Pictureless blog with lots of words.

I need to blog. It's been three weeks since we've been home and I've said nothing. So I'm here again.

It's so good to be home! I was looking forward to being home again since before we left, literally. Not that it's not good to be home and see everyone, reconnect with family, etc. But Dru and I have both realized that Thailand really is where we have made our family and put roots down in so many ways. But anyway, enough with that.

We did make some good memories in the States. I think for me, two of my most special memories, the ones I've thought about often since, are my conversations with my two best friends from childhood and teenage years. I got to spend about three hours with LeeAnne. It always amazes me at how we pick up and talk just like old times in a lot of ways. Our world are so different, but, oddly, we're starting to have common ground and share some of the same friends again.

When we were in Indiana, Melinda and I stayed up late Sunday night and talked. I had no clue it was as late as it was, but it was wonderful to catch up. Again, it was interesting for me to discover that, well, I don't know how to say it, but suddenly, we have a lot in common again. I felt like we got where each other was coming from, and, well, it hasn't always been that way. But all the sudden we're both married and have at least one baby. So we've walked some of the same ground and there's so much in common again. And then there is Melinda's infectious laughter. Like the time I bumped her cantankerous ironing board down and yelled, and then she started laughing and so I did...then there was the giggle party on the couch that I have no clue what that was about anymore. So good to laugh with her again.

So those two conversations are way up on the list of my most treasured memories. There were of course the fun family times. It was interesting to notice the tensions and good stuff too, that comes from the Elv Graber family now being 4 family's rather than one. It was interesting to me to see how my loyalties personally, have changed from my parents to my man. But yeah, this was all good in the end and I'm so thankful for my family back in the States. Now if I can only figure out how to get Gabe and Jenny over here to visit...

I had some worries about coming back and settling in. One of those being Jube and how he was going to handle life. How was he going to handle the communication barrier, especially with Mae Wahn, since he seems to have lost so much of his Thai?

When our airplane landed in Chiang Mai, we went through immigration, then picked up luggage, and were headed out of customs. They asked us to scan one bag, but we could see everyone beyond, waiting for us. So I told Jube to run to Mae Wahn, rather than wait. When he picked her face out from the crowd, he ran to her, then just smiled and smiled. Happy to see her but not sure what to say because really, he couldn't communicate. Finally, unable to contain it any longer, he spilled forth in English telling her all about his trip to America.

Now he's entering the language learning stage all over again, but this time consciously, and he seems to enjoy it. He and Mae Wahn exchange language lessons, as much as is possible to do with a 2 year old, of course. All of this is a huge answer to prayer. Havilah too, loves Mae Wahn. We are SO thankful and blessed by that woman. There is a deep ache in my heart when I think of ever having to leave her, and I hope we don't ever need to part with her for a long time.

We did take a flying trip to Laos to get the proper student visa that we couldn't get in the US due to time crunch issues. But it went super well and we couldn't have asked for a smoother trip, thanks to all the many prayers that went up on our behalf. It was really fairly uneventful.

The first bit after we got back (from the US and Laos too, I guess) I felt like I was being attacked on all sides in all areas of my life. My motherhood wasn't good enough to bring my naughty little boy back to a good little boy after 2 months in the states. My wifehood wasn't focused on my man like it was supposed to be. And my Bible was dry. All bad, bad! And then Dru prayed and everything got better overnight. I will never cease to be amazed at the power of that man's prayers over his family. :)

Jube did have a big learning curb to deal with when we got here. I'm not sure why and all that, but it's getting better. Poor guy has had so many changes to deal with in the past three months. He too is glad to be back.

Havilah is nearly, nearly walking. Also learning how to go to sleep when Mom says so. And pushing teeth, little by little. Can't wait 'til they all pop through. How much pain killer can you give a baby anyway? I hate to have her on it all the time, so I don't. Yet when she's not on it, she's half miserable half of the time, poor dear.

I have pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, mallo seeds, 4 o'clock seeds...and I think that's it, in pots on my table. I'm going to get them very well established inside where I can keep a beady eye on them and the birds don't eat them and bugs devour them without my supervision. And then when there quite big, I'll plant them outside. I hope the pumpkin seeds from Louisa make nice plants and big pumpkins. I long for big orange pumpkins, but I worry it's a pipe dream too. We shall see.

My man did a whole bunch of yard work...basically reclaiming the corners of our property from the weeds and vines that overtake everything so easily. So now he's my hero big time and I can dream about what to do to make those corners pretty.

Okay, gonna go to bed now. My man's first day of school is tomorrow and I want to get up with him in the morning. I'm so excited for him. Anyone who knows Dru knows that he likes to study. There's part of me that hopes that taking a full load like he is won't be too much for him. And then there's part of that hopes his classes won't be terribly easy and not stretch him at all. Which is probably silly--but still, a lot of his classes are geared towards people using English as a second language. Anyway, I'm still happy for him. It's going to be a good 2 years.