Mr. Mom, and our little One-Puke Wonder

 Day 22:

(Doug did a guest-blog for me since I've been sick! Just to re-cap, Kora is the one who has been sick at our house, until last night when I started feeling sick.  It started out like really bad sinus symptoms, but turned into a stomach thing...not fun when you're traveling!  I was so upset because we've been excited about going for a while. We were already packed and everything.  But, I started feeling less guilty when I had the idea of Doug taking the kids for a day trip.  He wasn't as keen on the idea, but we thought Kora really was feeling much better.  Well the rest of the story is his to tell, so here it is:)

Doug's Story!
Today was to be our big trip to the country with our neighbors, unfortunately Kellee was sick. To me  that meant trip cancelled...to Kellee that meant road trip with Daddy and the kids. So after some convincing, I woke the kids up just as Pi Noi and her grandson Jam showed up. Kora being the morning person she is, popped right up and went straight into Noi's arms with joy. Kees on the other hand, our night owl, needs his morning juice and a good thirty minutes till he's sociable. There were tears, multiple returns to the bed, and he even said he was too sick to go. We took it as an excuse to stay home with mommy, so we reminded him that Kora was going and how he likes to be with her, that and a juice and Kees was quickly on board. If only Kees had been more insistent on his feeling sick... more on that later.

 First Kora gets the spotlight. Pi Noi thought it best to go on ahead with her husband Pi Uan and take Kora to go get ice; Jam would lead Kees and I after we got our things together to meet up down the road. And so the adventure begins, we hit the road looking for the ice factory. If I didn't already know where it was, it wouldn't have been too hard to find, as on the side of the road like a beacon of light, there flashed the very white derriere of Kora. Apparently her Pampers didn't quite do their job, much to the displeasure of Pi Noi's pants. Pi Noi's disposition however would not be deterred, and she was as sunny as ever as she handed me Kora and climbed in the truck. At this point Pi Uan takes off in his truck expecting me to follow, giving Pi Noi and me little time to wrangle Miss Kora into a new diaper. Thankfully, Pi Uan drives slowly,  and we were able to catch up in no time, but unable to make a pit stop for a more thorough cleaning of Pi Noi's pants. She didn't seem to mind, and there was a bit of a smell, but on we went, the worst behind us (haha).
 
Pleasant small talk ensued, Pi Noi and I speaking Central Thai, Pi Noi and Jam speaking Northern Thai, and Kora speaking sweetly of her own dialect, when out of nowhere the contents of Kees' stomach emptied onto the backseat, and then some. Pi Noi flies to the back, grandmotherly instincts kicking in, while simultaneously Jam leaps to the front, hand clasped over his puffed out cheeks. I frantically open the truck windows, thanking the Lord for automatic technology, and hope it's still too early for the celebrating hordes of Songkran to be hurling bucketfuls of water toward highway travelers (though it might have been a welcome change at this point). Pi Noi, bless her heart, has Kees cleaned up and clothes changed in no time and moves on to comfort Kora as seeing big bubba  in such a state is understandably upsetting. Kees moves to the front seat with Jam and promptly falls asleep, with Jam quickly following suit, his only defense to the mixing of aromas.

Everything within me wanted to turn the truck around right then and there, but I pressed on. Pi Noi had had the worst of it, and she was still happy as ever, and I've come to Thailand as an ambassador of Christ, convicting and humbling to say the least. I prayed for an opportunity to be a witness for my Lord and Savior and pressed on. About an hour later, I saw a small, yellow sign on a tree that said in Thai, "Jesus is the way of life". I read it out loud as if to practice my reading, and it started a conversation about churches and temples in the area and how they've helped one another out in certain celebrations. It got me thinking about how the whole country is celebrating this week the traditional Thai new year. The streets are packed with people laughing, dancing and having fun dousing each other with water, all the while attempting to make merit so that their afterlife and next life won't be horrible. The main reason of Pi Noi and Pi Uan's trip to the village they grew up was to make merit at the temple. How hard it must be to live life hoping your good outweighs your bad, thinking you can earn your way to a better afterlife and beyond. Jesus Christ came to bring salvation by dying on the cross in His perfection to take our place, cleansing the believer from all sin and giving His righteousness in resurrection to those who simply trust Him. The saved one is assured of a place in heaven by the Savior's side, it's a done deal. Pray for the hearts and minds of those we are in contact with and for the mouths and actions of us, our Lord's hands and feet. I am so thankful for the opportunity to visit the childhood home of friends, an open door to share in life and faith, and would do it again, bodily fluids and all. We stayed and visited till the afternoon and were blessed with an uneventful trip home as both kids slept the entire way, even as water slammed against the windows from time to time from enthusiastic Songkran participants. I imagine it will be quite the scene in heaven when we all meet there, on that day, that will put to shame anything we've ever seen on earth, as we worship our Creator and Father God, praising Him for His goodness and grace. May we bring as many as we can with us!

(This is Kellee again, after they got home Kees kept telling me about puking and saying, "I just puked one time."  So we dubbed him the "one puke wonder".  He was quite the little trooper from what Doug tells me and I couldn't be prouder of my little crew.  Hopefully we can all go next time!)

The view

Lots of people out for Songkran

Almost there

Preparing snacks

Mr. Mom and the One Puke Wonder

There's always yummy food!

Kees looked at this picture quite a while when he was resting after the puke incident in the car.

Pi Noi and Kora found a kitty

Kora wants to "help"

In the village

Roadside view

Village Pig 

Village 

Sleeping on the way home