I'm living with a heightened awareness just now that this time in our lives is golden, sweet, brief. We really seek to live in the reality of the beauty of each day, although sometimes in the trenches it's hard, but for a number of reasons it's even more stark to me in recent days.
After a summer of traversing the globe and many long days for Tim working with interns and teams and college students, we were able to get away to the beach for a few days. Hua Hin is Thailand's oldest seaside resort town, the place where kings have historically spent time by the sea. We're very blessed to have friends with a condo there, who are generous enough to allow us to rent it, and we have some special memories there. But this time was the best. We did a lot of relaxing...
...had some great time on the beach...
...and did some exploration that led to new adventures.
We decided to visit Khao Takiab (Chopstick Mountain), having read about its lovely view of the ocean and the temple that sits atop the mountain, but we were not aware beforehand of its massive monkey population! As we drove up the mountain and got to the temple area, we felt a little uncertain in the presence of so many monkeys, but, rationalizing that many people live and work there in constant community with these guys, we decided that we'd forge ahead with our exploration.
The monkeys own this mountain. They paid us scant attention, although the guy above did bare his teeth and advance at one point when he'd had enough of Tim's paparazzi-ing. At which point we were glad to give him the space he needed!
This prohibition is there for good reason...A friend told me about a time her family visited this mountain with her husband's parents, planning to picnic there, and her mother in law found herself engaged in a tug of war with a monkey over a Whopper! (
Drop the Whopper and back away slowly...)
Our wackiest moment came when we were ready to leave. There were several monkeys on our car, cavorting about with a carton of milk they had stolen. Tim had to start the car and drive away in order for them to dismount, and then he drove back around to get us. We had the doors open buckling the children in the back, when we suddenly realized that there were two monkeys hopping around in the front seat! They stole a package of tissues (thankfully not the camera that was sitting on the seat..) and bounded away. Cheeky.
This is a view of the base of the mountain, facing the sea.
Our other great find was an artist's village. Several studios with working artists- such a treasure!
The time together, enjoying one another's company with no agenda, was such a gift. We have a colleague who is right now in the States saying goodbye to his father, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and it has progressed rapidly. There's no time to miss opportunities to tell others we love them.
And here's the other thing. This young lady started second grade last week. She's so precious to me it hurts, and I have to admit that I went home and cried myself silly. These days are sweet, even when they're hard, and we want to experience them with our eyes wide open. Thanks be to God.
Tim had a big adventure last weekend, taking the overnight bus (12 hours, with a midnight stop for noodles) to Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Our friend Pat (who is also training to be the future pastor of our church) is from an Akha tribe there, and he invited Tim along to the engagement ceremony of his sister. Tim and the groom-to-be (above, with his bride) are buddies, so it was really a treat for him to get to be a part of things. Here are some scenes from the weekend of colorful celebration...
(coffee beans...Pat's family owns a coffee farm)
making rice
ouch! But there was pork for all...
