Green Mountains and Asimo

Weekends seem to be pretty busy lately between checking on the progress of the house and doing things with the kids. It makes the quiet weeks at home with the kids pretty nice!

Anyway, last weekend was no exception. We spent Saturday at Khao Khiaow Zoo -- or Green Mountain Zoo. It is an open zoo meaning you drive through and stop to see the animals along the way. You can even feed many of the animals. So here are a few pictures of what we got to see and experience:

An amazing "bug collection". (Remember doing those insect collections in Jr High?) This was phenomenal...the above picture was only one of the many boxes displaying butterflies found in Thailand. Then there were the dragonflies, the regular flies, the grasshoppers and on and on. All we could say is "Isn't God sooo creative??"

One of the things that made this zoo fun was that you could get so close to many of the animals. Here we are feeding the deer. There were probably 30 deer in this little area, and we were able to walk right up to them, feed them and pet them.
We ate our lunch right here by the giraffes. They, unlike the deer, were very interested in eating. If they saw food in your hand they headed toward you. The deer were walking away from our offerings. This isn't that great of a picture, but I chose it because if you look carefully, you will see the very long tongue of this giraffe coming out and twisting around the vegetable that Helen was offering it. I really enjoyed how his tongue could wrap around his food! :)

Riding the elephants. You know, we rode an elephant bare back in Chiang Mai last year, and though it was a little scary, I think it was way more comfortable than this ride! Or maybe it has to do with being 35 weeks pregnant...



Checking out the tigers. We got to see a couple of beautiful white tigers.


And some funnies for you. "Best Friends" (Not sure what Daniel was making a face at!)

Roaring like a lion...(We just came from seeing the lion and hearing him roar.) Too bad there is no sound on this blog.



The only reason I put this picture in is for my 2 college friends and my mom who want to see how big I look with this pregnancy! (Don't laugh too hard, Trish and Jill!) Behind us is a really neat stone carving of lions although it is a little difficult to see.

I never knew how much fun it would be to take your kids to the zoo. We have been several times with Helen and Daniel and every time we go their excitement over seeing the animals is contagious. This was such a fun trip because we could "experience" the animals more than most other zoos. Recently we have been talking about how God created everything "just right". And that was the theme for this day.

On Sunday, we took the kids to see Asimo. Now, if you are like Pun, you probably know exactly who I am talking about. If you are like me, you are probably saying, "Huh?" Or maybe I am the only clueless one! Asimo is the famous Japanese robot. He has never toured South East Asia, so having him visit Thailand first was a big deal. We got to see him walk, run, dance, serve food and some other interesting things. Unfortunately for me, I understood very little of the program since it was all in Thai. But it really was quite something to see. And yet, in all of man's "creative ability" this is the closet he has come to inventing something "creature-like". Asimo is amazing in many ways, but I can't help to compare him to all the beautiful and graceful animals we saw at the zoo. The variety was astonishing, each creature having a mind of it's own. We think as humans we have a come a long way in our ability to invent, but it will never compare to the Creator.

And 50 days...

...until our little baby's due date! Some days I think it can't get here soon enough. Of course if this one is anything like Helen and Daniel, it will take its own sweet time coming. I am praying for an early delivery, though. Lately I feel as slow as a turtle and really am looking forward to the return of my normal energy level.

Helen and Daniel and I have been working on getting a little more routine in our life. Now that they are home from preschool, I have so many things I want to do with them and teach them, but as I have mentioned the energy is just not there. We are taking it slowly. We have started a little "circle time" each morning after breakfast where we read a short devotional or Bible story and talk about how it applies to us that day. Then we pray and sing songs together. Helen still loves to sing and is continually memorizing new songs. Daniel has just begun to really try and sing with us and is surprising me with the words he is learning. I am beginning to add in memory work as well. This will include Bible verses as well as other things I want them to memorize. Today we let Helen teach us the Thai alphabet using flash cards. It really works well, because of course, she loves to be "the teacher" and it reinforces her memory of the alphabet and Daniel and I are hearing the letters over and over and repeating them back. We really have fun with this. Sometimes we draw pictures of what we learned and hang them up to show Daddy later and then we might read a few books together. Usually after we have finished the kids play together in their room for awhile. This has been great for training them in obedience from getting along together to following the rules I gave them for their play time.

They are both excited for the new baby to come and have lots of ideas about what to name the baby as well as how they will help me take care of it. :)

I realize I was a little short in the last post about our new house. I was trying to get the kids bathed and ready for bed while working on it, so it came out brief. Here is some more info:
It is a 4 bedroom 3 bath house. It is not extremely huge, about 2000 square feet, but a good size for our family now. It has 2 kitchens (Thai style), one for prep and one for actual cooking. This helps keep the heat out of the main part of the house. We also have a little yard (also typical--land in Bangkok is pretty expensive) but it is just the right size for the kids to run around but not give us too much extra work. The location seems pretty ideal as well. Pun can get to work in about 30 minutes and hopefully get home in the same amount of time. We will be living in a subdivision which provides security guards (nice to have since Pun will travel overnight occasionally) and a park with a swimming pool.

The pictures we have of the actual house aren't that exciting for a blog yet so here is a drawing of the finished product as well as a layout of the house.

73 Days And Counting...

until we move here!


Yep, that's right! We are officially homeowners again. Will you thank the Lord with us? We fill so blessed to be moving into a new home so soon. Right now it is still being built, so we make regular visits to check on the progress. It is supposed to be ready on the first of December. I just can't wait for Christmas this year! :)

By the way, this means that we will be ready to have visitors soon!!! (for all those who said they would come see us :)