Three Holidays and a Sermon

We just finished a very full long weekend - celebrating Thanksgiving, early Christmas, an 85th surprise Birthday, and then preaching for the first Sunday of Advent. After we got home tonight, I realized that this is one major event per day, for four days in a row. :) It was a lot of fun to see people in MI and enjoy family time during two holiday festivities! We got to hang with Josh and Kara who were here from Mpls and spend a morning at the Field Museum. Then we all drove to Peter's parent's place and met Alicia and Dave, who had made the long trek into town from D.C. Jill came over for the holiday celebrations too, and so it was a full VerHage family gathering! We even got to see Peter's cousins and much of his extended family who were in town to celebrate Peter's great-aunt Casey turning 85 - a surprise party that was so fun to see for such a sweet and tender-hearted lady.

Eva had great times with the everyone on our visit and took turns walking various people around the house by the finger, usually while saying 'come, come.' She also enjoyed chasing after the small chocolate soccer balls found in her stocking, and trying to pull out the pigtails that I kept re-doing in her hair. This morning, when we were back in town, she enjoyed the Bethlehem scene set up in the front of Sojourner Covenant Church where I spoke this morning. A beautiful miniature little town, complete with lighted star overhead and the scrolls of Isaiah resting on the floor, fills the stage at the front of the church.

We really had a good time at each event - and are feeling surprisingly rested and ready to start a "normal" week now. Yeah for Advent and the start of the holidays! Yeah for getting to appreciate family from near and far. Yeah for being invited to share the beginning of the Advent journey with a neat congregation. I am a fan. :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We're heading to Michigan to see Peter's family for Thanksgiving soon and have a holiday break. We'll also be opening Christmas presents with the VerHage side this weekend, so Eva has been busy making gifts and 'helping' me wrap gifts for the Xmas season. While I know some people try to hold off the impending and ever-earlier consumer start to Christmas, I say bring it on! Not the shopping, the hoarding, spending and worrying - but the beauty, the focusing on Advent, the twinkling lights and the fabulous music. I can't tell you how fun it is to have Bing Crosby crooning "What Child is This" through the speakers while I hum along and wrap up treasures and Eva gets stuck in piles of ribbons and colors her cards for people. I LOVE Christmas, and am excited to start teaching her more about what this season is all about this year as she is old enough to experience it much differently then her first Christmas. The holidays are here! And yes, we start early... I LOVE it.  

Pigtails!

Yesterday, for the first time, I put little pigtails in Eva's hair!

This was due to two mini-miracles taking place: 1) I finally found little bands small enough to go in her baby-fine hair, and 2) she sat still for a total of 45 seconds while I put them in. :)

 

Thailand Part 4 - Koh Chang

Koh Chang: Island Chillin, Jamaican Pool, and "The Motorbiking Incident"
Left the north to head for the islands on the east coast via plane, bus and ferry from Trat to Koh Chang (elephant island.) Trekked up the hillside late at night and found "Little Eden" - great low-cost bungalows, main cathedral-ceiling hang-out house, yummy food and nice English/Thai host couple. Beautiful windy roads for motorbiking, up and down gravel roads, to end of the path stream, and late night billiards at Jamaican bar we had all to ourselves. Explored windy roads and switchback by motorbike again, found the end of the road/stream south of our town by bike, while researching new place to stay overnight, I had my bike-wipe out (super girl-style - flying over the handlebars and grazing the whole front right side of my torso). I hit wet sand that grabbed my rear wheel while turning. Got to pour rubbing alcohol on the bleeding flesh on my arm and hands. Then doused myself/wound in salty ocean water at our new beach front resort. Can't stop listening to Colbie Caillet here on the laid-back beach, a mix of grown-up hippies and artsy, Door County-like craftspeople. Love it.

Koh Chang: Snorkeling, Fishing and Boating
Explored port city and docks with restaurants, shopping and see-through into the ocean tables. Got adorable flowered skirt for Eva on the docks, reminded of how ready I am to see her again! Rented our own carved wooden Thai fishing boat for the day, left in pouring rain to get to the pier (although minus a very sick Jed :(. ) After drying out in the sun, snorkeled in aqua-perfect waters on top of magical coral and striped exotic fish; then later in the day deep-sea fishing started, at about the same time my sea-sickness started. Meghan - of course - caught fish, & guys caught some too, and I spent several hours in framed middle of ship watching for the horizon before performing an impressive second-story vomit into the water. Freshly-caught grilled fish for supper on the boat, or Tums - whatever works.

Koh Chang: Memorable Last Days
Cards at night, pineapple smoothies, and big french doors wih geckos on the ceiling here at this resort. Enjoy our own little beach, porch swing, and conversations about going back to real life after a vacation. Talk about not being afraid - fearless - how to hang onto the space and rest of this vacation away. Enjoy amazing crab, mussels, prawns, scallops, and more at fresh fish house out on the dock - talk with fun waitress there. 4 of us went with Tim to get his bamboo tattoo at Yo's - one of the coolest nights for me by far. Seeing how my brother was so excited, present, and gracious while having ink jammed into his upper arm - and learning about the Thai phrase he chose to have done: it means "finish well," or if its hard you can do it, work hard and you will complete it. :) Very appropriate and powerful. Oh - and saw cute little street puppies all over - decided Megs should get one.  Last thing I experienced in Thailand was a traditional massage by this spry older woman who did amazing work on every muscle in my body. A-Ma-Zing. Then saw Peter get a shortened massage and somehow she was picking his entire body up on her knees using just the torque of her (80 lb) body leaning back on her heels. Unreal.

Home
Leaving Tim and Megs after spending two weeks together felt strange - but knowing they were heading to our country shortly definitely helped. We all were at various stages of being wiped out/not feeling great on the flights home (three flights, to be exact), but played cards in the airport, packed my trusty Mentos (to fight off travel sickness), and I finished reading several books that felt right at home in the east (The Monkey and the Fish - by Gibbons, and The Centered Life - by Fortin.) Journaled much of my way back home, while listening to Fearless and Imogen Heap on repeat most of the way home.  Felt very aware of how when you travel, you see your own life - your own normal - differently, and it's a gift. Also was very aware that while breaks from stress and routine are so necessary, they do not solve the stress or questions waiting for me. Ready to jump back in, tackle and see things for what they are, for who I am, and work at taking some lessons learned from Tim/Megs/Thai culture back into my 'normal.' Am freshly aware of what expectations and rules are in my life - want to look at those more closely now. Also need to research buying a motorbike and what kind of tattoo to get. Stat. :)   

Thailand Part 3 - Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai: Motorbiking Up the Mountain Day

Loved our time in Chiang Mai - felt like a relatively big city with cool blend of industry/culture surrounded by countryside. Rented motorbikes for the first time and LOVED the first day speeding around the 8-lane city loop, climbing the mountainside on switchbacks to Wat Doi Sep, then motoring to a series of waterfalls and finally taking my own morning spin (24 hours for a 100cc motorbike cost just 200 baht = $6.00!) The mountain-top Wat was amazing - many people worshipping here. Torrential rain storm forced another afternoon break and slower pace while descending the wet curvy roads.Could feel a noticeable temperature drop as we leaned into turns heading down the mountain through fresh green countryside... beautiful, even though my helmet was an aquarium! Got Eva and other kiddo gifts at this temple bazaar. Also biked outside the city and into the evening to the state park with 10 waterfalls and damp, slippery rock trails. Good, good day.  

Chaing Mai: Flight of the Gibbon & Cooking Class Day
Peter, Josh, Tim and Megs spent the day flying through the jungle canopy - 100 ft or so above the ground! Saw gibbons, heard 'feet up' all day, and got back exhausted after all the zip-lines! I discovered the beauty of skyping Eva from our guesthouse's garden breakfast terrace and sleeping in :). Jed and I met Kenny from Bethel for lunch - small world thanks to fb! That night Jed, Peter and I took our cooking class at Asia Scenic Thai Cooking school - who knew we could make curry and stir-fried dishes! Learned about a 'bomb in your mouth' from our funny teacher and heard about RSA current politics from classmates. Shopped legendary night market - started the beauty of bargaining.

Chiang Mai: Up on an Elephant Day & My Down Day

I purposely carved out a day of "not doing" for myself - the rest of the crew took another jungle trek, this time riding on elephants up and down muddy hillsides, taking a bamboo raft, and visiting a native hill tribe village. I enjoyed the bliss of doing nothing, thinking, writing, reading, and spending a loung-ie afternoon at 'Love at First Bite' cafe - misty fans blowing in the palm trees as American 60's musak played around me and Thai couples of all ages ate quiche and cheesecake. :)

Ah-May (Amen)

Eva is steadily learning when and how to pray. Before meals that include both Peter and I (usually supper), she will stop us when we both sit down by saying "ah-may, ah-may" (amen), while nodding her head. Then she points to one of us, usually me, to signify that I should start to pray. She holds her hands together under her chin, and watches us intently, sometimes whispering along while we pray. When we say "Amen," she says "ah-may" again, and about half the time, gets upset and points to the other person to indicate that she wants someone to keep on praying.

Once we went back and forth between Peter and I praying before our meal about three times each, because Eva was so upset each time one of us ended our prayer and stopped praying. That particular instance, I was having one of those days where I didn't feel like praying at all - much less over and over as an example for my kiddo. I remember that I started to get a little teary eyed as my 1 1/2 year old kept clearly telling her mom, then her dad - then her mom, then her dad - to keep praying. She listened and engaged with us during each prayer; she was not playing or distracted by something else. Who knows what she actually got out of the content of our prayers, but I sure noticed my own content. Slowly, throughout our mini-prayer-marathon, I moved from my beginning prayers of, "thank you for our food and our day and for our daughter," to praying things like, "Thank you that you listen to us all day even when the days are hard; help me to remember to pray more God; I need you more then I realize."

It felt very profound to me to be pushed to pray by Eva, and to be praying both for her, and for me, in a more genuine way before that meal. I realized that I don't always really pray from my heart like that when I pause for a cursory prayer before a meal; heck, we don't even always pause before every meal to pray. Except now, when we're with Eva, gathered as a little family with her pointing at us, whispering along and solemnly folding her hands, smiling and watching us, listening to our every word as we talk to God and talk to her - it makes me want to do it more.

Thailand Part 2 - Sukhothai Highlights

Sukhothai: Train Rides and At Home
I loved the long travel days on the train from Bangkok to Sukhothai, and then from Sukhothai farther north to Chiang Mai. Saw the view of big cities change to outlying slums, then grasslands change to fields, then on to hills and mountains with lush vines all over and a misty sunset. Caught up with people while chugging further and further north, learned to not eat the sweet rolls served (they had a surprise black-bean-something in the middle), and read "The Shack" and talked through it forever with Megs. Listened to Imogen's "First Train Home" song, appropriately, and realized I had gone several hours in a row without thinking about Eva, for the first time on the trip. :)

We also found an amazing guesthouse, rightly named 'At Home' - and settled into teak-studded rooms with screens and shutters over big open windows, then had amazing dinners downstairs in Swiss Family Robinson-like open air family room. Singha, cards, Dreamgirls on the big screen TV, and my first taste of Massaman curry... what a place!

Sukhothai: Biking the Ruins
Had a GREAT day in the old capital of Thailand/Siam that is now home to vast acres of temple ruins and remaining statuesque buddhas. Took turns taking pictures of amazing sights - and taking pictures of each other taking pictures. :) Started being able to interact a little more with the local population, saw other people visiting the ruins from all over Asia, admiring families who gathered to worship and give offerings. Laughed at - I mean helped - Meghan when her tire on our already-low old bikes blew out.

Thailand Part I - Bangkok

In honor of Tim and Megs being back home, and since the time is already flying by... I wanted to make sure to capture some of my own mental highlights from our fab trip to Thailand last month. I know I can't remember all the details about our adventure, but between notes we took, photos, my ipod playlist and lingering impressions, I feel like I can hold on to some of the highlights from each stage of the journey. The following posts are just a few photos/experiences/songs that summed up the our trip for me, done in segments. This first post starts off with the first leg of our two-week trip:

Bangkok: Arrival
Arrived at 1 am, got off the plane on the tarmack while listening to "I Gotta Feeling" and grinning, then took crazy cab ride straight to Ko Sahn Road. "Angels" from West Wing soundtrack was playing as we 'descended' into the main streets of Bangkok and got off the highway - so appropriate. Reminded me of Burnout Revenge East Coast driving map...in some ways. :)  Learned to throw toilet paper in the garbage can and shower with everything else outside the bathroom door. Learned that one is capable of sweating even more than previously thought was possible. (Above photo is of our crew together our first night on the town in Bangkok: L-R is Tim, Jed, Peter, Liz, Josh, and Meghan - which includes two sets of siblings, two best friends, two serious camera geekheads, two married couples, five Minnesotans at heart, one Iowan for now, one Michigander, and two Chicagoans!)

Bangkok: Daytime
Saw the familiar stomping grounds for Tim and Meghan's weekends; ate at 'their' breakfast place. Whirlwind day seeing the Grand Palace/related museums/few big Wats downtown, then sitting & talking during an afternoon rainstorm about life and our futures and relationships and expectations and... life. Got street vendor Pad Thai, our first bucket, and shopped along the side streets with Megs. Bargained for fisherman pants before hitting "The Club" and soaking up the air-conditioned internet cafe that charged 1 baht per minute (roughly $2.00 an hour.)

Bangkok: Departure
Packed up for our train ride north to Sukhothai. Had real coffee in upstairs of train station while watching crazy Thai sitcom. Ran back and forth finding right train but had super helpful attendants help us out. Leaving Bangkok I realized I was feeling kind of sad - about the three year olds I had seen running around everywhere at 1:00am, the street people covering the corners just down the block from the clubs, and the fairly visible sex-trade industry that defines the party side of Bangkok. Beautiful country so far - but also complicated.        

   

HOO-RAY!!

After almost seven months of being in Thailand, my brother and sis-in-law (aka, two of my favorite people on the planet), returned to the States last week. :) While we did see them just last month on our trip over there, having them back in Chicago where they could hang out at our place, play Zuma on our couch, cuddle with our girl, and just enjoy some everyday life together again was precious time indeed. Above are Tim and Megs looking way too rested and tan for just getting off their marathon flight home.

Above is Eva excitedly waiting for them at the airport!

We had a great time with them in town, and I am convinced that Eva remembered them - she had a lot of fun with her 'Unca Poop' and 'May-guh' - we all thought we heard her refer to them that way. :)  

Even though they won't be in town again for a little while, or live up the street (or up one flight of stairs) from us anymore, just knowing they are back on US soil, with access to someone's cell phone that we can call them on, makes us all a little happier here in our household. :) Hoo-ray!