Cars 2

My favorite little man is totally into anything Cars. Not just the movie but anything with wheels and he will love it. But he also LOVES the movie and the characters. When I was home in June my mom bought Sawyer some of the cars from the new movie. Well Cars 2 came out the day after we left the states so we didn't get to take Sawyer to see it. For some odd reason the movie theatres in Thailand didn't release Cars 2 until today....yes 3 months later. Well yesterday we told Sawyer we were finally going to see the new cars movie and he was over the top excited about it. My mom and dad got him a Finn McMissile and a Lightning  McQueen remote control cars. He carried them around all day long and they also accompanied him to bed. (he now refers to them as big McMissile and big Lightning). It was so cute all day he kept saying "tomorrow I'm going to see cars 2" over and over. He kept telling us all the characters that were in the movie. It's amazing how he has been asking and waiting and asking and asking to see Cars 2 and the day was finally going to arrive and he understood "tomorrow".
First thing this morning he popped his little head up and said "see Cars 2 today".

Well....it's been raining and raining here and the Ping River has overflowed and many parts of town including roads and homes are flooded. Well my husband was determined to keep his promise to his son and we set out to brave the roads. It took us an hour to get to the mall and the other side of the road (the one to get home) was totally flooded. We did make it in one piece.
We went to get our tickets and they only had the regular version playing in Thai so we had to see the 3D version. I wasn't thrilled with that and they wouldn't give Sawyer his own glasses because he was free and they said only paying costumers get the glasses. There were only 6 other people in the theater with us and I thought it was crazy they wouldn't give us the glasses but Sawyer wouldn't really keep them on anyway when I gave him mine so it didn't really matter. The movie itself was pretty cute and Sawyer enjoyed it of course. It was a little hard as some parts because of the 3D without the glasses it got blurry but he got to see most of it. I was kind of glad he had to wait so long to see it. He knew who all the characters where (thanks mom for the cars) so when they were onscreen he would yell out the names.

What a fun day! It took us an hour to get home and we had to try 3 different ways until we found a road that was open. When we got in the car Sawyer actually said "Thank you daddy for taking to see Disney's Pixar Cars 2" hahaha I love having the greatest family it was a wonderful fun day with my boys!

I missed September.....

I am alive! The month of September has been rough one. First Sawyer had a weird stomach bug. Poor kid couldn't walk right because his bottom hurt from all the "issues" his stomach was having. After a little over a week he was back to normal.
Then 2 day break and he woke up with a cough. It was just a cold and he seemed to feel fine just some coughing no fever. I try my best to not give him a bunch of drugs and let his body fight off infection. After 5 days I decided to give him a decongestant. That helped and he was tons better. 2 days later he was seemingly back to normal and I was happy he seemed to be feeling fine. We went to dinner with my in laws and were hanging out at their house for the evening when out of nowhere Sawyer came running over to me crying. He said his ear hurt and he kept pressing his head against my chest. This was the first time he said anything to me about his ear or any pain at all. He complained on and off the rest of the evening by the time we were going home he was acting totally "off". He kept saying his ear hurt and his head was wobbling back and forth like he was dizzy. Tyson asked him if he was ok and the poor little guy burst into tears. At that moment we headed straight for the hospital. Sawyer had never acted this way before and after a chest cold for over a week I didn't want to mess around. We had to wait in the ER for the Dr. to arrive. Sawyer cried for 2 hours!! It took forever for the Dr. to arrive. Sawyer finally passed out asleep from all the crying. I can tell you now my heart has never hurt like it did that night. To see your kid so upset is heart wrenching. The kicker in all of this is that he never even had a fever. When we were waiting on the Dr. they took his temperature and still no fever. We finally got in to see the Dr. and he was very nice. Praise the Lord he spoke great English. Sawyer immediately started crying again when we had to go into the exam room but the amazing part was when I layed him on the table for the Dr to check his ears he sat perfectly still. Tears were running down his face but he didn't move. It was like he knew the Dr. needed to see his ear to make it better. My baby laying there upset and yet calm was overwhelming.
Poor guy had a double ear infection. The Dr. told us his right ear was very serious and his ear drum would probably burst. Tyson and I were both a bit freaked and then the Dr. said it was totally normal and he'll be fine. He said it will take 3 months to heal. Apparently the cold he had came with lots of drainage and his ear couldn't get rid of it fast enough. We then had to wait another 30 min but they filled the prescription in the hospital so it was worth the waiting. While we were in the waiting room Sawyer said to me "mommy my ear hurts I just wanna go home". I'm telling you now I almost cried right there. We had to walk through the ER on our way out and Sawyer was not happy about going back in there. The crying started up again. I reassured him we were all done and we were going home. In his pitiful cracked voice he said "yay home, bye bye Dr." haha Gosh I have the cutest little boy.
In the car on the way home he was in so much pain he threw up all over me. I can tell you as a mom I have seen some nasty stuff and this was up there on the list but in the moment I didn't even care. It's crazy how the "mom" kicks in and when you baby is not feeling good you will do anything to help them feel better. After that moment he conked out for the rest of the drive home and I was just happy he seemed to be at peace.
When we got home I rinsed him off took a quick shower and we let Sawyer lay in our bed with us. I was worried his ear would burst during the night or something. He fell right to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. About 10 minutes after he fell asleep he suddenly woke up looked at me and said "talk to Graa mommy...need to talk to Graa." I was amazed he asked so I got the computer and we called my parents on skype. Sawyer layed in my bed with his head down and my parents talked to him for a few minutes. Then out of no where he just said in his tired cracked voice "I love you Graa" I think both of my parents started crying. It was the sweetest moment ever.They said goodnight and we all went to sleep.
Tyson and I prayed over his ears and prayed they wouldn't burst. Praise the Lord it never did. The Dr. seemed pretty sure the infection was so severe it was a done deal but I truly believe the Lord healed him. I gave him the antibiotics and both of his ears are clear now. PTL!!!
The day after the ER I woke up with Sawyer's cold and let me tell you it was a kicker!!! I was down for the count for over a week...Being sick and taking care of a sick little boy is no fun. My eyes watered so much I thought I was going to dehydrate. But through all the sickness WE SURVIVED!!! We are all healthy now and trying to get our life in order. I looked at the calendar and I can't believe September is almost over it flew by and I missed it....oh well bring on October and a healthy house!!

oh yeah and a bunch of the kids at hope house got pink eye so looks like we'll be staying at our house for another week....NO PINK EYE FOR US THIS YEAR IN JESUS NAME!

Animals eating out of your hand

Our friend Tele had his 1st birthday party at the night safari. We have been there several times but always in the morning. In the late afternoon is when they run the trams so it was our first time seeing the entire place. What an amazing experience we got to pet a white tiger!! The animals come right up to the tram and eat out of your hand.

Baby Kangaroo sticking out of the pouch.

Sawyer and his buddy Ellie. Isn't see the cutest !!

Ellie is my buddy too

Hello there Giraffe

I was so proud of Sawyer he walked right over to the big elephant and fed him a banana. Of course I missed the moment. Deborah got him to do it again and I did get it on video. :-)

The Zebra almost took my toes off. They were a little scary since the tour guide told us they have really sharp teeth and could take your hand off. We were instructed to throw them food but not to hand it out to them. Yeah no thanks Mr. Zebra I would like to keep my toes.

Potty Training and the Thai Immigration Office

To fully appreciate this story you have to understand a few things about the toilets in Thailand

1. They are glorified holes in the ground. There is no seat you literally stand on either side and squat.

2. Most bathrooms do not provide toilet paper.....

3. You don't flush you take a pale of water from a bucket and dump it in the toilet...

This one pictured is clean but I have NEVER seen one this clean.....I just didn't want to post a nasty picture

Today:

We had to go to the immigration office for visa stuff. I was filling out all our paperwork with our passports at the counter when I hear a little voice in the back of the room "I needa go potty!!" Tyson had to go hunt down a bathroom for Sawyer. 

10 minutes later Tyson and Sawyer come back to the office. Sawyer has no pants on (only underpants) and Tyson had Sawyer's pants in a ball. He hands the wadded up pants to me and says "these have poop on them I'll tell you about it later. "

ok...

Here's the story: Tyson finds the toilet and it's a MESS. He said one of the nastiest dirtiest toilets he has ever seen. Sawyer by this time is squirming he has to go so bad. Tyson set him up in front of the toilet and tells him to aim and go. Sawyer has not yet learned how to pee standing up so Tyson thought no time like the present than to teach him. Sawyer stood there a minute and said "I need to sit down daddy" Tyson encourages him to be a big boy and pee standing up. Tyson thought he just had stage fright so he encouraged him to be a man and go standing up. Sawyer was skeptical but he listens and stood there facing the toilet and let it rip. Ty didn't realize that "I needa go potty" meant Sawyer needed to go #2. Before Tyson could react to the strained red face little boy in front of him it was to late. There it was a huge turd landed right on Tyson's foot. Sawyer of course immediately started yelling out "oh no oh no I missed the potty I missed it" (he hates even seeing poop in the toilet). Tyson said although he was gagging he tried to remain calm so Sawyer wouldn't get freaked. There of course is NO TOILET PAPER or anything to wipe with and I had the bag with our stuff in the office. He had to rinse his foot in the dirty toilet!! Tyson just kept telling Sawyer not to worry about it and that it was daddy's fault. The mess had gotten on Sawyer shorts so Ty used them to help clean Sawyer up.

When Tyson was telling me the details I laughed so hard I thought I was going to cry. I had to write this down because it's to funny to forget about. Plus Anyone who knows Ty can IMAGINE his face as he walked into that office with wadded up poopy shorts....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I am also happy to report. Sawyer seemed satisfied with blaming daddy for the incident and is not scared by these events.

Just another adventure on the mission field. 

Our version of I spy...

The background: So Sawyer and I have been playing this game of pointing things out that we see while driving. It started about a year ago and I would show him numbers on buildings etc. As he got older he loved pointing out to me things that he saw before me. Now it's become our own version of the classic game I spy. I see something out the window and point to it. For example: I say "I see a RED car" Sawyer says "I see a RED car too". Sometimes it's not the same car I originally saw but the idea is he can find he own as long as it's the same item. Then it's his turn to pick something he sees for me to find.

Today: in the mall we were eating dinner and all the sudden he points and yells "I see an OLD MAN!!" I look and sure enough this really old man was eating his dinner in the restaurant across from us. Lucky for us he smiled at Sawyer (I don't think he spoke English).

Mr. Personality learns "the faces"

One of my favorite things about teaching the "the babies" ballet class was watching them learn "the faces". This week I've been thinking a lot about my dear friend, teacher, mentor, longtime best buddy Ms. Gail. My entire dance life and inspiration has come from her and she taught me the most important things about worshiping God with the gift of dance. Perhaps because I started a dance class with the kids this week she has been on my mind extra. So in honor of her I decided to teach Sawyer some of "the faces".

He has so much personality it wasn't hard to get him to learn the faces....getting him to be still so I could take the pictures was the difficult part. So tonight before bed I was able to get a few. For your enjoyment:

HAPPY FACE (that's not hard for him he's always smiling)

ZERO FACE (I put 2 pics because they were both cute)

SAD FACE (this one needs some work...but hey being sad isn't easy for this happy guy) HAHA

SURPRISE FACE ( he's such a ham)

SHOCK FACE ( SO FUNNY)

I couldn't get a picture of his fake mad face so I'll add it later. :-)

Love you Ms. Gail and missing you!

Small Farm Field Trip

We were able to take the kids on a field trip to this little farm about an hour away. It was a cute little place that had your usual farm animals. I laugh because Sawyer was asking were the monkey's and tigers were. haha He figured any place with animals should have his favorites

 He did like looking at the horses. He kept saying "they are big horses".

 The kids had to do a report about what they saw. This was after all a school field trip.

 All the kids were able to take a ride in the horse drawn buggy.

 Don't worry it's not loaded...

 The wonderful Hope House Staff

 After the farm we went and had a picnic lunch by a waterfall nearby.

 The kids all went swimming in the river

 Sawyer had his own little pool

 Sawyer's response when it was time to leave...haha