End of September '10

A fun hike with just my boys before saying good-bye to our home for a month.

Judah and the dogs running ahead.

As many of you know our children lost their "Papa" this fall. While Daddy was away at the funeral our children played "dog funeral" almost every day. Here there are grieving the loss of Soda Pop (thankfully she is fine, just a good actress for whatever game they play).

As the days were busy with packing to travel to Thailand for the baby's birth, studying for my Chinese exam and getting the house in order to return home with 5 children instead of only 4 we found we had some unexpected guests - LICE! I have never encountered this as an adult even after sleeping in some very dirty, grungy places. I spent a day googling home remedies, boiling sheets, pillows, and vacuuming everything in our home. Thankfully we are lice free (white vinegar and mayo worked - we bagged it up for 8 hours then rinsed it out. All the eggs were dead and the live ones washed out). Unfortunately we had unexpected guests - imagine me greeting them with my bag head! Thankfully I passed my Chinese exam and we are in Thailand with all that we need.

Time for one last good-bye party before maternity leave. I love our home because we can fit so many people in for games, food and fun!

Time for one last photo shoot. At our party a friend brought a professional photographer. He wanted to play around taking photos of the foreigners. So, we dashed up stairs, changed clothes, fixed hair and washed our faces. I am always happy to get some more family photos.

Henna was watching her helium balloon float away!