to Fort Wayne are always challenging. Pray that the school year will end well, that everything we need to do to get ready to fly to the US will happen as it’s supposed to, that our flights will be on time, and that we will be safe.
Ken’s passport is being renewed at this time. The US Embassy in Bangkok sent it to the USA in early March, and we’d like to get the new one by the mid-May estimate they gave us. That passport is also needed to complete our Thailand Visa Applications for next year and to fly home this summer. We have a six-day window between school ending and our flights to the US. Please pray that all these things will happen quickly.This prayer was answered; the new passport arrived today.- Pray for our support-raising efforts over the summer. We are nearing the 80% raised point and would love to raise that final amount and take a break from support-raising.
- Pray that we will find a balance between connecting with friends and family and finding rest during our stay in the US.
- Zoey is graduating next year, and while we are home this summer, we’d like to visit a number of college campuses. Pray for guidance and direction for Zoey and the rest of us.
Many blessings,
Stephani & Ken