Eight weeks already!
http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-8-weeks_1097.bc

More from Thailand

Well, the past week was quite different from the rest so far. We had company! Bro. Tom, Krinny, Ann and Pookie all came up on Wednesday. David talked to Bro. Tom about how things are going and the information we have collected so far. We also had a good time playing Dutch Blitz at night and going on a picnic at a waterfall. Friday afternoon the Lang family joined us, and we all enjoyed supper at Canadian Dave's. Saturday morning everyone left for the Hmong camp and boy, was it ever quiet! Just like whenever I travel, a few things got left behind, but we'll just take Krinny's shoes and Pookie's garlic with us next weekend when we meet the Gaudets in Chiang Mai:) We are looking forward to a little trip out of Mae Sot, but please pray for travelling safety as David will be driving us up over the mountain road.
I guess I should confess that the miserably hot weather here the past few days is all my fault. I complained about the rain, and the last two days have been unbelievably hot. As in, I bought an umbrella to protect my skin from the sun. I would really love it to be pouring buckets right now, really.
Yesterday morning I made a big mistake. I decided it was cool enough to wear my floor-length denim skirt. We went to Gospel Baptist Church for the 9:00am English service, like we usually do. After that, we decided to go find the Karen church that a lady at Handicap International invited us to. She had drawn us a little map, but it's actually not far from our house. Well, as soon as I got out of the truck I knew I was in trouble. It was hot outside, but I could feel the heat coming out through the open doors of the church building. Too late! We went in and sat down...just out of reach of the fan. If I leaned forward I could just barely feel some air moving, but not much. Thankfully, I had my popsicle fan to move the blazing hot air around:) David was even suffering. The service started at 11:00ish, so we figured it would be over around 12:00 or so. Nope, it was about 1:15, and I was actually getting dizzy from the heat and hunger (and need to pee, of course). It was a really neat service, although we couldn't understand anything because it was all in Karen, which is different from Burmese, and not even close to Thai. Anyway, we went to the Canadian for lunch. I had a big fat burger and fries and , yes, I had a coke:) Chugged half of it as soon as he put it down. SO! I've decided I will pack my long denim skirt into the bottom of my suitcase and forget about it until I get home and it's 50 degrees:)
Today we went to Burma to renew our visas. It's hard to believe it's that time already! We still had a few days, but sometimes they close the border so we didn't want to get stuck. 1000 Baht per day if you have an expired visa, no thank you. We should have learned from yesterday to go early, but we didn't get to the bridge until almost 10:00. It was already hot and I had the umbrella out and open! We filled out the Thai paperwork and the walked over into Burma. Well, we thought Mae Sot was dirty and poor, but Burma was nothing like our little town. SO filthy, and the poverty is heartbreaking. The people just sit and try to sell their wares, and stare at the white people. We went and saw two temples, and then walked around the market. Of course since we were going into Burma, today I woke up really nauseous. The market was about all I could handle. I kept gagging, and David just said, "If you need to ralf, just ralf." Thanks. But I did hold onto my breakfast (I figured out that it's much easier if you breathe through your mouth). The smell of fish and rotten chicken was everywhere. We had planned on spending a good long while over there, but after about two hours we came back. I was still gagging, and it was REALLY hot. Walking back over into Thailand was like coming home! It seemed so clean, and the people were so much more hopeful and purposeful. We did get our passports stamped, so we have officially been to Myanmar!
We came back here to the house and I went upstairs to sleep for an hour. I can't seem to get enough sleep these days! Or drink enough water. I drink liter after liter and I'm still thirsty. Thanks Sticky Bean!
David just commented that now in our family 1+1=3:)

You Tube Funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY

Curious...

Tonight during supper we were watching the news about the latest info on the good ol' USA's election (McCain wants to suspend the first debate and Obama's mad because he didn't think of it first). And I thought, you know, I haven't really read anything about Barack except what's in the news. We all know how unbiased that can be, so, I decided to do a little research. I figured I would start with his own website, and then find what I could that "de-embelished" all that. WELL! This is why he thinks he's so qualified to be our next president.

"

Early Years

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

The College Years

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Political Career

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.

Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side."

He helped poor people-great!

He was the first black president of his college newspaper-super!

He's a senator and and has used that time to...help more poor people-awesome!

I think he's done a lot of good for some people in our country, but why in the world would anyone who reads that about him think that it makes him qualified to be the Commander in Chief of our military? Ideas and dreams don't make me confident in anyone's ability to lead our country- not even mine!

He's great at organizing people and helping communities in need. So why doesn't he run for president of the Red Cross or something?

I just felt like sharing this little rant with you guys tonight:)

Guess what?

Sticky Bean and I are into the seventh week! Here is what's happening these next few days.
http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-7-weeks_1096.bc

Pictures

Here are our pictures so far in our trip.


http://picasaweb.google.com/deborah.madill/Thailand2008DDM?authkey=g1Wh1ZhiRAY#

Baby...

Well, now that the news is out to the families I'm free to spill the beans on my blog. I'm having a baby! May 17, or whenever he/she decides to show up. Hopefully not early, as we'll be in VA early in May for my sister Leah's graduation. Giving birth alongside interstate 81? Not cool.
Everyone is asking if we want a boy or a girl. Well, we just want a healthy baby with red hair. Not too much to ask for...
I have been a little sick, but no puking yet. I go to the bathroom ALL the time, at least twice at night. I sleep a lot, and want pickles really bad. Why don't these Thai people eat pickles? I don't care if they're dill or sweet. A pickle is a pickle right now! And I eat half of a meal and get totally grossed out by whatever I'm eating. As in I start gagging. But I found a way to prevent that. Last night at supper I just inhaled my food. Afterwards it didn't feel quite ingenious, but it was nice to eat a full meal. I was still hungry at bedtime though. I'm hungry all the time too.
Here is what our little sticky bean is up to this week:
http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-6-weeks_1095.bc
How cool is this!?!

Unrelated bits and pieces

When it rains, it kind of vaporizes the sewer water so that you cannot escape from the smell. Since it rains everyday, we smell poop all the time. Makes mealtime more enjoyable.
I actually have my own washing machine here. As soon as I turn it on it plays Here Comes the Bride all the way through, and again at the end of the cycle. The only thing I can say about that is that it wastes time, but makes me start laughing every time I do laundry!
We eat at a little restaurant just down the street from us quite a bit. It's super cheap and the fried rice is amazing. They try to get us to eat new things, and tonight the girl walked by me and shoved a plate of some little steaming fishes under my nose. RIGHT under my nose. I turned away and had to work really hard not to throw up. I'm still trying to forget the smell.
Our mattress is harder than hard, but I can't even stay awake to read at night. Soon as I pull the sheets up I'm out for the night:)
Someone is cooking next door right now and it's way worse than the sewer vapor.
The potato chip flavors here are interesting. Sushi, fresh seafood, stuff like that. And there's a little Dunkin' Donuts shop in the Tesco (where we get groceries) and they have green tea donuts. Why would you even do that to a helpless donut? And then eat it while drinking instant coffee?
These are just a few of the interesting things I've noticed here in Mae Sot.

Americans!

Today we went to Gospel Baptist Church here in Mae Sot. They have an English service at 9:00am. When we got there, several white faces greeted us. And not just any white faces...American white faces!
We've been meeting and talking with various people here in Mae Sot to find out what is already being done for the Burmese people. We are trying to find out what needs (as far as humanitarian stuff) are not being met so a ministry can be built around meeting such need(s). Then that ministry can be used as a reason for being here and reaching the Burmese people with the gospel.
Anyway, we talk to a lot of Europeans. They're pretty friendly, but there's just no connection like talking to a fellow American. So these folks we met this morning are Matt and Liz and their two girls. They are from Fairbanks, Alaska, and they like guns and chainsaws! Needless to say, we spent two hours talking over lunch. They have been here for about three years, so they know tons of people and are a very valuable resource for information on the different relief organizations working in this area. And it was awesome to talk to Americans:)

Catching Up.

I guess I should back up and fill you guys in on some stuff I have missed so far. I'll start with people so you know who I'm talking about.
Bro. Tom and Krinny Gaudet- the missionaries we are working with here.
Ann-A young lady from PA who is here for a year working in the Gaudet's office
Pookie- Another young lady working in the office, only she is Thai. And a lot like my sister Abbie.
Jeff and Theresa (and John and Gracie)- Another missionary family working with the Hmong people primarily.
Nakhon- Also works in the office doing translation work. Is Thai, and also speaks English and Spanish.
Steve- From North Dakota, and he loves the heat.
Paster Joseph- the pastor of one of the churches here in Mae Sot. We are working with him a lot.
Bro. Shemish- missionary from Australia.

Sunday- In the morning we went to one of the Thai churches in Bangkok. Nakhon sat behind us and translated, which was really nice. Afterwards we went out to eat with Jeff and Therea at Foodland- this is nothing new, they eat here all the time and then do their grocery shopping. I ordered something that sounded pretty normal, but before I even saw the plate I could smell the food. Noodles and shrimp and mushrooms and rancid bamboo strips. Yeah, It was gross, but I gagged most of it down. Two hours later I was really wishing I hadn't. Three days later, I'm still wishing I hadn't. Anyway, that afternoon we started packing and getting things together to leave for Mae Sot. That night we went back to the Thai church where they had an English service. Bro. Shemish preached on the chain of authority and receiving rebuke. It was really good, and it was really nice to be singing in English:)
Monday- We were planning to leave at 8:00, but then Nakhon noticed that the registration and insurance on TJ's truck were expired. So Nakhon and David and Bro. Tom all went running around getting the truck squared away. We left at 12:30:) Jeff was driving up with us, since that's Bro. Tom's ride back to Bangkok. After about an hour Nakhon called and we realized we had his glasses with us. Thankfully he's not as blind as me and can survive without them for a few days. It rained off and on for the first four hours, but thankfully stopped before we got to the mountains. David drove for a few hours and didn't hit any cows or anything:) Bro. Tom drove the last two hours through the mountains. I really wish it were short enough to walk- I alternated between looking through the windshield and freaking out about the cars coming at us head-on, and then looking out the side window and getting sick. I think my meal on Sunday added to the problem:) But we finally made it over the mountains and to our new house in Mae Sot. It's very nice, being brand new and fairly clean. It's very...blue. 100% blue. Dark blue tile on the floor, two different blues on the walls, and a light blue on the ceiling. It's like a pool! But there aren't too many bugs, and plenty of lizards to eat the few that are here. We spent the night in a hotel since there was only one bedroom with AC that night. We ate supper at a Canadian restaurant. The food is really good there, and I don't think I'm going to loose a bit of weight while I'm here. He sells bread and cheese in a little deli case. There are more things here in the boonies of Thailand than there are in Lobelville! But a great supper, and a few hours of sleep on the rock-mattress at the hotel.
Tuesday- We went back to the Canadian restaurant for breakfast:) Then we some over to the house and got to work. The guys started getting beds and furniture set up and finding an electrician to hook up the other AC unit and some fans and stuff. I headed straight to the kitchen and started cleaning. The whole place was plenty clean enough for a man, but not for a woman, and especially one who hates spiders. Everything was covered in dust and lizard poop, so it took a while to heat enough water to wash everything (there's no hot water here, so I use an electric kettle to boil water for stuff). But we finally got the place set up and relatively clean.
Just to give you an idea of what Mae Sot is like, the majority of people here are Burmese, or half Burmese. There are check-points going out of the city to make sure they stay in Mae Sot. The Thai government is fine with them being here, but doesn't want them mixing with the Thai people. There is a fairly large group of Burmese-Muslims here. The mosque is just a little ways down the street from our house, and while eating supper the other night we were watching the news on the TV- Al Jazeera TV. It's pretty strange, but they don't cause any trouble here because if they do they get sent right back to Burma. So they mind their own P's and Q's. It's very different here than in Bangkok. The spirit of the people is much more serious and heavy. Oppressed is pretty close to the feeling here.
Today we went to the Friendship Bridge- the bridge linking Thailand and Myanmar. As we watched, several innertubes with people hanging on crossed over into Thailand- while several soldiers sat a watched. The laws aren't too strictly enforced here because they want the cheap labor. I'll get some pictures up soon, but there's really no way to describe the area. It's sad, but at the same time a bit funny to see these people tube across the river, then hop up on the bank and trot off into town while the soldiers sit with their guns and watch (while smoking cigarettes they bought from the Burmese yesterday). There's an island underneath the bridge that flooded several weeks ago. 300 people had to find a place to live until the water went down, as this was their primary home. Tents and some sheds are what they live in, surrounded by the filthy river water.
Since the Thai government doesn't want the Burmese mixing with the Thai, Burmese children are not allowed to go to school. So Pastor Joseph started one. There are currently 168 children attending, and the teachers are Pastor Joseph's older children and two young ladies from Arlington VA. Pastor Joseph also cares for 17 Burmese orphans. He built a house right out in his own front yard to house them.
So many of the Burmese people are here illegally and at any moment can be loaded onto a truck and shipped back to Burma. They are so desperate to make a living and/or escape the military oppression that they just don't care. If they do get sent back, they usually return to Thailand by noon the next day. Pastor Joseph was telling us earlier that the best way to work with the illegals is to keep it small and quiet. That's what he's been doing for 20+ years:)
Well, Jeff and Bro. Tom are leaving for Bangkok tomorrow, so we'll be on our own. Pray for safety and wisdom and no trouble with the officials:)

On the road again...

Well, this morning we are leaving for Mae Sot. So far we've just been recovering from jet lag and getting things together for the house up there. Today we'll make the drive up there and begin setting up the house to live in. There's no AC yet, so guess what the first thing we'll do is?!? Fans and AC, then beds and stove and refrigerator and washing machine and everything else. We're very excited to finally get up to Mae Sot and get to work! It's about a 6 hour drive, so pray for safety and some safe food when we get there. I had something yesterday that I'm still recovering from. I guess I'll just stick to fried rice for a while:)

Thailand!

Well, 36 hours later we are finally in Bangkok. All three flights were smooth and uneventful, although I don't remember crossing the Pacific taking quite so long:) But Bro. Tom didn't have any problems meeting us at the airport as the protests and such were in a different part of town. As we come out of the airport my first thought was, "Wow, it's not that hot!" And then I remembered it was 12:30 am.
We are staying across the street and a few doors down from the Gaudet's house in a building they use mostly for storage. Our room is three stories up- yes, we hauled all our junk up three flights of stairs. I'm questioning the wisdom of 8 skirts, among other things I felt were so important while I was packing in my air-conditioned house. But our actual room has AC and we slept fairly well for a few hours last night.
This morning we had breakfast at the Gaudet's house- bacon and eggs, P.B. toast and fruit, juice and coffee- We both really enjoyed it after eating airplane food and drinking green tea for two days! After the meal David and Bro. Tom went down to the office and we ladies stayed at the house to pray and then clean up from breakfast. Then David and I went back to our room and repacked into just two bags (as opposed to four). Now we're down at the office getting ready to go to Future Park to get some shampoo and other things. Jet lag isn't bad yet, and hopefully won't be:) I'll write more as soon as we do something else. There's not much to write about travelling:) Oh, I had my first experience with a squat toilet. That's all I'm going to say about that for now!