Monsoons finally start in NE Thailand and "Mother's Day" in Thailand

It has been a realitively "dry" rice planting season so far -- that is, not enough rain for rice farmers to do their fields. We knew if and when the rains really started, we would not have workers coming since they have to get their rice fields planted-something peasent rice farmers depend upon. Well, the news today is, a tropical depression moving into our part of Thailand has brought the rains our workers were hoping for and sure enough, we have had a couple of quiet days here. (See the "Red line" moving west on the weather map). We are happy for them, of course. This storm has been moving closer daily and is now just about a few hundred miles east and slightly north of us. It has literally rained all day for four days now.

Actually for Gail and I it is sort of a relief since we are "over the hump" of the getting the roof and walls up now. With no one here, we are able to take a few days without overseeing a houseful of workers and extra cooking and cleaning needed. Isn't the Lord's timing great! We needed a break. We are enjoying our better situation and there are lots of little things about the house to keep us busy anyway.

Praise the Lord for a dry house in a country where there is flooding all around us. Yesterday we just took a "shopping" trip and relaxed and took our time. We bought some building supplies and tools needed for finishing the house, some grocery items we can't get locally, and looked at some furniture and other things for outfiting our house when finished.

August 12th is Thailand's mother's day. This yearly celebration is HM Queen Sirikit's birthday. We found some nice little gifts for our mothers in our church. Gail found some things she needed for her kitchen. The Bible tells us to honor our mothers (Proverbs 1:8 ff). It is nice to be reminded of the great gift we all have with our mothers.