A Thank You Dinner

After the long week of training we gathered with the trainers and leaders and had dinner at a restaurant that is built around a swimming pool. It was a beautiful place and the food was good. Being Vietnam you could get a wide choice of foods like duck, goat, ostrich etc. I opted for the shrimp with cashew nuts, it was good and so was the strawberry drink we had.

It took us almost one hour to arrive, usually a ten minute drive but it was rush hour and many of the roads are being repaired to help the flooding issue. Just as we entered the building the skies opened up and it poured for most of the night. The kids in the pool just kept swimming. It was a great time of meeting new friends and fellowshipping.

Dinner with Friends

From Dinner with Friends

Kids Quest

This week Kids Quest came to town. Kids Quest is an organization that was started by a professional clown who wanted to make the gospel fun for the kids. They use games, drama, an object lesson and clowns to teach the message of God's love. It is a great tool and the leaders were very excited to learn and take it to the kids. They all came for the week of training and I was amazed at how attentive they all were. They even took notes. The leaders made it a fun time and stressed that you have to make it fun to reach the kids. The kids are the future and if they get the message of the gospel they can change a nation.

Training Days

Dinner at Amiego's

Yesterday we had some friends arrive from Thailand. Gary and Paual Hays and their friend Simon. We have been looking forward to their visit and since it was Pauls's birthday and last Friday was our 33rd wedding anniversary we decided to celebrate by going to a restaurant that we had found in District 1 called Amiego's. It is a very nice place and they serve a variety of good food. I had a nice Australian steak and Mark, Gary and Simon had a burrito, which Mark thought tasted more like an enchilda. Paula had a wonderful onion soup. Then we decided to splurge on dessert, Paul and I tried the apple pie, which was like an apple tart warmed with vanilla ice cream, my favorite and Mark had cheesecake and Gary some type of kiwi peach flan. Simon was too full from the hugh salad bar, rolls, and burrito dish to have dessert. After dinner the manager came by and we asked him to if he would mind taking our picture. Then he proceeded to get out his own camera and had his staff stand by us and he took another picture. So maybe if you come to Vietnam and we go to Amiego's we might have our picture on the wall or on the menu. You never know here !!

After dinner, we were full, so we decided to walk a few blocks to the statue of Ho Chi Minh, who has a child on his lap and he is reading to a her. The books all say he like to be called Uncle Ho and loved the children. Gary and Paula are involved with a children's ministry in Thailand called Kid's Quest. They have no children of their own but they have so much love for these little ones that they minister to. As we were doing the tourist thing two young, maybe five and seven year old girls came up to me and shook my hand and asked my name. Then I asked theirs and tried to pronounce it. Not very well I must say. We asked if we could take their picture and after that they wondered off to some more tourist. Never did see any parent or anyone with them. Children do seem to have a lot of freedom here to roam around. The mother in me wanted to say where are your parents !! I just prayed instead for their safety.

Birthday and Anniversary Dinner

With Hannah life is always an adventure !!

I love this lady dearly, she is the mother of our friends and she only speaks a little English but she tries hard. I think the boys have designated her as the one to take me to the Metro, which is the Costco of Vietnam. Every time she comes to take me I have a new adventure. This time her son dropped her off at our apt and we were going to take a taxi. The only problem was there were none to be had, where they usually park in front of our building. Hannah does not like to wait so she asked me if it was ok to take the bus. Sure, I am up for that. The problem was the bus stop in front of our building was going the wrong way so we walked about a mile down past the KFC that we frequent. Now you have to picture the non existent sidewalks here. The bit of pavement in front of the stores and residences are where the motor bikes park or where they set up there carts to sell things, or where the people sit and eat. It is quite the obstacle course to walk these streets and you dare not walk in the streets because even if there is no one coming at the moment they creep up on you quickly. Back to my story, as we walked past an International English School she asked if I could teach English at the school, not sure what she was getting at, I said I was not sure what they required to do that. Then she changed the subject and told me that she thought that when I get to heaven I will be very blessed because I have come to her country and given up so much. I replied that I love her country and the adventure we are on, all the while trying to watch out for the potholes on the walkway and the traffic and the people who push by you because you are going to slow. I can multitask like any other good woman !! Finally we turned down a street and she showed me these lines drawn on the road, this was the bus stop. Ok so how do I know which bus to take? She started with the number 33, no 32, no 144. Well it turns out that the bus we took, number 32 did not go near the Metro so we got off after many miles with her talking to the driver the whole time. She grabbed my hand to cross the busy street and we then proceeded to walk another mile or so and after she asked someone we found the lines on the street again and caught another bus that took us one block. We had just passed the street that the Metro was on. We still were not at the store so we walked another six blocks and there up ahead our destination was finally in sight. By this time we had been on the road 1 1/2 hours. She hit the rest room and I the cafe to get a diet soda. We had made it. When we go to the Metro I try to stock up on the meats, they are from Australia, because I know I will not get back there for at least another month or so. I can usually look at an item and tell what I am getting but when I hit the laundry detergent aisle I had trouble choosing which bag of Omo, there brand of detergent, to get. I could tell some had different scents, by the picture of the fruit that it smells like on the front but then I turned the bag around and saw a picture of a washing machine, so I figured I had the right one, asking her was no good because she could not explain the difference to me. I will let you know how the next batch of laundry turns out. We proceeded to the fruits and veggie aisle. She was showing me all kinds of stuff I knew Mark would never try. She was trying to say the English word and I think I finally got ginger root. I did get some great looking apples from Washington State. They were about $2.00 a pound. My splurge for the month. By now we had been in the store for over an hour and it was way past time to get home and have dinner, 7:30. We paid for our purchases and as we exited to the parking lot we found only one taxi left. She talked and talked and talked to the driver and as we stood there I asked if we should get in, she said to wait. WAIT, I was tired and hungry and I don't care what it cost get me home !! All of the taxi's have a meter and they all use them so I am not sure what the issue was but finally he opened the trunk of the car, we put our items in and within 20 minutes we were at the apt. I unloaded my bags and paid the driver and she decided that her son was not around to pick her up so she took the taxi to her home. I was finally able to call Mark from the front of the building, cell phones or at least mine does not work inside the store. He came down, asked what took so long and I just said it was another Hannah adventure !!

What is that noise?? Which one??

I was awakened at 3 AM this morning by Mark asking me what that beeping sound was. I listened and finally said that I did not hear anything except the man singing Karaoke. At this point I had not checked the clock and thought it must be early because usually they stop the singing around 10:30 or so. We have the air conditioner on at night so we don't hear all the noise and can rest comfortably. Mark insisted that every minute or so he was hearing a beeping sound. I finally heard it and said that it sounds like my cell phone is dying, but it was very faint. I rolled over to go back to sleep but he got up and said he could not sleep with that sound, and asked where my phone was. I finally remembered that I had left it on the table in the kitchen and thought, he has trouble hearing small sounds how on earth does he hear that, way out there when the air is on and the door to our room is closed? Then I saw the clock and it read 3 AM. What fool is out there singing their lungs out at this time of night? Then the church bells started ringing and then the cats started fighting. By now I was on my way to being fully awake. My next look at the clock showed it was 3:30 and no bells, no singing and no cat fights. Peace at last, now what do I do to get back to sleep? You just have to love this country !!

Home in Vietnam

We arrived home on Friday June 5th. It was a long two flights but since we left at 1:20 AM on Thursday June 4th we slept through most of the first flight. The first flight was 14 hours and the second from Taipei was only 3 1/2 hours. I must say they feed you a lot on these flights, I did not say good but a lot. I actually watched three movies, girl movies since Mark does not like these. We arrived in our apt around 1 pm on Friday and found everything in order. It sure was dusty even though it had been closed up for 6 weeks. On our front door we found all the bills from the previous months that they had come to collect. What an amazing system they have. After unpacking and reorganizing and marketing I think we are about ready to resume our routine here. Mark is still having trouble getting his software back on the crashed computer. It does not help that our Internet comes and goes. I am sitting here being blown about by the high winds that we have had since we arrived. It helps to cool things down but the heat is still hard to handle. I guess the readjusting is getting to me. I promise not to complain any further. I do miss the kids and grand kids but it was not as hard this second time around. Well thanks to all our friends and family who made our trip home so special. We love and miss you all and hope that if you are ever in the neighborhood you would drop by !!!!

Another Birthday Dinner at the Orbeck's

On my actual birthday, Jen and the boys came up to help me celebrate one more time. I actually forgot it was my birthday until Mark wished me a happy day. To much celebration and reminder that I am getting older. We were staying with our friends the Orbeck's in Lancaster for the last four weeks and I would like to say a special thank you to Julie for all the great meals she prepared for us and for putting up with all our odd hours. You both made us feel so welcome. We miss you guys. Well Jen and the boys came up and Jen and I got to do the one thing we had been talking about for months, shopping. Mark watched the older boys and we took Justin to the mall. It was just like old times. I watched Justin while Jen tried on clothes. I love shopping with you kid !!! After our time out we went back and Mark barbecued and Jen brought out a delicious ice cream cake. It was the hit of the evening. Now I will return to the fitness center and try to take off the extra pounds from all of the fantastic foods I indulged in.

Another Birthday Dinner

A Walk in O'Neil Park

On our last Sunday in the US we went to Jen's for the day for dinner. She prepared a great feast of stuffed pasta shells and afterwards we all headed to a park not far away. We had not been there before so we decided to explore it some. It is part of the National Forest. A sign at the entrance warned of cougars and snakes. The boys were excited but did not like the idea of wild animals. They love bugs though and every few feet we had to stop and look for them. Jen wanted to get some pictures with the beautiful mountains in the background. The pose love to make silly faces so that helped in the picture taking. Thanks Jen for a great dinner, I wish you could come and cook for me over here !!!

A Walk in the Park

Disneylnd Again

The tickets to Disneyland that our son in law purchased for us were a twofer, so on Friday after the Convention which happened to be right next door to Disneyland, we met Jen and Sam and the boys for another round at the park. The first time we went it was pretty crowded and this day was about the same. I guess even with the economy people will still pay for fun. We arrived around 12:30 and left after the fireworks, about 10:00 PM. We tried to hit the rides that we did not go on the first time and still we missed a lot. We let Jen and Sam go on Thunder Mountain while we took the boys to Tom Sawyer Island. At first they were afraid of the raft ride across but after the raft started it turned into a lot of fun. We explored for a while and then hit, the Jungle ride, the Tree House, the Animal Farm and after those and many more, Sam treated us to dinner at a great Italian Restaurant in the California Adventure Park. We found a place around 8:30 to stand and watch the fireworks which did not start until 9:25. We were scrunched in like sardines but it was well worth it. They were fantastic. We left the park at 10 and arrived back in Lancaster around midnight. A long, long day. So worth it to watch the boys experience it all.

Disneyland, The Second Time Around

My 55th Birthday Dinner

Many of us gathered on the last night of convention to celebrate my 55th birthday. We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Anaheim. We even invited Pastor John from Thailand. We have known him for over 10 years and have worked with him in the Hill tribes of Thailand. Chris and Jeanette brought her mom, Alice. It was great to meet her and have her participate in my special night. She has four children, Jeanette being the oldest and a 19 year old son who just left for the Marine Corp. We are all in prayer for that. We look forward to getting better acquainted with her. Anglus brought a wonderful Oreo Cookie Cake and afterwards we all headed back to the Convention Center for our final night. It was a wonderful tribute to Jack Hayford the Foursquare president who will end his term in August. Thank you all for helping me feel so special and to celebrate my special day.

My Birthday Dinner at Cheesecake Factory