SPRING BREAK 2008 PICTURES...WAHOO!!!!

THE LONG AWAITED SPRING BREAK PICTURES

It all started in Bangkok for 3 days and the pictures are random...what so overwhelmed in Bangkok was the traffic!! I didn't realize the extent to which I love small city hometown life, but I DO!!!And then OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!! We ate there and it was the most enjoyed meal!! Steaks aren't in huge quantities here and the ones available are both expensive and not so delish! SO IT WAS A SPECIAL PART OF SPRING BREAK!!!

So you see the sign for MBK, which is one of the five malls in downtown Bangkok. THIS MALL WAS CUH-RAZY!! It was like 8 floors of stores not bigger than 2 aisles of clothes packed in or shoes packed in or sardines (at least that is what it felt like) and each store had music on and then there was music going in the main part of the mall. There must have been four thousand people in that one mall or maybe more. I realized exactly how ADHD I am as I couldn't concentrate on anything...conversation with friends, what I thought I wanted to buy...nothing!!

The picture to the right and just above reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but it would be A Tree Grows in Bangkok! I loved it...the growth sometimes that you can find in harsh places...reminded me of how good God is to me in the midst of hard times.

On the left is the place we stayed in Bangkok...pretty nice huh??




AND THE BEACH PICTURES...

Hua Hin was most beautiful and we had such a great time...there were six of us...Beth, Aim (husband and wife), Rachel, Amy, Ryan, and I. We laid out at the beach almost every day and I look quite Thai now...haha, that is when the Lobster red turned into brown!

Just below, you see EVER and what I miss most about Texas and even Colorado...barbecue!! I had ribs, some pulled pork, beans (not very good),my favorite meal cornbread Thai style with chilies in it and a piece of watermelon! It was by far the best meal I had while on break! In case you are wondering, what is she doing with her fingers? It is a Thai thing...the girls in Chiang Rai when taking pictures do that (I have no idea why, but it has almost become natural and still very weird).These are the peeps...Ryan, Rachel and Amy, then Me, Beth and Aim. You can hardly tell the difference between me and a Thai person...or at least now as the red has gone away!!

I think that is the absolute picture of relaxation...feet sandy (the natural pumice), laid back on a lounge chair in the sun at the beach with the entire ocean in front of you...what a time it was!!

You notice in the above picture at the barbecue restaurant, I have french braids in my hair. I had showered that night and braided them so I could have curly hair the following day - for fun! However for me, it didn't quite work out as planned. I unbraided it to find a beautiful afro hidden underneath (symbolic of my hidden inner diva - haha!)...but more like a primping job gone awry!!

Love you all so much! See you in not too many days now!!

a song you need to hear

A dear friend sent me an email with part of this song in it, and I wanted to share it with you all as it had such a great ginormous (and lots of other bigger words) impact on me as I listened to it. All of you who know me know that I'm a cryer during sappy love movies, ridiculous Disney movies, and also at very important times...as Mark Weaver (a CO brother and friend) says, "Pay attention to what makes you cry as it is important" (i butchered his very intelligent words, but i haven't heard him speak in awhile, so i'm doing the best i can from so far away).

As I listened to this song, "Peace" by Jason Upton, it pulled on some major things in my heart and made me weep. And I'm taking time to pay attention to those things. You can be praying for me as I do...

Here is a sight where you can hear it: http://mirjamruth.imeem.com/music/b4yZAvdb/jason_upton_peace/

and here are the lyrics:

Peace
From Open Up the Earth by Jason Upton

I wanna know Your heart
Like a child knows his father
And I wanna know Your voice
Like my little boy knows my voice

When I hear You at a distance
When the world can’t make it out
I can hear it comin
Your voice, oh Father
Your voice, oh Father
The still, small voice

And I wanna hear your Voice, oh Father
Even when it seems at a distance
When people think I’m crazy
For thinking I can hear You

I wanna know Your voice, oh Father
I wanna hear it comin
I wanna be the first around the corner
To take Your hand and walk with You
To the chair that You have
And sit down on Your lap and hold on

Sometimes that’s all we do as children
Is just hear Your voice come runnin’ round the corner
And hold on

Sometimes that’s what it feels like to be a child of God
It’s just holding on

And I declare over you that the enemy’s camp tonight
Is not fearful of a generation puffed up with Christian pride
But a childlike generation
That all it knows how to do is hold on

I wanna hold on to You Father
More than I run and play or dance around
I wanna hold on to you Father
Sit on your lap and hear Your voice whisper over me
In the midst of the storm, “Peace.”

Oh I give you peace
The strength of a generation is peace
Jesus said, “I want to give you peace, oh children.”
Oh, the peace that comes beyond the understanding
Oh, the peace that comes on knowing the whisper of a father

I give you peace
In the midst of your brokenness
I give you peace
In the midst of your emptiness
I give you peace
In the midst of the moments when you feel so dry
I give you peace
I give you peace
I give you peace
When you feel you can’t go on
I give you peace
When rejection’s far too much
I give you peace
When the shame, the shame’s too unbarable
And the world seems so cruel, I give you
I give you peace
The times you take off
I give you peace
The times you are fearful
I give you peace
The peace of a child
Holdin’ on

I wanna see the cloud
The cloud coming
When no one else sees the cloud
I wanna see it’s coming
Gimme eyes, oh father, and faith like a child
And ability to feel the same and know it
I see it comin’ now
I wanna see you comin
Before the world, i wanna see you comin
I wanna know you’re comin
Over the army, over the warriors
Know you’re comin
You’re comin to rescue me
I know you’re comin
In the midst of the trial
I know you’re comin
In the midst of the circumstance
I know you’re comin
So I’ll wait

In restlessness that’s only that of a child waiting for his dad
Shaking on the inside
Can’t wait til you come home
Can’t wait til you come home
Can’t wait til you come home
Can’t wait til you come home
Gimme the faith of a child
With a restlessness inside
Just waiting to see you, father
Before anyone else sees you
Waiting to hear you, father
When your voice is still off in the distance
I hear you comin
I can hear you comin
Your kingdom coming
I wanna be your child

the beach...

i just came back from a week at the beach in hua hin, thailand...thankfully a friend owns a villa there and allowed me and five friends to stay there for a very very small amount of money! it was a week of relaxation, swimming in the ocean, swimming in the pool, playing pool, checking internet once a day only, eating good food like barbecue (oh how i miss it), hamburgers and french fries (always lovely), chicken and som tam and sticky rice (i think my favorite thai meal), having starbucks coffee (love it too and miss it already), and so much more! fond memories made on the beach with friends that i didn't know that well, but now know much better!

it also included a body floating up to the shore, pushed by the waves...from what we saw, he had been in the water at least overnight if not longer...rigor mortised, bloated, scratched up from some rocks and shot at least 3 times...the Thai workers on the beach, pulled him out of the water and covered him up with a towel only...his arm was still sticking up...it was crazy as we all waited for the cops to show up and people would be walking down the beach, calmly strolling, pondering life and its meaning, then they would see him laying there, do a double take as he was covered up with a towel and the closer they got, they could see he wasn't moving and they probably caught a hint of his 'smell'...then they would go the nearest person and talk about it, usually gesturing wildly! it was amazing and one moment or a few moments that i will never forget!

and still there's almost 8 more days of spring break to read 2 Dickens' novels, write, exercise for the triathlon coming up in 8 weeks and rest...

awww rest!! and only 61 more days until i leave Thailand head for home...seems to be speeding up as my goal still is to BE fully wherever i am...this week i realized if i put my roots deep down into God and into His love, i can do that...so that is what i'm doing...putting my roots deep down into Him!