The Boys Are Back in Town

C showing of his newly-acquired smile

At the Queen's Gardens, with our favorite driver, Udom

C and his mountaintop experience at the Queen's Garden

At our favorite pad Thai restaurant

The kids loved being back in the kitchen with Mani (mah-nee).

A joining the ranks among the big kids

We arrived back in town very early (about 1am arrival into our apartment) last Monday morning. It took a couple of days for us to adjust to the 'new' environment. Our house helper, Mani, kept laughing at us because it just took some time for us to process accents again. It's much different hearing English spoken by someone's who's heart language is not English. It was a good reminder of why people have such a difficult time understanding our Kannada.

It has felt very good to be back in most instances. Getting back into a routine and not living 'out of a suitcase' has felt very good. (Though, admittedly, we still have one of the nine pieces of luggage to unpack!) It has been very good to see the nationals again. We've made some very good acquaintances and some good friends. It has been good to see them again-to know you've been missed is a nice feeling.

The kids have enjoyed being back as well. They missed our courtyard that we can just walk right outside and play in-a luxury we didn't have in Thailand. A got a bike for his third birthday and has really been enjoying it. "Big Eyes" is doing well. He'll be two months old on Friday! It's so hard to believe, but the nationals always think he's much older because he's bigger than their kids are, typically, for his age.

Thank you to all of you who have been lifting us up! It really has been a blessing to be back-a MUCH easier transition than we had anticipated. We attribute this ease of transition to the pr*yers and the answering of those pr*yers! Thank you again!

For some reason, we're still having trouble loading pictures, but we did want to share this picture that we took during a trip in the hills of Thailand.

More to come, but for now...

More pics will follow, but we've enjoyed laughing at this one several times and thought it needed to be shared. My opinion is that the only thing that could have made this better is to have baby C incidentally doing the same thing in the picture!

Invitation to Pr*y

A friend of ours serving in our same city sent this recently. We thought it would give you some good perspective of the things we see in our city on a regular basis.

Love,

The Colliers

Dear Pr*yer Helpers,

Our hearts are very sad. This afternoon the city government bulldozed down “Tent City.” It was the slum where we have begun B!ble stories. Over 100 desperately poor people were pitched out. They were land “squatters.” Their little blue tarp tent houses were pushed down. Families are in shock and pain. Children came to our house telling us in Kannada what happened. Finally we understood. When we saw it, our hearts ached too. Rain started. Tiny children, nursing babies, young ones, old people, and others stood wet and sad. Mothers and fathers were walking about picking up what they could salvage. These adults left home this morning to work with all OK, but returned to nothing this evening.

Then rain came hard. As P3ggy started home, several kids and some mothers followed her. How could we refuse them? They were the two ladies who had been saved in our house. Their kids came too. Others joined them. D8vid tried calling pastors, Chr!stians, and anyone who could help. Nothing worked. How do you leave 100 people homeless, hungry, and sitting on the street in the rain?

We took about 12 of them into our house. P3ggy cooked a huge pot of rice with the small amount of chicken we had. All ate and got dried out. We have no idea what to do next. The L0rd will have to guide and help us.

At least we expect a big crowd to attend church with us tomorrow! We were able to use our weak Kannada language skills to show our sympathy and concern. We hugged, talked, encouraged, and cried a little. We believe G0d is able to help our friends. We just do not know how HE will do it. Maybe we can rent a truck and carry their stuff to some other place. We’ll see.

As your Sunday Scho0l classes and church services meet, will you take a moment to pray for the 100+ poor slum people of Tent City? One asked us, “We wondered, has this come on us because we began to pray to Je$us?” One month ago B!ble stories and, and we love them. The L0rd Je$us will work as you intercede.

It's Been a While

Sorry it's been a while. We've had internet access, but every time I tried to post pictures on here, I was greeted with a "Bad Request" message.

A and J playing with their new swords that they purchased with some money from Grandma and Grandpa Collier.

Though J had an unfortunate accident from his playtime with A. Big sis was ready with her new doctor's kit, also purchased with the gift money.

C on a new blanket and next to another new blanket and teddy made by Grandma Karen...

C enjoying his new blanket made by Mrs. Campbell...

A enjoying some time "reading"-something he enjoys to do more and more lately...

A lost her front tooth and received a 10 Baht coin for it!

Grandma Karen and the older four enjoying a ride in Song Tao (sp?)...

C finally home...

Mother's Day-Mommy and her girls...

Mother's Day-Mommy and her boys...

Family picture on Mother's Day

The day that Grandma and Papa had to head home-also the first day C came home from the hospital

We have more to post, but will do so after we're able to sift through them. Thanks so much for remembering us during this time! We're looking forward to heading back "home" June 6. Please lift us up as we make the transition back into our country.

A Good Time Had By All

We just found out that C's passport came in (after only five days-We were told that it would be between two and three weeks.)! We will be able to pick it Thursday when we'll apply for a visa to go back into our country of service. Depending on how long that takes, we'll be able to head back and get settled in so that we can get back to service! I've had some good opportunities to attempt to share the Good News, but things are made infinitely more difficult not knowing any Thai! We're excited to see our friends, get back into a routine and let C enjoy some great food that we've come to enjoy!

He's home!!

I'll post more pictures when I can. But for now, here's a picture of C just before coming home. The nurses all called him "Big Eyes".

A Few Pics

A new friend for A....

Mixed emotions about the elephants...

A fun time through the wiles of Thailand...

Wish you were here!

A Few Pics and A Little Explanation

Here are a few pics of C and his supporting cast! The reason the doctor decided to take the him by c-section is that his heart rate was consistently high (around 175-180) and V was not far enough along to show signs of him being born on his own. If we would have tried to wait, there would have been a chance of heart failure. The increased heart rate also indicated that C might have a fever (which he did when he was born, but it's since gone back to normal) which could mean infection. His initial test results showed a low white blood cell count, but his second test showed his count was normal. He's eating well, moving well and looking great!

V is doing well; she got up for the first time a while ago and is sitting in a chair now-a good sign. While she looks great, I don't want to post a picture of her just yet and run the risk of of being slapped when she gains more mobility!

Thankfully, that's over!

Well, after some time, pain and embarrassing stories, Caleb Gene Collier was seen in this world (by c-section). C weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 20.5 in long. After a small fever, he seems to be doing much better. V is doing well, though in pain as one can imagine. I'll post pictures as I have opportunity in the near future, but for now, pra!se the L0rd with us!

No news

Thanks to everyone for your e-mails, pr*yers, thoughts and kind words! After a visit to the doctor's office today, V's still pregnant (though we didn't need the doctor to confirm that)! The doctor said that the complications indicate the need to decide next Tuesday, at Valerie's appointment, if we'll induce or proceed with a c-section. Please intercede for V and the baby; waiting is often the toughest time and that's what we're hoping for.

Safe Arrival...

Just wanted people to know that G and K arrived safely today! Everyone was so excited to see each other...many tears, much noise were seen and heard today. We kept G up until 7:30pm and K is still up. Hopefully, we'll be able to get them on schedule soon; it's awfully hard when you've just flown halfway around the globe!

A Few Easter Pics

Outside of our place, just before going to the Easter service

J during the hunt with a friend

E (closer to camera) with her friend

A posing (making her daddy happy) after she just found an egg

A in a blackmail photo

We still haven't seen number five yet, but we're getting more excited as some recently-made friends of ours just had their boy last night! V's hoping ours isn't as big (9lbs 6oz)!

A Little Update

Life has been much different here. We can't do a language route or many of the other needed things. But, we're choosing not to waste it! Each day, we still have school. After school, who knows what's on the agenda! We've met so many neat people here and are enjoying our time with them! Here are just a few snapshots of the kids having fun and the results of that fun.

A just hangin' around as she always has loved to do!

A little history lesson, right?

Enjoying the cuisine at the local food court...here, we can feed the whole family for $6.

One of our first days enjoying some scenery...not real grass but it sure was a welcome sight!

A at the end of a long day. He couldn't even stay awake for Tom and Jerry!

The pics are in reverse order, but I'm not going to bother correcting it as I'm sitting in a coffee shop.

We arrived yesterday about 9am, Chiang Mai time. The kids slept about 1.5 to 2 hours, but they did well. After arriving, we did the regular getting our luggage, answering what is in the contents of the bags (clothes, books and GOP bumper stickers-j/k).We went to our place, dropped our stuff off and were taken to a local mall where we had some pizza around lunch time. We were able to pick up a few groceries before heading back to the apartment and taking naps.

A and J were lovin' a little bath time fun! They haven't had a bath in a tub for five months. There was water EVERYWHERE, but I decided I wasn't going to care and just let them have FUN! G*d is really shaping me!

Our first dinner in Thailand was delivered by a new friend. She brought spaghetti, salad (iceberg lettuce!!!), bread and fruit punch! (Like I said-a new friend!!!)

Our first morning was spent enjoying strawberry milk and regular, white milk! There's also Jif beside the milk!

This yellow building is just a sand wedge away from our apartment gate. The building hosts "Mike's", a hot dog and burger joint. We knew about it before we came (It's supposed to be that good!), but would never have guessed it was that close!!! Please note how clean the streets are!

We have a balcony! And, this is the view we get to see every day! Literally, this is a breath of fresh air!

We've enjoyed our first full day. We attended a birthday pool party and enjoyed it thoroughly! Afterwards, we went to a food court and had some Thai food-$6 for the entire family! We don't have internet in our apartment, so we'll either have to go downstairs to the lobby. And if that's busy (which is the case tonight), we'll have to travel about five minutes away to a local coffee shop where we can, again, sip down a chocolate frappe and listen to more Roxette, Josh Groban or "A Whole New World" ("Aladdin")-quite a mix they've got goin' here!

A little airport action

This is the inside of the airport. We're scheduled to fly to Bangkok (the to Chiang Mai) in about one hour. We're all tired, but the kids are doing a very good job of keeping the whiny bugs away!

Before we leave, we had the opportunity to enjoy some great time with our close friends as they just recently arrived back after a month in the States.

A little girl time...

A little goofy time...

A little goodnight time...

A still loves to swing in his Daddy's legs!

A and his friend enjoying some time together...

A and her friend enjoying some time before our departure tomorrow...

The boys love their friend, N!

We leave tomorrow evening/Wednesday morning at 0030 local time. We'll arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand about 0900 local time. We'll be there for two months as we fulfill visa requirements, await the arrival of our new bundle of joy. We're also excited that we'll get to see Grandma and Papa!