Lil' Katie Comin Home today!

Today is a wonderful day! I just found out that Lil' Katie is coming home today!!!! Pascale and Kevin are soooo excited!!! And so am I!!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!!

Let the Little Children Come....

Here are some of my favorite pictures. These little kiddos have captured my heart and I just might take some home with me!

TAK Hilltribe Village Adventure

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a hilltribe village this past weekend. Our school has a partnership with a village mission center in Tak, in the Northwestern part of Thailand, near the Burmese border. Forty-five teachers and staff travelled a long distance by double decker bus to this rural area. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. These little children were so well behaved and cheerful. We stayed at a center where the children stay so they can go to school. They see their parents every once in a while. We had a very busy weekend playing with the children, planting seeds in their garden, and generally pouring out love. We didn't even speak the same language as all of my hard work of learning Thai did not pay off because they speak a tribal language called Karin. But it was a wonderful experience and the joy on the children's faces when they opened their gifts we brought from our children at the school really brought me to tears. The children took us on a tour of the village and we got to meet some of the people and they welcomed us into their homes. The people in this village did not have much, and most of them are self-sustaining through gardening and growing rice. We went to one family's home that had one room made of bamboo, risen on stilts and under the house was the barn for the pigs and whatever else they own. After the tour, we came back to the center and did some recreational activities with the kids. After dinner, the children dressed up for us and performed on Saturday night. It was so much fun. The next day we had a tearful goodbye as they all waved to us. I know I will go back.

Phew.....where do I begin?!?!?!

To my Dear Friends and Family,

I am so sorry to keep you waiting as I up-date my blog. I have had some computer problems this last month, as it seems that I have maxed out my iphoto with all of my pictures....anyway, The month of November brought many exciting things, and the first two weeks in December have been truly amazing. I am so blessed to have celebrated Wyatt's One Year Old birthday in November, and happened to call while he was opening his presents. I was so worried that I would be heart broken over not being there, but as I called and was able to hear him playing with the hand carved wooden frog I sent him, I felt joyful to experience his birthday with him, even at a distance. I CAN NOT wait to come home and scoop him up and play with him!!!! Erik told me the other day that he is almost 3 feet tall, and I can hardly even imagine that! Also in November, I experienced my first trip to the hospital. The hospital is also where the doctor's clinics are, and I had been having stomach issues for quite some time, but it wasn't until I had a high fever that I decided I might need to get it checked out. So I was nervous, as the last time I went to the "doctor" in a developing country I had a boil lanced without any anesthetic and it was the worst pain in my life...but I was pleasantly surprised at the hospital. It was very clean and nice, and I was in and out of there in 30 minutes. The doctor listened to my stomach and told me that my stomach was bubbling. I had a stomach and intestinal infection. He put me on antibiotics that lasted 3 days, and they made me more sick than my original condition. I got a little better after that, but I still have some stomach issues from time to time....as my friend JT calls it, I've got "Bombay Belly" or rather "Bangkok Belly"....guess it just comes with the territory!

Camping in Thailand

I went camping with my friends to the largest national park in Thailand, Kaeng Krachan National Park (for more info go to: http://www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve/asp/style1/default.asp?npid=113&lg=2) . Let me just say, I had a BLAST!!!! But compared to camping in the Northwest, it is definitely Thai style. We stopped along the way to buy kanom, or snacks, and we had a wonderful trip up. I went with my friends Ja, Joei, Ju and Pat. I even bought a brand new tent for the occasion as well as a self-inflatable air mattress that has come in handy many times over so far. It was a wonderful experience, and I would definitely do it again. We drove into the camp and even convinced the guards to the National Park that we were Thai....enough Thai that we didn't have to pay the farang (foreigner) price to get into the National Park, we were able to pay the Thai price. That is always exciting!!!! Once we arrived at our camp site I had to laugh....in typical Thai community style, there was a field and people just plopped their tents down wherever they wanted, some just a couple of feet away from each other. We had a wonderful day relaxing and I brought the fixin's for s'mores because my Thai friends hadn't had s'mores American style before....we roasted our marshmellows over candle light, as bon fires are prohibited. But those were the best s'mores I've had in a long time! We watched the full moon and the stars and I counted about 10 meteors falling in the sky that night. The next morning I decided to go up the mountain in a Song Tao, or a truck that has benches along the wheel wells to sit on. We went 4 wheelin' in this Song Tao, and it was very fun. I saw many wonderful birds and even saw some monkeys. There were huge plants as well. I don't remember the name of them, but I called them elephant ear plants. When I got to the top of the mountain, it was such a majestic sight, but it made me miss home. As beautiful as these mountains are, I do have to admit that nothing really compares to the Cacades on a cool, crisp day. We got to see the "Sea of Fog" and took a tour of the King's Cabin, according to the Song Tao driver, the King stayed in this cabin. I didn't believe him at first, but Ja told me that the King was a very down to earth man and had probably really stayed there. I found that pretty interesting. Overall, it was a fantastic trip! I really had a great time and I hope to go back sometime soon!

On Thursday, Pascale and I decided to rent a jeep for the day to explore the island. We were soooo excited!!!!! It was so much fun to drive, finally! It was my first time in 3 months to drive, and boy did it feel good! We explored both sides of Ko Lanta, and stopped at a little restaurant up on the hill for some sodas. We found a little fishing village and had lunch sitting on the pier, watching little long tailed boat ferries putter past. I just can not believe how beautiful Thailand is, and yet how absolutely poor and underdeveloped areas can be. Some areas around Ko Lanta were hit by the Tsunami two years ago, and some things are being rebuilt. It was definitely interesting to see. We also went exploring to other resorts in the area and jumped in a pool at another resort, only to find out that that resort is not open yet....the manager came out and said we should probably get out....the complete Thai way to do things. A suggestion rather than an order, to save face. It was fun while we were there, we didn't know that we could not just jump in, there were people who used our pool that were not from our resort, so we thought it was okay. We also went into town with the jeep and did a little shopping and then picked up Kevin from his Scuba Diving. It was a very fun day!

Krabi Adventures Part Song (2)

So on Tuesday, Pascale and I took the kids snorkeling. It was such a wonderful day, and we took a very fun and fast speed boat out on the water, after picking up about 40 people from around the island. We snorkeled two different places before lunch, then stopped at Ko BoBo for lunch. Ko BoBo is a deserted island and it was something we would have seen in Survivior! I can not get over how white the sand was and how crystal clear that water was. Absolutely AMAZING!!!!! Our friends Bobbi and Andrew happened to be on the same boat as us, so it was fun to hang out and snorkel around with them. Etienne and Natalie were pretty adventurous at first, but Natalie got scared whenever Pascale would go down to look around in the water, so we tried to trade off a little bit. I saw so many amazing fish, some clown fish, like Nemo, tons of angel fish....some little black fish with neon fins....it was very exciting. I took an underwater camera, so hopefully I will be able to get those developed soon. After lunch we snorkeled one more place and then went home. It started to rain a little bit as we were going home, but that didn't really matter because we were already wet! Oh, and on the way out on the boat, I am pretty sure that I saw some dolphins....their fins were arching in the water, but I wasn't quick enough to take any pictures....I have never seen a dolphin before....hopefully someday I'll see one close up!

The next day, Wednesday, we hung around the resort, and played in the beach, and then the pool and and then the beach....ahhhh such is life!

Krabi Adventures Part Nung (one in Thai)

So I decided that each day I would talk about one part of the trip, because I could seriously write a novel about all of the adventures that we have had the past week, before we came home to our little surprise package named 'lil Katie....if you don't know what I'm talking about, read my past blogs.....

So....on to Ko Lanta....you know the saying, "just getting there is half the battle"?!?!?? Well....sooooo true!!!!! I flew from the new airport in Bangkok, only took 20 minutes from my Moo Baan, which is very exciting compared to the hour that it would usually take me. The flight was uneventful, there were no assigned seats and both the front and the back doors of the plane were opened so it took less time to board than other flights I've been on. Once I landed in Krabi, I had a driver waiting for me from the hotel with a little sign with my name on it....that cracked me up! It was a two hour car ride with two different ferries to finally reach my destination of Ko Lanta Yi or the Big Island of Lanta. When I was checked in and shown to my little bungalow just a few feet away from the beach, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was absolute paradise. Pascale met me and we had dessert and I had a drink while we listened to the waves crashing on the beach around us. The next day we played on the beach in the morning then we rode into town on a little motorcycle taxi, that has a little side car bench, easily fitting 6-8 Thai people or, in our case, 2 farangs and a stroller with two kids. We explored around the little town a bit, had lunch and I bought a hammock for my little bungalow's porch....ohhhh I was in HEAVEN!!!!! Ko Lanta is a wonderful place to visit!!!!

Huge Miracles come in Tiny Packages

So I just realized that all my plans to update my blog for the month of October are somewhat on hold. Kathryn, whom I like to refer to secretly as lil' Katie :), is such a wonderful bundle of joy and such a true sign of God's miraculous wonders. Her personality shines through as she proudly breathes on her own and she squirms as her little toes are tickled. She is such a precious gift. When I saw her the second day, she was all wrapped up and strapped down because she was trying to take her tubes out and was trying to breathe on her own. The third day, they let her breathe on her own, and she didn't even need an incubator or anything! Pascale is doing so much better too....up and moving around and she is able to have more than just three nasty egg whites....yuck! Pascale told me that 'lil Katie dropped a little bit of weight, but she is able to drink Pascale's milk, so that is a very very good sign. (A side note: As this takes presidence over our trip to Krabi and Ko Lanta, I haven't had time to update anything as far as our trip went....I will get some pictures up as soon as possible!)

Big Miracles come in small packages

So yesterday was the worst day of my life and I was just a bystander......My friend Pascale was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning after her routine pre natal exam showed she had high blood pressure. The next day they said that the baby might not make it if the baby remained inside Pascale so the doctors ordered an emergancy c-section for that afternoon. Pascale was only 31 weeks along, so needless to say, I was not very focused on my first graders nor on anything else during the day for that matter. I was waiting to hear if everything was okay, praying hard all day long. Finally, Kevin called me and said that they were doing as fine as could be....they had a baby girl, Kathryn Noelle....born only 970 grams which is just under 2 pounds. I still am not sure how long she is, first Kevin told me 8 inches, then it was about 11....so I'm not sure, but that's still so small. Kevin and Pascale are two of the most amazing people I have met here and I am so amazed at how they are doing in all of this. I am so thankful for such wonderful hospitals and facitilities in Bangkok, it is seriously like the Hilton Hospital where Pascale is recovering. Hopefully I will get to see the little one today. I'm bagging the Trick or Treating because I want to see this little one so desperately and help Pascale in any way I can.

My Class

My students are F A N T A S T I C!!!!! I am VERY blessed!

"our" new oven

Friday night I went over to Pascale's because there is a new addition in their family. Yes, she is pregnant, but that is not the new addition I am talking about. "We" are the proud owner of a brand new wonderful OVEN!!!! I say "we" because every time I talk about Pascale's oven, I unknowingly use the words "we" and "our"....I didn't realize how the simple and wonderful addition of a friend's oven would completely combat homesickness. But it is WONDERFUL!!!! We created the most wonderful gooey and chocolately brownies on Friday night. Just a little bit of heaven! Here are some pictures of my wonderful friends, the Thomas's. Kevin and Pascale are such great friends, and their little mini me's are super fun too! Etienne and Natalie help me when I need my Wyatt fix.

Flooding in the KORN!!!!

Well, every day my friend Kelli states that the rainy season is over. And every day the rains keep on comin'. Yesterday after school was the worst flooding I've seen it so far, and the rainy season was officially over on Saturday. We were soaked just trying to hail a taxi from our school's main street. We had to try three different taxis before one would even attempt to head in our Moo Baan (village, like a suburb) called Summakorn because it was rumored that flooding was very bad there, and taxi drivers do not like driving in the rain here. It would be equivilant to driving in 3 feet of snow in Seattle. Some people try to avoid it and others seek it out. When we finally got to the Korn, our nickname for the village, sure enough it was flooded! We thought for a minute that we would just hang out in the bar until the rain stopped, but we really had no idea how long that would be, and so we decided to brave the waters and try to find a way home. The taxi stopped to let us out and it was all the way up the door! We jumped out into the flooding waters, and in some parts, it was up to my calfs. I was rapidly praying that this would NOT be the time to see a new critter or two floating along in the water and hurriedly jumped up onto the side walk with my dear friend Kelli....same friend who has been saying the rainy season is over for the past two months. We were able to jump onto a Songtao, which is a covered truck/bus type thing. The songtao driver agreed to take us home, so I was able to see out the back into our flooded village. It was very interesting, the flooding in places. Here are some pictures of that night, and the morning after as I rode my bike in the early morning darkness to pick up a taxi on the main road.