The Magic Number Three

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:13

Greetings once again from the Rutledge family, God has so wonderfully been working in and through our family over the past few months. There are so many exciting events that have taken place since I last updated this blog, and I am looking forward to sharing them with you, so without any further delay let us begin.

As a kid, I remember one of my favorite TV shows was the cartoon School House Rock. I used to love watching each episode eager to hear the songs which they used to help us remember important facts. We all can remember the song “I’m Just a Bill.” or the “Conjunction Junction.” But my all time favorite song was about the magic number 3. Yes, most of us can sing at least a few lines from this song:

“Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number. ”

Will as I was thinking about what to share with you, this song popped into my head. It seems like over the past THREE months, everything has been happening in THREE’S. So without further wait let us look at the magic number THREE.

First off, on May 16^th our family celebrated this special day for two occasions. First it was Garuna’s THIRD birthday, and we also welcomed into the world our THIRD daughter MOETANA HOPE RUTLEDGE. She was born at 1:42 PM and weighted just over 7 lbs. Garuna and Bratana both were very excited to welcome their new sister, and we were thankful for a healthy baby, and a healthy Mommy. Moetana in Thai means “Rejoice or thank you”, and we truly are rejoicing in the Hope we find in Christ. Moetana is a month old now, and is growing very quickly. Garuna and Bratana are great helpers for Mommy, they are always eager to bring pampers when their sister is stinky, and they love to give their little sister a kisses all over the face. At least once a day they ask Mommy if they can hold their sister, and love to sing to her when she is awake. I have been truly blessed with four women all with a quiet spirit and the gift of patience. Moetana hardly cries and the first night she slept in the room with us she slept through the night. All THREE of my daughters have their Mother’s spirit and for that I am so thankful. Having THREE children, even if they are good, still is a full time job, and we have been ever so busy keeping up with these three. Garuna started school last month and goes THREE days each week. She really loves her teacher and each day has a new song to teach us. Bratana is growing so fast, and loves her older sister so much, she always wants to follow Garuna everywhere, unless the Baby is awake, then she wants to be with the baby. Both of them have amazing vocabularies for their age and freely use all THREE languages: Akha, Thai, and English. In no time at all they will be better then their parents. That is a scary idea. Maam is doing great, and sends her wishes. She is an amazing Mother and the THREE girls love her so much. There is so much more I could share with you, but life here is not just about our family, God is doing so much more here at Akha Outreach Foundation.

THREE months ago the schools started again following a two month break, and we are thankful that all of our children returned safely from their villages. We also took in 13 new children bringing our number of orphans to 92. When you try to imagine raising 92 orphans plus your own THREE children, it looks to be an impossible task. Trust me it would be if not for the help of a wonderful staff team, and the constant help from God. We have eight people who faithfully serve these children 24hrs a day, and without them this ministry wouldn’t survive. I have the awesome responsibility of leading this team and all of the orphans in our day to day activities. By God’s grace we have been able to continue on. There are days, that it seems like we can’t continue, but God is there to pick us up and lead us further on. This is the hardest work I have ever done, being a Father to 95 children, and also disciplining and leading the children’s team. It is the hardest work, but it is also the most enjoyable work. I do not have any trouble falling asleep at night, because of the exhaustion of a full day of work, and the peace of knowing that all I accomplished was for the furthering of God’s kingdom. These two factors are better then any sleeping pills.

I ask you to please continue to pray for God to continue to watch over all the lives here. Last week I killed THREE snakes in one night. Two of them were very deadly and were near some of the rooms our children stay. Also last week I witnessed THREE accidents involving motorcycles and other vehicles taking students to and from school. I have become the ultimate Soccer Dad, for each day I take THREE trips taking the children to school and THREE trips picking them up. One trip is for Garuna but the other two trips I am using the 6 wheeled truck to take all the children to school. The first trip leaves at 7 AM and I go to four different schools, dropping off 30 teenagers. This usually takes 30 minutes and then I come back to pick up 56 elementary students to take them to their school. Following this trip, I switch vehicles to my truck and drive into town to take Garuna to school. In the afternoon I do it all again. If I add up the time, I typically spend THREE hours a day driving kids to and from school. It is a good thing that I like to drive. Please pray though for our safety as we do travel to and from these schools.

Finally I want to give you a heads up, that in about THREE months the Rutledge family will be traveling back to the States for a month long visit. We are looking at coming during the Thai school break in October and will try to stay for about a month. We will be spending most of our time between Caldwell and Pocatello. We also hope to visit the Hailey area for some camping (if the weather is good), and the Twin Falls area. There are so many of you who have faithfully supported and prayed for us, and we are eager to meet with you. Sadly though I am not sure if we can meet with everyone, but we will try. I am giving you a heads up, for THREE reasons. 1) If you would like to meet with us and hear more about what God is doing here, then you can contact us and we can schedule a time to get together. 2) If you would like us to share at your church our Bible study group, then we can schedule a time that works for you and your Church body. 3) You can begin to pray that God will provide the needed finances to cover all the expenses of the trip. The price of airfare has increased and with five people flying we are looking at around $5500 just for the airplane tickets. We also will need a vehicle while we are traveling and if we look at renting one it would be close to $1000 for the whole time we are in the States. If you have a vehicle that we could rent for the four weeks while we are there that would be a huge blessing. Also while we are visiting Pocatello, we are looking for a place to stay. It would be for about two weeks at the most. Please pray that God will provide lodging. Also we are putting together a DVD to share with you about the ministry here, and we are looking for a lap top computer to borrow while we are in the States. Or if you have an old computer that you would be willing to donate to our family, that would be a huge blessing. We also are in need of raising some more support. You have been so faithful over the past years, and we have never been in need, but our family is growing and it is time to increase our monthly goals. We know that you give sacrificially already, so we are looking to finding some other brothers and sisters to join our support team. So if you know of someone who might be interested in hearing about the ministry here, or joining our support team, could you please have them contact us? Both your prayer and financial support has blessed us with the opportunity to live and serve here at Akha Outreach Foundation. We miss you all and are looking forward to visiting you in October. Please join us as we beseech God for the financial means to cover all of our needs. We truly miss all of you and are looking forward to introducing you to our THREE daughters and to share with you personally what God is doing through your prayers and support. Thank you so much, and we look forward to hearing back from you. May God’s continual hand of protection and provision rest bountifully on you and your loved ones.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Your fellow servants in Him

Dan, Maam, Garuna, Bratana, and Moetana Rutledge.