Hello everyone,

I figured I had better write the next post since Wes can get so detailed and long winded about topics (bodily function) that you might not have wanted SO much information about.

Our flight back to Dallas is Jan 9th!  We all have a mix of emotions.  We are disappointed to be leaving so soon but are looking forward to being reunited with family and friends.  We are also anticipating some healing and relief from our current health challenges.  Speaking of which… Alyssa is now dealing with diarrhea and stomach pain when she eats.  We took her to the doctor and the best they could give us was, “Maybe it is viral or the food here since we use a lot of pesticides.”  Ugh.

Our flight leaves at 5:30 am.  International check-in 3 hours before flight means being at the airport at 2:30 am.  Factoring in the reality that not even two taxis could bring all the family and luggage, and that the BTS Skytrain  closes from midnight to 6 am we will be trudging our luggage to the Skytrain at 10 pm.  I’m grateful that we have such an opportunity to adjust our internal clocks to our future time zone.  That sounds very sarcastic, but I really do think that it will work to our benefit.

One HUGE praise and prayer request is that after we bought our tickets the date of the protestors “shutting down Bangkok” was reported, Jan 13th.    We knew that sometime after New Years they were planning this and we were hoping to avoid any extra complications in getting home.  My heart and prayers goes out to this city in turmoil; may they find the true Prince of Peace.  Here is a link from Bangkok Post about the shut down and a link from BBC about why this is happening.

On our flight here to Thailand using British Airways we were able to bring three free checked bags each.  Thankfully we only brought two each because our flight back to Dallas using Delta allows only ONE free bag.  The fee for extra bags is outrageous.  So while being distress about the extra cost I’ll grateful that we didn’t bring more over with us.  So pray that our luggage is supernaturally light and compact!   I have to bring home souvenirs somehow!

One last prayer request!  Since we bought our tickets late we don’t have seats that are assigned next to each other.  I don’t think that it will be an issue, but I would at least like to have one parent with one child.  So, a little extra prayer for the hearts of strangers to be compelled to give us 4 first class seats… just kidding.  I just want to be able to sit together.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  I am so thankful to have been able to experience the wonderful people of Thailand even if it was for just a little while.  I come back enriched with faces to pray for and a faith that has strengthened to see God carry us through lonely valleys. I look forward to seeing many of you face-to-face and sharing what our faithful Father has done.

PS   It will take some time to get our phones set up, but you can call our Dallas cellphone numbers and leave us a voicemail which will be emailed to us.