We're Here.... A Belated Post:).

So.... we actually made it to Thailand! And I'm telling you about it four days later:).

My husband is doing a fantastic job of keeping his blog updated (glad one of us is not slacking!), and if you're missing it there, then I'm sure you're seeing it on Facebook or Twitter:).

It's Saturday afternoon now and I have a couple of minutes, so I thought I would update you all on things from my perspective.... hey, that sounds like the name of a blog I know!

Anyway, the flight over was quite uneventful, except for the getting sick part, but that is over with thankfully! We didn't sleep very well Monday night before we left, but it has definitely helped since we've been in Thailand because our jet lag has been kept to a minimum.

It has been absolutely wonderful reconnecting with old friends! The year I spent in Thailand was so influential and these were the very dear people who made up my year here, so needless to say, I'm glad to be back:). Bonus is seeing my friend April who was with me in Thailand back in 2007 and is now here helping the missionaries for a third term. What a great time it's been catching up with her!

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Our purpose for coming (I alluded to briefly) i that this is our prayer trip to see where the Lord would direct our future steps in returning long-term to this country. I suppose one could also apply the term "survey trip" to our time here, but we are more focused on the who rather than the WOW!!!! that comes along with a survey trip. We feel very confident in that God has called us to minister in Thailand; we're now going about looking for the ways of doing so.

We are presently in Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. This is a change for both of us since we are very accustomed to Bangkok. Chiang Mai quite literally has a different culture from Bangkok, so that part is new to us, but good. Chiang Mai hosts a very good language school that we would like to attend for a year (when we return - not now:D) so we're examining Chiang Mai through the viewpoint of this being our future home.

God has been answering prayer and exceeding our expectations and we are so excited for what He is going to do in the few, short weeks we have here.

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We have also greatly enjoyed having genuine Thai food again... mmm, mmm! Chicken fried rice and garlic chicken with basil have topped my list, although I did steal a bit of my husband's cashew nut chicken today:). Yummy!

Another thing we needed to take care of while "in country" was dental work ~ lots of it. For $75 today we had two cleanings, one x-ray, and two fillings done. Monday we go back for two crowns and a wisdom tooth pulled for about $400. Sooooo much cheaper than the States!

We (translate me) anticipate getting some flip flops while here ~ a girl can't have too many!

Good trip... good times... good friends ~ the Lord's at work!!!

Announcing....

Just a couple of hours before we leave to start our Thailand trip and we still have some packing to do.

Ok, ok, if you know me at all, then you realize that statement is only partially true! We actually have all of our packing to do, but at least the laundry is clean (got that done this morning!). Anyway, just in case I don't post as much as I want to post in Thailand:), my husband has started a blog and I'm 99% certain that blog will be updated much more frequently than this blog:).

Here's the link: Williams Witness so be sure to check it out! In fact, he's already managed to post two times and we haven't even left yet:).

See ya on the other side!

Of Traveling And Trips ~ The Flying Kind.

I had every good intention of starting the new year off with more frequent blog posts, but it's a good thing I didn't make that a new year's resolution:).

Umm, where has the month gone? It's been slightly whirlwind-ish on my end with a couple of trips crammed together. My mom-in-law and two brothers-in-law came up for a visit before heading on to grandparents in NY. Meanwhile I squeezed in a short trip to Florida with the anticipation of welcoming a new little nephew:

(My sister Michelle with nephew #7)

Unfortunately, said little nephew did not cooperate.... not something I can really complain about, since the Lord's timing is always perfect. So little guy will most likely be born right when he was supposed to be born:).

Cuteness still abounded though! My little niece is 3 and is a bundle of energy and joy ~ usually I was on the receiving end of energy:). I spent four days in Florida just enjoying the visit, cuddles and hugs from my 6 year old nephew and niece, and the sunshine. Oh, yes, the sunshine was definitely a highlight! What a stark contrast it was flying home Thursday night with a storm on the way. But I am a northern girl after all and too much sunshine and warm weather just doesn't fit for January! We got a nice snow fall of 4 or so inches and all is white in my world:).

After a break from flying -- it's been at least three months! -- we've decided to cram in as much airport time as possible. What with picking up my in laws at the airport, flying to and from Florida, and going to Thailand all within 1.5 weeks, the Philadelphia Airport has become *the* destination point!

Nat and I are quite excited about our Thailand trip, except for one part: snow. We leave Philly early Tuesday morning but fly right to Chicago, a place well known for delays in the wintertime. Hopefully our flight won't be delayed too much.... :). We'll be gone to Thailand for three weeks ~ which is very short in my estimation but my point of reference for missions trips is a standard 3 months:). We're greatly anticipating the Lord doing some things on this prayer trip, so if we cross your mind at all within the next 3.5 weeks, please pray for us!

Who knows? I might even blog while in the land of smiles:).

New Year's Ramblings.

Well, hello, 2011... it's nice to see you! 2010 went out with a fun bang, although this past week made me forget that we were ending the year. Camp does that though.... miles from civilization (ok, so it's really only a mile!), excited teens crammed into one small space (a coach bus looks soooo much bigger from a distance!), and lack of sleep round out the list for a fabulous experience that happens twice a year.

We returned home from camp Thursday night and promptly tumbled into bed ---> a real, soft bed!!! <----- and woke up this morning at 11:30. We both came home from camp with sore throats (forgot to include that in my list of fabulous experiences) and I could tell Nat was sick because he took two naps today and was so completely out of it, poor guy.

I eventually got motivated enough to grab some groceries for a little get-together we're having at our house tomorrow, actually today, but that's about all that I have to show for the last day of 2010. We did had a great time at a New Year's Eve service at church. I think we're one of the few churches that doesn't have a Christmas Eve service but has a New Year's Eve service.... I personally think it's a great idea:).

We also talked to my mom-in-law for a whole year:) which actually turned out to be only 25 minutes. She lives in Texas and wasn't planning on staying up to see the New Year in central time, so we just had her celebrate with us in eastern time. Such interesting lives we lead, I know.

I do have a particular rant/soap box I would like to address because I honestly think there's laziness and then there's pure laziness. Ok, so here's the deal: do you ever go into a bathroom stall and notice a roll of toilet paper sitting on top of an empty roll? That's a pet peeve of mine and I experienced it several times this week at camp... girls apparently go through the rolls! It's not that hard - taking off a cardboard roll and replacing it with a fresh roll is just a nice thing to do. *SIGH* First rant of the year:).

Well, Happy New Year!

An Oh-So-Pleasant Christmas:).

The quietness of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was almost overwhelming... almost. To have a whole Friday evening with Nat is almost unthinkable... almost. Saturdays are usually a work day for me, so it almost never happens that I see my husband on the one day he's off... almost never. To say this past weekend was a treat for us is an understatement!

Sleeping in, reading the Christmas story, quietly talking while the candles flickered and the tree lights cheerfully lit up a corner, lots of hot chocolate with biscotti (thanks to a cute Sunday School student!), cutting up tons of fruit for a brunch at church, and then going to the craziness at my mom's house sums it all up!

We both love family time, so after a call down to Texas to say hello to Nat's family, we geared up for a family Christmas with my side! I have never seen so much food in my entire life for a smallish group of 13. I should clarify that I've seen lots of food (case in point was at Nat's grandma's house for Thanksgiving), but there was tons of food at mom's for just a few siblings gathered together:).

I told Nat I haven't had to cook in a week because of my crazy work schedule last week, dinner (and leftovers!) at mom's, the Christmas brunch at church Sunday morning, and now going to camp this week.

Yep, it's winter camp for us! My sensible husband has already packed his stuff up and is now getting a few things at the store for me. I decided to spend my morning cleaning the house since we're having a New Year's Day party with some friends. We don't get home from camp until Thursday night and I work Friday, so that doesn't leave much time to clean and get ready for the party:). Plus we have a New Year's Eve fellowship at church.

Just another loaded week for us ~ like usual!

By the way, I couldn't do a post without a picture.... isn't her grin contagious?!?

Checking Out.

I got my work schedule for this week and it's insane:), so I'll see you Christmas Eve??? Christmas Day???

Merry Christmas!

'Tis The Season...

..... for cookies.

Oh yes, working at a bakery means tons of cookies (and pies, and cakes, and brownies.... I'll stop there)! I don't make the cookies at the bakery, but I do box them and I must say that cookies aren't high on my list:). When people come into the bakery and look at all the food and goodies, they usually say something like, "oh, it must be so HARD to work here! I would eat everything all the time!"

Well no, not really. You know, that phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" is very true. I'm not too tempted (usually) to sample every single item at the bakery. That's a good thing!

I know bunches of people get into the holiday spirit by baking cookies.... I won't be joining them though. Too many cookies!

Christmas-y Things:).

For the first time in a long time, my church is not doing a manger program (outdoors or indoors), a drama, or a cantata. Instead we're doing a Christmas concert this year!

I'm extremely excited yet slightly nervous for my husband as he is doing the dramatic reading but I know he'll do a great job! The kiddos of my church are going to sing as well as the big people and then the hand bells are going to be played by the teenagers. Overall it's going to be a great night!

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Nat and I saw a cute little 3 ft. tree at Home Depot and chose to go the "artificial tree" route for our first Christmas together:).

A few ornaments have since been added, such as our first first Christmas ornament. A sweet family at church had our names and 2010 engraved on a Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus ornament and now it is hanging on our cute little tree:).

When I was younger, my family and I would always sit in the living room with all the lights off except for the Christmas tree lights and enjoy them. I've added candles to that little tradition and now one of my favorite things to do is to curl up on the couch with the tree lights on, candles lit, and quietly chat with my husband!

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I feel like I need a third picture to complete this post... yikes, OCD is kicking in!

Nat and I are going out to Sight and Sound to see "The Miracle of Christmas" and I am quite excited about this for several reasons: (1) I get to spend time with my husband! (2) Nat's grandma just saw it Tuesday and said it was terrific (3) S & S always does a good job (4) I haven't seen this one yet. :)

As bonus, we're going to Yoder's Restaurant for lunch since my parents talk about it constantly:). It's going to be a great day!

Toothpaste Tubes.

My pastor was preaching on contention tonight and made me chuckle (to my self, of course) at one point. I have unknowingly spared my marriage from one of the classic marital disputes: the dreaded toothpaste tube. Squeeze in the middle or bottom? (Or top I suppose). How did Nat and I manage to skate past this potential land mine that would threaten wedded bliss?

It's quite simple. Really!

When Nat and I first got married, we packed for our honeymoon separately (insert a big "obviously" here!). That meant our toiletries were separate... right down to that little tube of Colgate (or Crest... we're not picky). When we returned to our apartment, we continued the trend we started on the honeymoon: using our own toiletries. Including that little tube of Colgate (or Crest... like I said, we're not picky!).

Never once have we had a dispute over the tube being squeezed in the wrong place because we each have our own. I don't care how he squeezes his toothpaste tube and he doesn't care how I squeeze mine. Rocket science is taking place here at our little apartment:). And thanks to Pastor's message, we're reminded about a little piece of contention that we are missing out on... gladly!

The Party That Wasn't.

A couple of weeks ago, Nat told me he would be going away for a planning retreat with some staff members on Thursday into Friday. Immediately I began to think about my husband being gone for 24ish hours. Now I realize this happens to lots of people all the time, but you must forgive me for being wistful over my husband leaving - we've only been married 5 months. :)

I had been tossing around the idea of having some girls over and realized this would be the perfect time: girls over while hubby's gone without me having to kick hubby out. Sounded good to me! I knew that Thursday night is a strange time to have a girls' night, but I was working with what I had. Of course several girls had to work or couldn't make it, so I was planning for 8 girls and even chatted with several of the girls on Wednesday night.

Now the one thing I hadn't planned on was being sick... all week long. In the back of my mind, I was just going to get better and never actually thought of the alternative. Thursday morning rolled around and I felt like getting up took a huge amount of work. When Nat came home for lunch, I asked him what I should do. Being the great guy that he is, he knew I wanted to have these girls over so he was trying to make it work for me.... but reality settled in and I knew I couldn't do it and so did he.

I sent texts and facebook messages to my friends cancelling the party, slept some, bid a good-bye to my husband (yes there were a few tears), slept some more, read some.... ding dong.

My friend stood on the other side of the door with a cheerful rendition of "we wish you a merry Christmas!" while I felt bad because she didn't get my message. She understood though and we parted ways.

I went back to my place on the couch and within ten minutes.... ding dong. Oh no! That made two friends who didn't get the message about the cancelled party. This friend actually came up and visited for 15 minutes. I had to laugh when she said she didn't get my text. Here I actually sent a text to her mom's home phone number... whoops! She also called a third friend to let her know about the party. By this time I'm realizing the unreliability of facebook messaging. :)

In a way, it worked out not having the party Thursday night. I crashed on the couch trying to feel better and thinking about the irony of not wanting to be alone the first time my husband goes away and yet finding myself in that very position anyway. :) God has a sense of humor!

My husband comes home today (yay!) and the party will be had .... another day!