The Further Adventures of...

‘Adventures’ is, perhaps, a misnomer. We continue to get along well, though seldom leave the house. We are becoming more used to the ways of this child, but find that getting out is a bit more work than pleasure. An unfortunate selection of chicken peddlers laid waste to what energy we did have, but we all seem to be recovering quickly enough.
Heidi’s mum, Julie, will be staying with us a for a few more days before going to back to Seattle.
For our part, it looks like we may be staying in Bangkok until the early part of November, as we are still awaiting US citizenship and a passport for Frances before we can return to Laos. We hope this will give us more time to explore Bangkok, though we have yet to do so. Micah was able to take an early morning excursion to the flower markets along the Chao Praya river bank, and up past the Royal Palace. The military who has taken over the Thai government has stepped up their presence in Bangkok this week following reports of Thaksin secretly re-entering the country. All very exciting… that is, for people who spend most of their days in-of-doors.

Frances Growing

I have to apologise for having gone so long without an update on Frances. Over the past two weeks Frances has been visited by an unending stream of well-wishers. Friends and co-workers from Laos have come to visit, as has Heidi's mum, who is staying with us for two weeks. The staff of our apartment drop by not infrequently to see whether she can understand Thai. She is growing well and healthy, and she seldom ever cries. Our only trouble is that she insists on sleeping when we want to squeeze her.


We also want our families and friends at home to know how very grateful we are for the many, many presents and packages (we are planning to open a baby-apparel shop when we return to Vientiane)- and messages of encouragement.

We will write again soon, hopefully with less of a delay this time...

Frances Turns Home

We have promised ourselves we will not become the sort of parents who inflict endless reams of photographs of their newborn, freeze-frame-esque, upon their unsuspecting friends and relations. The temptation is, however, considerable.

We have returned home today with our Frances in tow, together with our friends Larry, Jane, and Zaki Nafziger-Snider, with whom we will be spending the next couple days.

Frances continues to sleep and eat, etc., but is considerate enough to allow us an hour repose between each bodily function, for which we are grateful. She is lovely, though, and very much worth the effort.

The Ongoing Event of Frances

In the past 64 hours, we have slept but four. Frances is hale and hearty, though, for which we are thankful. For the time being, we are staying at the hospital to give Heidi and Frances time to recover before we head back to our apartment in Bangkok. Between diapers and breastfeeding, we have found some time to read, Heidi reading Chesterton's biography of St. Francis, and Micah reading Ivanhoe aloud to Frances as she has yet to become literate. It seems to us she appreciates the Scottish brogue, but perhaps we are guessing.

We Welcome Frances Sharon Ingalls into Our Family

A daughter has been born to us this day! This afternoon we arrived at the hospital for a routine checkup, only to discover that our child was already on the way, and was safely delivered at 7:15 pm, at Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok, full two weeks before we expected her, weighing 6 1/2 lbs.

We have decided to name her Frances in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, whose life was devoted to the poor and to Creation.

We shall write more presently. God be with you all.

A Cursory Update

Dear Friends and Relations,

As you may be able to tell, this site is currently evolving. Over the past week we have been updating this site with a long retrospective history-- beginning three years ago. We are aware that there is a number of you who may be bored by your first visit to this site, and thus not return, and never have an idea of what we are currently doing. Thus, I am posting this to give you all a current, though brief, idea of what we are up to.

A year and a half ago, we moved to Laos to work with the Mennonite Central Commitee. Heidi accepted a position with MCC's Sangthong Primary Health Care Project, functioning as a Public Health Advisor (Heidi completed her Masters of Science in Public Health in Developing Countries, through the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

Micah manages the Sustainable Agriculture Project Sangthong. We live in a village area and plan to stay until the spring of 2008.

A more detailed update is forthcoming.