Wintertime in Thailand

Well, it's that time of year here in Thailand when the temps drop to upper 70s with a nice breeze during the daytime and at night the temps drop even more. We have to put on socks in the morning to keep our toes warm and even a sweatshirt until mid-morning. Yes, it's wintertime. Last year Winter passed Thailand over. I think we had about three days of cool temps and then summer came back with a vengeance. This year we've enjoyed several weeks of nice weather. It's been a nice respite. We've enjoyed some beautiful winter time fun at the local parks as of late. The boys have enjoyed watching for wildlife and kicking balls around and playing on playground equipment some this holiday season. It's always good to get outside and it's even nicer when you have a beautiful park in which to go. Yesterday we headed to the King's Park and Abe decided to come along. By the way, thank you for praying for Abe. Please continue to pray for God to heal his body and restore his body to good health. He will be leaving us for Chiang Mai, Thailand tomorrow afternoon. His departure will leave a hole in our home, that is for sure and he will be missed. The boys have acquired yet another uncle to call their own and will miss him sorely. As for Paul and me we will also miss Abe and the encouragement (and his jokes!) he brings to our home. We are so thankful for the opportunity God has given us to serve him and give him a home away from home.

As to the children, they are growing strong. PJ, now 5 1/2 had his first dentist appointment the other day and he did great! No cavities and he couldn't wipe that silly grin off his face when he saw Tom and Jerry cartoons playing on the video screen above the chair in the dentist's office. He continues to persevere in reading, writing and arthimetic and is doing well. He loves math, I just wish I had an equal love for it! =) His favorite book is a book about a pre-historic animal called Plesiosaurus, the Swimming Reptile. PJ roams around the house pretending to be dinosaurs of different persuasions, roaring and generally making a roucus! Paul is reading him The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and each night's reading is greatly anticipated by PJ and Daddy both.

Calvin is also growing big and strong. He loves all things racecars. If you have a conversation with Calvin he most assuredly will tell you about racecars, in some form or other. He spends his days racing his little cars around a carpet in our living room that he transforms into a racetrack. He has a growing interest in school as he sees big brother reading, writing and doing his math. He enjoys counting and loves the number 6. =) Calvin continues to be a joy with a very laid back personality on most days.

And, finally, Adele Grace, is the little fire cracker in our home. We are discovering that she already knows how to tease and cause great distress to her brothers...just to get a reaction out of them! She is walking all over the place these days and holds her own next to PJ and Calvin. She says a few words like, "ba" which represents both "bottle" and the Thai word for "let's go". She enjoys a good sword fight with her daddy and brothers (like I said, she holds her own, that is for sure!!!) and is generally a pleasant little girl.

As we walked about yesterday at the park, we spotted some wildlife that I'd like to share with all you readers out there. The bird is a Coppersmith Barbet. He is beautifully marked with a patch of red on his neck and head. We also saw the frog enjoying the view from a lily pad (can you spot him?!)

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.

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.

CARNIVAL!!!

The local international school (ICS) had a Carnival yesterday so Rhianna and I took our little ones to it to enjoy the festivities. Here they are hearing a Dr. Suess book being read aloud. Calvin and Asa had their faces painted as well. (See below)

Our beloved Aunt Catherine works at this school as a music teacher. Here she is with our Little Miss Adele.














Catherine played a strings piece with some fellow ICS teachers (I think). I thought it would be nice for you all to see Catherine in her environment.

All in all, it was a great day even though it took us nearly an hour to get home from the school (usually an easy 15-20 minute ride) due to Ram 2's University testing tacking place yesterday.

Team Retreat

We welcomed Preston Thomas last week (Thursday) to our team for a five month internship. Here Tim is presenting him with some "essentials" to living in Thailand, this is a mosquito racket used for killing mosquitoes.

And, we celebrated Melanie's birthday on Saturday...with yummy brownies Rhi made.

Nic Veldhorst building a sandcastle at the beach.


This past weekend MTW Thailand spent the weekend together at a beach town about 2 1/2 hours away in Rayong, Thailand. It was a lot of fun playing, praying. learning and just being together. God has really blessed us with a team of people who are fun to be with and we are so thankful for times like this when we can spend time together. Our entire team went on this retreat (including the Thais) so it was great fun to hang out with them. Ying and I were able to do some wave jumping and boogie-boarding (as you all know how much I LOVE to boogie-board!). A game of beach soccer got underway one afternoon as well as pitonk (bolles) and some frisbee and american football throwing. A lot of eating took place too as there is a Thai restaurant right on the beach. =)
We also had times of reflection of what God has done in and thru us and our team in the past year as well as times of prayer for God's leading for the future 3, 6, and 12 months.
Dave encouraged us to keep Christ as our treasure and not to be satisfied with other things of this world, even the good things of this world.
Enjoy the rest of the pics and please continue to pray for us as we serve here, pray for God to open hearts to the Gospel.

Team Retreat pay thalea

Adele almost asleep on her beachside towel

Calvin almost asleep in his stroller.

Sleep for PJ? Not a chance when the ocean is calling your name!

And, yes, even the beaches have elephants!!! =)

more beach pics

PJ and Becca playing in the sand

Adele's first trip to the beach.

Phii Yu and Adele hanging out

And Paul and Dave got to play a game of pitonk or bolles, whichever you prefer. =)