January 2011

After the month-long blogs of reminiscing about our time in Thailand, I suppose I should update you on what's been happening in the Regan family back in December and January 2010/2011. We had a nice, peaceful time with friends and family. Some of the highlights included caroling with friends from church and inviting a new Thai friend and her Chinese friend to join us.
We really enjoyed having my (Chandra's) parents, brothers and nieces come out to celebrate Christmas with us.



I'm so glad that Penny gets along so well with her cousins. In fact, she treats them like she's a mother to them and they love it! Then in January we had friends over for Thai food to celebrate two years since Penny came home to Colorado. We also went to visit Jay's sister and her husband down in Limon, CO as a sort of belated Christmas/New Year's/Jay's B-Day celebration.

We wonder what this new year will bring. We are having a real challenge of tough finances right now. And I'm recently nursing a back injury. So, we're praying that things can only get better. But, there is also a lot to look forward to. Penny is now in the home stretch of finishing up middle school. The plan is to move on to Fort Collins HS. She'll also get confirmed with her confirmation group at our church this Spring. In fact, she has a retreat with that group next weekend up at Covenant Heights Camp in the mountains. That is the camp where I worked one summer when Jay proposed to me. Jay will be going with her on this retreat. I'll be going down to Denver for a training with the new organization that I signed up with as a flexible part-time position. My job will be to try to link up foreign exchange students with host families. This coming summer Penny will turn sweet 16! She's beginning to talk about learning to drive and getting a summer job. Can't believe how fast time goes! She's planning to try out for a community talent show. Last year she tried out by playing her Thai instrument, the "Khim" (a Thai hammered dulcimer). She didn't make it in last year, but this year she wants to try by doing some Thai dancing. She's teaching herself and getting pointers from another Thai lady as she watches YouTube videos of other Thai dancers. She's a very brave and determined young woman. We're also hoping that we'll be able to go out to Chicago this coming summer for a reunion of families who have adopted from Thailand. We don't know how we'll afford it especially with the talk of the rising price of gas. We're just praying every day that God will provide for our needs. We hope that you and yours have a very blessed New Year! I'll leave you with some photos of our family.