In Ulaanbaatar

It's snowing! We are getting used to our coats and hats again! We are storing our summer clothes and sandals again! See you in 3-4 months beloved T shirts!

Tomorrow we're meeting with a speech therapist named Gillian. We're unsure if she is willing to help us long term, but we'll talk to her about it tomorrow. She is a Canadian who has been a speech therapist for 25 years and now is working here in Ulaanbaatar.

Pray they will click with one another and Sierra will work with her so that Gillian can access her thoroughly.

One great thing about our trip to Thailand was the time to see Sierra interact with other 3 year olds. Thankfully, Peter and I are on the same page about getting Sierra help asap. So we are waiting here in UB for that purpose.

On Wednesday we'll head home and hopefully have a speech therapy plan for Sierra. One of our major items of business is to help Sierra stop sucking her fingers. She sucks much of the day and that isn't helping to make her say more!

Any suggestions? When Weston needed to stop it was easy- just take away the binky. Not so this time.

Travel Light

I never do. We had 4 big backs to check, 4 backpacks, 1 rolling carry on and my purse.

I'd like to blame it on the fact that I live here and we can buy some things in Mongolia. or on the fact that we have kids and that makes more stuff. They rarely use what I pack for them though. I packed a bag of light toys for Sierra. So far, 15 hours into our trip, she's play with the barf bag, a gum wrapper and a water bottle.

Maybe I don't travel light because I want to be prepared and have everything we need- but there is still too much.

So I'm going to try and travel lighter from now on.

We're back in UB safe and sound. It was 4 degrees when we landed today, 30 warmer than when we left! woot woot!

PS I wrote this on a barf bag, on the back of it, I wrote a condensed packing list.

Hunkering Down

This pictures some of the contrasts of my life.

What does that mean exactly? I am preparing mentally to go back to Mongolia. I am on a personal journey, not just a physical one.

It is a journey that I am thankful for because it has caused me to grow in so many ways, but it is not necessarily a trip that I have enjoyed.

I live in Mongolia- not a place that I would even vacation, but I live there. I live there amongst the cows and sheep and goats; more than that though, I live at my house. I don’t have an exciting life of ministry outside of my home. I wake up and go to bed and all I see is snow or the brown landscape of winter and the inside of our fence for eight months of the year.

I battle. I battle the dirt, the slow pace of life, the different culture, and at times my own children. But more than that, I battle myself. I battle my laziness, my complaining heart, my discontent.

When I battle alone I fail. When I battle with Him at my side and as my strength, I win. The battle pushes me, shoves me to Jesus.

That is why I like the battle, I have come to embrace the battle of this wonderful life. Dare I say I actually enjoy this international life?

I couldn’t say it before, but now I can. I enjoy this life.


PS- I really missed blogging... so glad to be back. I think all day and writing here really helps me. Thanks for reading.

date night

Peter and I get about one date a year, and last night was that night. I really wanted to rent a moped and I talked Peter into it. We rode down our nearly deserted beach road, wobbling away and a little scared of the road that was rushing below our flip-flopped feet! We were going so slow that it took us a long time to catch up with a woman on a bike. :)

Then Peter sped up a little and I said, "we should slow down." We had just reached 30 mph! So we slowly drove down the coast together and drove back and returned the bike at dusk. It was so fun!

Then we got our favorite drinks and walked down the beach some more. We ate at a different resort with a nice view of the ocean and discussed life without the constant interruption of our wonderful children. It was nice.

Then we walked back to our hotel and found our kids all snuggled in watching a movie in the big bed with nana and papa.

Life is good!

Update from Paradise

Hello from Dolphin Bay Resort, Thailand. It is beautiful here. There are two pools in front of me, playground to my right and the beach and island stretching out to the left. It is really nice. There is a wonderful salty breeze that keeps the humidity at bay.

The children are having a wonderful time, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, running, jumping in the pool, and playing with other children from all over the world.

Weston has learned to swim alone now!!! He can go down the slide and swim to the steps with no problem. He swam across the pool alone too and then Papa bought him an ice cream! He is really enjoying all the seafood he can eat and has added squid to the foods he likes!

Sierra has made friends with a very sweet little seven year old who lives in Beijing and she is French American. They swim together and the little girl, Alma, is so sweet to her. She loves the swingset here as well and has spent a lot of time flying high into the sky.

We are having a great time together!

Peter got a new Mac Book laptop and all the pictures are on his computer now! Sorry I don’t have many to put her on my blog.

In Hua Hin

We are at the beach, and so thankful to be here. This beach is very sparsely populated and clean. Our guest house is right on the beach and there is a pool right in front of our house. We are outside most of the morning and evening. During the hot middle part of the day, we are inside watching a movie and/or taking naps!

I bought the kids little cameras and my parents brought them:

This is the actual size- it clips on to a belt loop! He loves that. It takes 25-50 pictures and it's water resistant and shock proof. All that and it was less than $10 so I had to try it. Sierra is copying Weston and trying to take pictures too and it is cute to watch.

Here are some pictures from Weston's prospective.






Here are some that I took with his camera


That's our house!

We are resort crashers...

We went to an awesome beach today. Then Peter had to find a bathroom. He came back and said, "I found the coolest place. We are going there for lunch." The hotel is called the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort. Click here to see the website if you are interested.

They also had a lazy river to float around, several awesome pools and water slides. Since we had lunch we decided to swim too...

AWESOME!!!

Patayaa Day 2

We spent the morning at the dentist. We all had cleanings and exams. All of our teeth look nice and clean now!

Then we hopped in a songtoaw (a truck with two bench seats in the back,) and we headed to the beach.

It was great. Weston could have played in the water for 10 hours! He was jumping in the waves and ducking under some of them too. He dug holes ran around the beach. He ate his beloved shrimp and he also ate almost a whole fish!




Sierra enjoyed the water, but didn't care for the waves too much, or the sand. She wanted me to constantly wash the sand off of her feet! Funny girl. She did wonderfully at the dentist today. I held her on my lap and they even used the "scaler-" read sandblaster- on her teeth and she smiled throughout. She made friends at the beach, and in the taxi and on the street and at lunch too!

Fun day.

Patayaa Day one

Weston's favorite part of flying!
We are in Patayaa. It is a beach city that is south of Bangkok. We flew from Chaing Mai to Bangkok and then a taxi brought us down here.

At the airport- 9:30 arrival. Yes this is us traveling light- sad! Don't the kids look thrilled?

We arrived around midnight and have been spoiled by our very nice room. We chose a two bedroom, but it is a bit like an apartment in size! We LOVE Thailand! It its such a great affordable vacation location! Today we ate soup, rice, veggies and chicken for lunch and had some deliciously cold ice water too. - $5 for our whole family!

Breakfast buffo-lay (that's what west calls a buffet!) at our hotel.

our room
We bought a stroller yesterday (yes, I know, we've had more than a dozen!) and today it paid for itself by carrying Sierra, while she had her nap; and then rolling sandy, grumpy Weston back to our hotel.

Sometimes it's a double stroller too! :)

Today we hung out at pool in the morning and then walked around and I couldn't resist going to the beach. It is nice there, because it is cooler. It is quite breezy and so nice. We're planning a day at a less populated beach. We'll rent a cabana for the day so that we can just hang out and eat whatever the venders bring!

Weston had some coconut milk-

He liked it!

The kids really had a great time digging around and splashing in the warm small waves! We didn't have their suits or sunblock so we went home quickly and now we're clean and we are enjoying a snack of cashews and Nescafe! :)

Tomorrow, we'll plan ahead with suits and sunblock!

Getting to Thailand

We have been on an adventure for the past week.
First we left Mongolia.

It’s the first time that we’ve traveled without diapers or strollers or cribs. It was nice to travel a little lighter. We actually fit all of our summer clothes in one bag and all our winter clothes in the other.

We arrived in Seoul and we got Sierra a frequent flyer card. Isn't this a pretty airport?

We arrived in Seoul and we got Sierra a frequent flyer card.
At the airport, we took showers, the kids played in a new clean playland with a trampoline, slides, climbers, and lots of other Americans kids.

Flowers at the airport- INCHEON is the best airport in the history of the world!!!

Then we went and had our lunch at Subway and our dessert at Dunkin Donuts.

The kids loved that! Sierra really knows how to choose a good treat- a chocolate covered- bavarian cream filled. Yum.


The airport also has traditional Korean crafts that you can make for free.


Weston made a korean table and Sierra made a pin with mother of pearl decorations.

Look how she holds that toothpick- so precise.


Then she helped paint Peter's table.

Working together!

He's so proud of his work!

This is Sierra's "Let's fight face!"

We boarded the plane for Bangkok.

We had a nice meal and then Weston did this ...


and Sierra did this…

We arrived and took a shuttle to the hotel. We all climbed in a king sized bed and fell into a deep, deep sleep.