There will be weeks like these! Weeks where I forget to take out the camera! It's just not a habit yet. I hope it becomes one. We have been busy! We had two parties this week and then regular life. Two grown up parties which is almost unheard of. We have months that we never have a grown up party! My friend, San, had a birthday. We had a very nice relaxing evening celebrating that event with several other couples. Then on Friday night the adults in our small group got together and played The Newlywed Game. How Fun! We didn't win but we had a good time with all our friends. None of us are Newlyweds! The most recently wed was 16 yrs and we were 17 yrs, so we were the 2nd youngest wedded of the gang. Kelly also wrote a couple of things for the occassion. Here is the first poem. The 2nd I will have to type and send later. It reads kind of like Dr. Suess poem:

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Both: House ants and love-contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to my wife, she’s tied them both up

Jamie: I hate to see ants in the sink, in the house
I hate to see ants just as much as a mouse
On doors, in the halls
On floors, on the walls
I hate to see ants and I want them wiped out!

If husband was wary and truly in tune.
Then he would do something to stop these red goons
If husband still loved me and followed his vows
Then he would attack them, and rid them right NOW!

Both: House ants and love-contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to my wife, she’s tied them both up

Kelly: Such joy and relief would swell in her breast
Watching her lover spray hundreds to death
Wife would be happy, so happy she’d be
She’d make lover happy, as happy as she.

Jamie I certainly know what my husband does like
What makes husband smile, what makes him feel right.

Both: House ants and love- contradictory thoughts?
Kelly: Not to this husband, he’s tied them both up.

Valentine Flowers

These are the flowers my hubby bought me for Valentine's Day. He actually bought them yesterday. 17 red ones for the number of yrs we've been married and 4 white ones for our 4 children. Today we went to one of our favorite middle eastern restaurants called, "Jerusalem Falafel." He had to leave so we weren't able to go to dance class tonight or out to dinner as planned. I'll write more about that in another post. Happy Valentine's Day!

Positives for living here:
3. We can afford to eat out weekly and have many options of ethnic food to choose from.
4. We don't have to deal with blizzards, snowstorms or tornado's!

Not gone away! Hiding!

Kittens!

I've been telling Kelly we needed to get rid of the stray cats that seem to be living outside our house--there are several that sleep there on a regular basis. This morning when the children went outside to go to school, they found two kittens. A black one with white socks and and this one above. Of course, Savannah had them up immediately and was begging to keep them. Malia and I are both very allergic to them so there will be no keeping them. After they left for school, I went back outside to take the pictures. The mama was gone and so was the black one, she must have taken her somewhere else. The other one was still here. She will probably be gone soon. I hope she takes them somewhere else and takes good care of them, so we can have more stray cats! :> LOL!

I am fine and need to find my camera so I can post some pics! :> All my tests came back normal so I don't have to worry about this shortness of breath that I have been feeling. The kids had a two day holiday last week for Chinese New Year. They went back to school today.

Kel called me and told me he has been invited to a function where he will meet one of the princesses and needs a black suit. (Thursday) He does not have a black suit, so we went ran into town to a tailor to have one made. We found some beautiful black cashmere from Italy that we will have a classic black suit made. It should be ready for the fitting for it tomorrow. I will try to take pictures of it. The royal family is in mourning from the death of the King's sister and so everyone must wear black.

This week my school schedule will be a little different since this is the IOWA testing week at school. I will not see my elementary students, only my high school student. Then, on Wed. and Friday, I will go and help with testing for a couple of hours.

I found the camera so I took a picture of some jewelry that a friend of a friend makes. I gave each of the women in our house group one pair for Christmas and was thrilled when she made some more because I didn't have a pair. Now I have several pairs!

It rained!

Yesterday, we received a sweet gift from God. It rained! The picture is from my front porch. Can you see the wet street? In Chiangmai, there is a dry season and a wet season. In the dry season it is usually dry (that means no rain) in the wet season it is usually wet (rains daily). This is the dry season. It hasn’t rained since November. What a sweet gift of rain today. You remember how I said it was smoky? It was not smoke. OR if it was the rain made it all go away. Maybe I can see the mountain. (Chiangmai is surrounded by mountains) What a sweet gift from God! RAIN!!!

Monday....today it is very smoky out side....it kind of looks like a cool winter day. Many folks burn fires during this time of year. However, it's not winter. We have not turned the a/c on downstairs but we have to have the fan on and we can tell that hot weather is just around the corner.

Today has been one of those nice grounding days. One of the days when the house is picked up, and I am able to have a long time with the Lord. It was mainly spent in prayer and listening. Now, I have a friend headed over to spend time praying. Our friend, Linda, had to be put on a ventalator this morning. She and Cyd are still very heavy on our hearts.

I want to lose weight so I have also been talking to the Lord about that. I have never ever really tried to lose weight. Not even the baby weight....and it stayed on. About 4-5 years ago, I got braces on my teeth (a quick painful 6 months process) and couldn't eat anything for about 3 weeks and it kind of jump started me on a weight loss program. I lost about 20 pounds. Somehow, in the last yr and a half, those twenty pounds have come back and I need to get them off again. Mainly because my body does not feel good with them on. I seem to have all kinds of gastritis type issues that I don't have when I don't have that extra weight on. I'm also more easily fatigued. So, I must try to do something intentional about this weight.

Those who know me, know that I tend to be the type person that doesn't want to try something like a diet because I don't want to fail. (where did I get these perfectionistic tendancies?) Or I would rather just NOT eat at all--rather than limit my intake. I know that is not healthy and is not the way to do it. So, this morning, after having a long chat about it with the Lord, I ate a salad for lunch. It had dressing on it, and ham....BUT, it was not bread and that is one of the main things I am going to be cutting out. My husband promises I can lose quickly if I drastically cut the carbs and gradually add some back in making healthier choices.

Some men are here now putting together Malia's new closet and my friend has arrived so I will close. The picture is a flower in our garden.

Closet lights!

The lighting is the bedroom is terrible. Imagine my pleasure and surprise when a few weeks ago, my husband had the lights in the closets fixed. I had spent many months not being able to see in the closet. Yes, it has been so nice to be able to see what is in there. And then, today, the closet lights decided they didn't want to go off. Yes, that's right! When the closet closes they are supposed to go off. But today (when hubby is away), they decide to not go off when closed. What am I to do? N comes to the rescue! He works and works and works and still cannot get them to turn off. We are trying to figure out how to disconnect them, etc. when all of the sudden, I spy the electrical outlet with a plug plugged into it. I go over, pull out the plug and Whallaa! No more closet lights! :>

Sunday's are lazy days

Since we have house church on Sat. afternoon, Sunday's are lazy days here. We slept late (8am), ate a leisurely breakfast, picked up the house, and ate lunch. I went over to visit a dear friend who had just returned from the States. She brought back 5 tops for me from Kohl's for a whopping $24! Amazing! It is so much fun to have some new shirts from the U.S. My wardrobe is feeling kind of shabby. The rest of the day I have spent reading Tolstoy's "Anna Karenin." It is soooo good. K left for a short trip to the big city here. He'll be back on Tuesday evening. These are pics of the children enjoying one of their favorite pasttimes. You can guess what it is! Don't you love the Peanut butter on Noah's shirt? That's pretty tpyical!