things that make me smile

Lego Creations, or in general kid creativity. Daniel is into building stuff. Yes, I know it is pretty simple, and yes those are "army guys" watching a movie, but it was all his own idea. And for a week after that, he recreated it bigger and better each day.

Do you know what this is? It is Thailand's answer to anyone with a sweet tooth. So this would explain my new obsession with sweetened condensed milk. Bear with me if none of this is new to you, but this stuff tastes really good. Before moving to Thailand I thought that s.c.m. was only used to make fudge and really rich candies and desserts like that and that you weren't allowed to just eat it straight. Now my eyes have been opened to many new possibilities: on toast, in coffee (and many other drinks), as a sauce to dip fry bread in, drizzled over rotee sai mai --a fantastic Indian dessert, pancakes or french toast. And I bet you didn't know that you can boil it in it's unopened can and end up with something close to caramel! Wow! I love this stuff!


Ant Poison. There is some necessary background here. I am ok with most bugs. Even ants as long as they stay outside. But when they come in droves into my home I just about lose my sanity. Ask Pun. So when my friend bought a box of these (on clearance no less--thank you, Diana!) and gave them to me, I went back and bought every single last box. Boy, I am so glad I did. Before, when I would see the ant lines going through my house, and I have no less than 5 entry points, I would spend a great deal of time "removing" them. Sometimes I wouldn't even want to go downstairs in the morning because I was afraid of facing the ants! Now, I see them come for a few hours, eat the food, and never come back. Amazing. Now I can smile.

Lizards, Lizards, Lizards! I love them! I don't know why but I do. We have the regular "jing joks", very common and often inside homes. I have blogged before about them here. But we also have black slimey ones, and a couple other varieties that look like miniature dinosaurs, as well as geckos. Every time I see them in my yard I call my kids to come watch them with me. For awhile I was having cool lizard spottings nearly everyday. Then poof! Gone! Like they all moved away for a few months. Thankfully they have returned. Maybe they are seasonal...


And a little boy who thinks he is so funny because he got into his sister's pink chapstick.

May there be many smiles in your day today!

What are you reading in the Bible?

That is the question posted on this blog (which, by the way, I love to read daily! I highly recommend it if you have little ones or homeschool). Good question.

I have been reading Proverbs over and over lately. Parenting is so challenging. So many days, sometimes so many times in one day, I feel in desperate need of wisdom in handling the situations that arise with my children. And myself. Solomon says that wisdom is more precious than anything else we can work to attain. He says to pursue it at all costs. God promises wisdom to those who ask. So I am asking. I am reading and rereading. I am not sure how long I will keep at it (it has been several months now), but I will tell you this. The more I read, the more the proverbs begin to hit home. More and more, I am looking around at life and seeing Solomon's wisdom or the lack of it played out in others' lives. I want my children to learn that wisdom is more valuable than gold. That they can learn so much (and thereby avoid pain from wrong choices) by observing others. I want them to desire wisdom.

Patience. I don't have much lately. This is where God is really speaking to my heart. And you know what happens when you realize you need patience and begin to pray about it. Uh-huh. I still need patience. All day with little ones can be so much fun. Or so exasperating. I don't want them growing up seeing my angry face all the time. I am memorizing and meditating on I Corinthians 13 and I am praying for patience.

This is where I am. So where are you? What is God teaching you?

Just Because

Another Sunday...

The last few Sundays have really been fun. Two weeks ago on Mother's Day Pun brought home a new (to me, anyway) piano for me. Wow! Love it! What a mother's day gift... No, I don't play that well, but I enjoy plunkin' out a few tunes.

Later that day we met up with some friends and went fishing at a restaurant where they will cook whatever you catch. I really didn't know what to expect. Pun just said we were going fishing. It rained all afternoon and I even got a bit cold!

Here is Pun trying to reel in a big one! But, of course, it got away...



Here is another guy's catch.



Check out his teeth! I guess we won't be swimming here.


This is what I did all afternoon. Eat. A lot of good Thai food.


We enjoy these friends, yet I came home so discouraged because I can't get to know them like I want to. Lately, language is really becoming a hurdle I can't get over. I am getting so intimidated by it all because I haven't spent anytime studying or trying to push ahead. So back to the books I went. This last week I have made a feeble attempt to recapture what I learned in school and aggressively begin to use it. Pray for me.

a random conversation

after a frustrating night of learning to sleep on his own (Daniel and Helen shared a room before we moved into our own house) and having found him in bed with Helen the next morning...

Me: Daniel, you are going to learn to sleep in your own room.

Daniel: But I like to sleep with girls

Me: But you have to be married to sleep with a girl

Daniel: And give her a ring? (note: this is the concrete way we have explained marriage to our kids, a man gives a woman a ring and then they get married)

Me: Yes. (grin)

Daniel: Then I can sleep with a girl?

Me: Yes.

Daniel: All night long??

Me: Yes.

Daniel: (Big Grin!)



Another short story...

Yesterday, I was getting my cooking books out to do some baking when something hit my foot with a little too much force. My first thought "Oh no, another large bug in my house!" I looked down and saw a little white round ball. "no way" I thought. "It can't be, we don't have lizards in our house anymore." But it was. A lizard egg. How do I know? Because when I picked it up to look closer, it slipped from my hands and cracked. Poor thing... Only in a tropical country can you find lizard eggs in your cook books.

Sunday Night At Our House

Sunday night we had some friends over for dinner. We did this ...

then this...

then this...

Can you guess what we made??

ICE CREAM! I just didn't know how simple it could be. We really had fun with our Pastor and his wife. Carrie is the kids' Sunday School teacher and they just love her. So when she came with a big bag full of supplies to make ice cream, I wasn't surprised. It was just like her to do something fun like this. Pun was shocked that it really did work. It was such a hot and sweaty day that ice cream was the perfect way to end it. Thanks Carrie!

So if you don't already have it, here's the recipe:

you will need 1 pint size ziplock bag and 1 gallon ziplock bag for each serving you want to make

Put these ingredients into the pint size bag:
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

close the bag, then place it in the gallon size bag along with:

6 Tbsp rock salt
lots of ice cubes

close this bag and shake the bag for 5 minutes or until you have ice cream

Your kids will love it!

Poor Sam, he didn't get any.

P.S.

Thank you to all of you who still read this blog. It made my day to see so many comments after such a long hiatus!

Sam Update

Thought you might like to see recent pictures of Sam. He is now 5.5 months old, has one tooth (as I mentioned before), constantly flips over from back to tummy then gets stuck then gets mad, and has a hair-do that has everyone talking.





A little side story for you, the other day a large black crab crawled into our yard and delivered her babies. All 563 of them. Interesting...