Vietnam- Home

We left Hanoi at 11:35pm to fly to Seoul, Korea. It was about a 4 hour flight and we had a 5 hour layover before our flight to Dallas.
We all decided that if we stayed up on the to-Seoul flight and during the layover that we could sleep in the 13 hour flight to Dallas and wake up and be on a mostly normal time schedule (arriving in Dallas at 9am).
At the end of our layover, about 6am in Seoul, the coffee shops began to open and everyone was ordering their favorite drink. These little shops did not offer decaf (I know that defeats the actual purpose of drinking coffee for most people, I just cannot do caffeine) SO, since my coffee preference wasn't an option, I ordered a hazelnut milk steamer.
I enjoyed my breakfast of a granola bar, milk steamer and my malaria pill.
We board the plane to Dallas. Let the saga begin...

We taxied to the runway and I was perfectly fine, but as soon as we took off, I started feeling nauseous. I thought it was my malaria pill. Which had been giving me problems each day if I didn't eat enough at breakfast.
Within a few minutes, that I-am-going-to-be-sick feeling, set in. I went to the bathroom and everything came up. The worst tightening of my stomach and whole surrounding belly area just rolled in pain.
The next 13 hours I threw up that milk (yes, the whole flight, you know the one I had planned to sleep during). I visited each bathroom on the airplane, depending on which one was vacant at the moment, and spent time with my new BFF.

Two things:
1) Milk was listed on the do NOT drink list for international travel. I knew this. But, I was not in Vietnam, so I didn't think a thing about it. Apparently, this milk was not pasteurized or spoiled or something. But it continued to not like me for the next 36 hours.
2) Korean airline flight attendants are AMAZING. Every time I came out of the bathroom, they were there to rescue me. They tried to get me to drink water, juice and gave me mysterious medicine. One attendant, named B (because she said her Mongolian name was to difficult for me to pronounce), came to my rescue and gave my hands and arms acupressure. She worked on my left hand for so long, that I cried mercy. BUT, right after she finished, I fell asleep for one whole hour and it was heaven. My hand had a bruise for a couple days in a certain spot where it was the most painful. They were remarkable.

We arrived in Dallas and at this point I was very weak, tired and hungry- but it didn't matter because we had to go through customs, catch another flight to Tulsa and nothing would stay in my stomach.
We only had 2 hours to catch our flight at 11:10, so we were really pushing to get through all the details and take the tram to another concourse to catch our flight. We made it within 10 minutes of boarding, only to see it was delayed until 11:50. I found a corner, fell over and slept for 30 minutes. Then we took off for the short flight from Dallas to Tulsa. Ahhhh home!

I called Adam and told him to have Emetrol (In my opinion the BEST anti-nausea medicine) and a banana, again my favorite calming food, ready for me at the airport.

My mom and I saw our family, and the signs they made for us, from a distance. They were so sweet to let me take a turn hugging each child, Adam and my dad. They knew that I was sick, so they didn't mull-me-over. It was so refreshing to kisses their little faces. Home Sweet Home. (I would like to say I felt that Home Sweet Home feeling when I arrived in Vietnam too. This double life I lead.)

The last three days home have been pretty good. It took some time for the nausea to subside and now I am eating normally. As my husbands boss said, "There's a new sheriff in town," and it's true, I had to start disciplining the children again. You know, within 30 minutes of being home. What is it about a mom that sometimes they just do not obey anyone, but mom?

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS:

The little toothpastes on the airplane are fun
Painting three murals with my mom
Rooftop view from Hanoi hotel
Walking around the Lake
Handmade Ao Doi
Chicken prints on the new concrete
Morning sunrise over the train station
Taking pictures of the village children
The GVI staff's organization
Two year old girl hanging over the mountain
Oh the views of the terraced mountains
The cheap massages
Seeing the kids paint for the first time
The bell at the school was a large drum
Tic-tac-toe with the kids
Shopping at the market on the mountain
Buying paintings in Hanoi
Sa's home, family and wife's dinners
Kissing and holding orphans at SSIII
The children standing-up when we visited their classrooms
Seeing God at work through the team and GVI staff

"I was in prison and you came to see Me." Matt 25:36

What a beautiful journey.
Looking forward to going again.
NEXT TRIP: YOU ARE COMING WITH ME!!!

NHP