Elephants, Bugs, and Floods

This week has been quite something! Since this week has been the 15 year anniversary of Agape, I've had the opportunity to participate in some of the planned activities. On Monday night I was able to attend a traditional Thai dinner & dance show, which was a lot of fun, as well as be there to celebrate a very special birthday! Tuesday we went to the elephant farm and saw the elephant show - amazing what they have trained these animals to do. Tuesday also included either a visit to an orchid farm or going to a snake show...I chose orchids. Clearly. I was teased about being a wuss, but I knew that already about myself!

Dig in!

Traditional Thai dancing...dinner & a show!

Watching the kids up there was so entertaining! They loved it.

Happy Birthday!

So glad I was around to help celebrate his special day!

Maesa Elephant Camp

Multi-talented...elephants playing soccer.

Is it sad that this elephant has more artistic talent than I do?

During some down time I was able to talk to a couple who have been involved with Agape for years - they're from Australia and they have been here multiple times. They even rented a van this week to help drive everyone places. They also brought numerous suitcases, full of things for the kids...it was nice to talk to them and see their generous hearts and obvious love for the Lord and his little ones. I've also talked to past volunteers, all of whom spoke with fondness about their time as volunteers. It was incredibly encouraging and uplifting to hear about some of their experiences. 

On Tuesday night when I returned from seeing the elephants, my stomach still turning as the trip had been a bit bumpy and not so good for motion-sick-prone people like me, I was informed that because of all the rain, our moo baan (neighborhood) was in danger of flooding. Being my father's daughter, I immediately set to work raising everything off of the first floor. I located some mops & buckets just in case (Melinda, you would have been proud of my emergency preparedness!), and waited to see what happened. The water in the street rose to a few inches, and I went to bed that night, wakening every couple of hours to look out the window and check the water level. Thank God, it never made it into the house, just inside the front yard. We tried to make light of the situation, as there was really nothing we could do, and I joked multiple times that I was working on building an ark just in case. People from Agape kept telling me to reserve a spot for them on the ark, as we watched the water rise. Thankfully there was never a need for an ark, and hopefully there won't be in the future!

Familiar scene...Westlake, Chiang Mai, flooding seems to be a common thing.

Staying on the dry side of the fence.

Since the kids I'm with are really too young to enjoy the festivities of this week, they were entertained by something else: these weird metallic beetles that a nanny found. The kids loved them, me, not so much. One of the nannies informed me with some emphasis that "God made!" which I agree with wholeheartedly, but that doesn't mean I want to touch them! Ever since I found a lizard crawling on me I have been a little cautious...obviously there are still a few things I need to adjust to. These creatures still give me the creeps, even though God did make them. =)

Pretty, but that does not make me want to touch it!

No fear