good morning.

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Bangkok, Thailand, and my little blue kitchen has the starting smells and warmth of a batch of honey oatmeal bread. Tiffany will be arriving in a few hours for the first week of our women's Bible Study, hopefully at the same time that the bread crust starts browning! I really love days like today.

I woke up later than I'd planned, a casualty of staying up late with Claire last night, but with enough time to get things done in a manner slightly slower than helter-skelter. I accidentally over-scheduled my week, so discovering that this morning was free was a beautiful margin that I didn't realize I'd left myself. So I'm using it to pick up my apartment, bake some bread, put away some clothes and get my external life in order (with a blog post thrown in for good measure). And while the bread does its second rise, I will continue my way through Genesis.

God has given me so much joy in being here... not that there aren't still moments that elicit groans and utterances of, "This is Thailand" (usually in regards to our internet) but overall, I am content. And I hope that that has less to do with the place and the circumstance, and more to do with the fact that God is growing a spirit of contentment in my heart regardless of the circumstances.

In all the hustle and bustle of life here, it is refreshing to be able to stop and intentionally relish the moment you are in. I'll share two moments from yesterday:

Last night Claire and I spent the evening with our friend Air and her sister Ae. They took us to a little ice-cream shop called "Tung Fung" and afterwards we went to a Suki restaurant called "Elvis Suki" where they ate dinner and we tried their scallop appetizer! Air is the childhood friend of the Thai tutor we had in America, Supot. He introduced us to her, via Facebook, while he was still in the States, and we have since become friends. It really is neat how God has brought people like Air into our life here.

[They put dry ice in the middle section to keep the ice cream from melting too quickly... and for the added fog effect!]

I also ran into Song yesterday! He was one of the guys I met at conversation corner in 2011 when I first came to Thailand. In a city so big, it is neat to run into people that I know. It was also a reminder for me to continue praying for him. He is taking Chinese classes at the BSC now, so I hope that means I will get to see and talk with him more frequently!

Anyhow, I need to pick the pace up a little more on my morning and handle my "chores" before people show up... but I wanted to share a piece of my morning with you all. For those of you I know and for those of you I don't know (shout-out to my readers in Oman and Finland!), have a wonderful morning!