SAYING GOOD-BYE TO FRIENDS

Our Friends moved back to the states last Wednesday. So we spent our last evening together eating Pilipino food (yummmmmy) and singing Karaoke!! We had so much fun!!

Take care Gibsons!! We miss you!!

THE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL

After the Flower Festival, the Strawberry Festival started. They had strawberry smoothies, strawberry tea, strawberry sundaes and all kinds of strawberries desserts!!

They even had Strawberry shaped balloons hanging from the ceiling!! It smelled so good!!

And of course it was our favorite color!!

CHIANG MAI FLOWER FESTIVAL

Last Weekend was The Chiang Mai Flower Festival. This celebration included a parade with floats decorated in flowers and seeds (Like the Rose Parade)! Also there were Ethnic Dancers, Concerts, Plants and Beautiful Flowers Everywhere!!

TO OUR FAITHFUL READERS

Just a note to our faithful readers (you know who you are) about why we haven't posted in a while. Our main computer crashed and we learned an important lesson---BACK EVERYTHING UP!! We lost most of our pictures, it's a good thing Aubrey has her own camera and had saved them. I had to show you this picture of Sadie playing Rummicub. David (Candace's boyfriend) and his parents sent it to us for Christmas--so fun!! Thank you Taylor's!!! Enjoy reading!!

PRUNING THE BANANA TREES

Because the weather is getting warmer, it is important to keep the banana trees pruned so that spiders and snakes don't have a place to hide!!

A FEW MORE CONTRUCTION PICTURES

You can see the corner of our white house to the left of the picture. They haul the bricks up to the top of the house in a wheelbarrow with a pulley. They work so hard!!

CONSTRUCTION NEXT DOOR

They are building a student dorm right next door to us. It will have 9 bedrooms and a separate house for the older kids to live in. The workers start at 8am. They take a lunch break from 12-1. And then go home at 5 pm. 7 days a week, unless there is a holiday.

LEARNING THAI READING AND WRITING

I (Sydney) am now a Thai Kindergartener. I am learning to read and write Thai. Our Teacher, Kruu Too came to dinner and wanted to know how I was doing!! She brought me a book that they give to preschoolers to begin to learn the letters.

I was so excited when we saw this clock in Bangkok and I could read the Thai numbers!!

OUR FIRST VISITORS FOR 2009!!

Our first visitors for 2009 were Kent and Simon!!

We enjoyed sharing with them and hearing about all the exciting things they're doing!!

SAYING GOOD BYE TO CANDACE

They say that all good things must come to an end--so we said good-bye to Candace. We sent her back to the states ready to finish her last year of college.We had a great time with her and miss her, but we plan to see her in December when she graduates!!

TAKING THE OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO BANGKOK

We decided to take the overnight train to Bangkok, because it was so much cheaper than flying. It was a lot of fun, but we didn't get much sleep.

THE RIVER BOAT DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Our friends invited us to join them for dinner on a river boat. The weather was perfect and the food was great!!

KELLI'S FIRST GRADE CLASS!!

This is Kelli's First Grade Class. The kids read the story "Green Eggs and Ham" and then they ate green eggs and ham!! This is Miss T., the first grade teacher and Kelli showing their loy kratongs they made.

HILLSONG COMES TO CHIANG MAI!!

Okay, you can tell we were quite a ways back, but Rueben Morgan and Hillsong had a concert in Chiang Mai. Joyce Meyer had a conference here the same weekend. It was quite sobering to look outside of the stadium and see the Buddhist Wats (Temples) all around, when we were inside singing to the One Most High!!

ARE THOSE COWS IN THE BACKYARD???

Kelli looked out the back window and saw these cows in the field behind us!!

OUR TRIP TO THE ZOO!!

We took a trip to the zoo. They had just opened a new aquarium.

The diver in the tank was dressed like Santa. When Candace looked at her, she "waied" which is what you call it when you put your hands together and bow as you greet someone.

A good picture of the girls with the Panda, don't miss the guy behind them!!

They had so many orchids growing there!! Beautiful!!

MAKING THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!

I almost forgot to show you the great gingerbread house we made!! A local ministry here employs Thai women who make the gingerbread house pieces and put them into kits to sell for Christmas.

VISITING THE UMBRELLA FACTORY!!

One of our fun outtings while Candace was here was visiting the Umbrella Factory in Bo Sang.

They have many fans, umbrellas, purses and canvasses that you can have the artists paint on.

Here is one of the artists we met that day!