Loving, living, learning

I have always believed in the power of volunteer work. Whether on U.S. soil or abroad, I think we can all take a little time to use our vast financial, emotional, and physical resources to help other people in any place where a helping hand could be of use. And while sometimes I may seem crass and ungrateful for the blessings in my life, I find that a day, week, or even year (or more) of helping other people can bring me right back to being as close as humanly possible to the person that my God intended me to be.

When my husband told me he was deploying for a year (ah, such an ever-familiar state of living for the military spouse!), I had three choices, as I saw it:

[I should mention here that my husband was not deploying to a dangerous place, so while he would temporarily deploy on occasion to Baghdad and Afghanistan during his long-term deployment, not many of my worries centered around the safety of my husband, as it does for so many military spouses... if that were the case, I think my options would have been different.]

Option 1: Remain where I was. Good choice, in my mind. After all, at the time, we were living in Honolulu, HI. Hawaii was an incredible place to live, after all. (I'm hearing refrains of "Summertime, and the living is easy!") If I so chose, daily life could have consisted of dropping my son off at school, trips to the gym, good books on the beach, lunches with girlfriends, afternoons of writing, picking up my son from school, and mom/son nights on the sofa.

Option 2: Go home to mom. I love my mom. I miss my mom all the time. I even enjoy hanging out with my mom. Bonus points: mom makes great food!

Option 3: Throw away option one and two; drag my son to go live in a tiny apartment in Bangkok; teach English all day; and take trips to small villages in Thailand offering my limited building and humanitarian skills to multiple projects.

I took option 3. Now, I am not going to lie and say that this was an altogether unselfish decision. A travel bug bit me when I was around 19 and it's still hanging on with its sharp little teeth. But aside from that, I just wanted to do something to serve and I wanted to teach my son that there was life beyond the confines of central air conditioning and video games.

Along the way, I think I learned more about myself and my son than I ever thought possible. Keep an eye on my cute kiddo in the videos below. I am really proud of him for his sweat and tears, his unselfishness, and most of all, for the moments that were never even caught on these videos.

The first video is of a three day trip we took to the border of Burma. We went there to help build a school for refugees from Burma. These refugees were primarily people who had lived in Burma as Christians for many generations. Many of them had been persecuted for their religious beliefs in Burma and had traveled across the border to Thailand to escape the violence. Many of the families and children have been victims of, or witnesses to, horrendous violence, the likes of which we will probably never experience as Americans. The only thing they have asked for is the right to live in peace.



The second video is of a village of Karen refugees. These people were amazing and the kids there sent my heart right to cloud-nine...especially the boy in the front of the "Sawas-dee" song!



*And yes, I am aware that I nag my son to "Come here" a lot. lol! Bad "mom habit" I have never been able to break!