Learning Lots!

Tim and I recently had a break from class and were able to spend some good quality time with our kiddos and we got to know our way around our city a little more. I titled this post Learning Lots because that's what it feels like we are doing here daily. Whether it is learning new words and phrases in the local language, how to use different modes of transportation, or riding a bike, someone is always learning something in our family. Here are some pictures of what we did during our break.

This girl surprises me every day! She wants to try everything. She will try new foods, activities, reading hard books, etc.  She received a hand me down bike from a friend who was moving away and Tim took her out to ride and she learned that day. She worked so hard and we are so proud of her. She had a pretty bad fall on the concrete about a week after starting to ride. She got banged up pretty badly but she has kept right on going. This picture above is her at a local store. She saw kids roller-blading and had asked us every day for about 2 or 3 weeks to take her to try them out. I must add that this little lady has read a ton of Magic Treehouse books this summer and can now do an entire load of laundry from start to finish all by herself. This includes hanging all the laundry in the sunroom. 

Huge lake tucked away in our big city. Not far from our home. Enjoyed watching people swim and having family worship here.

Amazing indoor playground at the Children's Mall. Great way to beat the heat and get some energy out.  A friend from our local fellowship back in NC came to our country on business. He took the train to visit us and it was a great time getting to know him a little better. I tell everyone he was the perfect first guest because he was much more capable of getting around our city/country than we are yet. He speaks the local language really well, is quite adventurous and found our place all on his own, and he was very low maintenance as most guys are. He really did bless us and our kids by taking us to this mall and treating the kids to a fun time and taking us out to dinner. So thankful for a local fellowship that loves well.

Zeke man couldn't be happier.

Where's Mei Lin?

Another fun day we had was a short staycation in our city. We rode about 10 minutes (or less) up the rode and stayed the night in a hotel that had a swimming pool. We had a great room with a wonderful view of the city and two bathtubs. The kids, and I, enjoyed that because we don't have a tub in our home. From one of the rooms we were able to see a really cool light and water show. Even though our trip was only 24 hours and a couple miles down the road, it was very fun and full.

Daddy/daughter breakfast date. For some reason only two people were allowed to eat the free breakfast offered at our hotel. No worries for us because it definitely wasn't an American breakfast. These two took advantage of the free breakfast and enjoyed a little date together. 

Damaris didn't do too bad taking a picture of her daddy. He loved it!

Didi floating in the cold pool.

Everyone enjoyed being able to swim and relax.

Our city has a well-known "water park" that people kept mentioning to us. Our older kids visited it at the end of last school year for their field trip. When I say "water park" just think of a park that has water, maybe a lake next to it. It's not the same thing we think of in America when we say water park. Admission was free and we paid to ride a few rides. We should have charged everyone who was taking our pictures, then we could have ridden every ride we wanted as many times as we wanted.

Mama and Mei Mei got the first ride on cute mini water log ride. I was surprised she loved it.

Ezekiel driving the bumper cars. He loved it! We all did!

Didi and Mom on the mini water ride.

Who doesn't love shooting aliens with water? The boys sure did!

These two! I think they like each other! I missed getting their picture when they rode the huge ferris wheel. I took the other kids to a shady spot to rest, or so I thought. We were immediately the center of attention. People surrounded me asking questions about our children and what we were doing here. It was good language practice but not very restful.

More bumper car fun!

I mentioned we are all learning new things here constantly. Ezekiel has learned to do dishes!! We do have a house helper who does this most of the time but when she is off and Ezekiel is "bored" he gets to help do the dishes. 

And one last picture of our daily adventures. We finally got a flat tire.  I was surprised we hadn't had one sooner. Unfortunately Tim was about 3 miles from home with the bike loaded down with groceries and he had to walk the whole way back. Thankfully this man is right on the corner where we live. Tim took the bike down to him and he had the hole plugged in just a few minutes all for a grand total of $1, nice!

Bustling Bangkok

A couple weeks ago we had, yes "had, must, it was absolutely necessary," to go to Bangkok. We had heard a lot about this city and this beautiful country and looked forward to taking in some sites while we waited on our paper work to be processed. What we didn't realize is that Bangkok has a few million more people in it than our city does and it is extremely crowded. Maybe some people enjoy literally "dragging" their kids through the crazy streets there. It was a little more stressful than  enjoyable weaving in and out of the crowds, but we did find some fun and relaxing things to do. Enjoy the few pictures we took during our travels.

I have always thought "Duty Free" was a funny phrase. You see it and hear it everywhere when traveling abroad. My quick witted husband made use of this duty free bag during our layover in Korea. No further caption needed.

This picture was taken while we were waiting on the water taxi our first morning in Bangkok. A friend had told us about these taxis and I had pictured someone driving a small boat gently down the river, stopping and waiting patiently while people got on and off the boat. I had also pictured a boat about 1/5th the size of this one. These boat taxis fly through the waterway. The one we got on didn't even stop. We were just tossing our kiddos over to strangers in the boat while we all tried to get on safely. That was the first and last time we made use of this mode of transportation. Maybe we will try it again in a few years when all the kids can handle themselves and I don't have to worry about them not being able to swim. 

  Speaking of swimming, this is one our family's favorite activities. We love the water! We had an amazing time at Fantasia Lagoon in Bangkok. It wasn't very expensive. It wasn't crowded at all and it was perfect for our kids' ages and swimming abilities. This water park is on top of a 7 story mall so the view is amazing when you climb the slide towers. We had so much fun we decided to go back and do the water park another day. We all had to wear these cute swimming hats but thankfully the kids didn't mind. Surprisingly they told Tim he didn't need one!

The guesthouse we stayed at in Bangkok was very quiet and well-suited for our family. There was an enclosed, grassy area with a small basketball court, some swings, riding toys, and something new to our kids- tether ball. The kids enjoyed running around in green grass and also enjoyed learning how to play tether ball. The city we live in is not very humid, compared to living in N.C., and our city is not humid at all compared to Thailand. Wow! We played outside a lot and sweated a lot. Returning home was nice in that you can walk outside and be fairly comfortable even at 90 degrees F.

Didi enjoying a the big swing all by himself.

Damaris and Ezekiel had a lot of fun playing this game. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood, as well as some good Napoleon Dynamite quotes.

This is how we walked through the streets of Bangkok most of the time. It was so crowded that our family definitely couldn't spread out and I wanted to make sure we didn't lose anyone. The kids came up with this train idea so they all grabbed on to the person in front of them. It worked pretty well most of the time. 

Our last day in Thailand we decided to venture to a mall close by. They had some cool slides inside that the kids played on and a Toys R Us. We stumbled across this cute restaurant that mainly served waffles and milkshakes. It was so delicious. We haven't had waffles like this in a long time, maybe ever. They even came with a scoop of ice cream on the side. The service was a little slow, thankfully. Halfway through receiving our order we had to cancel some of our orders because the portions were so much larger than we expected.

A boy after my own heart. He and I LOVE chocolate!

Big chairs and teddy bears! What could be more fun! Haven't eaten in a restaurant like this before.

Thumbs up for this strawberry loving guy!

Biking in East Asia

Today as I rode home from school on my fancy, smanshy e-bike I thought about how much my perspective on driving (my bike) here has changed just in the first few weeks. Here are a few of MY observations. I'm sure that my perspective will change even more as I learn to maneuver even more through this city of 13 million.

1. Riding in a big city is actually fun. I was definitely cautious to begin with, and still am, but I enjoy the ride to school or other places.

2. Having a horn blown at you is a loving thing, not rude. When we first started riding having the horn blown ALL the time bothered me a little because I didn't know the flow of things. Now I know that people use their horns out of necessity and they really don't want to run over. They are actually conscious of other drivers, walkers, etc. I haven't started using my horn yet but I have a feeling I will be soon.

3. Always wear your mask, no matter the pollution level. It is nice to enjoy fresh air, when there is some, but riding through the city is just kind of nasty with exhaust, pollution, other smells I will not indulge you in, and these weird white things that float through our city. I'm told they are some sort of flower. Honestly it looks like a factory that makes stuffed animals exploded and this stuff just flies through the air. Our friend said one day is was so bad it looked like it was snowing outside and the ground was white.

4. Most drivers actually follow the rules of no cars in the bike lane. Of course the massive city buses use the bike lane to let riders on and off, so you have to make sure you don't hit a rider as they are stepping off the bus :)  Some drivers think the bike lane is optional for them to drive in.

5. Watch cars turning right! There is no right on red AFTER you stop. It is just keep going right no matter what the light says, so always looks.

6. You can fit a bike through some really tight spaces. I hadn't rode a bike in years and was nervous about riding through the cones and tiny gates here but a bike can fight some really tight spots.

*** I composed this post a while back so here are a few updates on riding in the city since we started several months ago.

1. If you hear someone clear their throat really loudly, look! You don't want to be hit by flying spit. (Hasn't happened yet thankfully!)

2. Be wary of men riding with their fishing poles. The wind blows strong here at times and those weights and hooks fly with the wind.

3. There are a few people we will regularly on our rides to and from school. One sweet scene I delight to see is an older man, probably in his 70s, pedaling his bike with his granddaughter in the back. The granddaughter is always asleep. I think it is so sweet to see this man working so hard to love his granddaughter.

I'm sure there are more things I can't remember now so there will be more riding adventure updates at another time. For now I'm thankful for His grace and protection as we ride each day. It may be polluted, hot, or rainy but I always enjoy the ride and it is a good time to see the people of this city and intercede for them.

This picture is from the spring. This is still what I look like most days, except right now no heavy coat. Mask, helmet, and sunglasses even if it's rainy or cloudy to keep all the dirt out of my eyes. Tim looks much more awesome on his mountain bike. I will have to post a picture of him next.

Bon Voyage, Birthday, and Bittersweet Goodbyes

We are so thankful to have family and friends that love us so dearly. My parents housed us and fed us for months while we waited out our paper work getting straight. They helped us packed and got up at 3:30 in the morning with us to drive us to the airport. The night before we left was filled with lots of laughs, definitely some tears, and a lot of good time with family and friends.

Both of Tim's sisters came to Raleigh to say goodbye. Tim is a little blurry because, well, he was just being himself-silly.

Thanks to the junior and senior Cordell families for housing us, feeding us, and providing a lot of entertainment our last night in Raleigh. We were also very blessed to get see our good friends the Williams family!

Try as I may, keeping a surprise 40th birthday party a surprise was not very successful. The party itself, however was a huge success. Lots of family and friends came down to SC to the River for a fun celebration. Thank you to every one who drove so far to be a part of my wonderful husband's big day. The day was filled with eating, skeet shooting, skeet catching, and lots of good laughs and memories.

Our sweet friends, the Thompson family, came to celebrate and say goodbye as well. We miss you guys!

Can't wait to see what our next picture will look like in a few years?

40 candles and the smoke detector did not go off!

Sweet family time. Uncle Darrell and Ezekiel.

Tim and his good, college buddy Shane. He drove a LONG way just to spend the day with Tim. This was about the only surprise I managed to pull off. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you from our family! We hope you are treasure Christ this Christmas. He is the long-awaited Savior, the Prince of Peace, Mighty God, our Advocate, the seed of Abraham, and so much more. We have been studying some of the names of God together during advent. A dear friend stamped these names on coins and gave them to us as a gift before we left. We have all enjoyed learning more about God and hanging each name during our family worship in the evenings.

Cousins in their Christmas jammies. We were heading out to see the Christmas lights in our PJs.

Tim and I laugh so hard at the Holderness family videos. If you need a good laugh check our Christmas Jammies here or another one of their videos.

All our family with us celebrating our commissioning.

Month in Review

The past month has been very busy as we wrapped up our time in Virginia and have been traveling around visiting family for Christmas. It's been almost a month since we celebrated Ezekiel's birthday. He turned 9 the week of Thanksgiving. We were blessed to be able to celebrate his birthday over Thanksgiving with ALL of our family. Our sweet friends at training also threw him an amazing party in our quad. Enjoy the pictures of our celebrations.

Ezekiel with one of his birthday gifts. He's really in to The Hobbit right now even though he has never seen it. He and Tim are reading the book.

He requested breakfast in bed. We had to make him get back in bed because he gets up so early.

9 birthday spankings, and one to grow on.

There's always a birthday call from Papa, aka The Birthday Bandit.

BJ Bear helped us celebrate. This amazing R2-D2 was made by one of our very talented quadmates. Thank you so much Stephanie.

Mei Mei enjoyed the party with her cheesy fingers.

The boys sword fighting with balloon swords. They had a wild and crazy time.

Is that K with her ears plugged in the background?

My family graciously drove to NC so we could celebrate Thanksgiving and Ezekiel's birthday with Tim's family too. Aunt Emmy and Damaris always take such good pictures together.

The birthday boy with his Lego Movie cake that Emmy and Dustin made for him. It looked great and tasted amazing. How did 9 years pass so quickly? I love the boy he is becoming. He has his struggles but he is very caring and loving of others. He really enjoys reading Bible stories and Awana books. Sometime the house is quiet and I go looking for him and find him reading the Bible. His heart is very sensitive to the things of the Lord and he says he loves God and believes Jesus took his punishment on the cross. We pray God will continue to mold his heart and mind and grow him into a man who loves God with all his heart and finds his joy in Him. Happy Birthday again big guy!

Sweet Didi enjoyed the party and these great hats Emmy and Dustin made.

Cousin Jason! Doesn't he look like the kid off The Christmas Story?

Damaris sporting Wild Style off The Lego Movie.

Yay for cousins Heath (above) and Jude (below) coming to celebrate. 

The famous Stephanie who is a balloon artist and Hobbit expert.