Life in Thailand

Hello all,
thought I'd write another update cause I have time...and that doesn't happen too often!
Life here has been pretty busy with lots of people needing help, English classes, travelling, etc...
I think the biggest change recently has been the amount of people staying at our house. Rodney and I just did a count, and it's up to 24-26 people depending on the day. We are back to 13 kids plus two families of a mother and two children...and then our two Thai workers, Phimpha, Rodney, myself, and a lady that sometimes stays with us and a Pastor that comes and goes...so it's a very full house! Makes life very interesting--seems like there's always a baby crying or kids wanting to play soccer or basketball or dishes that need washing or laundry that needs to be done...oh, and English lessons that need to be written. I've been procrastinating on that one lately! (It's so much more fun to play basketball!!) It's funny how you can fly to the opposite side of the world and find yourself doing a lot of the same things you would have been doing back home...just in a very different environment! (and with different people...)
The story for today is about one of the families that I mentioned: the lady and two kids who came to us from a nearby province a couple weeks ago. This lady is running from her abusive husband. She had been living with him in a small apartment in the city, working and taking care of the kids while he spend most of her money getting drunk all the time. Her daughter became so scared of her father that she peed herself when he called her name. (She is almost 5 years old...) The son (who is 2 or 3) is slightly behind developmentally because this lady was hit by her husband while she was pregnant. Not a good guy at all. But still the lady stuck with him, hoping he would change for the better.
Finally, it became too much. Her sister-in-law heard about Phimpha and moved in with us, and soon she took her kids and followed suit. She called Phimpha and we drove over, helped her pack all of her things into the car, and adopted her family into ours. Her husband now has no income and no one to pay rent on the apartment that he lives in. He has found another girl, but who knows how long before she realizes what a bad man he is and kicks him out as well.
The first week or so in the Timothy House was a little hard for this family: the kids did not know how to play and have fun. There was a lot of crying and not much smiling. But praise God: there are more smiles than tears now! The kids are learning to be children again...they play with the other kids and laugh and run around and give hugs. Of course they still cry sometimes--they're young still--but they are learning that they are safe. It is so cool to see the change that real love can have in the lives of kids. I don't know what the rest of the story will be for this family, but I know that God has it all figured out!
So the moral of the story is...love a kid. ;)
well, I've got to go teach some kids how to speak English. In the meantime, please pray for a girl who is with us--she is 13 and due to have a baby in May. She's doing pretty well, but still could use some prayer.
Thanks everyone!