Yesterday was the boys birthday, their first in Thailand. It's so hard to believe they are now 14 year old man-cubs and when we return to the States they could be 16 or 17!! As things tend to go with us, Mark had a meeting in Bangkok that he couldn't get out of so we started the celebrating early. At 7 am I had a cake delivered to their room and we celebrated at the hotel restaurant after breakfast. We continued our birthday tradition of each person affirming the birthday boy, it's really dear to hear them verbalize what they love about each other at least once a year!!! For Nathan I affirmed him in how concerned and cognizant he is of others and how easy it is for him to talk to others and make them feel treasured. I affirmed Dustin in that he wants to do the right thing and not just the 'right' thing but I believe 'God's' thing. Then I cried some, just a tad because their birthday is always a bittersweet time in that I miss Abbie more that day and it makes me wonder what kind of young woman she would be blossoming into? What would Abbie be like at 14 years of age? The tears always make the boys uncomfortable and I try to keep them to a minimum and just concentrate that she is present with the Lord and lay the sadness and what-ifs at His feet.
We had planned for them to go elephant riding on their birthday but when we arrived at the tropical gardens it was way too touristy. The elephants felt like circus performers and we decided to wait until we can do a more authentic ride through the jungle. The boys and I enjoyed our outing seeing all the beautiful flowers, the shows about traditional Thai dance, sword fighting, Thai boxing and elephant fighting. We also enjoyed all the elephant shows-the soccer game, the basketball game and the bowling competition, it was amazing what they have been taught to do.
We then returned home/hotel and spent the afternoon at the beautiful pool situated by the bay. The boys would walk the beach and build sand castles and then come and swim for awhile. It was a nice relaxing reprieve from all day house hunting trips. We even managed to Skype talk with Grandmamma and PappaJoe in New Mexico.
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