For Josh's Momma!

I love you Grace! Here are some pics of your son...we want to keep him!

The Henrys and the Mills

Easter Sunday

We had a special treat this Easter Sunday. Not only did we celebrate the Risen Lord (as we do every Sunday) but we worshipped with a brass quartet for two songs! It was so wonderful. Paul's dad and the Veldhorst children led us in Crown Him with Many Crowns and Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Paul's dad also played a prelude to our English service.





After the English service, we celebrated Easter in our Thai service. During the Thai service, both Calvin and Adele were baptized and Emmy and Asa Mills were also baptized. It was such a wonderful day of rejoicing and claiming God's promises for our children.
Natee, our dear friend baptized our children. Afterwards we had a fellowship meal complete with a beautifully decorated cake that Rhianna and Jan made.

The last two pictures are of Adele and Calvin being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

beauty

Pic #1: View from our bedroom window...pool and then the ocean.















Pic #2: Some of the long tailed boats that belonged to the Sea Gypsies who happened to have a small village right on the beach where we were staying. They slept right out on the sand at night with half baskets to give them a shield from the wind.


Pic #3: The guys on their way to a day of snorkeling several islands. PJ went along on this trip. Paul tethered PJ to himself and he just floated around on top while Paul snorkeled. This boat is a long tailed boat operated by a Sea Gypsy.
The island to the left is Mosquito Island and the one of the right is Bamboo Island. The guys snorkeled both.

Getting to Phi Phi

And here is more of the story of our trip to Phi Phi Island. We got on a speed boat at a port in Phuket (another island here in Thailand). We took the speedboat for about an hour and then we came a lone dock and up a small hill was debris and some houselike buildings. We weren't sure what was happening. We thought, surely we are staying here (See second picture)! (there's no beach, only rocks). So, our boat driver called somone and told us that they were coming to get us. We look and coming up over the hill is the truck shown in picture #2. We all laughed, as you realize quickly in Thaliand, things are not as you expect them to be! And, yes, dear reader, this was our trasportation to our hotel....which was on the other side of the hill and absolutely beautiful.
The third picture is of the family climbing the steps off the dock onto a bridge type structure.
And the last pic is the truck. It took about 5 seconds for it to get into gear once the guy changed gears...it was really great! Classic Thai!!!

Ko Phi Phi

Paul's folks and his 17 year old nephew arrived a little over a week ago. We headed to the beach, a small island in the Andaman Sea called Phi Phi Island, the day after they got in. It was beautiful. The only bad thing was that most of us were sick at some point during the four days we were there! Thankfully, we were still able to enjoy the beach, the ocean and the big boys enjoyed snorkeling at several different sites...and from what I've heard it's been the best in Thailand, so far!










Here is Calvin sitting in a beach chair.

























And, Paul and PJ enjoying a fruit shake in the pool. Notice the beach is just beyond the pool.













And, as usual, the search for hermit crabs was on...and we were not disappointed. Here are Grampy and PJ with one of their finds.

Nap time

Adele in her crib before naptime. I love how the sun shines in her room in the afternoon...the first pic is with the flash off and her room looks that color. She's playing with her tongue...her favorite thing to do to pass the time away!








Getting ready to fall fast asleep with her bink and her froggie and dolly nearby


Good night, Little Miss

Friendship

Today, Jan and I went with my kids and visited my friend, Aree. She had a baby two weeks after I had Adele. Mario is a big boy but oh, so cute! He was a whopper, especially for Thai babies (4.2 kilos; the same as Calvin). PJ remarked time and time again how cute he is and he and Adele enjoyed checking each other out.

Aree and her mother were so hospitable, as all Thais are. She ordered Jan and I somtam (a yummy papaya salad) and fried chicken.



I met Aree nearly two years ago on the family English retreat to Cha'am Beach. She lives a ways from us so I don't get to see her often. Please pray that that would change. =)







In this picture of Adele and Mario in his crib, Adele was fascinated with the ceiling fan. They held hands at one point in the crib...it was so cute!












Here's Jan with Mario, PJ and Calvin. I asked Jan to go along to help me with my kids...it was nice to have her there.





And here's Khun Yaay (Grandmother in Thai) with our Adele. This woman has six living children and two have already died. She was so grandmotherly to all of us.

Henry's Blend

Our team leader recently returned home from America. Dave, our team leader, often brings home goodies when he goes to America. And, Dave and Paul both have a mutual love for good coffee, so we often get coffee! Dave found this blend. Paul and I thought it was pretty clever. Thanks Dave! In case you can't read the fine print...it describes the coffee as "Balanced and with a nutty aroma with rich, complex flavor." I'm not sure if this is an accurate reflection of us but I think we are kinda nutty and definitely complex. And, on the side of the bag it says this blend was named after a cat...Henry, go figure! Apparently Henry the cat was quite the coffee connoisseur.

Siam Ocean World

We have Tuesdays off from work. For the past couple months, Tuesdays have not been true days off becuase Paul has been busy...so instead of staying home this past week, we decided we needed to get out as a family and do something fun. We headed to Siam Paragon's Ocean World. A very well done acquarium in the basement of the luxurious Siam Paragon mall in the heart of Bangkok. We made a day of it and it was a blast. We got to ride the sky train which is always a big treat for both boys and we even treated ourselves to Subway...yah know the restaurant that serves yummy subs. You may be thinking this isn't much of a treat, but for us, it really is. Subway stores are located in the city center of Bangkok and not in the outlying areas, such as Ram 2...anyway, it was good! I got to eat a turkey sub and Paul got his favorite..roast beef.
So, we headed to the basement and entered the acquarium. The most favorite creature of the sea that we saw was the nurse sharks and reef sharks that lurk throughout the acquarium. Of course, PJ and Calvin were fascinated when the scubadivers fed the sharks right in front of them in the big tank. We also learned what a shark "egg" looks like and we even got to see many baby sharks.
And, even Adele really enjoyed our outing. She had a lot of visual stimulation and wanted to see all the brightly colored fish and creatures and coral.
It was a great day off even if we were a bit tired at the end of it, at least we were together, enjoying some of God's creation together.