Finally Home

(Marcie writing today)
Well, the first half of the team has made it safely home! Our family and Todd Gore only went to Cambodia while the rest of the team went on to Thailand. The Haymakers and Todd parted for different flights home in LA. Our flight was supposed to leave LA at 11pm on Tuesday but after sitting waiting for a maintenance problem to be fixed, they finally cancelled the flight after 3 hours of waiting. So we spent the night in LA and got a 3:30 afternoon flight instead. We arrived in Cleveland around 11pm Wednesday. WOW! It's good to be home. I have to tell you, we loved Cambodia and miss it terribly, but to have working toilets and water that you can drink from the faucet is an incredible luxury! The first thing we ate was a fat bacon cheeseburger and fries :)

Let me back up a little to Monday. Our kids from the orphanage came to the hotel to say goodbye. It was the most painful and heart wrenching thing we have ever had to do. Our hearts had been joined to these kids in a way I can't really explain. We hugged and cried and sang songs to them in the lobby. People would stop and stare at these 10 Americans with 20 little Asian kids clinging to them - all of us sobbing. I'm sure they could not figure out what was going on! We cried knowing it would be so long til we could see them again. It was comforting knowing however that we were leaving them in wonderful hands - in a wonderful new building, with good water, beds, clothes, toys and friends. They have food, education, loving house parents -they have hope! Something they never would have had without Asia's Hope and the support of our church. They followed us to the bus stop all packed in the back of a pick up truck waving their little arms off, blowing kisses til we drove away.

We left Battambang on Monday. We prayed like crazy that Emily would be alright to travel. 5 hours on a bus with no toilet is kind of a problem when you have Asian Montezuma's revenge. She woke up Monday with a fever and some stomach pain - but PTL the "yuck" part had stopped. The bus ride was hard - no air conditioning and swollen eyes from crying. We arrived back in Phenom Penn and had some great team time, processing things and talking with the leadership of Asia's Hope. We got to hear Savorn's testimony of how he believed in Jesus, hear his heart for the orphans of Cambodia, and hear his vision for the future in reaching more kids. We packed up for travel the next day.

Tuesday we parted ways ... Cindy, Jen, Vern, Gwen and Judy all left for Thailand and Todd and the Haymakers left for home. Tuesday was an all day travel day, from Phenom Phen to Taiwan to LA. Wednesday finished out the final leg of the trip from LA to Cleveland.

It's going to take a little while to adjust back to home (and I'm not talking about the time change). Our hearts have been forever changed by the people we met there. We find ourselves thinking of people we met, wondering what the kids are doing today... little things too - what's the weather like there today, what outfits are the kids wearing today (they always dress alike -it's so cute!) We are so glad to have the opportunity to go! God is still revealing things to us that we can learn from our trip!!

Continue to pray for the rest of the team in Thailand. They are visiting the rest of the orphanages there - one being a nursery! Also there is a home for widows that they will get to go to. They get home on Saturday, I'm sure with more great experiences to share.