Christmas in Thailand

I think I mentioned before that this year, for only the 4th time in 35 years, we got to spend with my parents, Loren and Penny Hollingsworth.
Rich and I along with Julie, my sister, flew to Phuket, Thailand on Dec 23rd. You may remember that Phuket was one of the island that was hit so hard by the tsunami years ago.  And my parents lived there then as well.
Phuket is a beautiful island in southern Thailand on the Indian Ocean side.  This first picture is taken from a lookout area.
 This is Rich and I at the same area.

On the 25th and 26th, we were able to go out scuba diving.  As we were blessed to grow up in Thailand, we have always enjoyed spending time in the ocean.  This was particularly fun as we now know how to scuba dive (thanks to our wonderful children's gift to us) and we got to dive with my dad and my sister.  Mom also went out on the boat with us the first day. Thailand had been getting rain, but God allowed us to have 2 beautiful days to look at His beautiful creation both above the water and under.
 This is the bay on Raya Island that we dove near on Christmas Day.  You can see the areas with coral from the difference in the water color.  It was really beautiful.
I will post some underwater pictures later as our dive guide took pictures.
 This picture is on our way back into Phuket.  This is the Thai flag and behind is Phuket.  If you look closely, you will see the large white Buddha sitting on top of the hill.
On Christmas evening, the church met together for a party.  So we got to see many of the Thais that we have known over the years as well as met new friends.
This is all of us:  me, Rich, Mom, Dad and Julie, outside of the church building.  This was on the Thursday before we came back home on Friday.  Lek, who I have known for a long time and has been my dad's secretary for a lot of years, made lunch for us.  Lek is also a sweet friend to our children as they each got to spend time in Phuket with my parents.
God has blessed us greatly with wonderful families and friend, allowed us to have great adventures, and given us good health to enjoy so much of His creation.
Much love to you all!  Ronda

Comments

skeele said…
Nice pics... It is great to see you both and I am glad you got to spend time with your family.
January 8, 2013 at 11:07 PM
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