We were finally at Sunshine Orchard Children's Home and Learning Center! And as it is typically, it was not at all like any of us had pictured it in our minds. It is quite steep from Adam's home down to the lime orchard where the school is located. We took a tour down to the school and where we will be living. The trail from Adams house down to the school besides being quite steep and also runs with water, we are told, in the rainy season. Our bamboo hut is the first building you come to as you head down this trail. There are teachers houses on both sides of ours and the girls dorm past the teacher's house on our left. The outhouses are directly behind our hut next to a kick ball pit. Just from seeing it briefly I can imagine we will be in a busy area with the dorm and bathrooms nearby. It is on past our hut that you find more homes, the learning center and then the garden area. We did not get to the chapel or walk to the cafeteria. Laren was anxious and excited to see the garden areas so we headed straight to them.
Let me describe as best I can, our home for the time we will be here. It is much larger than I had pictured in my mind. It is about 14' x16' divided into 2 rooms. The back room is a bedroom roughly 4' x 8' with a platform made of wood for the bed. There is a small 2' x 3' lowered section in the main part of the hut that Maria told me was the kitchen where you cook Thai style. The main part will be where the kids sleep and our "living room". That's it. Pretty simple. We were told that our hut is the only hut that has ever had to anyones knowledge, a very poisonous snake in it. It was when Micah Habercam was living in it. Apparently he had decided to tidy up his bedroom and as he was moving things on his bed he found the snake all curled up. If he hadn't been impressed to clean his hut he would have gone to bed with this deadly snake whose bite kills in mere seconds. Wow! Psalm 34:7 is a great promise! Now we don't have to worry about another snake, right? Since there was already one in our hut. Nothing to fear when God is leading!
Right after we first arrived at Sunshine Orchard, Lena met us in front of their house, announcing that there was no more propane, they had just run out in the house as she was fixing breakfast. So everyone from her household was going to head into the village to eat at their landlords restaurant. The children at the school eat at the school where a cook prepares all of their food. Adams prefer not eating there giving the children all the food that is fixed and as much nourishment as possible. So after our tour, we headed into the village. Met Lena there as she had gone ahead while we were on our tour of the school, with all her babies, Jason, Will, Maria with Jabez, Josiah and our group to make a total of 15 people. We ordered and ate delicious, large portioned rice or noodle dishes along with fresh coconuts. All this food for $15 US dollars. Pretty amazing.
After we ate, we headed up for a quick tour of the new piece of property where the down payment has been paid. This property cannot be used by the school or orphanage until at least half of the price has been paid. It seriously needs to be paid off so the school can use it for the needed vocational training school the government is requiring. Please keep this in your prayers as the school is crowded and cannot transition as needed until a move can be made onto this new space. What a beautiful location and lay of the land this new property is right on the river across from Burma. We got to see buildings, ponds, fruit trees and more on this perfectly placed piece of property that God prepared for the work of these precious Karen children. Again please pray for donations to come in so this property can be paid for and then the school can begin to use it as needed.
We were not able to explore all of the 100 acres like we wanted to, because we needed to get going as we headed on to Chiang Mai with Mike and Marilee. We had some medical issues that needed taking care of and M & M were headed there to attend some meetings. We decided to take the mountainous road from Maesolit instead of back tracking to Mae Sot and on up to Chiang Mai that way which is longer in distance but shorter in time. It was a steep, curvy, narrow road, but Mike was a good driver over all the various road conditions and safely maneuvered around all the other drivers. Marilee promoted ginger to us all in hopes of preventing car sickness. We added 2 new riders on this leg of the journey with Maria and Jabez heading to Chiang Mai for potential surgery for Jabez on his hernia. It was the day before that Miles began to feel ill. So he spent most of the trip to Chiang Mai sleeping. The rest of us were hoping that he was keeping his germs to himself. You will find out later if he succeeded.
We arrived in Chiang Mai before the sun set so were able to see as we made our way to the S.K. House where we had made reservations for a family room. We would be staying in the old part of the city inside the mote where there are many places to stay and lots of vegetarian restaurants and markets all within walking distance. Which is what we needed being without transportation. Unfortunately when Marilee called to confirm our reservation, we were told there was a problem and we would have to have 2 rooms instead of the one room we had reserved. When we went to check in sure enough the family rooms were not available so they gave us 2 rooms next to each other for the same price. Another blessing of many!
We unloaded our stuff from M & M's car and started to settle in. Not completely on our own, as we could call M & M or Maria or the Adams as needed, but we weren't around any of them now. What an adventure! To bad Miles was still not feeling well. But at least we had a place for him to sleep comfortably. We had only 2 days to get everything done on our list of things to do before we headed back to Sunshine Orchard with M & M on Thursday morning. We would have to learn how to get around with public transportation and how to communicate in a productive way. How very reassuring to know we may not have human beings with us now, but we certainly had a ever present and loving heavenly Father leading, guiding and caring for us every step of the way. We are so thankful!
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