California Dreamin'

It was the strangest thing... When our flight (the one I will never forget and the passenger next to me will never forget - in part because I had to try so hard not to be totally sick while smelling the seafood pasta he was eating and in part because I was only successful for about an hour... poor guy... he was very sympathetic, though) (Sorry... I know you didn't reallly want to hear about that again, but praise God, so far there haven't been any other illnesses or ailments except for Mik catching a mild cold and the bizarre spider bite on my leg the day we got to Bang Saen...) (OH, you still want to see a picture? Well, I took one last night because it was starting to look much better and didn't want it to be totally better before I had photo documentation... but didn't want to scare anybody until it was obviously getting better (and believe me it looks much better now)... but here it is:

It was the strangest thing... My knee was itching a little bit as I was hanging up some laundry and when I looked at it, a vein or artery (Sandra, do you know?) running across my knee (for about 4 inches) was swelling up larger than a pencil diameter - sort of like a vericose vein. Freaky... I thought it was a mosquito bite that happened to hit a blood vessel and make it swell up, but there wasn't any itching later like a normal one. but the blood vessel (where the bite was?) did turn into a really big nasty bruise that Carmen was kind of worried about for the next couple of days as it changed colors. At first I was worried and took some benadryl right away, but it only felt like a bruise and didn't get red and by the next day it just looked like a bad bruise. Since it wasn't getting worse or spreading or hurting anymore, I figured it was fine and it seems I was right since it's just going away. But it made for a bizarre memory anyway. : ) Not that you care...

So did you notice (assuming somebody is still reading) that I never finished the sentence I started at the very beginning of this post? What I was going to say was that when that flight landed in Bangkok, the song "California Dreamin" was playing on the airplane sound system. It was so wierd to hear when we had just arrived here. But the thing is, that now I'm really starting to think about what it's going to be like when we get home, and about how we're going to get home. Stuff like that. My heart is moving back home already. And you'd think by now that I'd have this trusting God thing down after all He's done for us, but of course, it's still a challenge and always will be. i guess that's how my faith will continue to grow. : )

It's been a full week... Sunday we went to the Open Zoo and fed the animals and pondered how lawsuits must not be an issue in Thailand because it was oh-so-hazardous in so many ways... But lots of fun. : ) We were about to go on the elephant rides when a tropical downpour sent us scurrying back to the car. Oh well. At least we got a couple of pictures with one of them.

And sunday evening, Kamin got to go to church with us. : ) He also go to try Kraft Mac n Cheese for the first time, but he didn't like it. He did like church though - especially the music. He was tired by the end, but it was a special thing to get to do... to get to go to church and worship God for the first time while we are still here in Thailand with Thai believers means so much to us. And i think it will to him someday too.

Thursday we are finally scheduled for our US Visa interview at the embassy in Bangkok. We'll probably leave the older kids here and hopefully the crazy protests won't be a problem for us. (there were 20,000 people protesting this morning...) Saturday we move in with the Owen's and Monday we fly home. I'd say more, but the little guy just woke up. Have a great day everyone. : )

Melissa

Editted to add: Wow... I just read this again and it's about the rambliest thing I may have ever written. I was a bit tired and Kamin didn't give me a chance to edit it, so I'm sorry. Hopefully you didn't mind too much. : )