Reflections on a wonderful time...

Well, Sean and my folks just left the house on the way to the airport.  Their flight leaves at 6:50 this morning and their long (and I do mean LONG) journey home begins.  I've barely taken the time to be on here to post about our time together because we've been so busy!  It's been such a wonderful two weeks.  Sean (again) has all the pictures on his computer at work so it may be a few days until I get some more of those posted but for now I'll just list a few highlights (for me) of our time together.

• I was in Jakarta in a taxi on the way back to the airport from the mall where I'd done some Christmas shopping when I got a call from Dad from Bangkok.  The connection was horrible but I quickly realized something wasn't right.  I called Sean.  Sean did some calling around.  We found out that the flight my parents were supposed to take from Bangkok to Jakarta had been cancelled for two months and I started to freak out!  Then Dad called again and our connection was a little better and he told me they would be on a different flight with a different carrier the same night.  It was already all worked out for them by the good people at Thai Airways.  Phew!
• I LOVE that moment when you see a loved one come out of the airport!  Since Mom and Dad's luggage was lost, it took over an hour for their faces to appear and I was really getting worried!  Finally, they appeared and I was jumping up and down and waving at them and running around barriers to get my arms around their necks.  What a WONDERFUL moment.
• Welp, a lot of help I was getting them onto their flight to Palangkaraya.  After spending the night in a Jakarta hotel, we headed to the airport again for the last leg of their journey only to realize that the airport was CRAZY busy at 5 a.m. and we actually missed our flight check-in time by about 10 minutes (because we were a little late getting there but also because the lines were horrendous)!  Bad moment.  But Mom and Dad were so laid back about the whole thing. Thus began the mad dash for a different terminal to buy new tickets on a different carrier.  There was also a lost ham and more running and, thankfully, a found ham - a very expensive ham.
• Sean and the girls met us in the Palangkaraya airport - the girls were almost awestruck at first but were soon jumping around hugging on Grammy and Grandpa with all their might.  
• Paige warmed up to Grandpa pretty quick but kept calling him Grandma.  By the end of their stay, though, she was very good at saying, "Grand...PA."  
• Christmas Eve dinner was ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, homemade rolls, creamed corn, apple pie with whipped cream and pecan pie.  We had our teammates the Pratts over as well.  HEAVEN.  We hadn't had ham for a very long time and even though it wasn't the best we've ever had, it tasted pretty wonderful. The leftovers were pretty great too.
• Opening presents with the girls this year was just such a blast.  Oh, those girls were excited.  Poor Mom and Dad were exhausted by that Christmas Eve night but they managed to stay up quite late to watch the girls play.
• On Christmas Day we went to church.  It was pouring when we left and we were later than we meant to be getting to church.  By the time we got there, they had already started and the only available seats were up at the very front.  We slinked up there, causing quite a stir with all 7 of us and most of us quite wet.  We sat down, enjoyed one worship song and some prayer and then the pastor got up to make announcements.  His first announcement was to say how honored and blessed they were to have visitors and to thank us for coming...but to also tell us they'd changed the start time of church for Christmas and we were over an hour late!  So... 20 minutes after arriving, we were already done with church!  Argh.  I even double-checked the start-time of church with a friend to be sure we were there at the right time.  Slightly embarrassing but, then, that's our normal life here!
• What fun to see my parents visiting our MAF staff friend in his humble home!  Sugi was really honored to have these special guests and I was glad Mom and Dad were able to see how most Indonesians live.  They even sat on the hard, wood floors for a long time without complaint (well, that I heard).
• Most of our days were pretty average but just being with my parents and showing them our life was fun.  The girls got to play for hours with their grandparents and that was such a wonderful treat.
• We did spend a lot of time driving around town, trying to find flour and butter and wheat bread.  With no success.  It's been three weeks since I've seen flour in the stores.  
• I had so much fun walking the one street in town that has lots of souvenir shops on it, helping Mom and Dad barter and buy.  Granted, none of these shops have anything that desirable, but it was still fun and we came away with some fun souvenirs.  Of course, we had to go back to buy the things Mom and I decided we'd like to have after all - so we got to do it twice!
• We went on an awesome boat ride down the river and got to see lots of monkeys and orangutans!  This was the first wildlife I'd been able to see and those orangutans were so fascinating to watch.  Sean and Dad both got some cool video and pictures.  
• We took Mom and Dad to the swamp.  For some reason, they weren't as anxious to jump into the swamp water as the girls were.  But Mom and Dad did get to experience "being famous" here when some teenage boys ran up to them to have their picture taken with the white people!  It turned into a hilarious event when our puppy, Duchess, tried to play with the boys.  Those boys were TERRIFIED of the puppy and every time they'd try to pose for the picture, she'd come running up to say hi to them.  Oh, the squeals and clamoring and laughter and running!  Don't know how I could properly describe the scene I got to watch, but it was hilarious.
• Both Mom and Dad were able to fly along with Sean!  They both seemed to really enjoy their rides and I'm glad they got to see what Sean does every day...I haven't even seen that!  
• I'm so proud of both my parents!  They took everything in stride and did great with the heat, the jet-lag, the weird food, the crazy driving, the different language, the odd hours, the long stares, and bizarre sounds.  Dad and Mom both went out walking/running around our neighborhood every morning. So proud of them both!  (Honestly, they handled everything much better than I do!)

Well, I could go on and on.  All I can say is that it was an incredible two weeks with my parents here and I was really sad to see them go - even though I know I'll see them again in three weeks!  It was a much-needed time of encouragement and re-connection.  I know this day will be hard (the first day after company leaves is always really hard) but I wouldn't change anything about the past two weeks...well, maybe I'd leave for the airport in Jakarta earlier so we didn't miss our flight but you know what I mean!

Now, let the countdown to vacation in the U.S.A. begin! 23 days....