It is really their garden...

Yesterday Kete and I drove out to Sonsai to meet up with Scott at his house east of the mountains. The view on a clear day is beautiful, but was to smoggy to witness the beauty. We did have the honor of checking out the Children's Garden. The Garden is taken care of by all the children that live there. Pii, Aye, Filo, and the mom Malee are the force behind all the work. Its funding comes from Scott and Joom at Give and Live and Gerard and Lydia from LHHP. The children here are very happy and they have all the reason to be just that. They have animals that they feed and plenty of space to play around in. They have new housing to sleep in and their gardens are endless. We will be selling a book on our website that was written by Scott Jones. The books is full of pictures and short stories that will have you laughing for sure. Please pick one up as the proceeds will benefit the Children's Garden. The Garden is ever growing and their needs continue to grow at the same rate. We took a lot more pictures but they got deleted somehow.

Love is Life

Steve & Kete

A worthy celebration...

On Wednesday morning we had the honor of being at the orphanage during a ceremony to celebrate the thanks for the Kingkaew family. The Kingkaew family started the orphanage in 1966 and was the first home to care for orphaned children in Chiang Mai province. The children were dressed up in little colorful Hawaiian shirts and there was a ton of food. We only took a couple shots during the ceremony. Hope you all enjoy.





Love is Life

Steve & Kete

A night of music and funny...

Well last night Kete and I went to a bar/restaurant called Santia's Grotto. It was open mic night and Scott from Give and Live thought it would be great for us to go and get Kete on the stage for a bit. So we hopped on our little scooter and headed to the bar.
This is Kete with the coolest helmet on and our little green machine.

This bar is the most unique place I've ever seen. The walls were made of paper mache. They have some great art on the walls and every instrument you can think of.


After chatting for a few, the music started.. Scott played a couple songs and his friend Warren as well.





Kete played 5 songs to finish it off.






The following pictures are of Scott and I, Kete and I and Santia, Kete and I.

Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Our afternoon of caring...

We had a great afternoon. It was a lot of running around and keeping up with the kids. Kete and I made a lot of new friends. Enjoy!!

Pictures below taken by Kete

Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Our morning of sharing.

Here are some shots of our morning at the orphanage.













The last shot was taken by Kete


Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Smiles ARE for free...

Today was an incredible day for Kete and I. Our day at Baan Kingkaew started at 9am with no expectations but to help the staff with their Anniversary preparations. We moved tables and benches off the pavilion where the children eat and then scrubbed the pavilion down with large pushable scrub brushes. By 10:30am we were done and were preparing to leave when Tom the volunteer supervisor asked us to stay and play with the children. I thought not knowing Thai would make it difficult for the kids to get used to us then if we knew their native language. Luckily I was mistaken. Although there is a language barrier between us and the kids, love is something that we all share the same. At first it took a little bit for them to warm up to us but the minute one came through the rest followed. They are precious little kids. All they want is love and attention. They were afraid of our dreadlocks at first but then were mesmerized by them. Pulling on them then running away then pulling and running away. We then played on the swings, flew them around like superman and made faces with them. It was an amazing experience to be able to go into the orphanage and add smiles to the childrens faces. We definitely look forward to each day we have with them and hope to build a lasting relationship with the staff. The photos were taken by May.
We then ate dinner at this great restaurant were Kete was able to put down some nice spicy curry. Our friend Scott met up and brought us to an art gallery that his friend was singing at. The multiple musicians added a great close to the perfect day. Kete and I also rented a this nice lime green scooter to get around Chiang Mai. I swear it's a blessing I have Ganesh on my wrist because tonight I almost hit his cousin. How many people can say they almost hit an elephant on the way to their guest house.

Well after that we'll call it a night

Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Our Journey begins tomorrow.

Today we had the pleasure of going into one of the local orphanages and securing some work for our trip. We are going to be working with the staff & children at Baan Kingkaew which range from birth to 5 years old. We were touched by their sparkling brown eyes and loving smiles. They are full of life even though their parents have either left them, gone to jail or died. The first three days are going to be spent helping the staff set up for an Anniversary that they'll be having. The younger children that we will be helping with are currently sick so it will be a few days before we start working with them.
We will also know within the next couple of days of other opportunities we may have at helping out different homes in the area.

Thank you for taking the time to read our posts.

much love

Love is Life

Steve & Kete