Gus the Bus and the Turner Family 

After talking to a couple truckers last night that had traveled the Alaskan Highway before, we decided it'd be a good idea to get a spare tire for Gus.  Shane was talking to Rodney Hubbard this morning & he found us one at Ellensburg Tire & agreed to meet us at the truck stop at Ellensburg.  The tire place just happened to have the right size tire, mounted & balanced on the rim at a very reasonable price.  Shane & Rodney loaded it in the suburban.  Thanks Rodney for snapping some pictures for us!

   

Gus the Bus & Sub the Suburban (61 ft all together) Here we come!                                                                          

On the road again, we took 97 to Alt 97 to Omak, WA where Gus stopped for the night at the Wal-Mart. It was a beautiful drive along the Columbia River.  Had a couple steep grades where we were going 25-30 MPH.  It is quite a learning experience for Shane to drive the bus and he is doing an awesome job!  Tomorrow we will cross into Canada, Lord willing.
     When we finished lunch, we had another care package opening and what a highlight!  Yay! Coloring & reading for a while till nap time.  Almost all of the children took a nap at the same time, and woke all about the same time also.  They were ready to play play-doh.  And what fun!
     At supper time, Shane had all the children out in the parking lot, with yet another care pack... sidewalk chalk and a 4 square ball!  What a neat idea!  They loved it & was a great diversion.  Hot dogs & salad for supper.  Looks like we'll get to bed quite a bit earlier tonight.  Shane & I were talking, this has been a dream of ours for a few years, to travel with our family and we feel so blessed by God to be able to experience this.

It had this beautiful picture on the back of it when we bought it.. we hope to see somewhere like it!

 I had hoped to post more pics tonight, but the battery is almost to die...
    Tonight for devotions we had Numbers 22.  The story of Balaam.. vs 38 stood out to me.  Help me, Lord, to be so one with the Father that I only say what God tells me.

Let The Adventure Begin

     Today our family climbed into "Gus" and set out for the Last Frontier, the Land of the Midnight Sun...Alaska!!  Gus the bus, is a 38 foot  charter bus that is converted into a fully functioning RV.  We have been packing for the past week...our Bibles,  clothes, food, school books, bow & arrow's, fishing poles, diapers, gospel tracts, and some care packages from some sweet families, for the children to open.  Our plans are to travel the Alaskan Highway through British Columbia, Canada to Wasilla, Alaska.  We are going to see David & Holly Long and to explore Alaska some too.

This is when we bought it a year ago.

      Oh the excitement!!  We had planned to leave today, Friday, June 15th, just didn't know what time we would pull out.  Wal-Mart will let you park in their parking lot overnight, so we plan on staying there some and hitting a campground every 2-3 nights to fill up water & use the dump station.  Shane said we might just make it to Wal-Mart in Yakima and stay there the first night..
      This morning I slept in due to many late nights lately, then continued to find things to keep packing in the bus. Shane worked on packing the storage containers on the outside.  Steadily we worked on and on... 11:30 Dave & Carla Kuns brought us lunch (& more goodies to pack), and Steve & Jana Crist came, then Mary Long & Wilson came, all to bid us God-speed on our adventure.  Thanks ladies for all you helped with!!  We pulled out our driveway at 4:15pm.  Headed into Toppenish, Hank & I in the suburban and Shane & the rest in the bus.  Stopped at Ideal Lumber to fill up the propane tanks and to get something for the water tank so it wouldn't leak.  Headed on to Yakamart to fill up on diesel and gas. (Gus has diesel moter, and gas generator)  Then we hooked up the tow package on the suburban.  By the time we got to Yakima it was 7:00.  We decided to go ahead & stop.  Make sure everything is working properly.  This is the first time we have every stayed in Gus.  Did I mention excitement???  So we get stopped and the water pump won't work.. It has worked in the past, so Shane took all the storage out from under our bed and worked & worked and finally figured out it is the switch!
       I got the supper.. very interesting!!  We had MRE's which are Meals Ready to Eat.  Our neighbor, Jerry, gave us some of these meals.  It is what the military use.  All you need is 1 1/2 Tablespoons of water and it has a heat pack that heats up the food and everything.  Awesomely enough, we had company, and my brain was just fried from getting ready to go that I couldn't hardly figure out what I was doing with these MRE's.  Was trying to read the instructions and  just was taking me a long time...  Praising God for friends that visit, even when we're camping in Yakima Wal-Mart parking lot!! Yay!  Daniel & Rebecca Smith and their family came over to see us.  They are getting ready to take off and live in a 5th wheel for the summer and maybe longer.  So we shared excitement!

will have to upload pics from the last few days.. this was 1 yr ago

Finally got everyone down for bed and Shane & Hank went in to the store to get a switch for the water pump and a few other things.  It's now midnight and they just now arrived back at Gus.  Should've known they'd get stopped talking to fellow campers. Yay for truckers tips. And now, let's see if I can sleep this close to the freeway? Interestingly enough, between our bus and the freeway, there is this creek or swamp hole.. so we are hearing crickets chirping, frogs croaking or ribbitting, and cars & trucks racing by to who know's where.  My prayer is that I will remember to 'Seek ye first, the kingdom of God'.  

Sweeping in Thailand

Trees line the streets in the "moo-baan"(neighborhood) in which we lived.  There are 2 men (one with a crippled foot) that sweep the streets with brooms.  Everyday they are somewhere in the moo-bann.  Hank started out by riding his bike (borrowed from Martin) by the sweepers.  On the first day they said some words to him in Thai.  He repeated them to Martin later to see what they said to him.  It was "red snail"!!  That day he'd had on a red shirt.  We all laughed at that!  A few days later, he went riding his bike by them again.  Soon he was back at the house getting our broom.  Hank rode to where they were sweeping and got off his bike and helped them.  The next day only one man (with the bad foot) was sweeping, so Hank used their other broom.

The sweepers both had motorbikes with side carts and one of them had another cart tied on behind.  After Hank had been helping sweep for a little, he rode his bike over to the carts and lined up with  the cart. "Uncle Une" (as Hank found out their names)  laughed and came over and tied the cart to the back of his bike.  Hank was loving it!   This was the process for the next 4 days while the other man was not around.  

Hank & Uncle Moo

Uncle Une & Hank

 Hank would go every morning for a few hours and sometimes later in the day also, depending on what all we were doing.  Then "Uncle Moo" was back and Uncle Une was gone.  Hank helped Uncle Moo for about 4 days also.  He continued to help them sweep, riding around the moo-bann till he found them.  Once  while they were sweeping by a house, a man came out that spoke some English, and talked to Hank.  He wanted to give Hank a gift for helping sweep, so this man brought a fresh coconut that he'd just chopped down off his coconut tree.  Hank brought it to the house for us to do something with.  Another day, Hank was sweeping off a ladies driveway, with the Uncles, and she came out and spoke a little English, and brought Hank some chocolates as a gift for helping.  Yummy!  Some of us got to taste those. The next to last day that Hank helped, Uncle Moo brought him a gift of sugared bread & orange juice.  Hank had a very enjoyable time helping Uncle Moo & Uncle Une sweep, but never mastered the Thai languange, so wasn't able to carry on conversation with them in words.  However, I think he communicated relationship to them well, by his example. He said they used hand motions to "talk" to each other.  What a blessing it is to have a willing hard worker.  He really likes to work & I am excited to watch him grow into a young man.  God gave us a precious gift almost 13 yrs ago!  

HOME

Ready to cross the Pacific 

Words just can't describe how it feels to be home!  Praise the Lord for His protection over our family as we traveled.  Thank you, God, for the gift of making it possible for our family to go to Thailand!  

 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 1Pe 5:11 

 The view from my kitchen window-Mt Adams

Our flight left Chaing Mia on Monday, Dec 5th at 11:59pm.  (that is Thailand time-which is 15 hrs different than PST time and 12 hrs different than EST.)  Arrived in Seoul, South Korea at 6am Tues. Dec 6th. (Seoul time)  We had a 12 hour layover there and Korean Airlines put us up in the same hotel we used for the overnight layover on the way to Thailand, only we used the rooms for day use this time.  We were able to sleep some and it was great!  Okay, you have to get this next part, so read carefully...  our flight left Seoul at 6:30pm Tues.Dec 6th.  We arrived in Seattle, WA at 11:00am Tues.Dec 6th.  Actually got home around 4pm.  It is really strange to get home before you even left!!

Home Sweet Home-summer pic

We love it!-summer pic

Currently we are slowly adjusting  to the time change.  You can pray that our children will be able to get on the right time soon, and be well.  Hunter has a cold & cough, so Shane & I have taken turns sleeping with him in the recliner so he can be upright.  The coughing makes him toss & turn.

Dad & Mom Turner left this morning.  Many thanks for everything they have done.  Wish you safe travels as you drive across the USA! Our family will miss them being around.  

Bree flies out on Sunday, the 11th.  There will be more adjusting for us all.  Aspen was up at 3:30am yesterday morning sobbing uncontrollably.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said she was sad because Aunt Bree was going to leave us.  So I suggested that maybe she was crying because we were trying to adjust to the time zone and she sobbed No, that Aunt Bree was leaving in 4 more days!!  Pretty much sums up our feelings!   Thank you, Bree, for all the ways you helped our family.  We will miss you and pray for you.   

Thanksgiving Day

Thurs. Nov 24^th.  Today Shane & Hank, Martin, Titus & Andrew all went up in the mountains.  Hiked some, had hotdogs over fire for lunch and took a dip in the river.  Sounded like they had a wonderful time.  The boys came home with glowing reports of all their activities! 

At 5:00, we went to Martin’s to caravan to IGo for a Thanksgiving Meal.  The spread was laid out on a long table.  Grilled chicken, fresh homemade crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn pudding, oyster stuffing, sweet potato casserole, salad, veggies, pumpkin pie and ice cream!!!!  It was different eating a traditional Thanksgiving meal in Thailand!  We thoroughly enjoyed it and meeting some more of the IGo staff. 

Toothless in Thailand

Aspen turned 6 this past July.  She has enjoyed watching Hank, Nikita, & Brandy get loose teeth and cheering them on when they are wanting Mom or Dad to pull them out.  Finally, the day came when Aspen realized she had a loose tooth!!  Oh what fun! It wasn’t long until Mommy had to feel it to see.  After investigating, we figured out she had 5 loose teeth!  She worked that first one back and forth.  It was slow moving and soon we began saying, maybe, just maybe, she would loose her first tooth in Thailand.  So one day last week, we were eating lunch, and she barely pulled on it then began saying, “Brandy, Brandy, here’s my tooth, here’s my tooth!”  With much celebrating, we all exclaimed over the first lost tooth in Thailand!!

                                

Compassion Home

Sat Nov 19^th

            Rode motorbikes & Martin’s van over to the CLC bookstore to borrow their van.  I drove a motorbike over and it was kinda scary going that far, but it was good to do it.  I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t out just cutting up on a motorbike, just being dangerous.  It is the Thai mode of travel!!  Was kinda fun too!! 

The view as we headed to the orphanage

   We got in vans, Martin, Rachel, Dad, Mom, Hank, Titus, Andrew, & Austin in the borrowed van.  Shane & I, Bree, Nikita, Brandy, Dinah, Aspen, Lacy, & Hunter all went in Martin’s van.  This was Shane’s first experience driving a vehicle here.  He did great!  We went a couple hours out of Chaing Mia to the Compassion Home, an orphanage in the mountains.

                                      

William & Sylvia, the couple that started it were there.  Currently they have 41 children. 20 girls & 21 boys.  We ate lunch with the children, played with them, and took a tour of the place.  William & Sylvia are Mennonite from Virginia, and live both places.  Right now they will be in Thailand for the winter months.  The children were so cute.

Some of them hugged us when we got there & hugged us when we left.  On the way home, we went past a random traffic stop that the police just motioned the vehicles they wanted to check off to the side.  Martin’s van went through okay, but they motioned ours off to the side.  The police officer came to the window, rattled off something in Thai, so Shane told him we spoke English.  He wanted to see Shane’s international drivers license, (which he doesn’t have).  Shane got out his Washington drivers license and then he gave the police officer the Governor of Chaing Mia’s business card & said he was Shane’s friend.  This policeman waved us on.  The policeman on the end flagged us to stop. (again) This one spoke better English.  We went through the same thing and the Governor’s card was whipped out again.  The policeman was impressed that the Governor was our friend!  We were soon on our way again. Then we dropped off the borrowed van, and stopped at Big C to eat supper.  Our family ate at Pizza Hut.