Malaysia Calling

Easter Malaysia Style

2009-04-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

This is how we started the joyous celebration of the risen Christ in our house. The Easter Bunny came and he did not disappoint. There were baskets full of great goodies. James was so excited about his new dump truck and miniature mobile crane. Carley has lots of crafts to do and sprinkles for her apple sauce. There were eggs to find both plastic and dyed. An interesting note about dying eggs in this country it is not as easy as you might think. Most eggs here are brown so you have to purchase what is called a Kampung egg. This is a free range egg and they are much lighter and more expensive. So the Head house only dyed 10 eggs this year and the rest were plastic. James and Carley were very excited. Easter as you can imagine is not very celebrated in this country. There are very few decorations and candy is hard to find and expensive. I was surprised when Carley and James brought Eater crafts home on Friday. Church was still full as many came to worship.

We hurried off to church to praise the Lord. Brian enjoyed the service while Carley and I went off to Sunday school. The kids had an Easter egg hunt, but only got to collect one egg. I got to teach my 5-8 year olds today, 16 of them in total. But we had fun. After a call to Alaska and lunch we had a lazy afternoon since it was very rainy.
I hope that this Easter finds all of you filled with the joy that is the truth of Jesus' Resurrection so as Carley says we can all go live with Him in heaven now. Have a blessed day.
Paige

Back on the blog wagon

2009-01-31T06:16:00.001-08:00

So I have been on a bit of a blogging hiatus, we have been super busy with the holiday season, having my mom and Heather here and the New Year starting. I would get to the end of the day and decide I would rather sleep than blog. But I am determined to start blogging again regularly. I am going to start with what is going on now and work my way back through January and December.
Today was a lazy Saturday. It was raining, Carley is moving slowly with an ear infection and pink eye. James is cutting teeth and he has pink eye too. Even Brian has succumb, he saw the doctor today he has a bad cough and ended up with gargle, antibiotics, decongestants, and yes eye drops for pink eye. We spent all day at the house watching a little TV, playing with trains and dolls and just being together.
We have a house guest for a month or so, another four footed friend. His name is Harry and he comes to us compliments of the Gaizutis Family. Our friends Dana and Rimas and their boys Walt and McGregor just moved to Oslo, on 30 days notice. Unfortunately for them Harry will not have all his papers to move until mid March. Harry spent a couple of days with us while the movers were in the Gaizutis house and he is a great dog. Harry is a big,90 lbs, yellow lab crossed with a german shepherd. But he is as sweet as can be, loves kids he lives with twin three year old boys, and really does not make any noise unless someone pulls into the driveway. When Dana and Rimas were almost ready to go we offered to keep Harry instead of seeing him go to a kennel for 6 weeks. He is settling in well. He has come upstairs to sleep and visit the last couple of days and lies down with out staring out the window. Carley and James are so excited to have a dog in the house.
We just came back from a weekend trip to Cambodia. We left on Friday morning really early and were in Siem Reap by 8 am. We went on this trip with the Vaughan family, Tim, Robin and Ruth. The Vaughans have become our family away from home. Robin and Tim have five children including Ruth and 8 grandchildren that they left in the US. But Carley and James feel like they are grandparents and Tim and Robin do their best to spoil them rotten. We checked into the same small hotel, I stayed in with my friend Melissa in May, Shinta Mani. I like Shinta Mani because it is small, but more importantly they do a lot for the local people of Cambodia. They run a hospitality school teaching villagers how to work in a booming job market. They also give 20 percent of their profits back to the community.
After settling in, we headed into town to see the market. As usual it was a bustling, crazy, smelly, mess. I was trying hard not to lose Carley or James as the ran through the little lanes of shops, usually in different directions. Carley was very freaked out by the live fish still flapping around in the fish area, but she was mortified, by the dead chickens. James at this point decided that it was nap time. We all headed back to the hotel and after lunch and a nap we were headed to Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is a lake that rises 10 meters from dry season to rainy season. A whole group of people live and make a living of fishing on this lake. You take a long motor boat out and tour around. We saw many colorful houses and children playing. We passed a pig pen, a hardware store and stopped at a restaurant to watch the sunset. Carley found a pen full of puppies and of course wanted to take some home. James, however was more interested in the alligators. The raise alligators and fish for meat at the restaurant. We saw a beautiful sunset and then headed back to the hotel for dinner and bed.
The next day we went out to do some village visits with the Shinta Mani staff. Our ambassador from the hotel was Solomon a young man from Seattle who is now in charge of the village program. We arrived at a school to find all the children lined up to greet us and the whole village gathered for a meeting. We were so humbled by their excitement to see us. We had donated several things to give to the village as well as brought small toys and candy. The Vaughans had also donated things, bringing toys, candy and fresh oranges. Fresh fruit we learned is quite a treat. Solomon informed us that he had a large delivery to make on this day that included things donated by other people too. We spent hours at the school making peanut butter sandwiches and passing out toys. Carley was so sweet after being told only to give one thing to each child we caught her several times sneaking back to the can to get more candy and toys. She told me the children needed more. Carley was especially excited about picking a pair of pigs we donated to a young couple in the village. This couple has done several things to prove they can support the pigs, and when they have piglets they can choose to sell some to the hotel to be given away to other families. This is how the giving goes on. We also gave five school bags full of supplies and uniforms to five needing children as well as one bicycle. Solomon will deliver two more bikes in the future on behalf of our family. We had a wonderful time being with the people of this village. Brian played ball with many of the boys. James made friends with an old woman that did not want to let go of his hand. The children were amazed as I took their picture and then showed it to them. So of them have never seen themselves because they do not have a mirror. It is their smiles that makes we want to return to do more.

Marleigh

2008-11-19T04:59:00.001-08:00

Marleigh was my dog. I had named her before I even picked her out. I drove Brian crazy once we bought our house and one Sunday, I told Brian I was going to take a nap and when I woke up we were going to get a puppy. So he looked through the paper and we drove to Conroe. I new I wanted a light haired, female golden retriever. We narrowed it down to two and then I asked them who wanted to be Marleigh and my puppy started to wiggle. So we took her home. We had to sneak her into Walmart to buy food, bowls and a baby gate. She was so small ,so sweet and all mine. She lived in our laundry room those first few months. I wish I had pictures of her back then to share with you but those discs are in storage. I would go home at lunch to let her out and she would follow me to the mail box. She was such a good dog.

She became a regular at Cinco Ranch High School. She came to games, and practice, she even came to school and sat in the office when school was not in session. Her favorite place to ride was in the front seat of my convertible. Top down of course. She would just sit there ears blowing in the breeze.

Marleigh checking out Carley's new house.

She loved anything sweet. She ate the top layer of our wedding cake, leaving us one tiny sliver for our one year anniversary. She would walk without a leash. She loved to run, but she always came back. She loved toothpaste. Thanks Miss Brenda.

Her favorite place to sleep was her chair. Katy a dog friend came to visit, the story is too long to tell here, but Katy and Marleigh slept together in this chair and when Katy left Marleigh claimed it for her own.

She had some special friends. Miss Brenda Gerland and her dog Maggie were two of them. Maggie needed a buddy to help her get her pep back in her step and my puppy was just the trick. I would drop her off and she would play all day on Friday. Maggie and Marleigh loved to play chase, tug of war with socks, but most of all swim. Marleigh was a swimmer and she loved to get on the raft in Brenda's pool and float around with her buddy. When we finally got home after a Friday night football game. She would still be asleep, usually on our bed. Brenda was always there in a pinch. Marleigh only spent one night of her life in the kennel thanks to our friends.

Aunt Nikki was another one of Marleigh's special friends. She would get so excited when Nikki came to the house. Nikki would have to brace herself before I could open the door. They would wrestle and play. When Nikki came to stay there was popcorn and ice cream a plenty. she was spoiled, and they were happy together.

Then there was Cooper, He is the son of our friends Lou and Misti. Cooper came to hang out at our house twice a week for a year when he was about 14 months old. Mistis was taeching and Coop and Carley woudl play. Cooper was very scared when he first came to visit us and Marleigh was bigger than he was. Marleigh was always calm and gentle. But eventually they became good buddies.

Don't get me wrong Marleigh was not perfect. She liked to eat books and Tupperware. One Christmas she ate the check my grandmother sent. She jumped alot. The more she liked you the more she jumped. But we loved her anyway.

But Marleigh was my constant companion. She was there when I was alone and sad or happy and glad. I am not sure how many miles we walked I am sure in the thousands. She loved to lick rice up off the floor when we were done eating especially after Carley came along. She loved to put her head in your lap when she needed a pat, and she always put her paws on the bed to say can I Before she jumped up and make herself at home.

When Carley came along I was worried. How would my four footed baby take to our new baby. To the horror of some, the first thing we did when we walked in the house was put Carley down on the floor in her car seat. Marleigh gave her a good sniff, a little lick, and then laid down next to her. Marleigh paced the floor every time Carley would cry. She got less sleep than any one those first few weeks. When Carley would cry, Marleigh would come to the side of the bed and wake us up. They were the best of friends from the very start. They would lie together on the floor. She could crawl all over her and Marleigh would not move.

Reading to Marleigh

Where Carley went Marleigh would at least check in. Whether playing in the little pool, hanging out on the floor of going for a ride she wanted to be around. They were the best of friends and that made me happy. Marleigh still had quiet time with me when I would nap. She always ended up on my bed. Marleigh was always there when we opened the door with her famous wiggle and gave us longing eyes when we left without her.

Moving to Malaysia was hard on all of us. We had to leave Marleigh with my mom and Heather in Florida. Brian and I felt the transition would just be too hard. A piece of me was happy because I knew Marleigh was there to take care of Mom and Heather and they would always have a piece of us. But leaving her broke my heart. I missed her so. But Marleigh adapted like she always did. She made friends with Bestsy, my mom's friend, and her dogs Babe and Tootsie. Betsy would come and get Marleigh most days while mom and Heather were working and the dogs would hang out and play.

It has been a long week. Mom called last week to tell me Marleigh was sick. She has tumors in her spleen and her liver. She had lost 15 pounds in the last year which is a lot for a dog. The vet said she had several months to live. We worried and stressed, especially since mom and Heather are coming to KL. But the Lord stepped in and she stopped eating. My mom is the best she sat with Marleigh in her final moments today. My heart aches thinking of life with out her. Carley cried and begged to see her doggie friend. Marleigh is not in pain anymore. And I believe that Marleigh is back playing with her best friend Maggie. I just hope they can just share the float in the big swimming pool in heaven.

We love you Marleigh.

Carley's Princess Party

2008-11-18T05:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Carley

Carley wanted to have a Princess Party so that is what she got. We invited 11 little girls to join us in their princess finest. Even I had to get dressed up. I was the Indian Princess. Brian was out of town and the Vaughans stepped in and took the kids to church.I decorated the house with lots of pink and purple fabric. Flowers on the table and even coming up the walk. Every princess needs flower petals to walk on. This is my favorite picture she was so excited.

I had the greatest prep crew. Ms. Alama, Ms Corzon and Ms. Cecil. They are three maids that are good friends. I picked them up Sunday morning and we would not have eaten if they had not been here. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful help.

Then the princesses came. All dressed in their favorite princess costumes. We had so much fun and the girls all looked so cute. First we decorated capes, that really did not go as well as planned since the paint bought on sale in the US was very dried up. But the girls made the most of it and we still had fun.

After that the girls all had their toe nails painted. I know such a luxury, but when you never wear shoes they see mommy's pedicure. SO I asked Ruth and a friend to help me out and the little girls just loved it. After rinsing their feet in orchid water they were treated to a fun color on their toes. Even glitter and press on stars. They were all so excited about the finished product.

Next we played pass the parcel. This is basically hot potato and they get to unwrap one layer of wrapping pare and the last layer means a prize. They got the hang of it eventually.

Place the crown in the princess followed and since our princess is the tallest among her friends she had a lot of crowns on her sleeves and neck. But it was fun all the same.
All the princesses had some snacks and then it was cake time. Carley had a castle cake and she loved it. I have got to learn how to make icing like Robin it is soooo good. Thanks for helping me out.

Carley opened her presents and before everyone left they had one last thing to do. What princess is not complete with out a wand. Ours were made out of cookies and yummy treats. I think many of them did not make it homeWe had a wonderful time and Carley did say Thank you more than once. We were sad that Daddy missed the big day, but we still had fun. All the girls left with a new tiara and a smile on their face.

Wish you could have all been here too. We missed so many of you.

Love Paige

Birthday Week

2008-11-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

Well I have been a bit neglectful in the blog department. It feels like life has just managed to get away from me. We have been busy with all sorts of fun stuff. We have been to puppet shows, Carley attended her first Orchestra. We have tickets to the children's series that the Malaysian Philharmonic does it was wonderful. We have celebrated a birthday, mourned the passing of Brian's Granny Head. I am now the Vice Chair of IBU a mother's organization I belong to here in KL and I managed to throw a Halloween party at IBU and Carley's Birthday Princess Party on back to back days with Brian out of town. SO that is the short version and now I will expand and add pictures.

The Story begins with Carley's first Orchestra. We have a season tickets to the Children's series done by the national orchestra. You have to be four to attend and Carley loved it. Here is a picture of her outside after it was over. Pictures are strictly NOT allowed inside even 20 minutes before the performance starts. Trust Me I tried. We saw a performance of the Buskers. These two men were amazing. One played the accordion while doing several other things and the other man played most the recorder, at one point two at once. But he also played the pan pipe, a rubber fish and a clog. He was great. We clapped along galloped in our seats and had a great time. We have four tickets so that we can invite friends since James is to little you have to be four to attend. Carley can not wait until the next time we get to go.

That night we went out for dinner, I have been wanting fired shrimp and not Asian style so we went to Bubba Gumps Shrimp Restaurant. The whole place was like a seen out of the movie. We had a great time. The kids had their meals served to them in boats. The shrimp hit the spot, but they were frozen and they do not hold a candle to the ones at But beggars can not be choosers.

On Tuesday the 28th Carley celebrated her 4th Birthday. I can not believe she is four already. She started her day with Birthday pancakes.

in case you did not know if you stick birthday candles into hot pancakes they will melt. But don't worry Carley ate around the wax. Carley did not have school on the 28th so we headed over to the Science Center. We were disappointed to see once we got there that the rabbit enclosure is shut for remodeling and so is the Aviary, but we did find the water features and don't worry the kids had a great time. It was a little scary for me as they were running back and forth I was waiting for one of them to slip in to this lake. Safety standards are very different here.

After the Science center we dashed home for a quick change of clothes and then it was off for lunch. We had roti cani which is Indian food. We really like it even James. Just before we left for dinner Burt Burt called and he got to watch Carley open her birthday presents. She loved her new princess outfit from Granny and Bert Bert. That night we went to Carley's favorite restaurant Chili's and met some of our favorite people Robin, Tim and Ruth Vaughan. I am not sure if I have talked about them before but by the grace of God they came into our lives. They have adopted us as their Malaysian children and grandchildren. Ruth is 12, but Robin and Tim have four adult children and 8 almost nine grandchildren. My children love them and we are blessed to call them family. Carley ordered chicken crispers and we had cupcakes, yellow cake and chocolate icing. She had a blast got lots of fun stuff from the Vaughans and even James got a new car which he was soooo excited about. Here is Mr. Tim having some fun with James. They were coloring.

And this is Miss Robin getting some "Birthday Sugar" as she calls it from Carley after Carley had opened her presents. Miss Robin has gone home to be with her real daughter Paige who is expecting her second child. She will not be back until the 8th of January she will be dearly missed in my house. We get to hang with Tim and Ruth until the middle of December because Ruth is still in school.

Wednesday Carley went to school and she got to celebrate her birthday with all of her classmates. We made her a cookie cake and I made a sad attempt at making icing and decorating. But Carley thought it was great so that is all that matters. The school does a great job of making the kids feel special. Here are all her classmates singing to her. She wore her new princess outfit and got her own sign and goodie bag. She had a blast and not a bite of cookie was left.

Unfortunately we got the call from Brian's mom on Thursday morning that Granny Head had passed away. She had been very sick and really it was God's grace to take her home. She was diagnosed with cancer just days before we arrived in Tennessee for out visit and we were glad we got to see her then. She lived a very full life she left two children, six grand children and nine great grand children. She will be remembered for her smile, her delicious country cooking my favorite was her corn bread, her sweet southern drawl and a kind heart that loved so many. Brian was on a plane Friday morning just 24 short hours later.

Well I am really tired and you will just have to wait until tomorrow for the second installment of the birthday week. Love all around.

Strange Bird

2008-10-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

James and I were looking out the window this morning at the dogs next door. They have a Great Dane and a Cocker Spaniel. Both of which make a lot of noise, barking at everything and nothing. When I noticed this bird and I had to take a picture it looks like a dove that ran into a airbrush artist or a parrot crossed with a dove either way I have never seen a bird like this. Enjoy.

Open House

2008-10-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we spent our afternoon at our neighbor's house. At the end of Ramadan, it is common for people to have open houses to celebrate the end of the fasting month. Our neighbors the Awalls not sure on the spelling also have their grandson's birthday party on the same day. It is a huge affair. They came on Saturday to set up the tent, tables and chairs. As we were leaving for church the caterers were already there setting up for a party that started at 3:30. It is a huge affair. We think about 350 people came and went over the course of three hours. They serve a huge spread of traditional Malay food, including fruit, satay, sweets, and nasi lamak, noodles. You can eat for hours. Adam who was turning six had a spaced themed birthday party compete with crafts, science projects and an astronaut walking around. There was 38 children at the birthday party, and I have never seen so many presents for one child. They also had a ball pit and popcorn machine and a man passing out balloons. This little girl had so much fun playing with James and she was very protective of him and made everyone be careful of the baby.

This is the cut out you could have you picture taken in to go in the frame you were to decorate. James had to have his picture taken too. Even the torrential rain could not put a damper on the party. But I will say when the thunder started I was glad we were downstairs and not under the tent. Tomorrow I will post a picture of the Awalls house, it is beautiful from the outside. We moved in just after they finished a one year remodel. The inside is beautiful as well. We are well received by our neighbors and that makes us happy.

Just some Pictures for the People at Home

2008-10-11T06:17:00.001-07:00

So on this Saturday evening while Carley and Brian are upstairs watching Mary Poppins, I decided to post some pictures that we have taken over the last week that I think are just cute.
Here are Carley and James playing office. Brian puts his computer here most nights if he has a meeting and our home lap top ended up next to it, because he was trouble shooting for me because the computer was giving me issues. James loves to type on the lap top every chance he gets and of course Carley can't be out done.

Here are my boys looking like twins. This is what happens when I do not pay attention to what Daddy is wearing when he goes off to work. The best part is that James has khaki shorts on too. They are pretty cute if I do say so myself. Next is Carley and James modeling there Black Dog T-shirts. In case you have not heard of the Black Dog, it is a restaurant on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. We did not get to the cafe this summer just hit the gift shop on another part of the island to see what was new. The black lab is their trademark and I just could not resist these cute Ts. Carley has princess dog and James is sporting the pirate dog. James knows what a dog is and pointed several times to his shirt and woofed.

This is what happens when you have had too much fun playing on a Saturday. We did not do anything exciting today just ran errands and getting crazy around the house. I hope everyone has a great day.

For us it will be a good night.

Blessings

Paige

OOOPS

2008-10-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

On a funny note this is what happens when you do not get James undressed fast enough at bath time. Brian stepped away to tell me something and James decided it was time to get in. He was just following his big sister. She was already undressed though.

Carley wants to say hello to all of you:

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CARLEY

Out with the Old in with the New

2008-10-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Those words are much easier to say than do right now. This is our dining room table and our kitchen table. Brian got this table when he got his first job and had to set up his first apartment. It was originally the Baxley's. We have eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner around this table for 9 years. But we did not just eat around this table, Carley painted here, played with playdough, and many a cookie was eaten here during young life campaigners (bible study.) I ahve studied the bible here and we spent countless nights with good friends playing dominos. Our little table made the trip to Malaysia with out getting so much as a scratch. It has served us well over the years. But with the addition of James, and trying to have other families over to dinner it really is not big enough any more.

So we have been on a quest to find a new dining room table. We looked at so many teak tables. Teak is a local wood and used to make all kinds of furniture in Malaysia. We looked at so many that when I left for the US I told Brian he could choose. So here it is our new table.
It is beautiful. I love the tapered legs and beveled edge. It measures 210 cm by 110 cm. Brian special ordered it in June and it finally arrived in September. We can now comfortably seat 8 around our table with plenty of room for everyone. The chairs we have at the moment are not what we ordered so these are temporary until ours come. We wanted a table that did not look to Asian so that it would fit in when we make our way back to Texas. But now that our new table is here what to do with our old one. We do not have a lot of storage in our house here and no place to stash it. But when I think of giving it away. I get sad because we have made so many memories around that table. But we have found an answer that warms my heart. Our table will have a new home in Manila. We are having our table shipped home to the Philippines for Alma our helper. She is so excited to have a new table that is solid wood and good quality. It makes me smile to think that Alma will always have a piece of the Head family with her. We really do love Miss Alma and we feel like she is a member of our family, but we know that one day we will go our separate ways. So we will enjoy our new table and make many new memories here, and she can make her own in Manila. There is plenty of room if anyone wants to join us for dinner.

Batu Caves

2008-09-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

It is the weekend and today we decided to see a little more of the city we live in. We drove just north of KL to the Batu Caves.

This is a limestone hill and a series of caves and cave temples. It is the most important Hindu shrine to Murugan outside of India. If you have never been to a Hindu temple it is quite an attack on the sense. Hindu temples are full of brightly painted and odd statues of various gods. They have many different smells, mostly of incense and flowers. These guys make flower leis for you to take as an offering to the temple. They are so beautiful. Batu Caves has a giant golden statue outside but the main temples are at the top of 272 steps. We loaded James into the baby backpack and Carley put on her running shoes and off we went. This is the view from the bottom. We stopped twice for a little water but Carley made it all the way to the top by herself the only thing that really slowed her down were the monkeys. There are a lot of monkeys and they are always looking for a handout, and people are more than happy to give food to them for the photo op. We got to the top and did some exploring. This is one of the many shrines in the caves. You have a picture of the outside from above and the next picture is close up on the inside. Carley had her picture taken by several tourists. They are just amazed at this fair skinned blond headed child. Carley really does not enjoy having her picture taken especially when strangers try to pick her up. But she made a new little friend in an Indian little girl who was there for a blessing. She stood still and even held hands to have her picture taken. Here is James. He tried to chase the monkeys, but we would not let him. I was afraid they would bite or charge him. So instead he chased the birds which he thought was great. Carley was rewarded for her good climbing with a 7-up at the top of the hill, which she even shared with her brother. Here is Carley sitting next to the top step, number 272 We made our way down while I counted the steps backward. Carley commented as she and I were on our way down that she was glad we had gotten out of the house because "it can be hot." Brian and I are hoping to head back to the Batu Caves in February for the Thaipusam festival. On this one day over 1 million people flock to the temple. We will not be taking the kids, but what an experience. Well that is what our Saturday consisted of we hope you had fun too.

Chinese Wedding

2008-09-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the honor of attending the wedding of Kai Li, one to Brian's coworkers to Pui Keong. We drove about 90 km north west to a town called Sekinchan. Sekinchan is located in the rural area of Malaysia. It was a beautiful drive through palm oil plantations and kumpongs (a rural Malay village) until finally we arrived in an area known for its rice patties. This town is all Chinese and the whole dinner was done in Cantonese. You do not actually attend the wedding ceremony it takes place in the homes of the family and at the local temple, only family attends. We attended the wedding dinner. It was a 7 course meal of traditional Chinese food. It began

with this large boat being delivered to the table. It was full of small bite size treats that we would consider appetizers

. I enjoyed the pork packets and Brian tried the crispy crab. The next course was shark fin soup, which is a real delicacy. I tried it and it was not horrible but not something I will be running out to have again. After that it was course after course of main dishes, chicken, pork and sea cucumber, shrimp rolls, abalone and mushrooms, this beautiful fish

and so much more I can not even remember. I stopped eating because I was so full at one point

just trying a bite to taste and see. In Chinese culture, it is a show of true hospitality to serve your guests beer and Cognac and keep it free flowing. The picture above is one of the "beer girls," her job is to walk around and make sure all the guest have plenty. There were also the Hennessy girls. Most of them looked like they were not old enough to drink what they were serving.
We could not understand most of what was being said but Brian's friends made sure that we know what was going on. Another tradition is these large toasts that they make at the table in honor of the lucky couple. The whole table stands up and shouts "yum seng," which means cheers and then empties their glass. The above picture is when the bride dressed in green and the groom came to join our table for a toast. The couple is expected to travel from one table to the next greeting their guests and join them for a toast if they are asked. I expect that the groom can get a little tipsy if he truly empties his glass at each table. You can pass your glass to your best man, but most of the time that would not be macho so it is down the hatch. Kai Li looked very beautiful in her modern gown. You like Carley are probably asking why she is not dressed in white. Chinese do not where white to their weddings it is considered bad luck. Kai Li wore traditional Chinese dress to the temple ceremony we saw pictures of the wedding couple dressed for the ceremony and this is the dress she wore for the dinner. Carley had a great time. She loved standing up and yelling with the toasts. She was the hit of the dinner since she was the only little blond girl and she was dressed in her silk traditional Chinese dress. She had her picture taken with many of Brian's friends from work and even the bride and groom. The traditional entertainment at a Chinese wedding dinner is Karaoke. Guests come up and sing songs in tribute to the happy couple. Some of them were very good, but you can imagine as the night went on and the alcohol flowed more freely it started to get a little crazy. Here is one of our entertainers.

Many traditions that you would see in an American wedding were present. Below is a picture of the car decorated to leave. They are much nicer to cars in Malaysia. It is wrapped in Colorful tulle and bows and have a pair of stuffed animals attached to the front dressed as a bride and groom. You can see they choose Mickey and Minnie.

The couple was toasted with beautiful words by family and friends. They poured a champagne fountain, that only they got to drink. They even had a small cake which Carley had been up to check out twice. But she was very disappointed because while they cut he cake they do not serve it for dessert. Instead you get fruit that has been stewed in this sweet soup and then chilled. Carley was not very excited when they served the traditional dessert. Because she will tell you that her favorite part of a wedding is cake followed by dancing and seeing the girl in the pretty dress.
One of the oddest things happened just before we left. This guy showed up selling newspapers and lottery tickets. As you can see he did not even bother to take his helmet off, since he rode up on his motor bike.

Just before we walked out the door to shake hands and give our well wishes to the bride and groom a woman in a yellow dress walked up and handed Carley a small box. It turned out it was Kai Li's mother and she was so taken by Carley and how cute she was about the cake. She had told Kai Li what a beautiful bride she was and how delicious her cake looked and she could not wait to have some. Kai Li's mother gave Carley the whole top layer to take home. We could not say no because that would have been rude. So with a huge smile on her face, Carley said thank you to everyone and carried her prize to the car. I made sure it was OK with Kai Li and she said it was fine. I guess they do not save the cake and have it on your one year anniversary.

But we were honored to be asked to attend. Kai Li was a beautiful bride and I am sure she and Pui Keong will have a wonderful life together and we got to experience something new and make memories that we will hold onto for the rest of our lives.

And after lunch today, with a huge smile on her face, Carley got to have a piece of wedding cake.

Blessing to all of you. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all our friends and neighbors who are picking up after Ike roared through Texas. As far as we know everyone is okay with just a lot of trees down and fences blown over.

Time Flies

2008-09-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like I posted just yesterday and I look and it has been almost two weeks. Just to let everyone know we had water running in our pipes in less that 24 hours after my last post. But we have been with out water for about 6 hours twice more since I first wrote about having dry pipes, but it always returns by bath time. Needless to say the rain has not stopped. We have had two days where it has not rained at all in the last two weeks but most days we have at least a good heavy down pour in the afternoon. Last week we had a day where the rain lasted all day and after relentless please mommy please I finally gave in and this is what happens when there is rain but no thunder in Malaysia. We go out to play. Carley in her raincoat and boots ran around like a crazy woman. She went out and played in the yard, splashing in mud puddles and floating leaves down the drain. Yes she is jumping in the mud and yes she did need a bath immediately when she came in the house.

And of course if sister can so can I, James put on his new fireman raincoat and road Carley's tricycle out into the rain. He was not as keen to stay out and play with water running down his face, but he enjoyed it for a little while.
We celebrated Merdeka of Malaysian Independence day on the 31st of August. Brian was off of work and we went to the park and had a blast hanging out. We missed the fireworks because unlike in the US they are at midnight just as it turns the 31st. The parade was that morning but we ventured off to church instead.

We have fought off the usual respiratory junk that plagues us and won again. And now it feels like we are back in the swing of things. Carley is back in school, taking gymnastics and playing with friends. Tomorrow we have an ice cream date with Pete and his mom. Just to let you know Carley calls Pete her king and they have informed us that they are getting married when they get older. Sorry Misti it looks like we will not be in laws after all. Pete is Irish so we will have family in Ireland in the future.
James is starting his own gymnastics class this week and I am looking for a play group. I am trying to get him used to playing with kids his own age. He is a little rough since he is so used to playing with his big sister.
I am back to yoga, piano lessons, and weekly bible study. Brian and I are starting working out with a personal trainer at 6 am twice a week. We decided that we needed to work on our fitness and someone else telling us what to do would be good for us.
SO that is about it. I will try and finish telling you all about the rest of our summer travels soon, but tonight it is off to bed. Five thirty will come quickly.
Good Night and blessings to all.

Water Water Every Where But None In Our Pipes

2008-08-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

August is supposed to be Hot, Dry and Hazy by Malaysian standards. The trade winds blow in from Indonesia and that brings the smoke from their burning. This year however it has been amazingly wet. The haze is here, but the rain washes it out of the sky. Now I know I have talked about the rain before, but usually it only rains in the late afternoon. But since we have been home it has rained at all hours of the day and night. Wednesday the rain storm was amazing. Carley and I were driving home just as it began and two road we had to take were already looking like rivers. A construction site I walk by daily had a land slide and several parts of KL flooded. As I type, the sun has gone in and the dark clouds are forming and I can hear the thunder in the distance. Funny thing is today we have woken up to no water coming out of the tap. We have this problem occasionally. The longest we have gone with out water is three days and we spent one night in a hotel then. We seem to go months with out a problem and then we will lose our water several times in a couple of weeks. The water situation is very deceiving too. We have a water tank in our attic so we often will have cold water coming out of the taps, but the pressure is low, toilets take a long time to fill and the hot water is nonexistent. But we no for sure when the water stops flowing in the kitchen. The kitchen cold water comes straight from the filter at the street so when it stops running we know to curb our water usage. I was checking out hotels for the night but realized that we can not leave the house overnight. We have house guests again of the four legged kind. Pauli and Becky are back again and unfortunately probably for the last time. Their family is relocating to Bangkok at the end of September. We will be sad to see them go.

I am not sure if you can tell but here is Carley a little closer. She has been letting Miss Alma put her hair into pigtails and pull the sides up and add bows. She looks so grown up and I am so excited that bows will be in our future. Until now Carley has just pulled them out and thrown them down. She has never minded wearing a hat, but she hates bows.
Finally here is a picture of Carley and James having fun in the car. They love to pretend they are driving, going away on a trip. They are very good and even take turns at the wheel. The only down side is that when you turn on the car and get ready to drive away for real the wipers are usually on high, the lights and hazards are on. The heat may be on high and the mirror is always out of place. But that is okay. They have so much fun.

Hopefully the water will be on soon. I am sure we will see some fall out of the sky, maybe I will set out some buckets. We will go bum some water off of friends and take showers elsewhere tonight if necessary and I am sure (fingers crossed) the water will be on tomorrow.

Rainy Day

2008-08-23T02:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a rainy Saturday here in KL. Actually it started sunny and Brian and Carley went to the park this morning while James napped. But the morning gave way to clouds and then to rain and thunder. We have had a long week. Wednesday night Brian came home complaining of being achy and feeling not so good. Of course I sent him right off to the doctor since he was bit by a tick in Tennessee. They give him meds for the flu and said to come back and they might test him for Lyme. Carley, James and I went to the aquarium on Thursday. We had a great time seeing the sharks and many turtles. Brian came home early form work feeling really bad, fever and other things followed. My eye started to bother me thursaday night but I thought there was something in it. Friday morning dawned and I could not open my eye and Brian felt fine. My turn to the doctor and Brian worked from home. We are all on the up and up today. My eye is almost back to normal.

I thought I would give you another installment of our trip this summer. Mom, Heather, Carley, James and I said goodbye to the Mixter clan and drove down to Woods Hole out on Cape Cod. Here we hooked up with the Wagner clan, my mom's family. Her youngest brother Steve and his wife Carol live in Woods Hole. Their children Paul and Julia joined us for the weekend as well.

Along with mom's other Brother Charlie and his wife Beth. Unfortunately my grandparents did not make the trip. We were coming together to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. But my Granny started feeling under the weather and after two trips to the hospital and consultations with many doctors she was told she could not leave the area. Granny has since had surgery after being diagnosed with cancer in her colon. She is up and doing very well, but starting some chemo soon.

Missing my grandparents terribly we headed down to the beach for some pictures and a lobster bake. Yes that is right two lobsters in one week. I was a happy girl. We had a blast. Carley played with her Aunt Beth, whom she just adores. They has a great time chasing waves and jumping off rocks. James hung out in the sand. I will get some more pictures scanned in later.

The next morning started at six when James woke up. So we went for a walk. We watched the ferry load and leave for the Vineyard. James waved to all the cares and said bye bye as they drove on the ferry. Then we headed down towards the labs to see the boats. A new word that James said often as he pointed all of them out Boat, Boat. After that it was off to Pie in the Sky for some yummy breakfast pastries. Once everyone was up and moving we went to have a tour of my Uncle Steve's ships. He is the captain of two ships for NOAA. I really enjoyed the tour and the kids loved seeing where Uncle Steve sleeps, but most of all they loved getting to steer the ship. Do not worry the ship was at the dock and the engines were not on, but do not tell them. After lunch and naps, a swim was in order and after the kids went to bed I got a break and the grown ups headed off for a dinner without kids.

The next day was a new adventure. We said goodbye to Charlie and Beth as they were headed back to the city. Mom, Heather, the kids and I boarded the ferry and went to Martha's Vineyard. First Stop Flying horses. The Flying Horses is the oldest running carousel in the country. Kirsten, Heather and I took many a ride on it as kids. The coolest part about the carousel is that you grab rings as you go around and if you catch the brass ring you get to ride again for free with out waiting in line. This is another one of those things that I was so excited to share with my kids. Unfortunately their daddy missed their rides. But guess who got the brass ring and got to ride again. Carley. She was so excited. James after a little nap took a ride with Grammy. What fun. We had a quick lunch shopped at the Black Dog, and hopped back on the ferry. Carley and James really enjoyed the ride, watching the sea gulls fly by and all of the boats. Once we were back in Woods Hole we stopped my Noname. This house belongs to the Gardner/Balentine family. It is a house I spent a lot of time in as a child and more recently for a small reunion with the Alton family just before my father passed away. The house is on the water and has a beautiful view. It was always a favorite spots of Dad's. The reason for our visit was to see the memorial rock that had been placed there after my dad passed away. It is a beautiful memorial very fitting to the man, positioned next to the water his favorite place to be.

After a swim and a lovely dinner with the Steve and Carol it was home to pack again. We had a very early morning ahead of us and a flight to Florida. The reunion between Marleigh, Carley and I was full of laughs, tail wags, licking and kisses, but that is all for another time. Love to all.

Mixter Madness

2008-08-20T23:51:00.001-07:00

This is the night of the big party. My grandparents with the younger cousin, and then exchanging gifts. They have been married 60 years.

Grammy and Carley all dressed up.

James is so excited about throwing rocks.

We Mixters love to eat Lobster and we take it very seriously. Check James out he managed to get some ice cream while Kirsten and I shared our dessert.

Hanging at the beach with the cousins. Uncle Mike helping Carley catch some air.

Carley laying out doing what the "Big" kids do.

I think loving the beach is in their genes. James had just had enough fun in the sun.

Crazy cousins jumping in the surf. BRRR it was cold.

Ellie, Grandad and James. Poor Grandad had a run in with a wall about a week before we came. I was happy it looks much worse than it was. James enjoyed story time with Aunt Kath.

Carley showing the "big boys" Sam and Jay how to have some fun. She was loving all the attention.

Uncle Phil is always good for some laughs. And I am not sure what deep conversation Ben and James are having.

Carley thinks her cousin EB is pretty cool.

As you can see we had a great week, we made lots of memories. I forgot to mention that it was really cool to take Carley and James back to this beach in North Hampton, NH because this is one of the first places I remember my Mom and Dad taking me to the beach. Just wish Dad could have been around to see them play.

Love to all of you

Paige

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

We made it back to KL last Thursday at about 11:45 and managed to make it home to our house by 1 am. Our children were in good spirits since they thought it was the middle of the afternoon. We got lots of looks in the airport as Carley pushed James in his stroller because we had two luggage carts full of bags to get through customs. The flights back to this side of the world were uneventful. But I would be lying if I told you our 27 hour trip is easy. I hate the trip while I am in the middle of it. I get frustrated and get very little sleep. I am grumpy, cry at least once and swear I will never do it again. The kids were restless, but for the most part good. Below is a picture of

Carley being silly she kept pulling the pillow over her head and making James laugh. The other picture is what you see out the window from 33, 000 feet when passing over the top of the world. There is a really cool program that charts the progress of your flight on the TV. Carley asked if we could go look at the ice and I told her we could try. I was surprised when we could actually see it. I can only imagine how big these chunks of ice really are. Carley claims she saw some penguins and a polar bear. But I could not find them. We were blessed with three people that were willing to switch seats with us so that Brian could sit with me and the kids. But once the trip is over I calm down and say that it is really not that bad. But let me just say that jet lag STINKS. Brian bounces back so well. I struggle and it is made harder by the fact that the children do not sleep all night. James got up several times a night for four nights and Sunday morning he decided it was time to get up about 4:45 am. Brian is a saint and helps out with the kids. He did major duty on Saturday night Sunday morning with James. But I am feeling less like a zombie and more like a human. I managed to get to Yoga on Monday and today we were off for a play date.

I wanted to share a little more about our trip to the US, mostly because I want to document what we did. Part of the reason I am blogging is so that one day I can get it printed out and made into a book to show what we did in our time here.

So next stop on our tour after leaving Granny and Burt Burt was the Mixter Family Reunion. My Grandad and Granny Claire have Five children and we all have managed to get together every summer for more years than I can count. We sit down via email in January and start looking for a weekend in the summer than can work for everybody. And most of the time everybody comes. We rented a beautiful house right across the street from the water. We had plenty of room, great breezes and when the kids got crazy they were always up for throwing rocks in the ocean.

When we are all together our family is 25 strong. I have six cousins. My older cousin Kirstin married a great guy named Mike two years ago. Kirstin, Heather and I had some great times growing up and we love our "little" cousins. They are not so little anymore 22, 18, 18, 17 and 14 years old. They are little to us because they are younger. But the boys tower over Kir and I now. I had a blast watching my kids play with their cousins. And Carley and James were full of smiles the whole week through, never before had they had som many "Big" kids that wanted to hang out with them. I loved being all together because there was always a set of hands to help with the kids. But most of all we really love each other. No matter what even after a week of living in close quarters and getting on each others nerves, when the chips are down this family sticks together and we just keep on loving one another. The Mixter family is such a blessing.

We spent most mornings running around on the beach, hunting for sea glass, shells and sea creatures in tide pools. James was so worn out he would usually crash and take a nap right there on the beach. The evenings were full of big family dinners including our annual pilgrimage for lobster and the week culminated with a party to celebrate my grandmother's 80th Birthday and my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. Both of which occur at other times in the year.

I have included some photos but I have more to share, so I will upload some more tomorrow, for now it is bed time.

Missing all of you in the US

Love

Granny and Burt Burt

2008-07-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well I am finally connected to the world wide web again so I will catch you up on all of our travels. We flew in and were met by Brian's parents otherwise known as Granny and Burt Burt. They were amazing following Brian's instructions and helping us adjust to our new time zone. We laid pretty low for the first couple of days. You have all seen the splish splash pictures of when Carley's cousins came to visit. We headed out to church and Carley managed to go off to Sunday School by her self. We had lots of fun playing with all of Granny's toys and swimming in the kiddie pool and playing in the sprinklers with Granny. On Wednesday granny took us to the Jump Zone which is this great place full of inflatables, but it is inside in the air conditioning. Carley loved it James did too after he had a little nap on Granny's shoulder. James got to have his first Slushy grape flavor picked out by Carley. He had to have his own he liked it so much.

On Thursday it was off to the National Zoo. It was sunny and warm, but not to hot. We saw all sorts of animals, even though alot of them were sleeping. The highlight of the day I think was watching the elephant get his bath. It is pretty cool to watch them clean this huge animal from head to toe. He rolls over and lets them get both sides and everything.

The tigers were wide awake playing too.

We spent the 4th at Granny and Burt Burt's with Brad, Meredith, Conner, and Taryn. Brian's sister Ashley and her husband Jon made it in from Waco. They had come to see friends since they are being stationed in Alaska in August. Jon has just been commissioned into the Army as a chaplain. Several friends of the family joined us for the cook out as well.

Jon and Ashley took us geochaching. Which like a big treasure hunt where people hide things and you have to find them with latitude and longitude coordinates. the kids had a blast following Uncle Jon into the woods and there was even treasure when we found the spot. The next day Carley, James, and I accompanied by Nancy all headed out to Boston by plane. Nancy was great to make the trip. She got us in the rental car to drive to North Hampton NH and then turned around and flew home. We had a great first ten days in the US.

Splish Splash

2008-06-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here is Carley and her cousins Conner and Taryn taking a bath together. A good time was had by all. Carley is sOOOOOOOO excied to have a big bathtub at Granny and Burt Burt's, since we do not have one in Malaysia

Jet Lag

2008-06-29T11:38:00.001-07:00

So we left Malaysia on the 26th at one am local time and at 11 am local time we landed at Dulles in washington DC. For those of you who do not know how many time zones are in between Malaysia and the US it is 12 and it is a 27 hour trip from start to finish. We were tired but over all the kids did great. Korean Air is fabulous when it comes to helping you out. But if I have a choice I will not make the trip again with out Brian. The jet lag stinks. Carley has been waking up at 3 am ready to start her day. James jsut does not know when to sleep. But hey are both very happy to see thier Granny and Burt Burt. Brian's brother Brad and his family Meredith, Conner and Taryn came to visit on Friday. And we have enjoyed lots of wlaks and just hanging out. I will start shopping soon. I saw the Target and I was very excited. We are here for another week then off to NH for a Mixter family get together. If you want to call me I have a local cell phone while i am home 832 647-5303. Here are some pictures.

Orchid Garden

2008-06-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

Today on the way home from school I decided that after lunch we were going on an outing. We loaded up the car James, Carley, Alma and I and we headed to the Orchid Garden. The beauty of the Orchid garden is it is free during the week, not crowded, close by, shaded for the most part and easy. James and Carley enjoyed a good walk and some fresh air before we headed home for naps. The orchid garden is small, but always very pretty. We encountered a group of students painting water colors of the orchids. They were very talented. Carley took the role of leader and pointed the way. We found some fountains and a lily pond and managed to keep both kids dry. The other great thing about the orchid garden is it is the cheapest place in the city to buy orchids. I picked out a new one for the front door and Carley got to pick one for her room. (Carley took the picture below)Our grand total with fertilizer was RM 54 just under 20 US dollars. I also learned that Carley is a great photographer. She asked for the camera and as I was absorbed in finding the perfect orchid I handed it over. Here are a sampling of the pictures she took. Plus she took the picture at the top.

I hope that your Monday is as fun as ours was. We are counting down the days until we head to the USA. Can't wait.

LOVE TO ALL

Angkor Wat

2008-06-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

The most impressive and best preserved Khmer temple, Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century and is the world's biggest religious monument. It was built as a Hindu Temple but was changed to a Buddhist temple complete with monks. The temple is surrounded by a huge moat with a causeway leading over it. I has heard that you really have not seen Angkor Wat until you have seen sunrise there. We left our hotel at 5:00 am and the light was already starting to show. But we got there for the show along with about 150 other people. Angkor Wat is an amazing place. As we walked across the causeway into the temple you felt as though you were stepping back in time. Here is our first view. Then when you enter the temple you feel like you have entered another place. The detail and architecture was surreal. The sun rise put in the show that was promised. When it was over we continued on to tour the temple, but many tourists go home for breakfast. We really had the temple to our selves with about 25 other people. Our guide explained the carvings in the wall. Some are religious and others are stories of history. Many of the stories here are similar to stories they tell in India as well. Unfortunately this with the other temples were looted as time went by. We even saw Japanese Graffiti. These Buddhas are the only ones left, from the originals. You might notice that none of them have heads. Kim, our guide, said that the heads were the easiest thing to carry off. Many of the temples have or are having restoration done. Many countries, France, Taiwan, China, even Russia are helping to preserve these beautiful temples. Melissa and I were really surprised that there is very little things you can not do, very little you can not touch and almost no where you can not go. Security is minimal mainly it consists of people just sitting there making sure you do not do anything. But I am not really sure what they would do to stop you. They have built some wooden walkways to protect the stones where you must walk like steps in and out of temples. They do not let you touch most of the major carvings and you are not supposed to take rubbings any more. I am hoping that all of the restoration will mean that my great grandchildren will get to see these amazing temples.

We decided that breakfast sounded good and after eating we were off to Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is one of the most well known temples. If you have seen either movie Tomb Raider or Two Brothers you have seen this beautiful place. Ta Prohm was built in 1186 by King Jayavarman VII to honor his mother. It has only been partially restored, but you still see giant trees growing over and through the walls. Many of the trees actually starts as droppings from birds and grow downwards. Most of them cannot be removed now since they hold the temple walls up. Around every turn we were amazed by the beauty of the temple intertwined with the trees.

Kim our guide was very nice spoke excellent English and took wonderful care of us. He was quite stylish. He wore DG glasses, crocodile shoes, and a Gucci belt. He told us he was one of the lucky ones. His parents sent him to a Buddhist monastery to study in the nineties so that he would be safe and that is where he studied history. Kim then spent several years with an American family which is how he learned English. I had no idea that the civil war only ended in 1997 Cambodia is still trying to put it self back together according to Kim.

Next our guide took us to a temple that has not been restored and is not even on the tourist maps. It was amazing we had the whole place to ourselves. The jungle has not taken over here, but he walls are broken down and crumbling in some places and in others they are standing tall. We felt very privileged to see what was found by the French explorers in the 1880's. We walked through this small temple and it is confession time I took a rubbing. I found a spot away from the sun, and wind. I used a crayon that we had to give the children when they would beg for money and a piece of paper that was an email. But I love it. Just a little piece of history.

After leaving this small temple we moved onto Angkor Thom which is a huge city in its own right. It was built in the late 12th century at the height of Angkor Thom 1 million people lived with in its walls. The walls are 12 km long and surrounded by a moat. We drove in through the victory gate. The bridge over the moat leading to the gate is lined with massive stone guardians holding a giant serpent. The Gate (see above) is named so because this is where the armies would march as they entered back into the city after they have gone off to battle. The gate is large enough for elephants to walk through which means that cars can drive through, but buses can not. Inside Angkor Thom we stopped first to see the elephant terrace. Truth time I have become a little crazy about elephants. They are everywhere in south east Asia in all shapes and sizes. So I was amazed to see hundreds of them carved into the wall of the terrace of the temple.

Next we moved on to the center of Angkor Thom the Bayon temple. It is a ornate Buddhist structure with over 54 towers. On each tower their are four faces, carved it is said so that the gods are watching the four corners of the world to see all the people doing their good works. I was amazed by how intricate this temple was concerning the amount of carvings there were and the detail that was put into each one.

At this point the temples were filling up with tourists and it was getting hot. Though it was only one o'clock we had been up for seven hours and it was time to take a break. We had lunch relaxed by the pool and took a nap. That night we headed over to the Raffles hotel for dinner and a show which involved traditional dancing. It was beautiful and enchanting.

After a good night's sleep, my travel partner Melissa did some fast talking and arranged an exciting trip out to some of the villages. As I told you previously our hotel has a hospitality institute and they give part of their profits to the Cambodian people. We had a conversation with some other people staying at our hotel and they had been out to the villages to deliver supplies and ended up at a wedding. Melissa really wanted to have this same experience and she is quite persuasive. So off we went. We took three bags of rice, two bicycles and several backpacks full of school supplies. We went to two different villages. They people were warm and open. They were beautiful and thankful. The children had eyes full of hope and love. But they had so little. Shinta Mani also works to help families get water wells and houses. They start by giving the family a bicycle and seeds for a garden they tell them to plant the garden and do not sell the bike. If they do both of these things they will get more help. If they do not they will not get anything else. Here this woman just received a bicycle and her niece a school bag full of supplies, including a uniform.

Here is an example of an old well and here is a new well that has safe water. We gave this family a bike and they were so thankful. The above children were so amazed by us and especially my camera. I would take pictures of them and then show them. They I let them take pictures of each other.

This family just got a new house. They are a newly married couple but they took in two nieces. The house is just 6 meters by six meters, but it has a concrete floor and a toilet out back. It was built by the group from the hotel for 1500 US dollars. They have an amazing garden out back. And the other picture is of their stove where they do most cooking.

We heard story after story about families taking in other children whether they were family on not. They have so little, but they continue to give. The children made my heart hurt. And I can not wait to go back.

We ended the afternoon by doing what girls do best, we went shopping. After shopping we had some dinner and ended the day with reflexology.

They next day we headed home. Cambodia is a beautiful country with beautiful people. I can not wait to go back.

Who does this look like?

2008-06-04T06:19:00.001-07:00

Mom if you can not answer this question you are in trouble. Carley had a friend named Ava over to play on Monday and they decided to play with ALL of her stuffed animals. They had so much fun. Ava left shortly before nap time and I told Carley it was time to put away her animals. She said please mommy can't I just sleep with all of them. I am such a softy so I told her if she could make a spot for herself to sleep I would let them all stay. She proceeded to line animals down the wall and across where her feet would go and then up her bed rail. But there was a spot for her and she even took a good nap as the picture shows.

Now for the confession this could be a picture of me. I had well who am I kidding, I still have a rather large collection of stuffed animals mostly bears. And as a child I used to line them all up. My dad always used to ask where I was going to sleep. I managed to find a place and snuggle in. These days I share my bed with someone else, but I always have room for a bear.

Fun Times

2008-06-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you that I have two of the greatest children. I know I am there mom I am supposed to say that but really. I have had so much fun with both of them and they have gotten themselves into all sorts of trouble. So I thought I would share some pictures and some short stories.

Today we went to an indoor play place. Carley really likes this one because it has a giant slide that goes down in spirals like 5o ft. Plus they have a giant ball pit. I like it because it has a special place for James where you have to be 3 or under to play. They both had a blast. Carley is out of school this week and so five of her friends came too, all boys. She had so much fun running and climbing and chasing them around.

These are two of Carley's friends. The one on the left is Pete. He is Irish and Carley calls him her king. Which she says means they are best friends. The one on the right is Andrew. Andrew and his family will be moving back to Katy in July. And they will be dearly missed by our family. They were all lying on the floor showing me their feet. While taking a break at Kidsport. I could not resist.

Last weekend we went to the science center. They have a section where bunnies run around and you can pet them. Here is James very excited with his new bunny friend. After we came home Carly and I decided to wash the cars. She was very wet when it was all over.

Here is James pretending to be his Daddy and type on the laptop. Brian has several conference calls during the week and he sets his lap top up in the living room. James is very observant.

James had a fever the other day and I decided to try something other than medicine, since I was sure that the fever was caused by teething. SO here is James sporting his Fever Patch. At first he was not a good patient and wanted to pull it off, but after a little while he got used to it.

Finally while I was working at my desk last week I heard a thump. I thought it was just construction noise since they are remodeling the house directly behind us. Then a few minutes later I heard another thump and this time a giggle came with it. I went upstairs to find this scene. James had somehow reached out and pulled his shelves closer to his crib. He was waving the Vaseline and laughing when I walked in. Diapers and toys all over the floor he knew he was the king. What fun we have.

Have a great day.

Pigs in Cambodia

2008-05-29T06:41:00.001-07:00

I really wanted to get the pictures of the pigs on the water on my blog about going to the floating village, but technology is slow in these parts and the squirrels that power our internet connection must be hot and it never would load correctly so I added it here. Yes this is a cage full of pigs and yes they are floating out in the middle of a lake attached to their owners boat. It was quite a sight to see.

Technical Difficulties

2008-05-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

Good Wednesday to all of you. I have been working hard on my post about my trip but I can not upload pictures for some reason tonight. And the post just would not be the same with out them. We are good here. The week has been busy trying to catch up with people before summer starts and people start to travel. We have house guests this week and the children could not be more excited. Two Jack Russel Terriers, Pauli and Becky are staying with us while there family is away for the week. Carley just pets them and loves on them and James loves to shriek and get excited. But they are really the greatest dogs. Well behaved, loving and very tolerant. Well I hope everyone is doing well and that you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. We will talk to you soon.
Blessings.

Cambodia

2008-05-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

Well Friends I just wanted to share my thoughts and pictures about my recent trip to Cambodia. It seems like ages ago that my friend Melissa and I boarded a plane with out any children or husbands and flew off to Cambodia for a long weekend. We went to Siem Reap which is the home to the temple complex of Angkor. We left before the sun rose on Friday and before I had even boarded the plane Brian called to tell me that Carley was throwing up and she wanted to talk to me. She was very brave and her daddy took great care of her. We arrived in the morning and went to check into our hotel. We stayed a small hotel called Shinta Mani http://www.shintamani.com , with only 18 rooms it was very cozy. But we enjoyed every minute of our stay there. The people were kind and the pool relaxing the food was good and the reflexology even better. The special thing about Shinta Mani is that they also have the institute of hospitality. Here they take villagers who do not have a skill and teach them the ins an outs of the hospitality trade. They do some interning in the hotel and then go out and get jobs elsewhere after they have gained some experience. It is a great program teaching people a valuable skill. The hotel also takes twenty percent of its proceeds and gives it back to the Cambodian people through outreach to poor people. I will tell you more about this later. After changing and stowing our luggage Melissa and I were off to explore the local market and grab some lunch. The market was a great place full of lots of local flavor and colors. This was a bit of a mixed market one that had souvenirs and everything one could need. We saw all types of fruit, veggies, meat, and seafood. You could by fabric, pharmaceuticals, diapers and shoes. You could get your hair done, your, pants hemmed and pick up some light bulbs all in an area that was one square block.

After doing some shopping, it was time for lunch. We had a great meal on the second floor balcony of a restaurant. The food in Cambodia is Asian but heavily influenced by the French. A delicious lunch finished we headed back to our hotel and took a short nap. Then we were picked up by our guide Kim. Kim is a Cambodian national who speaks perfect English and is very knowledgeable when it comes to the Siem Reap area.

First we headed out to Lake Tonle Sap. It covers about 1000 square miles in the dry season, but during the rainy season it grows to four times that size and rises over 10 meters. We took a tour of one of several "floating villages." Our tour guide told us that these villages were made up of groups of people mostly Vietnamese and that they moved there villages according to the lake, the fishing, and the seasons. Kim also said that these people were better off than the people living on land. They had a steady income fishing. Many of them had TVs and the village really had everything they could need.

It was amazing to see gardens and livestock kept out on this lake. Even a general store. Small children you would expect to see on bikes were motoring around on boats. One boat had two boys on it and the were quite the salesman. As we are motoring along the older boy positions there boat close and the younger boat jumps from their boat to ours. But the amazing thing is he is holding a small cooler full of cold drinks that he is trying to sell. We we said no he just hopped back to his boat and they moved on.

The picture to the left is one of the many schools we saw. There are classrooms on the bottom and the fenced in area at the top si the gym complete with basketball hoops and soccer goals.One group of larger boats were restaurants. We watched a man feed fish in a pen that they kept that nights dinner in. He also raised alligators for meat and hides.

There is even a place of worship. Here is the village catholic church. Ready to follow its congregation.

One more thought these trees that we passed on the way in will be covered with water in about a 45 days according to our guide. But they do not die. Amazing.

Once our trip on the lake was complete we got back in the car and drove over to the Angkor complex for sunset. Our guide suggested that we watch sunset from Pre Rup. Constructed in 961 it is believed to have been the center of the royal city of King Rajendravarman. The crazy part is you just climb up to the top. No fences no one stops you. The view from the top was amazing you can see the mountains in the distance and sunset was beautiful. It was back to town for dinner and bed. We were off to Angkor Wat the main temple for sunrise the next morning.

Handy Manny

2008-05-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have gotten tired of the clutter. Here in South East Asia you do not wear shoes in side. So most of your shoes end up either just inside or just outside the door. I have a small shoe rack, but Carley's shoes do not fit and no that James is walking he will be getting shoes too. Plus we just end up with shoes piled everywhere. So Monday night we headed out to Ikea and bought a small wardrobe that will be our shoe cabinet. I am so excited. We also purchased a set of shelves for our room to try an reclaim the top of the dresser. We just seem to have stuff mostly book everywhere. Today the Ikea truck came and after lunch we played Handy Manny. In case you have not heard of him you obviously do not have kids in the 0-8 age range. Handy Manny is an animated Spanish Mr. Fix-it with tools that talk on Play House Disney. It is really a great show the kids get a good lesson and usually a little Spanish too. Needless to say we had a great time. Carley did some hammering and both she and James had their own tools and were excited about helping out. I hope you enjoy the shot.

Look At Me

2008-05-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

So I am home from an amazing weekend in Cambodia. We saw the temples of Angkor, went to a floating village on the lake, and went to visit a village. Cambodia is an amazing coutnry and I have so much to share including lots of pictures. But tonight I am tired and ready to veg. I know I know I just came hoem from vacation you say. But my friend Melissa and I were up by dawn for three out of the four mornings. We had early flights and I did not want to miss sunrise at the temples and it did not dissappoint. I came home today to a happy house. Brian did a great job, as i knew he would. Carley had a bout of stomach flu on Friday after I left and James is cutting some monster teeth, but everyone one was all smiles when I got home. But the biggest surprise is what James has mastered in four short days since I left. See the video below.C
Crazy since he has not even really tired to let go. I promise to get started telling about my trip tomorrow. Today just enjoy. Blessings

Leay Heuy (Pronounced Lay Hi means Good Bye In Cambodian.)

Wordless Wednesday: Family Pictures

2008-05-14T06:48:00.001-07:00

Here are some of our Family Pictures from Last weekend. Hope you Enjoy Them.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there, especially mine. I always knew my mom did a lot growing up, but I never had a true appreciation until I became a mother myself. I will say I got a glimpse of it after getting my first real job in Katy. Shortly after getting married and moving to Houston I got a job at Cinco Racnh High School as the assistant athletic trainer. After spending the last two years working with college athletes that were not much younger than myself to start working with kids in ninth and tenth grade and how can I forget the junior high football games was quite a shock to my system. Wow that first week I was ready to kill some teenagers. I remember one day I was really crazed by my students and I decided I needed to call my mom and apologize for being a teenager. Now don't get me wrong I loved the kids I worked with and many of them have grown into wonderful young adults who are getting ready to change the world. But I forgot how much drama goes into high school. Ultimately after having my own children I finally understand the sacrifice it truly is to be a mom. A mom the teacher, the cook, the housekeeper, the driver, the cheerleader, the nurse, the magician. Who knew you could be all of that and more.
We had a great weekend. On Friday Carley spent the night with some wonderful friends of ours. Robin and Tim Vaughn have adopted us here in Malaysia and they treat us like their children and my children like their grandchildren. Robin and Tim have four grown children in the US and a almost thirteen year old daughter named Ruth living with them here. Robin and Tim's grown children have given them seven and one on the way beautiful grandchildren to date, which they miss terribly. My children give them a chance to be grandparents locally. So to say that Carley had lots of fun would be an understatement. She got to go swimming, out to dinner, jump in the bouncy castle at the shopping center and when I checked in on her at bedtime she was in her pj's having some ice cream. Heaven. Really I can not tell you how blessed we are by the Vaughns. Robin and Tim sat with me during Brian's first surgery. They have us over for dinner and I always have an ear to listen. God is so good. Saturday we had family pictures taken by Nikki Wilson. She is so talented. I hope to post some pictures tomorrow. We had a blast and in the end got some amazing shots. Mother's Day was spent relaxing at the house. Brian even let me watch one of my favorite movies Ten things I Hate about you. It is a total high school movie but I love it. It makes me giggle. My mother's day present comes on Friday when I am off to Cambodia for a long weekend with a friend, no kids. I have a couple of good blogs in the works, but I am still trying to get a few more pictures. I hope that everyone is well and that you have had a wonderful weekend. Blessings.

No Internet

2008-05-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco De Mayo
Thanks to a gracious friend i have Internet use for a few minutes. We have not had Internet at the house for a week. I am afraid that maybe they forgot to feed the squirrels. We have called several times and they can still not solve the problem. So I will get back to all of you as soon as possible. Please enjoy a cold one for me and do not forget the queso if you are celebrating today. Blessings to all of you.

Our Driver

2008-04-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

Moving to Malaysia, we knew life would be full of new and different experiences. One of the "perks" of living in Malaysia for many expats is that their company gives them a driver. A driver is a luxury that one would never experience at home but it is quite common here. Some companies give employees a driver for a period of time so that you can get used to driving on the other side of the road and learning your way from point A to point B. Other companies include a driver for their managers and instead of sitting around waiting for the boss to get finished they drive the family around. Having a driver is nice because you never have to drive around looking for a parking spot nor do you have to pay for a parking spot. And by the way you pay to park everywhere, but that is another blog. Also with a driver you do not have to worry about getting directions because most of them know the city very well. They are ready to go when you are and willing to wait around if you want to stay a little longer. You never worry about where your umbrella is because you get picked up at the door.

Since Brian has been allowed to go back to work he has been in a walking boot. The first week he was on crutches and the next two weeks he was allowed to walk but only short distances. Brian can drive the problem was really parking and getting caught in the rain. Originally Brian was just going to take a taxi to and from work. Getting to work was not a problem, but one night he got caught in the rain waiting for a taxi and another night he could not get one to come for 45 minutes and did not arrive home until almost seven. So we talked about it and decided we would hire a driver. After asking around, we were given the name and number for Winston, a very nice indian man who has spent the past three weeks driving us. Winston would start his day at seven by taking Brian to work and then come home and drive Carley to school and take me to yoga, the grocery store and all those little errands moms run during the day. Winston would finish his day by picking Brian up around 4. I was a little worried when Winston first came what Carley would say. Recently she has not taken to new people very well. But Carley took to Winston the first day he came. On Winston's first day Carley was out of school and we needed to take the car to the shop and then go meet a friend to play. I had Winston follow me and assuming that Carley would ride with me I put her in her car seat and got ready to drive. But she promptly informed me that Mr. Winston was going to drive her, and so he did. An instant friendship was born. Carly loves to talk to Mr. Winston. He taught her several colors in Bahasa, the native language. When given the chance, Carley made sure that Mr. Winston drove her. She even went so far as to tell me one afternoon,when I was driving her home from gymnastics because Winston had gone to pick up Brian for physical therapy, that I was a bad driver. Mr Winston is much better driver than you. I like his driving. He should drive us all the time, she informed me. She gave him flowers and colored him pictures. Rushed out to see him when it was time to go to school and told him to drive carefully when he would leave for the day. Sadly this was Winston's last day of driving for us. Brian is better and can handle the walk from the parking garage across the street up to the office. Carley was very sad when Winston got ready to leave, but insisted on having her picture made with him. She gave him another picture and once again told him to drive carefully on his way home. She waved good bye out the window as he drove his moped out the gate. She shed a few tears because we told her he was not coming back. Little does she know how lucky she is to be a little girl who has had a driver.

Have a great day. Paige, Carley and Winston

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

Were you one of those kids who used to love to dig in the dirt or sand. My dad asked more than once if I was trying to dig to China as I played on the beach. Well here you go. Now you can with the drill to China machine.

Bali, The Final Chapter

2008-04-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

I am finally going to finish telling all of you about our trip to Bali.

Our fourth day in Bali was Balinese New Years Day. Also known as the DAY OF SILENCE, yes that is right I said silence. Once all the evil spirits have been scared out of hiding the whole island is still. The belief is that the evil spirits will see that the island is uninhabited and leave. SO I am sure you are thinking what does the day of silence mean. It is truly a day of silence. No one is allowed to go out. No planes come and go at the airport. Cars do not drive. TV's are turned off. People are supposed to stay inside and keep quite. When I first heard about the day of silence my initial thought was how in the WORLD am I going to keep Carley silent. Luckily we learned quickly that hotels have special allowances since people are visiting and you are allowed to move around, we could watch TV even swim in the pool. We had to have all our meals at the Westin. But we were not allowed on the beach or in the ocean. It was a little odd to see the security men standing at the front door and at the edge of the beach making sure you did not go out and break the rules. When we were checking in we met a man originally from California that now lives in Bali. He told us that lots of families with children check into the hotel for the day of silence so they do not have to worry about breaking any rules and getting fined. And he was right. The hotel was packed with kids, pool over flowing not a chair to be found, the kids club was packed and when it started to rain. Suddenly there were all sorts of indoor activities for all ages. The next day the island returns to normal and the hotel became a ghost town. The pool was empty and Carley did not have to wait in line for the trampoline. We spent the day of silence swimming, reading , eating and napping. It was a great day.

On Saturday we could leave the hotel, so we went out. We went to Uluwatu. A temple that sits high above the ocean and has a beautiful view. It was built in the 11th century and after the original one fell into the sea they rebuilt it again in the 16th century. There were a lot of monkeys and the temple was closed but the view of the ocean made up for it. We then headed over to Kuta which where a large number of hotels and resorts are located. The beach here is very popular with the tourists and locals. It is famous for its surfing, rip tides and many beach side vendors. You can have a massage, buy souvenirs, shells, t-shirts and sarongs, and have lunch ordered and delivered all with out leaving your towel. We hopped out of the car long enough to take a picture and dunk our feet in the ocean. For lunch we searched out a restaurant that is supposed to have the best Mexican food this side of the Pacific ocean, but alas it was closed. Like many other shops and restaurants they were shut down due to the New Year celebration. While driving around town I took this picture because I was just amazed to see how much western culture has seeped into this little island. I am not sure if you can see the third sign, but yes Lou that is a Krispy Kreme But luckily it is limited to this very touristy area. After Lunch it was off to the beach, now many of you know that I love the beach and my daughter has also inherited my love for sand and sea. But this was James first excursion to the beach where he could sit up by himself and really play so I was not sure what would happen,

But luckily it looks like my love f all things sandy must be in the blood. We hit the beach at low tide so there was plenty of sand. The beach has very little waves since it is protected by a coral reef about 500 yards out. We watched many fishermen walk across the flats looking for their dinner. We even did a little exploring and came across this beauty

as well as several sea urchins. They were very scary looking and that would explain the signs at the top of the beach to watch your step and not to swim beyond the buoys. Since before the buoys the beach was clean of most creatures and coral. That night we dined by the sea on a delicious dinner of barbecued seafood.

Our last day in Bali was spent packing up. Carley did manage to get in one more swim in the BIG pool as she liked to call it. She even learned how to swim with her floaties. We had an afternoon flight out and we were home by dinner. Bali is a beautiful island that I would like to go back to one day. But our travel list is long and our time is limited. But I really think we will get back there especially since I need to have a gong.

Saturday Craziness

2008-04-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

Do You Know Who This Is?

Well if you do not let me tell you. It is flat Stanley. He is a character in a book where he gets squished flat and he is then mailed around the world to all sorts of fun places. Our friend's daughter in Texas is doing a Flat Stanley Project and we have had Flat Stanley for a while. The idea is to take Flat Stanley places and take his picture. He went to Bali with us and some other places, but on Saturday Afternoon in the course of about 3 and a half hours we drove all over Kuala Lumpur taking pictures of Flat Stanley with famous sights here. We learned several new facts and found out that our city has some great sights that we have not even ventured out to see. Here are a few of the high lights. Carley did a great job of holding Flat Stanley and James got into the act to. There is lots to see here and Brain and I decided that we need to get out and see a little more of our city. We hope you had a great weekend too.

Back on the Blog Wagon

2008-04-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time since I posted my last blog, but until looking at the calendar I didn't realize quite how long it had been. So here I am Back on the blog wagon and I will try to catch you up on what has been going on. My last post was on March 21st just before Easter.
Easter here is very uneventful. No chocolate eggs in the stores or giant Easter baskets wrapped in cellophane. Actually I could not even find jelly beans. Luckily I knew this might be a problem so Brian brought us some plastic eggs, jelly beans and an egg dying kit from his last trip to Texas. Carley and I did dye eggs she did a great job even dying one blue and another green for James. Eggs hidden and baskets stocked we had a great Easter egg hunt. We hustled off to church to celebrate the real reason for Easter, our savior rising from the dead Hallelujah. We still have not found a church home but we went to our favorite so far. DUMC is a mega church here in Malaysia. The worship center is brand new and seats about 3000. It is a great church filled with the spirit and very alive. We had a wonderful celebration.
On the 26th we went back to the doctor, for a follow up on Brian's foot. In case you do not remember Brian was putting away some dishes when a glass bowl shattered and a piece severed his extensor tendon of his big toe. Big toes are pretty important if you did not know they are the keystone to your balance and push off when walking and especially running. Our doctors visit was very disappointing since it was confirmed that the initial surgery did not work and that the tendon was not connected. Another surgery was now in Brian's future. We choose or should I say I demanded that we seek out another doctor. We had a very stressful couple of days trying to find a specialist here, even looking at plane tickets back to Houston to have my favorite surgeon Dr. Rechter fix it. Dr Rechter was very kind and interrupted his office hours on Wednesday morning to talk with me and basically give me a phone consultation on how he would handle the situation. He even agreed to take Brian into surgery the next Monday if we decided to go that route. But God is good and after my Wednesday morning mom's prayer group I was talking with one of the mom's and she said I know a group of specialist and the office is really close to your house. We ended up seeing Dr. Low their ankle specialist on Friday. I made it very clear after asking some specific questions that I had some background in the field of orthopedics and he was very knowledgeable and put most of my concerns at ease. Brian had surgery on Monday the 31st of March. The whole process admission, surgery recovery and rehab is all done at their out patient surgery center. I was very impressed with everything and I am very happy we found them. Brian unfortunately starts the healing process over again and he spent the next full week working from home. He was fitted with a walking boot on the 7th of April and went back to work with limited walking the next day. He is walking now using crutches for long walks and when it gets sore at the end of the day. He will be in the boot for several more weeks. This week is very busy for him since all of the managers and supervisors for his group from around the world are all here for a meeting. It is good to have face time with all of them and most of his night meetings for at least this week have been canceled.
In the midst of all this Carley's preschool director who I have completely fallen in love with decided that God was really calling her to do other things with her life and she sold her school to one of her teachers. Needless to say there has been a LOT of DRAMA. For now Carley is staying but we will see how things go.
We finally bought our plane tickets to come back to the states. We are leaving here on the 26th of June and coming back on the 12th of August. More to come on when I will be in your neck of the woods. Because unless you live in Alaska I will probably be nearby at some point. My tickets home were true miracles we have been watching them waiting for the price to go down and all they did was go up about 200 dollars a week and then one night we happened to find some for 1700 and that is 500 less than we had seen them in a month. The crazy thing is I am on the phone with my uncle, the travel agent, and he can not find these tickets in the system. He says quick book them before they disappear and so I did. Thank you God for small miracles. Now if the price of gas would just go down.
Lastly I am just tired and have been going to bed early instead of blogging. James is still not sleeping through the night, so that means that I am getting up at least once. We are in the process of trying to stop that and go to milk and bottles but that is another blog. Unfortunately I am afraid he might be lactose intolerant. Not allergic like my sister Heather, but he seems to have bad burps with little spit ups after his milk bottles. Hopefully he just needs to get used to it.
Well there it is the good the bad and the ugly. It has been a crazy couple of weeks and there is lots more to talk about. I still have to finish telling you all about our trip to Bali and I have lots of other things to blog about. But it is bed time and the rest will have to wait for another day. Love to all.

Happy Birthday James: Day Three

2008-03-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

James turned One on day three of our trip, March 6th. His birthday is part of the reason we took this trip. I thought it would be cool for him to tell people when he was older that he spent his first birthday in Bali. One of those things you say when you are asked what is one thing we do not know about you. Our fellow guests at Klub Kokos consisted of two Dutch families both with small children. We had all learned about each other while sitting at dinner and around the pool. Our day began with our Dutch friends singing Happy Birthday to James in English and then in Dutch. Then we were packed up and headed off to our hotel at the beach in Nusa Dua. Now today was Balinese New Year's Eve, so we were told we would need to have our travel done early so that we would not be caught in traffic jams caused by the Oooga Oooga parades. What is an Oooga Oooga you ask, well it is a monster type things made to scare and entice the evil spirits of the island out of hiding and into the open. Balinese New Year has some very significant rituals intertwined into the Hindu religion. They begin by cleaning their temples, homes and villages. Every village will construct several Oooga Ooogas and they will march them from various points in the village to the cross roads of the town. Here they meet and bring the evil spirits together. The Balinese believe that once they have brought all the evil spirits out of hiding with the Oooga Ooogas, loud noises of drums, gongs and fireworks, that if they go into hiding for twenty-four hours and the evil spirits will find the island deserted and they will leave the island. All of the parades must be completed by sundown so we had to start our journey early in the day. We passed through many towns and saw Oooga Ooogas at every turn. We began our journey south by heading back into Ubud to see the palace. It is a beautiful place built in traditional Balinese style, but exceptionally decorated. Each Family group will have a compound that is usually surrounded by a wall. Within the wall, you will find several members of the same extended family living together. You can also find the family temple, livestock and sometimes livelihood inside as well. The palace is still inhabited today by the royal family of Ubud and some parts of it are not open to the public. It is hard to see in this picture but on this low table int eh second picture you can see the remains of morning tea. We imagined this is a type of sitting room.After leaving the palace, we walked next door to look at the main temple of Ubud. Here we found hundreds of people all dressed in their best clothes waiting for their turn to enter the temple and make their offering to the gods inside. Many of the women were holding small flat baskets full of rice, flowers, incense and other items of food. It is said that 70 percent of a woman's time in Bali can be spent preparing and performing religious duties. It is part of their daily lives.
Inside the temple we saw lots of chanting, drums and prayers could be heard. We took some time to take in all that was going on around us before moving on. After leaving Ubud our driver took us to Mas which is the village where most of the wood carving is done. We stopped and looked at one shop and it was amazing what you can make out of wood. They had the traditional wooden screens, animals of every shape and size. Many looking quite life like. Hindu goddesses and huge pieces of furniture. There was so much to choose from we decided that we would have to think about it and come back another time. On the way out we did see a huge old gong hanging on a wooden frame. Brian and I worked with a family through Young Life that had lived in Asia for a time and they had one of these huge gongs in their home and we thought it was very cool. We did not purchase this one but our driver told us he could take us to the village where they make the gongs and we could pick one out. Needless to say there is a gong in the future of the Head household.

Next we drove on to the village famous for silver smiths. Now for those of you who know me well I was in heaven, silver jewelery as far as the eye could see. I managed to control myself and only bought two bracelets, but James Avery has nothing on these people. We could not shop as long as I would have liked and we had to cut some stops out of our trip in order to get to our destination. We finally arrived at the Westin Nusa Dua Around 1:30. This is an amazing hotel. It is where they held the summit on global warming a few months ago. Security was a high priority, and Everything was perfect from the lobby to the beach. We had a beautiful suite with two rooms over looking the garden and the pool.

After naps and a snack it was off to see the Nusa Dua Oooga Oooga parade. I am afraid that it was not very authentic and put on mostly for the tourists, but all they same it was very exciting and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

After a late dinner at an open air restaurant by the water it was back to the room so James could finally open his presents and then off to bed. We had a great day and I can not believe that it has been a year since James was welcomed into the world by our family. He is my precious baby boy, still laid back and always ready with a laugh and a smile. Our family has changed alot and traveled near and wide, but I know we will all remember this day with happy hearts. Blessing to all. We love you and miss you.

Where was I: Bali Day Two

2008-03-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Bali began with a really nice breakfast and then we went on a tour of the small town of Ubud. Ubud is a town in the interior of Bali whose name means healing or medicine. (We can not remember) This name comes from the spot that is considered a place of healing where two rivers converge in the town. It is a town of artists. Lots of shops and things to buy. First we went to the Monkey forest. We saw lots of monkeys there doing everything you can imagine from grooming each other, playing, one was rolling a round stone around like a ball and lots of sleeping. These monkeys by no means were tame, but they were not scared of people either. If you had a banana and held it up in the air they would climb you like a tree and take it from you. We watched several different tourists do this. Carley was not amused when a monkey got close to her. She did not want to be a tree. There were several temples in the monkey forest (this is one pictured above) and a sacred bath that was surrounded by the coolest tree. I can not explain how tall it was but it towered over the river below and sent branches and roots cascading down. We spent quite awhile wandering around the monkey forest and watching the monkeys play. After we left we went to the Drum Factory a store that had all kinds of drums and percussion instruments. Carley had a great time drumming and shaking and pounding with out once being told no. We did manage to leave with out purchasing a drum. How I am not sure. After this we headed over to the market, I am disappointed that I do not have a picture to share with you. However this market is like many in Bali open air with many stalls. You can buy all kinds of Balinese handicrafts and you can bargain until your hearts content. I have gotten pretty good at bargaining in KL and I did okay in Bali. We purchased several nice things. After a nice lunch overlooking the rice padi, it was back to Klub KoKos for a swim and a nap. That afternoon as the kids took turns napping, we took a walk and found a trail that leads back to town. It was a beautiful walk. This piece of land is in between the two rivers and on one side you see beautiful rice padis and coconut trees. It is the greenest landscape I have ever seen. On our walk we passed several homes that had galleries in the front. Artists would be working right in front of you and have lots of things to choose from. I got two pretty water colors to frame and help us remember our trip. The artist was this older man with hair past his shoulders and just a sarong on. He was nice and interesting to talk to. Once again it started to rain. The rain went on and on. Carley really wanted to swim but they close the pool in the rain. So finally we just let her dance in the rain. She had a great time and even James sat on the steps and kicked in the puddles.At one point we lost power and instead of heading back into town we decided to stay in and have a candle lit dinner. The power can back on before we were done and then it was off to bed. It was a quite night full of frog sounds, crickets and rain.

Bad Blogger

2008-03-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well I am really sorry about my lack of blogging and it is not because of lack of topics. I have so much to share. I want to finish telling you about my Bali trip, James first birthday, smoking and other things. But today we had another forray into the wonderful healthcare system of Malaysia. This morning while trying to be a helpful husband, Brian accidentally did not get a set of glass nesting bowls all the way up on the shelf. They crashed down about 28 inches and shattered the biggest two bowls. When I tell you glass was everywhere you just have to believe me, it was like the bowls had exploded. After removing both children who happened to be standing in the kitchen and checking to see they had not a scratch on them. I went in to deal with Brain. He was bleeding from his foot and after getting it to stop I decided he needed stitches. After calling some friends to come and watch the kids, and changing I came down stairs and Brian announced that he could not move his big toe. After having a look he was right it seems that the glass landed directly on top of his extensor tendon and sliced it in half. We went to the ER and that was confirmed by the surgeon. Brian went into surgery at about four. I just left the hospital everything went fine and he was ready for some sleep. Amazing I have four orthopedic surgeons on speed dial for over seven years and we never once had to call them. And in the last two months we have both needed to see one. Dr. Rechter you are truly missed. Well I am off to bed. I will do my best to catch up on my blogging soon. Blessings to all.

Video of Gamelan Orchestra at the Water Palace

2008-03-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out where my video was of the Gamelan Orchestra performance that we saw on our first evening in Bali. I hope you enjoy this short video.

Bali Millionaire

2008-03-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

So I am not feeling very well tonight, just really tired and needing an early bedtime So my blog will be short and I will tell you more about our trip to Bali tomorrow. One of the craziest things about going to Bali is that you become an instant millionaire. We cashed in $300 US dollars and in return got 2,865, 000 rupi. Pretty crazy. Here is a picture of the money all laid out. You can not see very well but the bright red bills are 100 000, the blue are 50, 000. They have 20, 10, 5, and 1 thousand rupi bills as well. Their coins are really odd because they feel like fake money you would find in Carley's play cash register, but they are legal tender One US dollar is worth about 9200 Rupi. Now when you shop for things and eat out you really have to be good with your math since one buffet dinner we had was 300, 000 rupi which is a little more than $30 US dollars. Not bad for an amazing seafood grill with all the trimmings. But a little intimidating when you first begin to scope things out. Yes Mrs. Darnell was right you will always need to know how to divide and you do use long division in the real world.

Good Night.

Back From Bali

2008-03-10T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well we made it back from our trip to Bali and I can tell you that it was amazing. I will have several days of posting to share about the trip, but I know that my words and pictures will not be able to do the island justice. Bali is a beautiful island rich with tradition, amazing food, and fascinating people. It was unlike any place I have ever been, you are on sensory overload when you are there. The colors are deep and vibrant. You hear music and sounds that you are unaccustomed to and the smell of incense and delicious food is every where. We arrived in Bali and took a car to Ubud a small town in the central part of the island.

On our way there we ran into several different processions. Unknowingly I planned our trip to Bali during Balinese New Year. Several days of rituals and offerings surround this holiday. On Tuesday we found members of a village parading down the street toward the sea. They take all the holy items out of there temples and take them to the sea for a ritual cleansing. Each village in Bali has no less than three temples, so you can imagine it is quite a task to clean the temples. We passed four different parades on he road and one was in trucks. Our driver explained that the village must be far from the sea so they drive instead of walk. The Procession includes people carrying flags, umbrellas, offerings and the holy items. It is led by a group of men playing gongs. This was a wonderful way to be welcomed to the island.

Our drive to Ubud took about an hour and half. Bali is a small island that is covered with two lane roads that wind through rice paddies and villages. As we neared our hotel the roads got smaller and the views got more incredible. The road got so small in fact that we actually ran an man off the road. Our driver is the man in the back trying to figure out how we could help get the car back under way.

Here is the view from the car as we neared the hotel. We were truly in the Balinese country side surrounded by rice paddies. The green was so deep and vibrant and the air smelled sweet and clean.

Our first two nights were spent at Klub Kokos. We stayed in one of seven villas. Now don't get excited it was a little more rustic than I expected. There was a beautiful pool surrounded by tranquil gardens full of palms and orchids and the biggest elephant ear plants I have ever seen. We had a two room villa with a garden bathroom and if you are like me you do not know what that means.

Basically you go outside to use the bathroom, you have your own garden planted against a wall which gives you privacy, but you can see the sky and the stars and yes nature can come in and visit. So we had birds, and other critters in our bathroom at night that would scurry away when you turned on the lights. We had no air conditioning and that made the nights sticky, but the ceiling fans worked well. The sheets were musty so I felt as though we were at camp. But the food was delicious and the staff was so kind.

After dinner we went into Ubud to see a Balinese Dance. Our host a Klub Kokos suggested we go to the Water Palace which is a temple and see The Ladies Gamelan Orchestra and dance troupe. We were not disappointed. The setting itself was breathtaking. This temple is set in the middle of a huge pond full of Lotus plants and water lilies. The stage was just in front of the doors to the temple. You must be Hindu to go inside the temple but you can visit the courtyards on the outside. The gamelan orchestra is made up of the the Gamelan which is similar to a xylophone, gongs, drums and cymbals. Below is some video of the opening number.

We were entertained by several different groups of dancers all dressed in traditional costumes including some very small dancers that were 6-8 years old. Carley loved the dancing and got up several times to try and imitate what was being done on stage. She had a very good time entertaining the crowd in between dances. We had a beautiful day and this was perfect end.

Stay tuned tomorrow to hear about the Monkey Forest and Oooga Oooga.

It is off to bed for me. Love to all.

Extreme Blog Make Over

2008-02-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

I am sorry it has been a slow blogging week. We are battling being sick again and this time I have it too. Carley and James both seem to be on the other side and hopefully after seeing the doctor today and getting on antibiotics I will be on the mend soon. I was really worried about James since we are traveling to Bali on Tuesday for a family vacation to celebrate his FIRST Birthday, and he has two ear infections. Hopefully flying will not be to bad on Tuesday.

I hope everyone is enjoying my blog's new look. I love it. Jennisa is a stay at home mom of two by day and she pimps peoples blogs by night. She is truly gifted. I just gave her a couple of ideas sent her some pictures and in a weeks time it was done. The hardest part for us was the fact that she would send me a question and I would not answer it for 12 hours with the time change. But she was still really quick. Check her out at jennisajoy.blogspot.com and see what she can do for you.
Time to play with the kids and take a nap. I hope all of you are well.

Blessings Paige

Rubber Ducky Your the One

2008-02-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

This is what bath time looks like in our house.

Brian had the daunting task of finding a house for us in Malaysia. I was in Texas with Carley and he bravely went out armed with my LIST of requirements and found one to fit the bill. He spent many hours with several different Realtors hunting down a home. It was not easy especially when they told him we could not find a house in our price range, and if we did we would be robbed because we would not be in a good area. Well he found a great house which I will share pictures and tell you all about another time. The only thing that this house really lacks is a bath tub. It was a small oversight and many of the houses he looked at only had showers. So we improvise. We went out to the store and found two different bathtubs. One looks like a number 2 washtub but it is plastic. The other is long and thin and has a lip in the bottom, very important when you have just learned to sit up. This way James did not end up sliding down with water over his head. We place them in the floor of the shower in the kids bathroom and using the shower head we fill them up. Carley and James have a flotilla of ducks, and boats that they float around in their tubs. There is the usual splashing and now that James can stand up he does so often and tries to climb into the tub with Carley. Carley does however miss getting to lay completely down in the tub and float. But we have several good friends that let us borrow the bathtub now and again so she can have a big bath as she calls it. Plus it means she is that much more excited about getting to stay in a hotel, because it means she gets to have a real bath. Well I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into another day in the life in Malaysia.

Future so Bright Gotta Wear Shades

2008-02-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

Laundry Day

2008-02-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

Please no one turn us into the SPCS (The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Stuffies)

No this is not torture day for Carley's stuffed friends, this is what happens when you decide to wash them all in an effort to get rid of the dust that may be causing her respiratory problems. Laundry here is a never ending process, and an adventure. We or shall I say Alma does at least three loads a day. We have an 8 kg washer which means that we can wash about 17.5 pounds of laundry. I would say that is about half of what I used to put in the washer. But all the new washers here use very little water so if you fill the washer up to full capacity you will end up with clothes that wear out very quickly because there is not a lot of water to decrease friction. When I do the laundry, I usually add a small bucket of water so there is extra water in the machine. Once all the washing is done then the real fun begins. We do not own a dryer. SO everything is air dried, from undies to Sunday clothes it all goes outside. You dry everything inside out to reduce the amount of fading caused by the sun. We have several different sized and shaped dryers and hangers galore. Most of the time our backyard looks like this.

But Luckily so does everyone else's yard. I only know a couple of people who own dryers and they are all expats. There are several down sides to drying outside. First is the rain. It comes almost everyday and you hope you are home to bring in the laundry. Then there is the dust and wind. One day we brought in the laundry and it was dirtier than before we washed it. Lastly is the birds, enough said. But all in all we are pretty lucky and don't have to rewash often . The weather has been very dry so all the curtains have been washed as well as couch cushions. So the next time you pull that warm towel out of the dryer, think of me. Blessings.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T06:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

Sorry it is a day late. We had a very quiet day here at 19 Lorong Setiabistari 4. This is our Valentine's Biscuit. When asked what Carley wanted for breakfast this is what she chose. She went to school and gymnastics and we joined a friend and her children whose husband is also out of town for dinner. After dinner we took a family walk. Unfortunately our evening was rough and not much sleep was had by anyone. This is why tonight's blog is short. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.

Open House

2008-02-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

Since it is a holiday here in KL we went to the mall with some friends for lunch. We went to one of the new malls here called the Pavilion. This mall is very nice full of high end stores from all over the world. We had a nice lunch and were wondering around when Carley found this white box with steps leading up to it. She climbed right up and proceeded to start dancing. Now you need to understand that Carley does not perform on command. She has balked during two Christmas plays at school. When asked to sing in front of others unless it is grace it does not happen. So to have her hop up there and put on a show was very surprising. She danced and when she was done some people clapped and then in an instant it was over. She realized people were watching and she got down.

To continue our Chinese New Year Celebration we went to a traditional Chinese open house. We were graciously invited to the home of our friends Richard, Sin Tin, Laurel and Lextor. Brian and Sin Tin work together at Exxon Mobil. When Brian first moved to KL Sin Tin took him to see the sights and they were fast friends. Sin Tin just returned from being in Houston at the same meeting with Brian. Laurel is a little older than Carley and Lextor is two. (I think). Carley and Laurel are friends and enjoy playing together. We were very blessed to be invited to share in this time with them since we were the only people who were not somehow related to the hosts. Sin Tin's aunt who is visiting from San Francisco and Sin Tin cooked most of the food. It was amazing. We started dinner by tossing the yee sang. This is a traditional meal that consists of carrot, turnip, sugared ginger, peppers, crackers, sesame seeds, sour plum sauce, and jelly fish. IT is said the more you toss it the more good luck you will have in the new year. I am a good sport and will try anything that Sin Tin gives me. Yes I tried the jelly fish a very small bite. It tasted like you would imagine it. Tough and rubbery. But the vegetables were very good. They also served chicken wings stuffed with rice, a noodle dish, Chinese vegetables, curry pops, beautiful shrimp, and a pork dish that Sin Tin told me that I should not eat. I took her word. There was a large selection of cookies and carrot cake for dessert. I ate until I could not eat any more. We spent most of the night chatting and meeting family members. One of the traditions of Chinese New year is that all the single people get something called Ang Pow. This is cash put in small red envelope. Ang Pow is given as a gesture of kindness and a wish for prosperity in the new year. Carley was very

confused when people kept handing her envelopes. I tried to explain what it was and that there is money on the inside. So of course then she wanted to open it, but that is very bad manners. So I had to convince her that she had to wait until we got home to look at them all. She took her envelopes and exclaimed that she did not understand why she was getting them and reluctantly said thank you with some prodding. After we came home and she got to open them she was very happy though. After tallying up how much she made she promptly asked if she could buy the Dora the Explorer balloon which she has been eyeing at the mall for two weeks. I told her it was her money and she could do with it as she pleased. To which she replied, "Thank you mommy you have made me the happiest Little girl ever." We had a wonderful evening and enjoyed being part of the family.

Sin Tin is pictured here in her traditional red Chinese silk dress. James is wearing a silk onsie of traditional Chinese fashion as well.

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-07T05:37:00.001-08:00

Gong XI Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year

Welcome to the year of the rat. Today begins the 14 day celebration of Chinese New Year. It is the beginning of the new lunar year. Chinese New Year is one of the many new holidays we celebrate here in Malaysia. The Chinese population spend a lot of time getting ready for this time of year. The whole house is cleaned from top to bottom, from washing windows and bed spreads, dusting corners and cleaning out even the garden everything is made clean. We have a large house next to us where a Chinese family lives and the maids have been very busy for almost a week now preparing. Special cookies and meals are made. Bamboo, lime trees and pussy willows can be seen all over to bring good luck. Their are many other rituals that involve offerings to different gods which I do not know enough about to try and explain. Today is spent with family. Many people travel home to be with their parents and huge family dinners will be held. Tomorrow is when people will hold their open houses and go and visit their friends. We are getting to go to one such open house.

Today however we went to see a Lion Dance. This was not our first lion dance. We saw one a couple of weeks ago at the opening of a restaurant. But they are very exciting and not done very often. The Lion Dance is done with two older boys inside of a lion costume as pictured above. There is a group of boys that play drums, cymbals and bells. The music is like word to a story and the lion reacts accordingly. But they do not just dance, they leap up on to poles and jump around spin, run back and forth and make faces and gestures with the lion head. All the while the music plays on. Carley who is not a fan of loud noises and it is very loud loves to watch the lion dance. Today she was very worried about the boys because at one point it looked like the lion had slipped off the pole. But I told her it was part of the dance. Even James laughed and pointed as the lion danced. When it was over the lions passed out tangerines to all the children as a sign of good fortune in the New Year. Lets just say that James did not like the up close and personal attention of the lion. It was very exciting especially since we got to be so close. Enjoy the video.

World's Smallest Pet Store

2008-02-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

This is quite possibly the world's smallest pet store. Well really it is mostly a fish store, but they do have turtles, frogs, crickets, mice, hamsters, and a wide array of fish. There are aquariums stacked from the floor to about eight feet high full of fish. Above that is fish bowls, plants, filters, and all sorts of paraphernalia. The back wall is floor to ceiling fish food and chemicals. It is so tight in this little store that I can not even pick Carley up. But I love it because it is so small, less to choose from for a three year old is better and the fish are so cheap. The first time we went there I bought eight fish for two US dollars. The shop is typical of how many shops are in the older parts of KL. You find them all lined up very thin but very deep. Often times similar things will be grouped together. It makes comparison shopping much easier. The more modern shopping is found in malls. Huge giant malls with three floor of underground parking. The malls here have everything you would find in an American mall plus a grocery store, cobbler, doctors clinic at least one spa and usually a mega store much like a walmart but different. I miss walmart.

We had a fish catastrophe in our house about two weeks ago and our fish population shrank from 8, two pink and 6 orange tailed guppies to 2 one of each. The short story, Carley decided her fish were hungry and I made the mistake of leaving the fish food at her level. She decided they were half a jar of food hungry and then in her effort to "Help I must clean up my mess" which is what she was shouting when I entered the room. She had taken her baby wipes and was washing the inside walls and water of her tank. Even after replacing half the water, cleaning the filter several times, and scooping out as much food as possible, fish death was eminent. We explained to Carley that while baby wipes were great for cleaning all kinds of kiddo messes they are not good for fish messes. I will say Carley is a good sport about her fish dying she simply watches me scoop them up then she dumps them into the toilet, flushes and tells them to have a nice swim in the ocean. Today's visit to the fish store was memorable as usual. You can not really tell but Carley is dresses in scrubs that are printed with a tropical fish pattern, which she picked out because we were going fish shopping. Carley selected one larger than a guppy orange fish which she declared the daddy. Five orange tailed guppies, the big sisters. She was happy and ready to take them home to the pink fish the mommy and they only set me back 1.50 us. Life is good. Carley of course asked if she could have a turtle which I responded no. And then the picture below is her reaction to the crayfish in the tank by the door. After checking out the rest of the animals she was ready to head home. Our day was full and I can say everyone is happy especially a little girl with a complete fish family. We are off to bed I hope everyone has a great day. Blessings.

Just some Pictures for the Grandparents and Brian

2008-02-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

James giving me his I am so excited Face.

Carley's first pony tail.

Carley and her teethy grin

Where is the Weather Channel?

2008-02-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

For those of you who knew me in Katy, you know that I am slightly obsessed with the weather. I checked the weather channel first thing in the morning listened to the weather on the news just before bed. I had one weather website in my computer favorite list at home and three different weather sites saved at school. If you wanted to know when the storms were coming all you had to do was ask. I new when it was going to get cold and whether it would rain. Now I will explain that a good portion of my job involved me being outside watching some kind of sporting event or practice. I really considered getting to go outside with my job a major perk. Except for those days when it was really cold and rainy. So I would tell people that I needed to know what the weather was so I could be prepared. Did I need long pants, a hat, old shoes for the mud and my gortex or was it going to be one of may favorite days where all I needed was a pullover and my sun glasses.

Living in Malaysia the weather is very different and yet it always feels the same. If you were to look at a map KL is located 3 degrees above the equator so it is always hot here. The heat really does not bother me. It is not 104 degrees and 100 percent humidity like it would be in Katy in August. But it is always hot. I am pretty sure it never gets below 80 here. Honestly it is hard to know exactly what the temperature is here because it is always in Celsius and that is a conversion I do not do in my head well. But Brian says that locals here really start to complain if it ever gets over 95. The humidity is pretty impressive too. Bread and cereal will go stale in under an hour. Things are always sticky.

The most amazing thing to me is the amount of rain that we get. It rains daily. I think the longest that we have gone with out rain so far is five days. And when I say rain I mean deluge. The pictures I have included are ones I took at my house this weekend. The top is the view out of my bedroom window notice you can barely see the trees across the street. The bottom is what my yard looks like when it is raining we get a nice ponding effect until it can all drain away. Every once in a while we have a light rain, but most of the time it really comes down. I tell people I fell like I am in a hurricane with out the wind. I am really not sure how the whole city does not flood. We have our fair share of thunderstorms here too. The thunder is quite amazing my favorite is when it claps so hard you think it has hit the house and then everything shakes. The lighting is pretty impressive too. And let me let you in on a little secret I am not a big fan of lightning. I absolutely hate to be outside when there is lightning. When I worked for the school district we had lightning meters and I loved them. Basically the read the sky for any electrical disturbances and following district policy we had to go inside once the lightning got within a certain distance. The head football coach really did not like it when I had the lightning meter because I was very quick to tell him it was time to go in. But I digress. So it rains a lot here and when it is not raining the sun is shining and it is hot. And to top it all off I have not found the weather channel or a website so I know when the storms are coming and when they will stop. Luckily though if someone asks what the weather is going to be you can say hot and at some point it will rain and most likely you will be right. My obsession with the weather continues and it pains me not to know what is going to happen next, but at least I do not have to shovel snow. Although I did tell Brian the other night that I was tired of being hot and that I wanted to be cold really cold, like I can not feel my toes cold. And he replied I could take a trip to China. Keep warm my friends and when you are tired of the cold and the snow, the door is always open.

Malaysian Medicine

2008-01-31T05:50:00.000-08:00

Look Closely at this picture of Brian's closet. I will tell you why later. Today was a good day I think we have finally gotten out from under the sickness cloud. Malaysia is experiencing a huge viral flu outbreak. NO IT IS NOT BIRD FLU. It is just a plain old normal flu. Carley has had a cough and fever on and off for 12 days and James has been fighting it for a week now. Today in the paper there is an article about 132 children in a boarding school that were in quarantine because of the flu. I know it is bad locally because when I checked in with Carley's preschool director there were five of 12 kids in Carley's class that day. And we ran into three of her classmates in the doctor's office. We have been blessed not to have the stomach issues that have accompanied this specific bout of illness. We have battled respiratory illness since we got here. James spent four days in hospital as they say the third week we were here, and about every six weeks we are back into see Dr. Musa for another cough. He says that this is common especially for expats since we are not used to the germs, pollution and the weather. Malaysians blame everything on the weather. I am hoping that we get used to all of it soon. I hate having sick kids.
I will say I am impressed with the health care system here. Most doctors have been trained in the US or in Europe. Everyone is very professional and they are willing to talk to you. Some doctors are more western than others, but we steer clear of the Chinese herbal medicine man. But I will admit some of the things they say make sense. On Monday we had to see a different doctor since our regular pediatrician is closed this week. Only in Malaysia do you pay RM175 approximately 69 US dollars for two children to see the doctor prescribe and dispense medicine, and one x-ray with consultation for me. I have been having random shoulder area pain that I can not self diagnose so I asked for an x-ray. It makes me wonder since I have to pay a 20 dollar copay just to walk in the door in Katy. Most hospitals are older and you are not going to find state of the art cutting edge treatments here, but for the usual stuff I feel like we are in good hands. The biggest downside at least in Carley's mind is that they do not flavor the medicine here so taking it is no fun. But she is a good sport and I have only had to hold her down once to get it in her mouth.

This is where I found Carley last night after I had announced it was time for medicine. She is really good at hiding. If she ever figures out how to not giggle when I call her name I am in BIG trouble. Blessings to all of you.

Paige

Jumping In

2008-01-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well here goes nothing. I have been inspired by so many people who are blogging these days. Plus I want a place to talk about what we are doing where we are going and post pictures for Grammy and Granny. I was trying to send out emails but they got so long and I forget so much from day to day. So I have started to blog. I can not promise anything witty or inspiring but I will do my best to share what I can and keep everybody up to date on what is going on in our lives. I promise to start at he beginning and show you our house, Carley's school and our daily life. So I hope everyone will enjoy. Feel free to comment. For now it is late and I am off to bed.