As I (Simpson) am sitting here looking at our calendar and see that our flight to Chiang Mai is less than 3 weeks away, a thought comes to me…WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE WE DOING?! It feels like Lori and I are about to leap off of a precipice, leaving all our loved ones, our church home, our careers, and the places and culture that we know and love. The unknown of what lies before us is giving me the sweats.
I was having coffee with a friend the other day and he asked me how I’m feeling with all this. This gave me pause so I had to listen to my heart for a minute then responded with: “turmoil”. I’m a visual kind of guy and, if I can visualize what the next hour, the next day or what the next month will be like, I’m fine and even keeled. My friend’s question made me aware that I’m not feeling normal because I’m kinda lost! My internal sight for the coming days is drawing a blank, I am now officially out of my comfort zone.
But Lori and I continue to cling to the vision that started us on this journey. God has blessed us with so much, a loving family, wonderful friends and material means. Unfortunately this has led to consumerism on our part and meeting the children of ZOE has helped reveal this to us. Not to be morbid, but the end of this life seems to be looming larger with each passing day and, more than ever, we want to leave an eternal impact before we part from this earth. I think our church says it best, we are “blessed to be a blessing”!
One of the foundational beliefs of our faith is that people are made in the image of God. Yet there are many in the world who are treated like trash or as commodities and not as honored, unique creations. We pray that God will use our efforts in Chiang Mai to help restore this “image” to as many as we can touch.
(Lori) This is the final countdown. We will be boarding a plane at the end of the month with four suitcases, 2 carry-ons and toy poodle in tow. Our next monthly update will be our very first from our new home.
I’m not gonna lie, this was a hard month. I found myself often frozen and overwhelmed with the amount of things still yet to be done. I also was overcome by sadness and emotion thinking about all the people I will miss. Truly that is what is most difficult — leaving friends and family.
As of June 30, 2017, I officially transferred my real estate license to our referral company. We have such great colleagues at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Advantage Realty and I will be able to be connect anyone looking to buy and sell in Hawaii to one of my awesome colleagues. Along with that came the loss of my work email address and code to get into the office. This was one of the things that made me emotional because I can no longer call this place my office or workplace. Like a page is turning and the book is ending and I can see there is a new book but I don’t know yet all of what it holds.
There is this sense of isolation and separation that makes me very sad. I also am going to miss the sense of belonging and identity that we have here. We know no other place as home. As I think of the closeness of friends and family and all the history that we have, I know I will cry many more tears. The last evening of June our company threw a wonderful “A Hui Hou” farewell for us. It was just wonderful to be able to spend time with everyone outside of the office and be together. Believe it or not, I made it through the evening without shedding a tear. I just waited until we were home and I began reading notes written to us on the back of this great collage of photos. That’s when the waterworks started. Yet, we are so confident about this call on our lives and that we are supposed to do this. This makes is a little easier and knowing we will be back to visit.
Thank you for your continued love, prayers and support. We have reached 50% of the amount we need to raise for ZOE International monthly. This is all because of you! Thank you so much!
