Thailand episode 4

You know how men enjoy back-seat driving from their wives?  Or not.

Well, all our married life I have sat in the front passenger seat and happily backseat driven--GASP!  Watch out!  Mercy me!  AAAAHHHH!!  Not so fast!

But it was ok because Paul is deaf in his right ear and he couldn't hear me.

Now we are in Thailand and everything is reversed.  So all my gasping and yammering is on the side of his good ear.

Life here proceeds apace.
we had two glorious days of weather that was tolerable, even pleasant, all day long.  It was wonderful.

I can walk again without bandaging my feet.  Amy, Jenny, and I went to the local mall which is huge and fancy.  Amy looked for that scotch tape that is all the rage, with little pictures on it.  It's rather vague what girls actually do with this, "Oh, I use it for journaling and [shrug] just stuff.  I just like it."  I looked for cute notebooks with wonderful "Tinglish" phrases on the front--"My friend, into the best ice creams with me." "The first thing to do, is say to yourself, and make them."

Three staff ladies took me out for coffee and we sat in deep chairs in a little cabin with windows on allsides and water flowing off the roof even though it wasn't raining.

I spoke to the girls for dorm night and the staff ladies for their monthly meeting, where one lady told about how she has learned to live with snakes, lots in the yard and about one a year in the house, like the one just under the bed that she stepped on the other week.  The neighbors across the fence took out a nest of spitting cobras a while back.  Jesus have mercy, but the truth is I have gone into some very snaky places in my life and someone back home always prayed the snakes away.  [That would be you, Sharon Coblentz, when we were in Kenya.]

In Canada in 1990 we moved in behind a big rock pile that the neighbor boy informed us had 'lots of snakes' and looked like heaven for garter snakes but I never saw one the whole time we lived there.  God is merciful.

And now we have a screened in back room where we do laundry that has snaky looking vines growing right through the screens and chicken wire and lots of damp jungly looking vegetation taking over behind and beside the house.  It makes me look around very cautiously before I go through the door but so far, again, God has decided I have enough to deal with and he will not send me more.

I would love to post pictures today but I'm on a tablet and haven't figured out how.  Please keep us in your prayers, for safety and effectiveness on all fronts.  Also, malaria is not really a danger here but dengue fever definitely is.

Back home, Emily has been dealing with skunks, mice, a raccoon, a broken belt on the lawn mower, and lots of other drama.  Matt says,

Quote of the Day:
"As a Smucker, there are destinies that one simply cannot escape.  Mine is to do tech support for random people.  Yours is to lead a dramatic life  Embrace it."