WE'RE HOME and Thailand: Days 11 - 14

We arrived home yesterday morning around 5:30. Jason's parents picked us up at the airport and brought us home. We have had a few minor incidents since we got back but nothing major. Our checked-on baggage didn't make it to DFW when we arrived but was lost in LA's airport. They had changed our flight number and our bags did not reflect that. Luckily, they were able to find them and put them on another flight here and they were delivered to our house last night. The jet lag has been a bit tougher than when we arrived in Thailand - many people told us this and it has proven to be true, although we don't know why. It is almost lunchtime right now and I am a little bit sleepy but hopefully we'll be almost back on schedule tomorrow. Also, a few hours after we landed, Elijah started throwing up, at church no less. We decided to go with Jason's parents to church since we were going to have to stay awake anyways, and in the middle of church, Elijah vomited all over me. He has since thrown up about 3 times but seems to be feeling better now. At least he waited until we got home and didn't start that on the airplane! :-) I am going to recap our last few days in Thailand since I wasn't able to do that while we were there.

Day 11: Wednesday was our last day in Chiang Mai and so was very relaxed. We spent the morning with some wonderful quality time with the Allen's at their home, just talking about the trip so far, our feelings about everything and what we were thinking. Then Jason went with David and Sean to check out some land that will possibly be for the Cheung Doi church in the future and to eat lunch. My mom, Elijah and I went with Michelle to eat lunch at Lemon Tree. We got a variety of food to share and it was all wonderful - I've decided that my favorite Thai dish is tom kha gai (sp?) - it's a Thai chicken soup with coconut milk and is very yummy! That afternoon we packed to leave for Bangkok and then enjoyed another wonderful meal at the Allen's house before David took us to the airport for our 7:15 flight. Jason and I didn't realize how much we would miss all of our new friends in Chiang Mai and were really sad to leave, but we knew that God had some things to show us in Bangkok as well. Patinya Thitathan picked us up at the airport along with one of the other ministers at the Watcharapon church of Christ. My family knew Patinya from when we were at Midtown c of C in Fort Worth - they were the first church to support him and my grandfather was the elder over his ministry in Thailand. He was very happy that we had come to visit and had arranged for us a very nice place to stay in the dorms at their church building. They have a building of dorm rooms and classrooms behind the church building where Thai college students can live and study Bible (it is a wonderful ministry!), and that is where we stayed, so we kind of felt like we were in college again. :-)

Day 12: That morning we attended chapel with the college students and then Tuli, one of the ministers at the church, was our chaperone for the day. He took us to the Grand Palace - it consisted of many beautiful buildings and temples behind a huge white wall that goes all the way around it. This is where special occasions for the King of Thailand occur, like when a new king is crowned, where he gives special speeches or where he comes to worship on special days. Also, if any very important people came to visit Thailand, they would stay in this beautiful house that was inside the wall - for example, our President, but they would have to receive an invitation from the king and not just show up there. It also holds the Emerald Buddha inside one of the buildings - it is one of the most prized possessions in Thailand and also in the world I think. They built the entire beautiful building just for this Buddha and man does he have quite the decorations inside for him! He sits up on this golden pedestal way up high - you can't get close to him, you can't take pictures, you have to take your shoes off, sit down and not point your bare feet at him and there were so many Buddhist families in there bowing down to him and asking for blessings. It was really sad but eye opening to see these people sincerely expecting something from this statue. We were used to taking off our shoes by now though, because in Thailand it is a sign of respect to take your shoes off and you do so in everyone's homes and in most other places as well.
After this, we went to eat lunch in an air conditioned building on the river. The heat and humidity in Bangkok is almost tangible and will knock you down if you don't stay hydrated! I didn't see the point in wearing deodorant there after about the first day and I felt very weak at different points during the day because it really took my body a lot to adjust to the heat. After lunch, we rode a ferry across the river and shopped in the market for just a little while - Elijah really enjoyed the ferry and hasn't ever been on a boat before that I remember. Then we went to see the Teakwood Palace in another part of town - it is made entirely of teakwood and is just beautiful! It was huge and we heard that there are no nails in the construction, all of the wooden pieces fit together like a puzzle. We were not allowed to take pictures of it either but we took a short tour through the palace. It was built for one of the old kings of Thailand and after a few years, he decided he didn't want to live there anymore and moved. Ha! This place was amazing and HUGE - I can't imagine wanting to move out of it!
On the way back to the church, Tuli stopped by the Christian Zone for the Watcharapon church, which is similar to the ones in Chiang Mai, except that it is not that near to the church. We got to visit with some of the students there and sit in for part of a bible study. They are actually moving to a closer location though this Thursday and so were preparing for that. We were absolutely wiped out after the day and the heat, so we stopped for foot massages on the way back. All 3 of us got one, which meant that Elijah needed to be watched. The ladies at the foot massage place were eager to watch him and so kept him entertained while we relaxed. In fact, Elijah got his own free 30 minute foot massage. The lady thought she would see if he liked it and he did, he LOVED it, and sat real still while she rubbed his feet and legs with lotion - he kept saying "mama, it feels so good!" while he sat there. It was really cute and I got some pictures. It was amazing while on our trip how much attention Elijah got wherever we went and how eager people were to play with him, so when the ladies at the foot massage place offered to watch him I didn't hesitate to take them up on it. When we got back to the church, the power was off and they didn't know how long it would be. We sat in an air conditioned restaurant next door and ate dinner and after a couple of hours the power came back on and we were able to go to bed. We were EXHAUSTED!!!

Day 13: This was our last full day in Thailand. We slept a little late in the morning and we hadn't decided what we were going to do that day. A couple of the things we had wanted to do were really far away and we didn't have anyone to take us that far. Patinya suggested a water park that was close by, and that sounded great since it was so hot! It was called Siam City - it was like Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor and Universal Studios combined. You could pay to go to different parts of the park and so we just paid for the water park, but we got to see the rest of the park on the way since the water park was at the back. It was really neat but a lot of it wasn't open since it was on a weekday. We were told that on Saturdays and Sundays, it is very busy there and everything is open. We found the kiddie part of the water park and Elijah had a blast playing in the water. It was a welcome relief to the heat and we spent about 3 hours there. Right before we left, an orphanage showed up with literally about 100 children right where Elijah was playing. He had fun playing with some of the children. We rested at the church building that afternoon and decided we would like to see a Thai show before we left. Patinya arranged for us to go see Siam Niramit which was a wonderful Thai dinner and show in this huge theater! It was one of the largest live theaters in the world seating more than 2000! Before the show and after dinner, you could walk around this recreation of a Thai village - they had people playing instruments, dancing, making things, cooking food, taking people on a gondola around a small river (which we did) and elephant rides on the elephants that were in the show (which Elijah did - again!). It was really neat and the show was spectacular! Wonderful dancing, special effects and lights! It was a great way to end our time in Thailand.

Day 14: This was on Saturday, the day we left. That morning, Patinya took us all to breakfast and we got to talk with him about his journey as a missionary in Thailand and about all of the ministries they have going on. He had some great advice for us in considering coming there and suggestions on ministries that he thought were effective. That afternoon we packed up our things and then left for the airport about 2:00 for our 4:30 flight. We flew from Bangkok to Taipei to LA to DFW and now we are home. I can't believe it's over, I can't believe we went to Thailand, I can't believe what wonderful Christians we met over there and I can't believe we're already home. It feels good to be home but we also miss our new friends in Thailand.

We had a wonderful trip and are so thankful that we were able to do this as a family. God truly blessed our trip through everyone that we met and kept us safe and we are so, so thankful. We are also thankful for all of you that were praying for us, and we ask that you continue to pray for us as we process all of what we saw while we were there and as we pray about it this summer. We want to boldly ask God to reveal to us very clearly what He wants for our family and that we will have peace about that decision. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.

We have over 200 pictures and have about half of those uploaded to flickr.com and then it wouldn't let us upload anymore until next month unless we pay a monthly fee. Does anyone know of a place to upload that many pictures quickly and for free that you can share with other people through a blog? We are having trouble figuring out the easiest way to do this. If you have a suggestion, please leave it in the comments. Thanks and we'll get that link up soon.