Happy birthday

It was A's birthday while we were on holidays. Our children dressed up in traditional Korean birthday clothes. It's actually A's birthday but L wants to get into the action too. A and L have great fun together and we are so thankful to God for them.

Train Coming

We're back from our holidays and I have been able to download all the photos from my camera. This is photo from just before our holiday when we were taken to a Thai Floating Market. Next to the market was this train bridge (our son love's trains).

It was the highlight of his day when a train actually came past blowing his horn (or my wife to pull her head in - she was concentrating so much on taking these photos that she didn't realise how close the train was!)
Hopefully photos from our holidays soon.

On Holiday

We have currently in the middle of a two week holiday near Chiang Mai where Lisa was born. We staying at a beautiful resort in the mountains (see picture above) with Lisa's parents which has been great for the children. It has been really relaxing and we have been able to get to bed early, sleep in (as much as younh children allow) and watch episodes of Gilmour Girls on DVD. During the day we have been able to relax in the pool or go for walks aroudn the resort.

We made the 40 minute trip into Chiang Mai yesterday to attend an International Church and were a little disappointed at the teaching which was mostly the preacher's thoughts and not direct teaching from the bible.

We move to a hotel in Chiang Mai tomorrow for the last part of our holiday when Rich's parent's join us. One of the purposes of this holiday and family gathering was for A's first birthday.

Unexpect Visa Run to Penang

We received a call at 10am Tuesday morning while I was happily eating morning tea at the language school. Bad news. My work permit had not come through yet so Lisa and the children's visas could not be renewed. It expires on Monday I was told. We would have to leave the country the next day for Penang, Malaysia to get a new visa for them.

I was a bit stunned but there was no time to lose. I went home and started looking at airline websites to try to book a ticket. I booked a flight through Air Asia but wasn't sure whether my booking was confirmed as my credit card payment was "pending". I returned to the language school at 11am for my next class and shifted a language check due for Thursday to that afternoon as we were going on Holidays for 2 weeks on Sunday in Chiang Mai. I did well in the reading and writing section, but failed miserably in the comprehension section. I will do the check again after our holidays. We were up to 1am packing and then were up again at 6am to drive down to Bangkok to pick up some documents for the visa application at the OMF headquarters. By 2pm we were on the plane headed for Penang.

Anyway, we are in Penang now. I submitted the visa applications this morning and pray that when we return tomorrow to the embassy at 2pm everything will be in order. Our flight back to Thailand is at 5pm so there won't be much time to fix things up if something is wrong.

It's funny how last minute situations like this have become more common for me since becoming a missionary. Back in Australia I would be planning things at least weeks in advance to make sure everything would go according to plan. But now life is a lot more uncertain. Hopefully this will help me to rely more on God than I have in my life.

(Sorry, there are no photos for once. I left the camera cable back in Lopburi in our rushed packing)

Board game night

Playing "Ticket to Ride"

Playing "Niagara"

Rich organised a big boardgames night last week. It was a full house and we got to try out our new board game "Niagara". It was reminiscent of the many games nights from back home (thought the nighted finished much earlier than we would back home -we were all done by 10pm!)

The mosquitoes are this BIG

One of our regular walks is to a nearby school where there is this big mosquito you can see in the background. Unfortunately, Rich has blood which the mosquitoes love and he is regularly getting bitten. Fortunately, malaria and dengue doesn't seem to be a real problem where we live.

Tuk Tuk Ride

Our son had his first ride on a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok on our way back from Chiang Mai. Only tourists really use Tuk Tuks as metered taxis are cheaper and has aircon.

While in Bangkok the children had fun at a play area in a big shopping centre which they enjoyed.

Go Socceroos

Australia vs Thailand in the Asian Cup

Watching the game with Edmund from Singapore

One highlight of being in Thailand was going to the Asian Cup match between Australia and Thailand on Monday. It was quite a trip. In summary:-
12:10pm left hone in Lopburi.
1:50pm Arrived in North Bangkok where I parked the car.
2:00pm Taxi to a nearby shopping centre
2:15pm Minivan to the the Stadium.
3:20pm Picked up tickets at stadium.
3:30pm Went to a shopping centre to pass time. Watched a movie.
6:45pm - Motocycle taxi to Stadium.
7:35pm - Game begins
9:20pm Left game 7 minutes to full time after Australia scored their third go to miss traffic. 9:30pmTaxi back to car.
12:30am Finanlly arrived home.
Unfortunately, when I returned to my car after the game I discovered this parking ticket on my windscreen. I didn't even see the sign, though I'm only just learning to read Thai so I wouldn't have understood it anyway. Now have to return to Bangkok to go to the police station to pay the fine within 7 days. Good thing, we were due to go to Bankgok this Friday on our way to Chiang Mai.

This is Lopburi

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...H - . Pictures from Google Earth. Click on the picture to see a bigger view. On the other side of the big road is a big army base where Rich goes to play badminton. Why don't you go on Google Earth and visit us by satellite.

Toilet Training

What is it with our kids and putting things on their heads you might ask. Just in case you are wondering what is on his head, it's a nappy (or diaper if you are from North America). We have been trying to toilet train our son on and off for what must be going on to a 1 year now. There is no end in sight yet. Our youngest son though is showing a great interest in his brother's potty (and everything else that is his brother's) so will this spur him on? We hope so.

I started learning how to read and write Thai this week! Very exciting. It's like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.