We're Back

The pic at the top of the last post was clip art-- this one's for real!

It's taken me a few days to recover from our trip, but we're back. Thanks so much for your prayers! I still had on my "sunny tropical" emotional hat when I went out yesterday to catch a taxi without my coat on. Surely it won't be that cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Perhaps a "Top 10 most memorable experiences" list would best suffice to tell you about our time away. Not in any particular order:

1. The girls' excitement at each airplane take off. "We're blast-offing! We're blast-offing!" they would yell. Just over 4 hours from BJ to Bangkok--SO much better than crossing the ocean!

2. Watching my husband teach. He loves it. He's good at it. He blesses people. He worked hard. Every day for two weeks, he came back to our hotel room after I went to bed and left again the next morning around 5am. He's tired. I love him.

3. Praise and worship shared by co-workers from 13 different countries!

4. Fun new finds at the bookstore! (Our conference holds a great staff bookstore.) Don't know when I'll fit them in, but here are some of my fun new finds:
Christ Plays in 10,000 Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology, by Eugene Peterson
Care for the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Psychology and Theology, by McMinn
There were some other homeschooling books, but these are just for me! :) If I had time this semester to finish both of these, I would be pleasantly shocked!

5. Rubbing shoulders and enjoying many sharpening conversations with other moms and seasonsed ministry leaders. Lots of great food for thought about personal development and the girls' education living overseas. So much I have to learn; So many things to decide. More on this later. And I must note, that my ability to participate in much of the conference was due to an amazing team of childcare workers that came from a church in Iowa just to make it possible for our moms and dads to attend! Thank you!

6. Ellie's 3rd birthday! Here's a link to some pics of her party I put up on snapfish you can paste into your browser. http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=503111202736685273/l=350820482/g=114358941/otsc=SYE/otsi=SAIS
We spent two days after the conference with our good friends, Will and Tina Mayborn and Will's parents who came to vacation in Thailand too. (Ellie and Micah were born in Dallas, 2 days apart. Jim & I went to go visit Micah when he was born in the hospital, and then I went into labor myself that night! But for the record, Ellie was due 5 days before Micah!)


















7. Lots of time with my good friend Amy. Did you know we came to Asia together in 1996? Still here together. Kathryn and her daughter Makayla made some great connections too! :) Most of our time was spent outside the door of my hotel room, after the girls had fallen asleep. You take it any way you can get it.

8. Date night at the "cliffs" restuarant, Koh Samui, Thailand. Awesome. Best three hours of vacation. After our conference and development week were over, we had 5 days of vacation. We traded "date night" with a couple on our team. After this night, Kathryn ran a fever that last for 2 days, then Ellie began throwing up. Next day it was time to come home. So that's why it was the best of vacation... But it was truly beautiful! See what I mean?












9. Losing my wedding rings, and then finding them again in a guest house in Chiang Mai. I asked Ellie if she had seen them and she said "Yes, mommy, they were right here behind the bed." I assumed she didn't know what she was talking about. I was wrong. Took about an hour, (at which time there was a bit of panic), but when they were found Ellie said "See, mommy--there they are!"

10. A few choice sunrises and sunsets: (I've never seen one since we moved to China.) One on the airplane as we flew "against" time, so the sunset lasted over an hour! I also shared one amazing sunrise with a stray dog who came to join me... He came towards me, and I was about to shoo him away when sat down at my feet and began watching the sunrise too. I love that beautiful hot pink sliver that first crests over the horizon! The girls noted too that beautiful pink a few mornings from our hotel window. They are convinced that pink is God's favorite color...after all, it is the first one he shows off every morning! :)

...And so glad to be back in our own home!