Thanksgiving Wishes

Today is Thanksgiving. It is the combination of "Thanks be to God," "Count Your Blessings," and "Giving and Sharing," to our families. But what I'd like to touch on isn't the food, drinks, desserts or even the company, I'd like to focus on the most important part; Thanking God for our blessings.

I understand why we celebrate, the Pilgrims and Indians, the combining of two nations into co existing etc.... But what I feel like I've missed and most of the people around me have missed is that even though its a national holiday, God commands us to "Give Thanks" everyday. He told us to count our blessings and thank Him for them each day. That was the original intent behind this holiday is it not?

Why do you suppose that is? Possibly because I notice the jokes and jibes about how we need to stuff our faces and our mouths so we don't say how we really feel and just be thankful. But why is this day any holier than any other day to our Lord? Why isn't "Thanksgiving" practised everyday? Shouldn't we do unto others as you would have them do to you? What is the point of pigging out this one day when we pig out on our food everyday? Yes pies and sweet potato/yams are amazing, but the amount of planning and prepping that goes into a meal that might last an hour on a good day, is completely insane to me. Truly horrifying if I'm being honest. 

If we are going to celebrate our thankfulness to our Lord and Savior, shouldn't it be simple and then take the rest of our money/food and dedicate it to the people less fortunate in our lives? We ALL have them. Shouldn't this then be the most important day to remember where we came from and how God provided for us throughout the years?

What I have seen about humanity in general is this, we take something beautiful and pure and put it in a box to fit our lifestyle. Or worse, we take a tradition meant for holiness and slather it through the mud for our own personal gain. Greed and selfishness. Please understand I'm not accusing and yes, this is generalising, but my purpose isn't to ruffle your feathers out of anger, but conviction! My only desire is for us to truly examine our hearts and minds and REMEMBER. To go back in our minds and remember the rest of the year and if we spent half as much time prepping, stressing, worrying, cleaning, cooking and praying it turns out on just ONE DAY, imagine the glory of us putting our faith and thanks into EVERY DAY! 

Please know my hearts desire. To bring into light a thought and hope for all of us. GIVE THANKS! And what would happen if we could only make everyday Thanksgiving and put it into practice! 

Know this, as I stuff my face and mouth, I hope that once I swallow I can then speak my mind and say "THANK YOU LORD" for every day of the year. :)

My Rambling for today is done.

Memories and Hymns

Well these past couple of days have flown by in a blur, but much was accomplished! Not only did I get to meet up with 3 of my childhood/teenage years friends, I was also able to attend my Uncle Ron's birthday party.

I can't begin to describe what a blessing it has been to see and talk to friends that have shaped me into who I am today. Two of my best friend's are pregnant and will be giving birth in a few months. What a weird, but amazing experience it has been in seeing what 4 1/2 years does to you! 

Something that most of you may not know about me, is that I come from a LARGE extended family and every last one of us sing. I spent my whole life hearing and singing with the Morse family hymn after hymn. At my Uncle Ron's party we all pulled out our hymnals and promptly began to sing. In four part harmony we blended our voices together and memory after memory came crashing into my mind of the years gone by! The heritage set before me singing their hearts out to God. My father's generation in complete communion with the Father and each other. It was so humbling to hear and listen to them all encourage each other and speak into each others lives. (They went around the room and each of them took a turn encouraging and uplifting my Uncle Ron in his life and walk with the Lord and those around him as well). What a joy to watch! What a blessing! I am so proud to come from such a wonderful and amazing group of people! Having recently lost their father, my grandfather, they were all so much closer and spoke openly of their grief and heartache. But also of the joy and struggles from these past months of his passing. Tears stinging my eyes I listened as they all uplifted and encouraged each other to keep their faith strong! 


Believe it or not, that is a common thing when we all gather together as a mission and family. It makes my heart ache for the years that I took for granted as a child and then teenager always rolling my eyes every time the "grownups" started to sing or talk about the "old days" back in Burma when they were all children. Now I cherish each story or memory they wish to pass on to me because its not just a story.....its a legacy. Four generations of missionaries were in that room. Only three remain since my grandfather's passing, but we all carry him in our hearts and his work will never be forgotten because of his children's continuous work and memories of their own. Watching and grieving from a distance I have lost both grandparents on this side since I left. It cannot be described in words the pain I felt not being here to help my father through his grief. But I am grieving now in my own way for my family and for myself at both of them passing so close together. 

Being here has been so overwhelming, but so encouraging! So many emotions follow me as I continue to visit old haunts or past memories long forgotten and only now being remembered come to me. I have so many intense, hard ones. But also so many wonderful and happy ones as well. I look forward to each place because I know I'll gain another memory wether hurtful or helpful it is all apart of me and who I've become today. I'm growing and learning something new each time and will continue to. 





All in all......its been a good 10 days back and I have so many more to go! We shall see where the Lord takes me next. For now I am done rambling. 

Blessings to all.

Caught Between Two Worlds

Well here I am and for the record, I'm having to type this out TWICE because the first time it didn't save properly and all was lost. Meh. Computers these days. lol

Well I stayed in Santa Clarita for a little under two weeks with the Moore family who have always taken me in and have adopted me as one of their own. Never could I hope to repay their kindness! As I stayed with them I not only got to visit and catch up with two of my lovely Joshua sisters, I got to see some of the one graduates of this last years class! What a joy it was to see them! Chandler among them has fast become a dear sister and I am so grateful for our friendship! Me and her cooked dinner for a few of the boys from her class and the next day she and a few of those boys again drove me to the airport and made it so much more fun for me when it comes to checking in your bags. 

I also had the wonderful blessing to hang out and get to know better a lovely girl named Melinda. She is a teacher at Parker Moore's high school and also looks out for him from time to time. The Moore's have also adopted her and that is how we began to form our bond. She took me to a Thai/Chinese place where we proceeded to discover that we have many things in common and share the same heart for the people we love. I was so happy to have found that time to spend with her! 

As I traveled I not only had internet in each airport thanks be to God, I was also able to FaceTime a few friends as well as my Mom so I could keep them up to date as to where I was. It made the flights so much easier and the layovers so much faster! :) 

I arrived in Thailand with the entire family that is currently here to greet me! Into my Mom's arms I went first and then everyone else followed. Much to my joy and surprise my best/longest friend was there to meet me as well! Keeping it a surprise was well worth the joy of seeing her again! We've already been able to watch a movie together, I've had the privilege of meeting her daughter Norelle, and have seen her house and been able to catch up a few years. How much life changes in 4 1/2 years! 

Last night I had the blessing of celebrating my Mother's Birthday! Me and her went to a beauty salon and both got our hair washed and styled and were able to get some drinks and catch up on life. We then met up with the boys and went to a favorite restaurant of the family's. After that we all went to our favorite ice cream parlor and ate the famous chocolate peanut butter cup flavor. We finished off the night with "Once Upon a Time's" latest episode. All in all it was an awesome day and I'm super stoked to keep touching base with old friends and family that still currently live here. 

This time has made me confused as to reality to be honest. It's hard for me to process that I was in America less than a week ago. It's as if I never left Thailand on one side, but then I look at my Facebook each day and see all of the friends and family I now have in the States and am blown away by the whole other life God has given me in California. Being torn between two worlds is nothing new for me, but this time around is different only because Hume is completely apart of who I am now. I see how much I've been americanized and as I say or do something, I turn around to see my brothers giving me funny looks because I said something completely foreign to them. It's not something I find bad or negative, it's just me self examining the realization I've changed far more than I'd ever realized culturally and I'm coming to terms with that fact. I haven't entirely decided if I'm happy with all the changes. Most of them are cultural, but obviously there are other kinds of changes one makes to adapt to another environment. This will a course of thought I will continue to focus on, but for now, my ramblings have come to an end. :) Blessing to all who bother to read this. 

-Rambler