First Days Back

March 26, 2008

Well, it has been a month since posting the last time and we have been too busy to write. We had a good trip back to the U.S. We did the wheelchair thing through the airports and it was a blessing because Coleen could not have walked.

We had doctor’s appointments, visited folks and thought we might do some relaxing. We were able to speak at the Sunday evening service at our home church and at Team Kids. We also had five minutes at Phil & Susan’s church. We spent time with good friends and time with Phil, Susan & James. The hardest part was we didn’t really have time to relax.

Our son, Phil, went on an interview three days after our arrival and was offered a job with a company on the south side of Waco. So after we received our shipment from Thailand (March 10) we unpacked the shipment, unpacked part of our storage at Phil & Susan’s, sorted and sorted, and then repacked again. Since their house will be sold we had to rethink our “storage” issue. We decided to rent a storage unit in Indiana since we intend to be there eventually. We packed and packed and packed some more. On March 20 we rented a 26 foot U-haul truck and drove to Indiana in a two day trip on March 22 and 23. It was a safe trip and we did well even though we were surprised by snow on Sunday. There was lots of blowing snow but none stuck to the ground.

It seemed to take a long time to get through jetlag. It was almost three weeks before our bodies adjusted. One of the biggest changes for us is the fact that you can drink water out of the faucet and that you can get hot water out of the faucet. Coleen still gets ready for cold and is surprised by hot water.

We are in Indiana right now visiting with Coleen’s dad and friends. We are finally relaxing and hopefully will have some time to do our blog site, some scrap-booking and read some books.

We have been blessed by our last three years in Thailand and by all the folks we met and became friends with. We do miss many aspects of our work. But is does feel good to be in the U.S. and we are looking forward to doing some traveling and seeing the rest of our family. We also hope to see friends as we travel through various states. God is good and not only has prepared us for each step but has seen us through each day as we’ve made adjustments to “our plan”. Because we sometimes still have “our plan” we continuously pray that we will listen to and follow “His plan”. We are headed to Nashville, TN next.

Phuket

Before we embark on our next new adventure we spent our last week in Thailand at the Marriott Phuket Beach Resort. Coleen messed up two ligaments in her ankle early in January and it is still healing so we were a little limited in our walking. We did go to the pool 4 different days. We could take a golf cart from the villa to the hotel when we opted to eat a dinner out. We spent time working on a picture presentation for church and starting to write our spoken presentation that goes with it. Coleen spent some time on the internet and found some Birkenstock shoes to order. She also worked on a place to stay in southern Oregon or the very northern part of California in October. We haven’t found a match yet so she wanted to see what other options were available.

As some of you know, in 2004 both Debby and Coleen got a white stuffed tiger at the Build-a-Bear in Las Vegas. Akasha (Coleen’s) has traveled with us to all of the different countries. When the maid came into our room the bed was made but not perfect. She straightened the bed and because Akasha and his swimwear were on the bed she arranged them as in the picture. We thought it quite cute. They also created the elephant from towels to greet us when we arrived. Every evening at sunset there is Thai music and/or dance. We enjoyed the sunset from the restaurant. The elephants visited the beachfront one afternoon and we saw that even they enjoy the surf.

We really had a great week and are now looking forward to returning to the US for a while. It is with much sadness that we leave Thailand. It has been our home for three years and we made many wonderful memories there. We leave many friends and will look forward to seeing them again. Some of them we will be able to see during our travels in the States. Others we will have to wait to see until we return to Thailand in about two years (we hope).

Homeward bound we are. The real problem is we don’t have an actual home at this time. We will see what is in store for us and what God has planned as we go forward.