Ric and Sharon Bruce On a journey with you to Thailand Embedded below and available on Issuu.com you’ll find our latest newsletter! Thanks for your continued prayers, support and encouragement about the upcoming changes in our lives. Blessings, Ric and Sharon
Posts Tagged ‘bruce’
It’s a Boy!
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
This screen capture from a video I took at our monthly checkup yesterday shows Richard Kenneth Bruce, IV’s face. Sharon and our baby boy are doing well. He continues to grow, measuring a full week ahead of schedule. Definitely one of the perks of having our checkups here in Thailand is that we get to see and measure the baby’s progress every single month!
Yesterday we were also able to hear and see his heartbeat, see his his face and watch him shake a little shake, do a little dance and get down. He’s still too small for Sharon to feel but we’re anticipating that will happen soon. We appreciate your ongoing prayers for safety and health for Sharon and little Richard. 
March 2013 Newsletter
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013Sharon picked the color scheme on this one. Let us know what you think in the comments below. If you need to download it grab it in our dropbox here. You can see it on Issuu.com, in our library here.
The Bruce Baby Bump
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Sharon and I are proud to announce an August addition to our family! Baby Bruce is currently 5.4 centimeters (2.1 inches) long and weighs half an ounce. Sharon is 12 weeks along and doing well (minus a bit of morning sickness). The baby is due August 20th and we anticipate returning to the United States on maternity leave for the birth. We appreciate your prayers that mother and baby will continue to be healthy!
On the Home Front
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Sunday, July 1st, 2012We’ve had some incredible experiences in just two short weeks back here in the states. It’s been a wild ride! Our days are packed with things like meetings, family gatherings and time with our friends and supporters. That’s you! If we haven’t gotten something on the calendar yet… let’s make it happen! Here are some shot of the past two weeks:
There are a bunch more on Picasa:
Results of Our First Language Evaluation
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, April 16th, 2011The results of our first three months of language study in Thailand were very positive and encouraging according to an email we received this week from our leadership. The email contained a few suggestions for fine-tuning our method and a general summary of what we’ve been doing since we arrived. This report represents the culmination of several meetings we’ve had with leadership and it’s an attempt to gauge our proficiency in the Thai language and culture – a tall order! So the results…. drum roll please… (more…)
City-Wide Waterfight Video!
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Lots of things make Chiang Mai famous: stunning temples, the zoo, jungle adventures, etc. Beyond that, however, the thing Chiang Mai may be best known for is its annual water fight during Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year. It’s insane. Today we walked for five hours around the city’s moat throwing an empty bucket into the moat, hauling it up by a rope and dumping the contents (trash, muck, scum and leaves among other things) on people as we walked. Check out our short video (more…)
Climbing a Mountain
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, March 19th, 2011We’ve created a new video showing you more of the activities that take place at the local temples. To get this footage we had to drive up Doi Suthep, a mountain near Chiang Mai and then climb hundreds of steps to the temple. The earlier you get up there there better so we left at 7:00 AM. See it at our website or on youtube.
Pictures from Everyday Life
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Sunday, February 27th, 2011It’s not often you get to see everyday life while living as a guest in another country so we feel privileged to share these pictures which were taken by our friends (on one of our cameras). They’ve generously agreed to allow us to post them here so please enjoy them and if you’d like to see more pop over to our Picasa Web Albums to see them all (you can also zoom in on these ones).
Great portrait of a street vendor
Headed to a wedding.
Wedding. Love this picture.
Having fun.
Raw Larb meat salad.
Old tribal woman
Can you find the lizards in the tree?
Heading home.
Check out all our pictures at Picasa.
Video Trailer of Thailand
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, January 24th, 2011This video trailer of our first three months in Thailand has a bunch of really random things in it… a trip up a mountain, waterfalls, and a silk factory. Click the video below or watch it on Youtube if you don’t see it here.
Our Recent Adventures
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, January 19th, 2011In the past months we’ve taken thousands of pictures but honestly we just don’t have time to post them all. On our website you’ll find some scrolling picture slideshows or you can check them all out at our picasa web albums. Here are some samples of what you’ll find in the albums:
Beautiful waterfalls
Pictures of our church
Funny situations... like dogs that think leaves are money.
Beautiful flowers... from Sharon's camera.
Evil looking cats.
Delicious food.
Did we mention waterfalls?
Be sure to check out all our pictures at Picasa.
If you want more up-to-date pictures check out our mobile albums on Facebook.
Putting up the Christmas Tree
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, December 11th, 2010Embedded on our website and at our Picasa web albums you’ll find pictures of our Christmas tree going up. This year we’re excited to see what will happen as we begin new traditions in a much different Christmas environment! Today as we were putting the tree up we were sweating. But the Christmas music and the beautiful tree helped us forget that and have a lot of fun.
Thanksgiving at Duke’s
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Sunday, November 28th, 2010We’ve spent the last two Thanksgiving days in Arizona with Ric’s grandparents. This year we knew we’d be on our own and we expected to eat burgers instead of turkey with our friends Kevin and Emily. If we couldn’t have turkey we’d at least enjoy American food.
At least that’s what we thought. When we walked into the burger joint Thanksgiving night we were told by the owner they were only serving Thanksgiving dinner. He asked if we’d made reservations. We said no. Fortunately just as we came a table cleared and the owner was able to seat us for the all you can eat turkey and ham dinner. Amazing.
The Duke's Chiang Mai Thanksgiving Menu
Hungry.
Turkey smothered in gravy
Stuffing, Green been casserole and mashed potatoes
Pumpkin pie finish
Physical Therapy: Day One
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, November 8th, 2010I had no idea what to expect from physical therapy but I’m pretty proud of what I did on the first day. After keeping my knee completely straight for 3 weeks I:
- Used a traction machine to bend my knee 110 degrees – ouch.
- Did 30 squats using a railing as a brace – exhausting.
- Walked up and down a ramp while bending my knee – forgot how to walk.
- Biked for 17 minutes – sweaty.
I can now begin bending it, putting some weight on it and pretty much using it like I normally would. I still use the crutches to keep my balance and to help with the weight. I still wear the brace but now it will allow me to bend the knee to 90 degrees. Enjoy these pictures:
Knee Update
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Sunday, October 31st, 2010The biggest update on my knee is that tomorrow evening I will see the doctor for the first time since surgery. It feels fine although the regular post-surgical nuisances apply: atrophy of the muscles in my leg, bruising, soreness, numbness, etc. I am anticipating the doctor will remove my stitches tomorrow and get me on a therapy regimen at the hospital where the operation took place. We will update again with more details tomorrow night. In the meantime if you enjoy pictures of gross, atrophied knees or are curious about how it looks check out the pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ricandsharon/ChangingTheBandages#
The Hospital in Pictures
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010We’re out of the hospital! It was an amazing experience really… but we’re glad it’s over. Here are some pictures of our experiences. Enjoy.
Us
Waiting for surgery
View from our hospital room
Our language helper visiting.
What the Dr. did.
Up close and personal.
Breakfast.
Home Assignment FAQ’s
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, July 17th, 2012Can’t keep up with the Bruces? I know the feeling. This post will attempt to answer as concisely as possible some of the most pressing and common questions Sharon and I have heard you ask. If you have any of your own to add please feel free to do so in the comments and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
Sharon’s only sibling is getting married. Sharon is the matron of honor. Also, we’d been in Thailand for nearly two years so it was time for a little break to reconnect with partners like you, our families and friends.
Well, some remain the same: we continue our Thai study while we’re here by listening to Thai texts, practicing reading and writing and posting pictures with captions in Thai of our lives here in the US. Though that part remains unchanged we’re looking to connect with you! We place a lot of value on the idea of teamwork: you’re our partners in this work and we want to do all we can to make you feel a part of what God is doing in Southeast Asia.
We’ll be heading back at the end of September. Connect with us before then or you’ll have to visit us in Thailand.
We’ll wrap up our Thai study in Chiang Mai then move to a village in Northeast Thailand to work with the Phu Thai people group. We’ll join Mike and Sandy Lynch who have been there for five years learning the language and culture. We’ll arrive just in time for the fun to begin: translation of scripture portions and bible lessons in preparation for teaching in 2014. Hopefully we can be up to speed in the language by then!
At first the food was difficult to get used to and that was our least favorite thing… but now it’s one of our favorite things about Thailand. I find myself craving rice periodically and thinking about how good for us the diet in Thailand is compared to what we eat now. Bring on the pizza baby!
Hope that helps. Submit your question in the comments below. Thanks!
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