Board Meeting and American Embassy

No post yesterday…sorry. Yesterday was a rather good day, just a little melt down over underwear which still makes no sense, but he was very, very tired. We also visited a couple of Buddhist Temples. Very, very sad to see all those people bowing down to an idol, an idol that man has made. It makes no sense to me, these people, the ones I have met, seem very logical yet they bow down to an image of a man made by man. There is so much reverence and respect for Buddha and they offer food and flowers and prayers to this image. Then they take the food home with them and eat it...so it's not really like an offering I think. There isn't much else to tell about the temples. Ms. Oh wanted a Buddhist priest to bless Tankhun, the priest gave him a "holy" string bracelet. It's gone now. We really adore Ms. Oh, she is such a great guide and takes really good care of us. She has certainly made this week great, maybe God will give us the chance to share the Gospel with her, maybe not, but we are praying.

Today we had our DSDW CAB meeting and we received final, final approval again! It was a little more intimidating that I thought it would be as we walked in they all just stared at us. I was trying to negotiate the chairs and the backpack and the child. The DSDW workers were all very nervous about the meeting which made me a little more nervous. The questions they asked were expected and nice except they asked how we would improve the orphanage. I said toys for the kids and chairs for them to sit in. They all just stared at me, perhaps I should have said it was all very nice…I don’t know. YIKES!! But in the end they seemed okay with us and approved us.

From there we went to a great, huge, wonderful mall and walked around what almost felt like Atlanta. American stores and brands and food, of course we ate Thai food so…it was not great, but it was good. We then went to the U.S. embassy where everything kind of unraveled! The officer who runs the embassy there hates me, it was a most unpleasant experience and I can’t imagine any other country’s embassy yelling at one of their citizens the way she was yelling at me. Our appointment is still tomorrow and I’m sure she will be very slow to call us and to help us in any way, all because I asked for the interview to be today. She lost her mind over my request, it was all very surreal. I hope she can’t really do anything to hinder us, not that she would, but she is a most unfortunate human being. Since we started this process 2 ½ years ago the U.S. embassy in Bangkok has been the most difficult to deal with, not necessarily the slowest of course. I figured we would have problems there, something just told me it wouldn't go smoothly. I know those poor Thai workers were beside themselves the way she was speaking to me. Ms. Oh ran out to get Veldon and couldn’t look at me because I was crying and had been so humiliated. She was very worried, and called back this afternoon to check on us. All the lady would have had to say is “we are too busy, but we will try to help you get home quickly” even if she didn’t mean it, but she took the opportunity to be very hateful. (I know way too may commas Kelly!)

Well, enough about that. Max is such a joy. Everyone loves him and watches him and thinks he is great! This afternoon it was like some one flipped on a switch and he realized Daddy is a good guy and now he is not the least bit interested in Mommy. He stands on the elevator like Daddy, I wish I had my camera. He holds Daddy’s hand and talks to him all the time now. We left Veldon in the lobby while we came up to the room, all the way up he was asking about Daddy. I’m not sure what he was saying but he was super worried. They play ball in the room and play rough all the time. Max is in heaven it seems.

We had a fun evening riding the boat over to the Marriot and then walking to the big department store down the road and eating American food with a Thai flare! The streets are crazy and after dark they are even worse. People walk like they drive here and it is a little unnerving. The taxi drivers are out telling you they can drive you and the merchants on the streets are either trying to get your attention or ignoring you completely, because we are forang of course.

We are tired and homesick, but we are also enjoying Thailand. We are happy to see Max’s country, while it is still his country. I will be very happy to be back on American soil with all four of my children and the rest of our family!