Winding Up While Winding Down

Our stay here is coming to a close...This month has flown by, mainly because we are keeping so busy!  (Most of the time.  We still don't miss many days of laying out by the pool.)  It reminds me of when we left the States- we wanted to see friends and say as many good-byes in person as we could, so those last few weeks were booked solid.  We have decided on one more trip.  We had kicked around the idea of Palawan or Boracay, which are known for their beautiful beaches, but truthfully we are kind of feeling "beached out."  Another factor was our visas- we are required to leave the country every 59 days to renew our visas, and they were expiring the day before the girls and I were to depart.  Not such a big deal for us, but it was for Bruce, who is staying an extra few weeks, and he needed to renew or face overstay charges.  That said, THAILAND HERE WE COME!  Our last adventure will be in Bangkok.  I am extremely excited.

One of my dear friends here had a birthday over the weekend.  We went to PF Chang to celebrate with our "posse."  Can middle-aged white women even have a posse?  Maybe not.

Mags was jazzed about the horse.  I was unnerved because that horse either has its testicles in front or its heart located on the outside. 
Also, notice Kate's reflection in the glass.  She loves baby Hannah and has her expertly on hip.  She says she is ready to start babysitting. 

Both girls had a full set of flatware but picked up their chopsticks first and ate with those.  Bruce's careful tutelage is paying off.

Cathy and her Wall of Chocolate.

Can I say a word about chain restaurants?  PF Chang was satisfying because it did taste exactly like PF Chang at home...yet, it made me a little uncomfortable.  Mainly because I just think that kind of flavor duplication is only achieved by shipping food in giant buckets. 

The lot of us. 

On Sunday, Jen's helper Marisa was getting baptized, and we hung out with them between church ending and the baptism beginning.  Kiki loves their dog, Manny, but Manny avoids her loves and hugs like the plague.  But!  When she is asleep, Manny finds her quite tolerable. 

She was disappointed when I showed her this picture. 
"But I was SLEEPING!"
She still wants him to love her in the waking hours.
Every guy I dated in college knows how you feel, Mags.

Marisa's baptism was amazing, and not just because I played, Jen led, I spoke, she spoke, and we did a musical number together.  That's life in a branch sometimes.  She was baptized at the same time as her friend Lito, and it was full of beautiful moments.  She is one of those people that when you meet them, you just know that they are GOOD.  My favorite part was when Marisa bore her testimony after and she said, "Today I start on the right path to my Heavenly Father's arms."  You could just feel her willingness to change her life and follow Christ. 

Marisa and Janice, our RS president.

Janeen, Irene, moi, and Lori.

Marisa, Jen, and me.
Can you understand why I feel like a giant here?

Marisa has been so sweet to Kate.
Kate needs one more growth spurt to be the same size as a full grown Filipina.

It was a good way to end life in our little branch- due to our Thailand trip next week is our last week there.  Being in a branch has been...enlightening.

As our adventure here comes to a close, I find my emotions in a flurry.  I'm sad to leave the friends I've made here.  It's comforting to know that most of them aren't staying here either, and I'm fairly confident most of our paths will cross again.  I'm so excited to see my family again- I will probably cry like a baby when I lay eyes on them.  I get frustrated by little things that I would probably just tolerate if the end wasn't in sight.  (For example: I have a galley kitchen.  One side is all counters except for my tiny oven.  The other side has fridge and sink and only a little bit of counter.  Where are all of the outlets?  On the fridge/sink side!  Yesterday morning when I was trying to make toast without knocking over my drying dishes-and don't get me started on hand washing all the dishes!- I looked at the expanse of empty yet useless counter opposite me and had an intense moment of homesickness for my giant island at home.) 

But, we've had some good laughs about funny things that would only happen here.  My friend Jen was pulled over for making a bad left turn, and was able to finagle herself out of a ticket by writing a solemn oath in the policeman's notebook that she wouldn't do that again.  Or, we caught a cab outside of the grocery store, and when he stopped for us there was so much smoke coming out of the tailpipe that Bruce and I looked at each other and said, "Is that cab on FIRE?"  Then, when we got in the cab, the cabbie looked like an escapee complete with wild hair and random dental problems.  Also, his pants were undone.  Not just, "I've had a big lunch so I think I will just undo this top button and hope no one notices," it was button undone, fly undone, and wide open.  I was in the back seat and could see the white lining on the inside waistband of his chinos.  I was thinking that at least it was only 6 blocks back to the house, so we could tolerate anything.  Then the cabbie opened his mouth and in quite good English proceeded to ask us about the American primary elections- "What did we think of Mitt Romney?" he asked.  "He's nuts," I replied.  "Santorum, nuts.  Gingrich, nuts."  He loved that, and told us that since the Kennedy's, he has been a lifelong supporter of the Democrats.  He loves Hillary Clinton!  "Could she be president?" asked Bruce.  Cabbie replied, "She's absolutely qualified!"  Bruce paid him double fare for the entertainment.

I made my first to-do list in 5 months.  I'm starting to set up my piano schedule at home and have been grateful that so many students want to come back to me.  I'm getting Kate signed up for gymnastics, making dental appts for us all, re-enrolling Kate back in school, and registering Maggie for kindergarten.  I've a mental list in my head of things to do at home- register the cars, get the taxes done, go through 6 months of mail...I can't focus on it too much or I start to feel overwhelmed.  I just need to live in the moment and cross those bridges when I come to them.  I can't wait to go to Target and Costco!  But first, we must have our last fun here, we must pack, we must Bangkok!