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!

Dirk

meet "Dirk" (giver of the football jersey mentioned in the previous entry)... we had the delight of forming an acquaintance with him when he came to Orlando to work on a recording project with us a few years ago. he acted as our brilliant director and general entertainment during his time here. the gracious fellow he is, Dirk also hosted Carly & me at his home in Winchester during our last-minute-can't-believe-we're-actually-doing-this-trip-to-UK last New Year's. He was our tour guide (as you can see) for the day introducing us to Stonehenge in all its glory, as well as to random Jane Austen historical sites we HAD to visit. But that's not all... he & his lovely wife had us into their home, feeding us a delightful vegetarian meal and giving us a much-needed place to rest for the night. if you'd like to join the Dirk fan club, of which we are unofficially a part, you'll also need to know that he's a rock star drummer. check out his band at http://www.riotousbrothers.co.uk/index.htm.

Dirk's quote of the day:
"Weight on? Caryn looks EXACTLY THE SAME as at New Year's but with a soccer ball up her smock!"
gotta love him.

which reminds me, i am tardy in sharing any photos of my trip with Carly... i'll start with the other famous people we met during our travels...

Jane Austen:
"A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can."





Ann Taylor
(yes that's actually her name, though we don't honestly know if she is any relation to the brilliant retailer):
"Where are you going? ...I can take you there myself!"
(her response to our request for directions to the bus that would bring us to our B&B in the Cotswolds... gotta love the English)

Unknown Scotsman
(though we are quite sure he is famous -- doesn't he look important?):
"[unintelligible conversation in a thick accent]"

7 months

here we are...

caryn is quickly growing out of her maternity clothes* & mike is sporting a sweet soccer -- er, sorry -- football jersey courtesy of our good friend Dirk in UK.

*so much for "buy your pre-pregnancy size"... this only works if you haven't already gained 30 pounds with 2 months left to go.

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!

we'll miss you Ginger!

no, Ginger is not coming back with us... sigh... but we found her a great home with the youth workers at a local church -- she'll have a huge yard & lots of visitors to meet & play with.

building homes

This is a picture from a previous CCC Tsunami relief trip of the homes Mike helped build this past week. Mike was able to help finish & hand over keys to 7 homes just like these... as the team leader put it, to 7 families "no longer living under the trees."

my man

just had to sneak this one in here... isn't he handsome? glad he's home :).

may 7

mike got back safely over the weekend with all kinds of neat stories about his time down south... look forward to sharing about those soon!

can't believe i am going to be back in the states in like 11 days!!?? even more incredible when i think these next 11 days will include a trip to bangkok to meet carly, a trip down phuket & back then sightseeing & shopping in chiang mai with her, packing the rest of my stuff & most of the house, 2 goodbye parties, the long flight home, & who knows what else...
guess you can pray for energy.

i get into orlando May 18...
mike gets into Fort Lauderdale on May 27th (we'll stay with my parents for a bit down there).

looking forward to seeing all of you US residents soon!

last night with small group girls

i'm going to miss these ladies....

thursdays we get together with these gals & their husbands (except koshara who is a LOVELY single gal) to eat, laugh, and talk about the important (and not so important :) things in life.

left to right... evie, michelle, lonna, & koshara (missed you jen, elissa, marisa, & nancy!)

had one last chic night together...

great conversation & fabulous food, as always! lonna made her out-of-this-world homemade bread, evie brought tasty meats & cheeses, michelle fruit & a super salad, koshara chocolate cake, & i tried a new french onion soup recipe on them.

they are as fun as they look!

saying goodbye

we've been doing a lot of it lately... it's so strange to visit with friends & realize that it's the last time you'll see them -- if not forever, for a very long time.


here I am with some girlfriends & their babies... i met Khun M through our work here in Chiang Mai -- she worked in the office we used to share. Christy & I met through mutual friends... Mike & her husband used to work together in Orlando. Both are busy with babies these days, as you can see!


here we are with the Rutledges & their growing & extended family... you can read about their story & ministry here.

yummy dinner

During her visit our sis-in-love, Mindy, very slyly got us a gift certificate for dinner at one of most amazing places in Chiang Mai, the Chedi. Before last week, we'd only heard about eating dinner there! (Though they do have a very reasonable High Tea which I have had the delight to experience!)
Here we are, drinking in the atmosphere & about to eat an incredible meal. I had the 2nd best steak of my life (the best was one Mike cooked over a campfire at Moss Park when we went camping with Matt & Deb) & Mike had a really nice duck curry.... thanks Mark & Mindy!!



In their lovely open air lobby...
Looking preggo, huh?

these days...

mike called the other night absolutely ecstatic..."we got to put on some roofs & even hand over keys!!!"

since before we moved here, he has been wanting to go down south to help with tsunami relief work done by our ministry... something always came up - recording trips, visitors, pollution crisis (when he didn't want to leave me alone at the guest house in hua hin)... so this trip came up, & we were both really excited for him to go.

Campus Crusade is one of the last groups to be doing work in areas devastated by this disaster.... most organizations have pulled out, but small groups from Crusade continue to go down to help rebuild what the waves destroyed... as Mike was saying, they are still finishing up homes in some areas & able to give house keys to displaced people who will finally have a permanent place to live so many months later.

so tonight mike is on some little island with a few other guys from the ministry, sleeping in a wooden structure on stilts that they hope "doesn't fall down"... i hope so, too!

meanwhile, i'm sorting through 18 months of accumulated life things, trying to decide what comes home, and what to give away... kind of sad when i think about how little so many people have... really close to nothing... and i am worried about fitting all our things into 4 large suitcases.

glad we can do a little something to help, though.