Kim and Jeremy in Thailand

I had a great couple of days with my family in Florida! We spent the time at Universal Studios, so we got to ride a few roller coasters and some movie-themed rides, like Earthquake, Twister, and Jaws. It was a lot of fun, and the lines were shorter than they've ever been. I even got cast to compete in Fear Factor Live, which only 30 people per day get to do. I didn't win, but I did have a blast hanging (and then dropping) from the a bar at the top of the stadium! It was a lot of fun!

Today I'm on my way back to St. Louis to pick up Jeremy, then we're headed to Arkansas for a family reunion. I'll get to meet a lot of new relatives, and Jeremy is looking forward to seeing his family once more before we leave.

This week has flown by! Jeremy has been in St. Louis working, and I was working in Jacksonville this week. I was able to spend time with some good friends from high school and this adorable little coffeeshop in downtown Jacksonville. That was a lot of fun. I think I'm hooked on those Italian sodas! Then, through a strange turn of events, on Friday I wound up with a next-to-free plane ticket to go to Florida and catch up with my family, who has already been in Orlando for a few weeks on vacation. I got in to Orlando at about 11:30 last night, and now I'm going to enjoy the last few days of my family's vacation with them at Universal Studios. I wish Jeremy could have come too, but he had to work and we couldn't get him a ticket. I'm glad that I'll be able to spend some extra time with my family. It's only six weeks until we go to Thailand!

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Chicago! On Friday afternoon, we picked up Khun Paiboon, Khun Patcharaporn, and Petie, and headed to Jacksonville. We stayed there on Friday night and got up bright and early (5am!) on Saturday morning to drive to Joliet. From there we took the Metra to Chicago. Petie was very excited about that and thought it was better than Amtrak since Metra has an upper deck! A short bus ride later, we were at the Museum of Science and Industry. We were able to spend most of the day at the museum. Petie's favorite exhibit was the U505 submarine! We also enjoyed the coal mine and the 727 airplane.

After the museum, we went out to Aurora and had a quick visit with Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, who had just flown in from Thailand, their daughters Genie and Bethany, and Bethany's husband Josh. Next, it was time for dinner. Our friends had never been to Wendy's, so we stopped there and it was a big hit. Finally, we went to Wheaton and immediately went to sleep, since we were all exhausted!

On Sunday morning, we stopped for breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts before going to church at First Baptist Wheaton. It was so exciting to see everyone at church there! We had lunch with some church friends at Wendy's (our friends liked Wendy's a lot and wanted to go back!) before a quick driving tour of Wheaton College. Then we hit the road. Five hours later, we were at a Thai restaurant in St. Louis having dinner. I had pad sue eiw gai (forgive my spelling!), which was egg noodles stir fried with broccoli and chicken in soy sauce. Jeremy had hoi tohd, which was fried mussels with chili sauce. We also sampled quite a few other dishes, including small chicken wings fried and topped with a honey and garlic sauce, grilled beef with a slightly spicy clear orange sauce, and chicken kabobs with a thick peanut sauce. It was all very aroi, which means delicious!!

All in all, it was a great weekend, with lots of great food, and fun times with great friends! You can click here to see pictures!

This weekend is looking to be very exciting!! Tomorrow we're leaving with Kuhn Paiboon, Khun Patcharaporn, and their son Petie so we can go to the Museum of Science and Industry together in Chicago on Saturday. We'll stay in Wheaton Saturday night and go to First Baptist Church on Sunday morning. At First Baptist, we'll also see Mr. & Mrs. Fisher, who are visiting from Thailand!! Jeremy hasn't met them yet, so we're looking forward to that. We're also really looking forward to getting to know Khun Paiboon and his family better during the trip. It should be a great weekend!

Also, we sent our letters out last week, and it has been fabulous to hear back from so many people. A lot of people have used the opportunity to update me on where they are and how God is working in their lives, and that is really exciting!! I hope I'll be able to keep in touch with people while we're in Thailand, not only through the website but in more personal ways. I think one of the worst feelings in the world is getting together with someone who was at one point a very close friend, but realizing that you are so out of touch that you can only share logistics about your life, not really how you are doing. It's so awkward and disappointing to realize you have lost that connection. I don't want that to happen when we come back from Thailand.

Last week we realized that we already have plans for all but one weekend this summer! It looks like we'll be on the go until Chiang Mai, but that's okay, I like it when life is moving fast!

This weekend has been no exception. Jeremy and I flew to San Francisco on Thursday to spend time with his family, and we really had a great visit. Katy, his sister, was able to come up from LA and it was wonderful to see everybody. Then at midnight Saturday night I went to the airport to catch a redeye flight back to St. Louis. I arrived in St. Louis in the morning, stopped by our apartment to feed the cat and have lunch, then got right on an Amtrak to go to Jacksonville. I'm here so I can work this week in Jacksonville. Jeremy flew back to St. Louis today and he'll be working there. Crazy, but fun, and it's exciting to know that all this is leading up to Thailand!