We’ve been back in Mae Sot for less than a month, but I feel like we’re already to the “Remember that?” phase.
I didn’t even get all the photos up yet!

But here are a few more photos of the glorious mess we called furlough.

Someone blessed us with a trip away to Petit Jean. It was lovely.

And then, thanks to sweet friends, we went to Boise, Idaho!  It was so interesting to be in a beautiful place that was such a different kind of beautiful than both Arkansas & the Thai-Burma border. We had a wonderful, restful time seeing friends we had only previously seen in Mae Sot. The entire trip was a testimony to the fact that God works in the oddest, most surprising ways!

We house-sat at the beginning of our trip for a sweet couple who let us invade their home. They also let this horse invade their home 🙂

We got to ride in Rex’s 1970 Chevelle!

And Stephen got to drive it!

And to round off our entire trip, we celebrated Matt & Katherine’s wedding. We received the task of driving the church van down, which was just a hilariously huge & awesome American thing to do.

Sixteen dresses for sixteen bridesmaids.

Then we started saying goodbyes. Boo.

And aren’t they just the cutest? They are missed already!

We re-christened the hospital, and now it just feels truly official that we are back.

There were other events in the weekend, too–so we’ll start with the high points.

We went to Famous Rays, a new burger restaurant in Mae Sot, for the first time. Beef is very rarely a high point in this entire country, and it still got Stephen’s approval!  It just feels so Western all the way around, with french fries and onion rings and milkshakes. Very fun.

I realize this is a pretty rough photo, but hey, you win some and you lose some. We are still sitting there with a delicious cheeseburger and veggie burger!

We were in the midst of playing games with a friend after this dinner out when we were interrupted for a hospital visit. The first guy was about our age and looking very jaundiced in his eyes and face. We made arrangements to go in the morning, thinking it didn’t need to be an emergency room ordeal.

Then we were interrupted with a little five year old breathing very heavily and quickly. She had no other symptoms really, but they said she had been having problems for a couple days. Her mother has had a breathing or feeding tube (something going into her nose; we’re not doctors!) since we arrived, so we don’t know what the family health problems are. We decided to take her in that night, which meant we wanted to go ahead and take them both.

Thus, at 9:30pm, eight of us headed off to the hospital.

The little girl has been admitted and is receiving breathing treatments regularly; the man had quite a few tests run and we go back tomorrow to sort it all out. Really, I just have a few comments about the hospital that I really didn’t miss at all.

Victims of a motorbike accident were delivered to the emergency room just as we were arriving–two children and an adult. One child was pretty badly injured, bleeding, and screaming. As they were wheeled in, everyone rushed over to lean over the railing and see them wheeled in. And by everyone, I mean truly everyone. I was across the main hall at check-in, and about thirty people ran over to see the sight. 

I instantly was offended at how rude it was to go see their misery; to rush over and stare at the obvious discomfort and suffering, let alone the fact that a crowd doesn’t speed up the process of their being helped.

I turned back to my paperwork, thinking I was being respectful. And then I wondered, do they find me disrespectful because I don’t care enough to go see?  While I paint it as disrespectful gawking, are they wanting to respectfully show concern?

I really have no idea, but it just amazed me how much culture just slaps me in the face at every turn. I really have no idea how many times I offend in one day, or how often when I seek to serve I am completely misrepresenting myself.

Either way, the accident was quite horrible, and one of the poor little kids screamed and screamed for hours. I have no idea why they didn’t give him more pain medicine or something to go to sleep, but we listened to him scream until we left at midnight.

That singly might be enough to make me go insane.

This and other things just reminded me how creepy the hospital here is. They just don’t seem to see that or attempt to hide it, but it feels very horrific to me. The screaming, the old metal beds scattered everywhere, the windows splattered with thick, white something. There is water that pours off the side of the building, even when its not raining, and it is not apparent where it comes from. I’m hoping somewhere sanitary, but I can’t imagine where that might be in this hospital.

I went to visit the little girl this afternoon on the way to church, hoping to bring her some fun foods to eat and games to play. I arrived to find the old children’s ward closed, now filled with creepy old metal beds stacked and scattered everywhere, old mattress shoved onto each other, and empty cleaning bottles everywhere. I did find the new ward, which is shockingly not much better than the last.

I don’t know how to describe it except to say that it feels like a prime location for a horror film, and I hope to never sleep there alone.

That said, we are thankful it served our community. We are {pretty} thankful we had the opportunity to spend a few hours sitting there last night, trying to love on our friends sitting beside us.

And we are still very thankful to be back.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to assure you that all the kiddos outside of our door are still adorable and charming as ever. And still little disasters, too, but that isn’t evident in photos.

We said good night to our seven-year-old nephew, Gabe, as we were leaving my sister-in-law’s house last night. After we had left and started up the driveway, he came running out the door shouting, “Stephen! Kelli! Wait!”

“…Do you, do you…like Little Rock?”

I’m not sure where the question came from; perhaps he thought we didn’t like it and that is why we are always leaving? Perhaps he was just stalling on getting into bed and that was the first question that came to mind.

Either way, it made me smile.

Yes, we said, we love Little Rock. Mostly because we love all the family and friends that fill it. 

Oh, Gabe. Thanks for making me smile and reminding me just how much I do love this place!

It’s pretty fun to celebrate your birthday in the States.

In Mae Sot, we really do try. Stephen really goes out of his way to find ways to make birthdays special, because I particularly love birthdays. Other Partners staff and friends work really hard to do something special and find fun little presents, but to be honest, it’s just not home. The cake isn’t as good, the presents are usually a little obscure.

But this year, we celebrated. Five times, in fact; and we have photos from just a few of them.

On my birthday, we were in Gatlinburg with Stephen’s family, and one of the places I have always wanted to visit in Gatlinburg is the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum.

When I joined his family in the Smokies for the first time about six years ago, Stephen and I drove up to meet them. We passed a sign for the museum, to which I  commented how fun that was and that we should go. The very next day, while in the car with his family, someone commented on what a weird idea that was and asked who would ever go there.

Being very new to the family, I remained silent and gave Stephen a glare to do the same. But this year, I’ve been there long enough and we went for my birthday!

And yes, they do boast  to be the only–and largest–salt & pepper shaker museum in the world. And while this may bore you, I will be posting a selection of photos. I loved it.

Who knew that the owl collection would be this expansive?!

We liked the clocks in the background.

The Christmas Collection

The largest and smallest in their collection. The smallest are earrings.

We really liked the blue ones in the middle.

They had a map to mark where you came from. It was only a map of the US, though, so we joined a few others and wrote in our lovely town of Mae Sot.

We celebrated that night with Mellow Mushroom pizza in downtown Gatlinburg.

Stephen & I also went out on a birthday date once we were back in town, and celebrated with my family and a surprise party with friends.

Road trip #2 was ten days in Tennessee, one of our favorite places, even with the allergens attacking us.

Our first few days were spent with the Cartwrights, who are like balm to the soul. We really cherished late nights of conversation with them, wise words, wise prayers, challenging topics, and laughter. They also organized an evening with all of the Karen community in Smyrna. We spent many days with this community when they first resettled in 2008, and it was absolutely bizarre to see them now. The kids are so tall, their English is stellar, and we have really just traded places with them: they have houses and cars and have adjusted to the cold; we have our little motorbike and live in the jungle. It was a really lovely evening.

We also were able to share at the church Stephen attended while he was in university and see friends there, including their two adorable kids not pictured here.

Stephen and I then headed off to the Smoky Mountains, where we were meeting his family. We had the great joy of being there a couple days earlier, camping at Elkmont and doing a couple day hikes just the two of us. While the nights were very, very cold, it was a really nice time away.

We started early on the second morning, waking about 5am to pack up our campsite. We were on the trail before 7:30am and hiked LaConte, reaching 6,593 feet above sea level. It climbs fast, but we beat the recommended times on the pamphlets and were pretty proud of ourselves.

It was one of the most beautiful hikes we’ve ever taken.

We also saw lots of Christmas trees that were festive and worth celebrating even in April.

There were some sharp drop offs, which I suppose go hand-in-hand with beautiful views.

The summit was freezing. But really, the whole week was pretty chilly, so you’ll see me in this jacket for most of the following photos.

Our time with the Spurlocks was wonderful. With day hikes, visits to downtown Gatlinburg, the Donut Friar, and beautiful mountains out your back window, it’s hard for things to go too wrong, even when Poison Control is called after a three-year-old drank half a bottle of children’s Claritin.

By the way, we still don’t have a child. I was just taking a turn at carrying our sweet nephew Shiloh on the trail.

We also saw a bear when we visited Cades Cove, a highlight of the trip for Gena!

I think the background of a family photo shoot has the potential to really capture things well. It seems noteworthy.

Ten days and 1,722 miles.

We visited
one grandmother
five uncles
five aunts
sixteen cousins
and six friends.

Our first stop was to visit my grandma in Iowa. The very first night we were there she made us hamburgers, and sprayed the buns with cooking spray in the dishwasher. I watched at first, until she closed the door and I was afraid she was going to mist them or something. She explained that the cooking spray leaves a film, but if she sprays them in the dishwasher and then closes the door for a few seconds, the film settles in the dishwasher and washes away with the next load.

I’ll just say that this is clearly where my mother gets her abnormal level of cleanliness that I mentioned a few posts back.

We visited the Kalona Cheese Factory, which was fun as a kid and even better when you live in a town with limited cheese options. We got sick on samples and then picked a few favorites to take with us. I love their fresh cheese curds that squeak in your teeth.

{Then we visited some family members, at which point I forgot to take photos.}
And then we went to Chicago!

at Shedd Aquarium

at the best pizza place to see sweet friends that I forgot to take a photo of

The Lego Store

My parents treated us to a weekend at the Marriott Lincolnshire outside of Chicago. We traveled into the city for adventures during the day, and then enjoyed a lovely hotel in the evenings. We saw South Pacific in the Marriott Theater and enjoyed third-row seats!

I thought I could try to come up with a smooth way to say that I forgot to upload these photos for nearly a month, and they are very lopsided–I only have photos with my sister’s family during the short phase when we remembered to bring the camera.

But Stephen & I are very un-smooth people, so this is just a random conglomeration of photos.

While searching through photos, I found this lovely shot Stephen took in our community. I thought it was better late than never.

This little guy was the baby that stayed in our house during the flood in August. And now he’s six months old and riding in a basket!