The long-awaited update

Hello everyone!
Ready for a long update? It's about time I guess!
Christmastime here has been very very busy!
As I said before, we had a lot of Christmas parties. Christmas parties here are very similar to a Christmas program or service back home: There's lots of music, usually a speaker or something, sometimes people performing dances or other things like that. Some of the parties had some games for the kids, and they all had food and some sort of gift to give out. One of the coolest things for me was getting to see the kids receive gifts from Operation Christmas Child. For those of you who aren't familiar with that program, it's a way for people in richer countries like the US or Australia, etc. to give gifts to children who might never have received one before. Basically you put together a shoebox full of toys, school supplies, hygiene supplies, etc. and then the organization ships it out to places like Thailand to be distributed to kids in need. (if you want to find more info, check out their website: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ) I have helped to put together boxes back home for lots of years, and it was really neat to be on the receiving end this year. watching those kids open the gifts was so cool--seeing their faces as they got a new car or a stuffed animal was just...hard to describe. They get so excited for something that would seem so mundane for a kid back home, because here the kids just don't have much of anything.
At the first Christmas party I went to that gave out the boxes, there was a little girl, probably 2 or 3 years old, who got this stuffed raccoon that was almost as big as she was. She loved that thing! She was hugging it and playing with it, and pretending to run away from it but then running back and grabbing a hold of it...it was just so cute and so sweet to see her so happy just because someone else decided they were going to make someone's Christmas a little bit better. It made hers better!
Another thing that was interesting was to see the parents' reactions. It's something I never really thought about before since we just always think of the kids who will be getting the gifts. But a lot of times, the parents were just as interested as the kids---digging through the boxes, seeing what was inside. They weren't running around playing with the toys, but you could tell that they were blessed by the boxes even though it was for their child.
At the first Christmas party we went to, us white people (the three Australians and me) were asked to sing a song as part of the program. So we ended up singing Joy to the World in front of 200 or so Thai people who were there for the party. We sang it again at the party the next day, and after that Phimpha asked me to sing at I think 4 other parties that we went to. So that was an interesting experience. I tend to get way more nervous when I'm singing by myself than when I sing with other people like I do back home. But I don't think I made too much of a fool of myself! (or probably she wouldn't have kept asking me to sing, right?)
In other news, we have had a lot of elephant visitors over the past week or two! Phimpha loves elephants, so whenever we see sugar cane on the side of the road we stop to pick it up and put it at the end of our driveway. Then the elephants come and hang out to eat it and we get to see them! That's mostly good, except when they get too familiar they end up finding the kitchen and stealing rice and bananas...but that was just once, so hopefully they'll stick to the sugar cane from here on out!
Not too much has been happening since the end of the Christmas parties this past weekend---This week I've stayed home most days. I've spent my time watching the two year olds, doing some laundry and dishes, reading, eating rice....oh wait. I do that all the time anyway.
Been doing a lot of thinking about the future and what it'll look like. I've decided I still have no idea what it'll look like, so haven't gotten anywhere in the "planning" stage. But I've been talking to God a lot about life, and working on giving mine to Him. I've realized that the hardest part to give to God is the people in your life: I'm fine with living in Thailand with a different language, different food, weird bathrooms, and cold water showers. But telling God that I could live far away from my family and friends if He wants me to is a different matter. But He is good. And He is what matters. So we will see what God has in mind for my future! If he ever tells me I'll let you know, but I have the feeling that He'll just tell me as I go. Sort of like a treasure hunt where you get clues to send you to the next spot and eventually you find the treasure. :)
well, I'm going to end this before you all fall asleep cause it's so long. Sorry for getting all philosophical on you! hope you enjoyed reading this!
~Andrea~
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."
Matthew 10:37-39