We wanted to let you know that we will be continuing our blog as a way to provide updates to you on our journey here in Thailand over the next 3 years. For those new to the blog, know that we started this a handful of years ago when Jason was first diagnosed with his two cancers. Now, Praise the Lord, he is doing well and we are shifting gears to be more focused on Wiles' Miles as we live and travel across the world vs. Wiles' Trials of fighting cancer. A refreshing change for sure! You can sign up to receive our posts via email at the right of the blog page. (wilestrials.blogspot.com)
So, let me start by explaining how on earth we ended up in Thailand. Over 2 years ago when Jason and I traveled to Thailand on a work trip/belated 10 year anniversary trip, I specifically recall saying the words, "Over my dead body will I EVER move to Thailand" after he made the pitch to me to move then. Well, ahem... you can see very quickly that God helped my heart do a 360 turnaround over these past couple years. You see, change is not easy for me. Nor is moving even farther away from our family mostly in Ohio and our MD friends f/ the past decade. However, I finally decided to put my own desires and comforts aside and see where God wanted to lead our family and support Jason in a dream of his.
So... Jason has had the desire to do an overseas tour for over 9+ years now. After he overcame his battle with 2 different cancers, my heart was softened to his dream and the fact that God may have put that desire in his heart. Could it be that I was the one holding our family back from what God had planned for us? And seeing how much Jason and I had grown in our relationship with Jesus through the cancer journey really helped me to trust that Jason would put his own heart's desires aside if they were not God's will for our family.
Lots of things have happened these past couple years that have softened my heart to Thailand. I actually remember praying the following 3 specific prayers multiple times:
-"Lord please close the door on the Thailand opportunity if it's not your will for our family."
-"Lord, I will go to Thailand with open arms if you please close the door on another post that sounds flat out awful."
-"Lord, I will go to Thailand with open arms if you please heal Jason's body and have his June pathology results come back completely clear." (We had a small scare with what should have been a standard stretching that raised some potential concerns. PRAISE JESUS he is still cancer free!)
Well, none of the doors were closed by the Lord for Thailand. And in fact everything pointing this direction seemed wide open and smooth sailing. So, Thailand it is for the next 3 years. It was really strange for me, as I was torn between being excited for Jason to be able to experience a dream of his and expose our kids to different cultures during this time. However it was also quite heartbreaking saying our goodbyes not knowing when we would see our family and friends next. Lots and lots of tears!
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| Look at all the luggage! |
Now we are transitioned to the new time zone (11 hours ahead of EST) and we are out of the zombie mode we were in. And Taylor finally stopped waking up to eat a meal at 2am after the first week. For awhile she was on a food strike because her belly wasn’t hungry during the day since it was her typical sleep time. But that is mostly all taken care of now! Ty transitioned the quickest to the time change as he slept less than 5 hours on the 30 hour trip. Did I say I will not be flying again with him for a LONG time lol?
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| We are exhausted after a day at the Embassy, 3 days after our arrival to Thailand and still adjusting to the time change! |
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| Pizza night with Tuk our Helper |
Learning to drive on the opposite side of the street in the golf cart hasn't been bad, but thinking of driving our car when we get it later this month is more intimidating to me. First of all, GPS really isn't helpful here. And, a good way to describe me is directionally challenged. (I have no internal compass at all.) So trying to figure out where I'm going to get to the right place, store, etc. is going to take me a good amount of time. One thing you have to understand here is that they don't have stores that carry everything under one roof. If you want a certain item, you have to go to that type of store or that person that sells the item. For everything! There is a milk man, a egg man, a banana lady, a wood store, the mall store for cell phone plans, the 7-eleven to pay your bills, etc... So it really takes time to get what you need and bumming rides off of friends because a lot of the places require cars to get you there outside of our neighborhood!
Also, the whole food end of things has been much more overwhelming than anticipated. You see, we thought the foods that we are so easily able to get in the states fairly cheaply would be accessible here and affordable. However, we have learned they are not if it's an American brand or type of food. For example, if you want a box of American brand cereal, they may or may not have it. And if they do have it you will be paying close to $10 for it. And we have had Ty on unsweetened Almond Milk for the past 6 months. Well, good luck finding it here. Praise God for Amazon prime and Vitacost because we are going to have to ship a LOT of things here on a monthly basis.
Below are some nice surprises that we are extremely grateful for. God is showering us with love during this overwhelming time!
- School has started and is off to a great start so far. We are VERY pleased with the ISB (International School of Bangkok)! At open house we were able to meet most of the other parents in Taylor's class. Jason and I were the only couple that were both born in the U.S. and our children were born in the U.S. Some couples were both from different countries and then each of their children were then born in other countries different from them as well. We are so grateful that Taylor is able to experience diversity to this level and have access to such an incredible school while we are here that we can walk across the street to!
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| First day of school in front of our house. |
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| Our 1st Grader |
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| Banana trees are everywhere |
-It feels like Maryland temperatures. I expected to be slapped in the face with unbearable heat the minute we stepped outside the airport and we weren’t. It has been really nice! I’m learning the hottest time of their year is March/April. We are in the rainy season now, where it rains often in the evenings and sometimes during the day, but it is comparable to a MD summer right now which is totally doable!
- There are banana trees everywhere here. That is one staple we still can continue on eating affordably here :)
-There are lots of U.S. families in our community and they have been so friendly and helpful. It feels like one big family already! Friends are showing us the ropes at the grocery store, having playdates with us, letting us hitch rides with them places, letting us borrow their golf cart while we make a decision on buying one, etc. And, you are assigned a sponsor when you arrive. We are so incredible thankful to our sponsor family for helping show us the ropes here along with our helpful neighbors as well!
-We really enjoyed the church within walking distance from our house. So many there seemed genuinely interested in building relationships! And we really enjoyed the Pastor’s first sermon. It took me off guard at first as it was on Hebrews 12: 1-2, the verse that my dad has been claiming for his battle with melanoma. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” It was an initial slap in the face just three days in being there that my dad was so far away and still fighting the battle for his life here on earth. Wheewy!
- It gets dark earlier here compared to US and it’s consistent all year round because we are close to the equator. This will be really helpful getting Taylor to bed earlier considering that she will now leave for school at 7am vs. 8:45am this school year.
- I love driving a golf cart around everywhere! It really is fun! I have never driven one before, so I was initially tentative with not knowing where I’m at and being on the road with other cars and scooter bikes everywhere. While Ty hates his car seat, he begs to stay in it now that it's in the golf cart and cries every time we take him out of it. Lol. And yes, we had ours painted like a OSU Buckeye football helmet. Needless to say it won't be hard to distinguish our golf cart from others here.
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| Go Bucks! |
- There are snails and geckos everywhere here. When it rains, instead of seeing worms out everywhere you will see snails instead. And geckos are everywhere here, inside and outside of houses.
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| Yep, she caught a gecko! |
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| We had a boxful of snails Taylor collected from our yard within the first few days we arrived. |
- We love having 7 different pools we can swim at in our community!
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| We have so many pools we can swim in! |
In His Love,
Meg
