Update – The Young’s – Thailand

The Young’s – Thailand

Dear Prayer Team,

Thanks for praying for our family! We really enjoy living in Chiang Mai, even with all the adjustments that have to be made when living in a new place with a new language. We’ve had some ups and downs in the past month. The downs are to be expected, but that doesn’t make it any easier!

I began writing this one week ago and lots has happened since then! Here is the brief synopsis: Jared was very sick on Thursday so we took him to the doctor. He was extremely dehydrated and needed 2 bags of IV fluid. After running blood tests it was determined that he has a bacterial infection, which has gotten into his blood (this is called Septicemia). He is now on strong antibiotics, is drinking lots of electrolytes, and spending all his time in bed. We were supposed to be leaving today for our annual field conference but God had other plans Jess and the kids will plan to go for the last couple of days next week if Jared is feeling better. We are so thankful for God’s timing and direction to the clinic and doctor we went to. Jared received such good care and if we had not caught this early on he would surely be recuperating in a hospital.

We’re plugging away at studying the language of Thai. Jared is half way through the first stage, which includes 50 lessons. Jess is only studying half the time as Jared, so she is on lesson 15. Please pray for diligence and discipline in our language learning. It’s a marathon and not a sprint.

We had a great few days celebrating Father’s Day in the middle of June. We took Jared out for amazing “New York style” pizza on Friday, went miniature golfing on Saturday, and enjoyed a restful Sunday together. It was a good weekend for us all!

At the end of June our stress level was quite high and it was affecting our spirits and even our bodies. We ended up taking a break off of language study for a week so that we could regroup and so that Jared could plan do some extra planning to his upcoming lessons. Praise the Lord for co-workers and leadership who we could share our struggles with and get to know better! We went with friends out of the city to a hotel for a couple of nights and it was great! The boys got to play and swim and we got to breathe some fresh air and just relax. Please pray for our stress management. Our life here gets very overwhelming at times and we need to be continually giving up our burdens to the Lord.

In an effort to help alleviate some of our stress, we have hired a “mae bon”, a lady who will clean our house once per week. This will be a great opportunity for us to expand our use of Thai, as she doesn’t speak much English. Please pray for our mae bon and our relationship with her to develop.

Update: We’re still waiting to check out the possible preschool for Boston. The school is on break for the Summer and the head teacher is out of the country. Once she returns we will be able to meet with and make a decision about his schooling in the Fall.

Lastly, please pray for Jackson. The boys were both sick last week and since then Jackson has been in a perpetual bad mood. It has been very trying for us as parents to be constantly hearing “NO!” and trying to keep a good attitude despite Jackson’s outbursts and frustrations. Pray that we would deal with Jackson is grace, love, and wisdom while he goes through this phase.

We are so thankful for your prayers and support of our family!
Jessica for the Youngs

Jared, Jessica, Boston & Jackson Young