Time for Goodbye

Well today we said "Goodbye" to Mimi and Pop. This morning before church we dropped them off at the airport for an early flight. Their time here went so fast. It didn't seem like 4 weeks to us. We had a great time and we will really miss them. There were no tears at the airport. They were held in reserve for later. In an ironic twist, my parents arrived as a small typhoon was passing through and they also left during one. It was south of Manila and has only provided lots of rain and cool temps today in the PI. After a long hug, the kids (OK and me too) hung out the car window waving goodbye as we drove off. We arrived at church as it was beginning, just in time to sing one of my favorite hymns-- "Great is Thy Faithfulness" in both English and Tagalog. I was reminded how faithful and good the Lord has been to us and what a blessing the parents He gave to me have been. I have to admit I did get a little teary then.

After church, we made a little stop at Starbucks with some friends while we waited for the mall to open. We enjoyed chatching up with them. At the mall, we accomplished some errands and found the Christmas presents for the clinic staff. We then headed off to meet 2 other families for lunch. We had a great time visiting and chatting. Emily's PE teacher was one of our lunch companions and he brought us a special gift....Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! Just this month the first Krispy Kreme doughnut shop has opened in the Philippines. It is down in Makati, the business district, near where he goes to church. Ahh, how the Gilmers love Krispy Kreme! It was a wonderful surprise and helped soothe a couple of down kids! Thanks Tom!

After lunch, we decided to go to the movies. We went to see The Nativity. We really enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it I recommend it for your holiday viewing. After buying some dog food and bread we finally made it back home about 5:30. What a busy full day! We needed it. We took this picture just outside the movie theater. Everything was so festive and nice for Christmas!

After a snack supper, Emily finally broke down and the tears began to fall. We snuggled up together and I just let her cry it out. Will joined us and we talked about how wonderful our time together had been. Our day ended on a happy note. Thankfully, the next few weeks are busy as we finish out the school quarter and get ready for Christmas.