Update

It's been soooo long since I've given a "family" update. I actually had to go to my phone and look through my photos to see what's been happening these past few months.  

Here is a brief update:

(May-June) In the last term of the school year, I had been helping out at my children's school as the Grade 2 teacher had left. On the second last day of the school year, I received a phone call from my sister telling me that my precious grandmother had passed away. I was devastated. Each year when we visited Australia, I would always hope that it wouldn't be the last time that we'd have here together on earth. I will always hold such fond memories of our last trip to her house on October 17th 2014.

I was so thankful to have been able to fly back for my grandma's funeral. It was a quick trip but the time that I was able to spend with both my mum and dad as well as extended family was just so precious to me. 

All my cousins together.

(July) Our children very much enjoyed their "summer" break (winter months in Australia) as did I.  It was so nice to have the time to go exploring by foot around the city, have movie nights, go swimming and just catch up on some serious "play time".  Uno games were a daily occurrence as was playing with Lego.

Probably the highlight for all the children though was attending an Art class run by a friend each Wednesday of the holidays.  They loved the opportunity to learn new skills each week (and catch up with their friends).

  

(August) And then... literally as school was about to begin for the year, we suddenly found ourselves faced with a dilemma.  We had to make one of the hardest decisions as parents, which was to move our three kids from the small Australian school that we all loved so much.  We knew, going forward though that this was a move that we needed to make with their futures in mind especially for Tobi who heads into middle school (Grade 6-8) next year.  And so the past month or so has been very much about getting them settled into this new, bigger, totally different education system.  I am happy to report though that after a few bumps in the early days, they are all very happy and enjoying school. 
And me? Well I couldn't help myself. I had to join the PTG as well as a few other parent groups.  It's nice to know that I can still be involved in some way. Below is me introducing myself at the first PTG meeting!

And the most important and anticipated time of the day... after school!  There is an amazing array of food stalls right outside the school gate each day begging to be visited.  Most days it's sticky rice, pork skewers, dim sum, waffles or a fried chicken snack but for a special treat this day, we got a choc-banana roti. YUM! 

After school snacks!

We continue to enjoy the challenges of our new role in helping kids transition into adulthood and we are praying that we can find a Thai person who will work alongside us in this role.

Until then, we'll keep pushing ahead as best we can, using every Thai word we know and trying to communicate and articulate as best as possible with the young adults around us.

Looking at the time lag from my last family update, I can see why! It has actually been a very full 6 months.