A Weekend with Family.

On Friday night my aunt and uncle from Ohio (Harold and Betty), and cousins who live in Tibet (Keith and Rhoda & their kiddos) came for a short weekend visit. It was so refreshing and fun to have family here, and our friends here in Chiang Rai loved them as well. Saturday we celebrated the "Eating New Rice" festival in Luka's village, so they were able to join with that as well. At the end of the service there was an auction with donated fruits, vegetables, rice, brooms, and chickens donated by the church members, to help support their local church. The auction was followed by a delicious feast (pork, soup, cooked veggies, mountain rice, watermelon, passion fruit, bananas, and hot tea).

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Devastatingly Predictable Election.

Burma's latest election proved to be just as predictable as everyone thought it would be--full of lies. Though they allowed everyone to vote, they military government tweaked the numbers to say what they wanted them to be. Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be on house arrest. The elections have caused an eruption of fighting to take place in the east of the country between the Karen (an ethnic minority group), and the Burmese government causing over 20,000 Karen to flee across the Thai border. For the full article, click here. 


Photos below come from this site.

photos.

Blah and Gee.

My Korean friend Hyojung came to visit us with her family

Sweet little Jaden.

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Huisan Akha village friend.

Ahmee and Sila.

Ae and Ghan.

little love.

This is the little girl I wrote about over a month ago who was in a motorbike accident. She is still as happy as ever, despite all that she went through. The only current problem that we can see,  is that the scar tissue around her eye is firmer than normal skin tissue in that area. This has been causing problems for her to completely close the eye, and it often looks as if she has a little infection.

A friend of mine shared her story with a plastic surgeon in Chiang Rai who is willing to look at her case and give  an opinion as to what as what he expects her future needs to be (more surgeries...etc). We are feeling very grateful for this connection, as well as for this kind doctor's insight on a potential government program that could fund future surgeries.