Life over the last few weeks....

It seems that life has been a whirl-wind since leaving Thailand back on June 19, so with that, there hasn't been much time for posting anything. As we said goodbye to Bangkok, we also had to say goodbye to the amazing street vendors - fruit, meat, you-name-it-they-got it.

While staying in the guesthouse in Bangkok, we ordered take-out a few times ... and on this particular night, we ordered Swensen's Ice Cream. When we got it home, we discovered it was packed with dry ice. Yep, Noah was all over it!!

We all had our teeth cleaned as well ... this dentist apparently moonlights as a balloon artist. You'll also notice Emma holding a mirror so she could check it all out.

As much as we loved Thailand, though, we were ready to NOT live out of suitcases anymore. We made it back home and found a fresh flower arrangement left by our friends!

Take notice of the center line ... yep, we're back home!!! :)

"Tent slums" set up in a park......

Delivering fresh pineapples .... we missed being able to buy these for a little over 20 cents.

Our version of the "Coke man." We've also seen eggs delivered in the back of trucks just like this, but we have yet to capture the moment. An amazing site to see really.....

This one, for some reason, cracks us up!! It just screams "yeah, right!!" Think back to the center line picture above! Traffic here is something we can honestly say we did NOT miss while we were away.

One of the trees that has caused so many problems .... again, something else we didn't miss.

Some of THE nicest guys we've ever met ... they hang out just outside our gate and are all trying to make a decent living as rickshaw drivers. 2 km will cost you about 30 cents!

Noah missed his buddies. We were gone while all the World Cup hooplah was going on, and in that, his friends went from cricket matches to "football" games (pronounced phoot-boll). They had a big match a couple weekends ago.

One of the new additions to our "Nativities from around the world." This hand-carved set is from Sri Lanka.

Emma baking a chocolate cake, compliments from "friends and family back home." We keep our "American food" in a footlocker and use it for special occasions.

Yes, this is where we buy our ground beef and boneless chicken breasts. It may not be the store front we're used to, but this Muslim family sells the best burger and chicken in town.

You just don't go out for a quick trip anywhere here really ... it's always an adventure. Here we're preparing to "run out" and pick up school supplies. We don't have a Wal-Mart, but the kids all found just the right notebooks, binders, pens, pencils, etc. for the new school year - 8th grade, 5th grade, and 1st grade to be exact ... not sure how that happened!!

A visual reminder of why we're here ... this is on the dash of our taxi's van.

The city is full of diversity ... the people, the homes, the shopping. It's amazing how you can go from this kind of shopping (notice the raw mutton hanging up just behind this guy's motorcycle helmet).....

.....to THIS kind of shopping. Diversity!

One of the many different religious groups represented in our city....

We see traveling vendors no matter where we go ... and our school supplies journey was no different on this day.

Driving past the beautiful government buildings on our way.....

A few temples we saw along the way......

Some guys we had fun with ... not sure where they were all going in the back of the truck, but they were all smiles when we started waving at them.

One of the things we missed most is the beautiful sunset the Father places in places in the sky. And what a bonus it is that we get to see it every evening from our balcony. Thank You, Father, for smiling men in the back of trucks, for fresh pineapples, for our kids who get why we're here, and for sunsets that make us run and grab our cameras.