Another month gone by...

Some of you have probably heard through the Facebook grapevine that our family has been sick for the past week... and I mean SICK.  All 4 of us.  Absolutely awful.  Tricky trying to keep your kids occupied when you feel terrible yourself.  Thank goodness for laptops which make for great in-bed movie times.  This was a common sight around our house last week...

But thankfully, after several days of antibiotics, we're all starting to feel human again.  

What a relief... 'cause I've missed seeing these two monkeys feeling happy and healthy!

I can hardly believe that the month of September is almost over already.  Life is definitely busier with 2 kiddos and the result is often a feeling of having life in fast-forward.

Marek turned 4 months old on the 15th which totally blows my mind.  He's such a happy boy and brings all of us so much joy.  He's a noisy little critter and is often heard "exercising his vocal chords" with screeches and giggles and coo's. I love the stage he's at and the fact that he'll smile for anyone.  He's getting a TINY bit better at sleeping at night (though the sickness has changed all of that again).  He started rolling over last month and I can tell he's enjoying that new found freedom.  Its been interesting having a boy this time around and seeing the differences between him and Callie.  I can tell that he's going to be much more of a "mover and a shaker"-- Callie was so laid back and didn't do much moving til about 8 months old (rolling, crawling, etc.) whereas he is already rolling, does 360's in his crib and has even attempted to shimmy himself along by pulling with his arms and getting his knees up under himself.  I fear that crawling will be upon us far earlier than I would like :)

Callie continues to entertain us with her random thoughts and antics.  She is constantly babbling about something and makes us laugh with some of the stuff she says.  The other day, she went to play at Jason & Corina's and apparently when Uncle Jason asked her what they were celebrating, she responded with this: "Its not going to snow today in Thailand.  Its going to rain.  At Christmas time we went on a train." :)  Gotta love the randomness.  A couple of weeks ago, I was helping her onto the toilet when she, very dramatically, put her hand on my shoulder, furrowed her eyebrows in a sad expression, and said, "Its OK Mommy... its not your fault."  We've quickly realized just how careful we have to be with what we say because she is a SPONGE and mimics just about anything and everything she hears.
Last Friday, she and Jon went to the doctor for their follow-up appointments.  When it came time for the doctor to check Jon, Callie handed him her blankie, and said, "Here Daddy.  Take this.  It'll help."  She then instructed him, "Now sit niiiice and still Daddy."  I can already tell how "mothered" poor Marek is going to be as he grows up :)
She is extremely dramatic and almost always talks with her hands.  She loves to dance and quote long lines from movies and books.  I have a feeling we've got a little movie star in the making... yikes ;)
And as trying as this age of 3 has been, I still love the times when I can leave Marek with Jon for a couple of hours and spend some good one-on-one time with her.  Its amazing how much she'll tell me over an ice-cream or while she helps me with grocery shopping.  I sure do love this girly...

As for Jon and I, we're finishing up our last month of formal language studies at Araya Language School here in Chiang Mai.  At the end of October, we'll be making the big move down to Chonburi to begin ministry (and continue with language studies through a language helper).  Corina and I will be taking a little scouting trip down to Chonburi this weekend to see if we can find housing for all of us.  If you think of us, please pray!  Finding housing down there isn't as easy or accessible as it is up her in Chiang Mai so we're a bit worried we'll come up empty-handed.  Please pray that God will lead us to the right houses and that they'll be available for move-in when we move at the end of October.

It really is hard to believe that we're just a couple of weeks away from our 1 year mark.  If I'm completely honest, its been a tough first year but at the same time, its been amazing to see how God has come through for us again and again and again.  We serve a faithful God who cares deeply for us and for every aspect of our journey and we're so thankful for the ways He's protected, provided and comforted us over these past 11.5 months in Thailand.

Our Chiang Mai team--
Us, Jason & Corina, Jesse & Chase, and Andy & Carmen, Connor, Isaac & JJ

We're going to miss a lot of things about life here in Chiang Mai-- Andy & Carmen and Lauren & Steven, just to name a few. ;)  We feel deeply thankful for the friends God has given us while we've lived in Chiang Mai and hope that even though there will be a bit of distance geographically, that the relationships will stay strong and visits will be possible as often as we can make them happen.  A&C and L&S... thanks for making this a great year!  We love you guys more than you know!  Come visit as soon as you can! ;)

Safety first...

Hot season has officially hit here in Thailand, which means, we're always looking for ways to cool down.  Jon got up at 4am this morning to catch a "March Madness" game with a friend and when he left the house, shortly after 4, it was already 24 degrees celsius.  Needless to say, temperatures and humidity are "gettin' up there" during the heat of the day.

So, here's how Callie spent part of this evening.  

This kid isn't taking any chances.  

Safety must come first ;)

Our Callie-bear...

Many of you have been asking how Callie is doing these days so I thought I'd give a little update and share a few pictures of our ever-growing, ever-changing "big girl."  She's 2.5 years old now and definitely keeps us on our toes :)

One of the most incredible answers to prayer, that we've seen since being in Thailand, is that Callie feels totally comfortable with her nanny.  Not only is Callie comfortable with her nanny, Boh, but she absolutely adores her!  Boh comes to take care of Callie 3 days a week while we go to language school and I have to say... nothing warms my heart more these days, then when we arrive home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, to the sounds of sheer joy and laughter as Callie plays in the backyard with Boh, or we find them playing toys inside together.  And without fail, each time we return home, Callie comes running to me, declaring, "Mommy!  I had SOOO much fun with Phii Boh today!"  Its incredible and we truly see Boh as one of God's biggest gifts to us here.

Callie's other favourite person here in Thailand is "Auntie" Carmen.  Our dear friend and fellow teammate, Carmen, takes Callie the other 2 mornings a week while we're at school, and its never hard to get Callie out the door in the morning when she knows she's going to Auntie Carmen's house.  Here is just ONE of the many beautiful pieces of art she's crafted while with Auntie Carmen :)

Carmen has a daughter, JJ, who is just 6 months older than Callie.  Although the closeness in age proves to make things "interesting" at times, they're learning how to play better together everyday and I can see that a friendship is blossoming between them.  I mean... what says friendship more than a shirtless painting session, right!? ;)

As I've mentioned in another post, Callie absolutely LOVES the outdoor playground at the Chiang Mai Night Safari.  It truly is her "happy place."  Here she is enjoying the climbing structures/slides on a morning out with Auntie Carmen and JJ...

So. much. FUN. :)

Other than that, Callie continues to show us the terrible/wonderful sides of the age of 2.  (Those who have kids or nieces and nephews will understand this very well :))  And although there are moments where I contemplate pulling my hair out, I have to say that the good far outweighs the bad and she brings us SO much joy.  She's constantly talking our ears off and telling us the funniest stories (if only I could daily videotape the crazy stuff she says) and we're really trying to savour these last couple of months we have with just her (before the baby arrives).

So that is just a really brief update on our little monkey.  Thanks to those of you who have faithfully pray for this little one... she has adjusted quite well to life here in Thailand and we know its been a true answer to prayer.

Its the small stuff...

When you live away from "home" and can't get familiar foods as easily, it really is the small things that make all the difference.  For us, home cooked dinners are an incredibly comforting thing these days but really don't happen all that often.  As I've mentioned in other posts, it doesn't always pay to cook at home when our whole family can eat Thai food for $3 total.

But, nonetheless, I've really been craving good-home-cooked-meals lately and so I've been doing a bit more in the kitchen these days.

I made BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for supper last week and we all enjoyed it so much, I'm going to make it again tonight.  This may seem funny to you, but let me just say again...

Its the small stuff that makes ALL the difference. :)

Thaan 'aahaan...

If there's something the Thai people do really well, its food.  They sure know how to whip up some tasty dishes.  One of the local food markets is just a 10-15 minute bike ride from our house, so it makes for a nice, easy meal when we don't feel like cooking.  And its a great place to practice our ever-expanding Thai phrases.  For those that are curious, the words "thaan 'aahaan" (pronounced TAN-AH-HAN) mean to "eat food."  

Eating is serious business people, serious business... :)

Can you believe that all 3 of us can eat for around $3?  

Its true.

These delicious Thai meals cost around 1 Canadian dollar each.

Not much beats that.

Food.  Such a wonderful thing. :)

Thankful...

I'll admit, when we left Canada just after Canadian Thanksgiving, I assumed that that would be the last turkey I would eat for a long, long time.  I didn't think you could even buy turkeys in Thailand.  And I hadn't even considered the fact that our teammates were American and celebrate Thanksgiving in late November.

But much to my surprise and delight, you CAN actually purchase turkeys here in Thailand, and Andy & Carmen (very conveniently) happen to be Americans, soooo.......

..... we get to eat turkey this weekend!!! :)

We're planning to have a Thanksgiving meal with the Owen family tomorrow, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the fixins' :)  I can't wait.  I plan to gain back all the weight I've lost from biking everywhere these days ;)

So on the topic of thankfulness, I thought I would list a few of the things I'm feeling thankful for right now.  It can be easy to point out all of the negatives when you're new to a country and everything feels overwhelming.  But I'm learning how important it is to pick out the good things as a way of moving forward and feeling more comfortable in our new home.

So, here are a few things I'm thankful for today:

- Thankful for cooler mornings... to the point of wearing long pants or putting on a sweater every now and then.  If you know Thailand, you'll know how refreshing this is :)

- Thankful for a husband and daughter who love me and whom I love to bits!

- Thankful for Andy & Carmen and for all they've done to help us get started here in Chiang Mai

- Thankful for a language teacher who is encouraging us and helping us move closer and closer to being able to communicate in the Thai language

- Thankful for a nanny/housekeeper who is WONDERFUL and takes such great care of Callie and our house.  We just LOVE her!

- Thankful for cheap iced-coffees and a new relationship that's blossoming with a Thai woman who runs a coffee shop just down the street from our school.  We study at her coffee shop a couple of times a week and are enjoying the fun we have practicing our thai with her.

- Thankful that I don't think twice about throwing the toilet paper in the garbage now instead of into the toilet (... ok, ok... I know that's "TMI" but hey... its the LITTLE things people... the little things that mean a lot.... and this was something that felt SO UNNATURAL when we first arrived!) :)

- Thankful for lots of exercise and feeling healthy

- Thankful for a spacious home to relax in and find rest

- Thankful that our bike ride to school feels so familiar and "routine" now

- Thankful for all of our loving friends, family and supporters back home who are praying for us and cheering us on!!

....... just to name a few ;)

Happy American Thanksgiving everyone!

Back in the dating saddle again...

If you're married, you'll know how important it is to keep dating your spouse, even after being married for years.  Its so crucial to take time out of life's busyness and just enjoy one another's company.  And if there's ever a time that Jon and I have felt the need for this, it is NOW.

Its so easy to get caught up in the chaos and overwhelming routine of our lives here now, and too easy to forget to make time for each other, outside of studying and eating meals.  This is also especially tough because we don't have grandparents at our door, ready to watch Callie at the drop of a hat.  (Oh grandparents, how we miss you for SO many reasons!! :) )

But thankfully, our dear friend Carmen just happens to be absolutely incredible and offered to take Callie on Friday night so that we could have a 'night on the town... alone!'  We gratefully accepted and after dropping Callie off, we caught a songtaew (public transport) to the old part of the city in search of some Mexican food and good ol' market shopping.

Chiang Mai is absolutely beautiful at night...

We had to walk several blocks and stop to ask for directions a few times before we finally made it to our destination.  Thankfully, Thai people are friendly and were more than happy to help us find our way.  Here's Jon stopping to ask if we were going in the right direction.  What a good man... :)

And..... we finally made it!  

(Now, I know some of you are questioning why we wouldn't go for Thai food.  Well... its for obvious reasons.  We get Thai food EVERDAY, so our tastebuds were craving something more familiar.  Something smothered in sour cream and fresh salsa.)

If you're ever in Chiang Mai, we can officially say you NEED to eat at "Miguel's Cafe."  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

The portions were HUGE but the prices weren't.  What else could a person ask for?

Even after (literally) stuffing ourselves with nachos and chimichangas, we knew we couldn't pass up their $3 banana split. 

And here's a funny/humbling little story to go along with it:

In Thai, the words "banana" and "salt" are extremely similar.  

I couldn't figure out why the waitress was staring at me in total confusion when I tried to order our banana split.  

I kept asking and she kept staring blankly at me.  

I was even pointing at the picture of it on the menu.  What could possibly be so confusing??

 Finally, Jon realized that I was asking for salt, not a banana split. :)  

Oops.  Definitely don't bring me that.  

In the end, she did bring us a banana split and it was delicious.

After our scrumptious meal, we walked down towards the old city gate, only to stumble across a HUGE city-wide worship service.  It was incredible to see thousands of Thai believers, gathered by the city gate, singing and worshipping God.  It was also neat to see how many Thai people were wandering over to see what was going on.
I couldn't help but wonder how many Thai people might come to Christ that night and the fact that God had a specific plan for those that did.  It was obvious that the gathering was having a big impact.
We both found this incredibly encouraging, and it made us look forward to the day when we'll be able to verbally communicate Christ's love to the Thai people.

After a little market perusing, we waved down a 'tuk-tuk' (another form of public transportation) and made our way home.  

The evening was a ton of fun and so refreshing for both of us.  Its amazing what a night off can do for the soul :)  I think it gave both of us the energy we needed to make it through another week of language study.

Meat for the masses...

Shopping for meat is a very unique experience here in Thailand. Upon first glance, I was appalled at how you purchase meat at the grocery stores here.   It just seemed so 'unhygienic' to me, laid out in the open like that.
But, I don't think Jon has any immediate plans of becoming a vegetarian (and neither do I for that matter) so I just had to 'go for it.'

So, here's to chicken... and every other kind of meat your heart desires.  Mmmm??  

Doesn't that just tantalize the taste buds? ;)

Progress is a wonderful thing...

We're on Day 4 of our language learning and actually feeling some encouragement!  Our first 3 days were focused on the phonetics of the Thai language and proper pronunciation.  At first, it seemed a bit repetitive and tedious but now as we look back at the last few days, we truly understand the importance of these things.

First day with our new teacher at Araya Language School

We're now able to read Thai words phonetically (not yet in the Thai script... that comes later) and can properly say them.  Its amazing what a difference this makes!  Our teacher, Khruu NiiTaa, has been extremely encouraging and tells us that we're advancing quickly, and very well.  She says that most "farangs" (foreigners) take a long time with the phonetics/pronunciation and can't move on for a while, so we'll take this as a gift from the Lord :)

Its amazing how much we have to throw our own English alphabet out the window in order to grasp this new language.  Suddenly the letter c makes a "j" sound, the letter b makes more of a "p" sound, the letter "k" is supposed to sound more like a "g"... everything is new and feels so backwards to us :)  But we're slowly getting it and excited about our new discoveries.

In other news... one of our first discoveries upon staying in our new home, was the fact that our neighbours have a rooster.  Said rooster awakes at approx. 5am and does not stop telling us its awake until well after 8am.

So, while we were looking for coffee mugs in 'Big C' (Thailand's equivalent to Walmart), we knew it was a prophetic moment when we found these rooster mugs.  We both laughed and agreed we needed to buy them.

I mean, really... if you can't beat 'em, you may as well join 'em, right!? :)

Enjoying our morning rooster routine

Other than that, we continue to buy more things to fill our home and try to unpack a bit more each time we do.  It'll still be a while before we can fully unpack, as we need to purchase at least two more armoires.  Thai homes rarely, if ever, come with closets in the rooms and so, other than the small one our house came with, we have nowhere to hang our things.  Hoping this will be one of our weekend purchases.  I'll add more pictures of our house once I feel it looks picture-worthy.  Right now, its still a 'work-in-progress.' :)

Callie continues to do quite well here and is slowly getting more and more comfortable with the Thai Nanny that cares for her 3 days of the week while we're at school.  She's also learning to get along with her playmate JJ (Andy & Carmen's daughter) a bit better these days (let's just say they're only 6 months apart and still learning to play together :) ) and even decided it was "OK" to hold hands while watching TV the other day.  I definitely had an "awwww" moment when I received this picture from Carmen earlier in the week...

Learning to be friends

Callie-bear

Well, that's all for now.  Thanks to everyone who continues to read our updates and encourage us with your kind words.  We couldn't do this without the support of all of you and really do appreciate you more than you know!  Hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Animals make everything OK...

I guess I'm back-tracking a bit with this post, but I know some of you family & friend folk out there would like to see these pictures.  So, here you go. :)

Our first day in Chiang Mai required some time for house-hunting, but after being cooped up on a plane, I knew Callie wouldn't be interested in wandering through empty homes with Carmen, Jon and I.
So, Andy very graciously invited Callie to join him and the kids at the park/zoo.  Jon and I weren't sure how Callie would feel about heading off without us so soon, but she ended up having a blast!  It was so reassuring for us, as we've worried about her and the many changes that have come over the last month(s).  Andy kept sending us pictures from his phone while we house-hunted and with each new picture, our hearts were put at ease.  Callie will be just fine here :)

They got to enjoy some ice-cream together...

Callie got acquainted with "the girls"...

She got to ride a toy zebra...

She got to visit a real, live tiger... (which surprisingly, isn't a first for her :) )

And she quickly fell in love with her new "cousin" Connor...

All in all, a pretty fantastic first day in Chiang Mai for our big girl.

Our first home!

We just got back from signing the lease for our FIRST HOME IN THAILAND!!!!  Its an exciting day for us!  We'll be moving in on Sunday.... just 2 days away!

So thankful for the way the Father provides.  We love the neighbourhood its in and its a really short bike ride from our language school.  Just feels perfect.  We also bought our first bikes today and are excited to be 'mobile' again :)
I'll be sure to post pictures of our place once we're settled in.  Just wanted to share the good news!

Quick update...

For those who follow the news, you'll know that the flooding in Bangkok has gone from bad to worse.  In fact, its gotten so bad that the country has called for a national holiday, lasting until next Tuesday, just to give people a chance to flee the city.  Because of everyone trying to get out of Bangkok, Chonburi is filled to the max.  Apparently, there isn't a single room available now in any of the hotels, guesthouses or resorts here until well into November.  We've definitely noticed an influx in traffic and busyness here.  Its so sad to think that most of the people coming here are leaving everything they have, and it may all be under water in a matter of days (or already is).

The 'downer' for us in all of this, is that because of the flooding, all of the flights out of Bangkok to Chiang Mai are booked solid and we're having a hard time finding a flight out.  We had hoped to leave tomorrow (Thursday) but at this point, we're not sure whether we'll be able to.  Please PRAY that there will be a flight open for us.  We are eager to get up to Chiang Mai so that we will have time to find a house before language school starts on Nov. 7th.

In other news, we spent a good portion of this morning, having a tour of the new ALH houses (the Abundant Life Home orphanage) here in Chonburi.  Its incredible to see the 4 houses that have already been built and 1-2 of the houses are moved into already.  When we came 2 years ago, they were still praying about buying land for the orphanage but nothing had started yet.  So it was very cool to see the houses up now and the children enjoying their new homes.  Jon spent most of the morning building blocks and tracks with one of the ALH boys, Apilak.  He seemed to love the attention and even gave me a 'gift' when we left-- a yellow flower brooch. :)  These kids are amazing and touch our hearts each time we get to see them/spend time with them.

The rest of the day has been spent trying to get the rest of our worker permit paperwork in order, as well as flights for Chiang Mai.  We look forward to an evening dinner with the Sanchez family and some pastors that are here visiting from Bakersfield, California.

Anyway... that's it for now. I want to leave you with a little Francis Chan clip that a friend sent me yesterday.  It was exactly the encouragement I needed and I hope it encourages you too! Please check it out HERE!

Hoping our next post will be from Chiang Mai... :)