photos of my sweeties at dulabhatorn :

in a few hours i'm leaving my little home in chiang mai, thailand.  i know that when i'm in america in a few hours my summer here will feel like a dream i had years ago.  but, i guess that's what it began as.  so maybe leaving it that way isn't a bad thing.  going to thailand and roughing it in the jungle and being, as it were, in a different world was my dream.  and living it has been unbelievably sweet.  i can't express the feelings of my heart for how grateful i truly am to have had this internship opportunity in thailand with my brother.  i'm leaving a big chunk of my heart here.  i don't know when i'll be back, but i hope i will be someday.  probably very far from today.

luang pra bang, laos :

i really loved this place.  it wasn't very different from thailand in people or landscape, but it definitely felt different.  it felt laotian, like it should.  it wasn't overrun with white people or tourist attractions and fancy restaurants, but was quiet and slow-paced and small.  luang pra bang rests between the mekong river and the neck of the mountains.  and it was so charming.  there was the prettiest biking bridge that we crossed on our fourth of july ride.

on home: it was hard not to miss america on my favorite holiday.  truthfully, i've spent more time missing utah than i feel i should have this summer.  but in laos, so near the mountains, biking on cobblestone streets and weaving in and out of white red-roofed houses, i felt strangely at home.  not because i knew my way around a foreign city, but because i'd come to this point with god where i knew i was where he wanted me to be.  i've been so happy this summer.  a different sort of happy than summers spent with friends and boyfriends and at the lake with my family.  those memories are some of my favorites.  but i've discovered a special happiness in giving up control and finding peace in god's plan for me, and knowing for certain that everything is going to be more than okay.

my day with bâng :

everybody loves an elephant.  BUT NOT AS MUCH I DO.