Vietnam 2013- Let's GO!

Afraid of flying and traveling for 2 days half way across the world? Me too, but let's do it anyway! "With fear and trembling..."

Want to see rooftop views of Ha Noi? Yes, Please! I can hear the honking and smell the fresh laundry from here.

Want to walk through traffic to stroll around a peaceful lake? Keep walking, don't stop, they will not hit you... hopefully.

Want to join Thai Chi in the wee morning hours? Time to Praise HIM.

Want to sleep while moving? Overnight train ride will be the ride of your life. Bring toilet paper.

Want to play with village children who live on a terraced hillside in the middle of nowhere? Four year old caring for her little brother.

Want to bring children suckers, stickers, markers and other goodies and hear them scream with delight? Or in this case stair at you because this is the first sucker of their life and you have to show them how to eat it.

Want to bring a water buffalo to a deserving family? It will radically change their life, such as giving you or I a house paid in full. Let us run away from our American standard and change someone's life for generations to come.

Want to watch wee-ones explore paper and crayons for the first time? Oh, how she stole me completely. I still think about her every day.

Want to haul paint, stir, mix colors, trace on walls, fill in murals or paint murals? "Stick figure only" type person, you are still very needed.

Want to shovel and mix concrete to make a playground? Children will now have a place to play ball rather than slopping through the mud in the school court yard. We purchase soccer balls/basketballs and deflate them and bring them to the kiddos.

Want to pour adoration over children who live at school during the week and miss interaction so very much? Two teachers for 60 kids. Imagine what you would do each evening to entertain 30 children. We taught them to play tic tac toe. It is the little things.

Want to bring hundreds of new sandals to protect little feet? Planning on buying a new pair of sandals this summer? Two pair, perhaps. These feet seem more in need than my own.

Want to go to the market and try "something" that you have never seen before? Me either, but let's do it anyway! It's delicious, so glad we were brave!

Want to paint nails with girls or throw the football around with boys? All kids who have grown up in an orphanage and have no adult to talk with, play with, receive gifts from and need so much love. You know those bright days after the rain, let's go be that light.

Want to deliver clothes, shoes, crafts, games, diapers, formula, and millions of kisses to the least of these babies in an orphanage? Yes, let's do. Then, we will each need our own box of kleenex. Let us escape our societies busyness and simply meet the need of a child instead of an email.

Come on! Let's GO! Let us hang on the back of a bike for dear life. Hanging on to Him who calls us to serve those who are in darkness. Let us show mercy, kindness, passion, endurance. Don't have those things in your character? Me neither! We cannot do it alone, but we can learn and hang on together!

Want to be part of a team? "Let My people go that they may serve Me." Ex 9:1

You will be sharpened. You will be tired. You will be renewed. You will get sick. You will go pee in a squatty potty. You will see the Hand of the Lord. You will cry. You will be courageous. You will see that language is not a barrier. You will be homesick, yet totally sick of home. You will be in awe. You will be broken for the third world. You will receive more than you give. You will remember the smiles. You will want to go again.

It is my deepest honor to lead a team with Glocal Ventures, March 16-26, 2013. GVI, please scour their website to see their heart for the country of Vietnam. I am humbled and indebted to our Father for leading me to such an incredible organization. I am so impressed by their character and heartbeat, you will be too.

These dates are tentative, they may be pushed back/up by a day or two depending on flights, but a 10 day trip. Estimated cost is $25,000. Oh, is that too much? How about $2,500.
Vietnamese prices are pretty standard, any variance from this price will depend on US airline tickets at the time we purchase.
Everything is included: Airline ticket, food, hotels, buses, every detail planned out by the six stunning employees of GVI, who live in Ha Noi.
You will want to bring some spending money to purchase beautiful gifts like these.
My goal is for the team is to also donate a water buffalo from our team to a family. A water buffalo is $500 USD or 10,000,000 Vietnamese Dong, near impossible for any farming family to purchase on their own. It would be a joy to all divide this cost and deliver a water buffalo so a farming family can use it for plowing, hauling, milk and more.
Tentative trip plans include: Orphanage work and donations, murals, sandals to school, delivering buffalo, concrete at community center, crafts with kids, games, tire swing, buffalo corral... could be things not listed and some of this may not work- but all things will be along these lines.

You have nearly a year to raise support or save for this trip. I asked for donations as Christmas presents, did side jobs, sold jewelry and raised support from family and friends. If your heart is pricked to GO and serve, please know that over this year, the money will faithfully flow into your life for this trip.

ALRIGHT, WHOSE IN?? Do you want to be on Team Tulsa?
This is not church affiliated and not just for people from Tulsa- this trip is open to ALL who want to go with GVI to Vietnam, to pour out donations, love, time and your heart. Someone who is ready to run away from "American comforts" and see what the Lord is doing in another country that He made and cares for so much.

"So did You lead Your people Lord, to make for Yourself a beautiful and glorious Name, to prepare the way for the acknowledgement of your Name by all nations." Isaiah 63:14

If you would like to chat with me about the trip, I will gladly call you or talk by email. Feel free to leave a comment and we will be in touch. I have a timeline (money, visa, passport, shots, etc) that I can share when you commit to the trip!
NHP

Bed, doors and artwork galore

The BED miracle... The three kiddos started talking about how great it would be to have bunk beds. My response was, "They will have to be free and fall from heaven." I posted on facebook that we were looking for some bunk beds and sure enough I had two friends that were ready to part with their bunks. 

BUT, I had to get over the fact that if we were to get both bunks, they would not be matching. I actually had to pray though this, tell myself it was not a big deal.... They were a free gift and we were all so grateful!

Over one weekend we got the bunks and wouldn't you know it, they were THE EXACT same bunk beds. Given to us by two friends, two that do not even know one another and both had a handful of kids and were ready to part with their bunks. We LOVE our new beds. Thank you EB and KR! Thank you Lord for loving me so much that you gave me matching bunk beds!

Here are the girls lying on their beds.

I made some curtains so that at night or during alone time, they can pull their curtains closed and have some privacy.

As most of you know, I just got home from a Vietnam trip with GVI. Here are some of the special treasures that I brought home. 

A silk pillowcase.

A painting of a tribal woman with her baby on her back.

Upclose of the baby face and thick oil paint.

Large 3 x 4 foot or so painting of a beautiful Vietnamese woman sewing. This is in Adam's office, lucky man.

Detail.is.stunning.

And abstract painting, also for Adam's office.

A watercolor on rice paper. I bought this guy's work up, all that he had. I gave many as gifts and this one I kept for myself. The looseness, splatter, the mustard yellow coloring, the shape of the buildings... he just 'got' Ha Noi to me. Captured its essence. When I need to run away, I just stand in front of this picture and I am taken to the streets in Vietnam.

My DOOR! I decided that it was time for some color for the front door of our home. I had several neighbors stop by with comments like. "Is that the final color?" or "Did they make a mistake at the paint shop?" and the third was silent. SILENT. I actually laughed out loud, better to be silent than to lie.

One one side I painted the word, Welcome.

On the other, I made a double wreath. I sprayed it black. I put a picture of our family inside a frame and glued it to the middle. I cut out a little P from the lid of a cool whip container. And then picked some holly berries of my silent neighbors tree and hot glued them to my wreath.

I am truly, passionately, in LOVE, with my new door! Now for some ivy.

I have done about 10 paintings or so over the last several months (baby and wedding explosion!). Here are three of my favorites.

Weber- 11 x 14 wedding gift for my cousin

Micah- 18 x 24 for a friends third baby

Lila- 5 x 7 for a friends first child

For some randomness... This is my cousin. She is in front, I am in back. I know it is not exact, but honestly, it is crazy how much we look alike. That mouth. That chin. It is like I am looking at myself when we hang out! She is the closest thing I have to a sister (I am an only child) so for me, this is kinda awesome.

Little K making doll clothes. xoxo!

I have so treasured the arrival of spring. My roses are blooming and each week I have a vase of fresh flowers on my kitchen windowsill.

Psalm 25.
NHP

Vietnam- Home

We left Hanoi at 11:35pm to fly to Seoul, Korea. It was about a 4 hour flight and we had a 5 hour layover before our flight to Dallas.
We all decided that if we stayed up on the to-Seoul flight and during the layover that we could sleep in the 13 hour flight to Dallas and wake up and be on a mostly normal time schedule (arriving in Dallas at 9am).
At the end of our layover, about 6am in Seoul, the coffee shops began to open and everyone was ordering their favorite drink. These little shops did not offer decaf (I know that defeats the actual purpose of drinking coffee for most people, I just cannot do caffeine) SO, since my coffee preference wasn't an option, I ordered a hazelnut milk steamer.
I enjoyed my breakfast of a granola bar, milk steamer and my malaria pill.
We board the plane to Dallas. Let the saga begin...

We taxied to the runway and I was perfectly fine, but as soon as we took off, I started feeling nauseous. I thought it was my malaria pill. Which had been giving me problems each day if I didn't eat enough at breakfast.
Within a few minutes, that I-am-going-to-be-sick feeling, set in. I went to the bathroom and everything came up. The worst tightening of my stomach and whole surrounding belly area just rolled in pain.
The next 13 hours I threw up that milk (yes, the whole flight, you know the one I had planned to sleep during). I visited each bathroom on the airplane, depending on which one was vacant at the moment, and spent time with my new BFF.

Two things:
1) Milk was listed on the do NOT drink list for international travel. I knew this. But, I was not in Vietnam, so I didn't think a thing about it. Apparently, this milk was not pasteurized or spoiled or something. But it continued to not like me for the next 36 hours.
2) Korean airline flight attendants are AMAZING. Every time I came out of the bathroom, they were there to rescue me. They tried to get me to drink water, juice and gave me mysterious medicine. One attendant, named B (because she said her Mongolian name was to difficult for me to pronounce), came to my rescue and gave my hands and arms acupressure. She worked on my left hand for so long, that I cried mercy. BUT, right after she finished, I fell asleep for one whole hour and it was heaven. My hand had a bruise for a couple days in a certain spot where it was the most painful. They were remarkable.

We arrived in Dallas and at this point I was very weak, tired and hungry- but it didn't matter because we had to go through customs, catch another flight to Tulsa and nothing would stay in my stomach.
We only had 2 hours to catch our flight at 11:10, so we were really pushing to get through all the details and take the tram to another concourse to catch our flight. We made it within 10 minutes of boarding, only to see it was delayed until 11:50. I found a corner, fell over and slept for 30 minutes. Then we took off for the short flight from Dallas to Tulsa. Ahhhh home!

I called Adam and told him to have Emetrol (In my opinion the BEST anti-nausea medicine) and a banana, again my favorite calming food, ready for me at the airport.

My mom and I saw our family, and the signs they made for us, from a distance. They were so sweet to let me take a turn hugging each child, Adam and my dad. They knew that I was sick, so they didn't mull-me-over. It was so refreshing to kisses their little faces. Home Sweet Home. (I would like to say I felt that Home Sweet Home feeling when I arrived in Vietnam too. This double life I lead.)

The last three days home have been pretty good. It took some time for the nausea to subside and now I am eating normally. As my husbands boss said, "There's a new sheriff in town," and it's true, I had to start disciplining the children again. You know, within 30 minutes of being home. What is it about a mom that sometimes they just do not obey anyone, but mom?

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS:

The little toothpastes on the airplane are fun
Painting three murals with my mom
Rooftop view from Hanoi hotel
Walking around the Lake
Handmade Ao Doi
Chicken prints on the new concrete
Morning sunrise over the train station
Taking pictures of the village children
The GVI staff's organization
Two year old girl hanging over the mountain
Oh the views of the terraced mountains
The cheap massages
Seeing the kids paint for the first time
The bell at the school was a large drum
Tic-tac-toe with the kids
Shopping at the market on the mountain
Buying paintings in Hanoi
Sa's home, family and wife's dinners
Kissing and holding orphans at SSIII
The children standing-up when we visited their classrooms
Seeing God at work through the team and GVI staff

"I was in prison and you came to see Me." Matt 25:36

What a beautiful journey.
Looking forward to going again.
NEXT TRIP: YOU ARE COMING WITH ME!!!

NHP

Vietnam Day Eight

Monday morning we headed to a local Hanoi primary school, 1-5th grade. On the way we saw college students sitting opposite a large French building drawing on site.
We entered the Hanoi Primary school and were shocked that the school was so large. It was 5 stories high, held 2,000 students and 175 teachers, 30ish kids per class. It is a private school and the cost per month is $150 USD.
Some interesting things we learned about the schools in Vietnam is that you pay both for private and public school. Public school is $75 per month with 60 kids per class. Another difference is that buses are provided for private schools for an additional $50 per month and public schools you have to provide your own transportation to/from school (opposite from US).
They took us to their library. They had an English children's book section that they were really proud to show us.
We visited the 4th and 5th grade classrooms and looked at their work. They read English sentences to us. This gal had really great fluency. I didn't know if she would understand that word so I said that she read the sentence quickly. She said in a choppy voice, "Not.Like.A.Ro.Bot." It was really cute, she understood.
The children stood and clapped when we came into the room. It showed such great respect and I wish we taught this to our children in the US. They remained standing while we talked and did not sit down until we left the room. The giggle from this class was brought on by the little girl in the cream shirt in the middle. She asked if we had any pets. Lois said she had a dog and asked if she had any pets. The little girl answered, "Yes, mosquitoes."
Aside from chit-chatting with the kids, the real reason for the visit was to have a meeting to discuss a new partnership between an elementary school in TX and the Hanoi Primary school. They started out as Pen Pals. We delivered letters to the students and they were really thrilled about receiving the letters. Both schools hope to work together to improve structure, teaching strategies and English. Our GVI team with the school faculty.
We were off to have lunch at the GVI office. Here is my friend Thao's desk.
Can you see the red poofy eyes? The damn broke about 7am and I didn't really stop crying until about 2 in the afternoon. (Actually I am crying right now just typing about it!) We had a little debriefing about the trip. What we liked, what we learned and how God was moving. We ended by praying for the GVI team. It was a heartfelt moment that I will treasure.
Tan's office. He has a Psalm posted that says, "My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God." I adore his heart that sings.
They dropped us off and we had free time from 2-6pm. We mostly walked the streets and finished up any last shopping. This little Viet cook is chopping chili peppers to add to her fish sauce.
THEN we hopped on a bike, really! It was a less than a 5 minute ride to our next destination, but it was thrilling nonetheless.
We met up with Dawn and had coffee at Joma Cafe. It was a quaint dive that my mom said she would hangout at if she lived in Hanoi.
Found a "pinterest" type shop. This crafty-girl was super creative. She made hats, button covers, necklaces, bows and basically everything in between. She had a keen eye for fabric choices. We all walked away with items for ourselves and gifts for others.
Known as "Hanoi Telecom" : ) This is pretty much on every street corner. Bless the men who have to work on these lines!
We walked from the Vietnamese Catholic Church (built by the French over a century ago) through the streets back to our hotel.
We packed up all our items (both the stuff we brought to VN and gifts we bought) AND HALLELUJAH for space bags! We filled 5 bags to the brim and used the hotel vacuum to suck out all the air. We easily fit 2 space bags in each of our carry-ons and checked one jumbo space bag in our large luggage piece.
We ate dinner on the rooftop of the Summer Set Hotel. Packed all our bags into the van and headed to the airport to catch the 11:30pm flight to Seoul, Korea.
I am now blogging in Seoul during our 5 hour layover : ) We will board here in a bit for the 14 hour flight to Dallas. Then jump on AA to Tulsa. Arriving Tuesday around noon. Looking forward to seeing my hubs and kiddos, and my dad will be there too.

During the flight we are going to write down our thoughts from the trip and I look forward to sharing those to close out the trip blog.

"For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land." Psalm 37:9