the end is near!

We have had more scares and rumors about school being postponed even further...there was even a nasty rumor flying around that we would be out of school until December 13th...luckily that was all it was- a rumor! We are officially starting on the 21st! I am so excited! I forget what it is even like to teach! We now have all our vacation days taken away AND an extra hour added onto our school days to make up for all the time that we missed. It means that our school day (until the middle of December at least) will be from 8:00-4:40. Its a LONG day but we have a lot of lost ground to cover so it will be good! I was very productive today so I am starting to feel like myself again, like I have a purpose! :)

Tomorrow all the girls are taking a field trip to IKEA. They just put one in- it is about 3-4 hours from here but it is our last hurrah before the whirl of school consumes us! I am gonna look for some sweet canisters and who knows what else! I have a house to shop for! :) Tonight I am babysitting for a couple on campus. They have a Christmas tree and stockings hung up and I am listening to Christmas as I type this. It's nice to be in the holiday spirit! I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week! We are having a big staff Thanksgiving dinner next Saturday. It should be a really fun/relaxing time! Everyone is bringing a dish and we are all chipping in for a turkey. We have so much to be thankful for this year!

On Saturday some friends and I are going downtown to build some water bottle rafts for flood victims to use to get themselves and their belongings out of their houses. It should be a good time! We are going to go to a local church in the afternoon then that is a bilingual church. Every aspect of their service is in both English in Thai. Its a neat environment and I think it will be a good way to spend our last Saturday of "freedom!" As much as I am looking forward to starting school I am not disillusioned about how much work it is going to be!

i take it all back!

change of schedule again! school now does not start until the 21st....we are all getting frustrated around here and we could use some bolstering prayers! Forget having a countdown to Christmas break, in my house we have started a countdown until class starts again!

almost back to normal

Well we got to escape for a little bit to the beautiful island of Koh Chang. The water was warm, clean, and beautiful! We were there for 5 days, and I am pretty sure that we did not leave the water the entire five days! We would go to the beach around 9, go right in the water, and not leave it until about 5 when we went back to our place. It was so beautiful and relaxing! One day we went snorkeling and we saw a sting ray jump out of the water and many exotic fish. It was beautiful! I had a lot of fun and came back very refreshed!

When we got back from the beach it was nice to see that all the water in the streets from the sewer over flowing had gone back down and the school down the street from us that was completely underwater is now completely dry! Rainy season is over and the days have been sunny and breezy! We made it through the worst without getting flooded! The only way we can get flooded now is if one of the dykes break or the sandbags don't hold. I was told today that I could "de-flood" my classroom though which is a relief. We moved all our furniture back in our house too so it feels more like a home again! School starts again on the 15th. It will be so nice to be able to get back into the classroom with my students! I miss them and I miss teaching them! The grocery stores have food again. I even saw bottles of water on the shelves! :) Life is returning back to normal here at GES.

Even though God was good in protecting us though, there are so many people who did not end up as lucky as us. So many people are without homes and possessions. I heard about a Thai woman yesterday who travels to visit Thai women in other countries to teach them how to do Bible studies. She is in Germany right now and has been in contact with her neighbors who say that they have nothing left. Everything has been ruined. She said that even though her house is flooded and destroyed, she is not going to come back home to take care of it, she is going to stay and finish her work in Germany. On the walkways that go over the roads, there are so many homeless and hurting people who have been sleeping there because they have no where else that is dry to go. Please pray for the hurting and homeless here! May they see God working even in their pain and loss!

livin in a little piece of paradise!

So my roommate has friends in high places! She is friends with someone who works for the US Embassy so needless to say their house is AMAZING! They had planned a vacation for Phuket...an island down south and just extended their stay because of the flooding. They offered their house to us to stay in until the worst of the flood threats are over. So we packed up all our water and all the food that we had stored up and made our way over to this piece of paradise. This house has its own private swimming pool, huge comfortable beds, each bedroom with its own bathroom complete with its own tub and shower. We can order for a massage to come to the house, a golf cart to take us anywhere we want to go in the little village, and get take-out from amazing restaurants! We are living the life!

On Monday we are escaping Bangkok and the flooding and going 5 hours south to Koh Chang, a little island known for its beautiful emerald green water and of course elephants. Here in Thailand seeing elephants is like seeing dogs or cats, they are like pets that you can find walking down any street. We are going for a whole week because school is canceled until November 7th now, and even that could change and be pushed back until the 15th.

So a little update on Thailand and the flooding...God has protected and provided. If you look at a flood map, we are the island of dry. Everything around us is underwater but for some reason water has not touched us. The drains on the side of the road have filled and are going out into the streets but even that water is more like a big puddle than anything we actually have to fear.

I ran into one of my student's parents at a local grocery store on Friday and they said that the water in their house is up to their knees. Ice is the name of that student and he is the shortest student in my class. He is really tiny. His parents told me that he can't go downstairs or the water would go over his head and being the fact that he is Thai, he cannot swim! :)

Thank you for your prayers...keep them coming! God is certainly answering them! :)

my dad left and the water is coming!

So my dad and I got back from Chiang Mai Friday night and we decided it would be best for him to see if he could get an early flight out so he wouldn't get stuck here! It was sad that he had to leave early but I would have been a nervous wreck the whole time he was here.

I am sure that my mom has done a good job of keeping everyone updated but just in case she missed people, the flood is coming soon! It has hit my province really hard and we are pretty much just waiting now for the siren to go off that means it has come here. The dam has been holding so far but it will be a strong tide the next couple of nights because of the full moon so there is no way we can escape it!

Today my roommate and I went to a grocery store. It opened at 10 and we got there right when it opened. We were able to get two cases of water and I am glad that we could because by 10:13 all their water was gone. It was crazy!

I will keep you posted on what's going on. But before I sign off, I just want to share some pictures that I took with my dad when he was here! :)

so far we're still dry!

Well its Sunday night and so far we have yet to see the flood waters come. The surrounding provinces are really hurting right now but God has kept us dry so far! It has rained a lot this weekend though! Hopefully we can continue to stay dry tonight so we will have no trouble getting a ride to the airport tomorrow for our trip to Chiang Mai! I am really looking forward to getting away and seeing some different sights! It will be nice to get out of dirty Bangkok and breathe some clean air!

My dad and I are having a good time so far! It's weird always being with someone so tall in Asia though! I am feeling like a tourist and I like it! :) It's nice to be able to see things that people fly half way around the world to experience! Thanks for your prayers of safety! If you can remember, keep my students in prayer. I know of at least 8 whose houses flooded, it could be more now...may they be reminded of God's provision and His goodness....things I have really stressed to them this year that I am hoping will take root in their hearts!

flood flood go away...if you have to come, come another day!

So life here in Nonthaburi is a little crazy right now! There are all these intense flood warnings right now! People are building cinder block walls around their stores and houses, and the country is running out of sand bags. We are having emergency flood evacuation practice with our students, and half of my students have been missing all week because they cannot get out of their houses. On top of all this, my dad is en route to visit me! I am just worried I won't be able to get to the airport to get him, especially since we are right down the street from the pier. There are rumors that a dam is about to break, if that happens, it is looking like we will be underwater! :( We are also getting hit with a tropical storm this weekend, and if that is the case, the dam will certainly break. Pray for our little school, and me and my dad!

BUT there is humor in even this situation. On Monday, my class was finishing up their weather unit. Because so many of my students were missing, I decided that we would create extreme weather forecasts. I showed them some examples of weather forecasts and I told them that in extreme weather forecasts, the meteorologist will often times tell them things to do to get their house ready. I asked them in the case of a flood, what are somethings they could do to get their house ready. I was thinking in my head of examples that they could say like, "move the furniture upstairs, get lots of drinking water, etc." But no, not my little Thai students. As soon as I asked the question, without blinking 7-8 students AT THE SAME TIME said, "move the rice upstairs!" You know you live in Asia when rice becomes the number one priority! :)