Corinne's agenda in Bella Vista...

Priority 1: Get caught up on sleep!

Priority 2: Get caught up on those desserts that Grandpa has been promising me.


Priority 3: Paint/Hunt Easter Eggs

Priority 4: Let Granny cut my hair!

Washington DC and a technological breakthrough

Last week, we had the opportunity to go to Washington DC. We had a wonderful time exploring the culture of Thailand (including eating yummy Thai food), meeting people and sharing with them what's most important to us! Our mode of transportation from our training to Washington DC (about 2 hours) were 3 charter buses... We really questioned how Corinne would do having to sit still in her seat without being restrained by a car seat, watching a movie, or listening to her music. It was about 5 minutes into the ride when we heard the first, "I'm hungry" followed by "Are we in Washington DC yet?" Well, I was getting ready for a very long ride when I remembered that I happened to pack our brand new ipod touch (which she had never seen) and I had downloaded a little doodle game. I thought it was worth a try to see if it would keep her entertained. The next 2 hours on the way to Washington DC and all the way back we did not hear even a peep from Corinne as she was enthralled by this new toy! Needless to say, we have already found some games for the i pod that she won't see until we are in the midst of our 15 hour plane ride!


Corinne also got to experience her first ride (but not last) in public transportation... We rode the underground metro in DC. She seemed to enjoy people watching and riding all the escalators to get there, but she would always cover her ears anytime it would go by... even though it wasn't that loud. The next morning when I woke her up she said "Daddy, I didn't really like the under train"... She'll get lots more practice riding "under trains", I'm sure!

The Blonde Indian

One of the really cool parts of our time here in VA is that we get to experience how different cultures around the world worship. We have experienced everything from S. American to S Asian worship and everything in between! Well, as you can imagine, we couldn't let S. Asian night go by without putting on our Indian get-ups! Corinne especially liked dressing up in what she called her "Indian Princess" outfit complete w/ bangles and necklaces. It was given to her by a friend in India over a year ago, and it's amazing looking back at pics from when she first got it to now! It swallowed her then and barely fits her now! Also of note in Indian cultural worship night: I made my djembe (small drum) playing debut (I was the "rhythm djembe" basically backing up someone who actually knew what they were doing on lead djembe) and I was asked to share "God of India" with the group so that was cool! Of course, what night in India would be complete without some chai to finish it all off... We had 3 cups and didn't sleep at all that night from all the caffeine!