all the crazies.

That is the only way I know to describe our lives right now: all the crazies. So when I finally sit down to try to get a few thoughts out, that is what comes out–crazy stories of crazy people trying to do life together.

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This kid is one of the bigger crazies! And we love him.

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A friend came to visit us this past week, so we tried to warn her of how crazy our weekends are. On Sunday we were up for our weekly tea shop visit at 8am and we didn’t say goodbye to the community until after 10pm that night! However, there was so much to celebrate in just one Sunday of activity.

First, our tea shop visit is changing–for some good reasons and some very heart-breaking, we-are-trying-to-decide-what-to-do reasons–but we had four friends from the neighborhood join us this week!  We had quite a lot of fun and laughter, and we do love this time of chatting, learning, and exploring the market together.

Second, we had seven friends from the community join us for Burmese church! I will grant you the information that only two of them were old enough to understand the sermon and participate, but we’re so excited at their joy and interest in coming with us. We love the time together, eating lunch together, and simply the encouragement of connections to the Burmese Christian community. This is a huge joy to us!

Third, we met a new baby! We drove the laboring mother to the hospital one day this week (who knows which one?) at 5:45am, and then met the baby on Sunday! It’s a handsome little boy.

And fourth, we opened our doors to the community for a craft night on Sunday night, and it was such fun. We are putting together some Christmas treasures, so I can’t really post pictures yet. But we had fun, and it’s always good to be together over celebrations!

We did have an unexpected night at the hospital on Sunday night with a neighbor, as well as the weekly childbirth class that one woman is attending. Stephen was busy going back and forth, so I sent him a text to let him know when the craft party was reaching it’s end.

There was a small miscommunication…and a reminder that our lives are weird.

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We came home one day last week (who knows which one?) to find a large puddle of an unknown red substance on our driveway.

I really, really wanted it to be a red drink spilled by a child. Really, really badly.

I pointed out the ants eating it, hopeful that this might mean it was simply a sugary drink, right?

Stephen came inside after me and informed me, “Well, it’s definitely blood.”
“How do you know its blood? Couldn’t it be a drink?”

Then I heard him turn on the water at the kitchen sink and start washing his hands.

“Wait, did you put your finger in it?”
“Well, yeah… I just wanted to know if it was blood. Is that bad?”
I then gave a small explosive list of blood-related diseases as we went over the community to see if everyone was okay.

There was a little gathering of women, so we went to ask if anyone had been hurt. After a small miscommunication & more significant panic attack thinking it was a child’s large puddle of blood, we determined it was a street dog. There has been extra fighting this week as a new, large dog moved onto our street.

Either way, we have now determined we need a new way to identify unknown, potentially bodily substances.

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Community happens, and sometimes you need a new windshield because of it.

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English classes are always a little crazy, but my Wednesday class of 3-5 year olds takes the cake. It is just absolute chaos as we try to learn letters, colors, numbers, and a few basic words!

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We are still trying to finish up the Christmas gifts, so we’ve had a few more craft nights. They have also included putting boxes together with hot glue, which was a fun little experiment. Everyone was so interested, most likely because it looks like a very intriguing toy gun. Despite my many attempts to explain that it was hot, we still had many moments of discovering this and explaining to everyone just how hot a hot glue gun is!

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We went on a date Monday night, out to burgers and ice cream. And guys, this is big news for our little world: Mae Sot has mint chocolate chip ice cream for the first time! It’s a limited time offer until Christmas, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be frequent customers for now! This is Stephen’s absolute favorite and oh-so-difficult to find anywhere in Thailand. And for a limited time, it’s in our little border town!

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And today (I know which day it was because it just happened!) I was able to get my motorbike license renewed! That sounds much less amazing that it is, but that is something we’ve been working on since June. Since Stephen is the one on a work permit, it’s pretty difficult for me to be able to do much–including simply renew a license I already have!  In the midst of a changing government system and changing our organization, it has been a mess. I spent an entire week visiting Immigration with no luck in June, but…after a few more visits to Immigration, a visit to the doctor to see if I was breathing, copies and copies and copies of documents, and a few more visits to the Department of Transportation, they took my photo!

It’s the little things that can make you feel like your whole day was a success.
It’s also the little things that make your days crazy!