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.