A String of Diamonds for Yupa

I have raised two children. My husband Ken and I were given two incredible gifts in our daughter Kristyn and our son David. They're adults now. We're empty nesters. I remember, when it was all over, when we were finished with the "launching" phase, it felt like we were marking the end of something rather enormous. Two kids, from birth to adulthood. We're done! Wow, what a HUGE accomplishment. By the grace of God we had finished the task. To mark such a feat, and to honour my mothering, my husband presented me with a ring bearing three small diamonds. One for Kristyn, one for David and one for the child we'd lost to miscarriage.

That was for raising two kids.

Then there's Yupa. What would it take to be Mom to 15?

Suradet and Yupa have two kids of their own; Bee, their son who is 13, and Bao, their daughter who is 2. I know from first hand experience, that would be a big enough task in and of itself. This is a ministry family. Suradet is pastor at Hot Springs Korean Methodist Church, and together with Yupa they lead, teach and shepherd a small but lively congregation just north of Chiang Mai. Yupa herself has a teaching ministry, clear to me the morning I stayed for their Sunday services, when Yupa led a preservice Bible teaching. They garden, raise chickens (and frogs), take Bee to school and music lessons. It would have been a full and fulfilling life.

But there were 13 children who needed shelter and love and nurturing. Thirteen extra kids who had no place to grow. So Yupa's mother-heart made room. In a very concrete way, she is a woman who is living out the compelling mandate of Matthew 25, when Jesus made it clear that whatever we do for "the least of these", the homeless and hungry and poor, we do for Him.

Yupa is not a flashy person. Most Thai's aren't. She's simple and humble and at times so quietly doing what she does behind the scenes, she's practically invisible. Not that she isn't very much her own person. I can't pretend to understand enough of Thai culture yet to figure out the systems of her status, but from everything I could see, she was highly respected by the children, by the other staff at Hot Springs, by the congregation, and by Suradet for sure. But her presence isn't a commanding one, at least not as measured by volume or style or other ways our culture often identifies who's "in charge".

I don't think she finds it necessary to be anything or anyone but who she is. Because the strength of her personal godliness is such that something fundamentally good and strong just kind of hovers around her, she just is who she is.....and the children "get it".

It still amazes me that she and I could become friends without saying so much. For all my life, I've relied on talking to develop my relationships. The words shared between myself and the important people in my life, they mean everything to me. In so many ways, the words have seemed to be what make or break the friendship.

But not when I was making friends with Yupa. There was something else. Our language differences forced it. I'm not sure I can actually identify it yet. It was more of a quality of being that connected us. Certainly it helped that right from the get go there was a mutual appreciation. Before I actually met her, I was already impressed with her compassion and faith. She knew, before I arrived, that I was part of the group of people called Highview who had agreed to partner with her and Suradet to help raise these precious children. We both understood together the fundamentals of a faith in God through Jesus, and the adventure of a spiritual journey. So the relationship had a good foundation to get us started.

But once I got there, from the first greeting at the airport, to the gratitude-soaked prayer time my first hour at Hot Springs, to the "conversations" over breakfast, and every interaction in between, I felt as if I was welcomed into the unconditional love of a friend I'd known for a long, long time.

Even so, and even after spending time living with this family, I still can't get my head around what it would take to mother 15 kids. I am not made of such stuff. Yupa is. And my respect for her, and all that God has given her inside of herself to do what He's called her to do, is huge.

So I prayed for her again this morning. I prayed that God would provide the physical stamina to go through the amazing mechanics of her day. I asked that she be given the emotional capacity to nurture beyond herself. I prayed for great wisdom and clarity as she knows each child as individuals, guiding them, directing them to become all God has created them to be. I asked that her own family, Suradet and Bee and Bao, would be blessed abundantly for their generosity to include others into the circle.

And it strikes me as quite remarkable, and yet another good gift of my life, that I have been so openly invited into that circle too.


Yupa, I would, if I could, bestow upon you a string of diamonds to represent the astounding beauty of who you are and what you are doing for "the least of these."