Learning Thai

On Christmas Night, the team came over to celebrate with us- Dan, Colleen, Nixson and Efrain plus Reachers, Britanny, Rachel, Beth, Rhonda, and Trudi.

Eliza sneaking food from the snack buffet. We enjoyed all kinds of food we don't normally get... salsa, cheese, crab dip, pie. Mmmmmm.

More carolers!

Brittany brought fake snow!

It's a blizzard!

We sang Christmas songs and read the Christmas story and then hyper and exhausted children headed to bed and the grown-ups exchanged gifts. We were really happy to have our team family to celebrate Christmas with too.

C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The girls woke up at their normal time (not too early, fortunately) but didn't let us stay in bed too long! They were pretty insistent that we get downstairs and get the show on the road! They did take some time for lemon- poppy seed muffins.

It was Claire's idea to color the nativity scene while we read the story.

Tom reading Luke 2 from our favorite Christmas book, The Nativity by Julie Vivas.

Digging into the stockings.

Silas opens his first gift.

We opened lovely packages from Sharon Rice (a former intern/friend) and Mom and Dad Rhodes. How fun to get gifts from the States- like books, movies, and candy canes!! Earlier we got packages from the Masts and my sister Anita too. Thank you guys!! We love you!

Claire made two books for Tom. "Down the Chimney Santa Claus." and "A List of Good Things About a Wonderful Dad". I loved my sweet card and homemade angel for my angel collection too.

Totally typical of Claire and Eliza, there was a reading break in the middle of present opening.

Silas too.

Claire and Eliza check out each other's dolls- they like the hair they can play with.

Silas's favorite present- matchbox cars which he then played with for the rest of the day- busily sweeping streets, giving taxi rides and parking them all under a chair.

The Aftermath

Tom convinced me to get McDonalds for Christmas breakfast. I was so happy we did- it was so fun to get a delivery breakfast and eat our sausage and egg sandwiches picnic style- and hot chocolate too!

Exhausted from sugar and excitement.

We had a very cozy, relaxed day- stayed in our pajamas until evening and really enjoyed our family time. After the presents were opened, the girls disappeared upstairs to play and Tom and I got to open our gifts from each other and enjoy some time with Silas playing cars.
-c

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Christmas Eve we were sleeping in Tom's parent's cabin. We woke up to a big Mast Christmas with all the cousins- what a great day! I was also remembering our first Christmas Eve in Thailand- we went to Chiang Mai and rode elephants! That was a memorable one too. A few years ago, my parents were here and we did our Rhodes family tradition of going out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve- at the tallest building in Bangkok, overlooking the city lights. This year, we opted for eating out, since we had done a lot of cooking for Christmas day. We went out for Thai seafood and then had a group of carolers at our house. It was an emotional night for me, to be honest. Christmas can be a time when we miss our families and feel the separation more than normal. God comforted me through the prayer of the Thai pastor who came caroling and the excitement and joy of the kids. They went to bed with a Christmas playlist of stories and songs- sure that they wouldn't sleep at all!

Silas checks out fish at the restaurantr

curried crab

carolers
-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Blessings from,
Tom and Candice
Claire
Eliza
and Silas
Mast

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are enjoying our last week before Christmas! Claire is getting through it, one exam at a time and we can't wait until she's done and having her class party on Friday! Along with the mundane parts of life, like teaching English and having stomach aches, and looking all over the house for Claire's necktie and settling kid squabbles... we're doing last minute gift wrapping and card making, having our advent devotions by the tree, tearing links off our advent chain. We're making gingerbread men today and planning to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. Claire loves reading comics these days, and Peanuts is her favorite....

Remember this one? "Which do you want me to unplug? The TV or the clock radio?"

Since we don't have any of that "winter wonderland" kind of weather for our holiday, we sometimes have a chocolate milkshakes instead of hot chocolate. :) (marshmallows on the side).

I had to show you the present I got at our Christmas party. Any guesses as to what it is?? :)

As explained by the giver, Lung Seri, they are "lucky dolls" to bring me luck for the New Year. Now, what to do with them? :)

Love to our families- we think of you a lot this time of year!
-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night was our team's annual Christmas party for our Thai (and Chinese) friends. It's always fun to see many of our friends in one place, and to give our friends an idea of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Our girls, excited and all ready for the party. They were in their element all night- playing with the other kids, eating untold numbers of cookies, and joining in the singing and skit. Parties are always good for lots of sugar and staying up late!

We had thirty or so people here at the party

Eliza and new friend, Pin

Silas and his buddy Tiger.

Evidence of pizza consumed.

The ladies of our team all contributed some baked things.

We sang Christmas songs in English, Thai and Spanish. The Reachers and the girls sang for us too (Away in a Manger. As soon as the girls were done singing, Silas hopped up, sat in the same spot and started belting out "little Jesus, asleep on the hay."- he got a big laugh for his showing off. :) ) Colleen taught us "The Twelve Day of Christmas" and we broke down into groups to sing it. Fun!

My friend Ju read the Christmas story in Thai.

The angel appears to Mary.

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men."

Mr. Dan aka (a stern and foreboding) King Herod.

We did the gift exchange Thai style- each gift got a number, then each person drew a number and Por handed out gifts according to matching numbers. And also in Thai style, no one opened their gift in front of the group (when you give a gift in Thailand, the recipient doesn't open it in front of you so no one's feelings are hurt if they don't like the gift).

It was a really fun night and although we missed our old friends Piak, Pon and Tukdaa who have all moved away, we had a really good time with many new friends and our new Reachers.
Our family is soooo excited about this last week before Christmas! Lots of love to all the Rhodeses getting together for Christmas this weekend. Love you all so much!! (branches in Morocco and Israel too!!).

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had some sweet family time at the Gulf of Thailand last night. A few pictures (note that there was an actual cool breeze and we wore jackets for the first time this year!!! Cause for celebration!)....

Tonight is our big Christmas party! Hard to know how many people will attend or how all of our friends will mix together, but pray for the Holy Spirit to be felt and the fellowship to be warm!
-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our girl has been hard at work every evening this week studying for her very first exams. She has especially been working to catch up in math. I feel sorry for her sometimes having to come home from school and start right in on studying. She is planning to "do her best" and that's all we can ask! I am really looking forward to her time off school. She'll go until Christmas Eve and then have off until Jan. 3.

We did take a couple of breaks in the studying this week to watch Polar Express and drink hot chocolate and she and I had a fun Christmas shopping date at the mall and checked out the giant Christmas tree....

-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our anniversary was this past weekend and we got an overnight date outside our house! (Thanks babysitter Reachers!!). We were really happy for the chance to get away, relax, and focus on each other. I am so thankful that God lead us together. Our wedding invitation said "Desiring God's will for their lives, and believing that includes each other...." So true! I know that God meant for us to be together and I'm so thankful that Tom and I are still best friends and partners in life and parenting.

year of the rabbit (Tom is one)

peppermint mocha


brunch

clash of the glasses

-c

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We are enjoying this time leading up to Christmas- we are doing lots of mini-activities which is making the time enjoyable rather than stressful...although we have our big team/Thai friends Christmas on Saturday (please pray that the Thai and Chinese friends who are attending are touched by the love of Jesus during the celebration and understand something new about him). Here are a few of our mini-activities:

1) We did our monthly trip the library across town, ate shwarmas in a Muslim neighborhood, and then attended a Handel's Messiah performance at a downtown church (Colleen came with us). Silas enjoyed directing the choir with his lollipop. All the kids liked the performance but got too restless to stick out all three hours! :)

2) After school on Thursday, Tom took the girls Christmas shopping and to see The Chronicles of Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader which they were so excited about and loved so much.

3) Made an advent paper chain which we use to count down the days to Christmas and advent devotions by the tree each night.

4) And we made Christmas sugar cookie-cutouts. Again, we included an elephant for a little Thai flair. :) I used this recipe for the first time and loved it (doubled the vanilla and used powdered sugar instead of flour for rolling them out).

Claire was my trooper in this project- sticking with it and doing lots of cut-outs and painting on icing.

Had some hot chocolate by the tree...

And read this book, that I remember reading as a kid..."Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree"


Do any of my sibs remember reading this one? Mr. Willowby's grand tree is too tall so he chops off the top and gives it to his maid but it's too tall for her house so she chops off the top and it keeps getting chopped until the very tip top is in a mouse's house. Remember this? (I just rediscovered it this year).

Last night, Tom read The Bear's Christmas to the girls. We are having fun introducing the girls to some of our favorites as kids.

-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I pulled pictures off of my phone for the post about my trip to Laos I came across a few others that I thought I'd share. Here are some random shots from our life....

Claire and Mind, her best friend at school. They're all dressed up for the sports day.

Silas and a friend at our favorite local restaurant. While we wait for the food they like to sit in the window ledge and watch the fish in this planter.

Trying to occupy the kids during a long taxi ride. I'm not sure where Eliza was hiding.

The line for Krispy Kreme stretching outside the mall. We still haven't gotten any!

Monks at Eliza's school in honor of the king's birthday.

Candice and the girls had an Anne of Green Gables movie night and tea party after they finished reading the book.

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the end of November I went to Vientiane, Laos, to visit Pon and activate the final 90 days of my visa. We really miss Pon's participation in our group here so it was very good to see him again - and especially to see how well he is doing. He seems settled into the university and is getting to know many people. I got to meet some of his friends and it was encouraging to note how they respect him and enjoy spending time with him. His goal is to find ways of sharing about his faith and he's beginning to see opportunities for that.

Since I was there over a weekend he didn't have to study and we spent a lot of time just hanging out at his apartment. He did have some homework - preparing for a debate in which his team was to argue that men are superior to women. I tried to help him with the grammar while staying clear of the logical merits of the position!

I didn't take our camera along, so here are a couple of pictures from my mediocre phone camera...

Here's the new statue of Laos' former king. They are developing a riverfront promenade that should be pretty nice when it's all said and done.

We ate grilled goat meat for one meal. I didn't get a good shot of the grilled goat (chopped up into all kinds of pieces - tough but tasty). Here's the vendor stirring a big pot of goat stew. It smelled good, but she said it was still too tough to sell. I imagine that made it very, very tough.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every year, December 5 is a big day of celebration in Thailand in honor of the king's birthday. This year it fell on Sunday and we decided to step outside of our comfort zone and join the massive crowds in a celebration at the park (Rama IX- a park originally built in his honor). I taught my English class in the afternoon and then joined Tom and the kids along with members of our team and some Thai friends at the park. The crowds going in were massive! There were families everywhere with food, settled with mats on the ground and taking pictures in front of flowers and lights. We had a bit of a hard time finding each other with the overwhelming number of people around the lake and spotty cell phone coverage, but finally got together and settled in for some picnic dinner as the sun went down. Our group carved out a little circle in the mob and we had a great view, close to the king's pavilion and right beside the lake. After dark, there was a beautiful candle-lighting ceremony in honor of the king and the crowd sang two songs about the king (Claire knew these the best of our family!). Then there were fireworks- a really long and amazing show (it beat Mechanicsburg anyway! :)). The kids were really thrilled because they don't remember seeing fireworks before. Silas was flinching with every boom, but was also very impressed. He also loved dancing with the Reachers and running around in grass for a change! Getting home was a whole adventure in itself! Traffic around the park was completely gridlocked and thousands of people were walking out looking for public transportation. We decided to settle down by the park gates and just wait it out. Eventually we caught a songtaew (truck) and made it home before midnight. Although the crowds were a bit crazy, it was a really joyful celebration with so many Thais and interesting to observe the love and respect that they share for their king.

-C

The girls also had off school on Monday for the holiday and enjoyed a very lazy day hanging out around the house. Happy Birthday HM Bhumibol Adulyadej!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night we started our advent celebration- getting ready for the arrival of Jesus on Christmas day. We put out the manger scene (Silas is very excited about the baby Jesus and goes over frequently to look at him), decorated the tree, had some gingerbread and started our advent devotions. I'm sure I've mentioned it on the blog before, but the holiday season feels so different here in Thailand. With the hot weather and none of our neighbors celebrating, it is like celebrating Christmas alone in the middle of July. There is a festiveness though, for the King's birthday on Sunday and for the New Year. For me, Christmas starts when we sing Christmas carols and sit in the dark gazing at the tree. For the first time, the girls remember a lot of the Christmas carols.

Silas, my assistant baker, samples the gingerbread batter.

Every year, it's a big event to unwrap each nativity figure and decide on the exact right placement. Silas loved unwrapping cows and sheep.

Opening the Christmas trunk is a big event too- Claire loved seeing her nativity which she explained is "very precious" to her because Grandaddy and Grandmom gave it to her last year. The kids had to try on the Santa hat and Silas tried on a beard too.

I love how Silas says "wow" a lot now. "Christmas tree! Wow!"

Having some gingerbread and cocoa- our traditional tree decorating snack.

A little bit of Thailand on the tree.

Eliza reads our advent devotions.

"Oh come let us adore him...Christ the Lord."

-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's Dec 4, so it's time for some Christmas on this blog! ! The girls and I did a simple Christmas craft while Tom was gone. We all agreed that decorating with buttons was the most fun part.

Eliza hard at work with glue. (we also love eating tons of these baby oranges at Christmas- the only time of year we see them).

Admiring the finished product. They might be a little homely but do you know how expensive Christmas decorations are here?? :)

And a not-so-Christmassy snack....root beer floats. We've recently gotten canned root beer here in our area, and Tom made the kids their first root beer floats...big fans!

Silas pre-haircut . :)

The sweaty kids enjoying root beer floats before bed.

The new Reach team arrived safe and sound late Wednesday night and we had orientation with them on Thursday. They start language school on Monday. Pray for them as they adjust and settle in to their new life!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)