My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness & My Tummy Is Filled with Pad Thai.

So, are you ready? This week's posts are going to be filled to the brim with photos from Thailand. I took over 650 photos and I want to share every single one with you. But I won't. Cuz that just might be overkill. Maybe I'll just share 600 of them. 

Today is just a general overview, but later this week I'll be posting about more specific adventures we had like our ah-mazing cooking classes and the food we ate all week, zip-lining 150 feet high through the Thai rain forest, and visits to the market with some very strange oddities. Oh, and of course, an outfit post. 

The best part of the week was, obviously, being together again with Chris. It was blissful to be by his side again, to be reunited with my other half, my best friend. Gosh, I love him. 

We ate tons of amazing food. And it was really cheap too, which was a bonus. While Chris was away for two days in the middle of the week, I feasted on pad thai and panang curry room service meals. This pad thai was less than four bucks! And it was leaps and bounds tastier than the $15 plates we often get here in the States. 

Of course, shopping had to make its way into the agenda. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with the shopping. I was hoping to find some beautiful jewelry to take home with me, but alas, I did not. We did buy a few trinkets, like a wooden elephant and a mortar and pestle for making delicious curry pastes!

We visited the zoo not once, but twice, and got to see all sorts of fascinating wildlife, including these monkeys that rain wild through the zoo.

While the trip was filled with lots of beauty, the truth is we were staying in a city that had been dubbed the "Sodom and Gomorrah of Thailand" by several of the travel sites I checked out. What you won't see pictures of are the streets lined with prostitutes, the old men walking with young boys and girls and the go-go bars with scantily clad women. It was emotionally exhausting to see all the depravity in the city. Chris and I were both touched by the situation in Pattaya and are thankful for ministries like Zoe International, who do amazing work with those directly affected by human trafficking. 

I think thankful is my word for the week. So thankful that every detail of this trip worked out the way we hoped, that I have a husband who makes me giddy with joy. I'm thankful that I can return to this country that he is defending, a great country that is certainly flawed, but it's home. And thankful that we don't have much longer left in this deployment and from here on out, I'm getting ready for his return! 

Happy Monday! 

(a special thai-esque font, just for this week. ;) 

PS. Today is our two year wedding anniversary! Check out my facebook page for a special celebratory discount code for today only! :)