It had been over 10 years since I was last in Thailand. I was so excited to go back, especially for an all-ladies trip. The days leading up to the trip were really busy but I was feeling really good about things. I actually wasn't panicking about leaving my babies and I had such a peace about everything.
All up until two nights before departure day (which coincidentally was also my birthday). I was literally awake all night. I though I was sick over seafood I had for birthday dinner, but by morning knew it was anxiety/panic attack not a tummy problem. In addition to the tummy problems, I was have hot and cold flashes back and forth (literally sweating and shivering back and forth all night), stabbing pains in my chest, not to mention just all the irrational fears flying through my brain. We had found out earlier in the day that a name on one of our tickets was wrong and I was over-the-top-not-trusting-the-Lord stressed about it. Of course the Lord (and my mom!) worked it out, but for some reason it was such a trigger for me. I started worrying about my babies, literally for the first time since I signed up for the trip, I was worried about leaving Kyle. It all seems so ridiculous now, but at the time it was very real and I was very sick. Thankfully, I had reached out to several friends who were all heavily praying Kyle prayed with me off and on all day and let me just tell you, by the time I arrived at the airport on Thursday morning, I was completely better and back to normal. The feeling of complete peace was back and honestly, after the whole ordeal, I felt even closer to Lord and just a sweetness from Him that helped set the tone in my heart for the whole trip for me.
On Thursday morning, my sweet friend Kayse and her daughter Abigail came over to keep my babies for the day so that Kyle could drive my mom and I to the airport in New Orleans. I had such a peace about leaving them that I didn't even cry when we pulled out of the driveway! I couldn't believe it!
We left our house and went to pick up my mom. We were so excited (and exhausted ha!) and ready to get the show on the road! We drove the two hours to New Orleans, my mom slept and I soaked up the last little bit with Kyle. Saying bye to him was MUCH harder and honestly, I just tried not to think about not seeing him for 9 days. We hugged and kissed and then I just tried to get my mindset on the things coming up.
When we landed in Houston, we had to change airports. So my sister-in-laws' dad, Julien, offered to chauffeur us between airports. When we got to IAH, we met up with Cassie and Julie who had been there for a while before we were. I was so so happy to see both of them. Obviously we know that Cassie is my sister, but Julie is my friend from our church in Texas. She has done such an excellent job of supporting our ministry with Lifevesting. She calls me, prays for me, and loves our family and this ministry so well. I was SO GLAD that she got to come and experience first hand what she has been praying for and supporting for so long.
Look how cute we all look before our 14 hour flight! ha, we did NOT look the same getting off the airplane as before.
We got on the plane and I was seated between Julie on the aisle and some biker dude home boy by the window whose muscles took up more than his allotted personal space. He called me babe the whole flight and when he was talking to the flight attendant he told her she was so pretty he wanted to jump her. Also, he told me he was popping a Xanax for the flight, which he proceeded to unroll from a tissue, and asked me if I wanted one. I said no thanks. In one regard, I was thankful he was knocked out the whole flight. On the other hand, I was squished in my seat afraid to fall asleep in case I accidentally leaned on him, I was too afraid he would like it! So I stayed awake most of the 14 hour flight. Thankfully I had plenty of entertainment choices.... Gilmore, Victoria, books and podcasts.... I was good.
We landed in Dubai 14 hours later at some time at night. We had a three hour layover that we used to freshen up, change clothes (they stuuuuuuuunk so bad!), and grab a snack before our next flight.
The next flight was thankfully only 6 hours long. Yeah, I say thankfully because 6 hours compared to 14 is nothing. I thankfully slept most of that flight.
We arrived Bangkok at 8:00 in the morning. I'm so glad I was able to sleep that flight before so I could hit the ground running that day. We got our bags and met up with our other two team members, Dixie and Lauren, and with our dear Thai friends Dui, Gift and Goy. Dui is our National Coordinator for Thailand and is a pastor in the town of Nong Nae.
Because of the way our flights worked out, we ended up spending most of the day in Bangkok. Starting with brunch at..... Burger King! Our friends told us they wanted to ease our tummies into Thai food.... haha.
After "brunch" we went to a market called Chattachak market or "JJ market" as the locals call it. It is "outdoor" but it is so full of booths inside that it is kind of indoors too? There is EVERYTHING there. EVERYTHING. Like for real, EVERYTHING. Food, trinkets, dishes, soaps, bathroom sinks, clothes, food, everything. I bought some souvenirs for my kids, and some earrings and teacups!
After the market, we decided to get on the road to Nong Nae and our hotel for the main part of the week. On the way, once we were out of the city, we drove around in some of the surrounding communities. We stopped at a train station that my mom used to take all the time when she was growing up there.
We got all settled into our hotel, which yall, we might as well call a resort. It's tropical and beautiful. Because lodging is so inexpensive (and our friends get such a great deal), we are able to stay at really nice places!
I brought the poster card my kids had given me for my birthday a couple days before our trip so that I could enjoy it for longer. I hung it up right by my bed. :)
After resting and SHOWERING (OH MY GOSH THE STINK FROM TRAVEL), we went to dinner at a "Farm to Table" restaurant nearby. It was so cute! And we got settled into some gooood Thai food. I caught this sweet exchange of Gift and Dui. They are so dear to me and I'm so thankful I got to spend good time with them.
When we got back to the resort, we settled into our rooms and got ready to CRASH. We had church the next morning and wanted to be well rested for the next day. I went ahead and took a Melatonin so I'd be sure to sleep all night and that jet lag wouldn't wake me up at 3:00am. We got settled and fell fast asleep... until I was woken ABRUPTLY from sleep.....
This trip to Thailand was with Lifevesting International. LVI is a missions organization committed to helping National pastors move the Gospel forward all over the world by resourcing them with discipleship training, boots on the ground ministry and short term trips, and relationship building. We would love for you to be a part of it with us! To join our monthly email list, email me at wileyadventures@gmail.com. To find out more information about how you can partner with us and support this ministry, you can email me or visit the website at http://lifevesting.org/.
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