Kim and Jeremy in Thailand

This was a fun weekend! I actually ended up driving quite a bit through some heavier traffic on Saturday, and I didn't hit anyone or anything! I had four friends in the back cheering me on ("Hey, look at that downshift!") and it was a lot of fun. Then on Sunday I helped lead worship at one of the churches here. It was a neat service, and afterwards, a group of about 9 of us had lunch at a noodle place. It was good-I ordered spaghetti with beef, and Jeremy had stroganoff. Neither one was much of anything like we think of those dishes in America, but they were good nonetheless.

We have pictures of the school up for you now! Visit the gallery to see them.

Today (Saturday) the PTA hosted a picnic at the pool for the new students and staff at Grace. The food was great!! It was Thai food, basically fried chicken, sticky rice, and papaya salad. Very tasty! This afternoon I'm going out with a bunch of girls shopping at one of the big malls nearby called Airport Plaza. Then we'll get dinner at the food court, followed by an evening watching Return to Me. I'm looking forward to it, especially after a long first week of school!

We're also working on some photos of the school for you, but technical difficulties have kept me from posting them today. Hopefully Monday morning (Sunday night for most of you) I'll be able to get them online.

Our first week of school at Grace is finished. It's been long, crazy, and chock-full of new adventures! Jeremy has been running around the school all week setting up new computers, fixing wiring issues, all sorts of things. I've completed my first week of teaching, and I've learned most of my students' names. Things are started to settle to a doable pace. We're getting a feel for our new routine. Overall, I think things have gone very well!

We are so thankful today!! They did not release the dam after all. So we are relatively dry and very happy to not be buying sand! We did move our pictures to a higher shelf, though. Thank you for your prayers!

I went to staff meeting today and we were informed of local news reports that they just released a large dam that will overflow the canal. The canal runs along the back entrance to our mubaan (neighborhood), so we are very close to it! We were told that last time this sort of flooding happened, our neighborhood was knee-deep in water. This isn't the worst in the area, but it's enough to make us a little nervous! We wouldn't be as concerned if this were our own home, but we are in someone else's home, with their car and furniture and valuables, and we really don't want anything bad to happen while we're in charge. Please pray that the floods wouldn't be as bad as last time, and that we'll know what to do if water comes to our house! I know how to sandbag, but I don't know where to get the supplies, and this is when we really feel the crunch of not speaking the local language. So if you're thinking of sending a care package, send sand! Lots and lots of sand! :) Just kidding.

They say that the water will rise over the next 48 hours (it's currently Wednesday evening here, early Wednesday morning in the US), so we'll know soon what we're facing. Thanks for your prayers!