Friends - a HUGE blessing!

We are so thankful for the many opportunities we've had these past five months to connect with friends and supporters who've been such an encouragement and blessing to us. We want to give a "shout out" to a few of these dear people and show you their beautiful faces... : )

(Note: this album is NOT exhaustive - too many faces to show everyone who's been wonderful to us!

That, and we don't have photos of all of you!)

Brad and Julie Heller; Alexis and Kylie



Jess Miller

Aaron and Laura Kauffman; Abby, Sophie and Asher
Jason and Sonia Peifer

Jen Eby

Wanda and Missy Bachman (missing Lee)

Missy King, Carolina (5 wks) and Campbell (missing Matt, Kaden, Kaycee and Callie)

Christopher Friesen

Gerry and Carey Davis; Graham and Carter

Andy and Sarah Byler; Ruby, Sophie and Ezra

- Bethany

Family Photos (continued)

For some reason I couldn't add these photos to the last post, but here's a few more family shots from our summer...

Kai, cousin Ariah Freed, and Juliana playing dress-up

Easter egg hunt at MaMa and PaPa Freed's

And it wasn't just the littlest ones hunting - big "kids" hunt too!

An early spring picnic with the "Ecuadorian cousins" (Randy and Melanie Umble family)

Grandparent Glory! (Ryan's parents with all 7 grandkids)

Extended Umble Reunion/Picnic at Leatherman's

Cousins and Pillow Pals at "December/August birthday" party

- Bethany

Family Gatherings

We've absolutely loved having the chance to reconnect with our families while on furlough! In Cambodia, something we really miss is celebrating holidays and birthdays together, so the celebrations, gatherings and reunions we've been a part of this summer have been extra-special.  Juliana and Kai are especially enjoying the opportunity to get to know their cousins, and we've all enjoyed fun times with many relatives on both sides of our families.

The Freed Family (with family friend Sarunas from Lithuania, in black t-shirt)

Aslan enjoys a warm day with MaMa Freed

Juliana helps PaPa Freed tend his flowerbeds



Aslan with Great-Grandma Susanna Umble

The Umble Family

 

Playing Uno with Uncle Barry (Freed)

Exploring a creek at a local park with Ryan's brothers and family

  

Celebrating MaMa Freed's August birthday and surprising Juliana and Kai with an off-season celebration of their December birthdays (since they usually don't get to celebrate with extended family)

- Bethany

Sharing about our Ministry



This summer, we've had the privilege of sharing about our past three years in Cambodia at nine different churches or gatherings.  The following are snapshots from our sharing at River of Life Worship Center in Lock Haven, PA in August. 

Bethany shares a slideshow especially for children about our home and lives in Cambodia




Ryan answers questions from Pastor Tom Seaman

 


Bethany and Aslan join Ryan in answering questions from an attentive audience



Bethany explains artifacts and information on Cambodia to interested listeners

- Bethany

Summer Furlough

I'll bet you thought we'd never write another blog post, didn't you?  Rather than falling off the face of the earth, we've been in Pennsylvania, USA, for the past four months, on missionary furlough.  We've been blessed to see many of you, reconnect with family and friends, make new memories in our homeland, and share in a handful of churches about our ministry in Cambodia.  It's been a much busier summer than we anticipated; after bouncing between three houses, making several trips and covering lots of miles in a borrowed minivan, we're looking forward to returning to our home and friends in Cambodia soon.  We're currently unsure of our exact leaving date due to our support not yet totaling 100%, (we're hopeful to leave on September 7), but we know that His ways (and timing!) are perfect!
Thanks so much to all of you who have invested in us, take an interest in our ministry, carry us in your prayers, and support us from afar - we couldn't do this without you!
Please enjoy the following posts of our summer in pictures, and let us know if you'd like to receive our quarterly ministry newsletter.

Introducing Aslan Ross Umble!

Well of course we're a bit overdue with this post (did we really think we could break that habit?), but here's the story of our third child's (overdue) birth, in words and pictures...

On December 10, 2010, being 11 days overdue, I was scheduled for induction at Sripat Hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I was hooked up to my pitocin IV and settled in to await labor, watching videos with Ryan to pass the time. Three hours later, contractions started; another three hours and two pushes later - Aslan Ross Umble joined our family! What relief and delight to hold another healthy, beautiful baby!

So glad to finally hold our bundle, and so glad to be done waiting (and done working so hard!)Proud Daddy, grateful Mommy, shocked Aslan : )

What a cutie! He looks very much like Juliana and Kai did at birth.

Super-excited big sister Juliana

Tentative big brother Kai

Dr. Supreeya, the awesome Thai OB/GYN who "caught" Aslan on his quick exit!

Aslan, nine days old and checking us out

We are so blessed and grateful for this new gift from the Lord! Thanks to all who prayed for his safe arrival, and celebrated with us from afar. Though different from Juliana's and Kai's births in the US, my experience in Thailand was wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone. We definitely felt surrounded by grace and the support of a surrogate "family" while we were in Thailand.

- Bethany

Tourists in Thailand

While we've been waiting for our baby's arrival, we've been enjoying time to rest, read, home school, sleep in, catch up on communication, rest, and read some more. We've also spent a few days out, enjoying some of the many things Chiang Mai has to offer.

Here we are at a botanical garden, where the kids got a big kick out of feeding the fish
(sorry, sideways again!)

The garden also had a (very) mini-zoo...

... and fun paddle boats. (But have you ever tried to paddle-boat 8 1/2 months pregnant?!)

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Duke's, where the kiddie meals were enormous - well, all the servings were big, actually!

Kai ate most of his meal, a feat that amazed his parents! : )

Another day, we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo, which was really nice and in a beautiful setting

A highlight for all of us was buying food to feed a hippo family (father, mother and baby)

Here's a view from above the hippo's mouth! Teeth run all the way down it's throat, or so it seemed.

Juliana and Kai enjoy a close-up look at a giraffe

We've enjoyed playing "tourists" here in Chiang Mai, but are starting to miss our home and friends in Cambodia, where we know the language and how to get around. We're thankful for this restful season - but hopefully we meet our little one soon!

- Bethany

Initial Weeks in Thailand

(Amazing! We're actually up to current events... or getting very close.)

As most of you know, we're in Thailand right now, awaiting the birth of our third child and second son (so they tell us). We are staying at The Juniper Tree, a guest house/resort in Chiang Mai for Christian workers/missionaries in Asia. It's been a wonderful time to rest and prepare for the upcoming changes in our family and schedule, and we've enjoyed being a part of the community here.

This is our house, a two-room "cabin" on stilts with a big porch for playing, reading, and riding scooter and tricycle.

The first full day of our stay, Missy King's care package arrived to brighten our days of waiting. We had such fun checking out the goodies - games, toys and reading material! So thoughtful - thanks again, Missy!

Juliana and Kai enjoy the freedom to roam paths through beautifully-landscaped gardens on the property

An extra blessing at Juniper Tree - free laundry service! Every morning (except Sunday), our laundry gets tagged with our room number and dropped off, to be picked up clean and pressed the same evening. Here Juliana's concentrating on safety-pinning laundry with tags...

...while Kai goofs off with the lids to the safety-pin containers!

Another special treat of our time here was making a connection from Pennsylvania... This is Joyce and Lee Mummau, serving with IGo (Institute for Global Opportunities) in Chiang Mai. Ryan worked with Joyce's sister Pauline Boll at S. Clyde Weaver's in East Petersburg, and Bethany's family has attended the same church (Gingrich's Mennonite) with Joyce's brother Robert Weaver's family since before Bethany was born. They contacted us, invited us to their church, and home afterward for a delicious Sunday dinner that reminded us of growing up in PA!

On the second week of our stay, we visited a pool resort with EMM missionary friends also in town to have a baby, and the kids LOVED the high slide - a highlight of the day!

Juliana was great at going down the slide all by herself!

Kai enjoyed the big slide sitting on Daddy's lap, but was game for one this size all by himself!

Here the kids are enjoying a play-place at a local mall. For 30 baht a child (about $1), the kids had a blast in the big play area, especially the great slide into the ball pit

(sorry, this pic is sideways!)

Juliana made a friend in our first weeks here named David. His family is from New Zealand, but live in Singapore. They work with HCJB Global, the same agency Ryan's brother Randy serves with in Ecuador.

If it isn't obvious, we're enjoying our time here in Chiang Mai. Still waiting on our baby's arrival (one week late today!), but we're being blessed in the waiting - while trying to be patient!

- Bethany