I spent the entire time my two oldest boys were here publishing only one blog post. Now that they're gone, I wish I had written about it all so those posts could have served as something of a journal chronicling their time here.
It all went way too fast.
Today there's a hole in this place left by those two tall boys who came and moved naturally and easily within our lives here. They loved the kids and the kids loved them. Micah immersed himself in Thai language learning and it was amazing how fast he picked it up. He wasn't afraid to use it when he was out and about in town or when he was just milling around the property here. Nik, on the other hand, mastered a few utilitarian words and recycled them to meet every situation.
Most evenings found one or both of the boys riding off on the motorbikes to watch the sunset from a spot they'd found just down the road a bit. Morning found them making various herbal concoctions into tea and debating whether or not to agree to taking my new favorite garlic/lime super "smoothie".
On Thursday of last week things kind of broke loose here when we learned 9 of us had covid. Robbie and I were the only of our American family to test positive and also the only ones allowed to return home for quarantine. The 7 others are still at the hospital, although it's not because medical treatment is necessary. It's the protocol here.
We are so thankful to be allowed to be home to look after everyone else but we can't help but being disappointed that 7 of our group wasn't permitted to do the same.
We spent the last three days of Micah and Nik's visit being quarantined (by law) across the pond in the schoolhouse. We chatted with them from the backside of the building as they stood near the window to talk. It wasn't how we planned it. It wasn't what I wanted. It felt like a cruel twist in a month that was already very eventful. Can you tell that I spend way too much time thinking about myself?
The next few days will be spent trying to get well and also trying to surrender disappointment to the God we know knows everything and who always gives us that which we ourselves would choose if we could see as He does.
I have a hunch I'm inching nearer to what this whole Christian experience is actually about. My only real question is, why am I so slow??