Thanksgiving Potluck

Thanksgiving Celebration

Today we were invited by our friends to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with them.  Mark shared on always being thankful for everything even when we can't find anything good in a situation.  It encouraged many.  Then they brought in the tables and brought out all the many kinds of food people had brought.  We had a wonderful chicken and vegetable soup, our favorite spring rolls, some type of shrimp puff, a cold noodle dish and then for the finale they had a coconut rice dish and fruit.  Many of our English students were there. We always enjoy being invited to their home, they make us feel like family here in this country.

I went to the western market last week and saw that they had some turkeys in stock.  I did not even look at the prices but I am sure they are just as much as last year, besides my toaster oven would take quit a while to cook the thing, even if it did fit.

We will actually get to celebrate the actual Thanksgiving day in Singapore.  I have my MD appt and we are celebrating with our friends there.  Twice in one month.  I am so thankful for all the miracles God has been doing in our family the last few months.  His mercies are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me. 

Pictures from Cebu

Trip to the Philippines

Last Monday night we took a 1:30 AM flight to the Philippines.  We arrived in Manila and then had a three hour lay over for our flight to the island of Cebu.  While waiting for our flight to Cebu we began to see many friends that were also attending our conference.  There were over 60 of us on this flight and we had two larges buses meet us and take us on about a 45 minute ride to our hotel.  After eating a quick lunch we decided we needed some sleep since neither of us slept much on the planes.  These were the first flights we have taken since being over here that we got the first row and then the emergecy row both of which offer nore leg room.  Usually you have to pay extra for that but for some reason this airline did not charge for the leg room. I am not sure the leg room was worth it since the seats would not recline and they were most uncomfortable.  The conference was great and we got to see so many of our friends from different countries.  They have these conferences every two years so it was great to reconnect and share our stories.  It seems like is does not matter what country you are in we all were missing home and families.  A couple friends and I spent some time in one of the biggest malls I have ever been in.  Even the prices were pretty reasonable. 
The last night of our conference they held a cultural night.  We had over 60 countires represented at the conferece and around 15 of them did some type of performance.  Singing, dancing, and best of all the native dress for some of those countries.  I got to wear the Vietnamese outfit I had made for Chris' wedding.  One country even had a six year old boy sing.  He had a great voice.  Our trip back was longer than coming.  We had a five hour layover in Manila.  We were able to find a cafe that had free wifi so guess where Mark spent most of his time!!  I think that computer is becoming part of him.  I rarely see him without it.  Well actually his crashed again so while it is being repaired he is borrowing mine.  I sure hope I will get it back someday.

Family

I forget that some of you are not on face book.  These are some photos that Jen has posted.  Enjoy !!  The hardest part of being away is missing our family.  Love you all

Family Pictures

River Photos

Day on the Mekong

Yesterday we spent the day traveling around the Mekong River by boat or should I saw several boats.  We began our travels at 4:30 AM, we had to beat the traffic out of town.  There were six of us including our young 25 year old driver who has been driving for our friends furniture company for five years.  He was great and got us there and back in one piece after going around three accidents that we came across during the day.  Normal for this country.  We stopped in a town where our friend had been born and had a breakfast of barbeque pork and rice and the strong iced coffee with milk.  Dinner for breakfast.  We were looking for an area of town that we had never been to before so we took a few wrong turns but ended up at a cafe near the water where we were met by another man that took us to a very small canoe type boat.  I wondered if we would all fit which turned out not to be a problem except we were pretty low in the water. There were six adults in our group.  We had two young kids paddel us down the water and by the time we got there they were really exhausted.  We gave them a big tip for their efforts. Of course there was not a cloud in the sky, it is rainy season but it was a very warm, cloudless day.  Our navigator gave two of us floppy hats to wear but that did not help our exposed arms.  We arrived at his house and met his wife and several of his five children.  One of our boat paddlers was his son who dropped out of school to help support his family.  This is very common.  The Mekong area is very poor and the people litterally make their living from the water, as well as bath, wash and play in it. We were told that the fish are becoming scarce because of all the fishing and there is not much else to make a living from. We made five other stops along the river and talked to many people who shared stories of their lives on the river.  These are amazing people who desire to work and make money to support themselves but the opportunities are few. I know there are many places in the world like this but when you walk amoung them it is hard not to be touched by them.  That is our Father's heart.  Well it was four by the time we got back to the dock or should I say side of the hill that we began our journey on and as we walked back to our car Mark saw a cafe that had two cages of snakes.  He has always liked the exotic and stange things that I do not and so he called me over to bring the camera so he could take some pictures.  I guess you could pick out the one you wanted and they would fry it up for you.  No thanks.  We had a friend with us last week who was served dog on one of his trips.  That is something else I do not care to experience.  I have had some strange things but there are some limits I have.

I had a few driving observations from the trip.  There is a new freeway that just opened and it cuts off a lot of time getting out of the city.  It was two lanes on each side and the big surprise no motorbikes allowed.  Trucks, buses and cars were ok.  I guess it does not matter what you drive they still straddle that line and pass each other, usually on the right side and do a lot of honking.  This lets the other vehicle know that you are coming or going to pass them.  They also keep their bright lights on and when they want someone to move they flash them until they do.  You have to experience it.   They also have something like speed bumps on each side of a bridge which causes most drivers to slow down.  Notice I said most.  Our driver was very tall so his head almost touched the ceiling of the car so we took these bumps lightly.  My bladder thanks him for that.  Oh I almost forgot.  We were making a restroom break after our first visit and we were back at the cafe, I followed my friend back and when it was my turn she warned me there was no toilet or whole or anything.  You just squat behind the curtain and then there was a bucket to wash the cement down with afterwards.  I still think men have it way to easy.