What Goes Around

Yesterday, after aerobics, I was sitting around with the ladies drinking chai. Usha's husband has been sick for about a month now. She described him as being anxious and nervous all the time. So he just lays in bed when he is at home. So the ladies were discussing what was wrong with him. It was all in Hindi so I wasn't following completely. Then there was a word I didn't understand so I asked Hena what it meant. She told me, "Black Magic". Usha is a Hindu. She has offered sacrifices for her husband's illness. She has asked me to pray for him. She has asked others too. So I asked Usha if she would like a man to come pray for her husband. She told me that she had already prayed for him. I said, "In Jesus' name though." And she told me that she had prayed in all names. So I left it at that. Today I am thinking about it all again. So this morning, after aerobics again, I asked an English speaker to explain Black Magic more to me. S...

Steve will be going to a friends' house to see if he can help solve their rat problem. It seems they have a rat the size of a hamster in one of the cupboards. I personally think they would know more about what to do since they use to live in a house with a rat problem. Once they came home from a weekend away and found rat droppings under their pillows. The other day one of the ladies who comes for aerobics was talking with me over chai. Her four daughters were with her. And we had a friend of ours and her three daughters also. Our friend has some physical problems that have caused her hands and feet to be deformed. So we were talking about how in India it would be really difficult for a lady with any kind of "defect" to find a husband. Any little scar could mean singlehood or becoming a second wife. Our muslim friend commented, "My in-laws are not very attractive people and unfortunately my daughters have taken after them. But I only look on the inside....

I love the picture above. It was taken several years ago while Steve was out skateboarding. He and two other guys were skating on the side of a busy street. There is a underground walkway to cross the street. Above the walkway there is a great structure for skating. So Steve and the others were were skating there. Traffic started slowing so that people could watch. First rickshaws were stopping, then cars, and finally buses. As you see, people were enjoying the skateboarding. I just love the expressions on their faces.

I think mannequins should be made fatter. That would let me know what an outfit would look like on me. Most of the clothes look great on a size 0 dummy, but when I put them on they just don't seem to be as cute. Yes, I am one of many women who have a weight problem. Not that I am fat, I just think about my weight too much. Pretty much every day at some point I will think about my weight and if I am happy with my size or not. That can't be healthy. And it is especially difficult when we are on vacation. We haven't been eating horribly, but it is more than we do at home. And I'm not exercising at all except for the pool. So enough of my weight..... We had to buy Micah a new stuffed animal on this trip. He needed something to snuggle with. Brownie doesn't get to go on vacations with us. He is mine and Micah's teddy bear. One time, many years ago, Brownie got left in a Paris hotel. Luckily, Micah asked “Where's Brownie?” before we got on the shuttl...

We are really enjoying our vacation. We went go-carting yesterday and it was such a joy to see Micah's face as he drove around the track. Of course we are eating great food. I wonder why it is so easy to gain weight in two weeks and why it takes so long to lose it. But I keep telling (lying to myself) that I will lose it when I get back to doing aerobics again. Mango with sticky rice is the best! Is it a dessert? Or is it a healthy meal?

Today is our fifth day in Thailand. Our first day we were pretty tired from the all night flight here. We just stayed at the hotel, which was a very nice hotel. The next day we went to the mall and watched a movie, Ice Age 3-D. Great sweet popcorn. We also went bowling. When we got back to the hotel our friend was waiting outside, just leaving. He had come to the hotel to look for us and was just giving up when we came. So that was a fun coincidence. The next day we spent at the hotel swimming pool and ate food from 7-11. You can get cheap, good food there. And yesterday we went to another mall to spend the day. Steve got a foot massage and I had a full body massage. A guy did my massage. He even massaged my butt, which is a bit odd. But the massage sure felt good. And finally to the train station for our night train to Chiang Mai. And here we are. Very nice hotel. And it happens to be connected to a mall. We found a Toy's R Us in the mall and Micah found a fun ...

We are counting the days until our trip to Thailand. So excited. And so needing a rest. This has been the hottest summer in ten years, so the newspaper says. Thankfully we have had good electricity with very few power cuts. There was a week of no water, but our tank was full, so we didn't even realize it. Now the monsoon has started. It is a bit weak, but cooler none the less. The month of June was busy for our house. We had visitors almost constantly. By the end of the month I was almost out of my hospitality desire. I just needed a day of no one but the three of us in our house. We have also been working with friends to try to get a young girl moved into a hostel. She is the 11 year old daughter of a prostitute and the mother would like her to be in a better place. The problem was that the "father" was not in town or for some reason wasn't signing the paper that needed signing. Today it all worked out. I really didn't have anything to do with it, b...