Welcome! Come Along! We Always Enjoy The Company.
26.04.2010
Mark Twain once wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
What Mark Train wrote is something already well known to Ashley, Pam and me (Matt), the founders of 3L Foundation. In late 2008, the three of us met at the orphanage in Pattaya and our paths converged to a combined effort. Each of us contributes something to the projects we now embark upon. Pam and Ashley have asked me to provide a blog for our families, friends and all those interested to be with us in spirit and share in our adventures. On behalf of Pam and Ashley, I welcome you to our new web page and our blog as an invitation to carry you across a threshold made of Learning, Laughing and Loving.
Pam and Ashley are now in Pattaya spending every available moment with the kids of the CPDC and the orphanage. I will be joining them this week. Until then, I am acting as mission control back here in Springfield, Ohio. It is a real joy to wake up in the morning to see a new e-mail from Ashley with her account of recent events. Mostly, she and Pam seem to be a new product testers for flip flops, as every available moment is spent out with the kids or in town in preparation for activities with the kids. Ashley jokes that another baptism by fire awaits be as I arrive in Thailand and she and Pam will enjoy watching me trounce around with my 1.3 metric-ton photographer’s backpack on the rapid-fire to-do list they will be working on with me once I am there. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Once Pam and Ashley arrived, they too hit the ground running and were treated to a celebration at the CPDC by Khun Toy and the kids. Ashley forwarded me some pictures which I have included here. Before I even saw them, I imaged very accurately the great smiles and tears of joy that blossomed upon their arrived. Wonderful Thai preparations of food awaited them. All this added to the happiness, joy and love given and received in a celebratory feast for nourishment and restoration of bodies, hearts and souls.
The day’s action was only beginning. The Songkran festival was the day of Pam and Ashley’s arrival, so jet lag would just have to wait. Pam and Ashley enjoyed a wonderful evening of celebration with the kids in traditional Thai costumes, food and festivities. I must confess, once I saw the pictures and heard the stories, I was very envious that I was not there to enjoy it as well, but also to get some pictures of everyone in the spirit on the moment. I was there during the Loy Krathong in 2008 and it was spectacular. To be in this culture with its traditions and rituals is to enjoy the momentum of a current of the ancient. May Pam and Ashley have received all the joy and life their partaking in the evening’s magic had to offer.
The next day was followed by what can only be described as the world’s biggest water fight. Ashley, Pam and the kids along with the rest of the city enjoyed the cool airborne waves and streams of water that were propelled by a variety of imaginative and effective means. How can you not smile and forget all your troubles when a kid dumps a cold bucket of water with your name on it. Can anything be better? Well, perhaps plotting and carrying out your revenge!
Pam and Ashley certainly had their baptism when they got to Thailand. It’s one they will never forget and what a wonderful way to start their newest adventure. The days ahead, while fun and fulfilling, have been exhausting and lengthy. Aside from in-country activities, the new web site has been taking time from all of us to get up on the air and ready as well. This is the first of many entries and I am already looking forward to the next post. It will be wonderful to look back on this entry as the introduction chapter to a long work of accomplishments that are as yet unrealized and just beginning to spout. With all we wish to do and all of you following along, great fruit will bear.
I welcome your comments and questions. I really enjoy hearing from people that read my blogs, see our pictures and follow along with us. Make no hesitation to make yourself known to us. Take care.
Namaste’
(Sanskrit for ‘The divine that lives within me bows to the divine that lives within you.’)
Am enjoying following your adventures. I had the privilege to watch Merill and Rachael yesterday and Rachael today. I will keep checking in to see what your days are bringing your way.