Friday Fotos - Week Three

Almost four years ago, Dr. Nopadol, a Thai doctor who studied in the UK and has a cool British-English/Thai accent, was the first person to see Eden come into this world. And I'm about 4 years behind in snapping a picture of the two of them together.


This one doesn't really need a catchy caption. It's just cute all by itself...


Last week we bought a year long membership to the aquarium that we loved so much last time we were here. Here's hoping that we won't be here for the full year to take advantage of it! But it was cheaper to buy the year long membership than to pay to go just twice. So, now that we've already been twice, it's already paid for itself! Plus, it's indoors, air-conditioned, the kids love it, and I don't have to worry about them getting run over by motorcycles, taxis, or tuk-tuks while they roam around.

If only Salem would show just as much caution about tuk-tuks as he does the sharks. That boy does NOT want to take his eyes off the sharks. He constantly says "BITE YOU!!" when they're within his view, and wouldn't dare even look at the camera for a photo for fear of losing sight of them.


These aren't great photos for showing off photography skillz. Dim lighting, major reflective glass, and uncooperative busy-body kids are all hard things to work with. But you get the idea...

This is a classic family moment. I think it went something like this:
me: "Eden, go stand by Salem for a picture."
She goes over, pulls him to the ground by his arm. Meanwhile he's lost sight of the sharks, is mad at his sister for pulling on him, begins to scream...and I take a picture anyway.


But you can see the cool tunnel-y thing that walks through the shark's tank. No wonder the boy is paranoid. There's sharks all around you in this thing!

There's also gargantuan fish that made Eden ask questions about Jonah.


And lots and lots and lots of random fish tanks full of all sorts of fish that make for easy family posing.


The kids love it so much that we'll probably be back there at least once a week. Brandon and I love it so much because it's air-conditioned. Well, that AND it happens to be in the same mall where Krispy Kreme is. Aquarium/Krispy Kreme visit makes us one big happy family!

Caleb Turner

This is my first time to have a 3rd child, so I don't really know if this is normal or not. 

I'm hoping it's normal.

Then again, what about me has been normal lately? I'm a white chick living in China giving birth in Thailand. Me = abnormal.

But having a 3rd child. This is new territory for me. For the first time in our marriage, Brandon and I will be outnumbered. We won't have enough bodies between the two of us to cut up chicken strips, strap on bibs, separate children during fights, read books to three separate people, or even give them baths. As is so often said...we're going from man-to-man defense to zone defense. 

Pondering over these things, and a few others that are more important than strapping on bibs, has lead to lots of reflection in my mind lately. Rainy days and the thought of days ahead of being outnumbered has caused my mind to dwell upon this third kiddo, to pray blessings over him, and to ask our dear Lord that he PLEASE be an easy baby!

It dawned on me during all this reflection time that we haven't been real public (read: blog-public) with why we chose Caleb's name.

Allow me to introduce you to a dashing young man...

My Granddad. Cecil Edwin Turner. He was a handsome fella, wasn't he? Sure, his hair has a definite 1940's thing going on, but something about that flawless skin and soldier uniform is very debonair. 

Lest you believe we're naming our son after my Granddad because of his good looks, let me continue...

I didn't really know my Granddad. Not in the "know him, know him" type of way. I was three when he died. But I still feel like I know him well. He was one of those people that left such an impact on those around him, that those extended people couldn't help but share about what an amazing man he was. To know my Granddad through my mom and my dad, aunts and uncles, brother and cousins is a gift. Because though I can't recall stories that I personally remember about him, to see the love that others have for him when retelling stories, is an amazing thing. To know that they were so impacted by him that they desire to make sure his posterity knows and understands the type of man he was, says a lot about, well, the type of man he was.

And they don't talk about him just because he was good lookin', good at farming, a patient husband, a brave soldier, a gentle granddad, an obedient son, a deacon, or a leader. They talk about him because of his passion and love for his Lord, his faith, his obedience to Christ. They talk about him because when he was dying of prostate cancer, his passion was to make sure those around him could know and come to love his Lord in the same way he had. And because of his passion on those last few months, 13 more of his friends came to know and trust Christ. He's talked about because he was a man that lived a life that proclaimed the love of Christ.

And that's the reason why we're going with Turner for Caleb's middle name. Because we want to make sure our heritage can remember, know, and love the type of man my Granddad was too. The fact that Caleb's namesake is quite debonair is just an added bonus. 

My granddad is holding me in this picture below...I suppose because I was his favorite grandchild. :) Or maybe it's just because I was the smallest one there at the time.

Believe it or not, I (yes, Brandon did NOT :) consider Cecil for Caleb's middle name for about 36 seconds. Though it still could be cool. We remembered that I'm not birthing a 62 year old man, that he'll be made fun of all throughout middle and high school, and that his initials would then be Triple C.

Plus, tossing the T for Turner in there makes him still have some of the same initials as Granddad.

We knew from the moment we found out he was a boy that Caleb would be his first name. Salem was almost a Caleb, but then for some reason ended up a Salem. Was that a confusing enough sentence?

In the Old Testament, Caleb is referred to twice (maybe 3 times...I'm not sure now?) as "following the Lord whole-heartedly." I've always loved the name Caleb, but when I read over that, and thought about the implications of what that meant, I knew that Caleb from the OT was namesake-worthy as well. What a perfect prayer to pray over our son.
Plus, it helps us keep our Hebrew theme we've got going on with our kid's names!

So Caleb he is. Caleb Turner Chancler.

He's our number 3. The one who makes us outnumbered...who will make it harder for us to fit in taxis...who is causing his siblings to share a room for awhile...who inevitably gets mostly hand-me-downs.

And who we're already so in love with and dying to meet. We can't wait to welcome Caleb into our family!

Bangkok becomes cooler...

It seems ironic to me that we're in Bangkok during the rainy season. It's rained every day that we've been here. Sometimes it downpours all floodlike and I think we might float away. Sometimes it drizzles and smells heavenly.
But it's ironic because back home in Texas they've gotten approximately 0/16ths of an inch of rain the past 7 months. We're sick of it here...and wish we could send some ya'lls way!

In addition to the rain, BKK is just a hard place to be with kids. Non-wheelchair access sidewalks and street sellers make stroller-ing difficult. It's a pretty good hike to make the kids walk to the sky-train, not to mention the humidity and surface-of-the-sun temperatures that make it feel like my face is melting.

Alas, just when we thought being here for 2+ months just might make us go insane in the membrane (do people still say that? am I stuck in the 7th grade?!?), we got an email from some incredible friends letting us know they were headed our way and had plans of being here for several months! Score one for us!

We met C&A in virginia almost 5 years ago...back when we were all much cooler and kid-less. :) And now they've added two to their family, and are in the process of adding three more! (yes...that's right!!) 2 more precious boys are coming their way from Ethiopia in the coming months, and they'll be adding their first baby girl to the family in hopefully 4 months! 5 kids within 3 years. They're my heroes. They might also be crazy. But heroes still.

It's not a lot of fun for them to be here... A has to be on bedrest as they wait on their baby girl to be born. And right now they're stuck in a hotel room until an apartment opens up for them, but none the less, they are troopers and we're SERIOUSLY enjoying their company!! We're taking advantage of their time in the hotel by swimming every other day!


Swimming pools and friends make insane temperatures and humidity not seem so bad!!


As long as we have to sweat it out in Bangkok, we wouldn't rather be doing it with anyone else!

Friday Fotos

Week 1 in Bangkok!
photo/caption style from my phone camera...

Eden appears to have discovered the joys of eating eyeballs...not to be confused with Longans!


Salem has finally found his hidden Superhero powers. They were hidden at MahBoonKrong for $6.


Faster than a speeding bullet!! errr, at least for my phone to capture...


aaaannnnndddddd he may never wear anything else.


The Siam Paragon mall is definitely a favorite. What, with their giant strawberry ducks and all, who can go wrong?! Or maybe it's the new Krispy Kreme that draws the crowd. Either way, it's a win/win!


At the mall we scored some seriously great buys on crayola brand stuff, watercolors, and playdoh. The fun never ends when you break out the playdoh!






One week down! How many more to go?!?!

The 12th

This is a repost from May 18, 2009. Today is an important day in the lives of the V-family, and as we're remembering them, I was reminiscing and looking through pictures and decided to repost this from a couple years ago. As you read about the V-family, please lift up Mama V's health today. They are a truly special family to us, have always been such an incredible example of being salt and light, and today we ask for your thoughts on behalf of their family. 

Of Hammocks and V-Family - May 18, 2009

A hammock? really? Does anyone ever really want a hammock for their birthday? Lo and behold...my husband does. So I trekked over to REI one day by myself and scoured the place high and lo for an ENO double-nest hammock and accompanying slap straps. (I'll suck up my pride and say that you really should check these out...they're pretty cool!)

But before said trip, our awesome neighbors, the V-Family, decided they wanted to go in on this cool purchase for Brandon. So, in very cool stealth style, we've been hiding the purchase for a few weeks...until saturday night.

Second part of the story... 

If you know my husband at all, you'll know it's not unlike him to request a "practice" birthday cake. His birthday isn't until the end of the month, but he thinks it's cool to go ahead and get in a practice cake a few weeks in advance, even if the cake might be different than the one I'd actually make for his birthday. Of course, it's his way of getting 2 b-day cakes in one year. So, indulging him again this year, I told him I'd do his "practice" birthday cake on saturday and we'd have it that night. 

Now join story #1 and #2... V-family, Bek & Kev, and Eden and I had a surprise 2 weeks early birthday party for Brandon on saturday night! He got a cool hammock, a nice and very unexpected surprise, and a practice birthday cake 2 weeks in advance. He was pretty thrilled. He and Eden went out on Sunday afternoon to test out the hammock behind our apt. This is our view out of our back porch:

Same picture...just cropped for better viewing of the three...Brandon, Eden, and new ENO hammock.

Ok...Third part of the blog story.

V-family is actually the main reason we had a party 2 weeks early. They leave us this week for new and exciting adventures! After 7 weeks with them in VA and a year with them here, we're having trouble coping with this as we've truly come to appreciate our time with them! We've gotten pretty accustomed to our Friday evening ritual of Settlers of Catan:

But I think Eden might miss them the most. There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't talk about the guys (V-Family kiddos). She knows them all by name (adapted a little Eden-style), and really I think she'd prefer to play with them over any kiddo her own age. She loves them!! I dread the day that she bangs on their apt door expecting them to come see her!

We will miss you sweet V-Family!! 

The Land of Smiles

The sounds of Bangkok traffic...motorcycles, taxis, tuk-tuks, trains, and cars...are resonating in the background as I sit here in our "cozy" little apartment where we expect to be for the next 2.5 months as we wait on Caleb to arrive.

Bangkok has Reese's Pieces, Dr. Pepper, A&W root beer, Burger King, Mexican food, and our favorite Lebanese restaurant, Beirut. Our stomachs are in heaven. It's going to be near impossible to not gain 57 pounds my last 6 weeks of pregnancy!

It may actually be hotter here though than the surface of the sun and with all the walking we'll be doing, maybe I'll be alright on my baby-weight.

The kids are doing surprisingly well despite few toys and our small space. But there is green grass that we'll actually let them play in right outside our apartment door and they think that is fantastic! Eden thinks Caleb should be here already since we're in Thailand now. We took the kids up to see the babies in the nursery at the hospital and Eden asked which one was Caleb. If only it was as easy as just picking one out through a glass window! Almost as good as her Target idea!

I've seen my doctor (same doctor I had for Eden's birth) and everything is looking great with Caleb. He sees no problems and thinks that he's still got several more weeks to go before he'll be making his appearance.

So we're getting comfortable here and trying to make this space feel like home for the next couple months!

Nevermind...

Change of plans again...
After four contractions during language study this morning, we've decided to go ahead and move up our flights and get to Bangkok as soon as possible. So we're leaving tomorrow morning to take the train to the capital and then we'll fly from there to Bangkok, getting in at 9 pm. Pray with us that Caleb will remain patient and won't feel the need to join us too soon!
Edited to add: I'm only 34 weeks at this point and while I feel that the chances of him coming before he's full term are pretty slim, it's not something we're willing to gamble with in The Big Chicken. We'll update more after I've seen the doctor and we're all settled for the next couple months in Thailand! :)

Life and Pool Parties

You know how when you entered the 7th grade and your parents sat you down and had the "Choose Your Friends Wisely" pep-talk?

No?!?!  Surely I wasn't the only one!

And then you had the grand task of going forth and deciding which friends would inevitably impact you and your world more than you could really understand as a 13 year old.

If only we could all be so lucky as to have life just choose our friends for us, because let me tell you, it's working out well for us!

Because that's just what Life has done for us in the past few months. When we followed what God had in store for our family's Life, little did we know that simultaneously, He was working out that plan in several other families lives.

And we just so happen to get to do Life together. And doing Life together in the Big Chicken, not only brings you close as friends, but essentially makes us family too.

We got to celebrate the 4th of July together... pool side.

We've bought a short membership at the local Crowne Plaza hotel so we can swim in their pool. It's the kids' new favorite thing. I have no idea what kind of smile this is of Eden's, but it cracks me up.

Pictured below is Brandon pushing Salem while racing Kevin pushing Sami and Becky pushing Micah. Micah and Sami are new nephew additions, who have recently gotten to come home from Ethiopia to their new parents Kevin and Becky (not to be confused with Bekah and Kevin...yes that's only slightly confusing to the kids :)

Yes the guys are wearing swim caps. Yes that is a weird rule for Big Chicken swimming pools. Yes we do think it's weird. And yes sometimes we wonder if the pool employees are as concerned about the hair on Brandon's chest as much as they're concerned about the hair on his head.

New mama, Becky and her oldest, Micah, who has the coolest curly hair and eats like the rapture will happen tomorrow.

Sami, chillin like he owns the place...




Also joining in on the fun is OTHER uncle Kevin (yes, again, confusing much?) and his oldest, A, who fondly calls Salem, "Buddy!" Which I find adorable and too cool for school.



Kevin's better looking half stayed at home with their baby boy, D, who is 5 months old and happened to catch the nastiness that Eden brought home from preschool last week.
Yes, we were the responsible parents whose 3 year old passed along a vomitous illness to an innocent blue-eyed baby boy. So he missed the swimming fun.

So you'll notice, as opposed to a few weeks ago, the boys are taking over and outnumbering the girls now! With the welcome addition of Micah and Sami, and with Caleb coming soon, Salem and Baby D are gaining power!

Life seems to have chosen our friends wisely. We're blessed beyond words by our new friends and family here with us in the Big Chicken. We're grateful for their friendship, for the way they love on our kids, the blessing that their kids are to us, and for how the Lord is growing our relationship with them!



Caleb even got some pool time, which was very welcome for this ever-growing belly!

We're scheduled to leave for Thailand on July 19th to wait for his arrival... However, Saturday night we were almost convinced that we needed to move that date up because I had 7 Braxton-Hicks contractions within 2 hours. Since then, Caleb has become a little more patient, and doesn't seem quite as eager to make his debut in China. For now, we're still planning on arriving in Bangkok on the 19th.

Friday Fotos - Preparing for Monday!!

Eden couldn't see the point in leaving parts of it white! We're still working on those little details.



Happy 4th of July from halfway across the world!!