Let’s Build on Solid Ground: a School Needed for Sukhothai Children’s Home
One of the Nortons’ Thai kids biking near a flooded area
This article was written by Kasey Norton
Kasey and her family moved to Thailand in 2019 with the goal of becoming a witness in the unreached city of Sukhothai. They had no plans for how to reach the people, but sought after God to guide them.
God answered by leading them to care for some kids in need of a safe and loving home. Now, they have a fully functioning children’s home with 25+ kids.
The rain continues its game of cat and mouse as the flood waters rise and then draw back, only to rise again. July brought unprecedented flooding to our area, and we evacuated from our evacuation location without a solid plan for where we were heading next. We just knew the water was rising fast, and we couldn’t risk staying.
A Thai pastor and his wife in Chiang Mai kindly opened their property to us, and what started as an emergency of sorts turned into a vacation for the kids. We camped for a full week, and not a single child complained. Our family was tired, as would be expected when camping with almost 30 kids for a week, but we couldn’t have been more thankful for the chance we got to spend time alone with just the children. We came home to waters that had receded enough to move back in, but the time away had afforded us deeper bonds with the kids than before we had hurried out.
A couple of young people (scattered throughout the photo) from a nearby academy came to do activities with the Nortons’ kids while they were evacuated
We’re in a time of transition (I feel like I say that a lot!) as the children are growing and changing, and their needs are changing with them. But also, they’re becoming more spiritually aware, which keeps us searching for new and better ways to reach them. We have two amazing volunteers, Austin and Lilyann Fuentes, and they love the kids like we do. With extra hands on deck and so much love to go around, we expect God will be opening more doors, and we’re excited to walk through them.
One door we’ve been knocking at for a while, without a clear answer, is whether we can move forward with building a school on our property for the children who live here, but also for those in the community. Almost half of our property is still overgrown rice paddies in need of backfilling. As I walk around the perimeter of that space praying, I’m more and more struck by the conviction that it’s time to move forward with the plan God planted almost from the beginning of our time here.
This is the half of the Nortons’ property that needs to be backfilled.
It stays flooded during the rainy season and is basically useless in its current state.
Building a school is a daunting idea. Getting through all the government hurdles for approval to utilize the school would be paralyzing if it weren’t for the strong conviction that God will go before and beside us. We haven’t moved forward in the timing we wanted to (which was long ago), and so we’re going to claim the promise found in Isaiah 52:12 that says: “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”
Almost nothing about our six years in Thailand or the work before us has put us within the range of our skillset. And while we often wish we had experience to pull from as we tackle what needs doing, that would put us in greater danger of pride setting up camp within our hearts. But because we have to move along, asking God for wisdom and knowledge, when a good thing comes from the effort, we always know God owns the credit for it.
To God be ALL the glory! We have so much gratitude for the fullness of our lives here and every single beautiful child He has placed within our reach!
The estimate the Nortons received to fill the rice paddies is $40,000. This covers the actual cost of the dirt, transportation, and compacting the dirt to create buildable space.
When Jesus told the parable of the house built on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27), He taught a profound spiritual lesson, but the literal message holds a lot of truth as well. Will you consider partnering with us to help give the Nortons solid ground to build a school, which will in turn help these precious Thai kids learn how to build their lives on the spiritual Solid Ground?
We invite you to join us in praying for this project, for the Nortons, their team, and the kids, as well as God’s provision for this need.
If God is inspiring you to help this need through a financial gift, please click the button below. You can learn more about this project and see progress toward reaching our goal!