Taw Saeng News!!

Group photo: Orawun, P'Bua, Ahna, Ning, Matt, Angkhana, Seal, Larry, me, Chelsey

Infamous jumping picture

At the beginning of December, we went as a staff up to the Mae Saa waterfall and then to the very tip top of the mountain, where there is a Royal project of flowers and veggies growing. You can even camp up there. We tried to do a bunch of jumping pics as a group, and some were more successful jumpers than others. J It was a nice time to get to spend the day together and say goodbye to Matt and Chelsey before they headed back to the US. We ate a ton of food, and then hiked all the way to the very top of the waterfall before we went to the top of the mountain. This waterfall has 10 levels. Matt was adventurous enough to even go swimming. It was too cold for me this year, but last year on New Year’s Eve, we went swimming and jumped through a waterfall with my friend Jenny. At the top of the mountain, they have wooden go carts you can rent and drive down the hill at a terrifying speed. I did not try that, as I was so carsick by the time we hit the top of the mountain, that I could barely stand up. The fresh mountain air was invigorating though, and soon made me feel better, so I got to take a bunch of pictures and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Next time, I would like to camp up there, I think it would be a lot of fun.

Me and my Thai teacher, Ning (not to be confused with Ning who has been helping with Sophie's citizenship)

Matt, Chelsey, me and Ahna

P'Bua and me

with Ahna

Beautiful day!

On December 15, a group of 10 of us went to see The Hobbit in 3-D. Fun bonding over Middle Earth. We all decided that the taxi service would be much improved in this city if they started using giant eagles that could be summoned by speaking with butterflies. Also, Ning wants to move to Rivendale.

We had a staff Christmas party on Dec 17 and ate some delicious Thai food and had a lottery for Christmas presents. I won a barbecue, which I was very excited about. I look forward to using it!

me with Nuey at our Christmas party

Dec 21, Ahna and I went with our friend Keith and Lauren to be Santa and his angels (?) to give out Christmas gifts to kids at the Starfish foundation where our friend Field works now. She was on staff at Taw Saeng for a long time, and now is a teacher at the country home for tribal kids. They have 5 homes around northern Thailand, so all the kids came to celebrate Christmas together. Here is a shot of us dressed up. Lauren had the idea to do the Charlie's Angels pose (I know, shocking, right? Usually, *I* am the one who thinks of it.)

Our big news for the new year is: WE ARE MOVING! I am so excited about this new development in our ministry and look forward to seeing what doors God opens for us in 2013 to help even more children. In our building now, we have one townhouse that is connected on both sides to other businesses. To put it mildly, they are less than happy with the level of noise the kids make on a daily basis. We currently are packed to the max with 32 kids, but in the new location, we will have enough space for 50 kids. Now we just need to get increased funding to hire the staff to go with that increase and some long term volunteers to commit to being with us for English teaching. We are very short staffed with only me and Ahna entering the new year.

This is totally a God thing. When we went to speak to the owner, she said that they built this building two years ago but have been unable to rent it. She normally tells people that the rent is 20,000 baht per side, but she told Orawun it was only 15,000 a side when she called, and didn’t know why she instinctively lowered the price. When she found out what we do, she was so excited. Her son works in San Diego, and has been telling her for over a year to rent to someone doing good in the community and not to worry about the profit. She is into horoscopes and the day we called to come see it, she had just read her horoscope and it was an auspicious day to rent their building. She and her husband have been very helpful and accommodating and are allowing us to start remodeling before we have even given them the full deposit!

Exciting benefits of the new location:

Two townhouses not connected to any other building. We are knocking out the wall in between the two sides to create one large room on the first floor and a large kitchen for P’Bua to work in.

There is much more storage space than in our current location

It is closer to all the kids’ houses but one

There are EIGHT bathrooms! (we currently have only 2)

It is naturally cooler so we can use the air conditioners at a lower setting and save a bit on electricity (we hope)

There is a huge parking lot across the street where kids can play soccer and run around after school. It is owned by the bank, which closes at 3:30, so when the kids come at 4, there will be no cars there.

We will have larger classrooms

The rent is lower for the larger space than our current rent

We will be able to continue operating and providing food, education and a safe place for kids to be through our child sponsorship program and individual donations. Sponsor a child for only $35 a month. Sign up online by clicking the link below, selecting monthly donor and picking "The Garden of Hope" in our drop down menu (that is still our legal operating name). Indicate in the notes that your support is for a child sponsorship and I will contact you with details about your sponsor child. You can also email me to tell me you have signed up to be a monthly donor and I will match you with a child.

Sponsor a child or donate to our building fund.