The Boys Are Back in Town

C showing of his newly-acquired smile

At the Queen's Gardens, with our favorite driver, Udom

C and his mountaintop experience at the Queen's Garden

At our favorite pad Thai restaurant

The kids loved being back in the kitchen with Mani (mah-nee).

A joining the ranks among the big kids

We arrived back in town very early (about 1am arrival into our apartment) last Monday morning. It took a couple of days for us to adjust to the 'new' environment. Our house helper, Mani, kept laughing at us because it just took some time for us to process accents again. It's much different hearing English spoken by someone's who's heart language is not English. It was a good reminder of why people have such a difficult time understanding our Kannada.

It has felt very good to be back in most instances. Getting back into a routine and not living 'out of a suitcase' has felt very good. (Though, admittedly, we still have one of the nine pieces of luggage to unpack!) It has been very good to see the nationals again. We've made some very good acquaintances and some good friends. It has been good to see them again-to know you've been missed is a nice feeling.

The kids have enjoyed being back as well. They missed our courtyard that we can just walk right outside and play in-a luxury we didn't have in Thailand. A got a bike for his third birthday and has really been enjoying it. "Big Eyes" is doing well. He'll be two months old on Friday! It's so hard to believe, but the nationals always think he's much older because he's bigger than their kids are, typically, for his age.

Thank you to all of you who have been lifting us up! It really has been a blessing to be back-a MUCH easier transition than we had anticipated. We attribute this ease of transition to the pr*yers and the answering of those pr*yers! Thank you again!