Monday

I was so excited about my driving adventure here that I forgot to write about Monday.  So, I will make two entries tonight.

We began the day with staff meetings at GROW.  I love to see how the staff here each participate.  Each one recognizes that they play a very important role here and need to be heard.  This is really good staff relationship building.  I had the opportunity to give the staff a gift from home as well as present Aaj, the property manager and Faa's brother, with a gift of appreciation for staying on to help on the property after his contract as construction manager ended back last May.  He volunteered to stay and help because he saw how important it was.  Faa paid him when she could, but for the most part, he worked without a salary.  This demonstrated the kind of heart this staff has for the work here with the children. It blessed my heart to see such dedication to God and to GROW. We wanted Aaj to know that we recognized his sacrifice and heart and wanted to show our appreciation. He was very grateful, but oh so humble at the same time.  Again, it says a lot about his character ad his heart.

After lunch, Ning and I looked over application for new children.  They have 18 application complete and seven more onto the way.  We have room for 5 new kids this year.  Wow, what a daunting task it is to choose the children who will be rescued.  In doing so, you are also saying the other ones will not be rescued, and who knows what might happen to them.  We looked over all the applications and prioritized the greatest needs.  My heart broke as I looked at all their pictures and thought about the ones we wouldn't be able to take. Applications are due next month, decisions will be made in March, uniforms will be bought in April and school starts for the year in May.  Please pray for the staff as they finalize the 5 who will be accepted as well as for those they just can't take this year.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent meeting with Faa: getting updates on all the kids, discussing items the Thai government suggested or asked that GROW do as a Children's home, and just board business. 

Dinner was amazing at the GROW home: simple, but delicious. One of the girls was getting help with her English homework from Ning. She asked me to look over her homework, so it gave me a chance to teach her a little English.  I noticed in her notes she had some conjugations incorrect, but when I told her the correct way, she said that is what her teacher told her.  To my knowledge, even in other English speaking countries, you never say, "he am".  I also taught her about adding the helping verb when using "ing" words that require it.  EX: "I am walking to the hotel." The next day, her teacher said you don't ever use "walking" just "walk". So the poor child got in trouble because she had the correct sentence.  I told her to tell her teacher that an actual American English teacher was helping her with her homework.  Ok, maybe that isn't the wisest advice.

Then my drive!