Speaking of Birthday Gifts...

I want to share, for the benefit of grandparents and others who might otherwise enjoy these in person, my favorite birthday gift. Emmy made these books for me, and they are truly Emmy, truly wonderful.

r and i by Emmy= written and illustrated by Emmy

You open these up to some wonderfully whimsical poetry; I'll share a bit: (spelling corrected for ease of understanding)

Mommy Queen: My mommy is a mommy queen and her baby is very hard to wean. She has a cloak and royal crown, and a twisty, twirly gown. She is nice and seeks the treasure of her last name being Meeks. Oh, my mommy is a mommy queen and her baby is very hard to wean.

My Mother Was a Mouse: My mother was a mouse and she lived in my house and she didn't wear a blouse, so there. Oh, my mother was a mouse and she lived in my house and she didn't wear a blouse, so there.

Marvelous Moms: Marvelous moms, marvelous moms, marvelous moms bazaar! Like a kitten and her mother, a kid never goes far. Oh, marvelous moms, marvelous moms, marvelous moms bazaar!
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Here are a few other pictures from recent days:

This boy has a big imagination. He is often 'in character' (and frequently in costume), whatever that character may be, and he's usually battling bad guys. He has his 'get the bad guys' scowl down to a science. He recently came to me in the midst of a church service and whispered, with great graveness, "Mommy, sometimes when I'm sitting, I get a ninja feeling." That's one of my favorite quotes ever.

This is a wonderful age with him; they've all been delightful, really (full disclosure- he can really turn on the jets and throw a fit- we affectionately call him 'foghorn' when he's in this mode, but he's truly quite mild mannered in general.) He is the sidekick of my days now, with sister off to school and little brother taking LONG naps (hooray!), so we play, read, bake, do laundry, whatever the day holds, together. He's a sweet companion. A really neat mix of warrior with a very tender heart, as reflected in his most recent list of things he wants to be when he grows up: jedi ninja, worker, artist and pilot.

Emmy has at long last fulfilled a dream and is taking a beginning ballet class after school. She seems in many ways a natural ballerina with her long limbs, toe walking, and generally flitting and prancing through life. She's really enjoyed it thus far, and perhaps it will be something she wants to pursue- we shall see...


At any rate, she certainly is a lovely ballerina, in my completely objective opinion.

Have I mentioned that I love having a cat? Happiness is a warm furry kitty belly.

And in the wider world outside our four walls...
This is a dinner out at our recent team retreat at the beach. Thailand specializes in outdoor restaurants; they might constitute the majority, in fact. This one was just at the edge of the ocean. Asa played in the sand the entire time he wasn't eating and Ju suffered serious 'sand in eyes' issues during the evening...but the seafood was great!
This is our friend Tang holding a wacky magnetized sea creature...a little girl was selling a tray full of them at the restaurant, for 35 baht each. That's her fiancee beside her, and they're getting married next month; lots of excitement around here about that!

And a couple of our smallest guy, at the park on Saturday...20 months and counting, and he's a little firestorm, really bringing us lots of smiles these days.

Pirates and Ninjas and Storm Troopers- Oh, My!

Here's our big four year old with some birthday treasure. He had a really great big day. Just a regular day at home (except I did take him and Ju to a park, where it was as hot as the Sahara, and I was fully reminded why we don't go to parks during the day!), and we had a family party at night. He wanted pancakes for supper and a ninja cake....

Here's what Tim came up with, red sparkly hot pants and all. Actually, Asa's request was "a ninja with a light saber practicing fighting". Nice work, Timbo!

Our sweet little man wanted to invite two of his grown up friends from church, so Yu (above) and Pat (below) came to celebrate with us. He's holding the awesome sword that Yu gave him. And do you see the ring on her hand? Asa made that for her as a party favor, with some materials out of a craft box. Oh my, he's so cute.

A very tired little pirate staying up for the party.

This was my favorite gift he received. Emmy wanted to get him Star Wars legos (he's fascinated with Star Wars, despite the fact that he's never laid eyes on the movies), but it just wasn't feasible for her seeing as how they cost an arm and a leg here. So we came up with the plan for her to make him a Star Wars coloring book, and it's really great, completely homegrown. He loved it!

What's really fun about this is that she did it all from memory of pictures she's seen, having never seen the movies, either.

In other Big Boy News, 4 years old has meant the beginning of a preschool co-op! Here he is on the first day, learning about the letter A, with my friend Lisa taking her turn as teacher.

And here's the whole co-op crew. They range in age from 3-5, and hail from New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Sweden and Canada. This is a great blessing for us to get to be a part of. When I asked Asa how his first day was, his exact words were, "I thought it would be really, really boring, but it was really, really, REALLY FUN!"

My recent birthday had me pondering scripture on perseverance. Thinking of how as a happily engaged college student, I tended to think of our wedding, being young and married, having little babies...but having second graders and being in our 30's was not so much on my mind. It's a good time, a time of realization of the fleeting nature of the days, a time to persevere in and savor the now, and to seek to look forward to all that's ahead. And it was a really yummy, albeit a bit wobbly, cake!

Akha

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...

Beautiful. Meanwhile, back at home, we had two fevers (E&A), a broken tooth (me), and a kitchen faucet that completely broke off, resulting in my rinsing the abundant piles of dishes with one hand while I attempted to hold the spewing faucet together with the other. Good times!

Classic Ju

Golden

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.