Golfing in a Swamp

For part of Todd's birthday, the boys took him to the local golf course, not knowing exactly what it would be like. Wouldn't you know since we do live on the equator, it was a little, shall we say, swampy. Oh, and the streams do make for a good bath!


Good luck finding that ball!!

Rain, rain, DON'T go away!

The first night we moved into our house in River City, it poured!! We discovered that the quality of our water (and almost everyone's in the city) is very dirty, not even good for bathing much of the time. So T started doing a very simple version of rainwater capture technology: he just caught the rainwater in a bucket. :) We had enough water for at least a week from that rainstorm. The bucket was filling up every few minutes! We learned very quickly why the locals rely on rainwater for their everyday needs. But many still use the polluted river water or don't know how to store the water well in order to keep it germ free. We are excited to start learning how to meet this simple but critical need. The learning began in our own home.

Our Favorite Spot

So this is where life in the tropics is so much fun! We like to have dinner at this great spot on the beach a half an hour away from our home. You can see the sunset, eat some amazing fresh fish with veggies and fruit drinks, and enjoy digging your feet in the sand. We've never found a place like this in the States, that's for sure!

We recently enjoyed this little spot in celebration of Kylie and Emily's birthday (Kylie-29, Emily-1). Since we're moving to a different island, I'm not sure when we'll get to come here again anytime soon. We enjoyed every minute of it! Emma did too :)

Working in the Jungle

We spent last week learning how to install a clean water tank. We traveled into a fairly remote village in a beautiful tropical forest.


The family we visited lives happily in two small wooden shack-like houses, one for sleeping and one for cooking. The wife of the family cooked us a full meal with snacks and tea included. The local people's sense of hospitality is far greater than in western cultures. They were a delight to visit.



We had to hike a little while to get to this house. As we were leaving to go back to our car, it began to rain on Emma and me. A local person drove by us on our way up the mountain and saw we were getting drenched. He stopped and pulled off a large leaf from a bush on the side of the road and gave it to us to use as an umbrella! It worked just as good if not better than a regular umbrella. Emma loved the rain and loved looking at the leaf even more!! She cooed and chuckled all the way back to the car. It's a memory I'm putting in the books!

Easter

India

What is the coolest part of the year in India still made for sweaty afternoons for us as we toured some parts of the capitol and the Taj Mahal. It's a colorful diverse country with great spicy food and amazing ancient structures. What an experience! Unfortunately E won't remember it but we have the proof!



If you like those, then check out more of our photos from India here! Be sure to click on 'slideshow' for an enlarged view.

We know we’re back in SE Asia when:

1. A wave of humidity hits us as we step out of the airport.
2. Todd’s sneezing and coughing has started up again due to mold and dust.
3. We buy a new electrical appliance without checking it first and it goes up in flames as soon as we plug it in.
4. It takes a while to write and post this blog entry.
5. We get to enjoy delicious tropical fruit. (the photo is of T's favorite fruit, Mangosteen)
   
6. We get to have conversations with friends that last for hours.

Tearful Goodbyes and Thankfulness

The heavy sadness comes in waves, usually when we know it’s the last time we’re going to see a friend or family member for a while. It’s overwhelming if we think about it too much. But we are learning to make each moment count and enjoy the quality time we get, when we get it. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the States. A huge thanks to those who provided us a comfortable home. We could not have asked for a better place in each of the 3 places we stayed. It truly helped us rest well. Also thank you to everyone who gave a gift, a hug, a kiss, or a prayer to little Emma. We are so blessed to have family like you loving on her, even those who haven’t met her yet. We will miss you all very much and look forward to the next time we get to see each other face-to-face. Until then, we’ll keep you updated.

Much love,
Todd, Katie, and Emma

Friends Weekend

We had a lovely time in Granbury just eating, chillin', and playing with little Sammy and Emma.
Todd and I have been looking forward to spending time with our TCU friends for a long time. We missed those who couldn't make it but it was a blast to finally have face-to-face time after a few years of being overseas.

Living in the States after 2 1/2 Years

Many friends have asked us how it's been for us being back in the States after living overseas for a while. So I thought I would just write a few things down to give you an idea of the HUGE differences in our two worlds, SE Asia and America.

In America we enjoy...

having privacy in our home.
eating good Mexican food and buying things like organic cereal and choc chip cookies.
being encouraged by our friends and family members.
getting to worship together with friends and family.
the efficiency and great service at restaurants and stores.
getting to wear a sweatshirt or jacket and experiencing the changing seasons.

In SE Asia we enjoy...

the community of people we see every day.
long talks and drinking lots of coffee and tea with neighbors and friends.
the importance of relationship and community.
eating great tropical fruit.
eating healthy food like rice and vegetables every day.
motorbike rides through rice fields, along the coast, and up steep mountains.

In America, we have a hard time with...

materialism.
busyness and the hustle and bustle of life.
freezing unpredictable weather.
having to always schedule time to hang out with friends.
too many choices (resturants, cereals, clothes, games, etc).
superficial conversations.


In SE Asia, we have a hard time with...

pollution.
being away from friends and family.
being the minority white people in a sea of brown people.
hoping that we understand what our friends are saying to us.
hoping that our friends understand what we're saying to them.
slow internet connection.
lots of misquitos.
HOT, HOT, HOT weather!

The New Addition

More Fall Pics

Enjoying Fall at the Buffalo

37 Weeks

View more on Emma's blog.

Visit Emma's Blog

Hey all! We started a blog just for little Emma so we don't crowd this blog with the million photos, videos, and stories we'd like to share with the grandparents and anyone else who is interested in how she is growing, etc. We will still have Emma and family snapshots and a few stories here and there on this blog but she's got her special place now. Check it out and keep it on your "favorites": http://emmabates.blogspot.com/

The link is also to the right of this blog under "links". Enjoy!

We're Home!

Igor picked us up from the airport. We were startled when we heard English and Spanish over the intercom after 2 years of being out of the country.



Igor made us a great breakfast with food we hadn't had in a long time. Yeah for fresh orange juice, fruit, and bagels!



Todd's family met up with us in Ft. Worth. This is our nephew Austin trying to decide who to draft for his fantasy football team. Todd is just happy to be hanging out with his favorite person.



Austin, Todd's sister Gina, and Todd at a great Texas restaurant in downtown Ft. Worth.



The family back together again!



Katie and Uncle Don



Todd and his high school soccer coach.



Todd and his youth pastor, Neil.



Katie and Chelayne, both over 8 months pregnant! You can't tell in the photo and that's what we want. :)


Todd's best friends in Arizona.


Todd's birthday dinner at the Yard House in Arizona. He's 28!

First Portrait of Emma

This is little Emma in the womb at 3 pounds and 4 ounces. We were blessed to be able to have a 4 dimensional ultrasound yesterday. It was the most surreal and beautiful experience to be able to watch her on a TV screen moving around and playing as the doctor examined her heart, lungs, and made sure she was still a she. :) Emma is healthy from head to toe so far and she's still a she as far as we can tell. The midwife in the room at the time looked at this snapshot and said, "look, she's praying." If you can see, she has her hands up in front of her face. It looks like they're folded together. This is how the local people on this island pray. Todd and I also observed that it's very possible that she has my German button nose. :) What do you guys think? Isn't she beautiful!

The Growing Belly

Katie at 30 wks, 7.5 months or so.

SE Asian Delites

Our favorite place to eat on this island is a strand of seafood restaurants right on the beach where you can see the sunset. I know, we live a hard life here. You can order fresh fish, shrimp, squid, or lobster caught that day! They add vegetables and greens along with fresh fruit juice like coconut or mango. Your table is literally in the sand right near the shoreline. You can imagine how beautiful it is. Unfortunately, we only have a few photos of the seafood before it's cooked. The last time we ate here, we had our friend Elizabeth with us! We're so glad we got to see you Elizabeth!

Russian Delites

Ever since Todd traveled with our friend Igor to Russia, the desire to eat authentic Russian food again has never left him. There is only one Russian restaurant on our island. Usually we avoid restaurants that don't do international food well, which most of them don't. There's always a few spices or a few exchanges they make in the ingredients that Southeast-Asianizes the food! But here's our tribute to Igor and delicious Russian food:

No smiling in Russian photographs.
When Todd went to anything touristy in Russia,
he just let Igor talk and most people thought he was Russian!

Russian dumplings. Mmmm!

Borsche, a Russian soup. It was close but not the same as in Russia.You have to say it in a low voice with a Russian accent, "I eat Borsche."

It's the hospitable thing to do in Russia to drink a shot of Vodka before a meal. Well, this was a local drink that wasn't quite as tasty as Vodka. Still, we enjoyed our Russian-Southeast Asian experience.