Sweet 16=Sweet Freedom!

Day 16:

I've been trapped in a bedroom with two small kiddos for 2 straight days.  They were restless, I was restless...you get the picture.  Last night, Kora and Kees were literally crawling all over me and I had to leave the room for about 10 minutes and practice some type of pseudo-yoga breathing so momma's horns didn't pop out...p.s. I do not like horns, in reference to the devil, or the longhorns...so there!

So last night I was concocting ways to do indoor high-energy things since the kids can't be outside for long stretches.  I was considering aerobics, dancing, or even making snow for them to play with in the bathroom.  Then I started thinking that if we took them somewhere that had an indoor play place it might be a good compromise.  And wouldn't you know, Doug got a call from our friend Mark who is still in the process of moving and selling stuff and he needed a ride to "the old mall"...which by the way has a play place.  So, for once in our almost 9 years of marriage...Doug read my mind.  It's a banner day, folks!  After all our language study time, we headed out, but we had to take care of our fishies first.  Kora helped by sticking her hand in the water and repeatedly trying to drink it.

We spent about 5 minutes in the yard to take care of our fish.  We were told this leafy stuff multiplies really fast, so we need to periodically clear out about half of it. Kees did a great job, I shoveled the stuff into his scooper and then he threw it over the fence.

This picture is to give you an idea about the air quality here.  Usually you can see the mountain very clearly, like in the top picture, but today we were straining to find it .(I took the second picture today, the top one is from July 2011.)  Can you find the mountain?  Seriously, please pray for rain, my eyes heart, and my throat is burning.  And P.S. It is in no way "overcast" or "cloudy" the percent chance of rain today was 0%!

Outside Tesco Lotus, look, we got "Mother and child parking...SCORE!"

Mark wasn't quite sure when he would need to be picked up so we just went to Tesco Lotus for lunch, which also has a play place.  We had lunch and the kids got to play while we waited for Mark to let us know he was ready.  And guess what, Doug let me walk around the store all by myself while he watched the kiddos play.  Very nice, very needed...remember I'd been trapped in a room with those two lovies for two days, so sweet freedom was much appreciated by this momma.

Kees is saying "Thank you Jesus, this bear came shopping with me...maybe no one will notice me." And Kora is thinking, "Hey, mom, where's that headband you put on me? Got ya!"

And then I said, "Girl, Momma got a back up head band...step back!" At Tesco Lotus for lunch.  This is the first place I EVER ate Thai food in Thailand.  I had Pad Thai...it tasted like a gift from heaven!  We came here straight from the airport to get phones set up and buy odds and ends...I guess...it's all kind of a blur.  But as we were eating I was feeling pretty nostalgic!  I forgot to get pictures of our food because this passion fruit shake was to die for.  I should also mention it took me about 10 minutes to think of the word for passion fruit in English. I wish that was an indicator of how well I am doing in Thai, but sadly, it isn't!     

This baby came by to say "hello" during lunch, Kora thought she was a doll.

Everything at Tesco Lotus SCREAMS Songkran!  Like I mentioned before, there will be much, much more about that in the coming days...it's a HUGE celebration here.  I'm planning on researching it a bit more before I give you all the info, so stay tuned.  Anyway, it's a huge water fight, and everyone wears Hawaiian shirts.  That should be enough to explain the following pictures...

Songkran: Waterguns, giant colorful trash cans and buckets for holding the water and ice, and the bottom right picture is the kits you can buy to take to the temple to make merit. 

While I was shopping, the Tomlinson babies were burning off some energy in the Lotus play place.

Making friends!

When Doug was ready to meet up, he called to have me meet them by the elevator.  I was waiting when they came down.  Kora was so excited to see me and I got a picture of her sweet face.  Hope she never grows up, but word on the street is...she will. :)

Sweet lady.  

We picked up Mark to take him to the old mall, and I got to ride in the back with the babies.

Okay, maybe he's not actually a baby...but he's MY baby.

 At the old mall we got juice and sticky rice and mango before we headed up to the play place.  We didn't stay very long, maybe 30 minutes, but it sure was fun!  We gave Kees 5 coins and he got to choose how to spend them.  Kora doesn't really care if you actually put money in or not...which is pretty nice.  We'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Kees was begging me to hold his juice because he is afraid of going up the escalators, down seems to not be as much of an issue, but up is a real challenge.

Sticky rice and mango, yes please!

Well, apparently Momma got a little too cocky about the headband war, you'll notice that she's not wearing it in the rest of the pictures.  She wins this round, but I won't give up so easily!

Kora liked the music on this train.

These puppets are so creepy.  Kora loved them, pretty sure this is what most of my nightmares stem from...

On the way we picked up cheap Thai food for dinner, it was about $2.  I got gai gra teeum, which is garlic chicken, and Doug got rad na which I like to call "snot soup"...it's one of those foods I can't quite enjoy because of the texture.

Top: Yummy, Bottom: You decide...

Kees had a good time playing with the sand toys and goggles Mark gave us last week when we were helping him go through all his stuff.  Kees took all the toys into the bathroom and played for over an hour.

He wasn't sure about the goggles at first.

I had a snack in the evening, yogurt.  I bought this yogurt a week ago and forgot to try it.  It is so yummy!  It's honey lime flavored...yum, yum, yum!  Doug really liked it too!

Love, love, love!

Okay, so after staying up until midnight to try and finish the blog and not being able to get the pictures I needed, I ended up staying up even later.  I was in bed and I wanted to check out some of the dances from Dancing with the Stars Monday night.  This show makes me cry....like every. single. time.  But last night this video had me boo hooing!  Before you read on, you should really watch it. (Warning they do bleep out two swear words in his interview) Anyway, they interview Jacoby Jones, who recently had an amazing football season for the Ravens and helped them win the Super Bowl last year.  As they were interviewing him he explained that 2012 was his best year, not because of all his football successes, but because his son was born.  Then he explained that his own father left when he was only 2, and that he's tried to reach out to him, but his dad didn't want to see him.  Here's what I'm thinking...why would you want to have a relationship with a dad who didn't want anything to do with you and why would you try to contact him once you've "made it"?  Wouldn't you want to stay away from him and pridefully think to yourself..."Bet you wish you'd stayed!"  I think we all know why...no matter who your parents are, I think every child, deep down, wants to make their parents proud.  Even when the parents are so undeserving.  The bible says that children are a gift from God.  Wow!  Haven't we as humans screwed that up so many times.  Treating our children like they are a burden or they are unwanted.  And no matter how much we mess it up, it seems they still want a relationship with us. 

A couple of things: #1 My own dad is the best dad in the whole world and making him proud is so VERY high on my priority list. #2 For those out there who don't have stellar earthly fathers, I hope you recognize that our Father in heaven has never and will never leave you or forsake you...period!  Got that, soak it in.  And as his children, I hope we seek to make him proud.  I think sometimes we lose ourselves in what we are doing and we don't take ownership of the fact that we are beloved children of God. And as much as I want to please my earthly father and make him proud, how much more should I seek to honor or Heavenly Father.  I'm very blessed that my own dad is basically proud of me, if I'm doing just that.  That makes it quite a bit easier...two birds with one stone, you know? But even if my earthly father wasn't proud of me or pleased with me, I could be confident in my choices and actions if they please God. That's the goal.  I read a quote by Francis Chan this week and it kind of brings all these ramblings together for me, ‎"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?”  That's my prayer, that in whatever way I can, I will channel God's love to those around me. Because making God happy, striving to hear, "come in my good and faithful servant" is about loving others the way God would have us to, and that should be an extension of our relationship with THE MAN himself.(According to my research, this quote is from Francis Chan's book: Crazy Love)