We made it! What a journey we had to get here, but it was all worth it to finally make it to the place that God has called us to be…Thailand! The journey to get where we are has allowed us to meet some of the most amazing people that we now have the honor to call friends. The kindness and love that we have received over the past few months has been so overwhelming and we want you to know we love and appreciate every one of you. Thank you to those of you who have prayed and are still praying for us! Your prayers mean so much to us. And thank you to those of you who donated financially for us to come to Thailand and do Gods work. By sending us, you are now a part of the work being done here in Thailand!
Most of you know we went and parked Big Blue in MA for the time we are in Thailand. When we put the cover on her and closed the door for the last time, it was actually a little sad for us. We truly enjoyed living the RV life and getting closer as a family. We did have some snow while we were visiting, so the kids got to experience it for the first time (Mr. A and Little E).
From MA, we rented a mini van and drove down to VA to spend New Years Eve and to fly out on the 1st. When I tell you we have some amazing friends, I really mean it! We stayed at a friends house while in VA and had a great time visiting with all our old friends who are actually more like family! God really knows what He is doing when He gives you spiritual family.
New Years Eve was spent fellowshipping, enjoying good food and praying in the New Year at our church in VA (where we met, our Pastor married us, and we had Faith and Rylan). So many family memories have been made at that church, we couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the New Year before flying to Thailand. Our friends drove us to the airport and even came in and helped us check in our bags and watch the kids. It was amazing. We were allowed to bring 12 bags at 50lbs each, and we certainly filled 12 bags. Each bag contained about 20lbs of books…mostly our homeschooling books, but some of our reading books too. We strategically weighed and reweighed our bags, moved things around and finally got them each at exactly about 50lbs. On the way to the airport as we were praying for our trip, Jason felt to pray for the bags and that they wouldn't be weighed, or maybe the scale would be broken so we wouldn't be overweight on any bags. And you know what….they didn't weigh our bags!!!! God is so awesome!!
Our first flight was about 12.5 hours and we slept for about 7 of those hours. Little E made herself a little bed on the floor and got comfy and fell right to sleep. Each of the seats had its own video screen so the kids could pick from a large assortment of kids movies and cartoons. The best part of International flying is that they still feed you!! We arrived in Abu Dhabi with no issues, had about a 2 hour layover and were on our way to Bangkok.
After about a 6 hour flight we arrived in Bangkok late, and then there was a security incident on the plane (still not sure what it was, but they escorted two people off the plane), so we missed our connection to Chiang Mai. The next flight left an hour after we were originally scheduled so it only put us behind schedule by about 2 hours.
At the airport in Chiang Mai we were greeted by the ZOE missionaries(and we didn't even think to take a picture when we saw them!)…by this point we had been travelling for about 26 hours and we were so happy to see them. The kids acted very shy but I’m sure it won't take long for them to warm up.
Since being here we have moved into our house, opened our Thai bank account, gone shopping for some items we needed, gotten SIM cards for our cell phones, eaten some really great food, and met some amazing people. Through everything we have been doing, we have an overwhelming sense of peace at knowing that this is exactly where God called us to be.
Our house is beautiful. Our neighbors are wonderful. We have been blessed with great friends in the USA and here in Thailand. We are now part of the ZOE family. The kids love it here so far. Life in 2014 is going to be an amazing adventure for the Kealey family….thanks for joining us on the journey!!!!