Completion of Chiang Mai

If you can believe it we had one more big adventure in Chiang Mai. We traveled about 1 1/2 hours deep into the rain forest for the Flight of the Gibbon. It was a beautiful drive with trumpet flowers, poinsettias that grow in the wild that were over 6 feet tall, periwinkles, and many flowers that I couldn't identify. The boys, all 8, girded up and zipped through over 2 miles of rain forest, streams, and deep ravines stopping at 15 platforms along the way and a couple of sky walks. The girls, Molly and I, stayed in the small town that was the starting point and we had a most interesting foot massage. I was really proud of all the guys, it was quite intimidating to look down over the jungle and hook yourself on to the steel cable and fly like a gibbon(a monkey). Too intimidating for the mammas that's for sure! I'll post a slide show with some of the many shots that Mark took while trying to maneuver the zipline himself. Meanwhile back at the village, Kuhn Jane had found a village woman willing to set up a massage station in her home. It was such a small village, we were told 35 families, there were not many facilities for tourists. It was quite a privilege to be invited into a Thai woman's home, she was eager to earn some extra money and so hospitable. We were led upstairs to the second floor that was covered with mats, the walls were decorated with posters of the royal family and a clock. The windows, which were open, were covered with very colorful curtains and it had a TV antenna across the top of the roof in the inside of the house? Anyway, it was quite cool and relaxing if you could block out the intermittent sound of the electric saw at the neighbors house, the barking dogs, roosters and the man's voice talking rather loudly to a small child. It was humbling that she was so gracious to have us in her home and she provided a very enjoyable foot massage. After about 45 minutes she led us downstairs to the first floor of the home. It was an open room, chairs against the walls with a TV and china closet of sorts on the other wall. Do you know that traditional Thai homes do not have indoor kitchens? Most Thai homes don't have an oven and they cook over a flame like a bunson burner. They don't have hot water and wash all their dishes in a large tub in cold water. This house was the same, from the ground floor room you could see her outdoor kitchen. She was so polite and kind to serve us some bananas and water, remember this was all spur of the moment. We could barely communicate. She did lead us to her bathroom that was also outside, it was a rock building and had rock and tar floor, we had a hard time getting that tar off of our feet later. Remember, you always remove your shoes outside a Thai home before entering. I was genuinely moved by her hospitality to us. Can you imagine 2 strangers showing up at your door, unannounced, that you have no way of communicating with, providing an opportunity to earn some unexpected money if you would rub their feet for 45 minutes, it made me teary. I prayed for her as she was rubbing my feet asking God to bless her and this home, that He would reveal himself to her (if He hadn't already-I don't remember seeing any idols in her home?). She blessed us with her servant heart.

The boys all returned in one piece and had lots to talk about, sadly it was mostly about how uncomfortable the harnesses were-Boys!!! What an unforgettable experience they were given, it was just a great day and great trip.

The summary of the Chiang Mai adventure wouldn't be complete without telling you about Duke's. Big Bob from Houston who runs a Mexican/hamburger joint in Pattaya had told me to be sure and visit Duke's for some good ole American food. We ended up going there twice we liked it so much. We laughed at how pitiful we all were, just lapping up the 'American' atmosphere-it's the little things, like receiving all your food at the same time. In Thailand the dishes just trickle out, you might be finished with your meal before the next person has even received there's and don't even think of waiting until everyone is served before you start! We had the best onion rings-just like the US, we loved their hamburgers. It's really hard to find a decent burger in Pattaya. We were able to order salads with Ranch dressing!! Thailand only has Thousand Island and some vinaigrette and you just don't see a tossed salad in restaurants here. We really crave salads sometimes. I make them at home but it's really hard to find decent tomatoes and the lettuce can be iffy and ruins really quickly. You can find some packaged lettuce and spinach for instant salads just like home but it's pricey.I think we would all agree Duke's was just the US hit we needed if they would have had Dr.Pepper, that would have been the icing on the cake for the boys. Duke's was a big hit. We all love Thai food but the boys get really tired of it, remember that is what they have at school everyday. Okay, enough!

Chiang Mai Continued

I'm downloading a ton of pictures of our trip to Chiang Mai today, I promised my Dad that I'd get the elephant pictures up by Sunday! The second day at Chiang Mai we visited one of the surrounding elephant camps located about 1 hour north of the city. We were waiting to go on an elephant ride until we arrived in Chiang Mai because I wanted it to be a jungle adventure and we were not disappointed. This particular elephant camp is the home to 74 elephants. Our guide has ridden Poo (Man) Billy for 15 years. Poo Billy was 26 years old. Elephants can live as long as 80 years of age. Every day of the year Poo Billy and his trainer take visitors out on jungle rides. We had an hour ride over a mountain, ending at a long-neck tribal village. We were told that this tribal group originates from Myramar and from the age of 5 wear these rings around their necks, never taking them off. Because of the language barrier I never understood the significance or the application process but it causes their necks to be elongated. I'm afraid now it may be a ploy to attract tourists? After leaving the small village we went for an ox-cart ride through a small village followed by a bamboo raft ride down a calm river enjoying the jungle scenery. Before calling it a day we visited a tiger park where the boys were allowed to pet a tiger. Can you believe all that in one day? The following day we slept in and then went on a white water rafting trip, it was great. The return home in the back of the pick-up was almost as exciting as the water trip-approx. 5 miles with our guys on top of the rafts and pick-up. On the way home we saw many workers in the fields tending to the rice fields, it's so labor intensive. (FYI-click on pictures for commentary.)

Chiang Mai

We've just returned from five days to Northern Thailand in Chiang Mai. What a trip! Several times I caught myself thinking about how blessed we are for this opportunity to live here. Chiang Mai is Thailand's second most important city according to travel guides. The old city is completely walled and was chosen in 1292 by King Mengrai to be the capital of his Lanna Kingdom, it has become a major base for Theravada Buddhism and because of that there are many wats within the walled city and we encountered more monks there than we have in all of Thailand. It is surrounded by jungle mountains and rice fields and is much cooler than Pattaya. We departed on Saturday morning from the Bangkok airport with our friends the Clarksons. In the airport as we were waiting for our plane we were setting across from an older couple, I leaned over to Molly and commented that my mother said there were some missionaries in our area from New Mexico and that could be them-the Nike tennis shoes were a give away that they had to be Americans and they just looked 'nice'. As we were lining up to board our plane they happened to be situated behind us in line and I was anxious to hear their story. I had them pegged, somewhat. They are missionaries from the US to the Chiang Mai area, and lived in NM at one time and their son-in-law is the football coach at Muleshoe High School-Coach Kohl or Cole, not sure of the spelling. Can you believe that? I think it was my Uncle Quenten said that if you visited with someone long enough you could always find some connection to Whiteface. I'm beginning to think that is true of Muleshoe as well! It was great to meet them, they have lived in Thailand for 2 years. I asked why there aren't more missionaries in our area and he said, "Frankly, we've given up on that area!!!" Thankfully, God hasn't and continues to have a remnant of his people here. We're trying to keep our little lights burning bright here while God has us here. After visiting Chiang Mai I determined if I was a missionary I would much rather be in the North of Thailand. It's greener, cooler, cleaner, nicer...

We arrived safely into Chiang Mai after 1 1/2 hour flight on Asia Air which is a lot like Southwest Airlines, no assigned seating but you don't get any peanuts, every treat has to be purchased! We were greeted at the airport by Kuhn Jane, a guide we had hired from a GM recommendation with our van and driver. She whisked us off to our hotel which was in the center of old town. It was a wonderful, secluded, quiet, Thai hotel. After settling in we took a 45 minute winding road up to the top of Doi Saket to visit its mountain top temple and for a stunning view of Chiang Mai. We spent time there visiting the Wat Doi Saket which was at the top of 300 steps. I'll post some pictures today from our first day in Chiang Mai. At one point we talked with a monk and he gave us a blessing for our travels in perfectly, understandable English. The weather at the top of the mountain was so cool and the air fragrant with many blooming trees.

Mark found a painting of the Thailand fields from a vendor at the base of the huge Naga, or protective serpent of the Wat and purchased it. We tried some moo rinds and drank some naum before heading back down to have dinner. After a wonderful Thai dinner we went on a night safari. It felt a little Disneylike, very touristy with a laser light show and trams through a fenced 'jungle'. We were happy to be back at our hotel rooms that night as we were so exhausted. I'll post more of our travels later.

Walking in Thailand

Many of you have related that you would like to see more pictures. I thought that I would post some pictures from my daily walk. It's always interesting what I might see or whom I might encounter every morning. I've taken to always carrying a stick because of all the dogs along the way, I don't think they like white people much, or maybe it's the way I smell. Someone told me that Thai people think Americans smell like cheese!! Not too flattering!!

Speaking of smells, the last few days my walks have been almost pleasant smelling with the mango trees blooming and this morning I found a really beautiful type of honeysuckle. It had red and pink blossoms, I snipped some off to hopefully transplant in my yard. The unpleasant smells can be overwhelming at times, I pass this one area every morning where there are people out eating breakfast and the smell of cow dung there is just overpowering. I can't imagine how they can eat with that smell present. I've had to use mouth-breathing on several occasions. There is a fruit here called Durian that is just the worst, it is a real delicacy and I always try to avoid it when I see it in the market or grocery store. For me the smells of Thailand have been one of my biggest adjustments. For Ethan and Nathan they have voiced it is the language barrier. Ethan had his parent/teacher conference yesterday and he got teary-eyed when he read his letter to us in front of Mr. Martin. It read, "Dear Mom and Dad, So far in grade five I feel that I don't like Thailand because I miss my friends in the USA, I wish I could speak the language, and all the stuff is different." Last night over dinner we were asking the boys what is it that they miss about the US. Ethan said, "Being able to understand everybody." Nathan said, "Me too and I miss my friends." Dustin is content. Mark is overwhelmed! Last night he mentioned that there is just so much to do at the refinery he feels overwhelmed, I'm encouraging him to just take one step at a time.

As hard as the transition has been, we can see God's protection in bringing us to Thailand. As some of you know, we thought we would be transferred to the Chicago or Singapore area. Since Mark received his 'marching orders' there has been a fatality at each of those sites. It is very disturbing and sad for the organization, we are grateful that Mark has been spared that experience so far. We pray for the protection of all the Thailand refinery workers and for wisdom for Mark as he seeks to implement positive change and make a difference here. I'm thankful I get lots of praying time as I walk about Thailand.

The Poor

I think I've shared with you all that I'm participating in three Bible studies at the moment. I haven't been able to be in a daytime Bible study in years because of homeschooling. I'm taking full advantage of the daytime hours that I have now that the boys are attending the International School. On Mondays I'm participating in Beth Moore's Daniel study with about 10 other ladies from the US, most of them are here with DOW Chemical. It is such a great group of ladies, every week I get my TX and LA fix. One of the ladies is from the New Orleans area and I just love talking with her, listening to her LA accent. Several of the ladies are from the Houston area and one lady is from Amarillo. We have a lot in common, chiefly our love of the Lord. Six of the ladies are from my church. I wanted to share some thoughts from this weeks lesson that really spoke to me. I have struggled being here with the whole disparity of wealth thing. It is very convicting when you have someone going through your trash daily and you don't have a food disposal. I worry what Noik thinks as she sorts through my trash scavenging for anything recyclable or re-usable. Does she think I'm wasteful and extravagant in my purchases.I've even gone so far to shred some receipts not wanting her to know what I spent at a given store. In some ways I feel like I'm representing the US to her and what ideas she forms about Americans. She has commented on how much I have spent on something, for example Log Cabin syrup, I paid $10 for a large bottle initially but have since found a Thai syrup that is just fine and a fraction of the cost of Log Cabin. I've become so conscientious about wasting food, I give the catfish in our pond any left-over or molded bread, and I've even fed them some pancake remnants. We really don't waste near the food we did in the states, which really it helped having 2 dogs to feed scraps too, it just didn't feel so wasteful. She has no concept of being able to just go get something if you want it. I don't think I ever took our financial situation for granted but my eyes have really been opened to how spoiled, how gluttonous, how extravagant, how comfortable we are-all of us from the US. Every time that Songran helps me unload all of our groceries into the house or takes us to some nice restaurant I think about our situation. Every time a delivery person or service person sees our house I'm confronted with this issue. This weeks' lesson in Daniel spoke to some of these thoughts that I've been wrestling with. Beth Moore talks about when you lose touch with the poor, you lose touch with your own poverty of spirit. Philip Yancey states, " You are a part of the privileged if you can buy a book and read it." Do you know how many, many people in this world can't buy a book of their own and would give anything for the education to be able to read. If that is a definition of wealth-all of us are extremely wealthy. I doubt if Noik or Songran either one have more than 5 books in their homes, I brought probably 5 boxes of books over from the states. Beth stated that we have to be mindful and active to care for the poor. Not for their sakes but for ours. Isaiah 58:10-11 says, "If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones: You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." Oh, that the Lord would protect us from self-consumption and let us never lose touch with the poor and thus our own poverty of spirit. I'm destitute without God. I have to have Him. Daniel 4:37 says those who walk in pride he is able to humble. I want to clothe myself in humility as mentioned in 1Peter 5:5-6 rather than be humbled by God. I always want to have a poor in spirit mindset thus strengthening my dependence on the Lord thus I need to be actively mindful of the poor all around me.I want to extend my soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted souls around me, I want my light to shine brightly here. Pray for us that it will be so.

Our 2nd Trip to the Hospital

Don't be worried, everything is fine but we had to make our 2nd trip to the hospital yesterday, this time by way of the ER. We were excited because this was to be the first Saturday since we've been living in Thailand that Mark wasn't going to go into work. We had planned a morning of tennis with our neighbors, which you are never going to believe where I found a tennis court, more on that later. We started our tennis match at 9:15 and by 10:15 we were drenched with sweat and exhausted. Have I mentioned that it's hot over here? Dustin was at All-Star basketball practice so he had to be picked up and then we were going to lunch with our neighbors. Mark dropped me off at the house while Songran and he went to get Dustin. Nathan decided to take apart his air-soft rifle and do some repairs on it, the repairs required the use of one of his knives. Shortly, the neighbors and Mark arrived. Mark sent our driver home for the afternoon because we could ride with Lee and Sheryl to the lunch destination. As we're getting prepared to leave Nathan calls out that he needs a band-aid. I'm trying to find a band-aid while Mark is assessing the damage. After washing off the tip of the cut finger it's assessed that this accident will require a trip to the ER for a few stitches. Nathan had cut the end of his finger pretty badly. It was reminiscent of the hatchet episode. When Nathan was 7 and Ethan 3 1/2 they were digging a hole in the ground and Nathan decided that a hatchet would help break up the soil a lot better. While he was chopping up the ground, Ethan was supposed to be excavating the soil, somehow Ethan's finger got in the way of the hatchet. Nathan ran to the door saying, "We need a band-aid." After washing away the blood and seeing the end of Ethan's finger dangling by a piece of skin I determined that it would also require a trip to the ER. So we have had experience with end of fingers that require stitches.

We had to call Songran back to drive us to the hospital, he was back within 5 minutes. Not knowing how long our trip to the hospital might take we didn't want to inconvenience our neighbors since it wasn't a huge emergency. Poor Sonran's schedule changed again, I really want him to have some time with his family too. He seemed concerned for Nathan and eager to get us to the hospital. I've read and heard that Thai people don't like conflict or problems of any kind. Our pastor has talked about how the Thai people can be like pressure cookers. Always smiling, never facing conflict, dislike confrontation and then everything eventually gets to the surface and they explode. Songran had already been in an awkward situation with me earlier in the week. Ethan has a new puppy (another story for later) who was very near death this week. I was crying as we were trying to get this little one to the doggy hospital-it's been an eventful week! You can imagine the uncomfortable air in the car, me holding an almost dead dog, crying-he with his eyes straight ahead mumbling, "I hurry."

We are about 10 minutes from the hospital and were quickly escorted into a treatment room. I think it helps to have a bloody rag wrapped around a body part, they just lead you right in! Within an hour Nathan had his 5 stitches and we were having lunch with our neighbors in the hospital cafeteria. Nathan was very brave, the Dr. did a nerve block at the base of the finger and after that it was a piece of cake. Again, we were very happy with the level of care received at the hospital. Two weeks ago each of the boys were given accidental insurance coverage by the school. I was told that it included all accidents not just ones that happen on school property. I showed them my card and they processed the fees without problems. I did see the summary of charges-4200Baht ($126 roughly) for nerve block, 5 stitches, Dr. fees, antibiotics and pain medicine.

Our neighbors decided to go with us to the hospital. You might think they were just being thoughtful but really some of their incentive was the cafeteria food. I'm not joking, they had already mentioned to us that was one of their favorite places to eat as well as one of the cheapest. It was really delicious and our whole family ate lunch for $12. I laughed because I told them we made a memory together and also gave them an excuse to eat at the hospital cafeteria. Sheryl is embarrassed to just go out to dinner at the hospital, she thinks it's a little strange.

Nathan seems to be fine just feels "stupid" slicing into his finger with his knife. Boys and their knives!

Our First Trip to the Hospital

Today, we made our first trip to the Bangkok Hospital of Pattaya for immunizations. We are planning a trip to Northern Thailand in a couple of weeks since the boys will be out of school for one week in October in honor of Chulalongkorn Day-I have no idea what that is yet but it sounded like a good excuse to schedule a trip to Chiang Mai, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic parts of Thailand. We had been told that the Japanese Encephalitis immunization should be given if you plan to travel to Northern Thailand or off the beaten path. I really enjoy 'off the beaten path' kind of things so we made our first visit to the physician here. I've told you before that the lobby of the hospital feels just like a hotel. You register at the lobby desk and take a seat until someone escorts you to the specific area of care. Today, we were escorted to the Pediatric area. Dustin and Nathan will be kicked out of pediatrics in one year. I guess in Thailand at 15 you're considered an adult. The boys were none too excited about having to receive injections and they especially disliked having to spend their Wednesday short-day from school in the Dr.'s office. After the boys vital signs, height and weight were obtained we waited about 5 minutes to see a physician. She was a Thai woman who spoke very good English. She was in agreement that we should all receive the Encephalitis immunization to travel to the north of Thailand as, "That is where the Japanese beetle lives?" She also informed us that the boys needed their Varicella booster after reviewing their immunization record. Now the boys were totally bummed that they had to have two injections! She also agreed to give me the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine as well without any prior history from me or obtaining of vital signs or medical history. She was so generous and kind I asked her if she would be willing to send home a dose for my husband as well, explaining that I was a nurse in the US and could administer the shot at home, she was more than happy to oblige. That would have never been allowed in the states! What a nice convenience for us. It is true that you can buy most drugs over the counter here. We have obtained steroidal cream for Ethan's eczema, ear drops for swimmers ear and some sort of eye drops for Nathan's irritated eyes all over the counter just by explaining our symptoms. A friend has received Amoxicillan over the counter but had to make sure to ask for 4 boxes of the drug in order to get a whole 10 days of coverage in, other wise if you only get one box you are only taking 3 days of antibiotics.

After seeing the physician we waited outside the treatment room while the nurse prepared all our injections and my take-home order for Marko. After receiving our medications we were escorted to the billing area and given a number, after about 5 more minutes we were charged about $330 for visit and drugs. I was told that the Japanese Encephalitis injection was $175/shot in the US not counting visit fees. It seemed like a relatively painless visit and we were very impressed with our first trip to the Hospital of Thailand.

One interesting thing I learned from the physician. She was interested in Nathan's history with the Methicillan Resistant Staph and the septic arthritis. She told me that any pregnancy less than 28 weeks is considered abortion in Thailand, I think she meant not viable. She stated that Nathan would not be alive if he was born in Thailand. We are thankful for Nathan and that he and Dustin were born in the US. Bye for now.

What to Wear?

In Thailand they have an interesting system to help determine what one should wear every day. On Mondays, most people wear yellow in honor of the King. Tuesday is for pink, Wednesday has been determined to be for green, Thursday you want to wear orange, Friday blue in honor of the Queen, Saturday-violet and Sunday is for red. I had noticed that many people were dressing in the same colors especially on Mondays and Fridays but I didn't know it was anything predetermined until a couple of Sundays ago. I still pick out all my guys clothes on Sunday and it seemed we were on an orange theme. I really was wondering if any of my guys would notice, they didn't! We were setting waiting for church to start and I leaned over and asked Nathan if he saw a theme in our family for the morning, he couldn't figure it out until I pointed out to him that all of us were dressed in orange. After the service several people commented on our dressing alike, one of them being our pastor who asked if we knew that orange was officially for Thursdays in Thailand? He believes that the color-coordinated days has some origins in the Buddhist religion, if anyone knows please fill us in. The following Monday as Songran and I were driving around I got the whole color schedule from him.(It took a while to figure out what in the world he was talking about when he was explaining Saturday was violet, he has never heard of purple!) Songran always seem to honor the King and Queen by dressing appropriately on their days but today he was wearing navy on the pink day. I wonder if it's something they teach in school, at the Wat, or all the color rules are passed down generation to generation? Just another interesting Thailand thing I've learned about.

A Trip to Bangkok

Last night Mark and I had an Exxon ex-pat get-together in Bangkok. (For those of you that have asked before, ex-pats are people that are ex-patriots of their respective countries.) It takes a lot of orchestrating to spend the evening out in Bangkok. Songran our driver had to pick me up at 2:30 to go and pick up the boys at school, then we had to drive back into Pattaya,(about 20 minutes of backtracking) to leave them with Molly and her boys for the night. Songran and I then drove to Sriracha to get Mark at work, we picked him up about 4:00. Traffic into Bangkok on a Friday night is really atrocious. We finally arrived to the Hard Rock Cafe of Bangkok at 6:30. It took an hour for the last 5 miles. We are learning a lot about patience. The streets are indescribably crowded with motorbikes weaving in and out of the cars inching along. If we lived in Bangkok we would have to become very familiar with mass transportation. We had questioned if we would even participate in the evening until we found out that Jimmie James, one of our dearest Exxon friends just happened to be in Bangkok the same evening and we would be able to see him as well. So we made the trek in. All of Exxon's ex-pats except 3 live in Bangkok working at the Thailand headquarters for marketing, legal council, treasurer department, planning and they have a large amount of people that work in the service department taking care of all Asia's credit card services, customer services etc. There were about 50 ex-pats at the party last night and a whole new group of Exxon people, most of our dealings have always been with refining and lubes employees. It was an enjoyable time of meeting lots of new people from all over the world. We did set across from a couple from New Zealand that had transferred from the Fairfax office just one week before us. They seemed to be adjusting well and sadly they were very glad to be moved out of the states, the wife especially didn't enjoy their three years in the US and didn't hold back in voicing all of her complaints. Apparently, they lived in a very stuffy area in Oakton with their kids attending the Vint Hill school, they are very happy to now be in Thailand. It was a fine evening with one of the highlights being the bean and cheese nachos!! We met up with Jimmie at 9 pm and drove to the Oriental Hotel which is supposed to be one of Asia's premier hotels. We had such a great time on the river enjoying our Mango Sticky Rice (really, really yummy!) and catching up. Jimmie and Mark started working for Exxon within a month's time of each other. We just marveled at the fact that we were having dessert on the river banks of Bangkok, Thailand-he being from Hitchcock, TX and us from Muleshoe. You may have seen him on TV, he has been one of the 'faces' of Exxon in some of their latest commercials and had a full page spread in the Wall Street Journal. He and his wife have always had a commuter marriage, she is currently living in Boston doing a year of teaching at Harvard with their two children and he lives in Fairfax at the moment. I've always been amazed that they can make it work. We spent last Christmas with them in their other home in Charlottesville. We saw him off to the river taxi and headed home with Songran. We finally arrived home at 1 am.

We picked up the boys this morning at 10 am and Molly and I were dropped off at the Pattaya International Ladies Christmas Bazaar where we had to work 1 1/2 hours taking entrance money at the door. I joined this group of about 350 International ladies a month ago and there are a ton of things to get involved with through the organization. They do lots of charitable things like food drops, work at the orphanage, once a month they do manicures and pedicures at a home for disabled women along with book clubs, tennis and once a month lunches out somewhere. It's a great way to get to know people quickly. It has been a fun weekend of making new friends and visiting with old ones too.

A Couple of Things

Well, I did it!! I drove myself to 7-11 last night. It was my first time to even set in the driver's seat of our new car, only 5 weeks or so after purchasing it. A situation occurred that needed me to drive for the first time. You might think it's a simple feat, it's not. First, you have to remember which side of the car to get into, then everything is backwards-the stick shift, the clutch, the blinker, the windshield wiper controls. It's just strange to be changing gears with your left hand while working the clutch with your left foot, takes a little getting used to. Then you have to remember to drive on the left side of the road on top of all of that, but I did it!! We had music practice at our house last night with the two guitar players from our church while Mark had a work, conference call. Songran, our driver was here when the first person called from 7-11 saying they couldn't find our house. I was just hoping the second one could find his way but after we had sent Songran home for the night about 45 minutes later the second guitarist called and was lost too. The language barrier is so difficult in person but when you are trying to communicate directions over a cell phone, it is almost impossible and our street has no sign markers. I'd love for you to send me your suggestions for a street name. We have discussed some ideas with our other US neighbors but nothing really struck us. We could just hand paint a sign with a name and stake it in the ground marking our street. I don't know how long it would last but it might save us some trips to the 7-11 to rescue people and lead to our house. I made it to 7-11 without incident and quickly found the guy needing directions-he was one of 20 on a motorbike but the only one with a guitar and wife. His wife-Queenie needed to borrow some serving dishes from me so when they left they were on the motorbike with their guitar and 4 serving dishes. I thought at one point I'll just do a posting with all the unusual things I've seen people hauling around on their motorbikes, I've seen some crazy stuff on the streets of Thailand.

The other thing I wanted to let you know about is the situation with Nong. Thanks to you that have asked and prayed for this situation. We gave a 'gift' to Noik and let her decide how she would use it, hopefully, she gave it to Nong to help with her debt? But this allowed us to be somewhat removed from the whole messy details. The mornings that I have seen Nong at her hut, when I've been walking, she has been really friendly and happy to see me. This morning I passed her hut and home and everything was closed-up tight. Of course, the dogs were there guarding the place, this was the first morning one of the 5 didn't bark and come check me out.I assume they are getting used to the farang that passes by every morning. Noik told me later that Nong called her in the middle of the night and said she had been beaten by some man with a stick and she was leaving for South Thailand, "running away to South Thailand." were Noik's exact words and she doesn't know when she can come back. She asked Noik to feed her dogs. I'm sad, I've been praying for God to intercede and soften the hearts of the people that she owes money to. I'm worried for her and I will miss seeing her every morning on my walks. Please keep praying for Nong.

Okay, that's a couple of things for now. You'll have to wait a little longer for decorated house pictures(Janette!) maybe after the weekend if we get some more things hung up on the walls.