One Month Catch-up

So... school has been out since the day after Christmas... the students returned to their hometowns... Hengyang became a ghost town (well... all the English speakers - gone)... the weather got SUPER cold... our power shut off... SO... we ran to the warm weather of Thailand. Well that is the short version of it :)

We left China wearing layers and layers to stay warm started shedding them along the way. When we got to Bangkok, the temperature was a steamy 95 degrees... and warmly welcomed. We decided to go to the beach for a week. We stayed at a place that is for M workers all over Asia. It was so refreshing to meet other workers.
Parker LOVED being in shorts and a t-shirt ... with no socks.
We introduced him to the pool and the ocean. He seemed to like it. Sometimes we would even bring Parker's Peapod down by the pool and let him nap in luxury :)
And sometimes, he would just relax in the lounger.

He loved to hold our drinks for us :)


One of our favorite things to do was... enjoy great coffee. China really lacks in the coffee department- so one of our favorite outings was to a coffee shop called Wawee. We would go... get a latte and a comfy place to sit and chat or read books
We met an amazing couple from the UK. They are serving in Loas. They also shared our love for coffee and conversation... so many days we would go together and share about how the Father is working through us. Such an amazing couple. They own a restaurant/travel business in Loas. They live and operate the restaurant without running water. WOW... it puts a lot in perspective. We don't have much in HY... but we DO have running water (most of the time)

Most of you remember that we have our Annual Conference in Thailand every January(ish) It was a time of refreshment (physically, spiritually and emotionally)

Michael Card was our speaker again. He did a wonderful job of getting us in the Word even graced us with some wonderful music.

One thing that really meant a lot to me during conference was the baby dedication. It was such a special service. Wes and I wrote a prayer of dedication for Parker and asked the Father to equip us to raise him up in the way of the Lord. Michael Card ended the dedication with a special song for the babies.

Another favorite thing was seeing all of our friends that are serving in different cities around China. We would trade stories and laughter. I didn't take any pictures with our friends (I really regret this) BUT one of our good couple-friends has a 7 year of boy, Trey,- Parker fell in LOVE with Trey. He was so good at getting Parker to smile and laugh. So cute.
I know I might be bias... but we have the HAPPIEST ... CUTEST baby alive!!
And ... here is my favorite picture from the whole trip.
This is just a glimpse of our adventure... not everything went perfectly according to plans... including missing a flight which resulted in an overnight train... BUT Wes and I said-- if you look at life as an adventure-- the "problems" that you encounter- simply become part of the adventure.

We are back in China now. It is GREAT to be home... but we are missing the warm. It is SUPER cold (inside and out... as we don't have central heating) We are enjoying seeing our friends again (some of them are even bringing us "special" foods from their hometown- yikes.

We have 5 months left in our China Adventure... and we are so excited to see how the Father moves through us.