Pivotting

November 2022-January 2023

Happy New Year friends! The last you heard from us, Adam was doing some work in the jungle and the girls and I were hunkered down in the city, waiting for our turn. At the end of October, we were reunited with Adam after several weeks and the girls were thrilled as usual. (If anyone ever wondered what "home" looks like to us, here's a picture of our building- we live in one of the 5 units).

As we planned and prepared to return to the jungle as a family though, we ran into some road blocks. There were some issues in town that our family was dealing with and in order to work through the situation, we postponed, then eventually canceled our trip. We had planned to be gone for about 2 months and had really been looking forward to seeing friends and loved ones in the jungle. For me, it was, and has been a huge grieving process. All of us do HQ work in town, but "field work" is truly what we love and feel called to. The situation we have been dealing with, we can't post here, but if anyone wants to reach out (especially through the secure Signal app), we are happy to share and would love prayer!

In the meantime, we kept busy doing other work in town and focusing on trusting the Lord in all circumstances and that He had a plan for us for this time.

While at HQ, some of my weekly roles are to visit our medical patients that have come to seek more extensive treatment in the city and do activities with them, teach English at a children's home that our organization supports, and facilitate VBS-like kids programs.

Looking at the photos above helps me to remember that God can use us wherever we are and to focus on the present. Adam and I were able to visit a children's home in Mae Sot that we support and do a youth Christmas program with games, a devotion, and crafts. We love spending time with them! The kids and I also did lots of patient visits with activities like making Play-Do, decorating gingerbread houses, playing games like Uno and Sequence, and teaching English. We also got to do outings to the aquarium and an Umbrella festival, and host a Sweet December (Karen Christmas) dinner at the church where our medical patients stay.

Another event we were able to take part in was a trail running race. It was my first trail race ever (since most of my life I've disliked running) and I was really proud to take home 4th place out of 170 women runners (18km distance)! I have to admit I was pretty shocked... Adam was a great support team and ran with me the whole way. My friend Sami placed 3rd and I was motivated by chasing her!(I also literally ran into an elephant which was pretty cool...)

Being in town also meant we were around for lots of holidays and events. Adam organized an event for our organization's 25th anniversary celebration in which we held a candlelit vigil for all of our Ranger’s who’ve died. We wore matching shirts that one of my good friends in the jungle wove by hand! We also celebrated the lantern festival, went to our friend's Akha village for a church thanksgiving celebration, and visited Chiang Dao with friends for a weekend. We were even here long enough for Eden to do a month of ballet lessons that some good friends gifted her for Christmas.

We also took full advantage of being in town for so many of the holidays that we usually spend away from our home. We went full-Christmas and I coordinated a community Christmas dinner. Adam then coordinated with a friend to put on a New Year's Wild West murder mystery party.

The last couple of months, Adam has also been focused on facilitating trainings for our HQ staff and also bringing staff and families together for BBQs! Some subjects lately have been map/ compass, land navigation, 1st Aid/ CPR, and patient-carry. Adam has been cooking up a storm and even branched out for a shrimp boil.

Since its cool season here, we have been trying to take full advantage of all outdoor activities (especially since burning season has already started and the air gets really smokey just as hot season creeps in). We had our vet/jockey friend come for a visit and beyond being stoked to go riding with her, we were really encouraged to have her around. We have gotten in some rock climbing at a new gym in town and a couple mountain biking trips the last two weekends.

It may look like we are having "all the fun" over here, but really the last few months have been a big struggle. I mean who takes photos during their low moments? Anyway, the situation I mentioned above has been a big burden and certainly anxiety inducing. Our main goal for the time being is to press in to what God is doing and saying, and spend time working on our marriage and family so we can be a strong team. We long to travel and pour into our teams and families in other places, but here we are, so we are trying to do the best in our current location.

A couple prayer points:

-more intimacy with God and clarity to hear his voice

-strength in our marriage and family

-our schedule for the next 6 months. Where should we be and what should we be doing (our work takes us all over). There might be an opportunity for us to do some work in the Middle East this year with our org too.

-transitions: we have had a nanny for the last couple of years, but she has returned to her village. Adam and I decided to not get another helper, so it's been a big schedule transition to juggle the childcare and work. For now, I've stepped back to working part time and despite our ever changing schedule, I am really enjoying being home more with the kids and teaching Eden pre-school.

-for my heart as I process my mom and step-dad cancelling their January trip to visit us here (Grandpa Own is very ill and could also use prayer!) With everything going on I had really been looking forward to having family here.

-choices for schooling for Eden in the fall: Thai school, international school or private program, home school! No idea what to do so far...

-praise for a wonderful and supportive community here who love us so well and walk with us through hard times.

Thank you for your love and support. Thanks for reading our updates and for praying for us. That really means the world to us.

With love,

The Wallis family