Baby

I'm nearing 39 weeks and feel like I'm 42! Such is the end of a pregnancy. I'm at the point where I get many comments by strangers and friends alike, and I've recently enjoyed hearing such adjectives as "huge", "ready to pop", and, my personal favorite, "absurd" :). I had an appointment yesterday and nothing super exciting is happening, but I feel like things are moving in the right direction. For posterity and for our far-flung loved ones, here are some recent pictures that show off Baby in his or her final weeks before the big day...

The classic "line up in order of due date" picture at a baby shower...look at those cute little girls behind me!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Festivities

In spite of the wistful longing for our tropical Christmases of recent past expressed by a certain member of our family, and despite the fact that I am larger than life and having trouble mustering the energy to get through a normal day's activities, we are soaking up our Christmas here. It is a special treat to be surrounded by the sights and smells of Christmas. Festivities galore, loving being with family and friends, celebrating Advent, waiting again for the coming of our Savior. Joy and thankfulness. And some tired hard days, too. But isn't that always the case?...

Em and her Papa Jeff on the tractor on our annual "Chipper Day"- the day after Thanksgiving. I especially love this picture because our good old dog Bonsai is in the background, behind the farm gate.

We spent a fabulous, sugar high afternoon decorating gingerbread houses with some friends we've come to know and love during this time in Atlanta...

Emmy and her cousin were two little ballerinas after seeing The Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre...

We went to Atlantic Station, an Atlanta downtown commercial development, and enjoyed the "snow" they create every hour. For southerners, this is serious fun!

This picture cracks us up! Look at that nose!

And just this week we enjoyed an Atlanta tradition, the Pink Pig atop Macy's department store, with our beloved Thompson friends...

And to think the family festivities haven't even begun! Merry Christmas!

O Christmas Tree

Last night was Christmas tree night, a much anticipated event. We bundled up and walked down to our local tree farm (a.k.a. Pike Nursery), picked out the perfect tree, and hauled it home...

Special thanks to our Daddy Tim, who personally did the hauling...

There was much excitement surrounding the decorating, more than we've ever had before. This is the most traditionally lovely tree we've ever had, as our trees have always been either homespun and cut down from a field in Locust Grove (which I love) or artificial and somewhat Charlie Brown-ish in Thailand (which I also love because I'm grateful to have a tree!)


We let the kids do all the decorating, which was nice for us! We didn't bring many ornaments with us, so it wasn't a big job. Popcorn and cranberry strings to be added later...

While we stood in the Christmas aisle of a store yesterday, picking out tree lights, Emmy commented wistfully, "I was just thinking of all of our lovely Christmases in Thailand." It always surprises me when she says things like that, and makes me realize that we are, in fact, raising "Third Culture Kids" who are just as at home, if not more, in another place as here.

Wanting to explore her feelings a bit further, on the way home I asked, "Emmy, where is your home?" I was curious to hear whether she would say America or Thailand. She answered, "Heaven." She never ceases to amaze me.

Since we're on the subject of Emmy-isms, here are a few we've saved up in the last few months:
-To Asa, after he fell down and got right back up: "Goo-ood persevering!"
-On the subject of leaving her shoes on in the house (a no-no in Thailand): "Now that I'm in America, I'm going to leave my shoes on in the house. I'm going to start a new culture!"
-As it started to get dark one evening, with sadness: "I'm losing all hope of playing on the playground."
-One day when she was a bit out of sorts:
Mommy- "Emmy, how are you feeling?"
Emmy- "In what sense?"
-Upon the acquisition of sparkly new shoes for her Halloween costume: "Daddy, I'm gazing at my new shoes and I can't think of anything else."
-Just the other night, when she was particularly riled up before bed (thanks to Daddy's robot game that sends her into hysterics), "Daddy, I'd bite ya if I was allowed to!"

A Joyful Thanksgiving to You...

So much to be thankful for. We hope that your day is full of joy, and we praise our God, from whom all blessings flow...

guitar turkeys...they make their Daddy proud

a few leaves from our thankful tree

Recently

Happy Fall! Life here has been so full, and I'm really just getting to the place (I think) where I feel like I have some sort of handle on things and can begin to function in a way that feels more normal. For instance, today we went to the craft store and bought some things to begin some projects I want to work on in the coming months, and up until now such a thought would have been totally overwhelming to me. I remember when we first moved to Bangkok that it was months before it occurred to me that we had a mailbox or that I actually thought to check it- I was just too overwhelmed to look outside the "musts" of each day. I guess it's been a bit like that coming this way, too, which I wouldn't have anticipated, but there you have it.

We've had some chilly days (as illustrated by the adorable little gnomes above), and some gloriously warm and perfect days, and the leaves are changing, and it's good to have Fall here. There have been so many good things lately and I'm going to take just a minute to share them...

I had the opportunity to get away with my girlfriends from Berry to a cabin in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, and what a privilege that was! The surroundings were beautiful, the leaves were breathtaking, and the fresh air and chilly weather were just perfect. The best thing, however, is these girls. Our friendships just keep getting sweeter, and I'm so grateful.

And it was fun to share Halloween with these friends- Brea the adorable pumpkin and Christy the crazily believable old lady, along with all of our beautiful children. Life is so much more fun when you have friends that will don jack-o-lantern shirts and gray wigs. My bumblebee costume is an old standard I've had since we were married, and I was happy this year to get to prove its mettle as maternity wear, as well. I added my "smart glasses" from language school as a finishing touch, which Tim declared made me a "spelling bee". :)

Here are our lovely butterfly princess and her charming frog prince...

The frog prince caught on quickly to the idea of trolling for treats. We only went to 4 houses or so, but he continued to ask, "more trick or treat? more candy?"

And finally, our sweet girl and me heading out to vote on election day. It was fun to share this privilege with Em, and even better that they let pregnant ladies go to the front of the line! I'm 31 weeks and counting, and it seems to me that this baby is very likely to follow in sister and brother's footsteps and come into the world at a hefty and happy weight!

I Would Rather Sit Alone on a Pumpkin Than Crowded on a Velvet Cushion

Does this look like a girl who loves a good hayride?

Fall is in the air in Georgia, which means that you get to be chilly sometimes in the morning and the evening, and you might only sweat mid-day, usually because you're overdressed. And it's time for pumpkins! Now, in Thailand we have our fair share of pumpkins, but they're generally the smallish, greenish, Japanese kind that we cut up and eat in place of the squash that cannot be found. So it's been fun to enjoy the big orange kind and all the surrounding festivity! We trekked up to North Georgia with some friends to revel in the season, enjoy climbing on a real live tractor, take a hayride (during which we encountered mechanical talking pumpkins that the kids thought were magical), and eat some boiled peanuts...

Here's our Asa Bear with his adorable buddy SSB*. The best part of this day was being there with friends, and we got to spend lots of time with our wonderful friends/former neighbors, whom we love like crazy. On the ride up, as we showered Christy's van with trail mix and made ourselves a general nuisance, the kids had the important cultural experience of listening to Elvis, which we've shamefully neglected up until this point. I found myself saying silly things like, "Emmy, this is Hound Dog! You need to know this song!"

And a good time was had by all.


*SSB= SweetScooterBicks

God's Unchanging Hand

This is a group of friends from Berry, our beloved alma mater. I shared years in Friendship Hall with all of these girls. Two weekends ago, we celebrated Mountain Day, which falls on the first weekend of October every year and is a celebration of the birthday of the school's founder, Martha Berry. It's also a celebration of dear friendships and giving thanks for all God has done. I'm still amazed that I got to go to this school, and am so thankful to count these folks among my friends. College friends are so easy; we find that even when we're separated by time and distance (say, the other side of the world...), coming back together is natural and very low pressure. I love these girls, and so many others we were with that day.

The last two months since we've been in the States have epitomized transition for me. To feel that we're home yet everything is so different in our lives, to have the opportunity to be with so many we love from different periods in our lives (including our Thailand world, with our recent visitors...), to know that we'll be transitioning again so soon and considering the future- it's all been a roller coaster emotionally. The fact that this time is temporary serves to make it both sweet and bitter. And of course, pregnancy does nothing to calm one's emotional ups and downs, to say the least!

One "world" we're relishing being a part of right now is our Intown world- the church we've been privileged to be a part of for 10 years and that God has used so mightily in our lives. This weekend we're celebrating Intown's 25 year anniversary, and there was a "celebration" tonight that was a true joy- I laughed so hard, then cried, especially during the music. This song, particularly, has always been a comfort to me, and I loved singing the words tonight as we walk through this transition...

Time is filled with swift transition; naught on earth unmoved can stand.
Build your hope on things eternal, hold to God's unchanging hand.
Trust in Him who will not leave you, whatsoever years may bring.
If by earthly friends forsaken, still more closely to Him cling.
Trust not in this world's vain riches that so rapidly decay.
Seek to gain the heavenly treasure that will never pass away...

Hold to His hand, God's unchanging hand, hold to His hand, God's unchanging hand.
Build your hope on things eternal, hold to God's unchanging hand.

God is so good to be close and to be unchanging as the sand shifts all around us.

And now back to the Mountain Day pictures...

Brea and me with our baby bellies. Believe it or not, she's two weeks ahead of me! I like to think these two are buddies already...

And one of the highlights of our day was stopping at the Moon Building on our way out for Daddy to throw a pot. He spent many, many, many hours here (while the rest of us were writing papers!) It was fun for the kids to see him throw, and good for my soul to see his hands in the clay again, doing something he's so gifted to do. Hard to believe it was 10 years ago that we said goodbye to Berry...engaged and ready to see what life would hold. It's been a great adventure so far, and we hold with faith to the belief that God will be unchanging whatever the next 10 years may bring.