OceanicThai

refrigerator coffin Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . Before the body is cremated, it is put in the house in a refrigerated coffin. (It is tropical and very hot here.) Lights are strung up, flower arrangements are placed around it, and in front there is a picture of the deceased. Near the coffin is a bowl for incense and candles. During the funeral, or wake you could say, the family makes meals and feeds the whole village for days until the cremation. It is not only emotionally devastating for the family of the deceased, but in addition they must feed and entertain the funeral guests. Guests give small money gifts to help cover the cost of everything. When you attend a funeral, you are supposed to wear black or white.

refrigerator coffin Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . Before the body is cremated, it is put in the house in a refrigerated coffin. (It is tropical and very hot here.) Lights are strung up, flower arrangements are placed around it, and in front there is a picture of the deceased. Near the coffin is a bowl for incense and candles. During the funeral, or wake you could say, the family makes meals and feeds the whole village for days until the cremation. It is not only emotionally devastating for the family of the deceased, but in addition they must feed and entertain the funeral guests. Guests give small money gifts to help cover the cost of everything. When you attend a funeral, you are supposed to wear black or white.

Temple Images Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . Buddha images from other countries are not allowed in Thailand, nor are Thai Buddha images allowed out of the country, except the very small amulet types worn around the neck. Thais offer fragrant incense and bow with the hands held together in front of the face in the "wai" position. Gold leaf is applied to the images, and often they have robes that are changed.

Ayuthaya temple ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . More of the temple ruins

Ayuthaya temple ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . Ayuthaya, the former royal capital of Thailand, was in its glory from 1350 until it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. These are some of the ruins of one of the temples that escaped destruction from the Burmese invaders. This site is a Unesco World Heritage site, and it was amazing to see. Poppy & Jasper are on the top of this chedi.

It is the end of February, I know everyone in the U.S. is freezing, but it is heating up here, a bit more than a month away from the killer "hot season" everyone dreads. What does "heating up here" mean, anyway? Well, it is in the 90's with a blanketing kind of humidity that makes everyone sweaty. I am sunburnt from watering the lawn! Today I went to Nam Chem to teach the children Sunday School and the heat there made me feel kind of nauseous. Right now it is 7:30 ish and the temperature has dropped to the mere mid-80's, but the humidity is worse than earlier. I was complaining about the heat one time years ago and my friend said, "Well, look at it this way, at least we can go outside all year." So tonight, I'm not complaining, I'm just making an observation, sweat is rolling down my back but I know it is freezing there where you are in the US!

Eastern Thai Wedding Originally uploaded by oceanicthai . This wedding was in our old village of Wang Aye Poe, eastern Thailand. The strings are wrapped around the couple's wrists as a blessing from the relatives. The bride is wearing a traditional Thai dress. The wedding ceremony is being held in their wooden village house on stilts.

n(Click title to go to news article) As a Valentine's Day card smoldered, more than 100 members of the Hindu extremist group Shiv Sena gathered in central New Delhi chanted "Death to Valentine's Day" and "People who celebrate Valentine's Day should be pelted with shoes!" Valentine's Day has in the past two decades made strong inroads in India as the country has slowly opened itself up to the outside world — its economic boom bringing in not just foreign investment, but also aspects of Western culture virtually unknown here a quarter-century ago. Across the country, stores stocked heart-shaped balloons and chocolates, restaurants offered Valentine's Day specials and young lovers found refuge from prying eyes in the parks. It's a state of affairs that enrages Hindu and Muslim hard-liners, who on Wednesday vented just as they do every Valentine's Day — burning cards, holding rallies and even threatening to beat couples caught canoodling in ...

We touched down in Chiang Mai on Valentine's Day 1999, 8 years ago. Now we have lived here 8 years.

The kids and I are in Chiang Mai for the homeschooling conference, staying with our friends (& boss.) It is so cool and refreshing here, less humidity, too. I love the arts and crafts of Chiang Mai, and the good prices, too. I was going to go out to the Sunday arts and crafts street market, but in the end stayed and did a puzzle instead. Oh well. Kennedy will probably be happy I'm not bringing home more stuff. We may have someone coming to help us teach the kids for a few months, we are excited. We also have a house to rent for her, one that we can probably set up and use at minimum cost. It needs a lot of work, so if we fix it up, the rent will be free. Nice. After a year we would start paying a monthly rent, more than likely. Kennedy is having fun being a bachelor for a week. Froot Loop our dog chewed a hole in our couch, probably mad I'm not there. He follows me around wherever I go, our little purple rug of a dog. The kids are thrilled for the break from scho...

It is part of everyday life here, theft. Everyone has experienced it to one extent or another. I have heard, though, that it is pretty mild here, and I believe it. After hearing stories of other countries, many other countries, I feel blessed to live here. I have had my purse stolen, we have had our house broken into. Yet it is still disconcerting when your househelper steals from you. I get weary of it. Sometimes I wonder if I should just hire a Christian, someone I can trust. Yet this was my plan, to hire someone to build a relationship with. It still hurts, even though I knew it would probably happen. It especially hurts because I have helped her and done special things for her, things that she has delighted in and told all her neighbors about. She tells them how much she enjoys working for us. It hurts every time something else comes up missing. I have a whole list of missing things, there is so much missing now I can't even remember everything without a list. And I can't r...

Click on title above to see the whole article An excerpt from an article of the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury: "growing number of influential intellectuals and academics who see in Christianity part of the blueprint for China's modernisation. Some of them believe indigenous religions, such as Taoism and Buddhism, with their pragmatism and assumption of human goodness, do not have the same ability as Christianity to produce the realistic, self-critical and long-term strategies that China needs in a globalised world. " "It used to be said by Chinese politicians of this Western faith, "one more Christian - one fewer Chinese". Now, they are more likely to say "one more Christian - one fewer criminal". "The approval may sound grudging, but it illustrates the official change in heart towards the Christian minority, and what could eventually be the largest national church in the world. " hmmmm...

Thanom and Khrua are our Thai church-planting partners here in Bang Sak. Dean invited them to come and we prayed they would come, too, after we met them last year. They came about a month ago, moving from Eastern Thailand. We are thrilled to work with them. They have a heart for evangelism and relationship-building in this community, which is our heart, too. They have a lot of experience working in the church. We will be going out 3 times a week together to visit villagers. We will do a cell/prayer group on Fridays. I think we will be marking some time out every week to pray together, too. Once the center is built they will be running a day-care center to support themselves and we will be teaching English in the evenings as an outreach, (we are looking for a computer teacher & a music teacher as well.) These are all things that Bang Sak villagers requested, when they were asked what they would like to have now that they had their tsunami-destroyed houses rebuilt by the Merc...