DIYtheGoodLife

Covid Coop-Up Talitha McMahon

I am nine, almost 10. People are scared of catching Covid-19, so we are social distancing ourselves by staying home and staying 6ft away from people outside our families. This means that businesses are not open and are losing money, so people are also worried about losing thier jobs. My dad is a nurse, so…

Digging in Deep

Last week, I took my older son to the Charis Teaching Farm with me. We had researched a natural farming practice called “Banana Circles” and we were anxious to implement it. Banana Circles are essentially a 1 meter wide pit dug 1 meter deep. The excess dirt is piled on the rim of the pit….

Finding Meaning in the Work

It’s amazing how simple stories can bear the strongest meaning. Jesus is known for the parables he shared. To 21st century westerners, they appear quaint, but full of wisdom. However, for 1st century agrarians, these stories connected them to the deep truths that they, in part, already knew. The one that I most connected with while…

Book Review: Undaunted

As today dawns in the U.S., our friends in America look forward to a day celebrating the freedom of our nation. I thought this would be an appropriate day to celebrate a book that I recently read about another small nation’s fight for freedom from the absolute despotism of a tyrannical government. As the title…

What It’s Like to Be in Thailand

*This is a guest post from our six year old daughter. After I wrote our last post, she wanted to write one of her own. Enjoy this little slice of our life in Thailand through the eyes of a child. We like to do a lot in Thailand, and I am having a lot of…

What about our kids?

Before coming to Thailand, several people asked us, what about our kids? How would they deal with such a drastic change? We, of course, had similar thoughts, but it seemed rather a moot point since we believed that God had called us to come here, so we trusted that He had all of our greatest good at…

Renewed Strength

I am writing from Chiang Mai at the moment. As the saga of registering my truck will *finally* come to an end today (or so I’ve been assured), I am taking the time I have to focus on our future in Thailand. Last week, our family took a much needed vacation to Hua Hin, a…

The Road to Hua Hin: How I Became an Abolitionist

Before we moved to Thailand last June, I had been here once before. After my Freshman year of college, I went on a Discovery trip to India with Wycliffe Bible Translators. The eight member team met (as in, literally, met for the very first time) at the LAX airport and then got on a plan…

Grateful Anyway

Two years ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at home. Two days after his birth, we ended up in the hospital for him to undergo surgery to repair a congenital malformation. You can read the full story of that adventure here. Today marks the second anniversary of his life-saving surgery. Yesterday evening…

Minimizing Perfection, Maximizing Joy

At the beginning of the year, I was inspired by some friends back in the States to look into the Whole 30. I had heard of it before and had always been intrigued. January seemed a timely season because I had been having some more health issues, and I thought that a change in eating…

Perks of Life in Thailand: Bamboo Furniture

Life has been pretty busy for us since getting back from Chiang Mai two weeks ago. I’ve been working hard at the farm while the entire family (myself included) has been fighting off colds. A selfish joy in the midst of the hard work and sickness, though, has been the arrival of our new bamboo…

DIYtheGoodLife

I Hate Waiting

Coming Home: I got my hot dogs and I’m eating them too.

Still Living the Good Life

One Year in Thailand: A Year in Review

How Farming in Thailand Connects with the Gospel