A Farewell To ...

...Family

We finally made it out of our apartment right before Labor Day weekend, and started staying at my parents house in Orange County. Andrea and Scott had just moved out of their apartment, and were also staying at Mom and Dads. So of course, Stephanie wanted to join the party and she flew out from Texas to spend the weekend at Mom and Dads with all of us. Thus started the beginning of the goodbyes.

We had an incredible weekend together as a family, but the knowledge that we were all about to go our separate ways made it a heavy weekend as well. On Saturday we went to my grandparents house, and my cousins came down from Santa Barbara, and the Swards said their goodbyes to them all. Watching Scott and Andrea say their goodbyes for a second time, I can't help but remember the first time they said their goodbyes, with Isaac in Andrea's arms, giving everyone kisses.

Last November we said goodbye to Aaron and Melissa, not knowing when we were going to see them again. On Monday Steph had to say goodbye to Scott and Andrea, again not knowing when we would all be together again.

While it is undoubtedly exciting what God has in store for the Swards in the broken and beautiful country of Cambodia, the pain of separation is imminent, and perhaps exacerbated by the fact that we already feel that pain of separation with Isaac, as well as with Aaron and Melissa.

The weekend wasn't all tears though - we had some very intense games of tennis (thanks to Scott) and amazing girl shopping time ;) We also had the best Guatemalan meal EVER, thank you Mom!!

Today, Sunday, was the commissioning of the Swards at Long Beach Friends Church. They had a service over two hours long dedicated to Scott and Andrea. The love and loyalty from their church was so apparent, I know they are doing the right thing in going to Cambodia, the homeland of so many from their church.

Tomorrow Scott and Andrea leave, and although we will see them in a few months when we are visiting South East Asia, life won't be the same without them here, and I will miss them a TON!!! Not looking forward to tomorrow :(

...Redondo Beach

This week has been crazy, to say the least. All the goodbyes, as well as trying to get ready for our trip, as well as traveling all over the state, have made it an incredibly busy week. We were in San Diego for a night while Jordi took his contractors license test (and passed!!) and we said goodbye to family and friends down there. We were in San Luis Obispo for 2 days because I was in m y good friends wedding up there, and we were in Redondo Beach for a night to say goodbye to the neighbors and tie up loose ends.

From so much traveling around, I have often thought of our little life that we built up in Redondo. Neither of us knew much about LA, but we found our little spot, and we loved it there! It was really hard to say goodbye to our precious little apartment - full of character and walking distance to the beach and Trader Joe's! We said goodbye to Calle Miramar and the center divider where you could put anything you didn't want, or collect cool things other people didn't want! We said goodbye to our walks on the Esplanade, frozen yogurt at Penguins, biking on the boardwalk, and daily strolls to the Dolphin Park.

We said goodbye to our church, Mosaic, which we really liked and are sad to not be able to go there anymore.

We said goodbye to our neighbors - so many great people living at 309! It will be especially sad not to see our little neighbor baby Kiara every day! She is such a crack up!

We said goodbye to our whole way of life that we spent over a year cultivating. It was slightly heartbreaking to just leave, for no real reason except that we decided to! I'm sure traveling will be amazing, but a routine and way of life that you come to love are amazing in their own right.

I will miss Redondo Beach, and all it holds for us.

...All!!

And of course, goodbye to all you friends and family who we will not see for the next three months!

We have been so generously taken care of, and couldn't have gone through all this without you!!

We love YOU tons :)