Some Recent Pictures.

Life has been zooming by (like usual!) so I thought I would share some recent pictures to sum it all up.

We've been playing a game with the kids that basically comes down to Paul being chased by Ellie and Nat. Everyone loves it, including Ellie! She gets the biggest smile on her face and giggles while Paul is laughing. So cute!

Last Saturday I went with a friend to the market to pick out some new material for some culottes and was surprised by the chaos and disarray in the stores. Fabric was everywhere and little paths would weave in between it all. But as much as it looks disorganized to me, the shopkeepers knew exactly where to look each time. So I suppose it's really organized chaos. :-)

Nat and Paul weren't feeling well on Sunday, so just Ellie and I went to church. It was so strange keeping an eye on just one child!

Ellie gets extremely serious at night... I'm not sure why.

Paul went with me to the grocery store to pick up a few items and loved pushing the basket around. I know it's not the clearest shot but those are eggs in the background. Yes, they are kept at room temperature!

Whispered Words.

As I recently mentioned, I'm trying to be more goal-oriented. One of my goals has been to find more hours in the day. I'm excited to share that I have! I'm still within the boundaries of 24 hours, but by shifting my sleep schedule around I've been able to get a few more things done each day.  Since Ellie is fussy at night, I wasn't getting much accomplished after Paul went to bed anyway, so now I try to have her down by 9 and we've been going to bed before 9:30. Ellie is sleeping through the night (what a miracle!) and so I wake up around 5, feed her, and then I have two solid hours to work on things. Oh it's great. :-) 

It helps that my new school schedule is Monday and Friday 8-10 AM, and I have to leave the house by 7:20 since all of Chiang Mai drives right past our neighborhood (or so it seems)! In addition to getting lots of small things done in the wee hours, we've also been able to watch our church's services - such a blessing! 

Currently my two kiddos are sacked out - yay for nap time! 

My mind is racing with things that need to be done, but I'm also enjoying the stillness of this moment. This morning as I drove home from school, I was thinking about learning the language and how it seems to always tower over me, taunting me. I'm grateful my worth is not found in my ability to learn the language! When I came in the house, Nat had some new music playing - courtesy of a supporting church sending us an awesome package recently. I'll admit I was brimming with tears, ready to be defeated (again!) by this towering mountain. As I entered the dining room, I heard the final line: "thank you for being faithful." I have no idea what the rest of the song was about, but those words were a sweet reminder from my Heavenly Father to just be faithful. It honestly felt like I was given a big hug with whispered words of encouragement. Ok, Lord, I'll keep pressing forward! Isn't He so kind?!?

Elephants.

A friend from my church has been here for the last few weeks helping another missionary family, so we snagged her on Saturday and headed for a nearby elephant camp.

For the record, I didn't realize this camp even did a monkey show until now. Interesting. Moving along...

We started off on an ox cart ride and then returned on an elephant. Quite the experience. :-)

We're in the middle of rainy season right now - hence the full river.

We really enjoyed the day, especially getting to spend time with our friend! We don't do too many tourist attractions unless someone is visiting, so come on over! We'll take you on a ride. ;-)