Be still and know that I am God... Ps 46:10

Thank you so much for your prayers and emails while I was sick in the hospital. It was so encouraging to hear from so many of you! I ended up spending 7 nights in the hospital for my kidney infection. Actually, the kidney infection was pretty much taken care of after 4 days, but by that time I'd developed a throat infection (similar to what Paul had) so they kept me an extra three days for that. The doctor said that my body was pretty worn out from fighting infection for so long and that it might take a few weeks for me to feel 100% again. Boy, was he right; I feel like I'm always napping!

This time of resting has been such a blessing! We had been staying here in Chiang Rai at our room at House of Joy since I was released from the hospital. It's been wonderful to have this time when we aren't “doing” anything and can really focus on where God is leading us. It's been a great time of evaluation and goal setting. Before we arrived in Thailand, it was pretty hard to know what to expect and even harder to set realistic goals. But now that we've been here for just over three months, we can really see how God has been fine tuning our vision for future ministry as we see first-hand the needs of the Akha Church.

The most recent blessing has been God's provision of a new home for us in Chiang Rai! Some friends of ours have a second house which they've been using as a get-away. Unfortunately, the upkeep of the second house has been a burden for some time, so they have offered to rent the house to us. As much as we love the atmosphere at the House of Joy, it is not always the “rest” that we need when returning from time up in the village. With over 130 people on-site, it's usually buzzing with activity!

We started moving into the house yesterday (which wasn't too difficult since we really only have about 6 suitcases worth of stuff!) and will take our time settling in over the next couple of weeks. Please keep praying for my continued recovery and pray for us as we continue to seek Him and His direction for us in the coming weeks!