2022: A Year (and more) in Perspective

by Matt pound - 2:33 AM

Grace International School partnered with us to send gifts
to the families in our Family Strengthening Project

It was fun to play Santa

Smiling Faces

Greetings from Thailand!

Rather listen to audio than read this post? Listen here:

https://soundcloud.com/audrey-pound-32722794/2022-a-year-and-more-in-review?si=7db1a1a95bc142c4b0ab7ab1defb71e7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Can you believe a new year is here again?

Facebook reminds me that a year ago I was in Colorado, introducing my children to snow for the first time in their lives.

This year, I am feeling unusually ahead of schedule and find myself with some time to reflect on the past as we begin to also plan ahead for the future.

One of the exciting new opportunities we have at Faithful Heart, is to explore a partnership with World Childhood Foundation based out of Sweden (and started by the Queen of Sweden).

That process requires us to create a timeline of our organization. It has been fascinating to look back at all God has done at Faithful Heart over 16 years of working in Thailand.

It has also strengthened our faith and increased our gratitude.

Our friend Dtoshi rocked out this Christmas concert

Really fun for Audrey to have a lifelong friend come to visit

Fun for us too!

Let me share some of those significant milestones with you:

2006: Faithful Heart Foundation was started by Dave and Shirley Callahan, after the orphanage they originally came to volunteer with, was closed by the government.

2006-7: Faithful Heart opens are first two homes for boys, Home of Comfort and Home of Grace

2012: Our 3rd home opens for girls called Home of Faith

2013: Our 4th home opens for girls, called Home of Promise

2015: Matt and Audrey move to Thailand to join Faithful Heart.
Joy becomes our new social worker.
Pen becomes our new bookkeeper.

2016: Our 5th home opens for boys, Home of Light with the help of the Tardy family

2018: The Parker family move to Thailand to join Faithful Heart

2019: Dave and Shirley move back to the US
             Matt steps in as the new Director at Faithful Heart
          Financial Crisis
          Covid hits the world

2020: World Without Orphans conference inspires new projects at Faithful Heart to support families
           Moay joins our staff as a social case worker
          One of homes has to suddenly close
          Foster Care Project is started
          Family Strengthening Project is started
          Family Reunification Project is started
          Another home closes as all the children graduate
          Parker family moves back to the US

2021:   Ploy graduates college and joins FHF staff as a new social case worker
             New record of college scholarships, over 20 students
          Family strengthening grows to 37 families receiving support

2022: Complete purchase of the new land
First ever trip to the beach
The Cantleberry Family joins Faithful Heart

2023: Far more abundantly than we would dare ask or imagine!

Selfie at the zoo

Enjoying the river by our new hosue

Mud is a child's favorite toy

There have been many times during our 8 years in Thailand when I could not see how we could get through a difficult circumstance.

But every time, God provided a way forward.
It was often difficult, and painful, but there was a way.
And there was help.

2022 was no different.

If you are interested in the numbers, I already wrote a bit about how our programs have grown this year. You can read about it here:
https://mattandaudreypound.blogspot.com/2022/06/an-exciting-faithful-heart-update.html

Bean bags for Christmas

Pii Moay had her hands full delivering all those gifts

What I want to reflect on today is how we have grown, not just numerically, but as individuals and as an organization.

When I talk to new volunteers in Thailand, I usually tell them it took us about 5 years to become useful. It is meant to be encouraging, but also a gentle reminder to be patient.

Looking back on this year, I see that some of our most significant accomplishments were achieved through patience and prayer rather than heroic effort.

It is my practice when I am confronted with a particularly difficult problem, to go outside and do some wood working.

I don't know if this is why Jesus was a carpenter, but it helps me to pray, think, and when I use my hands, there is some calming that happens in my head.

For some reason, that combination is especially helpful for me.
Then I can come back and look at the problem with fresh eyes, and a calm head.

Still enjoying taking friends out on the boat

Christmas celebration at Faithful Heart

Time for relaxing too

Growth is exciting, but it is also scary.
It makes me nervous to see Faithful Heart grow.

What if we run out of money?
What if we we overlook something, or make a big mistake?
What if something happens to one of our children?

It helps to remember that this work has always been beyond our ability.
We don't have to shoulder all that responsibility, we couldn't even if we wanted to.
But we can pray, wait, work, and trust the whole team of people God has placed around us.

Joy's 2nd child is due January 3!

My favorite moments from this Christmas

He is going to be excited when he wakes up

If I could pick two words to describe how we have grown this past year, I would say: patience and openness.

I am slowing down, even as the work seems to speed up.
I am growing more peaceful, even as the work grows more chaotic.

I still get stressed and worried. But I am realizing the cure is not more activity or effort, but more patience and trust.

It turns out a lot of my stress is my self-imposed timeline for how I think things should go.

Openness is the single greatest help to my peacefulness. The more I try to prepare my heart to receive whatever comes with gratitude, the easier I find it to adjust to unexpected change.

And living in Thailand is pretty much constant, unexpected change.
But some of the best moments this year were the completely unexpected ones.

Two Karen cuties

Thanks to our friend Pring's mother, for these beautiful hand-made clothes

We ate a lot of delicious sweets this Christmas :-)

Have you ever noticed how getting what we think we want, often clarifies what is still lacking?

I sought to be independent, and discovered we are all interdependent.
I sought to be happy, and discovered the happiness of others is tied to my own.
I sought to be successful, and discovered the success of others is tied to my own.
I sought to be influential, and discovered the need for other influences.

So where do we go from here?

Well, we move towards patience and trust, and away from frantic activity.
We move towards openness and away from clinging to our plans.

What does that mean for Faithful Heart Foundation?

Well, we still have plans, but we hold them more loosely:

We want to increase our Family Strengthening program from 35 to 50 families in 2023.
We want to increase the number of college scholarships we are giving from 22 to 30.
We want to continue to improve the quality of care in all our projects.
We want to advocate for more Christian Thai foster families.