Leaving Thailand

We are going to have a really long night. Sitting in Phuket airport right now(10 pm). Flying to Bangkok (1 1/2hr.) Sleeping in the airport on the floor till 5:30am, then get on a flight at 7am for Tokyo (arrive 4pm). Then 2 nights in Japan, then the long flight home....Are we having fun yet?

 Any and all prayers would be very welcome.

We had an amazing time on Phi Phi island. The last few days it rained a couple of inches a day so we rented a DVD player and bought some movies and hung out in bed. It was very relaxing and we did get very lazy. It only took 11 weeks to get here (and you thought we couldn't ever relax).

Visions of Phi Phi

great day!

Today was a great day. Dean and Colton left at 7:30 to go fishing. Miranda and I stayed in bed till 9:30 then headed off to breakfast. We had toast and fresh fruit and oj. Then we decided to go for an hour massage. We were done around noon and headed back to see if the boys were back. They got back around 1. They didn't have a great fishing trip(I'll let Colton explain).

After dropping their stuff we headed back into the main business area. We are a 8 min walk down the beach. After lunch we went to sit in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner we had awesome steaks, baked potatoes and salad bar. One of the best meals in a restraunt yet.

we love the ocean

I think I am on my 17th book

This is our home for the week, The perfect place to relax before going home

We are nestled right into the hills and the beach

It is low season here so prices are cheap and there are very few tourists

We are at the end of the beach

                                                                   Miranda's playground

Phi Phi island

Thailand

The view from our cabin.

This mama and baby showed up on our deck yesterday afternoon along with their other family mambers

The ocean looks like a big pool outside our window at night.

Baan Thai cooking school

Today we spent the day learning to cook Thai food. We sighned up for a cooking class for the day. We all got to put on an apron and pick up our knife and cutting board and cook. We chopped, diced and fried our day away. Oh ya, we also ate....and ate....and ate. Phew, it was a hard day here in Chaing Mai. So the good news is. We now know (thanks to the Baan Thai cooking school) how to cook authentic awesomely great Thai food. Yes, we will cook for you asap.

When we got home from school, we scooted over to the House of Joy to spend our last night with the kids. We had a great night singing songs and talking and praying with them. Miranda made each child a going away gift. After hugs and almost a few tears they headed up to bed and we had another couple of hours hanging out with Kathleen and Galina(from Russia) talking. What a nice way to say goodbye to Chaing Mai.
We really loved Chaing Mai. So far it has been our favorite city that we have stayed in so far. It is clean and quiet, there is not as many scooters or honking. There are more dogs here than in Vietnem. But they have not kept us awake at night, so they can stay.

Tomorrow (June 23) we will be flying to Phuket, Thailand. We just could not handle not going to the islands for a few days. We hadn't planned on going when we arrived here. But after seeing some of the pictures in stores. We just could not go and see for ourselves. So we will take a quicky flight down and hang out on Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) island for a few days before heading back to Bangkok on our way home.

Again it's 11 pm and I have to get some sleep.Will post pictures of the scrumptious food we made tomorow if I have time.

long necks, elephants and kids

We had a very busy last few days. We have again gone non-stop as we do. So that we can get in as much as possible while we are here in Thailand. We spent the day yesterday touring the city center. Shopping and eating. Very fun, but a long 9 hour day of walking.
This morning we woke early to go on our day tour. Firstly we stopped at an elephant santuary where we got to see 30 elephants. We rode them, watched them play, get washed and eat. We also got to learn about growing rice and how they use water buffalo in the fields and we went on a bamboo raft ride down the river. After a great lunch of authentic Thai food we went to visit 5 hill tribes where we met and talked to different women who live there and learnt about their lives. One of the most facinating were the long necked women. I have seen them on tv and have always wanted to see them in person. Very interesting and somewhat sad.

We ended the day with the kids at the childrens home which was again a fun time. We picked up some fun things for them at the market and got to give them to them after supper. We played some fun games and met another vollunteer that works in the home every evening.
I don't have much time as it' 11pm and we agin have a very full days booked for tomorrow.

Chiang Mai, thailand

We finally have a tiny bit of time to make a quick post. We have been in Chiang Mai for the last 2 days. Spent it at the children's home(House of Joy). AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! We have had such a great time, building a sand box cover and filling it wheel barrel by wheel barrel from a pile on the street. We helped a YWAM group paint the fence and patio. We put patio bricks around the sand box to finish it off. We played for hours with 8 little sweeties. The ultimate best couple of days so far. Will post pictures asap.

Dean and Colton also had a really great experience going fishing with Guy and Sang. They are both avid fishermen and when they heard Dean and Colton love fishing they set up the morning to go. They caught a bunch of big 20 pound catfish. They came home smilling and ready to play with kids again for the afternoon.

 Tomorrow we are going to see elephants and the hill tribe people for the day. Booked it through a YWAM travel place that Kathleen knows.

Still smiling and loving life!