January 2024

​This month has been a very busy, stressful, and boring month. I told my wife, after its all over, we are going to take a short vacation. First I had to extend my visa, which was just as stressful as usual, they changed the format that I need to follow once again, so it took a few trips back home to get it right, but Thank God, they accepted my papers, and now I just wait for my visa to get approval from immigration at another city to the south of us. After that a couple bureaucrats came and informed us that the health inspector would be inspecting our shop. So I have been getting the shop ready, installing additional lights, organizing, and deep cleaning.

Abby is doing well, she is 4 months old. She has been smiling more, and has developed a fascination with her older brother. Every time he comes near, she smiles real big. Other than that she is quite dramatic. I don't know if all little girls are like this, i never had sisters, but her behavior is so extremely different than her brother. I was so worried before Calvin was born, but he never gave us any trouble. I wasn't worried at all before Abby but she is quite the handful. As i write this, she is throwing a bit of a fit, and refusing to drink the milk that will make her oh so happy. 

Teaching
I am really nailing it with my classes this month, I have a couple students who are returning every week to ask more questions. John said he wants to invent a time machine so that he can go back in time to see God at the big bang. I informed him that God is invisible, and God is everywhere, even right here, so you don't have to go back to the beginning of time to see God, you can talk to him right now. This young boy also brought the great question "Why did God have to become a man", to which i explained what messiah means, and why Jesus needed to die for sin. Another student went in detail about ghosts, asking what they were, to which i had the opportunity to explain that everybody has a spirit, and when our bodies die, our spirits do not, they will go on to heaven or hell, and we've had several good conversations about heaven and hell before, so that turned out nicely. When i am having these conversations, i take notes about things that work, and things that don't, so that i can improve my method in the long run. Ultimately method is not important if i don't pray for these little people. My heart needs to be in the right place when i am sharing with them. 

Writing
Because of that question about ghosts, i have added to the list of ongoing children's books, a ghost story, specifically addressing that very question. At the end of the book, it will address the question, who is the Holy Ghost. I've been seeing lots of ghost books for kids recently, and little Thai kids love ghost stories, so i figured i would give it a go. I may include the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. 

As far as the other books, i have them at the top of my google keep list, but have been so busy with everything else that there is no way i can work on it now, i will get back to it as soon as the inspectors come. I have still been taking plenty of notes however. It's like running, or climbing, i just have to figure out the tricks that help me stay consistent. 

Making
So one thing the inspectors are looking at is the LUX measurement of our lighting on work surfaces. Now, i personally don't think they will actually be very serious about any of this, but it is in the law, so i had to figure out how to get the lux up. Turns out, it has almost nothing to do with the brightness of the bulb, and almost everything to do with the fixture, and how much light it reflects to the surface. fortunately i have a system where all my hanging lights are hung on hooks and plugged into wall outlets i installed on the ceiling. This allows me to quickly rearrange. So the reason i find this important, is that i can now better design lighting fixtures out of papercrete like i have been planning all along, but with a better shape to them, a wider kind of flat cone shape. The light color of the material will be perfect for reflection, and it will have a very neat industrial look to it while being almost as light as dense foam. If i end up selling things online, i'll list a lux estimation. 

Needs
We are still thinking about taking a trip back to the states before Abby is 2. It will be cheaper before she is 2 because she can sit on our laps. It is still tickets for 3 people which is going to be quite expensive, and also declaring citizenship and passports for Calvin and Abby will be about 200 dollars each. We will need to do that first, then apply for a visa for fang. I hope they give her a nice long multiple entry visa, seems like i heard some people get a nice 10 year visa. The american system is so weird. My parents have a travel fund for us, if you would like to contribute, you can message my mom. or send me a message is fine. Calvin walks around the house singing the national anthem, so i figure ill have him sing it to the people at the embassy when we go declare his citizenship. 

Thankyou for your prayer and support.