Bangkok and Growing Babies

The current political situation has caused me to ponder Bangkok a great deal lately...this place we've come to call home (baan thii song, in Thai- home number two). I was just watching this coverage on CNN.com, and I found myself getting teary. It surprised me, but I realized it's because I have truly come to love Thailand, and Bangkok, and I'm sad about the current situation. If you have a few minutes and sufficient interest, the three videos further down on the sidebar are particularly interesting and indicative of Thailand, its people, and the current situation. The reporter goes up north to meet with a village, which I love, and they pass around coconuts and do the traditional Songkran hand washing ceremony at the end (the part that made me cry:). This report offers really good insight, I think, into the current crisis, and will help you to pray, if you will do that.

As I'm pondering Bangkok, I'm thinking Bangkok is, to me...

-our neighbors sitting at the playground with all the children playing on the rusty, broken slides

-worshiping with our church community in Thai- loving the singing, understanding very little of the sermon, hoping for Yu's massaman curry on the lunch buffet afterward
-the occasional stroll through the night market with a mango shake, maybe finding a cute 100 baht dress for Em
-sitting down to a plate of pad thai from our favorite vendor with Tim after the kids have gone to bed
-downtown with its city heat, traffic, pollution, good restaurants, the river
-our area with all of its people, its busyness, its dirty, bumpy roads still suffering from flood damage
-the skytrain, taxis, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, songtaews, food vendors everywhere (some riding motorcycles with grills attached- food smoking away as they drive- this is efficiency!), cars, cars, cars, dogs, the occasional cow, water buffalo or elephant
-glittering temples, dirty buildings, skyscrapers and wood/corrugated tin homes, pieced together to keep out the elements
-heat, tropical birds and tropical flowers
-Lizards, big...

...and small...

-an evening trip to the king's park, kids playing on the playground with the pulsing beat of group aerobics in the street nearby
-a 7-11 on every corner
-buying cold watermelon from a street cart
-Emmy's class of many cultures and the gift of the community at her school
-greeting with a wai
-people from all over the country that come to find work and send money back home
-going to the market for a fruit shake, Vietnamese spring rolls, some bananas and flowers
-smiles
-people loving our little, light-skinned, light-haired children
-really good food (I think I mentioned that)
Y'all come see us! (when the travel bans are lifted...:)

Closer to home, I must share that our little man is beginning to walk on his own. He's taking his time, that one, but that's his way- he's liked to keep us guessing from the beginning. He is a joy. And a pleasure. And he's incredibly cute. Wow, we're thankful for him...

(I'm not sure why all of our video looks like it was shot in 1973...I think it might be because Tim compresses it so much)

And these are just bonus...