Watch Hudson wash his bike!

disney "new orleans"

Christmas 1977

guess who?

free disney on your bday

thinking about coming to visit us? come on your birthday & go to disney free!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=FreeOnYourBirthdayPage
you'll need to register beforehand on the link above...


If you already have a pass, be sure to register, too because you can get other gifts -- one is a free gift card to use at the parks... here are some faqs...
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=WDWCelebrationFAQsPage



ok -- i need to update this blog!

applause for a good company

http://www.personalcreations.com/

this wonderful company has really creative, high quality & reasonable pricing on unique personalized gifts (which i LOVE!)...

i won't go into details (so as to not spoil the surprise for certain gift recipients at an upcoming holiday), but here's been my history of intaraction with this company:

1. ordered a couple of cute gifts at a great price
2. received my order which was perfect, except for a small defect on one of the items.
3. contacted the company explaining the problem & my situation (that i needed the gift by a certain date).
4. received a prompt reply promising a new item.
5. got the new item quickly & in perfect condition - i didn't even have to pay extra shipping or return the slightly defective item.


i highly recommend doing business with them.
here are a couple of their fun products.... upload your own pics, of course... haven't you always wanted to be on a pillow or a wheaties t-shirt???

http://www.personalcreations.com/home.asp

what happens when you don't screen your babysitters....

actually, we are extremely thankful for our babysitters....
despite this photo that showed up in mike's inbox after some of our sweet neighbors took Hudson for a while so we could get some packing done... thanks Carters!

thanksgiving

very thankful for friends...

busy weekend

ALL of the grandparents were in this past weekend for Mike's Birthday... and well, to see Hudson, too.

a little time outside in winter park...

first look for the Bazemores...

Mike's Birthday wish came true - at least for a few minutes...

up to...

we are slowly adjusting back to life in the States.... the sheer pace of it all is shocking at times, but i'd say we are enjoying it... above you can see how we get around -- a great find mike came across & worked really hard for (long, cool story).

part of this is "reentry"stuff -- we're meeting with a great couple with overseas life experience, who is helping us with our personal and ministry transition back to the states. there's also plenty of financial organization & decision-making mike has been working hard to reserach & get into place.

baby stuff keeps us busy, too, of course... visiting the midwife, choosing doctors, birthing classes, registering**, etc. has kept us both on our toes, of course. it's all such a huge new experience!

OH! and just this last weekend, we finally joined our church here in Orlando. Summit Church has been a fantastic place for us -- we actually attended for about 2 years before moving to Thailand, but were never in town to join, so it was great to finally do that.

**we're registered at www.babiesrus.com & www.target.com .... please me know if you're going to be in Orlando on Sunday, August 12 & can come to my shower... i'll send you an invite if you haven't received one!

forgot to mention...

we stopped at 5 different Bass Pro Shop locations between Fort Lauderdale & Branson this month... some of them multiple times.

if you have not yet "experienced" a Bass Pro Outdoor World store, it's worth a trip to the nearest one... if it's just too far, click here for a video on the Bass Pro Store Experience*.

gotta love the USA!


*disclaimer: not recommended for vegetarians

pics from the road

mike & my Dad getting ready to pull up a tree stump at my parents' in Fort Lauderdale
Mike at his first crawfish boil at my Grandmother's in Louisiana
me "showing" a bit more somewhere near Memphis

After a scenic railway tour just south of Branson

Celebrating Mike's Grandma's 90th with family in Missouri.

in O-town

Mike joined me in the States after a week.... here's a short update of our whereabouts since then:

we spent a few days with my parents in Fort Lauderdale, then headed up to Orlando for some meetings... after that we took one last pre-baby road trip which brought us to Caryn's Grandmother's in Louisiana for a real crawfish boil, a short stop south of Memphis, then to Branson MO to meet Mike's family & surprise his Grandma on her 90th, stopping-off in Nashville for some real BBQ & a stay in a historic home on the way to Athens GA to visit with dear friends - the Curtis family...

i didn't drive a mile... Mike is a bit tired.
got back to Orlando a couple days ago just in time for a baby appt -- Caryn & baby are doing fine... gaining plenty of weight (as predicted) on all this great American food. we're getting settled in the home where we'll be housesitting this summer right now... Mike's having a blast mowing the lawn, & we had the very American experience today of club warehouse shopping.

pictures of our journeys to come!

half back

half (or 2/3!) of the bazemores are now safely back in the US of A... yay! after lots of packing, goodbyes, and about 24 hours of travel with my dear friend & travel partner, carly, it's good to be here.
this week i'll be visiting with friends, getting cell phones, seeing a baby doc, filling a few gaps in our summer housing, & doing a some things at the office.
mike is still wrapping things up in chiang mai, doing a GREAT job packing & selling & giving away our things (everything that needs to be is SOLD, as far as i know!!!! thanks, God - and thanks for your prayers, friends!). he meets me in fort lauderdale (where my parents are) in a week.
oh -- and i just noticed baby B is moving farther & farther to the right up above... getting closer!

new mailing address

Please note that, due to our move, we will no longer be able to receive mail in Chiang Mai.

Contact us if you would like to receive our summer mailing address in Orlando... our phone number will remain the same for now.

We will not be able to receive your mail at the new address until late May when we return to Orlando, but due to the slow & irregular mail service here, it will be unlikely that we would receive any mail sent to us here from the States at this point.

Thanks so much for your prayers & warm encouragement during this transition time!

adventures.... elsewhere

So, you may have heard by now that we are heading back to the States this summer! Though we originally were going back in November, we decided that transitioning back before baby B came would be all around better timing... we appreciate your prayers as we (& HR) make decisions on what we will do next!

All that's left to do now (after we sell, give away, & pack up our "Thai" life) is to find a new name for the blog... any suggestions?

The winner gets their picture posted.

Fishing Woes...

...don't get me wrong...I love to fish, but I confess that I was a little frustrated after the second time out on the rivers with no steelhead to show for it. The kicker was driving 2 hrs to Pennsylvania, paying $26 for a day license, listening to the guy at the store tell us "it doesn't matter where you go on the river. There are fish everywhere...we have never had soooooooo many fish in the river before...ever..." Well he was right, there are fish in the river and here is my proof.

On another note...my brother claims to have caught 2 steelhead...he 'caught' them both when no one else was around. At least I have a picture of mine... :)






Just for reference...this is what a steelhead looks like... and that is not my brothers hand.

On a positive, not sarcastic note... I loved being back in the cold weather of the U.S. The air was so clean... I don't think I "saw" any the whole time I was there. There were still some leaves on the trees and I actually got to see some snow. It was a blessing to be out in the woods in the fall again... miss that.

The reason I went back to OH was for a good friends wedding... been praying for a lady for him and she seems great. Speaking of cold woods... they live in Minneapolis and when I flew over on the way out it looked pretty cold.

thank our troops...

. . for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

-george elliot
from middlemarch



If you go to the web site www.letssaythanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card to encourage our troops....
Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. It's free and it only takes a few seconds.

more from toroweap

couldn't resist posting a few more pics from our summer adventure...memories...
for more info on this amazing place, go to: http://www.zionnational-park.com/toroweap.htm

picasa

my darling husband downloaded picasa & started the arduous task of organizing all the pics we've taken since we got married... almost 4 years ago... very few of which i've organized & almost none of which i've printed out...bad.
anyway, he came across some amazing pictures like this one... from our drive across utah, on our way to colorado from the northwestern rim of the grand canyon. gorgeous.

the 4th

we had a great time celebrating our country's birthday last week...

there is a US consulate in chiang mai, so we joined many other americans, as well as thai guests, in an evening of "american style hotdogs", sodas we'd been missing from the states (like sunkist & dr. pepper), make your own patriotic necklaces, and a "rousing sing-along" followed by fireworks to end things right.... all very fun, but we have no evidence of this fun since cameras & cell phones were "discouraged" at the consulate....

afterwards, we invited friends & neighbors back to our place for dessert, games, & patriotic movies...

it's amazing how patriotic you get when you leave the country... caryn decided to decorate the party cups and wrote a line from all 8 stanzas of "my country 'tis of Thee" on each one. yes... there are 8 stanzas! go here if you don't believe it: http://www.montney.com/flag/hymns.htm

a family from texas came... they brought a really cool cake, & we didn't try to explain to them that texas is only a part of the US, and not the entire country...


hope yours was great, too... feel free to leave a comment & tell us what YOU did!