Thailand pt 2

elephants going to bathe

playing with Jordan while being bathed

snack time for elephants

elephant painting

finished portraits of all the elephants

checking John for food

Jordan's elephant pulled off the trail for a bite to eat

the hill our elephant just walked down

getting a drink

baby wants to play

they are so friendly and affectionate, and they have been trained to put this hat on your head

Sorry for the delay, folks, I had to work yesterday, and again today. Will get to the pics this weekend.

Thailand pt 1 of like.. 100

Driving home from the airport. They drive on the left side of the road, so cool..

Smiths front yard

real life Rainforest Cafe we ate at the first night

the bathroom sinks - beautiful

our first Thai food

that's it for tonight - I'm jet lagging pretty bad - and my focus is not so great

San Francisco pt2

the coast near Heather's house

a very good San Francisco treat

San Francisco pt1

Alcatraz

a steep street (duh)

about to go down Lombard street

crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

view of city

"Painted Ladies" aka Full House intro shot

I'm home. After 4 horrible, long, horrible plane rides. I'm unpacking, doing laundry, paying bills, and need to grocery shop, but am also uploading pics. Prepare thyself for the onslaught..

Yesterday was graduation and the grad dance. Jordan had a BLAST! Despite knowing close to no one, she got out on the floor and danced the whole time. Several sweet guys asked her to dance the slow dances and she was right in the middle of all the fun on the fast ones. Erin doesn't like to dance so she sat the whole thing out on the sidelines. I was so proud of Jordan for being bold, that's my girl.
Today we went to a place called Sticky Falls. We climbed up and down this huge waterfall, twice. It was dangerous and slippery, but oh so incredible. We got great pictures too. It's called sticky because the beige pieces of the rock are like sandpaper so you can grip on with your hands and feet. Erin stayed home for this event, she's had enough of people for the week and she doesn't like the falls. Apparently there is an extreme introvert in our midst.
Tonight is house church, and we leave tomorrow!

P.s. They drive on the left side of the road here, and I got to drive today for a very short while, but it was so much fun :)

The last 2 days have been a combination of graduation events, errands( because they are moving back to the states for the summer) , market trips, a tea house, a chocolatier, cute Thai restaurants, and tonight we are launching lanterns (a Thai tradition).

Neither of us are suffering from bad jet lag or sickness, praise God!

Today was spa day and market day. There is nothing like a Thai foot/neck  massage. Absolutely amazingly long and relaxing. We also got pedicures with fancy flower designs. :)
I have pics of the big market we went to, but again, can't upload them right now. The thing that got me was the fried chicken heads. Yuck. But the other food was good. Tonight we went to the night safari. That was very memorable. We got to feed giraffes, who are very assertive, and beautiful, and THEN Jordan was next in line to take a photo with a white tiger when all of a sudden it turned and bit the head of a toddler next to it taking a picture. The kid screamed bloody murder,  but was ok, mostly just traumatized. It seemed to be just irritated, not hungry. We decided against the photo and walked away in shock. Could have been ALOT worse. Our tram guide spoke English, but with such a heavy Thai accent he sounded like Franc from the movie Father of the Bride. We laughed, a lot.
Another good day in Thailand.

Here's one pic I have access to.. This little guy had less potential for damage..

That was alot of traveling. Hong Kong we didn't see much of the airport, just off and on the plane. Singapore airport, however, was very cool. They had all kinds of indoor gardens and koi ponds, and tons of entertainment and shopping. Pretty nice place to have a layover.
But anyway, we arrived in Thailand last night and have had a wonderful 21 hours so far! Went to an amazing outdoor lush, tropical garden, waterfalls everywhere, restaurant for dinner. Kinda like rainforest cafe, but it was all real and outdoors. BEAUTIFUL! This morning we went to the elephant camp and watched them paint pictures, bathe in the river, we got to feed them, and then went for a half hour ride on them through the jungle. AMAZING experience. I can't wait to be able to share the photos with you. The elephants are VERY affectionate and slobbered all over us and wrapped us up in their trunks. Too cool to even be able to describe. We just got back from lunch where we ate in this treehouse like dining room. About to shower off the elephant dirt, then headed out again for more fun.
gotta run.....

Had a great day in San Francisco. We drove the golden gate bridge, drove down Lombard street(the super curvy steep one), went to the wharf and saw the sea lions, saw Alcatraz from a distance, saw the painted ladies, and had an its it(yummy dessert) and drove a beautiful chunk of highway 1. SF has such beautiful unique houses and the hills downtown are so crazy steep. Seeing the cars parked on them is just amazing. No stick shifts here I bet.   It was so great to visit with the Harris's and it was so kind of them to show us around all day.

We are exhausted and ready to sleep on the plane tonight. Hopefully.

Many pics from today but they're on my camera and I can't get them off right now.
Next stop - Hong Kong ..

So my car battery died today. Because I wasn't stressed enough about not being ready to go yet, not started packing, and I had to work today. So of course, I'm complaining, "why today??" I'll tell you why today..
I get home after being jump started and josh charges it with a charger. We go out to run errands thinking it wad fine that I had just left a light on last night or something, but it dies again. Get another jump start and then head directly to Walmart where we bought the last one, 3 years ago. Guess how long the warranty was. 3 years. Guess what month. May. They replaced a $100 battery free of charge. If it had died when I got back from Thailand it would not have been free. That right there my friends is grace and favor.
We don't always know the "why today?" answers, but sometimes we get to see them and it builds our faith.
I realize it is a small inconsequential thing, but it really brought me great joy and understanding today so I thought I'd share.
God is in the little things that make up our world. Like last week I had been searching high and low for this certain nice suitcase in this perfect bright aqua color for a gift for Jordan, with no success. I had just about given up and it was late and I was out of time, but I just couldn't quit, and decided to hit one last store on the way home. I nearly cried when I saw it sitting there. It was exactly what I was looking for, and it felt like God had delivered it there just for me as a reward for not giving up. Or maybe just so I would go home!

Thanking Him today for the little things.