I have gotten a bit off the blogging train in the past few months, and I initially thought I’d just let it go by.

Then I started looking through pictures, and I just couldn’t pass it by. It’s been a year full of such joy with Oak at our sides; and then to have family visit! So we’re gonna go back in time.

My parents came to visit Oak!

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This photo brings me such a deep joy. I love that you can see both of my parents hands: their wedding bands, the wrinkles; all the hugs they’ve given over the years. Three generations in one embrace. I love their utter happiness as they meet Oak for the first time. I love my dad’s all-encompassing hugs.

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We also took Oak’s first trip to the beach!
This was priceless; he absolutely loved it.

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I love this one of Oak telling the waves to “Stop!”

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My brother-in-law came to visit too! He met us at the beach and then spent a few days with us in Mae Sot.

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I’m actually now in Bangkok, where I’ll pick up two sisters arriving tonight for a visit! We are so thankful for the family that has been able to visit (and for those trying to pull it off somehow this year!); it’s not an easy feat. But it’s such an incredible gift!

We set up our tree this week on #မိသားစုmonday.
[Read: Me-tha-zu Monday; or Family Monday.]

It was of course fun to pull out the tree, add the lights and find ornaments saved over the years from so many adventures. But the day also meant so much more to me, and gave me much to think about Oak’s adoption into our family.

It’s pretty incredible to have a child’s first {Western-style} Christmas be at age three. I’m not sure it gets much better than that. He was so truly able to enjoy it, to pull out ornaments. He asks to open the Advent each day with joy and anticipation! He’s repeating words, singing Little Drummer Boy every day, and capturing just enough of the idea to inspire wonder.

And more than that, it reminds me that I have a choice: I can see the things we missed with him, or I can see the unique experiences we get! Most people don’t get their first Christmas with a three year old, and that’s a unique opportunity of wonder that we get to cherish.

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We were puling out ornament after ornament of our adventures: ornaments for each ten years married; nine years of ornaments from Thailand. Piles of handmade ornaments from our refugee friends in Oklahoma, then more from the little jewelry studio currently in our home. Collections from our adventures: our fifth anniversary in Phuket, the trip to visit my sister in England, our unexpected visit to France last year. Or even the tent ornament to commemorate our first anniversary spent camping in Arkansas, which now feels like an adventure so out of our reach. Ornaments from all the bits of America we know and love: Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma.

We even have a watering can ornament from our first year in the community, when we started our community garden. We laugh at it every year, as it shows us how far we’ve come. We now have enough experience to say “community garden” in Burmese and follow it with “Heck no!” 😂 Instead, the kids are currently playing in our green-ish space, and the neighbors are chopping down things off the trees that, while not considered a garden, is edible!

The ways God has brought respite in the midst of challenges through trips and people; the ways He’s brought incredible people into our lives and brought us places we never thought we’d go: it’s documented all over a tree.

And in many ways, that is Advent to me: a testimony of all we’ve waited for and all we are waiting for. A testimony of the things God has been faithful in and the things He will be faithful in.

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Then there are the ornaments waiting for Oak, affectionately called Baby Bunny. We faithfully purchased all the bunnies we found while we waited, so we have quite a few. And now we have him. And this:

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He’s ours. {Relatively} Officially.

Our friends recently sent us this shirt as a gift for Oak.
Wanted | Chosen | Loved | Adopted
It was the perfect thing for him to wear this day, as I watched his dad lift him toward the tree. It was perfect as we took photos. It was perfect in light of Christmas, in light of our adoption as sons.

I need a shirt of my own: Wanted | Chosen | Loved | Adopted.

Gosh, I was just lost in this all day, and I still am. I’m not even sure I can have him wear the shirt too often, because it just breaks me and shakes me: for how indescribably much he is wanted. For how we both chose to adopt and how he was chosen for us. For the extravagant, crazy love we have for him. For the miracle that he is in our family!

Waiting leaves a mark on your heart.

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And so I was struck repeatedly through the day, that this is home.

As my friend so wisely once wrote: “Home is an illusion we all chase.” It’s true, we’re chasing it–to provide it for Oak, to find it in Christ, to create it amongst a myriad of cultures. But right now, it feels closer than it has in a long, long while.

I didn’t know until yesterday that this existed, but it’s pretty much our new favorite holiday: Mister Rogers, cardigans, neighbors and kindness? We certainly hope these things describe us!

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Oak loves Mister Rogers. He jumps for joy when it’s Sunday Funday, the day we watch an episode together as a family. He sings along with a few songs, including, “Be strong, be brave…” which is just the cutest thing ever.

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He loves trolley and X the Owl, but his favorite might be Henrietta Pussycat, and he often requests books be read in “meow, meow”–the way Henrietta speaks {meow, meow}, with purring {meow, meow} in between every {meow, meow} few words {meow, meow}.

Really, though: Oak was so-so about cardis until we started calling it his Mister Rogers sweater a few weeks ago. And we told him today was Mister Rogers Day, so he wore it all day, buttoned down the front by his choice, in 92 degree weather. I’m not sure I could love him more.

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And the buttons say “I like you a lot,” which is both fitting and lovely. (Thanks, H&M for making the world a better place with your button choices.)

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I’d say you never can guess how friendships will play out. And sometimes you look back over so, so many years and its just funny to see how it went.

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Stephen & I met Mary & Laj in university, through the campus ministry that I traveled to Thailand with in 2006. Mary & Laj were both on that trip actually, and we came to Mae Sot together. They’ve continued working with that campus ministry in Arkansas, and Laj continues to bring a team most summers. Stephen and I found ourselves unexpectedly living here for nine years.

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Adam & Nu live at a migrant school outside of Mae Sot, where Mary & Laj have come to visit for years. It was five years ago, when Mary & Nu were both pregnant, and that we all sat down and played a game of Ticket to Ride together.

Mary & Laj went back to Arkansas; Adam & Nu became sweet friends of ours here.

And then this year, Mary got to join Laj at the end of the short-term trip he led (flying with two under four by herself!), and we became an unlikely group of six old friends that know each other in so many different capacities. And thanks to a number of miracles, we also brought along four little kiddos that got to play together.

To take some time away and really enjoy the company of these friends, we went to Chiang Mai! It was full of highs and lows and that seems the easiest way to capture it.

High: The Flour & Flowers bouquet from the week before was absolutely stunning, so I popped it in our car to enjoy on the ride.

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High: A husband who will drive through the mountains in the rain, with flowers in his cupholder, while you sit in the back seat with the kiddo.

High: Oak traveled great on the way up, and we even got to see old friends from Mae Sot that just returned to live in Chiang Mai!

Low: I was silly enough not to get a picture with them.

High: Oak’s first trip to the zoo!

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Low: We threw a lot of food into the lake instead of the hippo’s mouth.

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High: The giraffes and penguins, which were both favorites.

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High: Living in a country with fewer safety regulations! Oak got to feed a jaguar raw beef on a stick.

High: Oak’s first elephant visit!

High: A peaceful raft ride through beautiful mountains, including a driver (sailor? captain? rower? gondolier?) who spoke Burmese.

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High: Living in a country with fewer safety regulations, we also got to feed the elephants and take photos with them.

Low: Discovering that the elephants will have none of the one-banana-at-a-time game. They will have them all. Now. And I will take a bottle of hand sanitizer.

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Low: Despite the guide suggesting you sit on the elephant’s leg, it’s a bad idea. Makes for a silly looking photo and makes you a prime target for the trunk of the elephant.

Low: Oak didn’t like being within reach of the elephant’s trunk.

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High: Riding an elephant! Oak loved being out of reach of the trunk on a ride through the river and jungle.

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High: Our boy is smart! He figured out how to open the bar across our laps while riding! And mom managed to close it back before we fell out, so we’ll count that as a high.

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High: Delicious dinners out with friends.

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High: Friends you have known for over a decade!

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High: FRIENDS. Who meet your son and love on him and melt you.

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High: We weren’t really sure how to celebrate the 4th of July on our travel day, so we did our best to wear red and then had a classic American coffee.

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High: Oak learning to ride on Stephen’s shoulders! (And the cardi!)

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High: These eyelashes. And a sleeping babe on a road trip.

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Low: The sleeping was followed by a whole lot of vomit.

Low: We pushed it, staying as long as we could with friends before returning. This meant we got in late Thursday (with a sick child and vomit on many, many things) and then had to start cinnamon rolls at 5am on Friday. Followed by playhouse and English classes and Family Dinner until 9pm that evening.

Low: I got bit by a neighbor’s dog within twelve hours of returning home, so we also spent part of the day getting rabies vaccinations. Again.

(I was bit by a dog once before, in 2016, and annoyingly that was also on a Friday! I know this because you have to get shots every week for a month following, and it’s always so difficult to fit in on every Friday for a whole month. Ridiculous.)

High: Friends & adventures.

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These are a few of Oak’s favorite things.

I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld. This was gifted to us in the years we waited for Oak, and he absolutely loves it. We read it every night before bed, and some days a few more times. He has different motions for the pages and it still melts my heart even when I’ve seen it every day for weeks now.

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Cinnamon rolls. A true Flour & Flowers classic, a Blunier family tradition become a Spurlock tradition! This was his first, and he loved it. This morning we had let dad sleep in a bit, I made eggs for Oak & I, then pulled a pan of cinnamon rolls out of the oven. He immediately ran off, “DAD! DAD!”

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Music. Oak is showing us how much he loves music, asking for it to be playing by bringing us a little bluetooth speaker or asking for drums. He also does the “Wheels on the Bus” motions to tell us he wants music or Stephen to play the guitar. He loves to drum with dad & play cajon by himself. He’ll often ask for Dad to play the guitar for him, and this week Oak sat for about twenty minutes while Kyaw Gee played for him.

The Burmese alphabet poster, laminated. It can be rolled and unrolled, or simply carted around from place to place. What better toy could one ask for?

Fake sleeping. He does this most often in his car seat, when we tell him not to fall asleep on the way home, but he generally thinks its fun any place and any time, to pretend to sleep while smiling broadly.

Mister Rogers. This might be because it’s the only thing we’ve let him watch on a screen, but we’ve just started last week watching an episode on Sunday night as a family. He giggles with glee, answers the questions, and stares in awe. (I think he’s heroic, too, Oak!) It’s become a fun family activity, once with a chocolate at the end and once with hot chocolate after a rainy bike ride. (We’ve only done it twice, so…that’s it so far!)

Being outside. He loves being outside any way he can get there: whether we’re visiting the neighbors’ pigs and chickens, going for a bike ride, swimming, or riding in the jogging stroller while I run. He will ask and ask and ask to go outside, pointing to every thing that will get him there! It’s been a great way to get time with him, get our exercise in, and also just get some introverted time for all of us. He seems very extroverted, but still seems to reach a limit in the community, when he just wants to sit by himself. Each of us on a tandem bike seat works great for this 🙂

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Cleaning. He loves to “help” out, particularly with sweeping, dishes, cooking, and stacking chairs. (We live in a country where most chairs and stools are both light-weight plastic and stackable: at church, at restaurants, and in our house. He likes to ask you to get up so he can stack your chair.)

The scrubber brush. I bought a new dish scrubber for Stephen’s “coffee bar” (that sounds far too Pinterest-y for the coffee|makeup|laundry|tools combo that cupboard is) a few weeks ago, and he loved it right when I pulled it off the shelf. He held it through the store and checkout, on the car ride home, and then went right to the scissors to ask me to cut the tag off. He held onto it for most of the day, prompting me to buy him another the next week on our store trip. He then took it around town with us through the week and it went with us on our road trip to visit friends! I think he’s genuinely using it to “clean.” He had it with him when we walked into a used wood shop in the market–with dirt floors and dirt-covered wood everywhere–at which point he handed it to me and pointed, as if to say, “You help on this one.”

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Ice. It’s one of his favorite snacks.

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These are a few of our favorite things.

Cardigans and long pants. Maybe it’s because we spend every day in shorts and t-shirts, but the cardigans and pants are just too much. The cardi in particular just makes me think we’ll be the best of friends.

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“One!” It started over meals: we do a one-one deal at most meals to make sure he’s getting proteins and vegetables. One piece of chicken, then one piece of fruit; or one bite of vegetables, then one bite of bread. Really I just pick whatever his favorite thing is (sometimes ice or soup broth, even) and make that the reward for whatever I’d like him to eat! We also have a system with naps: since we need him to be able to nap anywhere depending on our days, we give him a snack-size bag of his favorite little chocolate koala snacks. He gets one before going to sleep, then the rest of the little pack when he wakes up. Its been working well, so that he has the one and then tries to sleep, which is enough if he’s tired! And now–my favorite part–he says, “One!” when he sees the bag of snacks or his ready for his reward bite; whenever. It’s adorable.

Kisses. He gives so many kisses, particularly in the morning and evening. Its his primary way to be affectionate, and it’s so very sweet.

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“Bye!” This is his favorite word and so very common. He says bye to most the people we pass in stores, the cars that pass us, and sometimes when we leave the room. He says bye when he goes to sleep, which is adorable.

His first time to watch Mister Rogers. Last Sunday we watched our first episode, and it was just amazing. He wore his cardigan, and he just laughed and laughed. He was so enthralled and responsive.

Belly laughs. When he really, truly thinks something is funny, he just rolls with laughter. The easiest way to do this is jokes about where people sleep. If he lays down in mom’s spot or dad’s spot and closes his eyes, he’s laugh uncontrollably. He had a tent for the first few weeks as we were traveling, and every night he’d tell us to get in it–then roll with laughter when we didn’t fit. Every night. Same routine. Same belly laugh. Same silly parents going along with it because they just can’t get enough!

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This past week we had the honor of visiting Bangkok to represent the Child Adoption Center at a national press conference! The government adoption agency that we went through to adopt Oak invited us to come back and share at a press conference promoting both adoption in Thailand and the return of internationally-adopted Thai children to visit Thailand.

True to form, we knew about this press conference but didn’t have a date until just a few days before. We booked tickets somewhat last minute and pulled together our plans to make it work. Either way, we felt it was a great opportunity to help them and continue to build relationships within the agency. We also loved the opportunity to promote adoption, in Thailand or anywhere!

But first, Oak’s first flight! He did great on the short flight from Mae Sot to Bangkok. He loved the snacks and books and a nap.

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For the observant folks, you’ll be noticing the bandage on Oak’s left hand in this photo and every single one following. So I’ll interrupt my own story to explain that he grabbed a soldering iron last week and has two blisters. They should be healed up soon, and he’s been a complete champ: he cried for about an hour, calmed down with some Pez & went to sleep. Since then he hasn’t even said it hurt; he hasn’t cried again or whined over it. He faithfully holds his hand out to the side and protects it! We’re hoping the bandage will be off later this week.

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He loved that you could see the BTS trains from most any place in our hotel. It’s also helpful that they continue to come every three to six minutes.

On Tuesday, we were all ready with our yellow outfits to honor the newest government leaders. We had shopped over the weekend, since our wardrobes held absolutely no yellow.

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Upon arriving, they had yellow polos for us to wear to match everyone. It was…bright. Brighter than I’ve ever warn. But we also looked more Thai than we ever have! And I’m just not sure how to describe it, except to say it was all yellow. It was ALL YELLOW.

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This is how Oak felt about most of the day. As the only foreigners in the room, holding an adorable Thai toddler who was sometimes screaming, we drew a whole lot of attention! It wasn’t easy for any of us to be on camera all day. 😆

Oak did get to see his two favorite caregivers from the children’s home, both of whom he remembered! They came with a group of children doing a performance at the press conference.

We were interviewed by both a major news station and in the press conference. I’d link them except a) they are 98% in Thai and b) it’s embarrassing. It was hard to know what they were wanting, and how to carefully honor all parties involved. We were nervous; and the results are mixed.

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Either way, we are so thankful for the Child Adoption Center and all they do in Thailand. We are so excited to promote more adoption in Thailand.

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We also love the idea behind program they host every three years: The Nativeland Visit Program, which welcomes back Thai children that have been internationally adopted to visit Thailand with their parents and families. Together, the social workers and families learn about Thai history and culture, participating in many traditional activities. We hope to participate in the future!

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After the press conference, our social worker helped us to submit the paperwork for Oak’s passport. It was easier than we expected, and we picked it up at the end of the week!

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Otherwise, we spent the week enjoying Bangkok. Since we do have a communal home and many, many aunties and sisters and brothers and grandmas and uncles and friends, we are trying to be intentional with some of our family-of-three time. We took this week to enjoy swimming at the hotel, train trips, ice cream trips, and playing together.

He was protesting photos for most of the week, though, often smiling just as we put the camera away. He did smile most of the time, even if we struggled to capture it!

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We also did a bit of shopping for Oak and found a cardigan. I wasn’t sure he’d wear it, but on sale for $5? I had to try.

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He decided to wear it on our way home and loved it. I melted. He looks just like Mister Rogers!

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{Also, shout out to H&M, which puts sweet little inspirations on the buttons of their kids clothes! His shorts buttons say “Be Kind Be Brave” and his cardigan buttons say “I like you a lot.”😍}

We said our goodbyes to the hotel staff, who LOVED Oak’s regular & loud thank yous and byes in the lobby. One of the staff told us, “I will miss my boy!”

And then we hopped in our Grab, which was unique enough to be worth noting. She really loved Hello Kitty. And Pink Panther. And sweets. Oak’s face says what Stephen and I were thinking.

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Oak using his passport for the first time to return to Mae Sot!

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{Confession: I only sort our laundry by color when we get back from a trip and we have enough to make that worth my energy. I think it’s beautiful to see all the color schemes; but just impractical every other day of my life. And while we usually have a red|pink|purple collection and a blue|black|green assortment, this was the first time I’ve ever had to do a yellow load!}