1. A nice night under the stars: I began my break getting all "snazzed up" and going out to eat with a few teachers from school. It was so fun to put on heels and have sparkly-red fingernails and eat good Thai food under the stars. It was kind of our "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" celebration since we were all leaving. We did this instead of all getting presents for one another, but little did I know I had a surprise waiting for me under the tree. My friend Matt remembered me saying that "Santa" was not going to come this year... so he went out and secretly brought two presents to my friend Kelly's house that said, "To Sara from Santa." I am so blessed by my friends here.
*Lesson Learned: God can use anyone to show you His love and provision.
2. A very normal Christmas eve: Patty and her friend Autumn came to Chaing Mai to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day. We drove to the top of a mountain and went to waterfalls on Christmas eve, then we went to Barb's house for Christmas eve. She opened her home to us and my friend Katie and her brother Robb. As you can see it was a normal Christmas eve... complete with eggnog, Christmas carols and "Mom-Hugs." Barb loves to give out "mom-hugs" to those of us who can't hug our own moms. She does a pretty good job. We then came back to Kelly's and went to the midnight candlelight light service. I sat in between my friend Kelly and Matt. Since they are like my family here in Thailand it really did feel like sitting in between Anna and Daniel on Christmas eve. We tried to keep our candles burning the longest and tried to see how we could drip wax all over the paper holder. It seemed so wonderfully normal.
*Lesson Learned: When the Lord is the center of your life and says he will provide, he will dry those tears and wrap you tightly in your arms and give you His best.
*Lesson Learned: God can use anyone to show you His love and provision.
2. A very normal Christmas eve: Patty and her friend Autumn came to Chaing Mai to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day. We drove to the top of a mountain and went to waterfalls on Christmas eve, then we went to Barb's house for Christmas eve. She opened her home to us and my friend Katie and her brother Robb. As you can see it was a normal Christmas eve... complete with eggnog, Christmas carols and "Mom-Hugs." Barb loves to give out "mom-hugs" to those of us who can't hug our own moms. She does a pretty good job. We then came back to Kelly's and went to the midnight candlelight light service. I sat in between my friend Kelly and Matt. Since they are like my family here in Thailand it really did feel like sitting in between Anna and Daniel on Christmas eve. We tried to keep our candles burning the longest and tried to see how we could drip wax all over the paper holder. It seemed so wonderfully normal.
*Lesson Learned: When the Lord is the center of your life and says he will provide, he will dry those tears and wrap you tightly in your arms and give you His best.
3. Christmas Morning: God blessed me so much with a best friend who had an identical idea to what Christmas morning should look like. After a breakfast of Chocolate-chip pancakes, fruit, coffee and muffins -- we sat in front of her beautiful Christmas tree and opened up presents in our pj's and glasses. We both had the same number of presents and took pictures as we opened each one. One silly present from her sister was what set us both off with tears. Good tears, and laughter. They came in spurts throughout the day... but after the day was over we looked back and realized that this Christmas wasn't any less special than Christmases with our families... just different. God even provided a wonderful Christmas lunch with her teammates. And a dinner at Pizza Hut finished off the day.*Lesson Learned: Jesus knows EXACTLY what your heart needs, and will always hold you tightly. He has never forgotten about me.
4. Bangkok: Kelly and I began our vacation with bus tickets to Bangkok and reservations at a guest house as our only set plans... little did we know that this was just the beginning of an adventure. We went to the grand palace, reclining Buddha and the floating market -- but I think our favorite parts about the trip were the ride on the sky tram over the city during the sunset, hanging out in public parks, time spent at Starbucks and watching the Lord miraculously find our room key for us. My friend Raef lives in Bangkok and also wanted to head to the beach... so we ended up meeting him and his Thai friend Bank and caught a night bus south to Bank's home town of Rayong.*Lesson Learned: When you cover your trip in prayer, the Lord will guide your steps and provide for you along the way.
5. Rayong to Koh Samet: We arrived in Rayong late on the 29th. Rayong is the last city on the main land. Banks parents picked us up in the back of a pickup truck in front of 7-11. Riding in the back of a pickup, in a little Thai town under the stars was such a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. We went to the beach that night under the moonlight, just because we needed to smell the salt. We woke up the next morning and headed to Koh Samet, where my friend Katie and her brother "just happened to be." The water was amazing there -- and we decided that we would go back to Rayong then come back and stay at Koh Samet for the rest of our time. That night in Rayong was one of the funniest nights. We ended up traveling by ferry, songteau, motorbike, bus and to the back of a truck to find Banks family. We were pleasantly suprised to end up at a little restaurant where Banks dad played the piano every night and sang. Since no one was there they made us get up on stage and sing. After a terrible rendition of "Hotel California" and "My heart will go on" we called it a night. We laughed a lot that night....* Lesson Learned: Man may plan his path, but the Lord determines his steps...
6. New Years and Koh Samet: We arrived at Koh Samet on December 31st. Dropped off our stuff at "Rogers" a literally hole-in-the-wall place that cost between the five of us $3 each a night. But it didn't matter when you spent ALL your time on the beach. We watched the sun set on 2007, and then had dinner on the beach. Raef had the brilliant idea to make a fire on the beach -- which made for lots of laughter. We counted down the New year (in Thai of course) and then ended up dancing until 4 am. Then Raef convinced all of us that we might as well watch the sun rise on 2008 since it would come around 5:30 am. Well, we all agreed and camped out in 5 chairs facing east. Katie stole table cloths from an outside restaurant to use as blankets and we all fell slightly asleep. There was no dramatic sunrise -- it just got lighter. But we all agreed it was worth it in the end and none of us have ever had a better New years eve. We spent the next few days hanging out on the beach, and playing in the water and laughing a lot. None of us really wanted to come back... but work calls.*Lesson Learned: Tablecloths make good blankets, and make the fire when you are really cold.
7. Back to the real world: We decided after 9 days it was time to come home and get reacquainted with the "real world." Kelly and I decided to fly home and ended up spending most of the day in the Bangkok airport at Starbucks. We decided while we were sitting there to start figuring out how much money we actually spent. Usually this is not a fun game you want to play after a vacation... but as we started to calculate how much we spent on lodging it was $62 total a person for 8 nights. Transportation, including a flight home, was $82 and food was around $10 a day. We laughed and danced to a shared ipod in the airport and really didn't want to come home. We couldn't thank Jesus enough for such a wonderful break...*Lesson Learned: God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. I am still learning that every day.
Thank you Jesus.
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