Thailand, finally

My attempt to summarize a wonderful 3 weeks:

The first week, we spent at Cha'am beach, 2 hours southwest of Bangkok. Beautiful. Serene. Relaxing. We learned that we're not exactly beach people. I mean, neither of us desire tans and the water is not that fun to "swim" in. We played soccer on the beach a few times, but that was it. It was a little rocky where we were, so not even a sand castle...I know, sorta lame. But we loved looking at it! We also rented bikes to ride into town since our hotel was about a 20 minute walk into town. A great perk of Thailand: free wifi just about anywhere. Coffee shops lined the street advertising such a luxury. Sweet! A few pics from our week there:

Daddy and J checking out the pool.

Bikes! Josiah wishes he could have ridden on the back, but he rode on the front of me in a carrier instead.

Dinner overlooking the beach. Fancy high chair, huh?

 

In front of our hotel.

The next week was spent in the northern part of Thailand in Chiang Mai, where we would also have our conference. LOVED the town..almost more than the beach. Don't hate me for that comment. But coming from a lack of western anything, this town was chock-full of stuff! Restaurants, English-speakers, grocery stores, etc. Just plain lovely. Most days, we just took off walking to see what we found and were never disappointed. We did eat Thai food a few times, but we just wanted to ingest as much American food as possible. One day we took a trip to see the elephants, the Karen long-neck tribe, take a bamboo raft ride, and ride on an oxen cart. It was a fun, full day! Pics:

mango smoothie! so glad they aren't skimpy on their proportions.

Woman from the Karen tribe. She loved J's hair!

Getting a snack from the crowd.

On the raft!

Elephant ride!

Oxen cart...a little boring, but at least we did it.

The last week, we attended our annual conference with our whole organization. 500 people who serve all over Asia, gathered together to worship and learn. It was wonderful. We don't have a fellowship nearby that speaks English, so to be able to understand the services and sessions was extra special. And, of course, nothing like worshipping freely again. Wow, we didn't realize how much we missed corporate worship.

At the end of last semester, I was really struggling to find purpose. Why was I here? I wasn't interacting with many students. Josiah and I were running out of things to do. Poor Michael heard an earful of complaints every day. I was jealous of all that he was doing.

On the first night of conference, the MC spoke straight to my heart. We all have it hard. All of His servants do, in one capacity or another. We weren't called to a life of ease and comfort. Our challenges are mostly in the comfort zone...different culture, language, food, etc. But who cares about all that if we get to impact lives eternally? We were very specifically called here. We will have to clearly be called elsewhere. And we haven't been. So why not focus on the positives? The blessings. The opportunities.

Needless to say, we've come back refreshed. I have a new perspective. Father-willing, I'll be able to keep it for the rest of the semester. A big focus is for me to get more involved. First, I'll have an office hour on campus. All the other teachers do, but I'll add my own. It's just at time when students can come in and chat freely. They see it as practicing their English. We see it as divine opportunities. And wow, does He work during those times!

The theme of our conference was broken & restored. Glad to be on the latter end. Praise Him.

night-night kisses

Josiah's new favorite game: If we pretend to go night-night, he'll wake us up with a kiss! It started when I really was trying to go to sleep, and Michael coaxed him to kiss me. He hasn't stopped since. He'll often say, "night-night" so he can kiss us. Um, adorable. :)

Duibuqi/Xiexie

Sorry/thank you. (Say: dway-boo-chee and shye shye..sorta. that one is hard to spell phonetically!)

Sorry for not updating about Thailand yet. We've been home a week, but I just can't seem to sit down and write it all out. Not sure why. Soon.

A very belated thank you for all the mail we've received. Many of you heard my cry for Christmas cards and sent them! Thank you, thank you! Special thanks to those who have sent packages. It's always awesome to get a package...even better when it's stuff we dearly miss or truly need. Shout out to my parents who have sent multiple boxes...some out of necessity, some out of wanting to shower us with love. (We hear there is a V-day box waiting for us...now if only the campus PO would open so I could retrieve it!!!)

Just another way we feel blessed to be here...knowing we have ya'll at home, rooting us on.

let the injuries begin

I'm not ready for my little man to get hurt so often. I don't like the bleeding. Nor the crying. Nor the fighting of momma's help.

Josiah got his 2nd fat lip in 2 weeks the other day. This one was worse. The first happened 2 days before we left to come here, and it healed quickly. This one seems to keep re-opening, usually when he eats. And the crying continues. But, I have a feeling this is only the beginning......



Saying "teeth"

In other news, Thailand is still super wonderful. In the past two days, I've scored 1 dress, 3 shirts, 1 pair of leggings, and 1 pair of sandals...each costing less than $7. Yes, please.

Thailand is the bestest!!

We're here. We've been here for 7 full days now. I don't want to leave.

All last week we spent at/near the beach. Our hotel walked out onto the beach, but we didn't actually spend much time there. Maybe we're lame. Or maybe we just like to look at it instead. Josiah and Michael had a great game of soccer on the beach. So cute. The next day, a lady commented on little man's skills. Haha. Our hotel was a 15 min walk to "town" (aka a bunch of random shops/restaurants/vendors/motels/cafes). We often rented bikes for $1/hour so we could explore a little more. It was fun and relaxing and our room was fab.

We arrived in Chaing Mai yesterday. I already love it more than where we came from. More cafes. More foreign restaurants. Cute alleys with mom and pop shops. And this is only from a few hours of exploring. We're going to be here the next 2 weeks. Can't wait to see more!

Josiah is loving just running around. Poor kid has skinned knees and lots of leg bruises from falling (does this ever end??), but he doesn't even cry. Gets up and runs some more. This morning, we were at the mall and someone gave him a balloon. He played soccer by himself all over the mall for at least 30 mins until we forced him back in the stroller since he only had one shoe on. One broke, after buying it 4 days ago. Lame, knock-off, $3 crocs. For now, a twisty tie is holding the strap on. Haha. Maybe we'll spend another 3 bucks to get him another pair. ;) (*Insert grammie complaint here.*)

Also a bonus, Josiah is sleeping well. We haven't even had to put him in the bathub yet--haha. These 2 hotels have had an actual crib. He's not the best sleeper in new places, so a crib has definitely helped. (He is terrified of his little tent we got him....) Hotel #3 probably won't have a crib....ugh. We'll see what happens.

Welp, the tike is about to wake and we're headed out for more adventures. Weee!!

still here...

Nothing eventful to post about lately. The hubs has finished classes, and since then we've been doing a lot of just hangin' out. Movies, random errands, and of course lots of basketball with Josiah.

Thailand cannot come soon enough. We leave in 3 days. We will dilly dally at the beach for a few days, then head to a city in the north where we'll have about 1 week free before we enter conference time. Things I'm most excited about:

- Warm weather! This includes the whole family playing and frolicking outside aimlessly.
- Western food!!!! Enough said.
- Carefree worship with our entire organization. Renewal. (Note: We haven't been to a worship service we could actually understand since August. Hence, why we're stoked!)
- Seeing friends who have become like family because we're all in the same boat.
- Speaking English and knowing the Thai will respond in English. ahhhhhhhh!
- Western food!! (Don't worry, we'll also eat our share of Thai and Indian food!)
- Adventures...perhaps a night safari, riding elephants, etc.
- Doctor/dentist appointments on the CHEAP. But still great quality. Yes.

We're not sure how much internet access we'll have there, so if you get a post in the next few weeks, consider it fortunate.

ramblings.

We're trying to teach Josiah how to pray..or at least to be quiet during a prayer. It sorta clicked the other night before dinner. We said the usual, "Ok, Josiah, we're going to pray now." Then exaggerated our head bow and hands folded so he would follow. He did! I began to pray and he looked up and said (with his finger over his mouth, mind you), "shhhh!" Haha. I guess I interrupted him!

Carrefour opened last Thursday, as you may remember. This Thursday, Friday, and today, it has been closed. If I could read Chinese, perhaps I would know why. Instead, I'll just check every day until it re-opens.

A length of one of our walls is filled with Christmas cards. I know a few more are still on their way, so I'm waiting a little while longer to take a pic. Thanks to all of you who took the extra effort to send one!

Michael finished his first semester of classes yesterday! Now we have 2 months off. I'm hoping to get in the classroom a little bit next semester!

We leave for Thailand in 16 days. PUMPED! More on what we'll do there in another post.