and blather breaks the silence

i've been a little MIA with the blog, partially because of busyness and partially because i think i've become a more boring person; i have nothing interesting to say and i dread becoming another blathering blogger (i fear i've already crossed that line). i apologize in advance for this post; this is just show&tell of the past 2 months.

hosting my mom here and seeing her in a different context opened my eyes to what an amazing person she is. for the first time, i admire her. and check out this giant leaf. she's kind, sincere, open, loves giving health advice (but if you're her daughter: health mandates), avoids the sun like the plague, and neighbors didn't believe she was my mom (how could such a skinny mom have such a fat child? hehe). my mom loves swimming, which she attributes to being an aquarius, but really really hates the sun. here's her swimming at the beach with a hat, long-sleeved shirt and long pants over a bathing suit and staying in the tiny shade triangle of the boat. she swam there for like 45 min. every friendship i have here is so new and i forgot how awesome it is to have a long history and standing of love. my good, good friend, elizabeth came through with her mom and we toured angkor wat in cambodia together for a few days. can i just say, sooooo many tourists and everyone is a self-proclaimed semi-pro photographer. we got templed out pretty easily so we just took pictures of ourselves jumping off stuff. having a chinese immigrant mom is the best. it's like always having comic relief around (though when it's your own mom, it can be emotionally charged comic relief). eriz's mom had to show off the free victoria's secret underwear she got. they only had thongs available. the clerk had to convince her to get it for her daughter rather than herself. makha bucha day. honestly, i still don't know what this holiday is, but since the kids had the day off and we had a bunch of gifts to give out from samaritan's purse, we brought kids over to the lake and played. i just liked this pic.i just discovered one of my favorite places in thailand just 2 hrs outside of bangkok: ampawa floating market. they're known for their droves of fireflies. good & cheap food, cute, and thai thai. hurry and make it there before it gets overrun by foreigners and stops quaint and peaceful. next time i go, i'm going to stay at one of their "homestays" on the river.oh, and homeland security update: yellow. my dad is doing much better. thanks to all who asked and for all you who've been praying.