Good-byes

Last night we had a good-bye party for my friend Lindsey who is moving to China next week. It was hosted by my friend Lisa and she wanted to have a traditional Indonesian meal. We had 11 courses! of very different, interesting and tasty food. The spring rolls were unlike any I have ever tried, they had boiled egg and vegis on the inside. Lots of dishes have peanut sauce. The most interesting dish was the shrimp balls cooked on the end of lemon grass stalks, a culinary adventure for sure.

Besides the delicious food we had great fellowship. I looked around our small table and only Lindsey and I were Americans. Korea, Japan, Austria, Singapore, Indonesia and America were all represented around the table. I really consider it a huge blessing to have this experience of learning so much about different cultures and having friends from all over the world, it's so much fun.

I will greatly miss Lindsey. She was the leader of the first Bible study I attended early in our move. She was also a great support when we switched the boys from the American International School to the British, in fact she transferred her two children as well. It's been comforting seeing her friendly face at the new school this year. I don't like having to say good-bye to her but know God has special plans for her family in Shanghai and perhaps we can visit them there?

Living abroad has many advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is the frequent coming and going of ex-pats and the frequent good-byes you have to endure. There have been more good-byes than normal lately with the world-wide economic situation and lots of companies are relocating their families back to their home countries. Then most people have contracts of 3-4 years here so there is a constant flow of new people coming and old people leaving. At least the good-bye last night is just for a little while, knowing that one day we will all be reunited for eternity. I so wonder if everyone will speak their native language and we will just all understand each other or if we will have a universal heaven language?

Random Ramblings

Mark has been in the Washington, D.C., area now for over a week and we are ready for him to return to us! It was great timing for him to return to the US as Christmas is approaching. He really is 'Santa' this year and had a list a mile long of things to shop for and I had sent a grocery list several weeks ago to my friend, April, who was so gracious to gather the list of the American groceries we were in need of with her daughter Laurie-thank you so much girls! We asked for 25 boxes of Butterscotch pudding alone as the prison bakery will be selling my gingerbread cookies this holiday season!! Mark can't believe I asked him to haul Fritos all the way to Asia but men really don't understand the importance of traditions and comfort food do they? Mark is happy to have all the shopping finished but now has to figure out how to get it all back over here-I had lots of books, Legos, and gifts already ordered and sent to friends in VA besides all the groceries and shopping that Mark has done. 3-70 lb bags just doesn't go as far as you would think!

We're anxious for him to return also to finalize our house decision and get the ball rolling with our upcoming move. Hopefully, we will have a contract signed on the house two doors down on Sunday and we can start moving in the coming weeks. I have looked at a dozen houses this past week and hope to stay in our current neighborhood and like that house better than any others I've seen. We hope to be moved in before we leave the country on December 13th for the holidays.

We drove into Bangkok today for a visit to the American Embassy to obtain new passports for the boys. The expiration dates on passports are weird, the boys' passports don't actually expire until May but many countries will not issue you a visa if your passport is within six months of expiration! So you may have an expiration date but it really expires six months earlier than the listed date-weird! Of course nothing goes as easily as expected with the embassy bureaucracy, I always try my best to be prepared for anything but today they threw me for a loop, besides all the required paperwork they will not issue a new passport to Ethan until I supply 4-5 progression photos because of how much he has changed in 5 years! Never knew they might do that. I'll have to take in family pictures as I didn't bring any single shots of Ethan over the years. My baby really is growing up, I'm including a picture from a couple of months prior to our moving here and now. The new passports will require another trip into BKK.

Moving

Yes, we are moving-but not far! On Thursday we met with our current landlord who informed us that he has an offer to buy this house contingent on our moving out so the new owner can take up residence here. We have a valid contract until August 2010 and an option for an additional year but we will try to accommodate our owner and find a place to move. It is strange having a 'renter' mentality, I feel no strong affection for this house just dread the hassle of moving, remember we have to move a baby, grand, piano!!

We like this area, we're used to the market, it's close to the boys' school and I know a lot of our neighbors. Actually one of our neighbors is willing to rent to us but wants a two-year contract and we're not sure that we can commit to that length of time. They have a great house but it feels so American, it even has a 3 car garage and a food disposal-I have never seen that anywhere else in all of Thailand!! This couple have an interesting background, the wife is Philippine and he is Cambodian but both of their families sought refuge in the US over 35 years ago, Lee actually graduated from the University of Kansas. After several years as an engineer, they cashed out and moved to Thailand, building an American home hoping to flip it and sale it. Thailand is having some economic problems and houses have been moving very slowly so they are willing to lease their property to us. They own two other properties in this area and can move into one of those.

I spent most of the day Friday looking at available properties and will look on Monday as well before making our decision. We have agreed that we will try to be relocated by January 1. This may be a good thing for us because rental rates have fallen considerably since we moved here 1 1/2 years ago. Our neighbors' house would be considerably less than what we are currently paying and it includes the gardener and pool fees. It's a great house but will feel strange to be living in Thailand in such an American feeling house-the boys like it a lot, better area to play basketball. Remember that I broke my finger last year playing basketball on our rock pavement, it's a very uneven surface and is not conducive to working on dribbling skills...

Mark happens to be in the US at the moment. I jokingly asked him if he wanted me to pick a new home and get us moved before he returns!! It's really not good timing for us (when is moving ever though?). November and December is the busiest time with our bakery project. The end of the month we are hostessing a big Thanksgiving party with a father/son American football game and in December we have a 3 week trip planned to Italy and Greece!! Craziness!

If we take the neighbor's house just two doors over I guess we can just roll the piano down the street!! Wouldn't that make for an interesting picture especially if we could capture a rambling elephant in the background!