I am back at home with Manfred, and it seems strange after a month of being at my sister's house, and the busy routine of all that I did in the month of July.
I have handed everything over to my sister, and spent most of Friday and Saturday with her. We talked about all the work issues so that she is up-to-date with everything and we also talked about her trip to the UK and all our relatives that she spent time with. We have so many cousins, second-cousins and so on.
Heather attended both a funeral and a wedding in that time. The funeral of my auntie and the wedding of Kelly, the grand-daughter of the auntie who died. The wedding must have been such a bitter-sweet day for the whole family.
Heather and Pauline had a wonderful holiday and spent a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur on the way home to Perth.
My son, Richard, and daughter-in-law, Mandy, have returned from the Missions trip to Thailand. They and 2 other members of the team, spoke at Church yesterday on the events of their trip. Another bitter-sweet story.
They spoke of joy and sadness, sickness and hope, perseverance and love.
They met people who were so poor, they were begging for their next meal for their families.
They met other people who were full of joy and hope for the future; Thai children who are being cared for by the "Home of Hope Orphanage". These same Thai children turned the tables on our team by praying for OUR team, after our team had prayed for them! It apparently was very humbling. The photos showed happy, laughing, cared-for children in an orphanage where they are not only fed and sheltered, but loved, educated and treated like a big family. See www.homeofhopethai.org
There were other children at Mae Sot, who are not so fortunate. They are refugees from Burma/Myanmar, and they have no rights in Thailand, so there is no schooling for them. They are lucky if they have a roof over their heads and food in their tummies. I look forward to talking more with my son about this area of need, to see what we can do to help more.
My grandchildren are, of course, delighted to have their mummy and daddy home again.
