Someday Life in Thailand will Calm down. Right???

     

         I know, I know... It has been awhile since I posted. Sorry. It has been an exciting and exhausting month. All three of my kids are now in school full time.  I thought this would mean extra sleep and relaxation time. I was WAY wrong at least so far.  The first week was a staggered start for the kids.  On Justices first day, Brosnan had a meet and greet in his class, the second day Brosnan started and Arcadian and a meet and great. By Thursday they were all in school from 7am - 2pm! Celebration time right? Wrong. I felt like I was in school those first 2-3 weeks. There were meetings galore, PTO, new parent orientation, medical, and of course several trips to Nurse's office with Brosnan during testing time, helping monitor lunch, and then helping with Insulin calculations and doses after lunch.  I needed to make sure that Everyone involved was comfortable, competent and knowledgeable regarding his daily care.  The nursing staff and teachers have all been wonderful and after a week I slowly started to wean myself out of he picture and hand over full control to the staff.  There have been several learning situations for all of us but we are now a month into it and everyone seems to be on the same page and getting into a routine. Enough about that.

         Soccer started the second to last week of August and Cub scouts has started as well.  Soccer is currently M, Wed, Thurs, and Saturday.  3 kids, 3 different teams. Each and everyone is miserably hot and sweaty.  I feel bad for the kids.  Heck, I feel bad for myself when I am sitting watching them play.  Sports is good for kids right?  Even if they complain about it?  Justice (the husband) says that they complain about it because they play to many video games.   He is probably right. It's okay though another month of soccer and it will be over...wait...then Baseball starts.  It is never ending.

         WE FINALLY got our UAB (unaccompanied baggage shipment).  The one that was supposed to be here within 30 days of our arrival.  It was a little late, showed up just shy of 3 months after our arrival.  The kids were in heaven for about an hour as they played with their toys, then went back to video games... I am not exactly sure what we were thinking when we packed.  My most useful items in the shipment was my desktop monitor, keyboard, and misc. desk items, and of course my Keurig Coffee maker.   Even with the odd items that we put in the 30 day shipment, it is very nice to see more of 'home' around the house.  Our 90 day shipment should be delivered within the next week or two and our car should follow shortly thereafter.

SNAKE FARM

Even though we are super busy with the kids and day to day life, we have found some time to do some site seeing.  A few weeks ago we went to Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute's Snake Farm.   The snake farm had lots of snakes. Many of which I hope to never see anywhere but in the cages that we saw them.  Almost all of them are native to Thailand. The snake farm does venom extraction that is used to make anti-venom for hospitals in the community.  

   

Brosnan and Arcadian looking at the snake cage 

King Cobra- Can you imagine seeing this in your yard????

The snake handler's brought out various snakes to show the audience.  This snake was NOT in a cage, but on the floor in front of the crowd.  It is a big snake that looked very vicious.  I hope that this snake never crosses our path!

COFFEE In Thailand

  Thankfully the Thai's enjoy a cup of java as much as I do.  Especially, a nice iced coffee in this hot humid weather.   A friend of mine introduced me to this man. He is a mobile coffee man. For 18 baht (a mere $0.60) this guy will make a fresh cup of really bad for you coffee. Some whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, fresh brewed hot coffee, and a touch of Thai happiness, poured over ice into a cup (or small plastic bag).  It was sweet, ice cold, and delicious.   He travels around the local streets outside of Nichada.  I have seen him a few times, always in a different spot.  I am happy I was introduced to him early on in my Thailand adventure and hope to see him many times!

    I will leave you all with a beautiful sunset I caught out one of the bedroom windows.  The photo on my iPhone does not do the colors justice.  It was absolutely breath taking and I have not seen one quite this lovely since this night.

Our First Overseas PCS (permanent change of station)

****This was written a couple weeks ago and I tried to post, but only this part of it saved.  There was a lot more that I had written detailing the week before our move.  I refuse to go back and add any more info to it...  Moving forward, not backwards, but I wanted to at least get this out there***


When I last posted, we had just found out that we were moving to Bangkok, Thailand. Now, 5 months later we are days away from boarding a plane and heading to our new home. The last few weeks have probably...no, they HAVE been, the most stressful weeks of my life. Short version for now, but on May 30, my middle son Brosnan (6) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He was immediately admitted to Yuma Regional Medical Center. Three days later after we were released from the hospital we went home to begin our new life of needles, insulin, glucose monitors, and finger pricks. I will elaborate on that whole story later. Right now lets focus on the move...

Our original scheduled departure date was June 15th, 17 days after B was diagnosed. There are several factors that go into allowing a service member and their family to move overseas. One major factor is the families health (physical, educational, mental, etc.). Every member of the family is screened through the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) to determine if there are any concerns that can not be adequately treated at the next duty station. We were approved a few months ago but with Brosnans new diagnosis we had to start over with him. The original response we received was basically, "sorry, you can't move to Thailand." Thankfully, my husband is not one to take no for an answer so we began doing our own research, making sure that there are pediatric endocrinologists and medicine available. After lots of emails and phone calls my husband had finally received a verbal yes from all the necessary parties, next step was to get all those parties to say yes to each other. So we proceeded as planned with the movers, keeping our fingers crossed that everything would come together.

Which brings us to Friday, June 7th.
Last day of school for Justice, my mom was visiting from Washington state and we were preparing for a garage sale. Saturday morning we woke early and started selling.
Two days and a few hundred dollars later the garage sale was over. We loaded the car with remaining items and donated to the family readiness officer (FRO) to give to young Marines and their families. Sunday night was a mad dash to figure out and separate any and all items that we wanted the movers to take the next day in our express shipment.

Big Changes are Coming!

Last week my husband sent me a text message that was by far the biggest news we have received since I found out I was pregnant with Justice almost 9 years ago. With it, came just as much uncertainty, worry, excitement, fear, and surprise. My husband received orders for his next Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Bangkok, Thailand. Sometime in June we will be boarding a plane to go to our new home for the next 3 years.

The day I found out I was home from work with Little Justice as he was sick with a stomach bug. I called my mom, who I think was in just as much shock, called my older brother, then spent the majority of the day searching the Internet for any and all information I could find. It was probably pointless research as we knew nothing about anything, other than we were going to Bangkok and justice would be working at the US Embassy. There is no Military base so there is no specific information to search for. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, looking for something, anything, but having no idea what it was. Since that day bits of pieces of information have been trickling in and with every piece we find out, some questions are answered and others are formed. My wonderful husband tracked down his future co-workers and now I have been emailing one of their wives. I believe she will be my sanity saver now and when we arrive in June, and she has a kid that is the same age as Arcadian!

So, what do I know? I know that we leave in June. I know that we will more than likely be living in a gated community known as Nichada. The boys will go to an international school called International School of Bangkok that is located within the community. Also within that community is a Starbucks :) I know that we have a lot of preparing to do. We are limited in what we can bring with us. Lots of organizing the house into sell, storage, ship, and trash piles! I know we have a lot of paperwork to complete (medical, dental, school, passports, etc). I also know that this is going to be an amazing experience for my family.

-JP