Shannon's Visit: The Wonderful Whirlwind

Aunt Shannon and Kyla playing in the river during our trip to the mountains. Favorite day.

Whirl. Wind.

There is no other word to describe it well. Last week's six days with my beloved sister went by so fast; like a whirlwind.

We ate Thai food, we shopped markets, we drove to the mountains, we dipped our feet into hot springs and also into tanks full of hungry fish, we visited friends, we feasted, we played in the water and scaled the heights of a local waterfall, we ate sticky rice every day, we took a zillion pictures, we held snakes, she tasted bugs (do you notice how I left out the "we" on that last one?), we laughed with the kids, we gifted each other with fun things from afar, we talked and talked, we caught up on family business, we visited the local temple, we drank loads of coffee, she played with baby tigers, we got bit up by mosquitoes and got treated at a nail salon...we had a blast. The time went so fast, but it was wonderful.

Most of all, my sister and I connected. She got to see Thailand through her own eyes, rather than just through my own accounts or through this blog. We connected over something now that we can share in remembering together; her trip here. That is most of why we stay close with people, right? Connections.  She is my sister and always will be, but now she has one more thing to tie us together in relationship...an understanding of where we live and how we live and why we live here. 

Thank you, Shannon, for coming!

Here are just a few highlights of her visit (photo disclaimer...sorry for the graininess of the art museum pics. I am an airhead and forgot to hit the focus once or twice):

We went to Art In Paradise, a 3D Illusion art museum in our city.

Seriously, this art museum is a blast!

"Underwater"

Somebody better rescue those kids!

Did you know there were active volcanoes in Thailand?

Thai food had a growing effect on Aunt Shannon.

My sons at their finest.

Shannon's favorite thing: the Tiger Kingdom.

Think this feline would go well with your sweet doggies, Shannon? 

My son has become a tuk tuk driver in his spare time.

Of course these beauties belong to the same family.

Fish spa with the whole family! Even baby Charis sat with us. She opted out of putting her feet in, though. Short legs. 

At one point, the boys took their own tanks and chilled out. They seriously enjoyed it. Seriously. Just look at their faces.

My sis was in her element in the outdoors. I am thankful she prefers being outside because it is the perfect time of year for this! 

Dipping our feet in a local hot spring. Cheap fun in a beautiful place.

We love Aunt Shannon!

Our last meal together with the whole family. We miss you already, Shan!

Anyone else want to come jump in our world? You are always welcome to come for a quick visit! (As long as you bring us beef jerkey like Shannon did. Always a win!)

Blessings,
Alina

Aunt Shannon is Coming!

Grandma, sister Shannon, Kyla, Aunt Cathy, and myself at Kyla's 2nd birthday party almost 2 years ago. It has been so long since we have seen each other!

This girl.

My sister; two years my junior, newly married, impossibly beautiful, and one of the hardest-working, humble people I know...will be landing in my city in less than 7 hours.

It was easy to wake up with my alarm today because I am just. so. thrilled!

She will be here barely a week (Thank you, America, for giving our citizens impossibly short vacation allowances with our work. Can't we be like the French and get our 6 weeks?).  We have so many things in the works for her here...fun Thai food, a trip to one of the waterfalls in our area, elephant riding, tuk tuks (what trip to Thailand is without one of these?)...weird-Thai-fruit-tastings, Night Safari, walking market, hot springs, coffee in the mountains...there is just so much to do in so little time.

With her trip, I didn't realize that I had so many pent up feelings about visitors. Her visit here has made me realize the incredible value I feel for having a member of my family (she will be the very first!) step into our world.

Our world.

Sure, we aren't living in a stilt house on a rice plantation, with King Cobras slithering about our feet and riding elephants to school...our foreign predecessors have done that already.  We live in a seemingly ordinary home with suburban neighbors and very ordinary things happening around us every day. In many ways, our lives are just like yours. 

But, so much of our world here in Thailand has been so common-place that it is pure fun to have an "outsider" step into it and open up our own eyes to the wonder that is overseas-living:

...chanting and announcements from the local temple blaring through the loudspeakers...firecrackers every day, at almost any hour...the glory of sticky rice (how did I live without this before?)...fresh pineapple and such for pennies (or free, if you have a generous friend)...Thai smiles all around...the normalcy of cool water from the faucets and the lack of indoor climate control...trails of ants that can enter any room within a flash to swipe up that dribble of watermelon juice on the floor...then, the geckos that save us from a nightly attack of blood-sucking mosquitoes...cheap wares at the handicraft markets...and landscape views that some people only witness on the cover of a travel magazine...

...every day.

We will relish every second of Shannon's visit this week.  And, when she returns home (too quickly!), she will finally have a picture to remember and retell to my parents and kin when they ask about how it was "way over there across the ocean."  

2014 is a New Start

Wouldn't life be grand if the toy area always looked like this? These are the bulk of our toys post "The Great Toy Purge of 2013". 

Treavor and I got a head start on the New Year toward the end of December 2013. You see, we have five sets of people/family units/relations coming to stay with us in first six weeks of this year, and being the Messies we are, the house needed a good shake down. In fact, Christmas Day's evening was spent initiating a toy purge. We have done this for the third year running and it. is. awesome. We go through toys, ditch the ones that have been long forgotten, throw away the bent paper airplanes, broken action figures and dust bunnies...and then consider our storage space (with the goal being not to buy more boxes to fill, but to stay within those boundaries instead).  It was so liberating, as it always is.

From that day on, we spent a good part of each day sifting through piles of papers, pulling out guest blankets and sheets, rearranging, and cleaning. We even enlisted a friend to help (one whose gifting it is to be a great organizer and cleaner!).

So, when our friends Glen and Kat arrived last Saturday to stay for the week, we felt like we could finally breathe and not have to wish with baited breath that they wouldn't open our cupboards and find themselves at the bottom of the junk pile that had just fallen on them.  We are working on being hospitable and tidy people.  Help us, Jesus.

I can't tell you enough, but it is so wonderful to have clean, empty spaces!  Growing up, it was my tendency to feel like a shelf or a table or a space was for filling with some kind of junk. Can anyone else relate? It was as if an empty table was screaming, "PLEASE put junk mail and books and papers and all your loose change, etc. etc. etc. on me!"

It has been a week since we rearranged almost every corner of this house, and there have been a few lazy days of not putting things away as we have rushed from this meeting to this meal to that errand, etc.  The clutter is starting to, well, clutter up our empty spaces.  One week into our New Year and it already seems we're back to our old ways.  We didn't make a resolution, exactly, but are wanting to seriously change our ways so that our children don't inherit our messy tendencies and struggle with it for the rest of their lives. 

Have any tips for us? Leave a comment below...or you can just wallow around in the dilemma with us and leave me with an "Amen!" if you're struggling with the same thing.  Either way, I'd love to hear from ya!

Here's to a brand spankin' New Year!  God's got some wild things in store for us here, I just know it!

Thanks for reading,
Alina

A Young Family's Search for a Meaningful Holiday Overseas

Who let these crazies out of the house like that?

It's that season again.

No, not the rainy season or the hot season or the cold (OK, mildly cool) season here in Thailand...the holiday season.

For us, after the rains stop drip dropping (mostly), there come cooler days and a vague resemblance of Fall.  I wake up in the morning, chilly, donning fuzzy socks and dreaming of hot coffee to warm me up.  My husband, from Illinois, would disagree with the degree that I deem this "chilly" morning/evening weather, but then he used to walk out in the snow with a t-shirt.  Hard core, I get it.  I am not.

But with the weather changing, and despite the fact that snow is something that only happens here along with pigs flying, our minds shift to the holidays; American holidays.

Suddenly, without skipping a beat, the annual Thanksgiving Day banquet is planned. My culinary contribution is usually not much, as my close friends here have that area covered much better than myself.  And, then, like in the States, the day right after Christmas brings thoughts of ornaments and cookies and carols and Elf.  You can't have Christmas lately without Elf, right?

Last year's Thanksgiving celebration at the S-clan's house

But, without being surrounded by the American culture and influence of the holidays, our little family is left to decide for itself about how to celebrate this season.  And, lemme tell ya, I am happy to be left out of Black Friday, fruitcake and the Chipmunks singing "O Holy Night" on repeat.

On the other hand, so much of what we feel during this season is all that we see and hear around us (in the States).  Neighborhoods are lit up, carols fill the air as we shop for milk, and Santa is suddenly everywhere we see in ads and decorations.

But, what do you do when we live here? In Asia. In a Buddhist nation.

With every year that passes, we realize that the holiday culture we will be experiencing is the one we create ourselves. Instead of letting extended family and TV commercials and Target toy ads determine what enjoy in this season, WE are the determining factor.

Here is what we have been doing over the past few years to make our overseas Christmas feel just right for US:

:: Food, lots and lots of glorious food.  When the temperature drops (or, at least when November hits)...out comes the pumpkins, cinnamon sticks, sugar cookies and comfort food. Over the past four years, our best experience yet in this area has been in the current city we live in.  For a price, you can get just about any ingredient to make what you need (mostly, but you still have to make from scratch).  One Christmas morning, we had breakfast tacos with handmade flour tortillas...just because when you live overseas, any special food makes it a special day...even if you don't necessarily equate breakfast tacos with Christmas!

:: Music.  Before the days of iTunes radio (we can't really get Pandora here)...this came in the form of our own albums, the borrowing of others, and YouTube Christmas play lists.  Just hearing the classics throughout our home makes us a little nostalgic, AND realize that most of the songs are so foreign to our kids.

This year, Mrs. Tawni came over to help us overload the tree with ornaments and Mr. Mike came to oversee the eating of cookies.  He had to make sure they were fit for eating, I guess.

Huy called dibs to put on the star.  He was beyond thrilled!

:: Decor, of course.  Now, I am not the craftiest or best home decorator (just ask my family)...but the only "seasonal" decor I have is at least Christmas stuff.  A few days ago, we pulled out the table-top Christmas tree, the box of ornaments we have been collecting since we married almost a decade ago, our two nativity scenes that some dear friends sent from the States, and some lights (that blink incessantly so as to make me want to lose my mind!).  For the last few years, some friends have come over to deck the tree and have a hot drink together.  Loads of fun!

:: Focus on giving, not getting.  Though we do buy a few things for our children and for each other to open on Dec. 25th, we don't have wish lists, or pretend to be Santa's middle-men.  It is so exciting to get new things given to you in this season (hey, I LOVE gifts! we aren't pretending to be non-materialistic!)...but we have tried to steer our minds towards what we can give instead.  I used to be plagued by buying meaningless or pricey junk for others in a veiled attempt to be generous...but instead of that, we try to pray about whom to give to each year and how to do it.  Some years we give World Vision gifts or items to support the eradication of human trafficking and poverty.  We visit a local orphanage on Christmas Day (for a few years now), bring some things along to bless them, and play with the children there.  Perspective can be a great teacher.  

:: Celebrating Advent/Jesse Tree. For the last three years we have been counting down December days by reading various prophetic passages leading up to the birth of Jesus.  All throughout the Bible, there are shadows and hopes of the Messiah's coming.  It has been so wonderful to draw all these stories together for us and for our kids as we prepare to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way.  I used to use Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree devotional...but this year she is highlighting this study instead of her original one.  Also, YouVersion's Bible app has Advent reading plans to follow.  I am reading She Read's Truth's version and our family is going through the Countdown to Christmas reading plan.  

So, these are just a few ways we expats are trying to make the holidays something special to us.

What are some ways that you make your Thanksgiving/Christmas season meaningful? Expat or not, I would love to hear your traditions and ideas...feel free to comment below.

Blessings,
Alina

Back to the Blogosphere

This beautiful girl was a good excuse for taking a break from blogging.  Charis Tirzah, you are worth it!
photo credit: Katie Friesen photography

Let's face it.  It has been awhile.
  
Since I becoming pregnant with our fourth precious child, Charis, my blogging almost screeched to a complete halt.  Hey, halts are good sometimes.  Seasons change, like Ecclesiastes 3 proclaims, and slowing down is pretty natural.  Besides, a woman's got to nap when she's making a human being.  For me, nap time was usually blog time.  You understand.

Now that the lovely Charis is here, I feel like the fog in my brain has lifted and I can think clearly again.  Though, my "clearly" is relative.  If you know me well, I am pretty spacey as it is.  

But, where my blogging online quieted, the blogging in my brain got louder.

You see, there is another voice that seems not be quieted.  Call it another personality...my creative side...whatever.  I have tried to turn it off for months, but I can't!

When I would visit a new place, discover new wildlife here, laugh at some ridiculous thing my children did, or discover a fun new thing in our home-school day...I would dream up the way I would blog that experience back to you.  I have had an inner dialogue with my Blogger page and although I wasn't typing it into the computer, I was imagining how I would share it with the world if I simply had time and the mental space to do it.  There are countless things that I could have shared in these past months, but I chose to say "yes" to others things that were rightly vying for my attention.

After much prayer, I am convinced, though...I simply have to blog.  In this season of life, it is a way for me to share with all of you about all the things that happen in our lives that get lost in a Facebook feed or drown in the ocean of an email inbox.  Even if I don't get the same amount of reads that I did before this year's hiatus, I can at least hit "post" and offer up that blogging voice to whomever has the time and interest and space to read about the ordinary things that make up a big part of our every day.

Thank you for reading and for sticking with me.  

Blessings, 
Alina

Visa Run: AKA, paying our quarterly dues to the powers that be...



The river separating Burma and Thailand, my view from the walking bridge on the last visa run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every three months, we make a run for it out of Thailand.  Well, a visa "run" to be more precise.  For reasons I still don't understand, every quarter of the year we have to leave the country to get our passport stamped.  When I post on Facebook, "headed to Burma today," I am usually not sight-seeing or on some humanitarian excursion...I just going for the stamp, people.

 

I happened to have my camera in my purse a few days ago when we had to take another run for the border...so you can have a glimpse into what we see on our four-a-year trips:

 

Coming up on the border!  That big blue building ahead is where the Thai immigration offices are.

 

So, from the city we live in, we travel about three hours to the Thai/Burma border.  Since the kids don't have to cross the border like Treav and I do, we take turns.  We will take them shopping or out to lunch or just sit in the car with them.

 

The point of no return.

 

Inside the immigration office.  I had no idea that Burma...er, Myanmar...was a half hour behind!

 

After passing through immigration and getting my stamp out of Thailand, you walk over a bridge that separates the two countries.

 

On my way out, I caught this cutie playing while her momma was begging on the side of the bridge.

 

A bystander on the Burma side down by the river.

 

Like most places, even the bridge had food carts with all sorts of fried ware.

 

Here are all sorts of vegetables fried in batter and oil.  I passed on this...

 

Welcome to Myanmar...almost!

 



Outside Immigration...and no, that's not be in the yellow shirt.  I don't really need a photo op with Immigration officers to complete my life here on earth.



 First, before I was "officially" stamped into Burma, I entered a small room where the Myanmar Immigration officers take my picture, ask me for the $16 fee and then ask me where I am going.  I, actually, have never been further than this point right here.  Lots of people cross to visit the cheap markets on the other side...but the kids and hubbie are waiting for me...so shopping will have to wait for another day.  So, I answer them that I am just headed right back to Thailand, so the formalities cease and I am free to go.

 

On my way back to Thailand...and this is my lovely view on the walk back...

 

Even with as dirty as this water is...I have seen people swimming and crossing it without a care.  Saves the $16 fee, I guess! 

 

The cutie I saw before, and her momma, begging on the other side of the bridge...though the tourists across the fence didn't seem to notice her.  I didn't have even a coin in my pocket, so a smile and a prayer was going to have to do for today.

 

Of course, there's a photo op here at "The Northern Most (Part) of Thailand"

 

One of the many signs I see on my way back into Thailand.

 

This one highlighting human trafficking.  Mercy, Lord.  This picture represents the reality of thousands in Thailand each year. 

 

No, I didn't change my name to Sorn...this is one of the examples I could look at while filling out my arrival card for re-entering Thailand.

 

These two Burmese woman tried to offer me a sample of their fruit wine...until they saw the bump on my belly.  Yeah...don't think it would be the wisest food sampling right now for my "condition."

 

On my way back to the car, with Treavor in the car with our three lovely munchkins, the endless markets were kind of calling my name.  But, I decided to be a good wifey and pass them by.  If you look closely, the market on this side street goes on and on up the street.  There is everything from nuts, silver and gold jewelry, souvenirs out the wazoo, to Angry Birds games, cheap (and pirated) DVDs and CDs, etc.  On every street for blocks, there is cheap stuff to buy.  This is one reason why people frequent the border towns.  Everybody loves a good deal.

 

The endless markets of this border town.

 

The "Misty Mountains," as we called them.

 

On our way out of town, we prayed again for the nation we reside in, and asked God to bless this land.  The view of the mountains outside our car windows was break-taking.  A cloudy day had turned them into an eerily beautiful backdrop for the endless fields and roadside restaurants we were zooming by. 

 

In another three months, we'll view these mountains again.  Going four times a year is a small price to pay for getting to live here, getting to love on Thai people and getting to receive so much more in return.

 

Thankful.

 

 

 

Why 30 Doesn't Make Me Feel Like a Scaredy Cat Anymore

The great-looking crew at my 90s-themed birthday party.  An awesome way to celebrate 30; with friends! photo by Katie Friesen

(This is a continuation of the last post I published.  You can read about why I was scared of 30 here for more context.)

My friend, Wendy, sent me a message the day after my 30th birthday...when I was still feeling like my heart started racing and I wanted to curl up in the fetal position anytime anyone mentioned my new age.  Her email helped me to cut the drama and start thinking of the things I could be looking forward to in my thirties rather than looking backwards at how removed I was from my supposed "youth."

I reprinted, with her permission, most of her letter here (her letter in green...my responses in black) and I hope that it encourages you as well, no matter what stage of life you are in.  (And, if you happen to be in your twenties or younger, maybe you can remind me of all of this the next time you simultaneously make fun of my decade-change.  Hint, hint.)

She greeted me in her letter and started listing out some things I could rejoice in.  Way to go, Wendy!:

"For one, you are no longer considered inexperienced and too juvenile to know anything, like most people in their twenties are considered to be. (It doesn't matter how smart you are in your 20's, you just don't have the experience!)"

...finally, maybe my family and others will stop second-guessing me when I make major decisions?  That would be awesome.  At first reading, I was a little surprised at the way she referenced people in their 20s, but then I remembered all the times when I got a funny look or a "Are you suuuure about that?" from well-meaning people.  So, I guess Aalijah was wrong when she sang "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" (how 90s is that?! I am still thinking of the 90s ever since my rockin' party. It is a problem I have of late.)

"I think another wonderful thing about the 30's is that you begin to care less about what people think of you and you can start to relax and have more fun. This seems to increase every year until you die, hahaha, but it really is a fun part of growing older!!" 

...well, maybe there is hope for me yet.  I have a compulsion to over-analyze what others think about what I am doing and if they are pleased with me or not...so maybe growing older every year with help me kick the habit?  I really hope so.  If not, I might grow an ulcer sometime soon.  Then I'll really feel old.  Whomp whomp whomp.

"Another great thing is that people begin to take you a little more seriously and listen to what you have to say. (That experience thing)"

...this is one of the most exciting things to process.  Right now, we're in a position with work and family life where we are interacting with so many people who are either young in age or young in their faith.  I want to share things that I have learned through trial and error and through mistakes of my own, and having a little favor in the area of authority might help the wisdom I share not go through someone's ear and out their other.  Seeing people succeed gets me excited! 

"You are a very beautiful woman and don't feel you have lost any beauty from one year to another, you have many years to go of being absolutely lovely, do NOT listen to the lie that you are somehow losing it or whatever. You can start feeling that way in another couple of decades, but not this one! The 30's are a time when the baby fat falls off our faces and many women look their best, there are many actresses that are absolutely stunning in their 30's, don't you think?"

...aw-shucks, Wendy.  You just made my whole year!  Being pregnant for the fourth time can kind of do a number on one's self-esteem.  Thanks for lifting it up!

"Another reason to be joyful for the 30's is your family, the joy of watching your children mature and grow up, children who adore you & a husband who loves you so much, these are precious gifts."

...for some reason, I have been forgetting the reality that in order for my kids to grow up and for my marriage to continue to mature, that I have to "grow up" and mature as well.  The two go hand in hand.  For the things she mentioned above (children maturing and bringing joy, a husband who continues to walk in great love), there is definitely the factor of hard work that has to be figured in. But, thankfully, in the midst of our busy lives, whining, squabbles and "training opportunities"...I can remember that the fruit is starting to pop up, and that more and more will come if we all persevere in God's ways.

 "I know you know these things already but it is always good to be reminded again, because when we feel sad it is hard to remember!

Finally, as you know time goes faster as we grow older, and if you can imagine it, your older self is laughing at you for feeling old already! You will never again be this young, so enjoy it!!

Much love to you, Alina,

Wendy"

...yes, I need to consider my season of life as not how "old" I feel, but how young I am in light of my life ahead.  There is so much that I don't know yet, and so much that I have yet to experience, enjoy and learn from.  Thanks for that reminder, friend!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." 

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV