Transitions.

Life is one continuous transition. Big transitions and small ones that all have an impact on which direction one's life is headed. We are on home assignment from serving 2 1/2 years in Chiang Mai. As you may or may not know we are transitioning to a new Mission Organization. We will now be a part of "Interserve". Which is often called the best Mission sending organization you've never heard of. We spent about 10 days in the city of brotherly love (Philly) to participate in the Interserve Candidate School. Basically orientation and training.

So far, we've been back for about a month and a half and I still feel out of whack. The girls have their routine which is great and Shelly and I have the monumental task of trying to raise support to go back to Thailand. It is proving much more difficult than we thought. We are trying to follow God's path, but it has a lot of twists and turns and I can't see what is around the next bend. I trust He will show us the way. I want to say thank you to all the people that helped us, supported us and prayed for us during this difficult transition. I love you all dearly. We look forward to returning to Thailand and continuing what God has placed in our hearts.





Acacia and Annapurna with Mrs Debbie (Leader of the kids program for Interserve)

Faucett Family Mission in Thailand Introduction Video

Chiang Mai Photo Exhibit

I have entered my first Photo Exhibition which starts on Nov 14th and runs until the 29th. Let me back up though and tell you that I'm not a professional photographer and I joined a photography group in Chiang Mai to hone my skills. This is the 2nd year the Chiang Mai Photographic Group (CMPG) has put on an exhibition. I feel very lucky to have 7 photos represented in the exhibition. The theme of the exhibition is Chiang Mai and Asia in general. I have 3 pictures from my Mission trip in India and 4 pictures from around Chiang Mai. I originally had 19 pictures entered, but we all had to vote on other photographers pics and I ended up with the final 7 in the show. This announcement is showing 2 of my pictures in the exhibition. The small picture on the left was not voted in. It is actually a picture of Acacia running in the rain during the monsoon season here in Chiang Mai.
I'll post the other pictures that made the cut in another blog post. For those of you living here in Chiang Mai come on out and check out the show. There are some fantastic photos of Chiang Mai and Asia.

My Work with Mai

In a previous post I told about my work with Hope Home, the Christian residential home for orphans with disabilities. I was matched with Mai, a 13-year-old boy who was neglected and spent his first 11 years in a bamboo cage in a remote village. Mai was progressing very well with physical therapy and receiving lots of love and attention. I looked forward to our twice-weekly visits. However, one day I went to see Mai and he was gone. The staff said that his legal guardian came without notice and took him away. I was devastated. He had spent a year with us and the staff, and he was loved by everyone. Acacia and I had a special bond with Mai and didn’t understand how something like this could happen when things were going so well.

It turns out that the reason Mai’s guardian withdrew him was due to a dispute amongst adults about something that had nothing to do with Mai. I vowed to track down Mai and make sure he was OK. About three weeks later, I saw an ad pinned on an expat news board seeking a volunteer to work with a neglected boy named Mai. I was interviewed by the guardian, who made it clear he wasn’t thrilled with Christians, but I was readily accepted since no one else had volunteered!


I visited Mai at his new “home” and was sad to see his new living conditions. Although his caregiver was very caring, she was also running a daycare out of her home and was taking care of 13 other small children. I know how hard it is to take care of my own two children, let alone a special needs child and 13 others! And this was her first experience with a disabled child. Her home was a very simple, rustic home with a concrete slab for a floor. This is where I first found Mai, lying on the concrete by himself, being taken care of physically, but he was again being emotionally neglected. I continued visiting him twice a week and constantly informed the guardian about Mai’s dismal living situation. After two months, Mai was moved to a new, permanent residential home which was better able to care for him. I am happy to say that Mai has a good home he shares with two other boys and is receiving quality care. I still go out and visit him when possible.



Surprisingly, a few months later I received a phone call from Mai’s guardian. He asked if I could help with finding a Christian assistant at the new home. He said that the Thai caregivers he had hired kept leaving and were not committed to working with the children. The main caregiver said that he should hire a Christian because they had good hearts and would be loving and faithful to the children. Oh, how God does work in mysterious ways!

I am so happy that I was able to be a part of God’s plan for Mai. I was able to act as a neutral party between Hope Home and Mai’s guardian and help assist in his new placement and assure that he was being well take care of. Also, God was beginning to open Mai’s guardian’s eyes to Christianity. Although the staff of Hope Home and I dearly miss Mai, I trust that I was used for His wishes.

Please keep the children of Thailand, especially the orphans and ones with special needs, in your prayers.

Shelly Faucett

Anna's 6th Birthday

"Happy 6th Birthday Honey" Once again tradition states that a pancake in the shape of the birthday persons age has to be produced. The girls love this tradition and love Daddy's pancake making ability. I am quite the pancake maker if I do say so myself.

After the Birthday breakfast Anna was hard at it opening presents from the family. Anna is actually a slow present opener. Sometimes it can take days for her to open presents. We wonder sometimes whose kid she is??????

Anna had invited several friends from school to join in her Birthday party. There were lots of fun games and activities like this quick change relay race.

Poor Anna took forever to blow out these relighting candles. It was sure fun to watch.

Anna and all her friends hamming it up for the camera! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Acacia's 8th Birthday

First of all, sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog. Second of all, Happy Birthday Acacia!!!!!!!!! 8years old!!!! Where did all the time go? This has become sort of a birthday tradition of making a pancake in the shape of the number of how old the girls are. I put in lots of chocolate chips and sprinkles. The girls love em!!

We couldn't find a candle in the house, but did find a sparkler. She didn't try to blow the sparkler out.

One of the many gifts that Acacia received. Acacia loves animals and loves to help Mommy and Daddy with all our injuries. I think she will make and great Nurse, Doctor or Vet someday.

Acacia had her birthday party at Laguna Homes pool (the girls favorite pool). They love it here so much because they have the slide. That is Acacia catching some air at the end of the line.

I swear the girls did this train about a thousand times that day. They had a blast!!!

Acacia and her friends making the big leap into the pool together! You go girls!

Acacia on a solo flight down the slide. Nice superman pose honey!

All that swimming makes you hungry and what better to eat than a ice cream sundae.

No party is complete without a game of twister.
Happy 8th Birthday Acacia WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Gone before their time

I was at the CAM office last week doing my usual thing. Working on the computer, sending emails and organizing photos for our new youth peer photo project. I went to go get a cup of coffee and I saw my office director Jaruwan going through old photos of kids that CAM took care of back 10 years ago. I stopped to look at photos with her while she described the kids lives. All the kids looked so happy and Jaruwan had a big smile on her face as she was telling stories of these kids. Like the kids in the swimming pool. That was the first time any of them had ever been in a swimming pool. After she tells me the story, she has kind of a sad expression when she points to the young boy on the left of the swimming picture because he passed away shortly after that due to HIV/AIDS.


She said the boy was around 8 or 9 at the time of his death. All I could think about was that my oldest daughter was almost 8. I couldn't fathom losing her at such a young age.
She went on to describe the other kids in the pictures. Each one had her smiling as she reminisced about the laughs they shared and how they touched her life. During all of this she kept pointing at kid after kid and said he's passed away and she's passed away. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. I felt so helpless. These kids didn't do anything wrong, yet they are the ones paying the price with their lives. In America these kids could have been saved with Anti-Retro-Viral medications. Over here it was a different story back then. Fortunately, the situation is better in Thailand now although we still have a long way to go. There are many kids that fall through the cracks and don't receive any treatment. CAM tries desperately to reach all the kids affected and infected by HIV. Please pray for all the forgotten children that are suffering with HIV/AIDS.