Thai Tea Party

Day 2:

See, I'm really blogging everyday. Bet you thought I wouldn't.

Today started off like a regular Tuesday.  Doug has his pastor meeting with local Thai pastors and he did INDEED take the cake monstrosity I mentioned yesterday.  Which, I still say was pretty awful.  Apparently it got RAVE reviews by all the pastors and our pastor was very excited that I will be sharing the recipe next month at our baking class. Doug came home with an empty container...SCORE.  And, yes, I ate the frosting I stashed.

With Doug gone, our routine is a little different, normally he is able to study Thai in his office and still put Kora down for naps or monitor while I do school work with Kees.  Since he was gone and I was a little behind on housework, I let the kids play outside quite a bit, even though the air quality has gotten terrible here...pray for rain, pretty please. (Oh and for those interested, I listened to 3 1/2 hours worth of Thai lessons on my ipod and I'm pretty sure that is gonna be my max for one day because I was getting cranky by the end).

I decided to wear make-up today and fix my hair with my new curling iron. I bought the curling iron for 119 baht yesterday when I was out (that's about $4).  Well, you get what you pay for. It started smoking as soon as I plugged it in, then the cord got tangled beyond recognition after curling just 3 sections of hair. I unplugged it to right the situation and heard a rather shocking pop when I plugged it back in.  I curled half of my hair, it stayed curled about 37 seconds.  You'll notice there are no pictures of me from today...

This photo pretty much sums up the first half of my day (and almost every day):  Kora climbing on things and making messes.

While we were doing this, Daddy was doing this...

 
Doug got home around 2:30 and by 4:30 we were all starving and ready to get out of the house.  So we drove about 20 minutes to visit one of Doug's pastor friends who just opened a Pad Thai restaurant about 3 weeks ago.

Pulling up to the restaurant.

Kees had to go to the bathroom 3 times while we were out tonight.  On one of the visits to the bathroom we discovered this giant whisk.  I hope some day to have cause for using one of these babies.  I sure do love me a whisk!

Kees and the Giant Whisk (I should write a children's book with that title)

Kees is hilarious when it comes to restroom breaks and today was no exception. Doug had taken him the first time and the second time I took him. He was so slow and careful and climbed on top of the squatty potty like he was going to squat the way you are supposed to, but after all the work to climb up there, he just sat on it like it was a toilet.  I would not call myself a germ-a-phobe by any means, but even I cringed a little when he sat right on the squatty.  Now you will all understand why my kids get bathed 2 times a day, and sometimes 3.  After Kees got done using the potty, he said, "Momma we should buy a squatty potty so I can stand on it or sit on it or whatever I want." In my mind, I responded with, "You know Kees, I knew my life was missing a very important piece, and that MUST be it!"  But I didn't, I just smiled and said, "That would be nice wouldn't!?!"  And my motherly self thought, "How sweet, my son really appreciates Thailand in all of its glory."  Then Kees said, "Momma, that place is yucky, I don't want to go back in there."  Sigh, well at least no one could understand what he was saying..

While Kees and I were discovering squatty potties and giant whisks, Doug was visiting with his friend and his friend's wife was making our fabulous dinner.  It was so yummy!

Making our food.

Udom entertaining Kora.

Yummy Pad Thai

This was right after Doug asked me if I wanted to go sample some teas at Udom's house and he said they usually put salt in it!  He thinks he's so funny!

After we finished up our dinner, we went back to Udom's place so we could sample some of the teas he sells. We tried 5 different types and sat on the floor with a little table.  It felt just like a tea party!  Both of the kids really enjoyed it!

Udom was getting everything set up and Doug was explaining to the kids about tea parties.

Kees liked the tea

Kees had a blast seeing how he made the tea.

Kora found fish at Udom's house.

Tonight, at bath time, Kees pretended to make and serve tea!  So cute!

Kees told me the flavor of this tea was "candy tea with blue mints and red cherries"

As we were driving into Udom's neighborhood I saw a cluster of 4 spirit houses all together and thought I'd take a picture to share with you all.  The vast majority of Thai homes and businesses have spirit houses.  People offer food and drinks to the spirits and place them on these little houses.  They believe it brings good luck.

Spirit houses.

Udom's family is one of the very few, less than one percent of Thailand, that professes Jesus Christ.  They do not have a spirit house at their home or business, but guess what I saw on the door frame at their restaurant, this:

Roughly translated it says, "Look to God"

So that's my good word for the day.  I am often impressed by our Thai brothers and sisters and the stand they take for Christ.  So, "In small and large ways, we should all be taking a stand for Christ, our homes and lives should be just a little different. When people have a conversation with us, or come to visit in our homes, I hope the love of Christ shines."  So that's my challenge for myself, to be a little weird and different, all in the name of Jesus! :)