
On Friday, we spent the whole day cleaning the house and packing suitcases. I wanted the kids to be ready when their host families arrived so there would be no last-minute scrabbles to find missing socks or papers. I had the kids put everything that belonged to them in separate piles, and so we had 11 different stacks of suitcases, coats, and gifts scattered around the downstairs of the house.
The kids had been great all week, real troopers, but the anxiety was beginning to show. They were VERY nervous about meeting their host families and being separated from their friends. During the past week, they had become a tight-knit group, and now it was time for them to go their separate ways so they were a bit anxious about it. Walking around the house I noticed several sad faces, and strangely enough, cleaning does not cheer kids up. Huh. ;-)

So we went back over to my parents' house. The kids really enjoyed visiting my parents and so I knew hanging out at their house would cheer them up. Plus I needed to make some photocopies of their documents for the host families and schools, so I needed to use my Dad's copier. First we had to eat dinner and luckily enough, the village fire station was having a "fish boil" that afternoon, so we dropped by the station before going to my parents' house.


In rural America, fire and emergency services are often handled by volunteers. The villages or towns might contribute some money to their budget, but quite often the firemen and paramedics need to raise money to support their station. So they might have bake sales, fish boils, or raffles to bring in some extra money to buy equipment. When we arrived at the station, they had parked all the fire trucks outside to make room for tables inside the station. The kids lined up and the firemen piled food on their plates, then they sat down and ate their fill. We had boiled fish, potatoes, carrots and onions. They also had desert and milk.

Sea and James (Jetnipit) had taken some pipe cleaners from my Mom's stuff and fashioned them into "Harry Potter" glasses. They took turns daring each other to walk up to the milk/desert tables while wearing the goofy-looking glasses. It was very funny and they got plenty of strange looks from the other people at the fish boil. Meanwhile, the sons and daughters of the firemen were busy pouring coffee and milk for everyone, and one boy had on a scout uniform. Jump noticed that the patches on his uniform were the same as the patches on their scout uniforms back in Thailand. Another cool connection to things back home.

After the fish boil, took a few pictures on an old fire truck they had parked inside and then we walked back up to my parents' house. The kids finished wrapping presents, blogging, and watching TV while I tried to get all the copying done. Next time I do this trip I'm definitely hiring an assistant to help me! I didn't finish the copying before I left Thailand, and I wasn't able to finish it at my parents' house either.

So I took the copier back to the parsonage and stayed up all night copying! Since I needed copies of all the documents for myself, the host families and the schools, it took almost 8 hours to finish all the copies! And that's not including the time I spent in Thailand copying too, Ugh! Also, chaperoning a bunch of teenagers by myself wasn't easy, so next time I'm definitely bringing along a female chaperone. That way, I'll be able to get some sleep! Hahah!
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