John and Josiah getting ready to squirt someone down...
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Josiah on Songkran Festival Day - He was so excited that he got to shoot his water guns at people and they didn't care. Songkran is basically a city wide water fight - where people line the streets with massive water guns and buckets full of water ready to douse anyone they can. Songkran is very dangerous in some parts of Thailand but we found that Hat Yai was nothing but fun!!! Most everyone was considerate and careful - except for some of the people with ICE in their water. We made tons of water balloons - filled up our water guns and off we went in our car. It was so much fun because they don't pay that much attention to the cars on Songkran - it's mostly the motorbikes and people in trucks that they get...so when a car full of farangs (westerners) pulls up and they get hit unexpectantly with water they are shocked and start laughing hysterically as we hurridly roll up our window to escape their revenge. We had a wonderful time and gave a lot of Thai people a good hard belly laugh... :)
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A typical Songkran water fight...
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A group on the back of a truck with a trash can full of water...
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I can't believe how wet and cold these pictures look to me. It was sooo hot this day - people were excited about getting ice cold water thrown on them. Why don't we do this in America? hehhehe...yeah like that would ever happen.
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A guy at our window...begging us to open up...once again - we did not comply...
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What John and I think is wonderful is that it's not only the young people who get out and have all the fun - the fathers and mothers and grandmothers and grandfathers even participate!
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Another picture from Songkran - John had tons of waterballoons filled up in the car and when the opportunity arose - he would chunk one at the feet of some unexpecting victim...and them spray them with the water gun. We were not safe from the water the whole time - many people were fast enough to get us all wet. The windows in our car don't roll up very fast...
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Guns like these are common and they hold lots of water!!
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Here is a mother and her boys outside their house participating in Songkran. They begged us to roll down our windows - we didn't...
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Here are some people on the side of the road with buckets and water hoses waiting for someone to spray...We were scared to death at first to come out of our house because of all the horror stories we had heard but we found that Songkran is not as dangerous as we had been lead to believe...although it can be - we had a blast and everyone was very courteous and careful.
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I know it looks like it's rainy and cool but believe me...IT'S HOT! This is a typical scene on Songkran - tons of people piled into the back of a truck with a huge trash can filled with water (sometimes freezing water with ice in it) and buckets to slosh people with...
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Josiah and I after going out during the Songkran Festival - that stuff on my face is this powdery soapy stuff that they put on your face - it means that you're "playing"....They would beg me to roll down my window so they could put it on our faces. It was extremely fun!
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This is John and Josiah after a fun filled day in the car during the Songkran Festival...
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This is a week ago - John went with the team to minister and set up a projector to show the Jesus video to a nearby village. This is Colton, John and Chase from left to right.
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Josiah on his 3rd birthday - April 16th 2005!
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This is one of his favorite gifts - from his great grandma and grandpa in Winona Texas!
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Josiah was given many wonderful gifts! We are blessed!
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Josiah and Asia checking out the new toys!
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This is Asia - Josiah's best friend in Thailand. Isn't she a doll!
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Josiah's birthday party - pic 1
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GREAT NEWS! WE'RE....

.......(you're gonna have to wait)....keep reading....

Hello everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. I have some incredible news! John and I are going to have another baby!!! I found out April 12th - the day before Songkran (I'll write about Songkran later - city wide water fight!) I went to the doctor last week and I am officially 6 weeks along! John and I are praying for a girl - if it's a boy then that's fine - we would just like to have our girl this time. (Yes, we're having the baby here)

I never had any morning sickness when I was pregnant with Josiah but with this pregnancy I'm feeling nauseated a lot. I have definite food aversion…which is going to cause some problems. Every time I think about eating Thai food right now - I get a little nauseated - so all I have been able to eat is Western Food - which is expensive and hard to get to sometimes. I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking at home I can tell already. The biggest thing that I've had so far is that I'm extremely tired - extremely!! I'm constantly interrupted by yawns…hehehe. ~YAWN~ I'm really excited though! I'm very blessed that I'm not throwing up and suffering from morning sickness.
Curry, Dawn, Christel, Becky and Elisha are here now visiting. We've been really busy the past 3 days taking them around Hat Yai. Our living room furniture was delivered yesterday and it is wonderful. For those of you who don't know…a while back someone called us and told us that God had put it on their heart to buy us living room furniture, which was a big time answer to prayer. So we went to a local shop that makes wicker furniture (really inexpensive here-a whole set for about $200) and picked out a couch, 2 chairs, table, pompasan chair, and a stand for the TV (when we get one) and a while later they are delivered. So now when people come over they don't have to sit on the floor.

Speaking of sitting on the floor - Josiah's birthday was April 16th and we threw him a birthday party. There were about 20 people who came (including Curry, Dawn, Christel, Becky and Elisha) and we all sat on the floor - we had some pads for people to sit on so it wasn't so bad. Josiah had a wonderful birthday party!!! We are so blessed! I was really concerned but everything went wonderfully! I have lots of pictures to put up and I will. I'm at work right now and I can't but when I get home I will. Josiah seems to have grown just since he turned 3! I know it sounds crazy but he's just changed over night…all the sudden he's talking sooo much more and he is even behaving and listening better. I haven't had to get onto him for 3 days now! It's amazing!

I have so much to tell you about last week but for now - I'm just going to leave you with the good news that I'm pregnant and I'll write later about Songkran later - I have tons of pictures and I can't wait to tell you about the city wide water fight! I am sorry if I have not responded to some of your e-mails! I am going to catch up this week. Talk to you soon!

Steph