The Bryan Family

I have started back my Children’s English class on Sunday afternoons.  I teach from 2:30 until about 4:00, and had 23 students this past Sunday.  They ranged in age from 3 to 11. I had 2 new children and the rest were returning from last year’s classes.  There were 10 children that belonged to some Christians here at Somprasong, while the rest (13) were from non-Christian families. (most of their parents work along the street where the church building is located).  Last year I taught two separate classes for an hour each, but since the older children were joining in with the younger students I just combined both classes for one class.  I believe the class went pretty well.  (Probably as good as can be expected with 23 children who speak very little or no English.)

We sang a few songs (I found some free songs that are specifically used for teaching English to children…www.dreamenglish.com), and then I taught them a short Bible lesson.  This was the only time in the class that both Thai and English was used.  We learned about the first day of creation..God made light.  I also taught them light/dark  day/night as well as on/off, and we talked about the letter Oo.  I split them off into two groups (older children who can already read/write in English, and the younger children).  They each did an activity with Oo before class was over.

Just like Daddy.

90 Seconds with Ellie - Episode 13

It’s very hard to believe that Ellie is 6 months away from 2!  She looks more and more like a little girl everyday, and she amazes me how much she learns each day.  This month she had to go back to the doctor for another vaccine.  She had her DTPa/IPV/HIB booster this month.  She doesn’t have to go back until June for her Hepatitis A vaccine.

At the doctor’s office, Ellie weighed 9.7 kilos and was 81.5 cm tall.  That is approximately 21 pounds and 32 inches.  She is slightly below average with her weight, but is above average with her height.

She now has 13 teeth, and it seems like a few are trying to come in.  She also has started showing interest in her potty.  She has only actually gone twice in her potty, but she sits on it several times during the day.  She had also learned that by saying “potty” that she gets to go inside the bathroom.

She is talking all the time now..saying words that we didn’t know that she knew.  She also repeats any word that you say to her (or tries to).  She speaks mostly in English now (except for nok (bird) and naang (sit)), but is quickly picking up more Thai words.

She loves to point out and name her body parts..especially her elbow and eyebrow.  Just recently she has started counting all the way to 10 (she usually skips 4 and 8) in both English and Thai.

We are still not sleeping through the night yet, but I’m sure that won’t last forever..right?  Maybe one day I’ll be able to sleep again.

Ellie and Mommy

Story Time with Ellie #2

Popsicles…

…and Chocolate.

Ellie and I made it safely back in Bangkok sometime around 1 pm on Sunday.  Our 30 hour journey went by pretty smoothly with Ellie sleeping on all three flights.  I was able to carry on her car seat on two of the flights because there was an empty seat next to mine, so I did not have to hold her the entire time.  Many people told me how well she behaved during the flights.  The hardest parts were getting through security (taking off shoes and jackets, taking out the laptop, un-attaching the car seat from the carry-on luggage, and then getting it all through the scanner…and then putting it all back), trying to keep an 18 month old entertained in the airports while keeping up with our bags, and trying to gather up all our luggage (3 check-in bags, 1 carry on bag, 1 diaper bag, and 1 car seat) with Ellie strapped on to me.  There were many people that offered us help along the way, and we were able to skip a few long lines and go toward the front of the line…I guess one of the perks for traveling with an infant.

When we finally arrived in the Bangkok airport, Ellie started to get very excited.  she When she saw her daddy she started smiling and she couldn’t stop smiling after he took her.  She had an expression on her face like she couldn’t believe what was happening.  She wouldn’t let him leave her sight after that.

I’ll try to put up some pictures from our trip and from Christmas soon.

Hope everyone had a great new year!

Ellie and I left on the 23rd to go spend some time with Neale’s family in Smyrna.  Neale’s sister, Beth, and her husband live in Smyrna, so all of Neale’s family gathered at their house for Christmas.  Neale’s parents came from Nebraska, his brother, Jan, came from Arizona, and his younger sister, Sarah, came from Henderson, TN.

We arrived in Smyrna right before services on Wednesday night, so we were able to go visit the Highland Heights congregation there.  After services we went over to Beth’s house and Ellie and I were able to meet baby Max.

Ellie and I stayed in Smyrna until the 27th.  Neale’s parents were driving back to Nebraska, so we rode with them back to St. Louis.  We made a short stop over in Jackson, TN to pick up Grandma Kitt (Neale’s grandmother) and to visit with Phyllis (Neale’s aunt) and family.

We had a good time with “Papa” and “Yaya”, and we can’t wait to see them again when they come visit us in April.  Ellie really enjoyed spending time with their dog, Potjie…and loving on that sweet baby Max.

On Christmas Eve, we opened our presents from Neale’s brother, Jan, since he had to leave early Christmas morning.

We also ate the Bryan’s Traditional Christmas dinner ..Curry!  Ellie had two helpings of the curry and ate more the next day.

Christmas morning we opened the rest of the presents as Neale was able to watch on Skype.

Max playing with his blocks that I made for him on Christmas morning.