Thanksgiving Celebrations

Family photo at barn party

Family photo at the Marriott with turkey ice sculpture

Another family photo taken at our last Thanksgiving celebration of 2009

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving over three days. On Wednesday, the school where Jonathan works had a barn party for Thanksgiving. There were games, skits, singing and of course food. Our next celebration was on Thursday evening where we had been invited to a hotel for a Thanksgiving buffet. The pasta bar, bread and cheese table and the dessert bar were all a big hit with our family. Then Friday evening we got together with friends and a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving meal. Each celebration was different and unique, but we had a good time at all of them.

Loy Krathong

On our road, making krathongs

Kaiya (and friends) with the krathong we made

Getting ready to float the krathong

The sparklers were a hit

Several weeks ago there was a holiday here called Loy Krathong. Translated loy means 'to float' and krathong means 'raft'. For this holiday, people build little floating rafts from banana tree trunks and decorate it with banana leaves, flowers and candles. Then they take their little "rafts" to the river and float let it float out on the water. When I was here before (13 yrs ago) I remember doing this and seeing how beautiful all the candles looked out on the water. This year Jonathan was sick so we stayed home and were not going to do or see anything for the holiday. However when I went out on our street in the evening, there was a group of people sitting on a mat making the krathongs. Kaiya and I (with Jonah watching on) decided to make our own little krathong. We had fun decorating it and collecting flowers for us and others to use for the krathongs. Then later in the evening we went and put our krathong in our little pond near our house.

Friends and Memories

Thailand 2009: Becca and I

Thailand 1996: Myself, Becca, and Rebekah

Thirteen years ago, two friends and I came to Thailand as student missionaries for a year. One of those friends, Becca, recently came to Thailand for a visit. It was so nice to see her and take a walk down memory lane. I enjoyed meeting her daughter and it was fun to watch our daughters play together. I find it interesting and exciting how life turns out because thirteen years ago I never would have thought that one day we would be back in Thailand watching our girls play together.

Getaway

View of our resort from the end of the boardwalk

Rainy day poolside

Jonah sleeping by the pool

Not so sure about this whole ocean thing

Jonathan and Kaiya having fun at the beach

family shot on the boardwalk

Last week the school that Jonathan works for took a spiritual retreat. Five large buses transported the employees plus families to a resort a couple hours away. The weather was rainy the evening we arrived and all the next day. We still went swimming in the pool (twice that day) till Kaiya's lips turned blue. The last half day we were there, we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather and made the most of it at the pool and at the beach. While the kids and I had a nice relaxing time, Jonathan was keeping busy being the main speaker for the retreat. He did manage to fit some time in at the pool and beach also. Highlights of the trip: eating sticky rice cooked in a bamboo stalk; a beautiful 180 degree view of the ocean from our balcony; at sunset with Kaiya watching (large) crabs run out of the ocean waves; an amazing walk along the boardwalk that extended probably about 1/2 mile out into the turquoise ocean; watching jellyfish from the end of the boardwalk; watching Jonathan' s face turn beet red after accidently eating a green chili; and experiencing Jonah's first time at the ocean - he wasn't overly impressed. Lesson learned on the trip: to enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

Heave and Heat

My non-moving fan

Jonah's hair was wet from sweating as he lay beside me under the non-moving fan

About a month ago, I got food poisoning. It was miserable. I was up most of the night emptying out everything from my GI system. I will spare you all the details as it was not pretty. Needless to say I was very exhausted the next day (thankfully since my stomach was now empty I had stopped heaving). Jonathan came home from work early to help out so I could get a nap. Just a few minutes after I had laid down, I heard a loud bang outside and all of a sudden my fan, along with the rest of our electricity, stopped working. Something had blown out somewhere along the power lines on our street. So there went my nap, as it was way too hot to sleep without a fan. So I just lay there with Jonah beside me, not moving, in attempt to remain just a little cooler. It made me realize how much I depend on all the fans in my house and how thankful I am for them (when they are working). The electricity did return a few hours later, much to my great delight.

Six Months

Today Jonah turned six months old. Time has flown! It is fun to see him grow and get more interactive each day. He is such a bundle of joy and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

Rainy Season

Our flooded driveway

Wet after walking in the rain

Kaiya playing in the flooded driveway after arriving home

Jonah enjoyed the wet walk

We have arrived in Thailand during the rainy season. I think it was a good time for us to move here since the rain tends to cool things down somewhat. One day when the kids and I went to meet Jonathan for lunch, it started pouring. We waited a while for the rain to stop, but when it didn't, we decided to venture out and walk the ten minutes it takes to get home. The kids loved it and Kaiya sang "raindrops fall with a pitter pitter pat" the entire way home. We got some curious looks but a lot of smiles from the people we saw along the way.