An Impossible Task

We took Elijah to the US Embassy here in Bangkok this morning to apply for a passport and Social Security Number, and get his official Birth Abroad form. (Interestingly, the US Embassy here is surrounded by a moat. I am sure they would call it a "decorative pool" or something like that, but bottom line is a ditch of water the whole way around.)

In order to get a passport, one needs Passport Photos. The official requirements for the photo, are that the distance from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head must be between one inch and 1 and 3/8th inch. No more and no less. And you are also required to have the ears showing.

Now comes the Impossible part. Our darling child, now ten days old, has a very round head. If you make the face so it is the required height, then the ears stick out and don't show up in the photo. We had this same problem in India, but people are much more pleasant about our woes here.

So after double checking with several "higher ups", they finally made the decision to accept the photos, even if one of the ears doesn't show up.

Of the trials and tribulations of being ten days old and having very large cheeks. Even the government harrasses you.

Elijah

The Much Requested Photos of "The Boy"

Elijah Scott Frederick Stoltzfus, at three days of age. Note in one of the pictures is one of the reasons he has already earned the nickname "One Eyed Bart".

New Baby Arrival

Amy with Elijah, as we are leaving the Hospital. And Sam, being his usual helpful self.

The Big Sisters and Big Brother

Here is baby Elijah, with his siblings, when he is about 24 hours old. They were pretty keyed up. Elijah was hungry.

Sam is Relentlessly Determined to Take Care of this Baby

Sam is fascinated by this new wiggleling, squawking thing that has turned up in Mom's arms. Elijah is very much the object of Sam's affection and interest.

With relentless determination he circles Elijah, tossing him toys, shouting at him to drink juice, kissing him, patting his head, helpfully pointing out Elijah's nose and fingers.

Elijah will have to learn to survive all this affection.

Such a Heavy Decistion...

We brought Elijah home from the Hospital on Sunday (we will probably call him "Eli" for short). Amy busied herself in the apartment for a few minutes, and Eli started crying. I picked him up, and took a breath to begin singing to him before Amy would come and feed him.

Suddenly it struck me... this would be the first song that Eli would hear... it should be a good one!

My head started running through the many possibilities -- and there are so many to choose from -- but I kept coming back to hymns about the Church. Now there is a group of hymns that can easily bring tears to my eyes (who am I kidding? it doesn't take much to bring tears to my eyes, and most any hymn can do it in the right circumstances).

So I picked up my hymnal that I don't travel without (the red one, 1969 edition), and started in on Bealoth (I love Thy Kingdom, LORD), followed by "O Where are Kings and Empires Now?" (St. Anne), For All the Saints (Sine Nomine), Aurelia (The Church's One Foundation), and Austrian Hymn (Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken).

Elijah, however, wanted milk.

Elijah Scott Frederick Stoltzfus

Lowell and Amy are pleased to announce the birth of Elijah Scott Frederick Stoltzfus at 12:27PM local time on Friday, 20 June 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. That was about an hour ago, as I type.

Mom and baby are doing well, as are the rest of the family.

Elijah came into the world at 3570 grams, with a head circumphrence of 36 cm, and a length of 54 cm.

Photos forthcoming, though I may not be on here for a few days.

By Way of Keeping you all up to date

Hello reading friends,

As I write, it is 7AM on Friday, June 20 local time here in Bangkok, Thailand (we are 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time).

Amy had a Doctors appointment yesterday, and was told that she is three centimeters, and that if she didn't have the baby by this morning, she was to come back and they would "use Means" (to coin a phrase).

So since no baby has been forthcoming overnight, we are off to the Hospital now for Amy to have her water broken. We will keep you all up to date as events transpire.

Is it dishonest to be late (barring unforeseen circumstances)?

A good friend and fine writer, AP, recently had a blog entry to this effect, with dozens of comments. (Hmmm, I need to figure out how to put in links to other blogs).


Many of the comments to AP's blog appealed to "culture", saying that in many cultures, being "late" was a cultural thing. Interestingly, those from the other cultures who wrote in, said it was not.

I have observed the following things about India, where "lateness" might be considered a "cultural" thing:

1. The movies start on time. If you want to see the beginning of a move, you show up on time.
2. The trains leave their point of origin on time (this is not about when they arrive, but when they leave). No one in India shows up at the train station late (or if they do, they usually expect to miss their train).
3. When a politician caused a commerical airplane flight to leave late (because the politician showed up late), it nearly caused rioting, and led to a quiet resolve among airline pilots to never wait for anyone, even (especially?) a politician.
4. When a specialized doctor gives you an appointment, you show up on time. (You still might wait, but you do show up on time).
5. If an official gives you an appointment time, you show up on time.


So something to think about.

Contact Information

For the next six weeks or so, here is our contact information:

Our phone number at our apartment:
country code: 066
city code: 02
phone number: 656.3535
then you hear something in Thai and dial 321
From the US, I think that would mean: 066.2.656.3535 (pause) 321
But I could be wrong.
We are 12 hours ahead of New York City, for time.

Emergency phone contact would be Tom and Candice at: 085.165.5517 or 02.758.0138.

Mailing address (this is good until middle of July, as we will LW leave the country on August 7)
Tom Mast
attn: Stoltzfus
419/216 Moo 5 Thippawan 1 Soi 12
T. Bang Muang Mai
A. Muang
Samut Prakan, 10270 THAILAND

Long time since I posted...

Hello all,

It has been a long time since I posted.

We made it safely to Bangkok last month, and are settled in waiting for the baby. We did make it "safely", but a bit tired, with two nights of very little sleep, since the only time we could travel was at night. Makes for intersting personalities in our children.

We got settled in, are enjoying cooler weather (a mere 90-100 degrees), daily showers (meaning rain falling from the sky. We also continue to try to keep up satisfactory hygiene).

We had our first conference, which was much enjoyed, took a three vacation days, and spent a lot of time at the hospital for various things for all members of the family, from shots to dentists to minor surgery to broken collarbones.

Our internet connection is a bit sketchy, so I am at a cafe, which is where we will be doing most of our email. I hope to write and post more in the coming weeks.