Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength being small
Today was so hard. Our van picked us up for the last time to take us to school (just the preschool today). Several of the teachers from the primary school, including the Principal, also attended. The schools had planned the same ceremony for us as Wat had done yesterday. While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, the children started to get a bit restless, so Jeff got up and we all sang our “Good Morning to You” song and the whole room was filled with the most beautiful sound, singing children!
The older girls from the preschool (all 5-6 years old) got up and did a traditional Thai dance for the school. It was beautiful. These girls practiced so hard and watching these girls brought tears to my eyes. This was such a special celebration. The “Doctor of Ceremony” performed the ceremony, followed by the principal and teachers tied strings around our wrists as a blessing and then presented with shirts from Nan, so we would always remember them.
Afterwards we sang our “Goodbye to You” song one last time, and again the whole room was filled with the sound of these children singing at the top of their lungs. We had lunch with Rinya, Emma, and Jonas. Before we ate lunch, our children decided that they wanted to share their Sour Patch Kids (which is their absolute favorite candy that we can’t get while abroad) with the children of the school. The thought was overwhelming for me, our kids wanted to share their favorite candy with these children. As a family we gave Rinya some photos of our time here, as a way for her to always remember us. Teaching at these schools has been a life changing experience for our whole family.
While we were sitting outside waiting for the van, we took some time to just visit with Rinya. However, our girls were not getting along at all. Actually, Anjali was being very rude to Lucia and Lucia just wasn’t going to take it. I walked over to talk with the girls and realized that Anjali was really struggling. As I sat next to her, she refused to look me in the eyes and when I asked her if she was sad, the tears just started rolling down her cheeks. I wrapped her in my arms and reminded her that it is okay and even healthy to feel sad about leaving; that we were all feeling this tug on our heart. This is when Rinya came over and sat with Anjali and before we knew it, all of us were crying. Goodbyes are hard and I realize now that at every place we will serve over this year we will have to deal with this grief and loss; it will be our reality. I took this opportunity to talk to the children about the constant changes in life and that grief and loss are intertwined with happiness and joy; we can’t have one without the other. We feel that sadness when we loose something we love dearly. If we do not love, we have nothing to loose. I am not sure if it sunk in, but it will be a conversation we will have more than once.
Here are some pictures we took with Rinya just before leaving the school, a nice way to say our final goodbye to her.
When we got home, Wat presented our children with soccer shirts that he had put their names on the back (but they spelled Lucia’s name “LUCLA” and Wat didn’t notice it until he got home). So we decided that we would be able to go into Nan a bit early tomorrow and get that taken care of before we head to the airport. After dinner, we gave Wat, Grandma, and Na Na some photos that we printed as a gift to them for their love, kindness and generosity. Again, the tears were unable to be kept back. These people are a part of our family now. I love that every two months my family just keeps getting bigger.
Sara's Daily Scripture and Journal 