Sunday, August 27, 2006

Happy Birthday to Me

We're still waiting for Baby...so we won't be sharing a birthday. Disappointing, but I had a good one. Tim and Emmy woke me singing "Happy Birthday", and presented me with thirty roses and breakfast in bed...there is no better way to start the day than this!

We had a relaxing day, I opened some cards and packages that had arrived for my birthday (thank you, thank you!), and I rested up for our night out; our first since moving to Bangkok. It turned out differently than we expected, which is what we should expect here...Our original restaurant of choice was closed down completely. The girl at Starbucks suggested another Italian place a few blocks away, at Convent and Silom. This is right around the corner from the first place we ever stayed in Bangkok, 6 years ago. So a stroll down memory lane and an Italian dinner. We headed over, and found the menu to be lacking. But a few doors down I spotted a Mexican restaurant! This was quite a find! Their menu had homemade chips and salsa and fajitas, so we were in. But we weren't in...we were actually turned away. I've never known a restaurant to say, "sorry, we can't serve you", but that's what happened. Apparently they must have had a private party because the place was packed. The hostess directed us to another Mexican place a short walk away. We navigated a maze of stalls selling everything from fake Birkenstocks to bootleg DVDs, and arrived to find a small place that just wasn't what we were looking for. It looked a bit seedy for my birthday dinner - after all, I did get dressed up. So we navigated the crowded streets again, boarded the Sky Train, and headed to Siam Paragon, the most lovely mall you can imagine with plenty of good food. We took stock of all of our exotic options and I finally settled on Tony Roma's (!) for some good American comfort food. Huge thanks to Catherine, who stayed with our Em and made it possible for us to go...
Enjoying a "Funky Monkey" at dinner

On the Sky Train bridge overlooking the city

Friday, August 25, 2006

"B" is For...


Bright, Beautiful, Baby!

Which describes our Emmy perfectly. We've been doing some light "preschool" activities lately. We started with Crystal and PJ, but have done a bit on our own this week as we're taking a break from language study to wait for Baby. Today we learned about the letter B, did some counting, cut pictures out of magazines, and pretended to be various animals entering the Ark (this was VERY exhausting for Mommy- try hopping like a kangaroo when you're nine months pregnant!). Here's Emmy proudly displaying the B she painted. She spent a large part of the morning coming up with words that start with B!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Coming Soon...

Baby Mills is due in only two days! We thought we were in labor last night, but it was a false alarm. Thankfully, we didn't go to the hospital. We just can't wait to find out whether this little one is a boy or a girl, and to hold him or her at last!

Today, the women on my team gave me a baby shower, and we had such a good time. We praise God for providing such a dear community that becomes more like family every day. Below are a few pictures from our morning together.
The women on our team, with the addition of my beloved Thai teacher.






Emmy and PJ
entertained each other
during the festivities.


I learned something new about Jan today...she makes beautiful cakes!


Emmy and Aunt Kim...doing two of Emmy's favorite things!

A Recent Bloom

One thing that's fun about living in a tropical place is the lovely
flowers that grow all around, like this beauty that
recently bloomed in our yard!

Halley's Farewell

We said goodbye last night to Halley, who has been working with our team for the past year. She's pictured here with one of the Thai friends who works with our team. She is a gifted person in many areas and a good friend. We'll miss you Halley!

Below are a few more pictures from the evening...

Craving Thai food for dinner tonight?

A view from the restaurant...


Emmy loves Thai food!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Our First Houseguest

This is Gigi. We had the pleasure of taking care of her this weekend while her family, our friends/neighbors/teammates, were on vacation. Gigi is a great dog, and there are a number of things we really like about her:
1- Her tongue does not fit completely inside her mouth.
2- She snorts when she breathes.
3- When lying down, all four legs are splayed out from her body.
4- She's very enthusiastic, and is a great playmate for Emmy!

The girls played together outside all morning on Saturday!
Here they are "making a cake".