Dear family and friends,
In July we returned to the village of Khok Sa-at after a month in Chiang Mai. It was good to be home, but there was a lot to clean up after being gone a month. It took most of a day to clean out the cobwebs, toads and gecko droppings that had accumulated.
After a day of clean-up, Joy, Zach and JoAnna started homeschooling again. Ellie started her preschool in the village and Tom went back to his B. studies.
One day, our neighbors brought home a little runt puppy from the village and asked us if we wanted to help care for it. Joy and I were not that interested, but Zach, JoAnna and Ellie definitely were. So we agreed to help. We named the puppy “Cheerio” as we made his bed out of a Cheerios box. After a while, we began to wonder if we were helping or if we were now the owners of the dog. The neighbor who asked us to help showed up one day with two more puppies of their own, giving them a total of 6 dogs (by our count). So we seem to have become reluctant dog owners.
Another recent development has been that some of the village boys discovered Zach and Tom doing some batting practice one day. They came over and asked to try also. This led to Zach and Tom teaching them how to play baseball. Now, a group of 6 to 8 kids come over every afternoon for a game of baseball and then a game of soccer after. This has been a good way to get to know some of the village kids.
Finally, July is the month that people start planting their rice as it is the beginning of rainy season. It has been interesting to watch the process of people transplanting rice from one field to another. The people have been worried as the rains started later than normal.
Blessings to you all
