We're married!

Tan and I got married on Saturday, February 23rd at Sathorn Church. Then we had a wedding reception at the Banyan Tree Hotel. I will upload pictures soon.

New photo website

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steven_cross

I moved my photos from Yahoo! Photos because that website is closing. Right now all of my photos are up for a limited time on Flickr. But in about a month, I'll only be able to show 200 photos for free.

Accepted!

I'm officially a grad student! I also got back my grades. They were all good.

My brother created a website to showcase his work with motion capture and digital animation. Check it out! http://www.tony-cross.com/

TCNJ Global Program in Bangkok

I have been attending classes to obtain teaching certification in Elementary Education at Ruamrudee International School in Bangkok. I just finished my first week. I have two more days of Internship I class and then I will begin taking Child and Adolescent Development on Wednesday. The time has flown by. The course is going well, but I have a lot of homework to finish this weekend.

I will receive a certificate from the state of New Jersey after I finish the courses and pass the Praxis exam. I am confident that I will able to do this, but it won't be easy.

She said YES!

Tan and I are engaged! We'll post more details about when the wedding will happen. I'm not sure when we'll know. We're very excited! I don't have much time so I'll add more details about how it happened soon.

A simple choice

I need to learn to rely on God. I'm worrying about life too much. Tan said she saw a gray hair on my head today. These days I worry about getting my visa extended, teaching at a new school next month, continuing my education to get teaching certification, and the people that are important to me. I could go on...

I am also worried about the decisions I am making. I have always had trouble accepting my own mistakes and limitations. I am not the man that I would like to be yet. I am far from it. Someday I'll be in front of Jesus and He'll ask me about the decisions I made in my life. Although people may think of me as a good person, I am disappointed with myself in many ways. I don't want to feel like I didn't do the best I could with my life.

I was comforted by the words I heard in church today. Pastor John has been preaching from the book of James. The second chapter speaks about judgment and mercy. It concludes with the statement: "Mercy triumphs over judgment." I am thankful that God is merciful. Praise Him! If He was not, I don't want to think about what life would be like.

It's my choice. I can worry or I can trust in God. I can believe His mercy will overcome my blunders or I can let them overwhelm me. It's a simple choice when I think of it like that.

Interesting websites from Thailand

These four websites were created by an incredible Thai teenager who most people know as Gor. At 16, Gor became the youngest ever columnist for the Bangkok Post. He wrote honestly about his teenage marriage, the birth of his daughter, and his struggle with drug addiction. Gor is an insightful voice for teenagers and parents in Thailand and the rest of the world. His writing has received international praise. He also started a website to help foreigners learn Thai. Right now he is serving a three year prison sentence for drug possession. The last website talks about his prison experiences. It has posts written by Gor's former teacher who visits him.

LearningThai.com

Manee and Friends

ThailandLife.com

Gorsworld.com

thaiprisonlife.com

This website shows translations of Thai newspaper headlines and editorial cartoons. There is a lot of other information about Thailand here too.

2bangkok.com

These are two popular forums for foreigners in Thailand. There are lots of English teachers who post on them regularly.

ajarn.com

thaivisa.com

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a good New Year! If you heard about the bombs, please don't worry. Tan and I are okay.