The Bad & The Good....

The bad news is that I saw my first humongous spider today...yes totally freaked me out, but "tried" to be cool about it. 

The good news is that God is good!  After looking at countless homes & condos all over town, we have found what He has for our family.  It is a small home in a Thai community close to Payap University and in our price range.  Our 2 main requirements were that it have a kitchen & air conditioning, when we saw this home it had these 2 deal makers & much, much more!  Thank you for all your prayers, we will move into the home on Monday afternoon.  Until then here are a couple of pictures, and yes there is even a small pond in the front which Sheraz & Hope have plans to put in BIG Thai fish.

(And No, this was not the house where the spider was...hooray!)

Good Morning & Goodnight Thailand

Day 4

My girls up at 5:30am, still getting on the right time schedule. Mom says, "let's watch a movie until breakfast starts at 7:00am... 

Sunset from our dormitory, on our way back to the room after dinner.  Our God is breathtaking!

3 nights & counting...

Can you imagine every little project that you put to the side & think "I'll do that later" getting done immediately?  This is the reality of my life right now.  It's actually amazing how much I got done today, and even got my 2nd bag packed!  So now we are up to 5 out of 7 bags packed, which isn't bad for 2 days to go.

Just have some last minute shopping to get done in the next couple of days, and spending some quality time with family. 

We are asking for your prayers concerning our housing once we arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand this weekend.  2 nights ago we found out that our accomodations at the Payap University are not available.  After doing some searching online we have found some short term condo type housing, and now Sheraz is working on contacting them. 

Tickets are purchased

As Cat in the Hat would say, "Here we go, go, go, go on an adventure..."

Today Sheraz bought our flight tickets, so here are a few of the details:
We are flying on Korean Air leaving Saturday, October 8th at about 2:00pm.  Our flight is from Seattle to Seoul, South Korea & then on to Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

Unfortunately this was not our first choice of flights because it is very early in the month, but I have to trust in the Lord that He has a plan & there is a reason this was the best choice for our family.

As I sit here in our empty packed up house, I am exhausted!  3 days of garage sales, bargaining with the "shoppers", Hope's playdates, going through every closet & drawer, and still trying to keep a semi-normal routine with the babies.  Put all this together and that makes a VERY tired mommy / wife / woman. 

The top question that people have asked is about how do I feel, well I am doing "okay" other than the above mentioned.  I think leaving with my husband & children makes this move a little easier than when I have traveled alone.  Hope is doing wonderful, she is so excited to move to Thailand...amazing. 

And above all, living every day watching God's provition & planning for this move.  Every little detail we have seen His hand in it and that He has prepared the way for our steps.  Tomorrow we will move to the Marriott hotel in Bellevue to live the last 7 days of our time here. 

My Birthday!

Normally I look forward to my Birthday, but for some reason this year I was just not so excited about turning 37.  Can't really put my finger on why, some have said it could be because it's getting closer to 40 years old...maybe. 

And all of those sour faces I made about turning 37 were for no reason, because I had a wonderful day!  Our God is an amazing God, and the amount of love He has for every person is unimaginable.  Yesterday God showed me His love for me through my husband, my daughters, family & friends, and let me tell you that it is almost too much to take in...almost.  I received a brand new understanding of His love for every hair on my head. 

If you have not had this shown to you personally, I can tell you "God Loves You"...take it in!

Someday I'll...

Someday I'll scrapbook all the memories I'm making now with my husband & kids. 

Today I got a huge project done of putting my keepsakes & pictures in some kind of order...and then in a storage tub.  I'm very glad that I have kept all these different little memories of special days or events in our family.  As much as I like scrapbooking and would love to be able to spend the time now to put books together, now is just not the season.  But the good news is that SOMEDAY when the children have grown up a bit, then I will have the time. 

So until then, keep continuing to hold on to your memories & so will I. 

Date Night

Since my blog has "motherhood" in the title, then I should probably talk a little about my journey being a mom.  

Well, here is my two cents on date night:  If you have somebody you trust available to take care of your 3 children (well really any amount of children), and your husband wants to take you out to the movies...DO IT!  Last week the night before we had our garage sale the above situation presented itself and, thinking of how tired we would be the next day, I almost didn't go.  But then I had this whisper in my ear, "Your husband wants to take you out, GO."  In the end, we had a wonderful time & a little tired was well worth it.