Kim and Jeremy in Thailand

My parents left a little over a week ago now. I spent the first few days in bed-combination of being worn out from doing quite a bit more than I'm used to, and I also was sick with some sort of stomach bug that's been going around the school.

This week was back to the grindstone, and I still have quite a bit of catching up to do on my grading. I'm hoping to be caught up with that and back to updating this website every few days again very soon.

I've been trying to upload pictures from when my parents were here, but there's some sort of problem with the connection and I can't upload. Sorry about that! I'll keep trying, and hopefully we'll get some up in the next few days.

Jeremy and I are in the middle of trying to decide what to do about next year. It's such a hard decision-we really like it here, but there are things we like about America too, and we're not sure what's best. Please pray for us as we try to decide within the next week or two what we'll be doing.

My parents got on a plane late last night, and by now, they should be as far as Korea. It was so great to have them here!! But at the same time, it was really tiring, which has definitely contributed to my recent website delinquency. I'll be going through our pictures this weekend and should have a good long update for you soon after that.

Otherwise, not much is happening here. We have a long weekend (Monday off), which is great and I'm looking forward to some quality couch potato time!

My parents have been here for a little over a week now, and we've been keeping them busy. We've taken them to all sorts of restaurants, gone to Ban Tawai (a wood carving market), visited the night market, ridden the elephants, played lots of games, toured the school, done lots of shopping....all sorts of things. It's been a lot of fun-and a lot more activity for us than we're used to! It's been neat to do all the touristy things that we don't really want to do just on our own, since we're not really tourists.

Sorry about the slacking of late on pictures and updates-we've been so busy with my parents that I haven't really had a chance to look through the pictures or post to the website! But I promise there will be pictures up within the next few days or so, along with more details on what all we have done.

My parents are now here with us in Chiang Mai!! I went down to Bangkok on Wednedsay night and met them there, then yesterday we flew up to Chiang Mai together and Jeremy picked us up from the airport. We stopped by the grocery store, then gave them a tour of our house. We had a great time catching up and going out to dinner.

Now we're at school, and it's Friday morning. We've given them a mini-tour, but they'll get to go on the official tour later today. And they'll get to come to my classes and meet my students, which I'm really excited about! It's so great to finally have them here!

My parents should now be in Chicago, and in about 14 hours they will be on the plane and officially on the way to Thailand!! They'll land in Bangkok tomorrow (Wednesday) night, which is early Wednesday afternoon for you stateside peoples. I'm flying down to meet them, and we'll spend the night in a hotel, then fly a quick flight (only an hour) up to Chiang Mai on Thursday.

I am so excited to have my parents coming!! It'll be so nice not only to see them, but to have them see where we live, and the school, and meet the staff and students that we get to work with here. Pictures can only do so much-we can't share the taste of Thai food, the blend of Thai spices and meet when you walk by a roadside stand, the sound of a tuk-tuk, and so many other things that make up our life in Thailand. I wish everyone could come visit. I'm thrilled that at least my parents can!