From Thighland to Thailand

Thailand 4.8: Picture Worth 1000 Words

February 24, 2012-Friday

Quote of the Day:  “I’m having a Blast! during what you love with people that I love”, Cindy Wu

Happy 20^th Birthday Allison!

I’ve missed my youngest daughter’s birthday once again because of a mission trip.  It’s one of those “I’m a terrible father moments.”  I am sorry but I’m not sorry, you know, because it’s for God.  I know that she understands.  That’s my girl!  20.  Hmmmm…how time flies.  So much work, so little time.

We are not all work and no play.  Well we didn’t really play but on this seventh day  (Time zone adjusted) we rested.  So far we have treated about 850 patients in 4 days.  We are pretty happy about this number and bill thinks we will reach 2000 easily.  “Easily” is a relative term.  For those who have followed the blog I appreciate it so I will give you a rest today reading and try use few words.  I will let the pictures explain.  No, we’re not having too much fun.  Just recharging.  We have long days and nights still ahead to reach 2000.

Okay, I woke up to finish this blog and was just going to post some photos.  I had one thought that maybe God was talking to me.  Let me explain.

I am very proud of my son, Steven; his nickname is, “Myson.”  His only reluctant to come on this trip was the peanuts.  Yes, the peanuts.  He is deathly allergic to peanuts and probably many other allergens.  Tested against 100 allergens, he was allergic to 96.  “I’ll just eat rice”, he says.  Everywhere we go and eat he prefaces ordering with the question, “Are there peanuts?”  He has a peanut paranoia, and rightfully so.  Well, he has brought his talents and skills with a passion of photography and filmmaking to tell you a story in a documentary that he is assigned to do.  He majored in visual arts and would eventually like to teach and, not necessarily “Make millions” filming blockbusters.  I say go for the latter.  I admire his eye for that perfect Kodak moment and how he approaches capturing it through the lens.  He has grown up to be a responsible young man.  He is polite, friendly, and prays before each meal.  That’s my boy!

As a father I want him to be proud of me as well.  A few years ago when he had an allergic reaction, he was itching all over and getting a rash and wasn’t responding to the usual OTC medications.  I had steroids and epi-pen at the house and prescription antihistamines. He wasn’t in any danger but he was very anxious and concerned.   “Dad, I want to see a REAL doctor”, he says in a raised and assertive tone.  “Okay, son, I’ll take you to the ER.”  $1500, steroids, and an epi-pen later, he felt better.  That was Fresno.

Here in Chiang Rai he gets to see “His dad in action.”  I was tending to a human bite wound of the mother-in-law whose thumb was bitten to the bone and tendon by the unfaithful daughter-in-law while she while trying to break up the fight between her and the husband who caught her cheating and confronted her the night before.  Human bites are a medical injury that needed debridement, irrigation, and I.V. antibiotics.  So I spent some time tending to this wound and felt that it was fortunate for the women to have and gotten it treated in a timely manner.  Untreated, waiting even a day, could have been very serious and develop into a rip-roaring infection.  I used to treat these a lot.  Someone said to Steven, “Go film your dad treating that bite wound.”  He caught the moment I was putting on the Band-Aid over the thumb and said, “That’s it?  It’s not even film worthy.”  As I removed the dagger from my heart I was thinking that I saved the women’s Thumb from falling off.  Ai-Yah!  I can’t even impress my own son.

That’s why I felt to add this to this previously intended “short” blog.  I should not be concerned about impressing my son, my wife, my colleagues, my friends, or my patients.  I need to focus on if I am impressing my God.  And even “impressing” may be the wrong term.  I should just try to make him smile once in a while because I can’t picture God smiling too much these days.  So the question is for you and for me, “Did you make God smile today?’  I know I definitely make him laugh and shake his head.  But, if we are to be like Jesus, I want him to say to me, “My son, I am well pleased.”

Today, try to put a smile on God’s face, here’s some photos to put a smile on yours-Mark

Mr. GQ and his better half.

Our mark left on large rock at Indigenous Festival.

Like father, like son.

The swinging' Pastor

Hole in the wall gang

Yonnie and friends.

Andy finally passed his kidney stone.