Rhoda with her Traditional Tribal Clothes

Greetings from Thailand!

(Spoiler Alert:  No baby yet! (4 days and counting...hopefully soon)

Expectation is a hard shoe to fill.  In part, because our expectations are all different.  Marriage is a helpful teaching tool in that regard.  For example, when I ask Audrey:

'Are you ready to go?"

what I mean is, if you say 'Yes,' we can walk out the door in 30 seconds or less.  If you say 'No'
it might be a while before we can leave.  It took me a while to realize that when Audrey said she 'Yes,' she was ready, it meant that we might still not leave for 10 minutes.

We each had different expectations of what was meant by the word 'ready.'

And figuring out each other's meaning is important for the happiness of our marriage.

It doesn't mean we always will meet the expectation, but by being aware of it, we can be sensitive in adjusting to each other.  

We took the girls out for a little photo shoot--new FHF website with these cute pictures, coming soon!

For the past two months, we have had some special friends and helpers here at Faithful Heart.  The Tardy family comes from Texas, home to a family of 12 kids.  They are part of our support family at Faithful Heart and generously gave up their summer months to come house sit for our college dorm. They brought with them their two youngest children, Kasey and Caleb--both of whom were born with down syndrome.


My hero-of-the-month award goes to Betsy (aka, "Mom" to Kasey & Caleb).  For the last month she has been here on her own with the kids.  Homeschooling, finding and preparing food, and getting around Chiang Mai with a driver who speaks limited English and just arrived in the city is no small task. This lady radiates sweetness everywhere she goes.

She is the best kind of Mom---a mom to any and every kid as if they were her own.  

But it is her two kids that have been teaching me lately.

Rescuing orphans brings up a mountain of questions.

What are we rescuing orphans from?

Ruth with some heavy traditional head coverings from her hill tribe.

Is being physically poor bad?   Jesus actually said Woe to you who are rich, but Blessed are you who are poor.

It could be bad to rescue a child from what may be God's blessing.

And what are we rescuing kids to?

To be educated?  Maybe.

To give them an advantage over their peers?

To a middle class lifestyle with lots of work and lots of things?

It is often funny for us as we become part of another culture, to see just how much culture defines what we think of as 'good.'

As an American, it is a good meal if it has bread and meat.  As a Thai, it is a good meal if it has spice and rice.

Good skin to a Thai means pale as a sheet.  Good skin to an American means tan.

Culture even affects the big question: What constitutes a good life?

Becky's sweet smile!

These kinds of messy, hard questions don't usually make good material for marketing, but they are vitally important.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  We don't want to just seem to be doing something noble, or presume our own culture is better than theirs (a very easy thing to do).

We want to help each child discover God's call on their life, for that will be their very best life---rich or poor, formally educated or informally, famous or unknown.  

Raina in the Jungle :)

At the heart of it is love.  We want every child to be loved, to be part of a family where they are valued and taught that they have tremendous worth---both to God and to us.

So I might say we rescue children from being devalued or unloved.
And we rescue children to love, family, and personal worth.  

And that is where Caleb and Kasey have helped me.  They hug everybody, laugh often, forgive quickly, sing and dance to Uptown Funk and Go Tell it on the Mountain.

And they are treasured and precious and valuable to God.

Worth or value is not based on utility with God.  He is not a traditional economist.  Value is completely unrelated to productivity in God's world (at least as far we humans define productive).

And I need to hear that (often).  For myself, and for the work we do with orphans.

My value is not determined by how much I produce for God, but by how much He loves me.

We sure miss Gawley and Bob as they moved on to new jobs and we're so proud of them!

And the value of each of these kids is not how well they do in school or how far they advance in society, but by how much their Father loves them.

And the best life for me, or for any of our children, is not to do 'great' things, but to do the things God has given to each one of us.    

_________________________________________________________________________

Here's the new news around here: Audrey's sister Amy is here!  We rejoiced at an answer to many, many prayers when Amy arrived to dancing elephants at the Chiang Mai airport to begin teaching at Grace International School.


We're always recruiting!  Is God stirring your heart?  It doesn't have to be here, but always know YOU are welcome here!

Amy so hyped up she scared the dancing elephant.

Baby Pound is ready!  He just hasn't made his move yet. Official due date is July 30th!


Please pray for Audrey and the baby (and Dad!).

Audrey stealing a watermelon...or so our Thai neighbors tease us!

Please pray for good health.  I have been sick the last week and it is hard work with a pregnant wife.

Please pray for our kids at Faithful Heart as they become teenagers.  Cell phone issues, arguments with mom and Dad, rebellious behavior---sound familiar to any one?

And Please pray for wisdom in all we do here.

Special Welcome Lunch with the Pound family.

Cute baby pictures coming soon!

Thank you for your love and support,

Love,
Matt, Audrey & Baby Pound

Glimpses of Glory

I sat in a small room full of people at a guesthouse in Thailand at 7am in the morning watching the NBA Championship game.  At one point, a little guy about 8 years old stood up and asked;

"Who else is rooting for the Cavs?'

I raised my hand and we saw each other, but we were bummed to discover we were the only ones in the room.  We exchanged the knowing, Cleveland somber nod---(a long-suffering hope.)  When the game ended so suddenly, I could hardly believe it.  I sat stunned for a moment before launching out of my chair and shouting: "YES!!!  THEY DID IT!"  I had to apologize to the room full of disappointed Warriors fans (though I confess, I wasn't that sorry).

Why does something as seemingly silly and unimportant as a basketball game bring people a very real sense of joy, brotherhood, and even glory?

I think I have sometimes 'over-spiritualized' my life to the point where I write off things like basketball as a 'worldly' distraction.  But I think that is a mistake.  There is a lot of very real, and yes, very spiritual things happening.  Because real people, with real hearts, are experiencing very real emotions.  I think I sometimes forget the old hymn:

'This is my Father's world..."

The orphan boys who recently joined Home of Light were ready to help at our Foundation community service day!

It is not a Christian calling to withdraw from the world or to protect ourselves (or our children) from its tainting influence.  You may not be 'of' this world, but you are called to it.  To live, to love, to serve and to give.  Jesus reminded us that we don't catch evil like a cold---from the outside in---but it comes from within, out of our own hearts.

A little preaching...

Does God care that the Cavs won the NBA title?  I will let wiser minds than mine answer that question. I do know that God does care about people and therefore, He cares about what people care about.  And He is always trying to help us understand Him and what He desires for His children and His world.  And He seems to use just about anything and everything to do that.

That doesn't mean that we should idolize sports in our lives.  But I think if we can see in sports a mirror of our lives (a small, human drama) we can appreciate how we might learn something about ourselves and even about the One who makes and loves human beings.

In a world of mass shootings, racial injustice, and division, the city of Cleveland experienced a moment of powerful, unified celebration (however short lived).

Was it a spiritual revival?  Not quite, but it reveals how something, even something small and seemingly insignificant, (like a basketball game) can give us glimpses of glory.

What would it be like if we experienced something so good, that celebration overwhelmed fears, divisions, hate, and prejudice to the point where people filled the streets to rejoice together?

From my experience, that is a good picture of how the gospel (aka, God's good news to the world) can transform an individual and a community: joy and celebration overriding everything else.

Celebrating new jobs and a new season of life for some of the Foundation's college students! (& special guests)

Let me stretch the metaphor a little further.  Lebron James may have been the hero of the finals, and he is undoubtedly a great player who did great things,  but he did not win the finals.  The team won the finals.

It is human to want and worship heroes.  But the more we come to really know and appreciate ourselves and others, the fewer 'heroes' we find.  What we do find are many remarkable, flawed human beings.  No single one who can do it all, but when they do what they can, and do it well, and as part of a team, and not a lone hero, incredible things can be accomplished. That is how God changes the world.

I really like Shane Claiborne's term 'Ordinary Radical.'  It is a great tragedy that the hero complex has also permeated the Christian community.  We of all people ought to know that there are no heroes in God's family except Jesus.  Just a whole lot of gifted, flawed, incredible, broken people experiencing glimpses of glory and joy overwhelming all else.

No super pastors or mega churches or best selling authors.  No hero missionaries or worship superstars.  Just ordinary, people doing radical things----forgiving their enemies, loving their neighbors, healing prejudice, winning those they disagree with through gentle kindness, rescuing the vulnerable, being fathers and mothers to children without families.

How often I think I want to be right, when all I really want is to be happy.  So happy that I don't even care about being wrong.  So happy that all that divides and angers us vanishes in the midst of celebration.

Our Foundation's community service day with good friends.

After all, the Good News that Jesus brought was not that people aren't as bad as we thought, but that  their God and Father is infinitely better than we dared hope or imagine.




Audrey is two weeks away from her due date (July 30th!) and we are just about bursting with excitement.  The miracle of life is another one of those glimpses of glory---joy overshadowing all else.  Thanks to all who have sent kind and cute baby gifts!  We feel so well loved, thank you!

Our Cell Group is growing!  We've partnered with the youth group of a local Thai church to create a night of Bible study, singing and hanging out!

Last week, we welcomed our 4th little boy into our new orphan home at Faithful Heart Foundation. We place 5 children in each home, so we're still on the lookout for the last boy to join Home of Light.

Mickey is the newest member of the Faithful Heart Family :)

Our foundation directors are still State-side until the end of August, so we've been holding down the fort while they've been gone! We've settled into more of a routine at the office in our new roles as "boss" :) and are enjoying getting to know our Thai staff better.

Every morning Audrey and I take a walk in our neighborhood and all of our neighbors are eager to ask us about the baby and when Audrey is due.  The whole neighborhood is excited with us--we can't wait to be taking our morning walks with a stroller and baby in tow!

Staff and Kids at our Cleaning Day Outreach

Our lives are full (busy, haha!), but so joyful right now.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  Please keep them up!

Love from Thailand,

Matt, Audrey, Baby Pound