An End of Summer Update

Here's what has been going on with the Hamptons recently.

Roger is teaching a few nights a week at an English center and also teaching one afternoon a week at a local university. The class at the local university is part of a small church and Roger is able to be a part of their outreach each week after class. He has spent a lot of time over the past few months traveling, mostly in Northeast Thailand, in order to build stronger relationships with his friends. Last week he had the opportunity to speak at a local church and he did an amazing job speaking for about 10 minutes all in Thai. Between all of these things and all of the other little opportunities that seem to pop up he has been going non-stop since last January. He's actually admitted to looking forward to our time in the States next spring if for no other reason than to have a break from spending lots of time stuck in traffic.

Jack is 20 months old and just getting into that precocious almost 2 year old stage. He is definitely the most out-going member of our family. He is willing to go almost anywhere with anyone. A few weeks ago the air conditioning on our car went out. Jack and I were driving to Asher's school and had all the windows open so that we wouldn't completely melt. After the first stop light I had to put Jack's window up to keep random people from reaching in through the open window to touch his face. He loved every minute of it. Jack is talking, at least about things that matter to him. His favorite words: seat (when he wants to get in his seat to eat), see-see (when he sees anything at all), shoes, truck, let's go, bye bye and khaap khun khap (Thai for thank you).

Asher is almost through the first half of Kindergarten 1. In school they are through the letter L in the English alphabet and they have covered a good bit of the Thai alphabet. His Thai is getting really good, he is learning all of those random "lah" and "si" and "nuh" sounds that Thai people say at the end of a phrase. I have no idea what he's saying, but it sure sounds good. At school his favorite things are Chinese and music class. Possibly he can say a few things in Chinese now, but he very well could just be making noise. His new favorite show is Calliou (thanks to a DVD from Mimi) and his favorite activity continues to be driving his cars and bugging his brother. Now that Jack is older he does like to play with him, but he gets pretty annoyed when Jack messes up his perfectly lined up cars and trucks.

I am still staying busy at home washing dishes, washing clothes and trying to contain Asher and Jack. I have been able to teach a few marketing classes at a local non-profit that works with Thai Ladyboys. So far we have covered the basics of marketing and advertising, I am waiting for them to finish creating their first advertisement. Each week Jack and I spend a morning with friends at a local playgroup and a morning at an International church for a women's program. I have finally learned how to drive and I feel like I have a pretty easy life now that I can drive to the grocery store and not have to cross 7 lanes of traffic with a stroller in order to buy food. I'm looking forward to a new opportunity this fall to spend time on a university campus each week.

We are pretty excited about the next 6 months here in Bangkok and looking forward to spending 4 months in Kentucky starting in March.