Making new friends

Faith and Hope making new friends!

Back in Thailand

It has been quite a long time since I "blogged"!  I am not much of a blogger. But, it seems to be a good way to keep family and friends informed about the "goings on" of the Jensens in Asia. Yes, we have returned to southern Thailand! We are living in Songkhla Province on the outskirts of Hat Yai City.  We have been here for about 9 weeks already.

Sweet friends who trekked around DC with us up to departure time. 

Our adventure began at the Washington Dulles Airport, where we unloaded our 2 suitcases, 6 boxes, 3 Carry-on bags and 4 laptop computer bags from the rental car and tried to fit them on two push carts!  Thankfully, Chris is a master packer! Security was crazy as, you might imagine. Etihad Airlines was very accom-modating and we had very few problems checking everything in and meeting the weight and size allowances. Our flight was leaving at 10:00pm; we thought this would be great for the kids, as we planned to and did trek around DC all day and knew the girls would be very sleepy.

A bit into the first flight (13 hours to Abu Dhabi) Hope began to be terribly sick. She woke up from her sleep crying and was somewhat inconsolable. She had a fever and was throw-ing up everything she had in her tummy. Sadly, she clogged up the bathroom sink when she did; the stewardess had to shut that bathroom down for the rest of the flight! Hope limped her way through the roughly 30-hour journey very slowly; we had to make a bed out of our coats on the floor in the Abu Dhabi airport for her to rest upon.  When we reached Bangkok we were the last ones off the plane. We had a fifteen minute walk to immigration and the baggage claim area; it seemed like an eternity to Hope! 

We needed to go through immigration and the lines were very long. A Thai official saw the girls (Thais love children) and he immediately put us through an empty line. We were the last ones to reach our luggage retrieval belt. Two men were waiting with our bags.  These were the airport angels!!!  They saw our little girls and whisked us through customs at blazing speed. After all that, we were able to find some semi-comfortable seats for Hope to lay down on and rest, while Chris re-taped a number of boxes ripped through by homeland security; there was no way they were going to repack them like Chris originally did!  The only loss was a bottle of lemon extract that leaked over some other spices-- not too bad.  

The Bangkok to Hat Yai flight was a short 1-hour flight. The inflight entertainment was a "Candid Camera" kind of show and had the girls rolling in stitches the whole time--quite a scene to the very quiet and tranquil Thai people! Thanks, Thai Airways!  We were all totally relieved to make it to Hat Yai in one piece with all our luggage intact and minimal damage!  We were quite the site filing out of the arrival gate quite disheveled with our earthly possessions piled to the sky on two very small carts!

We stayed at a great hotel on the northeast end of the city. [It was more like an apartment--with a small kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms--for the price of a hotel.] It was a great place to get over jet lag and from which to begin to explore the city.  A funny side note . . .  the girls loved coming back to the hotel each afternoon eager to discover how the maid cleverly arranged their American Girl dolls. She placed them in their room in different spots and different positions each time.  It was very amusing.

After getting over jet lag, we piled in our compact Honda City rental car and started the tedious task of finding a house to rent. There are very, very few craigslistings or internet searches with pictures for houses for rent--practically nothing down south. So, we used our GPS to find what appeared on the map to be subdivisions and went through the streets and alleys one at a time, looking for the sign that says, "bahn wang hai chow" (Thai for "house for rent"). This is our 4th time doing this--once in Bangkok, and again in Ubon, Krabi, and now in Hat Yai). After inquiring into a handful of houses, we quickly learned (to our surprise and dismay) that the cities of Hat Yai and Songkhla are both quite pricey for the kind of house we were looking for--a single residential home with a yard in a safe community (i.e. no busy streets). Most of the houses we called about were well above our budget, even smaller ones without yards. Each house we passed by with a "for rent" sign and stopped in front of to momentarily consider witnessed Hope jumping up and down, saying, "This is the one!  Call, Mama. Call now!!"

Finally, we made an appointment to see a house that was within our price range: 6000 Baht. We knew that many of the things we were hoping to find in our new home would likely not be realized.  This house was a town house with two bedrooms and a small bonus room. The girls really liked it--newly constructed with bright walls and tile floors in a gated community with many younger families; they planned to build a pool in it in the near future. The downside: the kitchen was only 5 feet wide with no windows! At this point, it was the only option we saw after going through all of Songkhla. 😕

Later that day we started going through the northern part of Hat Yai to look into a few subdivisions we had not yet entered. We found another house that was very nice, but a bit above of our budget.  The owner came and let us in to see it.  It was a much better option than the first house with a bigger kitchen. So, we made an appointment to talk with her and her husband the next morning.  We kindly asked her to lower the price to 12,000 baht and she seemed open to discuss it. We all thought this was the one.

The morning before we went out, I called a number of a house we had seen in a very nice neighborhood with a few ponds.  Initially, I was hesitant to call, because we had called about another house in the same subdivision that turned out to be way over our budget. But, after seeing the first house for 6000 baht, I thought maybe they would give me a Thai price. When I contacted the owner, he was in Bangkok traffic and said he would call me back later. Later that day he called again and said he would call me back that evening when he was free. I asked him at that point how much he wanted so we could scratch it off the list if it was too high. He wouldn't tell me and said he'd call me back later. We got his phone call about 4:30pm, as we were driving around town almost ready to end our search for homes.  Chris pulled over and I talked with him.  He asked me a lot of questions . . . Are you a foreigner?  Where do you come from?  What are you doing here? . . . He still wouldn't tell me the price. When I told him I was a Christian and that we love Thailand and the Thai people and plan to live here a long time, he said "That's wonderful! I am a Christian too." WOW!! In a country mostly filled with Buddhists (and Muslims here in the south), finding a Christian landlord is harder than finding a needle in a haystack!  He asked me if we knew anyone in Hat Yai or Songkhla. I said we only knew one Thai business man and his wife--a Christian couple we met 3 years ago on a trip from Krabi down south. It turns out that this man is the older brother of our friend's wife!! WOW!! Then he said he has a brother who lives in Songkhla who could come to show us the house. He turned out to be a pastor in Songkhla.

Pastor Aran and his wife Gai

I still was concerned about the price, so I told him the ceiling of our budget was 12,000 baht. He had rented the house to others for 18,000 (still a really good deal for this home). He told me, he could try to make it work within our budget! Wow! He said his brother would contact me the next day an meet us at the house. So, we met the pastor and his wife at the house the next day. The house is wonderful--much bigger than we thought we would ever be able to rent! It is full of all kinds of furniture and appliances--beds and closets in every room (they do not build closets in most Thai houses), a washing machine, a kitchen table set, a sofa set, fans . . . the list goes on and on! That we did not have to buy all of this ourselves was a huge help financially!  

This pastor and his wife are dear, sweet people. We were encouraged by their faith, as they told us about the many ministries they were doing and preparing to do to reach out to help people in these two cities. We spent the entire afternoon and early evening with them, talking about many things over dinner. During our conversation with Pastor Aran's wife, she shared with us that they had been praying for 2 months that a Christian family from overseas would come to live in and take care of this home! At the end of our time together, Pastor Aran said, "I feel like I've known you for ten years!"  

I called the owner of the house the next day and said the house was wonderful and we'd love to rent it.  He told us we can move in any time and he wouldn't charge us for the rest of the month nor require a large deposit from us. He also lowered the price to 10,000 baht per month and asked if we could pay the 700 baht for the neighborhood association fee! Minus the monthly fee, this is how much we paid to rent our house in Krabi--about ½ the size of this one with a large front yard! Like the one we had in Krabi years ago, our new Thai landlord is very kind and generous. We are blown away by what the Lord has done. His grace, mercy, and love displayed in the people we came to live among and serve is so beautiful and humbling. It was a great encouragement after a very long and wearisome transition back to southeast Asia. We are very grateful! 🙂

Batik

Through our school we had the opportunity to go to a Batik store and actually participate in making some ourselves!  It was a great experience for the girls.

Thai New Year!

Songkran is the Thai new year celebration.  It is basically a HUGE countrywide water battle.  We were so excited for Faith and Hope to experience their first here in Krabi!  Our friend Ong picked us up in his truck, with 3 big containers of water.  We picked up some friends and off we went.  Sadly, it was very overcast and somewhat "cool" outside so the girls got chilled.  It didn't help when people splashed us with ICE water.  All in all it was a great time.  I don't think the girls ever enjoyed a warm shower so much though when they got home!

Pit stop to fill up on water

The girls finally gave up because they were too cold!!!

US Friends Come to Visit!

In February we had 3 friends from the US come to visit for 3 weeks!  Our dear friend, Adam, brought his daughter, Isabel--a very close friend of Faith and Hope, and another mutual friend, Elise.  They really got a good taste of our life here, starting from day one!

I was hoping that we would not see any snakes while they were here; our neighbor had JUST run over a 5ft long cobra in our street a couple nights before they came!

Well, sadly, they saw one the first full day they were here!  The girls were playing outside, running around in the yard and driveway, and ran into this . . .

. . . just part of our life here in Thailand; you see them EVERYWHERE!  

Here are some pics of their time with us here . . .

Painting by the river

Walking on the boardwalk/ picture taking at the Black Crab

Trip to the beach

This was on "Middle Island"--a community batik project started by World Vision after the tsunami

We took a trip to a neighboring province called Phang Nga, where we have been helping.  We did a service project there for "Grandma and Grandpa."  We helped them clean their house, as their many disabilites have made this regular task very difficult for them.  Grandma had a stroke several years ago and is unable to walk.  She is a precious soul!

Next, we visited a rubber tree farm.   Some new friends of ours work here daily and call it home.

This is a bear they killed in the forest.  This man was drying it out and planned to burn it later on to make some kind of medicine that you rub on your skin to cure various ailments.  We'll send you some!

The girls made valentines for all the families in the church

We also took a trip to visit friends in Satun, a province that borders Malaysia.  The girls were a great attraction at the night market!

No trip to Thailand is complete without an elephant ride!

Their visit went by way too fast.  We had a great time and made a lot of memories.  Saying "goodbye" is always the hardest part.

Faith's Birthday!

There was no way we were going to top Hope's birthday and we knew that friends from the States were coming to visit in February, so we would have lots of opportunity to go "thiaow" (out on fun adventures) then.  So, we did a low key neighborhood birthday party for Faith's 8th.  It turns out that two other children here had birthdays within 5 days of Faith so we did a joint party!  We arranged it that morning and let people know where and what time-- very Thai!  We bought a couple pizzas and there was fried chicken, kabobs and noodles with curry.  One very sweet friend bought an ice cream cake from Swensens (a very nice ice cream shop in town)!  The kids had a blast.  It was very special to have Buddhists, Muslims and Christians all celebrating together!

After singing "Happy Birthday", Faith passed out cake to all the guests, starting with the oldest.  As she went about, each adult spoke a blessing over her.  We are so thankful for all our dear neighbors that have been so kind and welcoming.

Nong Muk making fried chicken

Baa Laan eating pizza

Aa Rak making balloon animals

Three birthday children... Faith in the middle back, Blaa Daow to the left and Sammi on the right

Our Kitty

So, I'm not so good at this blogging thing.  I am 7 months behind!  I really wanted this to be more like a journal for our family; so, I am going to try to "catch up" here.  But, before I go on, I wanted to share the story of how we came to have a cat . . . .

Chris has not really been excited about having a pet, at least not until the girls get a little older and can share the responsibility of taking care of it.  BUT, a neighborhood cat decided to give birth to kittens in our roof!  Yes, in our roof, right over our kitchen.  So, everyday during random meals we would hear the kitty jump on our roof and the little kittens crying for milk.  For some reason, we heard the cries becoming less and less, until only one little meow was left.  Mommy kitty was not coming to our roof anymore.  We saw her jumping on our neighbors roof now.  Finally, the lone kitty cry in our roof stopped and it was replaced with a TERRIBLE stench in our kitchen for a week or two.  We had no access to the roof; so, the only option was to cut through the drywall to get the little kitty out (we were not really wanting to do that--not quite sure what else we would find up there) or wait it out.  We choose the latter.

Soon, we saw little kittens climbing on our neighbor's roof.  Mother kitty was taking them somewhere one by one.  These ingenious cats give birth on roofs to avoid the dogs in the neighborhood.  Sadly, we have seen/heard of at least two kittens being mauled by the street dogs in our subdivision.  Well, one little kitty was left up on the roof.  Each day it would come out of the roof and cry and cry; mommy was no where to be seen.  This was agonizing for the girls, who were watching the kitty from their window!!!  Chris was not moved and stood fast in his resolve NOT to have a pet.  (BTW, our neighbor's roof comes right to our back porch and is on a lower plane, such that we can easily see and, even, touch it!)

On Thanksgiving morning things came to a head.  I started to give the kitty some food on the roof, since mommy kitty abandoned this one, as well.  The kitty was very afraid of me and would only come to the food, if I left the scene.  We had a growing concern that it would fall off the roof and get mauled by the dogs down below.  Well, it got too close to the edge, slipped and was hanging by its claws on the wall that separates our house from our neighbors!!!  As the girls screamed in horror, Chris rushed to it's rescue so it would not plummet to it's death and it, somehow, ended up in one of the girls arms.  :)  That was the end of that or should I say the beginning?!  So, we named our new kitty "Fiddler Fear";  Fiddler, for her singing (OK, crying) on the roof, and Fear, because it was terribly afraid of us and we had just read about the pilgrims and learned about a young child aboard the Mayflower named Fear.  Really, we simply call her "Kitty."

All the excitement added to the craziness of hosting a HUGE Thanksgiving feast!!!

This sweet kitty is very patient with the girl's excessive love and intrigues.  It has really become one of the family.