Itsara

We had Christmas today. This is the first Christmas we’ve had in Thailand and the first Christmas I’ve ever had in my own house with my own family. So Cindy and I decided to do some things that we hope continue through the years. We’ll see.

We got a tree - an artificial one (not many Christmas tree lots in Thailand, besides which it would be expensive), but we have few ornaments. Cindy came up with the idea of us making them, maybe one a year. That’s actually what we were doing the day Cindy went into the hospital (fortunately… otherwise we wouldn’t have finished them).

Christmas morning, we had a special devotion. I read from Matthew 1 and John 1 and we talked about what it was we were celebrating. We sang a couple of songs together and then had breakfast.

I made the same thing my dad makes every year. A sort of breakfast lasagne made with bread, cheese, bacon, and eggs. Everyone liked it. Sean and Prang brought a Thai dessert. I don’t think I could explain it, but it’s in that picture there in the pot.

Then we did presents. We don’t have a lot of presents, but we had fun together. Some of the highlights were Matt’s cell phone, which he’s been aching for, and Cindy wrote letters to each of her parents that were very touching. Isaac didn’t get any gifts, except the gift of life. I also got Isaac as a gift, which is exactly what I asked Cindy for.

And he’s happy. By which I mean he’s eating, sleeping, and pooping. Sometimes all at once. I don’t know how he does that.

I also added this picture to the gallery. Apparently assumptions were made that, because there were no pictures of Grandma holding Isaac, Grandma therefore never held Isaac. This picture should rectify that. In truth, Grandma has held Isaac more than any other non-parent person. In the future, I will try to get a picture of everyone who ever holds him so there’s no confusion.

On December 14th, 2006, Isaac Rahksa Heine (ไอสิก รักษา ไฮน่า) was born at 9:05 in the morning. He weighed 3,100 grams, or 6 pounds and 7 ounces. Isaac means “he laughs”. รักษา (pronounced ráhk-săa) means “he heals”.

From the first contractions to birth was about 13 hours. The delivery was difficult (yeah, I’m one to talk), but there were no serious complications and Cindy was able to do it naturally because she’s superhuman. Isaac did have his cord around his neck causing him to be a little blue (which freaked me out), but the doctor handled it extremely well and had Isaac crying very shortly after birth.

We were hoping he’d be born on the 13th, which is Cindy’s birthday, but he missed it by just a bit. However, Cindy (and others later) pointed out that Cindy was born in California. And in California, it was the 13th when he was born. I figure it all works out the same from God’s point of view.

Afterwards, Cindy and I stayed in the hospital for four days while Cindy recovered. Sean, Prang, and Cindy’s mom stayed with Matt and Sandra at home (though they came to visit fairly often). Today, just when Cindy had recovered and we thought we were going home, Isaac was discovered to have enough jaundice to need treatment. So he has to sit under some lights for 2-3 more days. We decided I should come home to be with Matt and Sandra (hence the announcements now), and Cindy is currently with Isaac in his personal tanning salon.

Everyone says he looks like me, but you can judge for yourself (links to pictures are below). The Thai folk who see him keep saying his hair is “gold”. Looks brown to me, but we did get to see him next to some Thai babies in the nursery when he went in for his first bath, and I can see why they might say gold. The hair on those babies was black. Also - and Cindy made sure to tell Isaac this later - he was by far the cutest one there. I know that’s not really fair to the other babies, but we can’t help that it’s true.

I’m sure this space will be covered with things we learn as parents in the near future. For now, the biggest thing I feel (other than missing both my son and my wife hugely right now) is a very, very strong need to protect my family. That’s why I stayed in the hospital with Cindy and Isaac while Cindy recovered. That’s why I’m home with Matt and Sandra now. Seriously, if I felt someone was threatening any of them (and emotional threats count!), I think I’d get all big and green and angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

Pictures! Here’s a link to a whole gallery full of them (with captions where I thought necessary). I took some pictures of the hospital room just so you could see what we’ve got out here. The rest are of Isaac and various members of his new family. Here’s some teasers:

I also got movies! Just a couple, and he doesn’t move much (and my camera doesn’t record audio), but seeing him blink just a little is actually a lot cooler than the still pics you normally see of newborns. In Movie One, he’s just staring. In Movie Two… well, he’s staring some more. But he’s most active (and most cutest!) in Movie Three. He kicks!

Sean has written a post over on his website about the rice harvest at Prang’s village a couple of weeks ago. Here’s an excerpt:

Everyone had a big laugh watching me try and use the sticks to pick a rice bundle. Prangs brother showed me a few tricks and then it just took a little practice before I was off having a good time. Until after a few hours of smacking rice over and over again. Your lower back starts hurting and the boredom begins to come. Then I found myself looking over the fields of rice wondering how much we had to do. It was huge. The rice bundles seemed to never stop coming in. I begin wondering what I got myself into and started feeling greatfull that I was doing this by choice and not because I had to eat. I would never choose to be a farmer. But again those people in the village don’t get to choose. If they don’t farm the rice than they don’t have any food to eat.

He’s got a few pictures too. So what are you waiting for? Get over there and read about it.

Disclaimer: In today’s post, I talk some more about our vision - what we think our future might look like (or at least what we are excited about with regards to our future). Please know, as we have learned, that any and all of this could change. It most likely will. A year ago we were going to be house parents at Im Jai. Two years ago Cindy was going to run our orphanage while I pastored a church or something. Five years ago I was itching to quit my software engineering job and make computer games again. You just never know.

Those of you following along at home know that we intend to have a children’s home. More than that, we intend to have a family of unwanted children that we will raise to know Jesus’ love and give it in return. That started, in a way, when we got Sandra back in March of this year. Sandra had her own set of emotional and interpersonal issues, akin to those we had seen in some of the kids at Im Jai House - really common issues to have for a kid who has not received the love they need. Loving and raising her has not been easy, and it made us wonder how we ever thought we would be able to handle this sort of parenting with a child who didn’t speak English.

Fast-forward to last Saturday morning. We found out that some friends of ours were asked to take in one of the girls from Im Jai House (for what reasons, we don’t know). When I heard about it, a part of me wanted to take her into our house. It surprised me, because for the last 9 months I haven’t been thinking about taking in a Thai-speaking (and Thai-raised) child. I know that’s what we came here for, but every time I thought about it I would get scared. I was able to calm myself by remembering (or being told) that God knows what he’s doing, and he wouldn’t ever give us a burden that we were unable to carry, but I always knew that it wasn’t time yet.

So when I found myself wanting this girl in my house, and thinking about how it would work out, I discovered that I wasn’t scared anymore. I think we could handle one, or maybe even two, Thai-speaking children in our house now. It wouldn’t be easy, but with all that we’ve learned from Sandra and Matthew, and with the gift God’s given us of a bilingual household, I think it could actually work. Read on to catch the full vision. (more…)

Recently, Sean and Prang were planning on visiting the States now that they’re married. It turned out to be very difficult (and expensive) for Prang to get a tourist visa, and in the end she was turned down.

This is a fairly common story for people from non-Western countries. It is hard, if not impossible, for them to visit the States let alone immigrate there - especially since 9/11. On the other hand, it is easy for Americans to visit, and even live and work, in most other countries. In much of the world we are well liked, and even the most middle class of us is a rich man when we leave our borders.

On top of that, our nation is one of the few founded on, and continuing in (more or less), a tradition of Christianity. All of this makes citizens of the United States uniquely suited to take the gospel into all the world. (more…)