Two Years Ago on Dec. 13th

It was my mom's birthday back in America, but I didn't call her because I was busy being a new mom. We started our first day out together from our hotel room as the 12th was the first time Penny stayed with us. The 12th was mostly spent doing paperwork at the orphanage in the morning and then having a worker from the orphanage come along with Penny to our hotel. It was a time for her to familiarize herself with her new surroundings and parents while someone she knew better was close by. By supper time she stayed with us on her own. When she saw them bringing in a roll-away bed she asked them to please leave just the mattress, as she wanted to sleep closer to the ground. She was VERY quiet all night. I wonder if she was really sleeping at all. After breakfast, our friends, who are missionaries in Khon Khaen came to meet us at our hotel. Then they drove us around to help take us shopping for Penny. And we ate lunch at an American restaurant, Sizzler, where we met some more missionary friends of theirs. Penny and the other kids had lots of fun running off steam by playing in a play area in the mall. This mall was right next to the hotel where I stayed when I first visited Udon Thani back in 1998. Never dreamed that ten years later I'd be next door holding my DAUGHTER'S hand! How incredible is that! God never forgot my prayer. Back in 1998 when I was flying out of Udon Thani I prayed, "Lord, please bring me back here someday, for some reason." Well, I completely forgot that prayer until we heard about Penny and found out she was from there! But, God never forgot and answered my prayer by bringing my husband and then Penny into my life. This missionary friend kindly explained about how most all of the kids have lice and how to treat it. It was actually good thing that we had plenty of time in Thailand to deal with such things. And all of the time together was good bonding time. I'll be forever grateful for these friends who adopted their daughter a couple of years before us. So fun that Penny and their daughter were in the same dorm and are remaining friends, thanks to the internet. We had dinner back at our hotel and took some photos and mostly relaxed, as we knew we'd be flying to Bangkok the next day. I leave you photos from Dec. 12th and Dec. 13th, 2008.