6 May 2012
Dear Phyllis,
You may have noticed that I sent your PB letter early last week. The reason for that was, an hour after I sent that letter out we were on a bus headed for southern Thailand to pick up our daughter. We were in Lamae last Sunday, and I had no chance to write anything or send anything out. We were gone exact;y six days.
The Lord certainly went before us and proved Himself to us on many many ways. The very fact that we got on the bus was a miracle. The connection between Chiang Mai and Bangkok is easily the most heavily traveled route in the country. There are a number of buses leaving for Bangkok every hour. We had assumed that we would have no difficulty getting on a bus. There is a very fine new bus line with high quality buses and service. We went there first and discovered that they were booked solid until Monday. It was now Friday night. Next we went to several other lines to discover that everything headed for Bangkok that night was full. As much as possible, I wanted to get to Lamae by Saturday night to spend Sunday there. But if we couldn't get out of Chiang Mai Friday night, that meant it would be Sunday morning or afternoon by the time we got down south. I was seriously considering canceling our trip for three or four days, and try again the next week.. I was waiting by myself as Pammy was wondering around trying to figure something out. Suddenly she came running saying, “Hurry, the bus is leaving in three minutes.” She pulled off an unbelievable stunt – or maybe the Lord did an unbelievable miracle. She was talking to a bus lady asking if there was anyway we could get on that bus. Night buses frequently have two drivers, and there is a driver's bunk behind the drivers seat. There was only one driver that night and the driver and bus girl sold us that bunk at 30% less than the regular ticket. Of course the money went straight into their pocket, but we had a good bunk bed which was better than the reclining seats. We were still sound asleep when we arrived in Bangkok at 5:00 the next morning. That was the first miracle.
There are two major bus terminals in Bangkok, and we had to go to the southern terminal to get a bus headed for Lamae. The traffic was still light in Bangkok at that hour of the morning. We got to the southern terminal, and bought a ticket for a bus headed south in an hour. We went to the boarding dock, but the bus wasn't in yet. I was antsy, and kept asking Pammy if we were at the right dock. Thirty minutes before the bus was to leave, Pammy checked again, and, yappari, (just like I thought) we were at the worng place. We went to the next one, and waited until almost boarding time. Pammy wanted to go to the toilet before boarding the bus, and was gone when a bus man appeared looking for two missing passengers. The ticket lady had told him that there was a couple with a falang (foreign) man and Thai wife. Again we were at the wrong place, and would have missed the bus altogether if he hadn't come looking for us. At first, I refused to go with him, but shortly Pammy came back, and we just got on the bus one minute before it pulled out. The second miracle.
The bus went as far as Lung Suan, and James came that far to meet us in his car. What an unusual family! James was saved while in university, and had gone to Bible school. Somehow, he never felt called to be a pastor, but wanted to help children. I have no idea how many they have had over the years, but they currently have 14. They have about five acres of land that is very well kept up. He told me that their monthly support is only $450, which is woefully inadequate. Consequently, they live a very simple life style. He and his father-in-law have built most of their buildings. Their life style is almost like hill tribe people. They use very little electricity, cook on wood outside, and bathe only with cold water. There are chickens and ducks all over the place, and you have to be careful where you step. But they keep it amazingly clean. Their children range from small babies to mid- twenties. All the children have chores, and even young children take care of the babies. Our daughter, Annie, is only three, but I saw her pick up a crying baby and comfort it like a mother.
Annie! What a precious gift from God! Her Thai name is Ng, but that is unpronounceable for gaijins (foreigners), so we gave her the new name Ann or Annie. There was a cute little set of angel wings sown on the back of her blouse. I wasn't sure if they were cloth or real angel wings. It is easier to believe she floated down out of a cloud than to believe that she is a real person. She is the most adorable little girl I have ever seen! The Thais in southern Thailand are unusually dark, and her father is quite black. She might pass as a little Negro in the states, but when I get a dark tan I am as dark as she is.
I told you two weeks ago how we met her at the Baptist annual Bible camp. James had brought six of the children with him, and needed someone to take care of his three year old daughter. Annie slept next to Pammy the first night, and they bonded instantly. From the very beginning, she clung to Pammy's leg like she was her own mother. The two were inseparable for threes days at the camp, and Annie said right from the start that she wanted to go home with that mommy. He mother apparently was a very young girl who abandoned her when she was two months old. Her father is only 19 now (he was 16 when she was born), and couldn't take care of her. He gave her to James to raise, and agreed to give her up to us for adoption. Obviously, the Lord had prepared her heart to be our daughter, and He likewise, prepared our hearts to take her to be our own.
It is good that Pammy is Thai as she can talk to her naturally, whereas English is a strange language to her at the moment. But soon she will be perfectly bilingual. On our return trip we first went to Puket to see if we could get a direct bus straight to Chiang Mai. They were full for a week. While Pammy went out of the bus terminal to look for a place to stay that night, I stayed there with Annie. She didn't fully understand what was going on, and became very concerned. Shortly after Pammy disappeared, Annie began to anxiously say, “My Mommy! My Mommy!” I tried to reassure her that Mommy was coming back soon, but she didn't understand that. She became almost frantic. I tried to put her down, but she clung tight to me for fear that she would loose her daddy as well. Finally, I took her over to the Information counter, and had a Thai girl explain to her that Mommy was coming back soon. That helped, but it was one tremendously relieved little girl when Mommy came back to say, she found a good guest house for us to stay that night.
We went down there with an open ended schedule, but I did want to get back as soon as possible. One of the necessary things was to speak to Annie's father, to get final permission for adoption. He had previously indicated that he would grant it, but did want to speak with us personally. Sunday afternoon, we went to the market where he works selling durion. Praise God we got the green light. That night I spoke at James' little gathering for a church service. The next day I wasn't sure what was going to happen. James took us in his car to a rest stop gas station that had a coffee shop. The talk was all in Thai, and I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, Pammy explained to me that the girl running the coffee shop was a Christian, but had serious problems. James wanted us to talk to her. My contribution was about 5%, but I told her to read John 17:3 – “This is eternal life, that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent”. And strongly encouraged her to develop a strong relationship of knowing the Lord by spending much time in His Word and prayer. I was surprised when she pulled out some idols she had, and gave them to us to burn. That was well worth spending an extra day down there just to see that victory.
While at that the coffee shop, a friend of Pammy and mine from Chiang Mai came up to hug Pammy. Sang La was traveling to Puket with an American couple. While they stopped at this gas station – the back side of no-where – she heard a sound, and said, “That is Bill Cook's laughter”, and came looking for us. What are the mathematical chances of something like that happening? Two sheets of paper couldn't hold the number of zeros you would have to write.
I wasn't sure what would be the best way to get home, but the direct bus from Puket seemed like the easiest. Tuesday morning we took a van and a bus eight hours to get to Puket, only to find that everything there was full. That seemed like a great waste of time and money; except that Puket is one of the major tourist spots in Thailand, and had been the scene of the worst natural disaster in Thailand with the tsunami in 2004. Pammy had always wanted to visit Puket, and it turned out to be a mini-vacation for us. In retrospect, I am glad we went there. It was good, and gave us a pleasant stay before our trip home. The bus ride from Puket to Chiang Mai turned out to be 26 hours. We left Puket at 3:00 Wednesday afternoon and arrived home in Chiang Mai at 5:00 Thursday evening.
Annie was wonderful the entire time. We only had two seats, which meant that Daddy had to hold her most of the way. My arms ached from holding her for hours while she slept, but it was well worth it. What a joy to hold my own little daughter! I greatly enjoyed every minute until we were three hours out of home. Annie was sound asleep, when I felt something warm and wet running down my leg. Back to reality. She wasn't an angel after all. She was a normal little girl. We are starting to work our way through life dealing with a normal three year old.
We went down to Lamae with a blank sheet of paper allowing the Lord to fill in the blanks. That is all we can say about the future. It is a blank sheet of paper, and we want Jesus to fill it in the way that will be most honoring to Him. We have no idea what the Thai law is in this case, but we have been warned that adoption is difficult. With our low income it may be impossible. Whatever happens, one thing that does seem firm is, at the moment, we have a three year old girl that has been released to our custody, and there is no law that will take her away from us. It may be that 17 years later she will be 20 and never legally been adopted as our daughter. But, before the Lord, we do want to make the major investment in her life, to raise her as our daughter, to give her every advantage of being raised in a Christian home, and be perfectly bilingual. I imagine it would be extremely difficult to get a visa to take her to the states. The US Immigration Service is refusing visas to adult Thais who have every qualification why it should be granted. I have found the US Immigration to be the most difficult I know of in the world. Communist countries are far more reasonable than the US.
The question has been raised, “Don't you think you are too old to raise a three year old girl?” My answer is, “No”. I feel far more qualified today than I was 40 years ago. I have as much energy as I did then. I am more patient than I was then. And I have had far more experience in life and with children than I did when I was 36.
This is a first child for Pammy, but I have been impressed that her motherly instincts are excellent. She is doing very well stepping into that role as a first time mother at 46.
Annie is a real heart-stealer. She is the star wherever she goes. At this point it looks like the Lord has sent a little angel to live with us. And I believe she is going to be a strong attraction to help us invite many of the people in this muban to join the family of Jesus.
May God grant it to be so.
bill
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