Path to Pattaya

Hi all, we made it "home". We drove about 1 1/2 hours south of Bangkok today to the area we will be living. It was nice to get out of the city, and the boys were relieved to not be living in such a big city. We traveled down on a 8-lane tollway that was surrounded with palm trees, banana trees, pineapple orchards and beautiful blooming trees and flowers. We passed a field of water-buffalo, that was a sight! If you have ever been to Cairnes, it reminded us of that area, a little hilly. It was a pleasant drive. As you get close to the town of Pattaya you start to get a feel of how 'touristy' it is-billboards, hotel high-rises...We are staying at a hotel right on the water, I think it's the Sea of Thailand. It is a very beautiful locale for a hotel and the staff treated us as royalty with leis and a refreshing drink upon our arrival with cute little bunny wrapped folded washcloths. They already knew our names, as Mark had stayed here a month ago and his new position seems to carry some status here? Truthfully, it was a little uncomfortable and awkward. I think we will have to spend a lot of time in our hotel area because the area is swarming with older white men walking around with much, much younger beautiful Thai women, it kinda feels gross. There's no getting around it and Dustin and Nathan are at the age that they notice, so we have had to talk about it-Mark said, "Call it what it is-sin." It has caused me to cry out to God this morning asking him to provide in a big way our new home, it has to be a distance from all of this so we aren't continually bombarded with the sad fact of prostitution. Today, we will be visiting the International Schools, setting up a bank account and perhaps getting new cell phones. We want to hit the road running because Mark starts his job on Monday. I hope we can find a home pretty quickly because until then this is our temporary living. I don't enjoy living out of a suitcase even though the $300 Baht/week laundry service (about $10) is a nice perk!

It was such a comfort as we were leaving Bangkok to know that we already have contact people and friends in the area. On Sunday evening,we picked up our VA friend, Chris at his hotel who is in Bangkok on the Presidential advance team and is preparing for the President's visit to Thailand tomorrow (we were so grateful to get out of town before that-the security at the Embassy appeared heightened, traffic is already atrocious.) It was so weird to see Chris here! I just couldn't get over the fact that he was here-strange. We met our first Thai friends at their apartment and walked through Lampini Park to a Thai eating establishment. We are all loving the Thai food, it really isn't too different from American Thai food. The Phad Thai noodles taste just like the dish we used to enjoy so in Clear Lake. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with our new friends the Beckwith's, it was so relaxing to have someone that could speak the language fluently, it took some of the frustration out of the evening. They were so kind to invite us back to their apartment and we had a wonderful, scrumptious, chocolate, 'baby' cake. What a help they were in being available, encouraging and so hospitable-it was very helpful to talk with them about some of the Thai customs. It is highly offensive to touch someone on the head, you shouldn't point with a finger-they use their palm to direct you, you shouldn't point your feet at anyone, never talk badly about the King-in fact you can be arrested for that. The Thai people love their King and he has done some great things for Thailand-there are pictures of him and the Queen everywhere. Thanks to the Beckwith's for a wonderful evening. We sadly parted with Chris at their apartment after Chris provided us with people and their numbers at the US embassy to help if we ever find ourselves in a crisis, what a blessing!! Thanks Chris-we will really miss you, we love you, JoAnna and the girls very much, hopefully he will get to come again while we are here. More to come...