Elani and I seem to know how to have fun. It started out with a ponderously heavy suitcase, that contained everything that Elani has ever owned in her entire life, or an entourage of her friends…we are not sure which since she didn’t let us inspect it personally. Anyway, for two females, it weighed a lot! Our kind bus driver placed this suitcase in the van beside the door, while probably sustaining a herniated disk. In order to have the money to pay for an operation, he quickly informed us that the suitcase was big enough to warrant having it’s own seat, of which we were obliged to pay for seeing it made no move to pay for itself. Then, we headed off down the road with a big sigh of relief. We sighed too soon! The famous suitcase was perched in it’s cozy seat, but every time we went around a corner, and corners were very numerous, it would hop on over to it’s neighbors seat for a visit. The man sitting there looked anything but enthused about these frequent visits. Happily, we were crammed into the very back of the bus where we could hide in obscurity.

Upon arrival in Kanchanaburi, we quickly hired a taxi to take us to a guest house where we could safely leave our large friend while we went shopping. Both of us had long lists of things that you cannot obtain out in our jungle area, and blissfully did our shopping, little thinking about actually having to CARRY these things the rest of the way across the country.The next morning, after an almost sleepless night due to noisy neighbors, we hopped on another taxi to take us back to the bus station. We arrived there just in time to jump onto another small bus, and pay our fees. We were both immensely relieved that nobody asked us to pay extra for the notorious suitcase, which had gained a bit of weight the night before. As we carreened through the traffic, I was trying to find landmarks to show Elani, but I found myself to be strangely dissapointed. I could not recognize anything! I have been to Bangkok so many times this past year that I thought that I was pretty familiar with the route…but since we were talking non-stop as usual, I chalked it up to not paying very good attention. I was sadly mistaken. When we pulled into the bus station, I knew instantly what had happened, we had taken the wrong bus. So, the only thing that I knew to do was to get a taxi to the right bus station. We piled all our luggage into the taxi, probably causing more irreverible damage to the drivers back as he lifed our obese suitcase into the trunk, then we roared off through traffic. At first I was relieved that this driver was not an ex race car driver like the last one had been, but then I noticed that he seemed to be taking the scenic route to the other bus station. As the minutes ticked by, I was getting more nervous by the second, knowing that we only had a certain amount of time to catch our overnight bus. By the time we had finished exploring the city,  all the tickets for the nice bus to Mai Sot were sold out, just as I had expected. (Bangkok is bigger than New York, and we saw a good share of it while the taxi meter ticked away) Therefore, we were stuck with a second class bus. I don’t mind second class when I am in excellent physical condition, but I was still suffering from very sore joints from a strange malady that had hit me what seems like an eternity ago, so my appreciation for the cramped seats was a little lacking. But I must admit that while still at the bus station, Elani and I found a great use for our monstrous suitcase. We had several hours to wait so we turned it into a nice sofa with a backrest of windows, and spent our time almost comfortably!

After another almost sleepless night on the bus, we arrived in Mae Sot in time to go with Bradley to pick up Maria and her premature orphan at the hospital. For some reason, the doctors felt that this 3 pound baby with a fever was ready to go home! Things are just done differently here I guess. Little Jabin is so small as to be pretty scary at first. You get a distinct feeling that you might forget that you are holding anything at all when you pick him up. But, he has good lungs, and is doing much better than he was two weeks ago, or so Maria reported. She calls him her new boyfriend and is quite proud of him. After leaving the hospital, we went shopping again, this time for little bitty baby things, then headed on home.

When we arrived at the Adams house, we learned that Jason, not to be outdone by me, had contracted his SECOND case of dengue fever! He was still caring for the children, and doing whatever was needed. He did it mostly laying down to be sure, but he assured me that it was not nearly as bad as his first case. In fact, he told me that although he had a fever, it was not nearly as high as last time when it was over 106. So, I got busy and helped with the children. After finding out that Maria was also suffering from some strange Asian malady, I decided that since I was on a roll, I might as well stay up with the baby and let her get some rest, after all, I can go home to only 2 little ones instead of living with 6 of them all the time like Maria does! Gayle decided to join me, so we slept a little, talked a lot, and made bottles, changed tiny little diapers, and fed the baby every two hours all night.

This morning, I was watching Jason and I decided that maybe I should take his temperature, which he still insisted was not very high. The themometer quickly revealed that he was right, his temp was only 105.7 this time! He had still been helping with the kids, and doing all kinds of things that a person that sick should not do! At his request, my visit will be slightly longer than planned. Somehow I just can’t leave two sick kids to take care of 6 little ones, with only Elani and sometimes Gayle to help them.(Emily is on a visa run)

Elani’s introduction to traveling in Thailand, and the new school seems to have been a little traumatic, but she is taking it rather well. Right now Maria and I are in town while Elani is taking care of all the children, and Jason too! I guess  there is nothing like jumping into things head first!

Since the second round of dengue has the potential of being more serious than the first…if that is possible…. please keep Jason is your prayers. Also pray for Jabin, Maria’s tiny baby. It seems that the odds against him surviving are staggering, but we believe that God has a plan for his life, or he would not still be alive today. I am also hoping and praying that the rest of my trip will turn out to be extremely boring!