Hope On The Borderline

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter November 26th, 2025 Letting Go with Thanks It’s likely many of you have heard of Marie Kondo and her method of letting go of objects, clutter, and memorabilia—she encourages people to thank it for serving you and then release it. “Have gratitude for the things you're discarding. By giving gratitude, you're giving closure to the relationship with that object, and by doing so, it becomes a lot easier to let go.” Marie Kondo I was thinking about...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter November 19th, 2025 Building Strength Today I’ve been focused on some areas I’m weak in. Some physical weaknesses.Some mothering weaknesses—patience. I just wanted to focus on how I even became weak in these areas. Sickness during pregnancy.Apathy toward rebuilding strength postpartum.Little moments of instant gratification shaping my habits. As I focused on these weaknesses through a conversation with Judah and then during a phone call with...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter November 12th, 2025 Maybe it was never meant to be held to my chest... This is the time of year for pulling out all our special things — the better dishes, the fancy serving trays, and the shiny cutlery — pulling out all the stops: bringing out our traditional recipes, sparkly clothing, and dusting off our going-out shoes. There is a time for special and a time for sacred. But today, I was feeling like sometimes we just safeguard things by...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter November 25th, 2025 Never, Ever, Could I Have Imagined What I Was Actually Saying Yes To… When I pressed “send” on my last letter, Lifting My Voice, I thought I was simply following through on a promise to write. Instead, God was preparing me to sing again. I haven’t led worship in a number of years, and I’ve felt nervous for a while now. At the beginning of 2025, I told myself and Cha Mu Taw (Cha Cha), our GAP worship leader, that I would...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter October 29th, 2025 Lifting My Voice My days in Vienna as a young adult taught me many things—but most of all, they taught me to use my voice. In this season, God is reminding me once again to steward the gifts He’s placed in my hands. I wrote these words early this month, shortly before we flew on a family holiday to Cyprus, Italy, and France. I’ve been daydreaming of returning to Europe for sixteen years. My first step into adulthood was in...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter October 1st, 2025 Ever feel like you’ve got nothing—but you give anyway? As a leader, I expect myself to bring direction and encouragement. But that morning, I couldn’t even get up without a struggle. I was supposed to lead our team in prayer before outreach. The only thing I could think to offer was reading Psalm 23—because Zz had been memorizing it for school. I hadn’t slept well, and Sirichai had needed a lot of attention through the...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter September 24th, 2025 After 14 years of calling Thailand home, it's very embarrassing to still not be able to communicate well. At our first staff meeting of the year we made some New Year's resolutions, with good intentions, I said I'd learn more Thai. It's taken me nearly the whole year to get started, but weekly Thai classes have finally begun, and I'm feeling excited to keep learning. What’s a habit you’ve been meaning to start — but...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter September 17th, 2025 Four years ago my life felt like it was spiraling out of control. Judah had just survived a double pulmonary embolism and a partially collapsed lung (following a routine knee operation), we had a miscarriage that felt like I had carried death within me. Then, while running for help during a fire that had jumped from our neighbor’s property to ours, Judah tore two of the three ligaments in his ankle. Surgery followed—and...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter September 10th, 2025 Two weeks ago, I lost a diamond from my wedding ring in my house. Judah and I searched for it, but we had no luck. I kept my eyes peeled for nearly a week, hoping it might turn up somewhere around the house. During that time, I kept finding little fake diamonds from Zz’s mermaid dress, which I had recently washed. They had fallen off and were scattered all around the house. It was very disheartening every time I picked...

Hope on the Borderline: The Tana Family Newsletter September 3rd, 2025 The Surprise We Get When God Moves When I first moved to Thailand fourteen years ago (Sept 1st), we spent a significant amount of time taking our kids in our then school of 40++ around our village of Wang Pha in small groups to pray. We went out in small groups to visit moms and babies, widows, the weak, hungry, and those needing encouragement. We prayed for and hung out with people... played with their babies and listened...