Move, Moving, Moved!

Well, we (me and boys) made it to Chiang Mai alright, minus the dozen ant bites Brayden got from riding in the crumb filled seat on the bus. John made it fine on the long drive by himself, but his earphones for his ipod hung out the door for half the trip. It's an interesting shape now after it was dragged on the road for 6 hours. The truck with our furniture made it to Chiang Mai without incident, BUT our furniture inside was tossed around and was covered with black soot from the diesel fumes.

If you had only seen my face, when I first discovered it. I kept trying not to be disappointed but I was. Every thing we own (which isn't very much) was scarred, scratched, nicked, or dented. Our refrigerator, washer, microwave, tv, entertainment center,  cabinet, and the boys bed frame were fairly new looking but that is not so now. The boys mattress is still gray from the soot. Ugh! So so frustrating. We tried to take the cheaper road by renting a truck with two drivers instead of "movers". Now we know the difference.

The house was so clean when we arrived, which is very unusual. Of course I had to put the Jacqueline wash on everything but it wasn't difficult. It's a good thing because the clean up of everything on the truck was enough work for me. There was even soot on each lego block that was inside the lego bin. Crazy!

I really like our house. It is slightly larger than our 1100 square foot home in Khon Kaen, so that's really nice. I feel like I have received a promotion with my kitchen. I have cabinets!!! And I have a four burner stove instead of two like before. I have a real oven! It's a compact/apartment size, but it's wonderful. And the refrigerator is teenage sized, instead of kid sized. Although it's nothing compared to some stainless steel grandpa's some of my American friends have, it's better than what I had, which is great to me! So, I guess I gotta cook now. Ahh, man!

We are trying to get used to our new city and people. It is very different here. John mentioned that it might be similar to a move from Alabama to California. People are inside more and busy, like America. The traffic here is crazy in the sense that it is busier, but overall it is more civil and law abiding than Khon Kaen. I see a lot more newer model cars, and less motor bikes, which makes it quieter outside our house. Never realized just how much noise motorbikes created when they were in groups. There are less food stands and more indoor restaurants. Because so few foreigners ever visited Khon Kaen, we were always stared at, here, no one seems to double take. And that's kind of nice.

Our last week with all our friends in Khon Kaen was so much fun, it really made it hard to say goodbye. We connected and bonded with the Isaan culture/people while we were there and made some really great friends. Now in a way, we need to allow ourselves to separate some so that we have room to embrace all the new things that life brings us here. Ready or not, it's now.

Although, we would love to put Brayden in school, we won't be at this time.  He is doing fine homeschooling on an academic level, but it's socially where he is struggling. When we told him we were going to be moving to Chiang Mai, he cried. He said he didn't want to leave "all" his friends. (He only had one friend). When I asked him who, he said his friends at TaeKwonDo. When I asked him their names, he said..."I don't know". It made me sad that he doesn't know enough about friendships to know the difference between friends and acquaintances.  One day, we would like to be able to put Brayden in one the international schools here. Until then, pray that God blesses him with friends.

We will be waiting to put Aslan in his school until January when the new semester begins, since it is now mid semester here. But he will be beginning his speech and occupational therapy right away. Please join us as we pray to see marked improvements quickly.

So, we did it! It's done! We are here! Even though it could have been seriously stressful, it wasn't. It was blessed and grace-filled, even despite the furniture thing. Thanks for praying. Right now, the only thing stress I feel is my back muscles from all the lifting, pushing and pulling that is unavoidable when moving.

Thanks for praying and please continue.

Blessings, Jacq