December 2023

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration here at the Davis house. Calvin is old enough to get excited and go on and on about the Christmas tree, and his presents. He wouldn't take off his Santa hat for the whole month. He got plenty of presents, legos, toys, books, and even a couple big lolly pops from America that he has dreamed about for a while now. Abby got plenty of cloths and baby toys. Fang and I got plenty of goodies as well. My family sent a box of gifts from home. Its always really special because we get things we can't get here. I think Christmas is really about the parents. Its an opportunity for the parents to give. Its weird to be in the position of parent now, but very rewarding. Calvin was awkwardly quiet the whole day, an absolute angel, guess he figured he'd better be good or he'd loose all those new toys lol. 

Planning
When I'm thinking about next year, i would like to organize some kind of Christmas event. I've never organized events before, but i have the resources to, so i need to get around to doing it. The type of event i would be most capable of organizing might be english camp, a camping trip, a Christmas party, so on. Once i get in the hang of it, and know what to expect, and know what others expect, then i am sure ill feel more comfortable. Things like this are weird in Thailand. Everyone seems to be much more cooperate, meaning either everyone does it, or no one does it. My english class does well because its extremely common to study with a tutor after school in the province we live in. This is mainly because the school system is extremely inadequate. English camp, and Christmas parties are extremely common, but not usually organized by private teachers like myself. Churches do Christmas parties however and at least some unbelievers seem to come, maybe this would be a good opportunity to get all my students together for an event, and allow others to join in as well. Might even be good for business too. So that's where my head is now. The risk would be that having a specifically Christian event, might scared some customers off, but at some point i just have to take the risk, like i usually do, and loose a customer or 2 so that i can more freely share the gospel with others without fear. Might even gain new customers. I did get a new student last week who's name is the Thai word for Eve, so i will have to ask her if she is christian next time she comes, and if not, ill take time to tell the story of Adam and Eve for the class. 

Teaching
This month was all about Christmas for us. I really tried to focus on explaining the true meaning of Christmas as much as possible whenever it came up. In previous years, i have had a bit of a bad attitude when it comes to Christmas traditions. This is largely because of preachers i like who are dead now, mostly puritans, took the position that we should not celebrate Christmas on account that it is not biblical. I find it a bit ironic that they did not celebrate Easter the biblical way, which in most languages is still called Pasach, or Passover, and is a biblical celebration where we partake in the Lords supper, as he partook in it at his last supper. So hypocrisy aside, I understood the reason for their position to be the inclusion of pagan traditions like santa claus, and Christmas trees, and that evil star at the top must be satanic right? Well, Turns out none of these are pagan at all. I think it is useful to share the story of the Christmas tree, how St. Boniface chopped down the idol, the Oak of Donar, and in its place grew a fir that represented a new life separate from idolatry. Especially to the shop keeper down the street that has a Christmas tree set up right next to their enormous Buddha statue that is as large as my son. So conversations went on this Christmas season, with strangers, customers, and students as the opportunity presented itself. This is the thrill and joy of my job, problem solving, like i would when i am making something new, and figuring out how to make it repeatable, with custom jigs and templates. Its the same way when i am sharing the gospel, figuring out how to start the conversation, or better yet, get them to start the conversation. I get better and more efficient at it in time. I really enjoyed this Christmas season. 

Writing
Finished the Christmas book i think, its in digital format for now, but i haven't printed it yet. I still have some ideas about how to make it better, so its usually best if i sit on these for a while while i work on the gospel book again. I did pull up a project from a while back i was working on, its called Male and Female, its a look at different animal species and how God gave Male and Females different roles, and it ends will us. I believe i will possibly redo this or add to it to include the role of Children. I believe it is important to affirm a child's natural male or female tendencies. The educational system we grew up in doesn't work very well because it caters to girls, and even this is artificial. Boys end up thinking they have ADHD and medicating, and then doing better professionally, and girls end up thinking they are super successful in school and even university, but then struggling in the professional world. I believe this is primarily because we don't teach boys and girls about their natural tendencies and how to use them properly, so boys end up overly aggressive and act out, and girls end up trying to be more aggressive like boys, when they should embrace the power of a gentle, caring, and precise hand that God has given them. Again, i don't want to say too much in this book, rather show how different species behave from a scientific standpoint, and allow the children to recognize that they also have the same tendencies, and this is not a bad thing. 

Making
A bit weird this month, but i created several templates for cutting boxes with precision and speed, it took several attempts before i got something that worked well and fit inside my existing crate system the way i wanted, but i got it working well, and i will likely make them stackable as well. I am able to make 10 very solid cardboard boxes that have extremely crisp corners due to being 2 layers thick, within an hour. They are very sturdy its unreal, turns out laying cardboard makes it nearly 3 or 4 times as sturdy. I also tries something new, i rolled cardboard into a stool. It was super easy, but next time i will tape the boxes together into a single strip before i roll. This used up 3 years of diaper boxes that i had saved up because the boxes were super crisp. All things i could make easily and sell in the future when i am ready, and in the meantime, they are useful for us here in the shop. I also plan on using the same template method to make Christmas ornaments for next year, as gifts, or to sell. 

Needs
I will be extending my visa very soon, so please keep us in your prayers. I am thinking about a trip home, I don't know how or when, but we probably need to do it in between children (before we decide to have another) which means here in a year or so. That means Abby will be 2. We'll need to save up, and it will cost quite a bit to get a visa for Fang, and Calvin and Abby's american passports. So please pray for us, that we will be able to when the time comes, whenever that is. Thankyou for your continued prayer and support. We are ready to start this new year rolling, and we hope the best for you and your families as well.