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Grandma and Grandpa in Chiang Mai
Just like our cousins, our grandparents knew that we are the most awesome people in the world and they wanted to come to visit. My grandparents came for a whole month!! We went on sooo many adventures with them and I wanted to share them with you!
We had to make sure they got to see plenty of the Thai culture so we took them to a Thai temple. At the temple there was a sky walk and we got to see them painting the temple. We even got to add gold leaf onto the temple walls. There were many Buddhists statues everywhere. Some of the statues were only a couple feet tall and others were HUGE!
For even more Thai experience we knew we HAD to take them to see elephants! On the way to Elefin Cafe we stopped at Carp Cafe to get some food. This place is awesome! Its so hard to describe because its unlike any restaurant you’ve probably ever been to. There is water everywhere with Koi fish inside and the tables are even placed in the little pond. You can buy fish food to feed the fish and as soon as you start feeding one fish the whole pond of fish will swim to your table.
After we ate lunch we went to go see elephants! We went to Elefin Cafe which is a cafe with elephants to go see and feed. It is so fun!! When we went this time, there was a baby elephant and it was so cute!
We also went to a water park and we were having so much fun but you won’t believe what happened. I went on a slide with my grandpa and our tube flipped over!! Luckily no one was seriously injured but I did bang my shoulder against the slide and I got a bruise on my shoulder. Nonetheless, we had a bunch of fun!
One thing we really wanted to do with them was go to Sticky Falls! Click the link to read my blog post about sticky falls.
Later that day, after we went to sticky falls, we went to the movie theater and watched Inside Out 2. And after that I went to gymnastics. At gymnastics I fell and BROKE MY FOOT! The day before I was gonna teach line dancing, and a week before vacation: a BEACH vacation. I had to use crutches the whole time which really stunk because I couldn’t swim. One day, my brothers, my grandparents, and my dad went on a snorkeling outing and I couldn’t come. I have never been snorkeling in the ocean and I was looking forward to it. Let’s just say I broke my foot at possibly the worst time ever. I did get a lot of rides on my taxi (dad) though.
If you want to know more about our Beach trip, go read Jeremiah’s post Our Trip to Krabi.
My Grandma and Grandpa aren’t just my grandparents they are my best friends and it meant so much that came across the whole world to see us. It was so much fun hanging out with them and I’m so glad I got to make more memories with them. 😁🤪
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My Autobiography Wrap Up!
A while ago I started writing an autobiography. I split my autobiography into 6 different parts and started posting them on our blog. In my autobiography, I wrote things about my life and my special memories. I decided (well actually Mom decided) to write a wrap up post to go over everything I have written about and share it with you!
My first post autobiography post was about My Sister. 5 years ago, we went to China to adopt my sister Tallulah. Click the link to go check it out!
My next post was about My Cousin. My cousin Avery is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world to hang out with so I had to write a post about it. Go ahead and click the link!
The next post is about My Adventures. This one, like that previous one, is about Avery but it is also about my grandparents and a trip we went on together! This one one of the best trips I have ever been on, so make sure you click the link!
I then wrote about My Passion. I have been dancing for as long as a can remember and dance is a big part of my life. Click the link to read about my dancing journey!
As you probably know I live in Thailand. But I only moved here about 1.5 years ago and Thailand wasn’t always home. To read about the places I call My Home click the link.
Lastly, I wrote about A Day In My Life. I thought you guys might like to know what it like being a 13 year old, homeschooled, missionary in Thailand. Click the link!
I hope this autobiography gave you a little peak into my life.
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A Day In My Life
My Autobiography Part 6
Here is what a day in the life looks like as a homeschooled missionary in Thailand.
I love to wake up early, so I set my alarm for six thirty every weekday. Waking up early makes me feel more productive, that is why I like it. After I wake up, I take a shower and finish getting myself ready, so I start getting Tallulah up. Tallulah and I share a room and so I’m in charge of getting her up and dressed every morning. She hates getting out of bed, but I try my best.
Recently, I started gymnastics classes, so every morning I try to either stretch or workout. I said I “try” because sometimes I am really sore from gymnastics or I’m just too lazy. Then I go downstairs and eat breakfast. I try to eat healthy, so my breakfast is usually something like eggs, a smoothie, or sometimes a bagel.
After I eat breakfast, I do some morning chores. In the morning, my chores are cleaning up the house, and either sweeping, filling ice trays or doing the dishes (The week I have dish duty is, by far, the WORST). Then I’m ready to start school.
We start school at eight thirty. We start our day with math and language arts each morning. Then we do typing or online learning, some of the online classes I am working on right now include computer programing and physics. At 11:00 we stop our individual work and do “together school.” Some days we do chemistry and some days we read a book together. Lately, we have been reading “The Return of the White Book” which is about the first missionaries in Myanmar and Siam (Thailand). We also do Bible flashcards and riddles.
We do school about until twelve for our lunch break. For lunch we pretty much have the same options every day: smoothie bowls, leftovers, sandwiches, or anything else we find in the fridge. We just get to pick what we want to have each day. When lunch is over, we all go to our rooms and do an hour of “quiet time”. This means we spend an hour reading or doing homework. When finish quiet time we do a bit more school. For me that is either practicing dance, practicing gymnastics, or making a YouTube video for our channel Our Paradoxology.
And then finally we have free time. At about 4:00 we do our chores again, but this time we also grab our laundry that has been hanging outside to dry. At about that time Dad comes home from work, and we eat dinner. We pick up from our meal and then we either watch a show or play video games. Then at 8:30 we get ready for bed and by 9:00 we go to bed.
That is what my life looks like on a night when everybody is home, but that actually doesn’t happen very often. On Mondays, we have Thai classes and they are very far away so we spend a lot of time driving. Some days I have gymnastics, some days we go out to ZOE for worship or prayer, and some days we go swimming or out to eat somewhere. I used to have dance classes some nights and pretty soon I am going to start going to a Bible study one night each week.
So that’s a day in my life. It isn’t that exciting, but it works for me.
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My Home
Autobiography Part 5
I was born in Denver Colorado, after I turned one we moved to Atkinson; but we lived outside of town. When I was six years old we moved into town. Every time we moved; I liked the next house more that the first. I loved our home at the ranch and was sad to move, but then I started to like our next home even more (after we got all of the bats out of the house of course). It wasn’t just because of the house itself that I liked it, it was because of the life it gave me. When we moved, we met our neighbors and have been good friends ever since. Also, I lived closer to my friend, Paisley, and I got to see her more often out of school. We also started home schooling in that house, which was a big–but great–change.
Here’s the thing: Our house was the oldest house in town. Most of the people in the town thought we were crazy for wanting to move in. There wasn’t a single room in the house that we didn’t redo, and it took a very long time. Like I said, we moved in when I was six years old, and we finished the house when I was ten. That is a LONG time. But after all that time it was finished, and we even had an open house at our house and everyone in town was invited to come see our house as it was completely remodeled.
Our house was finished around Christmas time. When May came, the big news hit: We were moving again. This time, we were moving to Thailand. There were a lot of tears shed that night. I remember my mom calling us for a family meeting. I asked her if it was good news and she just said, “I think so”. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was not that. Everyone was sad, but I think we were all a little bit happy too. Even if we didn’t say we were happy, I think that there was a little bit of happiness somewhere.
Then the journey began. We started fundraising by telling our friends and preaching in churches (this was mostly my parents work). Our church even hosted us a goodbye party and gave us a great farewell. We gave up a lot. I gave up dance, which was really hard for me. My dad gave up his business. And we all gave up things like our family, friends, and home. Even though it was hard, we made the most of it and came to Thailand feeling hopeful. We knew that this is where God wanted us to be, and we knew that new friends and a new life was waiting for us in Thailand.
Packing took a long time and a lot of effort. We had to think of all the things that we were going to want but we were also limited, so we had to think of all the things that we were going to need. Think about when you go on a trip and you must pack all your things. You are worried that you don’t have everything, and you must make sure you haven’t forgotten anything because you are not going to be back for some time. Well, think about that but you are not going to be back for two years! We had to make sure we got everything! When we got to the airport, we officially had thirteen checked bags and six carry-on suitcases. We also each had a back-pack on our back. We are a family of six, so that means we had a total of 25 bags!
We had three flights. The first flight was from Omaha to Detroit, the second flight was from Detroit to South Korea, and the third flight was from South Korea to Chiang Mai, Thailand. When we made it to Chiang Mai it was pretty late at night and we were all so tired that we could barely stay awake. We all were ready to get to our house and fall asleep. When we got to our new house some of the other missionaries gave us bed sheets and other things like shampoo and conditioner. Then, for the next week or two, missionaries took turns helping us shop for things that we would need and showing us their favorite places to get food. After a while, we started to finally settle in and Thailand slowly started to feel like home.
I have lived in Thailand for one year now, and I love it here. Even though I miss a lot of things in America, I think that I could live in Thailand for a long time.
PS. If you want to see our house in Atkinson, Nebraska for yourself, you can! Since we aren’t living in it right now, it is an airbnb for people to stay at. Check it out here:
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My Passion
Autobiography Part 4
I have been dancing since I was 3. However, I have been clogging since I was 4 years old. I love clogging and I am really good at it! My mom taught clogging and took me to my first competition in Tennessee when I was 5 years old. At that competition, I got third place in my short solo. After that I went to lots of competitions with my team and I loved it so much.
Then 2020 covid happened and the studio closed which made me really sad. I just knew I wasn’t done clogging. My mom told me that there was a studio in Lincoln that we could look into. I knew which studio she was talking about because I had seen them a competitions, and I loved that idea.
I went to LUXE Dance Academy which was four hours away. The instructors had recognized me from competitions and said I could join the team. I took private lessons with the teacher for about two months on zoom to learn the dances and then went to my first class. Most of the girls recognized me and were really excited to have me on the team. My first competition with LUXE was Nationals! I was so nervous, but I also had lot of fun. After that season my mom asked me if I wanted to keep doing it and I said “yes, for sure!”
The next year we got new dances and I also had two duets and a solo. We went to two dance competitions (which are different than clogging competitions because there are all different types of dance). I did really well and they even called me back for one of the competitions to go to their national competition. I was the only one who went, and I got 1st place in my solo.
Next, my whole team went to Silver Dollar City in Branson Missouri to qualify for nationals (to qualify you have to 1st,2nd,or 3rd). I got first in almost everything and so did my team! Since we qualified, we got to go to the National Clogging Competition in Nashville!
My team and I knew that this was going to be my last competition since my family had been called to Thailand and so we knew we had to do the best we could. We worked super hard and when Nationals came around I felt really good about how we did.
I always say that I like to set and achieve goals. Dancing is my passion because being a good dancer is a goal I set and long time ago, and I got to achieve it. All of my teachers and friends have pushed me to be the best dancer I can be and now I am a National Champion Dancer and always will be.
It was really hard to say goodbye and I miss dancing with my team so much. I still keep up with dance here in Thailand and I hope that someday I will be able to dance with my team again!
I made a video slideshow with some of my favorite dance memories. Click here to watch the video on our YouTube channel.
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My Adventures
My Autobiography Part 3
In our family, each cousin would get a turn to go on a trip with just them and Grandma and Grandpa. When I was young my older brother Josiah got to go, I was so upset, and I was waiting for my turn to go. Spoiler alert: my turn sort of got skipped. It wasn’t intentional it just worked out that way because of other summer plans we had. When it was Avery’s turn, my grandma said that we could go together since Avery and I are best friends. I think that some people would be upset that they had to share their grandma and grandpa trip with their cousin, but we were so excited. We agree that since we went together our trip was extra fun.
Grandma showed us this place called Turner Falls (which is a place with rivers and waterfalls), and we knew that is where we wanted to go! We lived in Nebraska and Turner Falls was in Oklahoma, so it was a long drive. But time flew because we were singing along to songs and making up dances the whole way there! Finally, we got to Turner Falls.
Most of the river was only knee deep but we found some places that were so deep we would dive in the water and do flips off our grandpa! We explored the entire place just following the river and swimming along the way. There were some places that were so deep that we had to wear lifejackets. It was worth it though, because there were diving boards and slides you could go on. The slide was soo fun. It was a drop slide which means that the slide ended before it touched the water leaving you to drop into the water. It looked scary at first but it was soo fun.
Playing in the river was awesome, but the river wasn’t the only thing to do at Turner Falls. There are also castles at Turner Falls. There is a big one and a small one. They look really cool and are fun to explore. There are also caves to find. There were supposed to be like three caves but we only found one. The one we found was really cool. Turner Falls had one main waterfall and the cave that we found was on top of the waterfall. (Kind of) We were so high up it was actually scary. But the view was so worth it. It was so cool and all of the people playing in the river looked like little ants!
Turner Falls was soo cool and if I got the chance to go again I would take it! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking us on the awesome adventure and thank you Avery for bringing me with you!
That year for Christmas Grandma gave us a book of our adventures together at Turner Falls and its is one of the very special things I brought to Thailand with me.
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My Cousin
My Autobiography, PART 2
My cousin Avery is like my best friend. I love how Avery and I enjoy doing the same things. We like to stretch, talk, tell jokes, build forts, and listen to Matthew West songs. Once, on a car trip, we were listening to songs and making up dances the whole time. At one point of the song, we did the same dance move without even planning it! We laughed so hard. It’s like we share the same mind.
Avery and I like to listen to funny songs, tell jokes, and watch funny YouTube videos. Sometimes we would get into such a goofy mood that you could say something that wasn’t even funny, and we would laugh as if it were the funniest joke we had ever heard.
Avery had a basketball hoop game in her house. Whenever I would go to her house, we would build a fort underneath it and then sleep in it that night. One night, Josiah scared us while we were in the fort and from that night on we couldn’t even say his name in the fort without laughing so hard! If there is anything that we do the most it would be laugh!
One special memory we have together is going to the Matthew West Concert! I was the one that found the concert and I told my mom that if we were going to go, we would HAVE to bring Avery along. One night our dads told us that we were going on a daddy daughter date, and I knew it was on the same night as the concert, but I didn’t think we were actually going to the Matthew West Concert! But then my dad gave me a clue when he said that he used to live close to here. (My dad used to live in Omaha and the concert was in Elkhorn.) Immediately, I told Avery and we started screaming inside! We didn’t want our dads to know (though they probably did since we were whispering like crazy and the back seat)! We loved Matthew West, and he was by far our favorite singer of all time. That might have been the best night of my entire life, and I couldn’t imagine going with anybody else!
If we could, we would do everything together. We don’t get to see each other very often any more. However, I will get to see her in three weeks! I am so excited for her to come visit us in Thailand so we can make more memories together!
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My Sister
My Autobiography, PART 1
When I was 7 years old my family and I went to China. We went to adopt the cutest little girl named Tallulah who is now my sister. Tallulah was a 10-year-old Chinese girl with Down Syndrome. It’s not very common to travel across the world as a 7-year-old. It’s not common to travel across the world with a 7-year-old (and my brothers were only 5 and 10). But we did it anyway and we brought our grandma along as well. So off to China we went. It was a long flight. A very long flight. It felt like it went on forever. But finally, we made it to China. We first landed in Beijing, the capital of China. I don’t remember much about Beijing. All I remember is going to the Great Wall of China. Nothing about China was the way I thought it was going to be, but the Great Wall was pretty much exactly like I thought it was going to be. But better. It was so big, so high, and there were so many stairs. It was so cool. The wall was made of gray bricks and lots of stairs. It was so tilted that if we walked right side up it looked like we were leaning back. It was pretty special and a fun story to tell.
But Tallulah did not live in Beijing, she lived in an orphanage in Guangzhou. So, we took an overnight train to Guangzhou. We got three rooms. One room was with Grandma and I, one room with my mom and Jeremiah, and one room with my dad and Josiah. The rooms were small and not all that nice, but they were ok. After 23 hours we made it to Guangzhou.
The next day, we went to go meet Tallulah. When we saw her, the first thing she did was scream. She couldn’t stop crying and did not want to go home with us at all. She kept screaming “MOM!” “MOM!” and when they told her that our mom was her new mom she cried even more. It must have been so scary. She grew up in an orphanage (though she probably did not know it was an orphanage) and it was the only place she ever knew and called home. The people there were the only family she ever had. Then one day they took her away and gave her to some strangers and told her that she would never get to go home again. I mean, what if someone took you out of your home, gave you to some strangers, and said that you would never see your family again. That would be very scary. If only she knew then what she knows now.
After we brought her to our apartment, she kept grabbing her backpack wanting us to take her back to her family. Whenever we told her that we were her family she got upset and one of the only things that would cheer her up was a yogurt drink.
By the way, Tallulah does not speak Chinese or English. She sort of speaks her own language. She didn’t seem to have a problem understanding what we were saying, which was impressive. Still, she couldn’t say any words.
Two days after we got Tallulah it was my eighth birthday. It was fun because there was a time difference, so I kind of had two birthdays. One in America time, and one in China time. I don’t remember exactly what we did on my birthday but sometime around there we went to a really awesome zoo, and we had a lot of fun. It had one cool trolly ride where there were a bunch of animals without cages just walking around.
After we got Tallulah in Guangzhou, we went to Hong Kong. We took a bullet train to Hong Kong, and we went to Disneyland. This was my first time being to Disneyland that I can remember, and it was so fun. There were a lot of rides I was too scared to go on, but my favorite was the Iron Man Experience. It was a motion simulator ride, and it was so fun. I wish I could go on it again because it is one of my favorite rides I have ever been on. Tallulah was too scared to go on a lot of rides including that one so Mom or Dad had to stay out with Tallulah but that was ok. We still had a great time.
That was our trip to China. We went to the Great Wall, got Tallulah, I spent my birthday there, and now I have the best sister I ever could have wished for. Plus, now I have a bunch of stories to tell!
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Mixed Media Art Project
I am homeschooled. During homeschool we learn all of the things you would learn at public school: Math, Reading, Language Arts, Typing, etc. Recently we did an art project as well. We made self-portraits that are all different and unique according to the person. Mom took pictures of us and we used them to make a simple outline of our face. And Tallulah did a really good job drawing her hair! Then we went in with watercolor to finish our faces and think I took the longest because I really wanted to get the right shade for my skin.
Creating the Background
Each day for a week we did a different part of the picture using different media like markers, prismacolor pencils, pastels, crayons, string, foil, glue, and plaster. The first thing that you look at when you look these is the our face but the background is actually really cool! We drew lines going out from our head and filled each section in with things like our names, our birthdays, our favorite bible verse, abstract lines, and something we like. Each one is very specific to that person which makes them all so different and unique!
SelahMae
We all wrote our names on our pictures. I wrote SelahMae instead of Selah because Mae is my middle name and I like it when people call me by both names together! The next section has curvy lines. My mom asked us if we were walking on a sidewalk how would we walk to describe our personality: I chose curvy lines.
Next we chose a favorite Bible verse. I chose Psalm 149:3, “Let them Praise his name with dancing.” This verse fits me because dancing is one of my favorite things in the whole world. It almost seems like this verse was written just for me. I don’t really know why I chose flowers for my background; it just felt right. (Also clogging shoes are too hard to draw, lol. 555.)
Tallulah
I think Tallulah did a great job. She wrote her name and her birthday herself. Mom wrote her Bible verse which is Psalm 139:13-16. For her line section, she drew all of her made up letters which I guess is perfect for her. In her last sections, she worked really hard to trace circles and made a Captain America shield because Captain America is her absolute best friend!
Jeremiah
Jeremiah wrote his name nice and big. He wrote his Bible verse and made some 3D lines which I think look so cool. Since his birthday is in July, he made some fireworks.
Josiah
And last but not least: Josiah. Josiah wrote his name in a really cool way. Also, for his lines he just made them nice and straight which totally fits him. His Bible verse is Collossians 4:18. He wrote his birthday in such a creative way because it looks like a code. He also cut out a piece of sheet music and glued it to his picture since he is really good at piano. I like the detail that he splattered paint to make freckles on his face. I think his is really awesome!
Finishing Touches
We made all of our shirts our favorite colors so mine is teal, Tallulah’s is purple, Jeremiah’s is green, and Josiah’s is this yellow orange color. Well actually Josiah’s favorite color is black but that is not on the color wheel so he picked this orange-yellow color. It had to be on the color wheel because all of our Bible verses are our complementary colors so mine is orange, Jeremiah’s is red, Tallulah’s is yellow, and Josiah’s is blue.
After the background was done, we added some finishing touches like adding texture to our shirts with plaster, glue, string, and toilet paper tubes. We also added string to our hair and foil somewhere on our picture. Can you find where we put the foil? COMMENT BELOW where you think we each put it! (Hint: we each put them in different places.)
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Dance, Friends, and Fun!!😁
I went to a camp called Discovery Youth Camp. The camp was hosted by people who came from Hong Kong to Chiang Mai. The camp started and 8:30 a.m. and ended at 5:00 p.m. every day for one week. In the morning, we went in for worship and a message.✝️
After worship we had a snack that was usually watermelon and yogurt with cereal in it. Next we came back inside and divided into groups. Before the camp started we got bracelets with different colors to tell you which group you were going to be in. I got red. In our groups, we talked about the message and got to know the people in our group. Then we would head back outside for lunch. For lunch there was always something spicy, something not spicy, and rice. After lunch we had free time, though for me free time was just waiting for free time to be over to we could do breakout sessions😏. The breakout sessions were by far the best part of camp!
The breakout sessions were the reason I wanted to sign up for camp in the first place! When we signed up for camp, we got to pick which breakout sessions we wanted to do. There was drama, vocal training, worship band, and urban dance. Obviously I picked dance!😉 The dance was really fun to learn and really fun to perform. The teacher was a man from Argentina who was a competitive dancer. It made me feel special that he put me in the front of the formations and gave me a special part! Here is a video ⬇️ (I am the one in the braids):
(If you like this video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube Channel!)😋
After the first breakout session, we would eat another snack (this one was usually just a bag of chips and a juice box) and then we would head out to our second breakout session. Instead of the same breakout session every day, this one was different every day. The first day I did arts and crafts, the second day I did bracelet making, and the third day I did arts and crafts again. I was expecting to do the same craft both days but the last day we actually did a different craft so I was lucky.
That’s how it went for the first three days, but the last two days were a bit different. On Thursday, we watched a movie instead of our breakout sessions (I personally would have rather done breakout sessions but it wasn’t my choice). That night we stayed for dinner and a worship concert. I was able to invite friends and all of these friends were able to come with me!
On Friday afternoon, we did rehearsal for the show. On Friday night, my family and friends came to watch me perform (that’s why I have a video that you saw earlier). These are the people that came to my show!
I had a lot of fun at camp and I am really glad I went. I think my favorite part was performing since I haven’t performed in awhile and I LOVE doing it!!!😍 But I also think that one of the coolest things about this camp was that about 75% of the kids who came to camp were from another country where they aren’t supposed to worship God. When I asked people were they were from, I found out that some of them came to Thailand just for this camp. Even though English is their second language almost all of them were fluent in English: FLUENT to the point where I couldn’t even tell that English was their second language! Even the 8 and 9 year olds! That really inspires me to work on my Thai so that maybe some day will be able to speak Thai like they spoke English!
