First post from THAILAND!!

Yup.... the time has come! Here we are with all of our luggage, ready to leave Vancouver in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, Oct. 13th... bound for Thailand!  Can you believe we only had to pay for 1 extra bag and 1 overweight bag!?!  That's the blessing of having a sister who works for Menno Travel! :)

We left Vancouver airport at 2:45am on Thursday, had a really brief layover in Hong Kong (a little less than 1.5 hours as our flight was late getting in), and then we landed in Bangkok, Thailand at around 10:35am on Friday.  The flights felt LONG but thankfully Callie slept for a lot of the first lag, the meals were excellent (yay for Cathay Pacific!!) and all of our luggage arrived with us!  Praise the Lord!!

We got through customs easily and were soon greeted by Ricky Sanchez!  We impressively fit ALL of this baggage in his SUV and were on the road for the 45 min. drive to Chon Buri.  Here's a really quick recap of our last few days:

Day 1- Arrived in Chon Buri and settled in at the "Bai Bua Beach Resort" in Ang Sila.  The room was spacious, clean and just a few steps from the pool that overlooked the sea.  Just gorgeous!  We unpacked, grabbed some lunch, had a brief nap (easier said than done when all your body wants to do is SLEEEP!), had supper at the Sanchez home, and then off to bed!!

Day 2- EARLY morning wake-up from Callie (4:15am to be precise), breakfast in our room, early morning swim in the pool, relaxing in our room, lunch with Ricky, more recouping in our room, dinner and Aree's birthday party at the Sanchez home, off to bed :)

Day 3- Yet another EARLY morning wake-up from Callie (again... 4:15am), early morning swim in the pool, ventured out on our own.  We walked and walked and WALKED in the heat of the day, waiting for a songtaew to pick us up.  We finally made it from Ang Sila, all the way to the beach front in Bangsaen and stopped for chicken, rice and Coca-Cola on the beach.  Then we made our way back to Ang Sila.  Again, easier said than done when you don't speak Thai :)  But we eventually made it back to our hotel in one piece, exhausted and ready for another swim to cool off; then it was nap time again, quiet Thai supper in our room (delicious!) and an early night.

Day 4- Yup... you guessed it!  Another EARLY wake up from Callie (4:00am this time.... can you see a pattern here?  Please pray that the jet lag will go away SOON!!), early morning swim in the pool, packed up our room, moved from Ang Sila to Bangsaen and are now staying at the Yanadin Inn.  We stayed here the last time we were in Thailand so it feels very familiar and much more like "home." :)  The Bai Bua hotel was nice but very isolated which made it tough to get food, etc.

So that brings us to now!  We got settled into our room here at the Yanadin Inn and then headed to Bangsaen beach with Ricky for some great Thai food.  It was just as delicious as I remembered it to be from last time :)  Then the rain clouds came and we made our way back to the hotel.  Its been nice to spend the rest of the afternoon reading emails and catching up on Facebook, while Callie watches videos on the laptop.  I (Bonnie) am looking forward to getting out this evening with some of the ladies here for Karen Sanchez' birthday.  Jon is hoping to get to bed early with Callie seeing as we managed to skip naps today.... praying that will be enough to get her to sleep in tomorrow!!!

We'll be in Chon Buri for the next 2 weeks, doing orientation with Ricky & Karen.  Then, on Oct. 27th, we'll fly up to Chiang Mai and finally get settled into a home.  Language study will start on Nov. 1st.
If I'm really honest, these last few days have been tough.  The jet lag is killer, its tough not being able to communicate, and I'm feeling quite homesick realizing this is it now.  Its hard to leave loved ones and familiar surroundings behind.  But we're also continuing to trust that God has a very specific purpose for us here and that it will get better, once we can settle in a bit more.  Its been tough being in Thailand but still having to live out of suitcases in a hotel room.  Please pray for comfort as we let go of life in Canada and try to start a new life here in Thailand.  We are excited about what lies ahead and know that this is just a season!  And please pray, again, that jet lag would be gone SOON and we can have a bit more energy to soak in these weeks of orientation.

Thanks for everyone who has sent Facebook messages/comments, emails and has been praying for us over the last few days!  We have definitely felt your prayers and couldn't do it without you!  We love you all and will do our best to keep you updated.  Until next time.... :)