In December we finally got to take some real time off. We flew down to the Krabi and then made our way down to Koh Lanta, which is an island in the south of Thailand, to surprise my parents and brothers who were already there. We spent a little over a week there and got to enjoy beautiful beaches, good food, and some nice pools. Saoirse loved spending time with her uncles during that little vacation and throughout this past new years season and is really missing them now that they are gone. This was her first time seeing the beach and it was really fun watching her enjoy the sand, sea, and pool so much. Last week we celebrated her 2nd birthday. Oh how time flies but how slow it also feels. We have loved the past 2 years with her, watching her grow, learn new skills, and just becoming her own little person. She is absolutely fascinated by airplanes and will yell AIRPLANE anytime she sees or hears one flying over.
At the end of last year my work for the large foundation here in Chiang Rai started slowing down as most of the big ticket items had been taken care of. After I started with supporting them I spent a few months, 1 day per week, working on their network and getting that set up properly. This meant running fibre cables between the 10 buildings they have on their campus and replacing the core of the network with newer gear. I also spent quite a bit of time working on the computer lab they have for their students to use, upgrading the computers and otherwise cleaning up the space and getting rid of a large mess of cables. Now that all that is done we are turning our focus to their church building and large meeting hall which also need some improvements to their technology. We started a few weeks ago by running new cables inside the building to connect the stage to the sound and projection area in the back of the church.
Late last year I also got a request from a rather large foundation in Chiang Mai to start supporting their IT as they have been without for quite a while already. This means that I have been, and will continue, to travel frequently between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai to support them. This foundation has over 160 staff and volunteers working in 10 provinces in more than 70 different churches/ministries/projects. But for now I will only be supporting their head office in Chiang Mai but this does open up a lot of opportunities throughout Thailand for the future.
Pim has joined the church’s youth group leadership and has been really enjoying spending time with and mentoring our church’s high schoolers and university students as they go through life, figure out their place in the world, and develop a deeper relationship with God. She has also jumped back into work for the church on a part time, 1 day per week, mostly online basis doing graphic design and preparing slides for Sundays. While she has loved being a stay at home mom she has found that she also just needs some time outside of that and has really enjoyed being able to go into the church office when needed.
