workation...so far

Thailand has been pretty nice so far.  We've had the best weather I can ever remember during a trip here.  It's not overly humid and even in the afternoon it feels quite pleasant.  Our travels were fairly uneventful.  The worst part so far was the time in Bangkok trying to get all of our medical stuff taken care of.  Once we go to America we have to get medical clearance saying we are healthy and able to return back to our overseas home.  Since we have limited immediate health care they just need to be sure there is nothing serious going on.  We got through our first traumatic day (the boys not only had to have blood drawn and shots but Kirby and Bennett went to the dentist that afternoon...Kirby was brave but Bennett was not lovin' us).  It was about 12 hours at the hospital (I also saw the lady Dr. and Stan had an extensive 5 hour physical).  The next day it was time for my physical.  This includes chest x-rays, EKG, abdominal ultrasound and almost anything else you can imagine to check out full health.  Now maybe you see why it takes so long.  Luckily Stan didn't have to bring the boys.  The next day we all had to go back to pick up paperwork and get our results.  The boys checked out great, Stan checked out great but I got some shocking news...no I'm not pregnant.  They actually found that I have a large cyst on my left ovary and a large stone in my right kidney.  The ovary can be monitored and doesn't need immediate treatment (it doesn't seem to be causing me pain) but the stone is painful and too large to pas on it's on.  That means at least I will have to extend my time here to get treated.  Please pray for me.  All these details need to be planned in the midst of a busy meeting schedule and family vacation.  Despite some discomfort we've had some fun since leaving Bangkok and arriving in Chiang Mai.  We took a family trip to the Zoo/Aquarium, had a day at the pool and yesterday I went to a Thai cooking class with some ladies (Stan had an afternoon golf outing with the guys).  Not to mention some great food!

So I ask for prayers for the pain to stay bearable, for the stone to not start hurting my kidney function (so far it's not) and for all the arrangements to fall in to place easily.  Thanks! 

the best I can do today

I feel like there is nothing much going on that is blog worthy.  I've been busy just trying to keep family life going.  I get up, have some Bible time, exercise, home school Kirby, go to school/tutoring for myself, spend the afternoon studying/doing stuff at home/running errands, cook dinner, put the boys to bed and then collapse in bed.  And that collapse takes place at about 7:30.  Next day, repeat.  It's just the nature of the season we are in.  I mean there are fun things mixed in there.  And I must admit that I have started only cooking dinner three times a week.  The other two nights during the week we eat out.  Eating out is cheaper than cooking, usually.  Not to mention it's nice not to have to plan and shop for those meals.

A couple of new things going on during the past week...

-The boys have been sleeping until like 8, or as in the case of this morning 8:45.  If they wake up they don't make a peep and just snuggle down deeper in their covers.  It's been cold.  Freezing most nights, which is much warmer than it's been in most areas of the States, but factor in just a small space heater instead of central heat and you have a family of bed bugs that don't want to be disturbed.
-It's been super hard for me to want to get out of bed too, but I've still tried to be consistent.  However, my 5:30 wake up time has been extended to 6:30.  I'm really hoping when we get back from Thailand it will be significantly warmer in the mornings.
-Oh yeah, we leave for Thailand in 11 days.  And we will be gone three weeks.  It's a workation but considering I've become wimpy when it comes to cold weather (apparently turning 30 has made me more cold natured in comparison to the sweaty mess I was for 29 years) I'm so glad to get to go somewhere warm.  And it will be a nice break from the norm.
-We totally changed up Kirby's home school for reading.  I loved what we chose but it got to be so challenging to the point of both student and teacher frustration.  I decided all parties involved almost reaching the point of tears on a daily basis was not what we were going for.  So we changed it up for a time.  Part of our trip will be a conference with other home schooling moms/students/consultants so I'm looking forward to soaking in some great knowledge.
-Wow, I had way more to say than I originally thought.

I'll end it here.  I can't imagine that the next 11 days will be more exciting than the past 11.  I'll be digging out sunscreen/bating suits/summer clothes (three cheers for my capris of yester year fitting!), making sure we have all appropriate toiletries in convenient travel sizes and getting it all packed in as few bags as possible so that my pack mule husband won't curse me and all my stuff.  Not to mention trying to figure out what randome meals I can put together with what we have hanging out in the fridge and pantry. 

Did I mention that it's freezing cold?  Oh, maybe I did.  What I didn't tell you is it's cold enough to see our breath.  Inside our house.  And we had hail this afternoon and the boys thought it was snow.  Poor boys.  Now, let me get back to preparing the best tomato soup ever! 

that was fast

And just like that...it's 2011.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Lots of great family time.  Time with friends on Christmas Eve and Christmas evening.  And a special week with my mom and Larry.  Seriously I think the gift of time was the best thing I got this year.  Even though they came to Bangkok when Judah was born, I was quite consumed with my last few days of pregnancy, delivery and that first newborn week when life is nothing but a fog of sweet baby moments.  So this was the first time I really had with them in 2 1/2 years.  It was a quick week but nice.  Some showing them around and some just sitting around and being together.  Perfect.  Hopefully Larry got some good shots of all of us cause Stan got a bunch of us walking around, including a lot with a view of my butt.  I'm not in to posting my butt on the internet.  So I'm hoping Larry got a few with smiling faces.

Anyway, with this new year starting, so many people talk about their resolutions.  I tend not to like to make resolutions, cause those get broken.  Especially since 2011 already has quite a lot on the calendar.  I do, however, have a few major goals for 2011.  I'll list them, but only because I know it would stress you out not to know.  I'm a good friend like that.

~ Get this last 8 to 10 kilos off.  I like using kilos cause it's less.  Yes, I do understand it's not really less.  I have a range because during times of weight maintenance I flucutuate so much.  I've decided that 8 more is the high end of where I want to be...make sense?

~ Get to the level of language where I need to be.  This is major and in some ways could determine the exact timing of when we will get to go back to the States.  Yes, I feel the pressure.

~ Finish Kindergarten with Kirby feeling that he is truly ready for 1st grade.  Not to mention take time while in the States to do a little more research about curriculum direction for the rest of his elementary years.  We get to go to a home school conference in Thailand in February, so that should help out as well.

~ Spend more time on my marriage.  Stan and I tend to neglect each other when we are in seasons of life that are super busy.  It happens before we even know it.  The best part about anticipating a busy season of life is to be able to head off this slippery slope.  Since each month will be scheduled around a big event (or two) for most of the year, we can go ahead and schedule in those date nights, or afternoons out, to begin with.  And when we are in the States we are pretty certain that any and all grandparents will be happy to take the boys off our hands. :)

So TWENTY ELEVEN is the year of: getting back my figure (and possibly my groove), speaking another laguage well(ish), making progress on figuring out this teaching my children thing and loving my husband better.

What are your goals for 2011?  

Advent

This weekend was full of fun Advent activities.  Each year I like to think on what this whole season really means.  It's hard to be away from family and friends during this time, but I know for sure that I will NEVER  be away from my Lord.  And what a special time to remember His 'coming'.

Saturday night was a wonderful time of fellowship with ladies.  My friend E has a cookie swap each year, something I always really look forward to.  It was so wonderful to laugh and chat and just be with the amazing ladies that I have the honor to be surrounded by.  Not to mention eat all of E's wonderful food. ;)  Sunday morning was another sweet time with our fellowship group.  Both times we sang the following song.  Two different people planned the music for each...E for the ladies' party and G for Sunday morning.  Of course G had no idea we sang it the night before, cause he isn't a lady.  So, I took it as a sure sign that the Lord just really wanted me to savor the words and meditate them on them.  So of course I have to share.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

Born to set thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,

Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever,

Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit,

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

By Thine all sufficient merit,

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

blackout

Yesterday was not a day out of the ordinary.  It was a blackout day.  It will happen to us every other month or so.  The power goes out, stays off all day, and then comes back on.  Not usually a huge issue, just kinda gives need for a little day re-arranging.

So at 7:30 am--while I was in the midst of a downward facing dog, Stan was headed out the door for his second attempt at his written drivers liscence test (that's a whole other story), and the boys were playing in their room--everything went dark.  And actually it was pretty dark in the house cause the sun wasn't shining so britely quite yet.  Our first thing is to always check the breakers to see if we just overloaded things a bit.  No such luck, it was the neighborhood.  And the area of Stan's testing location, but seriously that saga will get a post all of it's own once the end unfolds.  So anyway, like I said this isn't uncommon.  I think they put up notifications, or maybe announce it on the news, but we are never privy to the information cause we don't watch the local news and ignore signs that we can't read.  Some friends that live nearby asked around and we found out that it was probably going to last until 8 pm.  Great, it's completely dark at 7 pm right now. 

I have to admit at first I was really annoyed.  I had a HEAP of laundry to do.  I only got 10 minutes into my 30 minute yoga workout (and for some reason this week the chocolate has been a-calling my name and I needed the workout to at least balance things out).  I have some expense reports that MUST be done soon and I wanted to get them finished on Friday--and be able to harrass our accounting guy by email since the new format has yet to agree to make friends with me.  And a million other things that I wanted to get done so my Saturday could be nice and lazy.  But I quickly decided what I really needed to do was make a list of things that I was thankful for so that day didn't get me more and more annoyed as it went on.  So here, I will share them with you.

*Coffee was made.  And we have flavored coffee creamer.  No coffee for the day could have been disasterous.
*The load of laundry I set to start early that morning was already finished.  No half soapy, soaking wet mess to deal with.
*The night before I reset the hot water heater that goes to our shower (this hot water heater drama could possibly get it's own post too) so I was all set for a nice hot shower.
*We got to have family nap time.  My two big boys don't take naps anymore, which takes away my time for quiet and/or rest in the afternoons.  But the trade off is we now put them to bed at 7 and they go right to sleep.  Anyway, yesterday we got family nap time AND 7 o'clock bed time. :)
*The boys didn't beg to watch TV all. day. long.
*I didn't have to cook dinner.  Instead we went out, the boys played in a fun play area, and when we got home (right before 7 when it was already too dark to see) we entertained the boys with head lamps while getting them ready for bed and they pretty much went to bed without issue.
*Stan had downloaded a couple of TV programs (one of which was One Tree Hill, which I really enjoy cause inside I'm still 14) and we hadn't touched our computers all day so there was plenty of battery so we could watch them. 
*The power came back on at 9:30 so we still got to have heaters on while sleeping so it wasn't icey cold outside of the coveres...just a little cold.

This morning when the boys got up at 6:30 and discovered the power was on again, Bennett ran into our room, screamed 'THE POWER IS BACK ON', flipped on our overhead light and ran out of our room.  Stan, who had slept wonderfully, got out of bed, shut the door and went to handle early morning crowd control.  I, who slept less wonderfully, got to sleep till 8, and when I got up a little grumpy, there was coffee already made. :)  Laundry is going.  Expenses will be reported...sometime, but still before it's too late.  I may even get out for a walk to counter the chocolate.  Could it be I'm getting used to these annoying things?  Could it be that I no longer care that our power is being sold to neighboring countries/provinces/outer space?  Maybe.  But also maybe I'm just more thankful it wasn't on my lazy Saturday when it would have been really, REALLY annoying.  The end.