1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Greetings once again from Thailand where life for the Rutledge family has been busy, burdensome, but also blessed. I would like to share with you some updates from our family and ministry here, but I will do that in our Newsletter which I will be sending out next week.
If you do not or have not received our newsletter recently, but would like to, then please email me at heartsredeemed@gmail.com with your email address and I will be sure to add you to our ministry contact list.
For this blog post though I wanted to take some time to say "Thank you" to everyone who helped make our recent trip to the States possible. Your prayers and provisions were such a blessing to our family and we are grateful for all of you who took the time to meet with us and to also welcome us into your homes and churches. Our kids as well as Mam and I enjoyed those 2 months in the States and even though it was hard to leave all our family and friends, we still are grateful that we are able to live and minister full time here in Chiang Rai, Thailand. We look forward to the time when we can return to visit with you all again (possibly in March 2017) and we also hope that you will one day be able to come visit us here in Thailand.
Thank you again for all that you did to bless our family during the highs and lows of our time in the States, our family is truly humbled by all the love given to us from so many people. Thank you and now for the rest of this blog I am going to post some pictures from the places we visited and the people we met with during our short stay in the States. They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words, how many words are then covered by 57 pictures? There are a lot of pictures here but they do not outnumber the fond memories our family has of our trip and times spend with our family, friends and faithful supporters. Thank you for taking the time to minister to us and we hope to return the gift one day in the near future. We trust that you will enjoy these pictures and that they will help you see how much our family not only enjoyed and was blessed by our time in the States but how we were also ministered to so faithfully by the love of the body of Christ.
Thank you and please enjoy.
Your fellow servants in Christ
Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope and Kyle Rutledge
Titus 2:11-15
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| This is what happens the first day back in Thailand after 2 months of fun in America |
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| Hope enjoying sledding in the snow. Snow was the #1 thing the kids wanted to see during their time in the States. |
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| Kyle and Gracie playing in the snow and an original snow cone. I hope it wasn't lemon flavored. |
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| Joy and her cousin Asher having fun in the sun and snow. Is there anything better than sledding in fresh snow with close cousins? |
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| The hardest part of our time in the States was the passing of my mom, Thankfully we were all there to help my dad during this difficult time and to also be able to spend some precious days with my mom during her last week here on the earth. |
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Little Kyle with his Papa Kyle following my
mom's funeral service. |
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The Holbrook and Rutledge Kids. We were so blessed to be able to stay with this
amazing family during the first 3 weeks we were in the States.
Our kids were extra blessed to be able to play with friends their same age. |
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| Kyle was super excited to have boys to play with. Guns, legos, and cars what more could a guy ask for. |
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| Our girls enjoyed spending time with their friend Abi. and I am sure she enjoyed having other girls around too. |
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| Mam was able to cook Thai food to share with lots of people. Here we are at Magic Valley Bible Church enjoying the fruits of her and those who helped her labors. |
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| Mam also enjoyed the snow, she likes the white but does not like the cold, maybe that is why we live in Thailand. |
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| Here is the Van which the Canfield family so graciously allowed our family to use during our travels in the States. If it would have fit into our luggage, I am sure our kids would have loved to bring it back with us. |
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| The modern cowboy, Hat, scarf, six-shooters and his trusty scooter. |
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| While Kyle was busy playing cowboy, the girls decided to open a nail salon. |
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| The Ballard and Rutledge kids together, that proves to be an entertaining Sunday afternoon. |
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| During our trip we were blessed to be able to visit and enjoy Awana clubs at 4 different churches in 4 different cities. What a blessing Awana is to the children in the church and our kids miss those fun times learning about God's Word and playing with other kids. |
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| The joy of tree climbing with friends. |
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| The Canfield and Rutledge Kids, instant friends and buddies. |
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| Gracie was excited to hold Daniel and Karen's daughter. |
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| I was grateful to be able to share abut our work and plans for Hearts Redeemed Ministries with many small groups and church bodies. What a blessing to be able to share how God is working in the hearts and homes of Southeast Asia through the redeeming truths of the Bible. |
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| Traveling to visit with lots of new faces and place makes for ready to sleep anywhere travelers. |
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| Another Awana group our kids were able to visit with. This one was in Carey, Id. |
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| One last hug with Papa before we leave for California. We miss you Papa and hope to have you come visit us soon. |
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| Our children enjoyed visiting the Master's College and seeing where their dad spent the last three years studying. |
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| Kyle is ready for class to start, he is already making plans for his application to attend the Master's College (University). |
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| Mam enjoying the fellowship with the ladies from the Thai Bible Study Group at Grace Community Church. |
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| Here are some of the men from the Thai Bible Study group. What a blessing to have faithful men and women who love God's Word and His people, |
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| Our first stop in America, a small cafe in the Seattle airport. We were also grateful to visit with my Uncle and Aunt Ward who took the time to come welcome our family to America. |
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| Gracie and Joy enjoying some yummy Wendy's food with their Aunt Dawna. |
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| Cousins enjoying a late movie night together. |
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| St. Patty's day at the Holbrook house. Green clothes and green food. |
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| The kids spending some time helping their Grandma before she was admitted to the hospital. This was the last time they were able to touch my mom without having to wear gloves. We miss my mom a lot but we are grateful we did get to spend time with her before her passing. |
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| Friends from Thailand reunited in Idaho. |
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| Sometimes you just need to rest and enjoy the softness of the grass and the sweetness of cousins. |
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| Connecting with 2 of the international students from Nepal who our family met during our time of living in the States 3 years ago. Now these two young men are graduated and working in Boise. What a blessing to visit with them again. |
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| TV time with more friends from UBC. |
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| We are going to miss the Reinhold family this much. |
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| What is better then rock climbing at Ross Park? |
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| The Ketterling and the Rutledge kids lining up for the photo. What a sweet family and a sweet time of fellowship with them. |
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| More friends from the Wood River Valley. |
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| Joy with Jon and Kathryn Powell and their adorable daughter. |
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| Last night with the cousins before our return to Thailand |
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| Women of Word, what a blessing for Mam to connect with women of faith who are examples of women who love their husbands, love their children, and care for their home for God's glory and the good of their family. I am grateful for these women who have been such a blessing to my wife. |
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| The vote is in, the ride that was the favorite during our trip to Disneyland is Splash mountain. California Screamer and Buzz Lightyear came in a close second and third. |
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| We did not get to have turkey for Thanksgiving this year, so we decided to celebrate it while we were at Disneyland. |
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| 1 Turkey drumstick will feed a family of 6 |
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| Joy enjoying the Turkey leg |
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| Hope also enjoyed this years Thanksgiving. |
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Gracie could hardly wait until it was dinner time again
so that she could buy another Turkey leg. |
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| Mam was excited to meet with Mickey and Minnie. |
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| Look! Mickey and Minnie asked if they could take a picture with our whole family. |
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| Mam with her new friend Alice. What a blessing to stay with the sweet family during our time in California. |
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| We arrived back home in Thailand on the 12th of May and the kids started school on the 16th. I cannot tell if they are truly happy about school or are they still thinking about all of their fun adventures from the States. |
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| Celebrating Gracie (11) and Hope's (8) birthdays in with ice cream after their first day at school. |
