A Conglomeration of Goodbyes

Over the past few weeks, I've been to quite a few going away parties for Isaac and myself. I am overwhelmed at the efforts of our friends and coworkers, and I am sincerely sad I won't get to see them on a daily basis anymore. Truly, I am thankful to my Jesus for providing us with such wonderful friendships and such amazing (although often stressful) places to work for our time in Columbia.

Instead of writing separate posts about each of these wonderful and uniquely different parties, I decided to combine them into one post. Plus, I just wanted to use the word 'conglomeration' in the title.

Our first going away party held in our honor was actually in June; that date was simply the only time everyone at Isaac's work could attend, and so we made our way over to the house of one of Isaac's coworkers. The whole staff (plus several spouses) were able to attend this fun potluck, and oh my was there lots of food! Jeff (our host for the evening) is basically an expert meat smoker, so Isaac was in heaven enjoying some smoked pork. I, of course, did not partake of that, but I did enjoy some excellent homemade bread and butter, stuffed chicken, salad, and more dessert than I care to admit. The staff gave us a lovely bowl from a local store, Blue Stem, as well as a wonderful card. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, so you'll just have to imagine the scene without visual aids.

Our next party was organized by our Bible study groups. I've mentioned before that I've been in a Bible study with the same ladies (with some coming and going, of course) for almost four years. As it turns out, several of us in the group have husbands who are in a Bible study together as well, so these two Bible studies combined forces to throw us a fabulous bye bye bash. There was yummy food (because there always is when we get together); Emily, bless her heart, wanted so badly to make us a cake in the shape of the world, but had left all of her materials at her parents' home. Emily made both our wedding cake and our awesome groom's cake; I know how much a pain in the butt that Africa cake was, so knowing that she even was going to attempt to spend hours and hours on another cake for us touched my chocolate-loving heart. Several people from our church came, and my girls gave me the sweetest picture collage with notes from each of them. My dearest Clemma wasn't there since she had already moved to Virgina, but just about everyone else was. I am proud to say I held it together and didn't cry (most likely due to the fact that I knew I would see them for our mini-reunion with Jen next weekend). See some of the photos below:

Mary, Jim-mae, and Jacob chatting

Gerry is a dedicated SEC fan, although he doesn't root for the Gators first (notice the color of his shirt...grrr....CHOMP CHOMP)

I'm sure they're probably talking about Koine Greek...or baseball.

My girls (minus our darling Clemma)

A few days later, our Burmese friends invited us over to one of their homes, where they provided wonderful entertainment (singing, gymnastics, and yes, even a dance off between two of the kids), some Burmese snacks, and their favorite drink "rice wire". I cannot express how much I will miss these sweet, sweet people. Isaac has been teaching their Sunday school class for a year now and has grown extremely close to them over the past several months. I definitely cried at this party- simply because it will be more difficult to keep in touch with these precious souls- but I also laughed quite a bit as well. A few photos:

Quite possibly the cutest picture of D.

I really love this one of P.

V. and me- she was one of the very first Burmese to arrive.

S. sang for us; she is such a joy!

Just because I think this one is too fun.

I also had the chance to film one of the sweet young boys during part of the dance off between three year-old D. and six year-old V., who likes to do gymnastics and dance like Michael Jackson:

Van Duh's Moonwalk from Jenny Johnson on Vimeo.

Finally, my fabulous coworkers had a wonderful party for me at the office and then took me out to Boone Tavern for dinner. After almost three years of working with refugees and with the same staff, I realized just how much I was going to miss my job. Again, I held it together and only got teary-eyed when I was reading the card and opening the gift they gave me. Okay, wait. I lie because I was definitely crying- from laughing so hard. Ours is a 'special' office, and any of our past interns can attest to the 'unique' way in which we relate to one another. Even though our line of work is extremely stressful, I've never had so much fun at a job. Never ever. And we are simultaneously very professional, by the way. Below are some photos and a potentially incriminating video as well. Senad threatened me with death if I posted a few scenes of him from this morning, so I refrained- but only because I'm scared of the massive Bosnian network in Kentucky.

Alice was the bartender...but she made virgin drinks for those of us who can't handle our alcohol.

My precious Nwe Nwe and Annie, former intern and my replacement.

They got me the sweetest little statue. I felt like I should have been giving an acceptance speech to the Academy for my Oscar.

Phil and me- this was the best picture we could manage.

Senad and Martha (who has lips for kissing, as someone told her earlier in the day).

And for some reason, our director Lorna started telling us about this hilarious ventriloquist who has a character called 'Jalapeno on a stick'. None of us really knew what she was talking about, but on one of the cell phones, she had a video clip of him performing and showed it to Senad. She started laughing so hard that is just became too funny not to film and post on my blog. The picture is terrible because of the lighting in the restaurant, but the sound is still pretty hilarious:

Laughing Lorna from Jenny Johnson on Vimeo.

Dan wasn't able to come to my office party, but he took me out to lunch at Ernie's today, which was my official last day. It was very bittersweet because on my first day as an intern at RIS, Senad and Dan took me to eat at Ernie's. To think what has transpired since that fateful day back in January of 2007. After that, my time at RIS was pretty much over. Goodbyes all around, and then the chapter closed. And yes, I freely admit to bawling like a baby when saying goodbye to my coworkers.


So, tomorrow morning, I will pack up my car with the rest of my belongings which aren't already in Louisville and head out of Columbia one last time to join my husband. Goodbye, CoMo- it's been a great four and a half years...