Family good bye

“Stop poking the anemones, Mom!” Amanda chided me. I was trying to get one to squirt, with no success. Later she checked back to be sure I got off the big rocks where the tide pools were safely. Darrick checked back at the end of our hill climb to make sure I was with them. These were marks of the change in our relationships.

All week they helped take care of managing our activities. Amanda planned and made a couple of great meals and helped me with the rest.

She already knows more about cooking than I do. Jennifer checked out local sites to visit and the details on location and cost. We all joined her to visit the Yaquina Lighthouse and the nearby tide pools. Darrick facilitated some basketball playing with Gary and some other young vacationers. He even beat Gary at HORSE. When I had quick volunteers to clean up the kitchen, I knew things had changed. We even got along pretty well after the four of us there Monday morning prayed together for our week.

When Gary first proposed the beach week, I objected to leaving town a week early. I also wondered how Amanda and Darrick would take being away from Longview and the people in that area for that time. I also doubted our civility would last out a week in close quarters.

The frenzy of the last week of packing made me thankful for the week away. The week also gave me a chance to finish the 3 ½ books on Thailand and the book on Jesus’ teaching methods I hoped to return before we left.

Amanda did struggle with not being “home” and not having a car. The great weather, the whale sightings, our own Internet connection, and Bryan helped her through.

It was the trip to Eugene for Christmas that crystallized the hole we are leaving for our children. They will no longer have a place to stay in while visiting people in the Northwest. Then, to visit the larger family, they will have to make their own arrangements. If they are going to get together, they will have to coordinate their plans.

Christmas will be different for all of us from now on.

Our good byes were less tearful than I expected. Amanda had decided she will see us about as often as she does now. I pray that she will know we do love her and not hold any resentment toward us for doing this.

After Gary drove off with Bryan, Amanda, and Darrick, I went back in to more sorting, tossing away, packing, and reading. By 10 pm everything was done, even the last book.

The next morning Jennifer and I got it all in the car and took off. One more excursion, to the Voodoo Doughnut shop in Portland for a bacon maple bar for Jennifer, and we made it to Longview. A few more good byes, some last packing and errands, and then squishing everything into Jennifer’s smallish Malibu and we were off for Bremerton. The last stop was the credit union after we found a money order gift in a Christmas card. Providently, Gary walked in there just in time to put his signature on one last form they had run across.

Jennifer drove us to Bremerton and to breakfast and the airport the next morning. Our last good bye was to her as she dropped us off.

Repacking

50 lbs?! We weighed our largest suitcase after a trial packing on Saturday and it weighed 61 lbs. Korean Air, our carrier to Thailand, allows only 50 per suitcase. I used the scale to weigh things as I took them out of the case, hoping to get past 11 lbs at least. Since I had to fill the space again, the amount I took out had to be more than the 11 lbs. After a couple of repackings and reweighings, it became clear that the books were going to have to go in the carry on sized checked bag and clothes and other light things were going to have to go in the big suitcase. More things would be staying as well. Now I know my clarinet will be staying. I did get a recorder in, though. Do I want to take my Amplified Bible (heavy) or a book on how to make kites and a couple of children's books? The Bible won. I think I will need that more.

Things continue to turn up around the house that I once thought we would take. Gary told me some things could go in his medium sized suitcase. As he packs the case, though, he is starting to qualify that promise. It is back to priorities again, both in making the time to pack and in choosing what goes. I am thankful for the prayer support we have as we make these choices. With that, I am more certain that what we end up with will be what we need. Of course, He has promised to go with us (Matthew 28:20) and with Him we do have all we need.

:J

Perspective

I made my daughter cry on Thanksgiving. The permanence of our planned stay in Thailand became clear to her during our evening phone call. It made me sad to upset Amanda so much.

This was still on my mind Friday after I got the turkey cooking in Jennifer’s oven for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was a beautiful day so my husband suggested I take my run for the day. (Yes, he does make good suggestions sometimes) I decided to take an opposite route from the way I usually go from Jennifer’s and headed up to the left in conversation with God. Running along one straight, flat street I was praying about Amanda’s tears at our leaving and asking if we are really doing what He wants. Then I turned a corner to see the blue expanse of the sound under a blue sky with puffy clouds.
(Notice how the road disappears right after the white van)

I had never seen this view before, though I have run on that road several times. The view is at the top of a kind of hill I, as a runner, haven't learned to be thankful for yet. I still think of it as

tough to get through, or over. I rarely look back when I run, so I would always have remembered the hardness of that road rather than the beautiful view if I hadn’t gone that other way.

God used this to speak to my heart about His perspective on this coming sadness. Yes, this Leaving Time is hard, but He can see beauty in it from His viewpoint. Zech’s comment about “God is good” in their blog came back to me (reallifeontheedge.blogspot.com). He reminded me that God is good, all the time and everything He does is good, whether it seems that way to us or not. There is still the question of whether we are doing what God wants, but I see God leading us to Thailand as much as I have understood His leading at any other time in my life. That beautiful view at the right moment gave me reassurance and hope that His Good will come through this time of tears.