Tammy's Tigers

Yesterday was our day off from the conference I'm working at here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A group of 10 of us went to a local place where we could actually play with real tiger cubs. They sure are cute! We had a blast. In the picture where I am laying down on the tiger, I am actually listening to her heart beat.

Six O'clock and a Half

About an hour after I was back at the hotel after my visit with my little Compassion girl, my room phone rang. It was the front desk telling me something about dinner but I really couldn't understand them. So I went down to the desk ... and still couldn't understand them. But they said someone would call me in 5 minutes.

Sure enough, someone did call in 5 minutes. I didn't know who they were and they never said their name. They just kept saying dinner and "six o'clock and a half." Well, I'm always up for a good surprise.

So I come down to the lobby at 6:30 and guess who showed up ... all of the Compassion staff and their families. They took me to a great barbeque type place where you cook your own food at your table. We had a great time in spite of the fact that we couldn't speak each others' languages.

Fern, my Compassion child in Thailand

I just had the most amazing day with little Fern. An entire minibus filled with 9 people showed up at 9:00 this morning. At first I was shaking hands with adults and then they all opened up and there she stood ... not a little girl but a beautiful young woman of 14 years old. I didn't know what to do. I just held her two hands and looked at her and said her name and then we both just fell into a big hug. When we stopped hugging, we were both crying. And her mom was crying as well. It was a beautiful moment.

Off we went to the headquarters and school for younger children. The director of the school was a wonderful lady who showed us the wall of photos of all the children. I had Fern and her younger sister stand by their own photos and took a pic of the pics. The staff and Fern's family and I sang Jesus Loves the Little Children and The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Changes (they in Thai and I in English) and we prayed together. Then we had a little gift ceremony where I gave the school a map and stickers and candy and then I gave the family and Fern her gifts. They all loved them.

The school had a big bunch of bananas for me. Fern and I pealed a banana each and they had us feed each other like a bride and groom would cake. IT was hilarious. Thankfully one of the staff took on the job of being my photographer with my camera so I have pictures of everything. Then I passed the bananas around and we all ate them.

Next we were off to her home. Wow. I am now SO thankful I have been supporting this poor girl. She lives in a shack on stilts. It's right next to the river and the view is beautiful though. We went into her house and I saw where she and her sister sleep. She showed me all of the letters I had written to her. Years of pictures and letters. There was no furniture in the house. We just sat on the floor. But it was very clean. Just wooden planks nailed together and the air could come right through them.

Then she and her sister took me on this tipsy boat out into the river. The views were amazing. We had a fun time rowing around. Then we came back on shore and the two of us hopped on her bike to go to her old house. This house belongs to her grandmother because their old house across the road got flooded and damaged too much to live in. We all rolled up our pants and sloshed through a very wet path until we got to dry land. Her old house was worse than the new. It really looked like it was about to fall down. But their neighbors had tons of coconut trees. So we cut down two coconuts and drank the milk and ate the meat. So delicious! Such an adventure too!

We had lunch at a riverside restaurant. Great food. then we went to a park that had hot springs and we all tried to put our feet in the water but wow ... it was so hot. My feet still feel hot :)

They had to bring me home at 2 because the school needed the van to take kids home. It was so sad to say goodbye. Fern is a true sweetheart, always looking after me, taking care of me, attentive to her sister and her mother, kindhearted and thoughtful. She wants to be a nurse and I believe she will be. Her mother is very affectionate to her and although she had no money growing up, I know she was well loved. I am so blessed to know her and to be a small part of her life. I know we will both remember this day fondly for the rest of our lives.