Merry Christmas 2006

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas day at a local orphanage here in Chiang Mai helping provide lunch for the children and workers. There are 26 children in the home, 21 boys and 5 girls. Each year the children are asked what they would like for Christmas dinner and they request hamburgers! As we prepared to leave one of the workers from the home presented us with a gift for coming, with it was a card that the children had made. It was an absolutely beautiful card. Inside the card many of the children signed in Thai with a couple in English. One especially touched our hearts. It said "...In Christmas time, I hope you have a good time with your parent..." Although we won't physically be with our parents this Christmas, we want you to know we love you and are spending this Christmas with you in our hearts. We are blessed to have a wonderful, supportive family! We love you all.

Yum, Yum! These hamburgers are so good! How many can I have?

This little boy was precious! He enjoyed every bite of this strawberry cupcake.

Each of the younger children were provided with a sweatsuit and the older boys received jeans.

A fun time was had by all!

Trip to Hong Kong

Austin broke his finger last week, which led us to Hong Kong for treatment. After his finger was set, we were out to have a little fun. It was Austin and Adriann's first visit and was a treat!

We first had to hit the Burger King in the Bangkok airport!

Red trees, yellow trees!

Trees in every color! With the cold weather of Hong Kong and lots of Christmas decorations, it really looks like the holidays are here.

It's pizza night! Jerry is out of town so Kelly and the kids ordered pizza, Canadian bacon and corn, YUM, YUM! The American pizza companies should add it to their menu.

School Christmas Program

What an exciting day! The kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade had their Christmas program. The children told the Christmas story and sang lots of familiar carols. The story told in such a simple way was a great reminder that we should keep the holidays simple and focused on the real meaning - our Savior's Birth! Adriann was a narrator and did a fabulous job reciting her part of when the angels appeared to Mary and Joseph. We're a little (well a lot maybe) biased but she looked beautiful too.

I always wondered why most of the Christmas dresses in America were short sleeves in the winter. It's so that they can be sent to Thailand!! Thanks Aunt Debbie!

It's Beginning to Sound a lot like Christmas!

Austin had his first band concert tonight. He did an awesome job playing the trombone. Great preformance and we look forward to many more!

The Mall on the Big Shopping Day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, Maybe not. As I walked into the mall today, I had visions of shoppers who lined up at 4:00 a.m. to get all the great sale items. Although, shopping is not one of my favorite past times, I do love to get in the crowds early on the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, in Chiang Mai there were no crowds, no sales and not many Christmas decorations this Friday. I did manage to find a small Christmas tree at Auntie Anne's.

Give Thanks to the Lord!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to God for His grace, mercy and love that has surrounded us this year.

In the upcoming months, Chiang Mai will host the Royal Flora International Horticulture Exposition to honor His Majesty the King. There is much publicity now to promote the event which will have over 30 countries exhibiting. This past weekend the mall had many local floral designers on hand with their handiwork. Adriann was fortunate to receive this "Princess" made from flowers. We look forward to seeing the show and sharing some of the exhibits with you.

http://www.royalfloraexpo.com/highlights/index.asp

Roller coaster!

WOW! It has been almost two months since we last blogged. We will try to do better.

Webster's dictionary defines roller coaster as "marked by numerous ups and downs". That's a great way to describe the past month and a half. We began August with the kids returning to school and meetings in our city. During those meetings, I (Kelly) met some wonderful new friends from Tennessee. Late in the month, Jerry and I were off to Hong Kong for medical attention and have spent almost 4 weeks there. Although this would be considered a dip in the roller coaster, I would have to admit looking back it has been a blessing and we have so many reasons to give God the glory. We thank Him for carrying us through this situation, for answer to prayer regarding health and for friends and family who have listened and encouraged.

Tomorrow we're heading home and you can not imagine how excited we are to see Austin and Adriann.

Baseball

Baseball season officially ended Saturday for Austin and Adriann. Great summer fun!

Southern family shot!

What a great visit!

Meme and JD are headed back to Mississippi! We were so excited to have them come visit, however the goodbyes always come to quickly. We had tons of fun together and are already anticipating their next trip. A few more shots of their visit to enjoy...

Three beautiful ladies!

Two handsome golfers!

Relaxing with a foot massage! JD said he thought he could walk another few miles after that!!!

Elephants

Being rainy season, it was a bit muddy in the mountains. However, that makes for an even more adventurous ride! The looks on Voncille and JD's faces were priceless.

Happy Birthday Meme!

Austin and Adriann baked and decorated a cake for the celebration. What a treat to have Meme visiting for her birthday. We love you.

Popcorn Ice Cream! These are a few of my favorite things... TOGETHER.

A Big Day!

What better way to spend your birthday than JD and Mom coming to visit and lemon pie! Happy Birthday, Jerry! Sherry hope you have a great day too.

Who's smiling more?? HUM...

Meme and JD have arrived!

Independence Day

As Americans, we celebrate our freedom as a country. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are given freedom in Him, the One True God. Today, may you celebrate Freedom!

Happy 4th of July from our family to yours!!

Sonic Flood comes to Chiang Mai

Last night, we joined some friends at the Sonic Flood concert in Chiang Mai. It was an awesome time of praise and worshipping God, in a rocking kind of way! This was Adriann's first real concert. She kept saying that her ears hurt but after a couple of hours of loud music, she fell asleep. We are still wondering how she slept!

http://sonicflood.com/home.php

Capturing the Visit!

Goodbyes are bitter sweet! Mama left today heading back to America, but hopefully with her, she took fond memories of Chiang Mai. We had an incredible time and were sad to see her go. Now, we can't wait until she returns. These are a few pictures of her stay. Mama with the Sojo's staff. Sojo's is a local "western" restaurant, that our family calls the "Cracker Barrel" of Chiang Mai.
Mama, Austin and Adriann at a waterfall on a nearby mountain.
Adriann and a hill tribe child.

Off they go in a tuk tuk!

Memaw rode the elephants. Hold on!

Memaw and Austin sitting by the river.

The girls ended the day with a foot message. Memaw loved it!

Smiles all around

She made it!

Do you see Memaw yet?

Happy Mother's Day!

Some Motherly Advice...

Always change your underwear; you never know when you'll have an accident.
Don't make that face or it'll freeze in that position.
Be careful or you'll put your eye out.
What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?
You have enough dirt behind those ears to grow potatoes!
Close that door! Were you born in a barn?
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Don't put that in your mouth; you don't know where it's been!

How funny! Reading this list, I laughed as I recalled having heard every one. What was really humorous was the fact that now as a Mother myself, I am guilty of having said a few! Guess, I really am turning into my Mother. Thanks for all the advice through the years but most of all thanks for being an Incredible Mom!

I love you Mama,
Happy Mother's Day!

Rick poses for a picture!

This picture speaks for itself.

This was our last day in Yantai. Beautiful costal city in Northern Shangdong province.

2 Goals!

The futsal season is in full swing. Today, Austin scored two goals at the game. Mom missed it due to running for shelter in the thunderstorm. The teams continued playing as though nothing was happening around them. No pictures, but we can assume it was great!

At another city. Can you guess?

People, People and More People! (About 20 million)

Xianyang Market! Very aggressive salespersons trying to sell their products. These products included clothes, shoes, watches, golf clubs and a lot of other things!

This was actually not the normal crowds that you would see in this part of town because it was overcast but it was enough to know that there are quite a bit more people here than in Thailand.