We finally did it!!!

Well, so many people were telling us about "blogging" that we finally decided to do it. There is so much more we need to figure out to make it the best it can be but for now we can add pictures and tell you some great stuff that is happening here. We will still send a monthly newsletter with specific p requests but we wanted to have a fun site where everyone could check out our pictures and here about life here in Nepal. Blogs are public on the internet so we are going to not be as open as usual with what we post here...that is what the newsletters are for. This way we can get out pictures and stuff to you and keep an online journal! We will try to update it regularly especially once we figure out how it all works.

Thailand...well we just got back from Thailand. It was awesome. Our company sends us there twice a year for meetings. Because many of our "friends" are on tourist visas in these countries they have to leave their country every 6 months. So our company has set up these bi-annual meetings so we can all have a place to go. It is such a blessing and a treat. We were there for a month. We left on Dec. 28th and had a 3 day conference where we did child care for the families. Ryan and I had 11 2 year olds for 7 hours a day. It was an adventure. We had another guy named Joe that helped us out some....which was much needed. After that we had a week long break so we decided to take a vacation to the southern part of Thailand called Phuket. We went with some of our closest friends, Jesse and Shanee who also live in Nepal and had a great time. (We know...tough life). We went snorkeling and swimming on the beautiful beaches. We ate at some great restaurants which cost about 1/4 of what they would in the states. We had a great time! I did however step on a sea urchine!!! If you have ever done this you know how bad stepping on the "porcupine of the sea" feels. Ryan helped me swim back in as I was screaming and crying and ruining all of the peoples vacations around me :)! When we got to shore I could see that there were about 15-20 splinters in my foot. Being a cross cultural learner I was all about trusting the locals about what to do. We had taken a boat to this small island to snorkel so there was not a fast way to get to a hospital. The local Thai guy was saying, "I know it hurts now but it won't be so bad...someone just has to pee on it!!!" So out from the bushes come about 6 Thai men who wanted to pee on my foot....I was hurting real bad but I was not going to let any pee on my foot from these (very nice) men that I did not know so I politely decined their request to help me with their pee. So Ryan and my friend Shanee decided to come through for me and after peeing in a cup they poured it on my foot...I know...gross!!! But it did make it feel a little better. Next my Thai friend said that the spines were just protein and had to be "crushed" into my foot. So, he did just that (imagine having 2o large splinters in your foot) he took his fingers and literally crushed them into my foot because he said that within one day they would dissolve. So this was very painful but...after it was over I could walk on it...it was sore but I could walk. In one day SOME of the spines had dissolved but some had not so when we got back to a main city (Chiang Mai) we went to the hospital. The doctor said that they should not have been crushed into my foot but it did not do much damage. He said that the only problem would be infection...so he decided to (with tweezers) take out the spines that he could and then he gave me an antibiotic. By the way...hospitals in Thaiand are GREAT!! It was clean, very professional and I was in and out in 40 minutes with a $35 bill that covered everything including my prescription. I am all better now. It was quite an experience and yet again living cross culturally makes for some great stories.

After leaving Phuket it was back to Chiang Mai (a very large city in Northern Thaiand) for Ryans seminary classes. We are in such a great program that flies professors (from America) to the students in Thailand. He had classes for 2 weeks and so I (Kristin) spent my days with friends, shopping, getting Thai massages ($5 for an hour), reading, and simply enjoying the things in Thailand that Nepal does not have. It was truly a blessing and it is hard to believe that I was able to experience it all. Ryan truly enjoyed his classes and shared how neat it was to have been overseas for 2 months and then get to talk about the things in his classes in a much more practical way. In the evenings Ryan and I spent time with our friends (who are serving our Father scattered all over the globe) who had come for classes with their wives. It was a great time of fellowship. We often would p together or sing together and laugh and tell crazy stories. It was such a time of renewal and refreshment. We feel overwhelmed that our Father allows us to experience such things. Also our home fellowship from North Carolina came to minister to us. What a blessing to have them there!!! We were able to sing together corporately and listen to our "leader" J.D. Greear share his heart and the Word with us. Living in Nepal we do not get to do this so this was a highlight of our time and HE really used it in our lives. It just gave us an even stronger desire to serve Him in Nepal. They also brought big bags full of stuff from America for us including chocolate chips, ranch dressing packets, instant oatmeal, brownie mixes, hand sanitizer...all sorts of stuff. It was so amazing and really brought so much joy to us.