A Missionary’s Life :: Thai Visas, Word Art, and Goodbyes

Welcome visitors! Sorry I missed last week, but I spent all afternoon with a friend who was visiting! Kelsey and I worked together at AIM – she was an intern for The Sound of Hope and the Development Department first, then she came on staff for a while and did quite a few different jobs (including leading mission trips). She moved back to Michigan a few months ago, so last Friday she drove to Port Huron for a visit. We had a great time together – walking around town, drinking apple cider, and sitting under the Blue Water Bridge catching up! I especially enjoyed it since we hardly ever have visitors (and I love to play the hostess!) She also brought us some goodies – organic beef from the farm she works on, and decorative gourds. How cute are they?! Thanks so much for coming Kelsey! I can’t wait until next time! 🙂

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
No, I’m not one of those people who jump the gun and decorate for
Christmas in September (though I do LOVE Christmas decorations! Lights
and candles and glitter, oh my! 😉 This week we had a Christmas and New
Years photo shoot for iStock. We had a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to
share some of the pictures with you! We’re also doing a fall shoot later
today…. and, wow…. I just realized that I’m way behind at posting these pictures. Sorry! I’ll try to get on that soon…..maybe I’ll do a whole post of some of our faves from each shoot
to catch you up 😉

Do you take Visa or Mastercard? No, not that kind of Visa! Our Thai Visas came in today (the kind you get in your passport). We are super excited! That was the biggest thing we needed to check off our list before our trip in January. Next we’ll be buying a couple of new pieces of luggage (some of ours is in bad shape and won’t survive the trip), stocking up on some things we need but can’t buy there, and then apartment shopping! I can’t believe how quickly time is passing….our departure day will be here before you know it!

Time to say goodbye. In case you haven’t heard, Michael and Kathy Hindes are moving to Georgia. Yes, the same Michael & Kathy that we moved up here to be mentored by (they’re leaving us! >insert abandonment issues here< ….kidding, kidding! 😉 God has called them to Gainesville for their next season of life, so they are the last of the AIM/World Race Crew to leave here (well, except for us). Monday, they took us out for a goodbye dinner at a wonderful waterfront restaurant. We had delicious food, caught up, laughed a lot (while Michael & Rusty sang the “Bed Intruder” song) and enjoyed each other’s company one last time in Port Huron. We ended the night with a “Bed Intruder” sing-along in the car on the way home… laughing and goofing off. Once that song gets stuck in your head, there’s no getting it out!

It’s easy to say, there is NO ONE like those two! We are going to miss having them just down the road from us….they have truly been our family up here and our home away from home. We refuse to say goodbye though, because we know they’ll always be a part of our life. So we’ll just say, “Good luck in Georgia! We love you!”

*note – they are driving down today and tomorrow with the moving truck – please say a prayer for them!

Word Art. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen “Word Art” before, so let me explain. Word Art (also called “Alphabet Photography”) is a collection of photographs that spell out a word. Each photograph is an object from the world around you – a flower, a park bench, a window, a column, etc – that looks like a letter. You put these letters together to spell a name or other word. (you can see some examples here.) I saw it a few years ago and thought it was beautiful, but didn’t plan on trying it myself. That is, until Michael and Kathy told us they were moving.

You see, Michael and Kathy are 50, and they’ve lived their whole life in this area. Fifty years is a long time to call a place home, and I can only imagine how difficult it is to leave it behind. So, Rusty and I took a trip to downtown Port Huron to work on some Word Art for the Hindes!

What you see below is the finished project. (the letters anyway….I forgot to take a picture once it was framed because we were so excited to take it to them! So, imagine it in a really nice black frame.) Each letter is a little piece of Port Huron they can take with them to their new home. It was incredible to hear Michael pick out what they all were, and to hear him share his memories of growing up in the area!

“H” is the front of the old courthouse, which Michael told us was the first college in the area! It’s over 100 years old, and now houses our attorney’s office. (This is the spot where we incorporated The Sound of Hope!)

“I” is a raised bridge that goes over the Black River, where it joins the St. Clair River. (Apparently, Michael used to climb 20 feet up this thing and jump off into the water!)

“N” is a lamp post from downtown.

“D” is a window at Beacon Home Care (run by some of Michael and Kathy’s good friends).

“E” is the railing from the bridge downtown on Huron Avenue.

“S” is part of an old light fixture at The General Store.

If you’re interested in a Word Art piece of your own let me know…. they aren’t something I’m planning on doing again, but I would consider selling them on a case by case basis, especially if you’re in Michigan! (I’m afraid they would be expensive to ship!)