The last day

Day 125 (Saturday):

I am writing this 5 days after the fact plus about a gazillion miles, I'll do my best, but my memory isn't stellar. :)

Our flight out of Thailand was a minute shy of midnight, in Oklahoma it was a minute shy of noon...not sure if that'll help give you an idea of our travel time. It was 40 total hours...but you'll get all the details about that in the next post.  This one will cover the last day in Thailand, including boarding the flight, and then I'll continue with the traveling details in the next post.

The final day was extremely difficult, it was long, there wasn't a lot left to do, and it would have dragged terribly and more than likely been filled with minor meltdowns from me, but my friend Amanda came around lunchtime and spent the whole day keeping me company and helping with the kidlets.  A God send...absolutely!  I honestly don't think I would have fared as well as I did or even survived without her.  We had lots of fun light hearted conversation and when Doug and I both got overwhelmed at dinner, she sent us back to rest and shower while she took our kiddos to the playground.  It gave Doug a chance to rest and me a chance to pray and sing. Just what we needed!

This was our last meal in Thailand, it felt like a final meal before an execution or something. The retreat place served this yummy pork and stir friend vegetables, the perfect meal before traveling, exactly what I would have requested if they'd asked me, but I just felt sick to my stomach and jittery.  I ate a decent amount, but it wasn't as enjoyable as I would have liked it to be.  Kora was unfazed, she ate watermelon.

Amanda took all the playground pics.  My kids are wearing their clothes from the previous day because I was trying to minimize dirty clothes and I wanted to shower them right before we left.

Look, a diaper!

This baby came with us, Kora too.

Kees's expression cracks me up!

I'm taller than you!

See saw, or is it teeter totter?

She looks so tall!

Amanda brought the kids back when it started raining and we got ready to load up.  Amanda went to pick up another one of our friends to meet us for final good-byes at the airport. So, Doug, the kids and I took one last drive down our tall tree road. We stopped and said good-bye to one of our neighbors who runs a noodle stand.  I cried, and blubbered, she teared up a little too. 

Saying good-bye to Pi Noi.

With the girl baby.

They were so sweet. They kept telling us they hope we come back and that we could stay at their house.

Kora is half as big as her already. :)

I snapped one more as I walked away...crying.

We piled back into the truck, and stopped at 7-11 one last time. There are 7-11s all over in Thailand and it was one of our favorite places to stop and get drinks when we were crazy hot...which was 95 percent of the time.  We also got a sandwich for Kees. He ate half of it on the way and saved the other half for later. We also got juice boxes.

At 7-11, lots of fun memories!

 Our friend, Nathan and his family loaded the remainder of our stuff into their van and drove us to the airport.  There were so many friends to see us off.  It was the perfect send off.  God's way of reminding us that our time hasn't been vain, the relationships we formed ARE real and lasting.  We may not fully understand all that God has done in our lives and those around us while we were in Thailand, but some day, I know we will.

We had so many people helping us load the luggage and get it over the check in counter. My friend, Sandy kept up with our carry ons so I could roam freely and say good-bye to people.

Kees was feeling shy and overwhelmed.  He asked where his cars were, and I could only track down this one truck. I had packed about 10 in a little bag that was inside our rolling carry on suitcase, but I was trying to wait to get them out until we were all the way through the airport.  Cars make Kees feel safe.

Pi Tone and Pa Eiw, our neighbors and good friends.

Doug chatting with our Thai church family, he's slightly in this picture, to the far right. They have been such a blessing to us.

I was holding Kees, and when I put him down, he waddled over to the plane poster with his hiney sticking out.

Korean Air is amazing, if you get the chance you should fly with them, the service is spectacular.

Things went a little south right after this picture was taken. Kees had been really shy and clingy. Pi Tone talked him into playing with him.  Everyone was wanting to take a group picture, and I figured I'd just leave him over here, so he wouldn't have to go stand in a large group of people. When the photo was over I saw him with my friend Janna screaming bloody murder. She was trying to explain where I was, and then I had to go scoop him up and explain where I'd gone. He thought we went on the plane without him. After that, I told him I would hold him as long as he needed me to and I promised him we would never leave him. Poor guy.

Here's the group photo.

With our Thai church, Amanda is part of our Thai church too...when she's in Chiang Mai.

Kora was all over the place...literally. All 4 of the other people in this photo had at least one turn chasing her around.

She loves Pi Tone.  We're still hoping he'll be able to come live with us as an exchange student.

A gift from our Thai church.

Showing Pi Tone the poster, I guess Pi Tone was joking about airplanes saying they were cars.  Kees talked about it all the way home, on every flight, he kept saying, "I wish Pi Tone was here, he thinks airplanes are cars, he doesn't know they go up in the sky."

Kora was mesmerized by Pi Tone's braces.

Amanda giving bye-bye hugs.

I did not take drugs, I know this pictures would lead you to believe otherwise, but really, I was drug free.

With Janna and baby Theo

Kees looks like an evil genius and Kora is still, but wait a second....

There it is!

 We said all the good-byes, then went through the final check point to wait. Our friends were heading to Washington for a 2 month home assignment to not only show off their new baby, but to settle their eldest daughter into college! :)  We were on the first flight with them, and then got to say good-bye to them at the airport in Korea.

This store was all enclosed in glass, we shopped from the outside...perfect, can't break anything this way.

As soon as we got settled by our gate, I located the cars.

He's a sweetie.

The cars are in that Mickey Mouse bag.

We got to board the plane first since we have little kids. We didn't pay for Kora to have her own seat, but on the first flight they had an extra seat, so we had one, but never used it. I was glad it was there and we didn't use it because it made me glad we didn't pay for one! ;)

Getting situated.

Kees's other half of ham sandwich.

Kees asked a lot of questions about everything.  He also insisted that I wait to flush the airplane toilet until he was out of the bathroom.

BUTTONS!

The first part of each of the flights was the worst. Kora wanted to explore and run up and down the aisles. Eventually she slept on all 3 flights, but the times she was awake were challenging.

The emotions of the day and all the good-byes were sweet, but also difficult. Last time we left Thailand we had a definite plan of return, this time it's unsure if we'll ever see our Thai friends again (this side of heaven) and I'll miss them so much. It's nice that at least I know they have facebook, so we can keep in touch and I know I can pray for them as often as I like.  I had so many thoughts bouncing around my head and couldn't sleep at all on the first flight. Doug and the kids slept at least a few hours out of the five.

Alright, more in the next post, so stay tuned.