Year in Retrospect - April 2006

Dear friends and family,

The school year is coming to an end. Many teachers will leave as well as many students. High schools students will take advanced placement tests. Graduation plans are in high gear. Yearbooks will be out in 3 weeks. The library is gearing up for the year end inventory which has never been done before. The 6th grade class took a field trip to Bangkok traveling by train overnight to visit a children's museum. At Grace finishing 6th grade means a change in buildings and a change in routine. A big deal! Everyone accomplished a great deal. Many new relationships developed. It is a most amazing community of teachers, students and parents. God continues to do amazing things here! What a privilege it is to serve here. Both Beth and I will be coming back in August - thanks be to God. When I came, both library rooms were empty with boxes of books waiting to be shelved. We finish the year with two new thriving libraries; over 13,800 items on shelf; new circulation and cataloging profiles done; new magazines and online databases in place. Good stuff! Next year - who knows what God will do. I will be in the states for 2 months and back here in August to give it another try.

Judy Long

Link to Beth Eden Church Web Page

Link to info about Thailand

Link to Coe Family Web Page

Link to Grace International School web page

Link to Jeremy & Kim Weatherford's blog page

This is a beautiful picture to end this series. It captures the loveliness of the gardens flanked by the mountains. 

One more picture of the military outpost and type of cabins used for the military. This is where they live!! No kidding!! It reminds of the 3 little pigs - house of straw!  

This building is one of the huts used by the military for sleeping. Very primitive. The outhouse/shower stalls nearby reminded me of pictures from the TV show Mash.  

Doi Angkhang is quite near the Myannmar border and there is a military outpost not far from the Agricultural station. Note the sandbags in the picture which are just in front of a very long bunker.  

Alternative cash crops include peaches, plums, strawberries and many types of vegetables. This is a small, experimental plot near the restaurant with rhubarb (pictured), cauliflower, kale, lettuce, cabbage, and broccoli. Larger fields are located on the surrounding slopes. We did see poppies in one of the flower gardens.  

Each morning I studied my Thai and read my devotionals in the Bonsai garden. One morning I spent time talking to these young Thai girls. The girl on the left is 10 years old and the one on the right is about 4 years old. They were selling the bracelets in the picture. The average income of adults/family unit in this area is around $300 per year.  

This is a picture of the Bonsai garden. It sits in a valley surrounded by large rocks and is quite lovely!  

We had tried to find the local cave and were not successful. However, we thought we might fool a few people with this picture. The two ladies are teachers from Grace.  

We spent 3 days at the Queen's Royal Agricultural Station which is located in a mountain range called Doi Angkhang. The King and Queen have a small residence in this area. The project was established to give the Thais alternative cash crops to replace opium as a source of income.  

I will close my entries with this picture. Joel and I know each other from school. His Mom, Juanita is our most faithful volunteer in the school library. Joel and I shared special time together - especially on the baseball field.  

The A-frames are one type of room available to guests for overnight stay. These buildings house 2 single beds and a small bathroom. Note the thatched roofs!  

I smiled when I saw this bush. It is 'coleus' - a plant we are all familiar with at home My coleus at home are much smaller and never exceed a foot in height.  

This area surrounds the resort. I took the picture to give you a sense of the 'jungle' or forest area in the Chiang Mai province. Note the water buffalo in the background. 

Another friend who enjoyed climbing the rock structure and of course sitting on top of the 'world.'  

We spent our first week of spring break at the SIL Annual conference at the Wangtarn Resort. You can see that the gardens are lovely and the mountain range in the background adds to the beauty of the province.  

This young man is the son of a library volunteer. He and I shared some quality time during conference especially on the baseball field!  

These A-frames housed some of our more adventuresome members. Each had two cots and a small bathroom. Yep - those are thatched roofs!  

I took this picture to show the fields and woods surrounding the resort. Water buffalo can be seen in the distance.  

I took this picture because it shows how the computer has become a very basic tool and will be used anywhere a plug in can be found! I purposely left mine home only to encounter others who are more addicted than I am!  

The past week I enjoyed time with colleagues of my parent organization at the Wangtarn Resort - annual conference. We worshipped each morning and then attended meetings on various topics. My benefit - to see and hear what members are doing in various projects. They are all a very dedicated group of people!