Last Week

If you asked me.....

I would tell you I can't believe we're in our last week in Thailand. 

This trip has been amazing. 

Looking over my blog posts from the last 5 months brings a smile to my face. 

We've experience so much, seen beautiful things,

tasted delicious food, and have loved every moment.

We've been in the mountains of Chiang Mai, traveled in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, and sunk our toes in the sand of Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, and Phuket. 

We have ridden on an elephant, and fed many more, Daniel even threw darts with one!

We held a white tiger cub in our laps and bottle fed him. 

Once in a lifetime thing for sure!

We've seen how the Thai people love children.

A shop keeper heard Bee tell me she was thirsty and gave me a bottled water, no charge. 

I was looking through some items at a sidewalk vendor and the owner gave Bee a hair clip. 

Every time Bee and I have gotten on a busy Songtauw, someone will stand to make sure Bee has a seat. 

I've joked with friends that there are easily a few dozen random Thai's with pictures of Bee on their phone or camera...she seems to attract a lot of attention for some reason.=)

We've traveled by every form imaginable.

Train, both by day and night.

Airplane with flights ranging from 45 mins to 15 hours.

Boat rides on little long-tails and high speed catamarans.

Double decker buses and small minivans.

Truck SongTauw, and zippy little taxis.

Even the very Thai Tuk Tuk's. 

And the 3 of us on a motorbike.

And every time Bee has amazed us with her ability to handle it all. 

She's turned into quite the little traveler. 

And I'm not even a little worried about her and I traveling alone from Chiang Mai Thailand to Dallas, TX. It will be long, 36 hours of traveling with 4 flights and layovers.

But Bee's done this before and we'll do it once more.

We've made new friends, and strengthened our family ties.

I spent time with the beautiful baby boys and girls of the ViengPing Childrens Home. 

Their faces will never leave my memory. 

I adored them and gave them all the love I could. 

They opened my heart and I feel like I'm leaving part of me with them. 

So we're leaving Thailand soon and hope to return again one day.

We've loved both the mountains and the islands, we've loved the people, and I've got some Thai dishes I'll need to make in the states. 

Thailand changed us...and we'll never forget it!

Phuket, Earthquake and Tsunami Sirens

Wow, what a week. And it went by so fast! We arrived in Phuket the night before Easter. Easter morning we met out at the beach at 7:30, had a little service, and enjoyed some beach time(well, most of us did, if you read my previous post you'll know Bee hated the beach after this day). We listened to David remind us of the beauty of the ocean, the waves crashing, and quesadillas (he meant cicadas) =)
Monday morning we attempted the ocean again, and again Bee and I were knocked down.
Tuesday morning was our last try at the ocean. After having waves so high they were splashing us in the water, I decided we were now done with all things beach and ocean.
The rest of the week Bee and I went back and forth between our room, the pool, and the minimart (for ice cream treats).
Laying watching cartoons on Wednesday afternoon the bed starts shaking, water in the glasses are splashing, and the empty pool outside my window is as choppy as the lake on a windy day. After about 30 seconds I  realized I wasn't crazy and this was an earthquake.
I quickly called my uncle next door and asked if earthquakes are common here, he said they do have them on occasion and he would check into it. Ten minutes later he let's me know to pack up quickly because we are heading to the top floor. By the time we were heading up there was a mass exit of people fron the beach following the Tsunami evacuation signs and the sirens were going off.
A little before 4 pm an 8.7 earthquake hit just off Indonesia. At 5:45 an aftershock of 8.1 shook us again. And yes, I was praying the whole time. Seeing frantic faces, sirens going off, and people standing on tops of buildings looking out at the water will get your heart pumping pretty quick. A few hours after the last aftershock, the danger had passed. We were very thankful that the earthquake had been a horizontal earthquake which doesn't displace the water like a vertical earthquake does.
And people remembered the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which was a 9.0 magnitude also off the coast of Indonesia. That tsunami killed 283,000 people. So we were not taking any chances when we ran to the top floor of the hotel.
We arrived back late last night and are thankful for a great and safe week in Phuket, Thailand.
This means we now have 1 week and 3 days before we fly back to the states!

Sun setting on Karon Beach in Phuket Thailand

Our wonderful room looking out to the pool

We saw some serious waves!

Fun in the pool with Aunt Michelle and Brianna

Where we spent most of our week

The girls taught her to use the peace sign while saying "asian"....she put her own spin on it and says "CHINA!" I have no idea why.

Fun Poses

Second day on the beach...her face lets you know what she thinks of it!

Brielle and Brianna

The fish we talked to every day

She didn't even want to walk on the sand.

This was her happiest moment on the beach, building this sand mound.

A Grateful Easter.

Today could have been so different. Today I have no doubt I could have lost my baby girl. And my heart hurts at the thought.
Bee and I were caught by a wave and thrown off my feet. The undercurrent was so strong it took all my strength to hold myself back from being pulled under. If I'd not had a good grip or God hadn't been holding us up, today could have been a very different story. And I am grateful. Grateful to have my girly laying me next to me watching Pingu. Even grateful for the meltdown in the middle of a busy store with her crying "mommy, I'm just so tired". Grateful for the chance to clean sand out of her ears for the umpteenth time today. Just grateful to be her mommy.
I love you my little Bee.

Heading to the Beach...

And our hotel doesn't have internet, so don't be worried if you don't see me for the next week.
Bee is very excited (and me too)!
We are especially excited that once we are back to Chiang Mai, we'll have only 9 days before we start our travel back to TX.
Did I mention we're excited?
We are really missing our Daddy and Husband and will never again be separated this long (5 weeks) if we can ever help it.
But for the next 7 days we are going to be enjoying the sun, ocean, sand and swimming pool.
Till then,
Sawatdee Kah!

Beach...

We're back. We've been without internet for a few days which is a big reason for my quietness. We've also had a lot going so being unplugged wasn't all that bad.
Living on the beach of course means lots of beach time; as in every day. Since ruining my iphone while on the beach though I'm quite hesitant about taking any other electronics near the water! So these pics are from 2 different visits to what is now our Favorite Beach. Koh Ma. It's a special spot where a small island off the shore is connected to the main island by a sand beach. We love it here. The sand is perfect, plenty of shade for Bee, restaurants everywhere if you need something, and the snorkeling is pretty great too! If we ever come back to Koh Phangan we'll be staying on this beach.
Notice, Bee has one smile...BIG and GOOFY <3

Between a rock and a nude place......

Yes, that's where we are. Literally.

Our beach is not really a "beach" until the tide is low but then it's rocky and Bee doesn't care for it. So we can walk along the beach to get to the nicer beaches. But.....to do that you must walk past the nudist colony currently living on the beach. I kid you not.

And the room we were given? We share a bamboo wall with our neighbors. Bamboo people!! There is no insulation, not even mud thrown between the slats. We hear E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Yes, everything. Every sound, every word, smell every smell. It's pretty horrid. So, thankfully, the hotel people agreed to let us move into a stand alone unit that will be available in 1 week. Can. NOT. Wait. It is a smaller room, but I will take smaller over no privacy here and having to hear our neighbors 24/7.

So for this reason, we will be taking our time doing  our visa run to Burma next week. We've booked a nice hotel for 2 nights and will enjoy our time "in private".

I must add though that we have the most stunning sunsets from right here and water is crystal clear and we've been told the snorkeling is fantastic. So we're making the most of it!

PS...my Iphone was dunked in the saltwater and is out of commission until further notice. So, there will be a sad lapse in my picture posting online.

Be Still......

This has been on my heart and mind a lot these last few weeks we've been in Thailand. Be still. Something that is SO hard and almost unnatural for me.

To be in the moment.

To not try to always do two things at once.

To be here with my family, physically and mentally.

To just listen.

I always felt like I was being lazy if I wasn't always doing something.

Always.

But I'm learning it's ok.

God wants me to be still, and have my full attention.

Because only when I'm still and quiet do I have the chance to listen to Him.

To hear His words for me.

That He loves me and all my insecurities.

That He has a plan.

That He knows my fears.

He knows my dreams.

He hears what keeps me up at night and says,

"I've got it, just be still".

This is my lesson right now.

And it's not easy for me, and I fight it.

But I am learning.

Nang Yuan Island

This is a little island just off the coast of Koh Tao about 10 minutes away by longboat. We are so glad we went!! We rented snorkeling gear and took turns exploring the area. I couldn't believe the variety of fish we saw. So many! And you didn't even have to go deeper than waist to see some, they just came right up to you! I saw a starfish, anemones, sea urchins, clown fish and corals plus easily 30 plus varieties of fish. Every time I thought I'd seen all that were there, a new one would pop from under a rock. I wish we'd had a camera so you could have some idea of what we saw, but I know it would not have done justice to the beauty of the place.

Happy valentines!

We had a beautiful valentines day on our side of the world. Beach time, naps, family movie, and dinner to a nice restaurant. Couldn't be better!

The sun is setting..

My TWO valentines!

A pic Bee snapped of my during dinner

Pictures By Bee ...I was telling her something when she snapped this one.

We will be spending a lot of time right here...

Thailand

It's Official!
We bought our ticket to Thailand and we can't wait! We will leave after Thanksgiving and return in April. It'll be here before we know it!

This picture reminds me so much of growing up in PNG. I think I even have a picture my dad took very similar to this one. Can you say beautiful!!??

We'll be planning a visit to a beach just like this one and some snorkeling too!

Bee LOVES elephants!

We can't wait!! And yes, there is a waiting list on fitting into our luggage!