4 Thornes in Malaysia

So, our friend Eddie was doing some work on his apartment back in the summer and headed to a hardware store to buy some dust masks. Eddie asked the owner how many he had, and after the owner had pulled out all of his stock, Eddie said he would buy the whole lot, which was about 20. "You want to buy all of them?" asked the owner. "Yes, all of them," said Eddie. So Eddie bought all of the dust masks, but the owner was very annoyed, put out and upset that Eddie was cleaning out his supply. When Eddie told us the story this week we all had a good laugh - when you own a store, don't you WANT people to buy your stuff?? I really thought this would be universal - didn't think there'd be a cultural difference in this! Then Eddie told us another story of a friend of his who went into a store looking for a particular item. He couldn't find it and asked the owner where they would be. And his response? "Oh, I don't carry those anymore. They sell too fa...

So. Does absence really make the heart grow fonder? Or does it only make you easily forgotten? (I'd put my money on the second one) But in the event that I still have one reader I return. Much has happened in this long seven?...eight?...month gap. A trip to Phuket for Spring Break - hot and sunny, a lot like home, actually. Beautiful ocean scenery and beaches. Broken lives being peddled on the streets in broad daylight - lives that are beautiful to the One who made them. A hard place to 'vacation', really. Seven weeks in Canada over the summer (six for Bob) Wonderful, soul filling and refreshing times on our own and with loved ones. Several weeks of camp for Josh and Rachel where they were influenced AND influencers towards a life lived for Jesus. Fantastic! A bumpy transition back to Penang for Rachel and I...our hearts are in two places. A completed first quarter of school already... we work hard to try to grab time with our two teenagers when we can. A lunch date in the ...

While Chris and Sarah were with us we took a couple of trips together. The first one was a four hour drive down to Kuala Lumpur on December 31.....the goals being to visit Ikea (for me!) and to go see the Twin Towers (for everyone else). Unfortunately, KL is a nightmare city to drive in and we got hopelessly lost, ultimately hiring a Domino's Pizza delivery guy to lead us to Ikea. It turned out we were on the absolute other side of the city. The following picture is of the beginning of our trip....our faces weren't so happy later on in the day! Friends met up with us and led us back to their home for an overnight stay, and if they hadn't have met us I'm pretty sure we would have just turned around and come right back to Penang. All in all....not the best day ever for the Thornes. On the bright side, though, with that kind of start, it can only get better for the rest of 2010! We thought we were early enough to get tickets to go up the towers when we arrived an hour befo...

FINALLY!!! Chris and Sarah arrived on the night of December 27. We stood and waited for them while they waited..and waited...and waited for their luggage. Agony when you can SEE each other but the pesky security rules keep you apart!! You can imagine the joy - hugs - tears - when they finally made it through the gate!! We stayed up for a few hours together and they emptied out some of their suitcases with some of the things we'd asked them to bring. Then the exhaustion hit and they had to get some sleep. The coffee table filled to overflowing...chocolate chips, Epicure spices, Craisins, Grandpa's homemade jelly, medicines, International Coffee, Stampin' Up! supplies...and enough chocolate to supply a small country!! We opened our stockings and Christmas gifts in the morning - seeing as it was December 28, Josh should be commended for his patient waiting! New shirt from Rachel. Rachel reading letters from her friends from Calgary...Josh reading something! Josh loves his p...

Josh was on the Varsity Basketball Team for the fall term of school. In the fall tournament hosted at their school, they won first place! Lots of fun for all the boys - and the parents too! Rachel continues with her piano lessons focusing on learning improvisational piano skills right now. Her recital piece was "My Only Hope" and she was the piano player for the band. It sounded great! All dressed up and ready to go to the Christmas Banquet at the school. Pictures down by the pool before and during the community Christmas party. We were involved in putting together the party and one of the big hits was the gingerbread house session we led - none of the kids had ever made one before! As a family, we delayed our 'Christmas morning' celebrations until Chris and Sarah arrived on December 27. So on the 25th we ate breakfast together, played a new game we bought especially for the day (Perodua - the game of Liar's Dice - actually a pretty fun game!) and then headed t...