Winter Chill and Blessed October

We have, yet again, been some time from our blog. We have returned to our work and daily lives in the village. Our projects are moving along happily but relentlessly. Frances, now two months old, sleeps well at night but is up with the roosters in our village (it is a fallacy, by the way, that roosters arise with the dawn- generally they begin to crow around 3:30 or 4).

We wanted mostly to post new pictures for you all, and to ramble somewhat less than usual. Two or three of the pictures do not need explanation as they are pictures of Frances sleeping.


These are pictures of Frances carried in her sling, which is how Heidi usually tows her around in her work in the villages. This method of carrying a baby in a sling across the front is characteristic of the Lowland Lao, who comprise the majority of our neighbours. Other groups, such as the Khmhu and Red and Black Thai, tend to carry the child on the back in order to leave their hands free for work.



This is a picture of Frances being held by Nang San, a Khmhu woman with whom we have become friends through our work. Like many of the Khmhu in our district, she lives in a new village, made up of people who, due to national policies, have had to leave their homes. She is a widowed mother of four children and has been recently diagnosed with cancer.

It is our hope to post at least once more before Christmas, so if you have not given up checking this blog entirely, you may hear from us again soon.

All our love and blessings. Micah, Heidi, and Frances.

post-script: Frances does not go by Frances here (and, when she does, it is rather more like 'Flan suh'). Since before her birth we very much wanted to follow the Lao practice of giving two names. Accordingly, we have named her Dtulapon, or Blessed October.