I guess I have to start with yesterday for you to understand the full impact of my day. When Travis brought the girls home from school Pawkuhmooeydee ran past me to her room sobbing uncontrollably. I am still not well, so I slowly made my way out to Travis to try to find out what was wrong before going to talk to her. I found out that she had been left in the classroom at school with two other girls, and she was asked to watch the teacher’s things while the teacher and the rest of the students went to worship their idols. Pawkuhmooeydee had done that many times, and the two girls that were with her are her friends, so she did not watch the teacher’s things very carefully. When the teacher came back, she found 500 baht missing from her stuff, and none of the girls would admit to stealing it. So, the police were called in, other teachers came and cast spells on whoever the guilty one was, and they generally tried to scare the kids into confessing. But, none of them would. So, we were told that we must go to the school this morning to help resolve the issue. While the police were questioning the students, some of them came and cornered Thunduh and Travis and started grilling them as to who we are, what we are doing here, and some other rather threatening questions…..especially since we were not yet under a foundation, which is what it takes to legally do what we are doing here in Thailand.

Pawkuhmooeydee was heartbroken because she is going to this school so that she can be a missionary there. She was hurt that her good friends would not confess and get her out of all this trouble. We had to kindly tell her that if she agrees to watch someone’s things, that she really should watch them. She knew that her friend steals, but she didn’t think that they would steal from the teacher. So, we told her that she had to accept responsibility. So, after hours of discussion, we were finally able to go home around noon.

I was exhausted. I directed the kids to clean up their messes while Roy then went down to the main road to show Rodney and Phimpa how to get here. As soon as he left, two neighbor ladies walked up, marched into my house and sat down. One had her little boy with her that she wanted to be checked since he was sick. Then, they asked me if I would take another baby. How old? Six days. I told them that I would come and talk to them this evening, because we were expecting company any minute. My head was reeling…I thought that I was going to rest this afternoon!

While they were walking away, Roy came with Rodney and Phimpa. They visited with us for just a few minutes, and then Phimpa went into action. Within an hour or two, she had the electric company scheduled to hook up electricity to this place, and our little home safely tucked under her foundation, which is the Love and Care Foundation. God had to pull a few strings to have it happen so quickly, but it was clear that HE had been working on it for a while before Phimpa got here. Rodney and Phimpa also did all the paperwork for me to get my long term visa through their foundation. (Anyone else see God’s hand here?) With that extremely huge hurdle taken care of, we were free to find out what in the world the neighbors were talking about.

So, this evening we ran over to the neighbor’s house and interrogated the mother and all the neighbors that had gathered about the real need in this case. People lie to us, so we have to be really careful. I did not show any interest in the baby while I was talking to them, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that this was a little tiny baby…and it is a girl! After being completely satisfied that it was a real need, and seeing that the mother absolutely refused to have anything to do with the baby, we agreed to take her.

I thought that Rodney and Phimpa had left to go back home, but pretty soon afterward, they came back. I showed Rodney my new addition, and he immediately offered to take me to town in his truck to get the necessary supplies for newborns. I grabbed all the money that Roy had in his wallet and went. When I got to the store, I picked out everything that I felt was essential: formula, bottles, binky, diapers, two towels, (since I could not afford clothes, she is wrapped in a towel) a tiny hat, and some baby wipes. When I got to the checkout counter, I started to worry since I had not brought very much money. I told Rodney that I might have to put some things back since I did not think that I had that much. So, he opened up his wallet, and gave me everything in it, and the baby things cost the exact amount that we both had together! I tried to pay him back this evening, but he would not hear of it. He and Phimpa love babies too!

My kids were nearly uncontrollable. They were so excited that I was afraid that this little baby would get smothered.  We then had a lively discussion as to what to name the baby. After MUCH discussion and input from all our kids, we chose Destiny Grace Sharon. She weighs 5 pounds, and is much smaller than I think a newborn should be! I was so desperate for clothes for her, that I had Meme go and get all her doll clothes for me. But, they were all too big! She is still wrapped in her towel…but at least it is a pretty color of towel!

Hey, if you ever get bored there in America, or wherever you are….you should try the mission field!