OceanicThai

Ginger was a Surprise Christmas Present Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Our merry little Christmas

Happy Me & The Puppies Originally uploaded by oceanicthai I just got up, so no makeup and this picture makes my knees look enormous, but this was a happy Christmas morning watching the kids open their presents and drinking coffee with the puppies in my lap.

Bang Sak and other 017 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Christmas here is really balmy, so we did our cookies on tables outside on our porch. It never gets cold here, only a little cool!

Froot Loop & Ginger Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here they are.

Ginger Cinnamon Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Our latest family edition...a beautiful toy poodle, just 4 1/2 months old. A friend bought her for himself but found his allergies and lifestyle just didn't make it possible to keep her. Of course we are thrilled, since we wanted a female anyway. We aren't sure she and Froot Loop will be able to have babies, though, she is a toy and he is a miniature.

Bang Sak and other 008 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Three of them were at our house, and this was for our 26 English-language students. Here are some of the fruits of the month's efforts, 5 different kinds of cookies. We also ate some delicious Pat Thai, or Fried Thai (what a weird name, never translated it before) before we ate cookies. Then we watched a movie about the birth of Jesus. (Not Santa.)

Wednesday was the cookie marathon, and thankfully I had some help. Ning , Khrua , Kory & Trevor came to help; so we all donned aprons & baked, mixed, spooned, iced & sampled. We made 2 double batches of Sour-Cream Lemon Zest cookies & gingerbread cut them into Christmas trees, angels, gingerbread men, reindeer, stars, and then decorated them with 5 different colors of frosting Kory mixed up & colored. We made 2 big pans of Rice Krispy Scotcharoos with P.B., and drizzled melted chocolate on top. Total, we baked around, I don't know, 300 cookies & bars. My arms ached, so did my legs, and when I stuck my tongue out, I happened to taste my face and it tasted like sugar, powdered sugar. I found cookie dough in my hair. Khrua fell asleep on the floor after lunch. Ning was my tireless cookie warrior, (and my tireless cookie taster.) I didn't begrudge her a single bite, she worked really hard. Tomorrow starts the party marathon. Our 1st one is at 5...

Ever wonder what kinds of things Southeastern Asians wonder about us? Here's a collection of questions we've heard often in the past years and today: "Why do you strap your baby in that torturous constricting seat when you drive?" "Why do you use dead, dry herbs to cook with?" "Why do you put your baby in a different room to sleep in?" "Why do you only take 1 shower a day?" "Why do you get up so late in the morning?" (i.e. 6:30 a.m.) "You foreigners keep food in your refrigerators for a long, long time, then you actually eat it!" "Why do you foreigners wear such embarassingly tiny swimsuits and clothes?" "Why do you think this food is spicy? My baby even eats it." "What do you do with all that milk you buy?" "Why do you worry about time so much?" "Why do you have to live by a schedule?" "What lotion do you use to get your skin so white?" "Why do you fo...

Not a pleasant subject, & not a pleasant experience. Last week Kennedy was changing the truck tire and was bit by what he thinks was a spider. The bite site looked worse and worse as the days went by...and he finally went into a clinic, and the next day to the hospital, to get the dead flesh cut out and get antibiotic shots & pills. He was pretty distressed to see how much had to be cut out. He will have to go back to the clinic every evening to get the wound checked, cleaned, scraped and re-bandaged.

Giant batch of cinnamon rolls with icing. 4 loaves of Poppyseed bread with Almond-Orange icing.

9 cups of flour, 8 eggs, 2 bags of chocolate chips, 2 Tablespoons of vanilla, 3 cups of butter, unmentionable amounts of sugar, among other ingredients, made up my first giant batch of cookies yesterday. Totalling 200 chocolate chip cookies when baked, I bagged my dough and slid it into the freezer. Today I made a double recipe of chewy molasses cookies; more butter, flour, eggs, freshly ground cinnamon & cloves, ginger, soda, and of course molasses. That was a 72 cookie batch. 272 minus a few (I had to bake some for my family or I'd be charged with cruel & unusual punishment.) 250 down, around 300 to go...

Tomorrow we'll go shopping at the island of Phuket, that's where the supermarkets are. We try to take the 1 1/2 hour trip to Phuket only twice a month or so. We need to stock up on ingredients to make piles of cookies and desserts. Most Thais don't have ovens or the money to buy expensive cookie ingredients, like butter and chocolate chips...so you can imagine what a treat it is to bite into a homemade cookie. We will be making cookies and desserts for a total of 4 parties, so my guess is we are going to have to be prepared to make several hundred cookies, along with some pies and other desserts. I say "we" but of course it will mostly be "me" unless I can sweet-talk some others into helping! Since I'll be making cookies it shouldn't be that hard...

Click on the title above to go to the ICR site. Article from one of my favorite sites: http://www.icr.org/article/760/115/ Why Can't Geneticists See the Obvious Evidence for Creation in the Genetic Code? by John D. Morris, Ph.D. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19) Recently geneticists announced that they had successfully read the human DNA code. This truly marvelous achievement ranks as one of the most remarkable in history. Creationists rejoice over the news, confident that the more we learn, the more we'll recognize the signature of God in what He has done, and give Him glory. Scientists haven't actually deciphered the code, but they have, as it were, identified the "letters" in the code. They only know a few "words" as of yet, and really don't know the "language," or where the punctuation goes. There are about three billion letters in the human DNA, and the...

Santa's birthday, right? I remember one year, decades ago when I was about 13, we went to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas with our Japanese relatives. It felt so odd to be celebrating Christmas in the tropics. I remember learning to sing, "Melekelikemaka is the thing to say saying Merry Christmas the Hawaiian way" or something like that...don't quote me. Santa on surfboards, palm trees, pineapples and plastic Christmas trees. It all felt very odd. Fun, but odd. It is also odd to think that this kind of tropical Christmas, without the song, English as the spoken language or big region-wide celebrations among the populace, is what will be most familiar to my children. What is their visual world? Theravada Buddhism, with its thousands of temples, thousands of Buddha and Hindu statues, tiny spirit houses for the land spirits, and the house spirits, and spirit shelves and small shrines in nearly every home, every business. Here Christmas is celebrated by very few and is a We...

I was eating my bread with nutella this morning and crunched on something that kind of reminded me of a dried up bug. I crunched again. Then, when I spread some more of the yummy European chocolate spread on my piece of bread, I saw a big clump of something. I picked it up, and it looked like the exoskeleton of some kind of bug. I heaved a deep sigh and looked at the label to see where it was manufactured. I saw Thai, Malaysian , Indonesian...and thought to myself, "I bet they've just opened a new manufacturing plant for Nutella in Southeast Asia and their product has some quality control problems." Then I saw it was manufactured in Australia and imported into Thailand. "Wow, they've got some serious quality control issues in Australia, maybe I should write them to let them know." I picked up the long- ish chocolate covered bug-thing and decided to rinse it off to see what it was. I really didn't want to, thinking about all the other crunchy ...

His Majesty the King has called for national unity in a speech on the eve of his 80th birthday. "It is widely known the current situation is unpredictable," His Majesty said at the annual trooping the colour. "We can say that if Thais have a lack of awareness for the country, unity, we all may face calamity." To see the rest of the article, click on the title above.

Before church started today Tanom our beloved Thai partner brought in a treat...a big lizard, probably about 6-7 pounds worth, very pretty. It both amuses and upsets us when they kill these animals to eat. It upsets us because we don't understand it, these wild creatures look beautiful to us, we'd rather raise them. Yet, this is a way of life for people here, and all over Southeast Asia, they eat stuff we don't, period. It also amuses us because we still can hardly believe all the different things they eat. It would be exceedingly rude to try to "lecture" them about it, so we gently show our feelings by smiling and saying how we feel sorry for the animal and wish we could raise it instead. Tanom's daughter said to me today in the kitchen, "It's not an animal to raise, it's an animal to eat!" Someone else said, "It bites!." We wish we could just buy them a chicken instead, but they would rather eat lizard. If we were raised ...

Loei - The provincial administration of this northern provinces Friday announced cold-spell disaster zones in 14 districts.Suthep Maneechote, Loei chief disaster mitigation officer, said the temperature in the province has been below 15 Celsius degree for three consecutive days, so the province announced its 14 districts disaster zones.The announcement allowed the provincial administration to provide urgent help to the people affected by the cold spell.He said the provincial administration has provided blankets to about half of the people in need bout about 50,000 more still need help.The Nation (15 degrees Celsius=60 degrees Fahrenheit)

Last Saturday we had a super-tide, they only come at certain times of year, & I thought it was just Spring. The moon was full and we went to the beach at 4p.m. to swim & play. The tide was very, very low and we could see our neighboring Molken Sea Gypsies collecting something in string bags, at least 14 or so people. We left on our shoes and began walking, splashing, & wading to see what kind of sea-creatures we could see. We found a lot of big black sea-cucumbers; if you pick them up they may spit out their poisonous intestines. We saw large sea-urchins, mostly dark purple with long, poisonous spines; they are fun to roll around, just don't get poked. Lots of schools of tiny fish, nurseries just waiting to grow up and explore the sea. We saw different seaweeds, sea anemone , crabs, clams, hermit crabs, weird looking flounders ( I think that's what they were) with both eyes on top of their head, with a cartoon-like mouth and a flat underbelly resembling a slug. The...

Sort of...it is American pumpkin pie, but I use Thai pumpkins instead of a can or an American pumpkin, you know, Jack-O-Lantern type pumpkins. Thai pumpkins are a splotchy dark green, with yellow and orange blended in here and there. They are very hard, and when I cut it open I use a big cleaver and hope I won't lose any fingers. Then I slice it, take the seeds out, brush with butter and bake it for an hour or so. I add the usual other ingredients, can of condensed milk, 3/4 cup sugar, spices, 1 Tbl oil, 2 eggs. I toss it all in the blender and blend until the big chunks are little chunks...then pour into my delicious homemade pie crust. Ahhh ...this has got to be some of the best pumpkin pie in the world...right here in Southeast Asia. Just ask my kids! (Not that they've had any other.)

This time it was in our livingroom, under the Christmas tree. Jasper glimpsed it first, and Froot Loop our dog went after it. Jasper didn't see it clearly, and came running to tell me there was an animal under our Christmas tree. I grabbed a big pestle made of rock thinking it was probably a rat or something. I moved out furniture, first one hinged box, then the next, and I saw it...a long black snake. I told Jasper to get back and the dog started barking and chasing it. I kept hearing a very strange noise, like the cat hissing, except our cat wasn't around. The snake made its way out from under the tree area and went behind the couch, the dog in hot pursuit. I jumped on an ottoman and then decided I wanted to see what kind of snake it was. So I hopped on the couch and looked down at the snake and our dog. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. It was reared up, hooded, and striking at our dog. I jumped down, screamed for the kids to run upstairs, and called Ken. He...

We celebrated with friends, and it was special...all that delicious American food. In the past 8 years we've missed most Thanksgivings. It isn't celebrated here, of course, and things like turkey and cranberries are imported and very expensive. Just not native fare here in tropical Southeast Asia. So yesterday was special. Some families must have brought pecans from home, because we had pecan pie, too. Boy, it's been years since I've had pecan pie! (So of course I had to have 2 helpings.) No cranberries. We did have some yummy ham, though. So that was a little bit of wonderful. Hope you had a bit of wonderful, too.

Yesterday Jasper came running home from the center with a big beetle from our Thai partners. Today he asked me if he could run over there and get another one. I let him go after school, and he came back without a beetle. "Did you get a beetle, Jasper?" "No." "How come?" "They got eaten." "What ate them?" "The people." It took me a minute to remember that our dear Thai partners like to fry up and eat big beetles...and I had a good long laugh when I remembered.

Click on the title above to go to the archive of articles. The 3 most dangerous counties are about a 10-hour drive from here, so what we get is a lot of warnings and an occasional small incident (like our veterinarian getting his fingers blown off by the plug-in.) Not small for our veterinarian , but smaller than the multi-death bombings, shootings, and mayhem that have become a daily occurrence deep South from here. I have also kept track of some of the articles in my Thai Political Blog, link on right. I keep them in a separate blog. Time to make dinner.

Today I went with my friend and Thai-coworker Khrua to get an authentic ancient Thai massage. At $6 a person for an hour, it is definitely worth it, if you don't mind a little pain...Thai massage isn't for the faint-hearted! First I change into a loose cotton outfit and lay down on a mat. The "Massage Doctor" ( Moh Nuat ) puts my feet together and smashes them down, one on top of the other. After a nice, firm foot massage, they apply hard pressure to my thigh to cut off the blood supply to my artery, and when I think I can't stand it anymore, they let go. Then my legs are massaged with penetrating fingers, and they ask me, "Does this hurt?" Usually I say, with teeth clenched together, "May pen ray" or "No problem." If I start squeaking they usually try to tone it down. After that they put my body into a kind of pretzel position and squish me down with their whole body weight, then they do the other side. My knuckles are po...

My favorite classes in college were Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy, both were mind-openers, mind-benders, and I got credit for it all, too. I lived in Germany for 3 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Before we left for Thailand we spent a term in cultural training, too. Yet no book or class prepares you for the real thing. My first year in Thailand was a blur of culture shock. Then, after learning the language and setting off to work with national Thai partners, I was in for another major, even worse, bout of culture shock...as I learned how it really is here. Meaning what? Learning what people were thinking behind those beautiful smiles, learning about the daily grind of the farmer in the village, and hardest of all, what these people I wanted to get to know and love really thought of me and other westerners. It was hard, too, learning what my Thai friends were thinking about life, others, me. It is one thing to learn about another facinating culture, it is another to li...

Teaching English every night from Monday to Friday, that is. It was my idea, of course, so I can't blame anyone else but me! It is more tiring than I thought it would be. I enjoy teaching English, but I think I am overstretching my schedule. Homeschooling all day, then an hour of reading Thai for fluency, then making dinner, then running off to teach English at 6 p.m. This past week was week #2 and I could barely do anything Thursday and Friday evenings. Thankfully, Dean's interns, Kory and Trevor, were there, too. They helped me out so much. After our Friday evening English lesson we have our cell group, Bible study, and I dozed through most of that. Kennedy was away at meetings 5 hours away in another town this past week, but he is back and when we start up this coming week I think we are going to have to switch off. Wonderwoman, energizer bunny, I am not. What was I thinking? I was thinking, this is what it is going to take for these kids to really learn English so they can ...

Tropical Flowers on the Porch Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Kennedy & Jasper picked these for me. It's amazing to think all of these beautiful flowers came from our yard!

Sweet Puppy Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here's Buk Luk/Froot Loop on my lap. He's such a sweet dog, he loves everyone, even our cat.

Gliding Gecko Originally uploaded by oceanicthai We found these amazing creatures in our open-air (kind of) bathrooms. It really glides from tree to tree using its aerodynamic skin flaps all along its tail, body, and webbed feet. Beautiful!

Sweet Moment of Love on Ra Island Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Brotherly-sisterly love, and it delights & warms our hearts to have children that love each other so much.

Super-giant jellyfish, big spiky pufferfish, a poisonous sea-snake...wow! We saw all these wild things our first day at the nearly deserted (except for us and a few cabin caretakers) Island of Ra. We stayed 2 nights and 3 days; mainly to get our Thai co-workers out of their working environment for a bit and do a simple debrief of the past 10 months of working here in the South. We played together, ate together, and fished together. By the end of our time we were all dirty, smelly and all our clothes were damp and stinky. They say the family that camps together stays together...so maybe the team that camps together stays together too! It was a good time and we feel closer to each other. Our western co-worker Dean and his interns went, too. Dean made us a yummy breakfast. It was hilarious to watch Trevor and Kory, the interns, have fun. It has also been a blessing to watch them bond with our Thai co-workers, and start using some of the Thai Ning has been teaching them! We also ...

Another tsunami alarm that was later recinded here...makes everyone a little nervous. "A magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra early Thursday. The quake 135 kilometres west of Bengkulu on the coast of Indonesia's island of Sumatra occurred around 4 am (2100 GMT), the US Geological Society in Washington said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a "very small possibility of a destructive local tsunami." The US Geological Service said the quake was in the same area as an 8.4 undersea earthquake last month. "Since the September 12th earthquake, this section of the subduction zone has remained very active, producing more than 8 events greater than magnitude 6.0," the USGS said. The service said today's quake occurred at 4:02 Thailand time (the same as Indonesia time) only 135km (85 miles) west of the Sumatran town of Bengkulu, or about 675km northwest of Jakarta."

I felt it before I heard it, and I never saw it. I was trimming plants in our garden, felt the sting and heard the buzz. You wouldn't believe the size of the wasps and hornets here. I have a potato-sized red splotch where it stung me, and I thought for sure it was the same kind of horrid thing that stung our puppy. When I showed it to our Thai partner, Tanom , he laughed at me and told me there was no way it was a wasp. "It's too little! If it were one of those big wasps you would be in a lot more pain, and it would be huge!" I just kind of stared at him. Then I thought about our puppy, and how his entire leg was swollen, and the sting site turned into a big infected pus-filled crater. Hmmm ....mine just itches a lot and feels swollen. After that I went out into the garden to do a little more trimming. When I went to put the tools away I felt a little stingy thing on my hand. I looked down and there was a miniature worm on me. I yelped and scraped it off m...

It has been many months of hard and stressful works for our Thai partners, and as we approach a year's time together we have decided to take them on a retreat to take a breather and debrief. I've written up a simple schedule with some debriefing points to ponder and discuss. The park we planned on going to is closed because of an accident that left 7 dead. We weren't really sure where we were going to stay, but our partner Dean, providentially, found a wonderful little island getaway with bungalows. We will be the only ones there and for the 12 of us, it will be an amazingly low price. We will bring all our own food and drinking water, though. There are no stores there, and no restaurants. Should be an adventure, we will be there by ourselves except for 2 workers. If we need a boat to leave, we'll have to call for one. Wow! Last night we did a bunch of shopping, today our partners will finish it. Tomorrow we will park at the dock and take boat rides in on little...

Possessed Blessing Originally uploaded by oceanicthai The possessed bless people and pose for pictures.

Possessed and skewered Originally uploaded by oceanicthai One of the thousands of participants in the Vegetarian Festival here in Southern Thailand.

click title above to go to site Phuket Vegetarian Festival : 11 - 19 October 2007 The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is an annual event held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. It is believed that the vegetarian festival and its accompanying sacred rituals bestow good fortune upon those who religiously observe this rite. During this time, local residents of Chinese ancestry strictly observe a 10-day vegetarian or vegan diet for the purposes of spiritual cleansing and merit-making. Sacred rituals are performed at various Chinese shrines and temples and aesthetic displays such as walking barefooted over hot coals and ascending ladders with bladed rungs are performed by entranced devotees known as "Ma Song". The afternoon before the festival begins, a great pole at each temple is raised, called the Go Teng pole, with which the gods are invited to descend. At midnight the pole is hung with nine lanterns, signalizing the opening of the fest. Two important gods are al...

Nam Kem christmas party 101 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Poppy and Gai getting baptized 012 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This was right after Gee's baptism. She's on the right, with the little bun in her hair. After this she went out to play in the water with Poppy. Gee turned 26 a few weeks ago. She has 3 children, the youngest is 2 and she was pregnant with him when she ran from the tsunami. Her oldest is 8, she has 2 boys and 1 girl. She is Southern Thai, born & raised in a neighboring province.

Poppy and Gai getting baptized 013 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Happy Day! It was a very special day for us as a family to see Poppy be baptised...and it was a gorgeous day on the Andaman Sea, too.

Poppy and Gai getting baptized 002 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai They were baptised the same day across the street from our house at the ocean. It was such a happy moment for me, to see my beloved daughter make this step of obedience. It was a joy, too, to see Gee get baptised, too, in a sense my spiritual daughter.

Love it when it rains here, it means cooler weather. I went biking this morning at 6:30a.m.-I should feel proud of myself but I just feel kind of groggy & caffeine starved. My trusty poodle Froot Loop is on my lap, and it's time to get ready for another day of life in Thailand homeschooling my kids. Ahhh...I smell coffee

Things are getting very ugly in Burma, with an estimated 100,000 protesters led by the country's monks calling for democracy. With the first shots fired and the first deaths, the world is holding its breath to see if what will follow is another massacre of 3,000 people like the one 2 decades ago. "About 1,000 villagers in South Okkalapa township on the eastern outskirts of Rangoon attacked an army truck, pelting the soldiers on board with stones until they shot 10 tear gas canisters into the mob to make a getaway. "The villagers were reportedly outraged that the military had raided the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery early Thursday morning, arresting monks and leaving its revered abbot severely beaten. "There are people willing to shoot and people willing to die," said one Western diplomat of the ongoing showdown in Rangoon." For the full article click on the title of this post.

A local Thai official in our area was one of the dead in the Phuket aircrash . We are in Northern Thailand, so we won't be able to attend his funeral, but our partners have been. The carrier, 1-2-GO is our carrier when we fly back to Southern Thailand this coming Wednesday. Kennedy says he feels a bit nervous getting on the same flight with the same kind of aircraft, I think I'm just trying not to think about it at all. The airport is only 1 hour from our house. I noticed they covered the wreckage with camouflage ...no wonder, what a horrible sight to see as you come in for a landing. According to folk Buddhism, people who die violent deaths are often malevolent , powerful spirits. Monks have been doing ceremonies at the crash site.

We recieved phone calls from friends to warn us about the earthquake off Indonesia, to evacuate to the hills. All up and down the coast from the province of Ranong, Phang Nga, to Phuket, people evacuated to the hills to escape another possible tsunami. We are in Chiang Mai, several hundred kilometers north, so we didn't flee. I talked to my friend Gee and she said it was raining and everyone was soaked. For many, this will open up deep wounds from nearly 3 years ago, reliving the nightmare they lived through, and remembering the loved ones they lost. No tsunami came that night, and eventually they went home in safety. I wish we had been there, to pray with them & comfort them. A friend called today to say everything was fine but now everyone is sick from being in the rain for hours without shelter.

Click on the title above to see the whole article. "There have been a series of tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8 since Wednesday’s 8.4 quake, repeatedly setting off tsunami warnings in Indian Ocean countries. There have, however, been no reports of the sort of widespread tsunami that caused the death and devastation of the huge waves in 2004, which followed a quake of over 9 magnitude. Warning against complacencySeismologist Mike Turnbull of Australia’s Central Queensland University warned against complacency over the frequent tsunami warnings. “The problem is, these were very large earthquakes. They had every capability to generate large tsunami,” Turnbull said. Seismologist Turnbull said the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one that killed more than 280,000 people in 2004. This view was echoed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who told reporters on Thursday that damage from the initial quake was “relatively less” than feared. The quakes ...

Ken's Art Work some of Wendy's 088 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is a Muslim village moored on an island off the coast of Southern Thailand. You can only get to it from a boat. There is a school, a mosque, and several restaurants. A wooden walkway goes through the village, and little stores are open in the front of people's houses.

Dragon Fruit Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here is Jasper pointing to a lucious Dragon Fruit at the Chok Chai Farm in Central Thailand. Yummy

Purple Poodle 'Doo Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Our sweet poodle, Froot Loop, with another purple poodle hairdoo. This time he has pigtails, too. This water-soluble solution will wear off in a few days.

Poppy & Poodle Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here's Poppy & the poodle, Froot Loop, taking a little nap on our couch.

Winter Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here is another one of Kennedy's landscapes, from the U.S. of course, since we don't have winter here in Thailand. Today is Saturday, Kennedy is getting his sermon ready for tomorrow, the kids are playing, and after this little note I have a bunch of work to do, too. In a little over a month we will be starting our English classes for Bang Sak kids here, so I have a lot of work to do to get ready for it. Last night we had another great cell group meeting. It is growing, we had about 12 adults, 5 teens, & lots of kids. We ate fish curry, fried rice, stir-fry veggies, steamed veggies & rice, & some weird fermented fish concoction. It was a lot of fun.

This needs a picture, I know. It is a common snack around here. We eat dried fish string snacks, which is kind of similar, just cut into strings instead of stuck on a stick. (This would also be a good name for a band. That's one of our family entertainments, thinking of funny names for bands.) We just got our visa renewed in Bangkok, so we're good to go another year. I really admire Kennedy for driving us around in Bangkok...talk about traffic chaos. Poppy tells Jasper, her little brother, " Shhh ! We have to be quiet, we're in Bangkok & mommy & daddy have to concentrate so we don't get lost!" One wrong turn can mean a lost hour or two, and beware the signs, they aren't always accurate! We are home now, glad to be here. We had fun at Bum & Marcus's beautiful wedding in Bangkok, & we bought some great books, ate some yummy food & only got lost a couple of times. Jasper's favorite part was riding the subway & skytrain ...

Impression of Thailand 039 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is a detail from Kennedy's latest painting. I was pretty overwhelmed by the painting, it is huge and so full of detail it makes my eyes kind of overstimulated to look at for too long. Yet, as always, the more I look the more I appreciate his work, I only wish sometimes the tiny details would be separate paintings on their own. To do that, though, would be to lose the idea/thought behind the painting, however, the "impression" part. Our impressions are a complex juxtaposition of so many ideas and images. Kennedy captures his so well. He definitely has his own unique style, and I love it.

Monkey Eyes Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Jaspers 8th birthday Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Our funny son, when we tell him to smile he makes his eyes big like this. He told us, "I'm getting ready to enter my big boy life now." He and his sister share their imaginary worlds. His is Inner Star, her's is Ardaynaya. They both love to draw & play in their imaginary worlds.

Poppy's 11th birthday Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here's Poppy with her birthday outfit sent to her from Grandma Rosie, and her toys we bought her with money sent from Grandma Christy & Grandpa John. She's crazy about dragons & mythical creatures!

Jasper Jude at Sunset Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Jasper Jude & Poppy on the Rock Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Kids With Pets Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Poppy has Tigris our cat and Jasper has Froot Loop our dog. They are perched on rocks in our garden.

"Wink!" Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Wendy Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Baptism at water fall Aug2007 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai There were 6 baptisms yesterday, and everyone played afterwards.

Ning Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This was accidental, Ning will kill me when she sees this, but it is so funny, and so, well, Ning-ish. She is hilarious.

Ron Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Auntie Ron getting baptised with Kennedy & our Thai partner Tanom "officiating."

Baptism at water fall Aug2007 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is Ning getting baptised yesterday at a nearby waterfall.

Aa's Big Happy Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Aa's big happy waterfall picture moment! Aa is our Thai partner's son, he is so fun, what a great kid.

All of us workshop folks Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here we are, Thai and Farang (Westerners) with Dr. Bob and his wife Noreen on the far right. I'm standing next to my dear friend, Khrua.

Dr. Bob's Workshop Bang Sak Aug 2007 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This past week we had a great workshop on church multiplication with our Thai team & some of our church members. We held it on the bottom floor of our center.

The Bang Sak Center Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is our center/church/English school/Music/Computer/Everything place where we "do all our stuff." Many thanks to Dean and Pum for their collaboration & hard work! This is just a quick walk down from our house.

Auntie Ron's grandchild, so cute! Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here is one of our adorable Bang Sak Kids, one of the younger members.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Kitchen/Bathroom area. On the floor of the kitchen there is broken glassware, china, toothpicks, menus, hotmitts, all mixed together with a foot-high layer of sand.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here is Jasper walking on the outside of the ground level.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is one of the rooms on the bottom story.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This was an office on the 2nd story.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This was the reception area, and there are still Christmas decorations hanging up here and there. On the floor are books, menus, torn awnings and sand.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai This is the upper story of the structure, where the jacuzzi and massage room were. Notice all the overgrown plants and vines.

Bang Sak Beach Resort Ruins Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Just a short bike ride from our house are the remains of the Bang Sak Beach Resort from December 2004's Southeast Asian tsunami. We take visitors here because it is the only remaining resort that we know of that has been left in the condition it was after the destroying waves came. Many people died here, and the structure is considered given to the spirits by the locals. It has been abandoned for 3 1/2 years now. The blue strip are the pool remains, and beyond that is the ocean after a stretch of lawn.

Oldest Standing House in Takua Paa Originally uploaded by oceanicthai I'm not sure how old this place is, but it would be a wonderful painting.

Colapsing House Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Another picture of the house being overtaken by vines.

Colapsing House Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Takua Paa house being taken over by vines & plants.