Highlights of Our Trip to the Mission (for D's engagement)

Mehandi for D's engagement. She wanted me to wear it, and one of the girls did it for me.

At D and R's engagement party.

J officiates the ceremony and I take pictures and try not to sob like a baby.

Our 'guest house' at the mission where D was raised was inhabited by what seemed like millions of these guys. I wasn't too thrilled to hear them walking on the ceiling in the middle of the night...

Our kids made tons of friends at the mission, the majority of whom are orphans. We brought them toys, treats, and clothes our kids had outgrown.

A sampling of the gang.

Oldest and C play cricket with some of the kids. Turns out they're fairly good.

Engagement

We leave tomorrow to go to D's village. She's getting engaged (here it's a big ceremony). She asked J to preside over it and I'll take a ton of pictures to share later. On the way to her home, we'll stop by Saran's village to have lunch with his family. J has done that before but the rest of us never have. That ought to be fun, too. The farm has asked us to stay until Sunday so that J can preach. He didn't really want to, but found himself saying 'yes' before he knew what hit him. :)

We'll check back in on here when we have photos to share. Love.

33rd Birthday

At the NR--the fanciest place in N. Mamaw and Papaw know from experience.

Uh, G and D made this picture all that it could be...

My hair looks very grandma in this picture, for some reason. I guess it makes sense since I'm 33!

A little guy who helped celebrate my special day.

Overlooking the city.

Feeling cold, as always.

Oldest boy looking...er, 'special.'

Public Service Announcement

We are up for a Skype. Just leave us a message and we'll set it up.

Oldest Boy's Lady Love

They met in Thailand and he fell--hard. She liked him too. Since we're friends with her parents we said we might consider arranged marriage ;)

Back

We are back in our city, safe and sound. More to come...

Fun at the Homeschool Conference

At the homeschool conference we attended, we attended a storybook character dinner outside. What does a mom do when she's just spent a month in Thailand and hasn't made costumes? Well, she sighs with relief when another mom gives her daughter a dress-up gown, and the other two go as (in order) Big Jim from The Sugar Creek Gang and Greg Hefley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In other words, they dress as boys ;)

The grounds at our hotel. Volunteers decorated the tables.

I think it was sort-of supposed to tie in Valentine's Day, too, because there were Hershey's Kisses on the tables.

Party Time

A family we met here has three biological daughters and four (!) adopted Chinese children. One of the little Chinese girls was having her seventh birthday and all the kids got together to do relay races at night. C takes off.

Then it's older brother's turn.

G loves the little pony-tailed girl on the right. Her name is Eleanor but G thinks she's just like Ramona Quimby.

Silly dancing in a circle. The birthday girl is in the center. Her name is Naomi.

I. has a blast, as always...

The Fish Spa

Getting used to the nibbling fish, even sticking hands in the water.

Daddy thinks this feels crazy and he's not sure he likes it...

G knows she likes it but it tickles an awful lot.

C could stay all day.

The fish loved Daddy's feet. Hmmm. What does that mean?