Thursday, November 7, 2013

We're baaaaack! ;)

Wow.  My last post was literally months ago.  Sorry about that!  My excuse?  Well... the same as everyone else, I guess.  Life has been busy and I actually kind of forgot about this blog all together, to be honest :)

But, lots has happened over the last few months and so I'll try to get you caught up via pictures.

For starters, our kids are growing up WAY too fast... especially Marek.  And he's such a character.
Jon had given him a custard bun to eat on the way home from a meeting and turned around to see this...


... so exhausted he couldn't even finish his mouthful ;)

And Callie, well... she's so grown up as well.  Even started golfing with her Daddy...

Speaking of being a little character...

We had a chance to do a little weekend road trip up to Chiang Mai a couple of months ago.  We had to drop off our car (our friends are selling it up there for us) and also wanted to see some of our dear friends.  Considering the 9 hour drive, the kids did really well.

Callie and Daddy were delighted to find corn dogs at one of the gas stations we stopped at...

... and we were so excited to see some of our old friends at our favourite market in Chiang Mai.  
Dtan and her husband have the best restaurant in the market, by far! :)  We've missed our almost daily visits to their spot in the food court.  
Marek loved meeting their daughter, Dtenggwa (which is Thai for "cucumber").  They're just a few months apart in age.

And of course, Marek was pumped to see his little buddy, William.  It was so fun and refreshing to be with our amazing friends, Lauren & Steven, again.  

And of course, our dear friend, P'Boh and her family.  She was our maebaan (house helper) during our year in Chiang Mai and is honestly like family to us.  We surprised her with our visit and it was honestly one of the most heartwarming things watching Callie run into her arms and embrace her!  I couldn't help but tear up.  We had such a great visit with them!

Even though Marek was only 5 months old when we left Chiang Mai, I swear he remembered P'Boh.  
He loooooved being with her :)


In September, Jon and I were able to take a little solo vacation for 3 nights.  We celebrated our 8th anniversary in August so this was our chance to have a little "us time." We found an INCREDIBLE seat sale with Air Asia and had booked it over a year ago.  We managed to get roundtrip flights for the 2 of us to Krabi for only $60!  Taxes in and everything!  We just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!  So, bless "Auntie" Sandy's heart for being willing to come stay with our kids while we got away for a little R&R.

And boy was it amaaaaazing!  Krabi is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful and we had such a fun time relaxing together and stepping away from the busyness of life for a few days.


I mean, really.... isn't that water incredible!?  I took these pictures with Jon's phone so there wasn't even a filter used.  That was literally the colour of the water.  So.beautiful.


As for ministry, we had a bit of a lull last month and had to cancel our weekly outreach several times (due to rain & flooding, etc.) but we started up again last week and are thankful for the same faithful kids that have continued to come, week after week, for the last (almost) year!


Couldn't resist posting one more... such a ham!

And the biggest news of all... WE FINALLY MOVED!!  
Most of you have heard that already but if not, let me know and I'll send you our last newsletter that tells the miraculous story of God's provision of a new rental house for our family!

We've been in our new place for a couple of weeks now and are slooooowly getting settled in. Between having Jon gone for a week (to Canada) and being at MB Mission's ASRAC (Asia Retreat and Consultation) for a week, we haven't had a ton of time to unpack.  But we're starting to make some progress and it feels good to check things off the list! We absolutely LOVE our new place and are enjoying the convenience of living closer to everything as well!

Well, that's all I've got for now.  But thanks for continuing to check in and I'll try to update more often! "Try" being the key word there ;)