A Big Birthday, and More Remembrances

I so vividly remember walking into the delivery room with a gardenia plucked from the bush outside our door on the way to the hospital, the long night of labor, the welcoming...it's a girl!...the excitement of waking up those first mornings, how we would both marvel at the baby sleeping (sometimes) at the foot of our bed, the clarity of joy and beauty that is in many ways unique with a first precious child.

Our Emmy is almost a month into seven years old. Her big day was just a few days after our arrival back in Bangkok, so in some respects it was a blur of jet lag, not to mention a little brother who was sick with a stomach virus. But we celebrated and cherished our little girl anyway, and her wish was for a watch and a Bible, so it was a joy to fulfill those.

We celebrated a week later, after some of the initial chaos of transition had lessened, with a pool party. Some dear friends have a son who was turning five, so we combined the parties and had a really great time. Here are a few photos from her birthday and party...





Seven- it feels like crossing a threshold. I am literally watching her change before my eyes. She's maturing in every way, and it blows me away that I have the privilege of coming alongside this sweet girl in her journey. I can ask her to set the table or hang the diapers out to dry, we can laugh hard together over a silly game of Go Fish or a line in Anne of Green Gables, we struggle through math concepts, enjoy breakfasts out together on grocery shopping mornings, and just generally have fun being together. She is incredibly silly, loves to read, can be a doting or bossy or torturous big sister (depending upon the brother and the moment!), is sensitive and has a faith in Christ that is real and growing. I pray frequently for the grace to grow in relationship with my girl as she does the work of growing up. She is a priceless treasure.
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And back to Georgia...this pretty much epitomizes our trip, and every trip we make to the States. So many dear people to see, so many miles to drive! We really did visit with so many wonderful family members and friends, and we always left homes and events marveling at how rich we are in relationships- thanks be to God. There are so many more people and events than we even captured on film (we take far too many pictures as it is, but there are a number of loved ones and special events that I think, "we didn't get a picture of that?") , but these are a smattering of some of the good times we shared with people, including time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, a girls' trip to Charlottesville with Brea to see Nells and her sweet babies, reunions for Em with her dearest cousin and her old Bangkok friend Gracyn (whose whole family we loved being with)...

(always a sword, even on the tractor!)

We even got to see "Aunt Melanie" for a day in Locust Grove! We'll be seeing you back here, soon, Melanie!

postscript- When I look back at these GA photos, do you know what I think? I think, "We weren't sweating."- ah, the joys of springtime! It's crazy hot here in Bangkok, and we do have a lovely glow almost all the time.

Right Now, and Remembering

As you can see, it's been an intense time as of late around here. What with our resident superheroes ridding the world of evil, there's been little time to settle down to share our adventures. Actually, I'm astounded at how long it's taken me to feel a little bit normal after our transition back to Bangkok. It took our little guy a full week to sleep through the night again. Sleepless nights, combined with a very busy husband, combined with the desire to soak up every minute with a visiting Granna, have made the last several weeks feel astonishingly full. With nary a moment to sit and contemplate. But lest I fall completely into the pit of blog abandonment, never to surface again, I'm going to fit in some reminiscences of both Bangkok and Georgia happenings as I'm able.

When they're not in crime-fighting mode, they're helping Mommy bake bread.

We had such a nice visit with Granna. She got a very realistic picture of everyday life in our household, with many of her days here filled to the brim with childcare, laundry, food preparation and the always demanding but never depleting pile of dirty dishes to be washed. But we did have a few adventures. The day pictured above was an outing to northern Bangkok, where we hoped to visit the Bangkok Butterfly House and Insectarium, which we found in our on line perusing of day trips in Bangkok. It sounds impressive and interesting, but when we got there, true to the style of many of our Thai outings, we found that our travels had been in vain because the butterflies had all died and the whole operation was gone.

But as a consolation prize, we got pigeons in a nearby park. These pigeons LOVE the food that a lady sells for 20 baht, and when we started throwing it around we were amazed to find birds trampling our feet...

...alighting on outstretched arms...

...and even perching on heads and shoulders!

Dinner in the market

Way before all of this, almost two months ago, we embarked on a global adventure to attend Aunt Kari's wedding! Our time in Georgia was sweet, and I can't go without remembering it here, so I think I'll stagger some 'Georgia on My Mind' pictures and musings along with current happenings. So first, the big event, the reason for our trip...it was a perfect wedding in every way, and there are oodles of pictures I could share, but I'll limit myself to a few favorites.

Four precious cousins filling their roles in their auntie's special day. They were beautiful!

And speaking of beautiful, Kari was a gorgeous bride, and Dad was very handsome, too!

The flower girls were as pleased as punch with their time in the spotlight...

...but one little ring bearer was a bit overwhelmed with his duties, in combination with jet lag and the pressures of being 3 and having everyone looking at him. If you look closely you can see that our sweet Asa Bear is doing his job but is NOT happy about it!

The pressure's off, he's had some refreshment, and he's all smiles again.

I love this picture. Classic Papa Jeff with his grandsons.

And here's the beautiful couple. We love it that we have a new brother, and Scott's the best one we could ask for.

That's it for now. Missing all you Georgia folks so much, but glad to be settled in our Bangkok home and sleeping again!

Something Lighter

Ju's first pork satay...



It was a BIG hit! And if it's taken away...

Made by our friend Phii Niam, satay aficionado extraordinaire!

Our hearts are so heavy. The situation here is surreal and very sad. Emmy's school has been canceled for the next two days, meaning she will miss her last day of first grade. Please continue to pray. We are all fine and had the opportunity to gather and pray with our church family yesterday.

Here are the links we're using for information:
Bangkok Post
BBC
CNN

The Latest

The situation here has descended into serious violence between protesters and security forces, for now concentrated in very specific areas of downtown. We are 30-40 minutes away (on a good traffic day) from these areas, and have seen nothing of the unrest up close. But all of Bangkok, and Thailand, is watching in horror, I think. Please pray for peace and for light to shine through this dark situation. To read and see pictures of the latest, click here.

I'm pretty sure it was 200 degrees today...

...what a day for chaperoning an outdoor scavenger hunt field trip. As Emmy's cute friend Amy said, as we were trekking across the park under the merciless sun, "I think I'm going to DIE!" Despite the mortal peril, we all made it and had a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with some sweet first graders; so interesting to talk to little children from different cultures. Here's my favorite picture from the day...

The ultimate Asian field trip lunch...sushi and drinks in plastic bags !