Music Lover’s

The amount of love we feel in our hearts today is probably the most full we have ever felt. Today, we recognize our loved ones back in the States but we also have over 30 valentines here at Baan Dada.  They celebrate like we do, showing appreciation to those we love with flowers, letters, music, […]

Read more "Music Lover’s"

Our hearts have been awakened 

Monday in Thailand is a national holiday but it’s not recognized here at Baan Dada other than kids having the day off from school. With Sunday being an exhausting day of cycling, we were told breakfast would be served a little later. This was the first evening I didn’t have to set an alarm. Still […]

Read more "Our hearts have been awakened "

Thailand Bikathon

We have been biking since we were little but we’ve never considered ourselves cyclists and never thought we would be cycling in Thailand.  Mel has biking in her blood as her dad, Duke, bikes every Friday and Sunday and has participated in many bike races during his life so far.  When we arrived at Baan Dada we found out […]

Read more "Thailand Bikathon"

Thai Time

Early to rise, early to yoga. Malina, the volunteer coordinator and our instant friend has been experiencing some back issues. Naturally, when she asked us to take over her weekly yoga class we didn’t hesitate, OK maybe we did a little, but we didn’t want to say no. We love yoga and it’s been a […]

Read more "Thai Time"

The Good Kind

Not only are we here to volunteer and share our love with the children but we are passionate about learning from them and embracing their lifestyle, too. That means we are sleeping on thin mats under mosquito nets and taking cold bucket showers.  For the next week we are vegans who do not drink alcohol and […]

Read more "The Good Kind"

Welcome to the Jungle 

Twelve hours total in travel. A train, a shuttle, a bus and a hitch hike. Yes, mom, we hitch hiked, but in our defense we missed the connecting bus. Before we get into that I’d like to start from the beginning. Having worked our bums off to make this trip into a reality we needed […]

Read more "Welcome to the Jungle "

Kòp kun mâak (thank you)

Thank you or kòp kun mâak, as the Thai say.  We give thanks to those who sent prayers and well wishes for our journey overseas.  We made it here safely after a very long day of travel from San Francisco.  We arrived at our hotel at 4 a.m. and we weren’t tired since it was only 1p.m. in California.  You […]

Read more "Kòp kun mâak (thank you)"

Redeeming Soles II

When we revisit places where we volunteer we love the feeling of connectivity it provides us, familiar faces, knowing the general ropes and being surrounded by like-minded individuals. What we also enjoy is being able to learn even more about the company and sometimes we get to try different tasks than the first time. In […]

Read more "Redeeming Soles II"

Women’s March 

I don’t enjoy protests. I don’t like large crowds, unless it’s festival season and I don’t like aggressive ‘tudes. So when my best friends and I planned a surprise visit to Seattle and they asked me to join the 175,000 other women in the city’s Women’s March I hesitated. Don’t get me wrong, I fully […]

Read more "Women’s March "