Last Week's Top Ten

#1 CHRIST IS RISEN!!! ALLELUIA!!! #2 Grace Hanpradit was baptized!!!#3 JILC Had a farewell celebration luncheon for Sarah and I in which I cried because I love them all so much and will miss them greatly.

#4 I spent 3 days in an Akha village with the sole purpose of teaching children about Jesus and telling them that He loves them!

#5 I made a new friend, Wii who is a theology student and intern at LISA for summer break.#6 Pastor Chomwee's wife gave me an Akha bag that she hand stitched to thank me and because I will be going home soon.

#7 I went to Burma and did some shopping in the border market there!!!!!

#8 I went to Lampang where Wii is from and got to see a big festival getting ready for the Songkran Festival. This included getting to send off a huge lantern along with hundreds of other people and seeing a massive drum competition!

#9 I was a guest at Wii's boyfriend's parents house and at Wii's home in Lampang where I met their wonderful family.

#10 I think I have officially been on every form of transportation here in Thailand including, trains, planes, animals, automobiles, boats and motorcycles.

Ok, now look at all the pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/boopsbips/AWeekInApril# that fill in the gaps and details. I couldn't fit all 700+ on this blog post.

Everything I Know, I Learned in Kindergarten

I think this might be one of the first posts in months I am not way behind on writing! Well, anyway. Sarah invited Ping and I to come to the daycare and visit with the children for a couple days, but Ping wasn't feeling well, so only I got to go. Ping's cookies got to go with me too! The daycare was a bee hive basically, not in the fact that there are dangerous and angry bees waiting to sting you, but that there was so much going on and so many bodies going in so many directions, it was crazy! I met Joe the handyman extraordinaire who has been volunteering regularly at the daycare for quite some time. He started a painting project, and with the help of Sarah, P Wow and some other volunteers, it is coming along quite nicely. There was also a group of 10 volunteers from a Christian organization that has been coming lately and they help out with the kids a lot, playing, telling stories, teaching them songs, etc. All of them are from England, so Sarah got to learn "proper English". I joined in on the fun some too! I say that everything I Know I Learned in Kindergarten because it's exactly what I was thinking as P Lek patiently watched me with her hand on my lap as I cut out paper doll princesses for her. The whole time she was so amazed that I knew how to cut with scissors! It made me think about how the littlest act of kindness or love can mean so much to people. Everywhere I looked there were acts of love going on there. The older girls took turns holding an umbrella for Toby who was painting in the sun (partly because they think he's cute, but they know he has a girlfriend and they helped anyway). P Gorb was constantly sending me food and drinks because she was afraid of me having low blood sugar and not feeling well. Some of the older kids helped the teachers with the great feat of bathing the little ones before nap time, and Sarah got to take out time to tell them a story about Jesus'love for them through the story of Mary and Martha, to which they clung onto every word. Really, amid all the chaos, you realize it's just a great place to be because it's so full of love. For many of these kids it's the one place they know they can go for love, safety and normalcy. I wish you all could have a chance to spend time there. Sharing, helping our friends, being nice to each other, learning, growing, laughing, loving; these are all things we learned in Kindergarten. I'd say if you've forgotten these important things, maybe you should go back to Kindergarten too and learn what it's all about!

It's a Surprise!

For my birthday, Sarah gave me a coupon good for one free date. I like spending time with people over gifts usually, so her gift was to pay for lunch and a movie together! The surprise was everything else she had planned, including have Ping and Bruce join us at Siam Paragon for the day! It was so fun! We ate at the food court, and then walked around shopping. We even stopped in the middle of the bookstore to have a 20 minute conversation before getting snacks for our movie! We still had time to spare so we stopped for the new tea lattes at Starbucks and the cinnamon rolls that Ping made homemade! We saw "When In Rome" and then Ping and Bruce took me out for dinner! Can you tell food was a theme today! I don't think I can move now! What a fabulous day spent with wonderful friends!

Sum-Sum-Summer Time!

Well folks Thai summer is officially here. I don't know if this has an actual calendar date, but I can tell it when all my Thai friends and coworkers start to complain every day about how hot it is. See in Thai winter when it's only 28C (82F) most mornings people are happy and for me it's actually quite comfortable. Next month we'll be looking at maybe 40C (104F). So, for all my friends who are still miserable because of the cold, we here in Thailand will soon be the opposite, while your spring arrives! When I return to the US the end of April I am guessing that everyone will be walking around in t-shirts and shorts because it's 60F, and I will be bundled up in coats, sweaters and blankets trying to ward off a cold. :D Enjoy!

My Final Visa Run-Taiwan

Here you go folks! I am finally catching up my blog and here is my trip to Taiwan. The day we traveled there was my birthday! So, that was exciting to celebrate it in yet another country. Beka met us at the train station in Chiayi when we arrived that evening. We went straight to church and got to see some of our friends that we met last year. We also picked up a few people to go out to the night market for all the sights, sounds and tastes that included. Here's me and Stephanie!We met Jim, the "new guy" who came with us. He's been getting the ropes the past week, so he came along to enjoy the fun. The weekend was pretty relaxed and laid back. Saturday we went out on the scooters for lunch at a popular burger joint that all the missionaries frequent. We even ran in to some others while we were there. It was such a nice day! We could see the mountains as we were riding into town and the sun was shining and warm but not hot like Thailand! We went to Saturday youth group briefly and got tea again! While they were in the non-English language part of youth group we hung out with some people sitting outside and I amused myself with picture taking. That evening we went to eat at a Thai food restaurant with some of Beka's students that just passed an important test that will help them get into college. Steph is just special....to me! LOL! Afterwards we went to the Taiwan Lantern Festival. It was incredible. I can't imagine how much work went into creating and designing it but they did a superb job! We got back so late, that our slumber party with the girls ended up being a short and condensed version, as we all went to bed!

On Sunday, we went to church and got to listen to the sermon translated into English. For lunch we went out at yet another popular restaurant among the teachers and then everyone relaxed for the afternoon. I sat and read a book while a group of people played frisbee and then Petrea and her little friend Amy invited me on a bike ride with Amy's family and another friend. They have a wonderful exercise park closeby to the school. Amy was so fun to be around. She is Petrea's shadow, and Petrea is so loving towards her like she is a little sister. We joined everyone else up at the house after getting some food at this "food" place. I'm not sure what to call it but it was dough that had different fillings in it. The house was all sharing their photos from their past traveling experiences over Chinese New Year. The night ended with a movie we all watched together. Then it was back to Beka and Steph's apartment where we hung out with them before going to bed for our early departure to Taipei. Sarah and I got to the Thai embassy early and filled out our forms. We were able to get them the same day, so we filled in our free time drinking coffee and reading, because it was cold and rainy while we were there. We ate at Taipei 101 but again didn't go up because of the fog. It was nice to enjoy coffee and reading though, and before we knew it, our trip was over and we were on our way back to Thailand for our last time!