The Commuters

I shot this before class last week. I assume these guys work at the same place. "You wore your red shirt and black pants too!?"

Life on the Street

I've been carrying my camera with me more lately.
Here are a couple of images from my bus ride home today.
- Tim

...And Many More

We celebrated our 8-year anniversary earlier this month. Tim's mom was here, and she gave us the incredible gift of time. I met him downtown after language school and we spent the entire afternoon and evening together, enjoying some of our favorite places (me-bookstores, Tim- Apple Store and music stores). We had two lovely meals out together (which is a real treat these days). This picture was taken at dinner at a place called Orangery, at the top of Siam Paragon, the glitziest mall in Bangkok.

Eight years of fun and adventure with my best friend. We are truly thankful.

Out and About in Thailand

We haven't posted a great many "out and about" pictures since we've been here. And that's because we've spent a pretty limited time out and about! When we got here we were in survival mode, and then our boy came along, which perpetuated the survival mode status. Now that he's getting some size on him (boy, is he!), we're able to do a bit more, which is fun.

Tim's family visited after Christmas, and their visit was well-timed for us to get out and do a few things. Tim took them down to the Grand Palace, the home of the kings of Thailand in bygone days. We also went up to Khao Yai National Park, where Tim got the leeches several months ago. We weren't quite so adventurous to wade into leech-infested waters, but we did see some wildlife. Sadly, though, no elephants. Here are some glimpses of our time out on the town ...

The Mills do the Grand Palace...

A temple guard at the Palace...these guys are good at their jobs.

A close-up of a portion of wall mural in the Palace. This place is really so overwhelming in its grandeur that it's impossible to capture it in a few pictures. You'll have to see it for yourselves!

Tim, Emmy and Kari in the jungles of Khao Yai...

The monkeys are really fun to see. They come quite close, as they're hoping for food. They're friendly to people as potential feeders, but can get quite nasty with each other. We all gave them LOTS of room when a spat started over food. A monkey fight is definitely something to steer clear of.
This is a monitor lizard, and they're quite common here. You'll see them walking about, even in public places, and nobody seems to think much of it that there's an alligator-like creature in their midst. I've even seen one in our neighborhood. We thought this guy was big...

Until we saw this guy!

Asa gets eaten by Granna...I love this picture.

Tim and Kari spent a day downtown shopping, and Kari got her fix of Americana!

They were also treated to a Thai rap concert at one of the malls. Big events like concerts are quite common at malls, especially on the weekends. Malls can be very LOUD here!

The day they left, Kari and I got massages. This is a must when you all come to visit!

...And we're back again!

Hello all...it's been quite a while...

We had a good first Christmas far away, at times difficult but also joyful. Tim's family came to visit right after Christmas, so that's kept us quite busy for the last few weeks. We hosted a neighborhood party just before Christmas, as well as a huge Christmas service/gathering at our office to share the story of Christmas with the people in that neighbhorhood. It was an exciting time.

We thought we'd post a few pictures from the holidays to catch up, followed soon by an update of the time since then... (the guy up above was at the National Park we visited after Christmas; more about that later)...

Christmas morning! We were in the midst of our "cold spell" (highs in the 80's), so it was chilly enough at night and in the mornings that we had to put a sleeper on Asa. It was nice, because it made us feel a little more wintery...

Here's Asa in his sweet Christmas outfit that his Auntie Beth sent for him to wear...I just loved it!

Our team came over on Christmas afternoon to eat, enjoy each other and play games. We also went caroling at our neighbor's house. Kim was (and is) on bedrest, so she "missed" Christmas. We stood outside their house and sang carols while Jack held his cell phone so that she could hear well. It was an enormous blessing for us to be with them when we were so far removed from the people and places we hold dear and wished to be with on Christmas!