Back to Normal

Whatever that may be. Jessica was here for almost 3 weeks and I can’t believe the time few by so quickly. It was wonderful to have our first visitor from the other side of the world here finally. Believe it or not, I still even know how to do dishes—I’ve done them once so far today. Jessica did most of them while she was here, bless her heart.

I’m going to show you a bunch of pictures of our last month or so and let you get an idea of what’s going on in our lives.

We were at the mall with Mae Wahn about a month ago when Dru got Havilah to giggle. Dru said, “Look, she’s laughing,” but at first Mae Wahn didn’t believe him—apparently thinking she was too little. But then Mae Wahn realized that she really was laughing and had to have her turn.

My beautiful little girl.

Jube reading a story to “Hadeelah.” He really does love her. One day when Jessica and I were out he cried for Havilah. I had taken her with me. And Havilah will sit in her chair or on the bean bag and watch him run around the house. So far they get along pretty wonderfully.

Jessica brought a whole suitcase full of stuff from Dru’s parents. When I went to unzip it , the zipper kept getting caught on something soft and fuzzy. It was this big puppy dog.

Jube decided to see if he’d fit in his high chair.

One morning when Pii Ang was over, Jube dug out the floor puzzle and insisted that Pii Ang and Jessica help him put it together.

I asked my mom to send me a tractor for Jube. My dad took the project over and sent this tractor. He uses his tractor from Grandpa daily, inside and out of the house. He’d take it into the bathtub with him if I’d let him. Here he’s hauling a small stuffed puppy.

Jessica rented a motorbike about right away when she got here. I’m so glad she did. She was able to get out and about when I had to stay at home and be a mom. Maybe you wouldn’t guess that our quiet Jessica is scared of nothing—but I really don’t think she is. Only she did say that my driving scared her a little. That’s okay. It scares me a lot. I was not meant to drive a car, manual shift, in the city. Such things scare the livin’ daylights out of me, so to speak.

The men having their morning coffee, only Jube has hot chocolate, while Havilah looks on.

Breakfast outside. I wish Jessica were on this picture, but I think she was still on her way out. Dru thought maybe Jessica would get tired of pancakes but she said she wasn’t tired of them and this was the last time we had them when she was here.

A lot of our meals are happening on the lawn these days. Although Jessica might tell you differently, it is quite cool here anymore. It does warm up a bit in the afternoons, although it’s bearable. (Jessica thought that it was a bit hot at times but I assured her that it was quite nice weather actually.)

BuBbLeS…..

Jessica told us that she wanted to be sure to ride an elephant while she was here. So last Saturday we went to the Elephant Camp.

May I scratch your nose, oh noble beast? (This picture cracks me up.)

Jube loved seeing the elephants. He was nervous and trembling all over but he wanted to feed them.

I guess this was about how Jube would have perceived these large animals. Mostly nose and all big, bigness.

A rather poor family picture.

By the time we got to riding the elephant, Jube had lost all fear. The ride took us up and down a few steep places on the trail. As the elephant went down I felt like I was having to hang on for dear life to keep from sliding out under the bar across our laps. But it seemed to be of no concern to Jube.

Just being cheesy.

Making friends, waiting for the elephant show to start.

Jube’s face while the show was going on.

Jube found this cat laying on the path/road here and stopped to visit for a bit. Every now and then something Jube will do will attract all kinds of attention. For a while he was petting the kitty—totally oblivious to everyone crowded around with cameras. It was between six and ten women cooing and oohing over him at one point.

On Thursday morning Jessica, Havilah, and I headed over to the Lady’s Meeting. Afterwards we left Havilah at Mae Wahn’s for an hour and went to the pottery shop and then picked up some lunch and cold coffee and then came back to Mae Wahn’s house to eat. We had a very nice time. But Mae Wahn was sad that she hadn’t been able to spend much time with Jessica and Jessica was soon to leave. So that night she came to our house and from there we went up the mountain together. Afterwards we came to Swensen’s at Big C. These are Swensen pictures. Jessica and Mae Wahn were both glad they could spend more time together.

My crazy men.

Because of the flooding in Bangkok, a lot of places are running low on stuff. Swensen’s was out of hot fudge, caramel, and almonds…what else is there to eat with ice cream? So we settled for this and five spoons. It has marshmallow and blue berry topping instead—along with whipped cream and cherries.

On Friday night I drove Jessica to the airport. It was a scary experience for both of us, but we made it. After I bid her goodbye, Dru and I decided to meet at the mall. We picked up Dru’s violin finally.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Dru had had IGo people, who’d come over for Engilsh Classes that night, drop him off at the mall so he could drive me home. I thought he’d driven his bike over. I was SO glad I didn’t have to drive again. My nerves were about shot. It has been good for me to have to drive, but I won’t if I don’t have to.

This morning Dru tuned it up. He handed it to me to try at one point. Mostly all I could get out of it was tremendous and disturbing squawking sounds. Jube said, “Please stop, Mom. It too noisy.”

This is My Beloved. He wasn’t too bad for not having played for five years.

Today Jube has gone outside twice to see if “Jeckicka” has come home, in spite of us telling him that she’s gone bye-bye and won’t come back for a long time. Miss you, Jessica!