Update – The Young’s – Thailand

Our time in states is dwindling. We leave for Thailand very soon. Please pray that our transition will be God-honoring and full of learning experiences for us and our kids. We are having a dessert night February 24 at The Well Community Church – Fig Campus (Palm & Gettysburg in Fresno, CA) at 7pm. This will be a time to hear about our story, ask some questions, eat some dessert, spend some time in prayer and say goodbye.

Our life is an adventure. Our perspective on life and our choices will determine whether we enjoy that adventure or not. Recently we had the opportunity to put that choice into practice.

We had one final step in completing our paperwork for our move to Thailand. We had to go to the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles and get our passports stamped with our visas. The catch was, all four of us had to be there in person to verify we exist. So our plan was to drive down early on a Thursday morning, turn in our papers and essentially hang out until the next day when our passports would be ready to pick up.

We were thrown a curveball the day before we left. We were given the opportunity to go to Disneyland and enjoy some family time while we were in L.A. I accepted this gift and took the opportunity to exhaust my family with the enjoyment of being at Disney.

Once we finished at the Consulate, we drove to our hotel to see if we could get an early check-in. They did not have a room ready so we stowed our car in the parking garage, bought a tram ticket and jumped aboard a seatbelt-less van with our two boys and headed to the magical kingdom. We arrived with anticipation, had a great lunch in Tomorrowland, and started tackling the rides.

First, Boston and I shot down the aliens on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Then we went to the depths of the ocean on the Nemo ride. Then Jess and Boston, drove on the Autopia. Then Peter Pan. Then ice cream. Then borderline meltdown.

At this point I decided to take Jackson back to the hotel for a nap. On the way back to the tram, Jack fell asleep in the stroller. I found my way to Tram #7 to head back to hotel, get checked in and lay Jackson down. As the tram rolled up I was not allowed to bring the unfolded stroller aboard, so I had to get the sleeping baby out and fold down the stroller without help from the onlookers. Once I got on the bus it was a short ride back the hotel. The only problem was, we passed the hotel I was intending to stay in for the night. We passed it by about half of a city block. I was then informed I should have taken Tram #8, not #7. So, I trekked back to the hotel with sleepy, groggy, fussy baby and got checked in.

Now is where the calamity ensues. I get up to the room and throw my belongings on the table and head back down to get our stuff out of the car, so I can change Jackson and get him to sleep. I board the elevator and make it through the lobby and realized I DO NOT HAVE THE CAR KEYS. So I go back up to the room, defeated by my own exhaustion and ask Jess to make her way back to hotel so I can get Jack into a clean diaper. Sometime later she arrives to save the day. We turn around grab dinner and Jess and Boston then enjoy the evening at Disney for the parade and Rocket Ride.

The next day: We head to the consulate and grab our passports without any delay or frustration. Praise God that went so smoothly. I was high on excitement and headed around the corner to share the news with my family. Then Boston promptly trips on the sidewalk, scraping his ankle and dirtying his hands and knees. He is now hysterical.

Then we head to IKEA for lunch and to replace Jessica’s makeup bag she ruined a week before by accurately dropping our mexican food leftovers into. Another crazy story for another time. We got what we came for then get on the road to head home.

The trip home was fairly uneventful minus one tiny detail. A bloody eyebrow. The bloody eyebrow doesn’t carry that much weight unless I back up and tell you of the bloody lip from the night before. Right before we were headed out of the door for dinner, Jackson decided to attempt the Mt. Everest climb into the bathtub, slipped and bust his lip open. Then the tears, blood and cries ensued. I tell you that to tell you this; Jackson is wobbly.

At a rest stop to gas up, stretch our legs and hit the final stretch, Jackson wobbled again. I had both boys with me on this patch of grass that had a picnic table that was made of those rough-cut 2×6 pieces of lumber. Well Jackson rolled his ankle off of a rock and smacked his eye on the end of the bench where the sharpest wood lay waiting to cut a baby’s eyebrow open. Then the tears, blood, and cries ensued.

I scoop up Jackson, grab Boston by the wrist and head for the restroom to clean up the mess. Boston is limping (because of his ankle injury), and I’m attempting to keep Jackson from smearing blood from his eye onto my white shirt. Then we get to the bathroom and I have to use those brown paper towels that just spread liquid and don’t absorb. They are more like 1-ply cardboard than anything else. So I am inadvertently sponge-painting Jackson’s face and not stopping the bleeding. I finally get control of the situation with pressure and prayer. By God’s grace there are band-aids in the car we are borrowing and we jump back in the car and head home. All is well; the end.

God has a sense of humor, if you are willing to laugh. Even if that laughter is at yourself. Besides all the crazy stories from our weekend, we really enjoyed our time as a family at Disneyland. We are so grateful for all your prayers in terms of our paperwork going so incredibly smooth and no hang-ups whatsoever. God has been so incredibly faithful through this entire experience of leading us up to leaving for Thailand. There have been highs, there have been lows, but through it all God has not changed and is still leading our family to Thailand. We could have easily hated our time down in LA when our kids got hurt, and our exhaustion got the best of us, and our stress rose through the roof. But we chose to enjoy our family and rest in the fact that God has bigger plans for us than we can ever dream of.

Our lives are changing drastically in a week. Our Creator God will not. We rest in that fact to keep our hearts and minds at ease. Praise God we have such a solid foundation to place our faith in, because if our faith and hope were placed upon our emotions and circumstances then failure would be inevitable.