ch-ch-ch-changes

i'ma blog your socks off, ever'body, after that two-week hiatus. whoo-ie! turns out it's my therapy...

so, some changes i've failed to mention:

nick quit his job! yay! he pointed out morosely that it's becoming a habit, but i think it's fabulous. i'm very proud of my boy for listening when the universe shouts. and he took a new job with an organization called BEAM, which is a rather young org that provides burmese migrant workers an education that fills in what we call the "post-10 gap." high schools in burma end after 10th grade, so it's impossible for any burmese kid to go to university anywhere else without something to take the place of those last two years expected by the rest of the world. as undocumented migrant workers in thailand, however, they're both too busy and too illegal to get that education here, perpetuating the problem.

enter BEAM, a legal and documented organization! this is a big deal, folks. they offer morning and night concentrated classes aiming to get students a GED after two years; there's also a vocational training school on the side. they can still work, and then, after they finish their coursework, they're supported in the college/scholarship application process. nick's teaching math and physics and helping figure out curriculum. cuz he's a geniusbrain. he's still finishing up the school year at wattano, though, so this poor boy has been so, so busy for the last several weeks. luckily, his motorcycle also blew up a week and a half ago (okay, maybe not entirely literally), so things have been smooth sailing for him... oh, and that house detail...

basically, he's been stretched to the max lately, but i'm proud of him. this new job was a scary switch for him, but it's going to be great experience, and he's definitely going to have more autonomy, free time, and sense of purpose. it goes without saying that he will miss his students at wattano, but i think they will miss him more. he's definitely breaking a few hearts, and the mountains of letters and photos and toblerone he's received can attest to it. one of my favorite nickqualities is that he does things well. he finds problems and fixes them, and he cares about people, so he helps them. so even though this job was mostly just a quick-we-need-visas job where it would've been perfectly acceptable for him to clock in and clock out without ever even opening a book (sadly, this is the world of backpacker-turned-english-teacher education), he made a difference. he did the same at BYU as a research assistant, and again at NASA, and he's doing the same already at BEAM. so even when he gets all worried about switching jobs and fields and not being qualified and being so old but not even having a career yet, i can't say i'm worried in the slightest. you rock, babay.

in other news, here's adrian. he got baptized on sunday. what are the chances that nick would be called to young men's the week before a 16-year-old american kid who doesn't speak thai contacted the missionaries?


about as high as the chances that the chiang mai branch would have white pants long enough for nick's legs. how i wish this picture included the feet.

and the sign. seriously, guys, who took this?

more changes coming soon, when i'm not bored of talking to myself. meaning, feel free to check back in an hour. but i must warn you: they don't involve me getting a job, because that is proving just about ludicrous. ayayay!