{"id":3045,"date":"2014-05-22T16:46:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T21:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2014-05-22T16:46:59","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T21:46:59","slug":"goodbyes-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/2014\/05\/22\/goodbyes-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbyes &amp; Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are blessed! I cannot tell you how good it feels at this very moment to be a part of a family (not just blood, but our spiritual family too), especially when I know they&#8217;ll always love us and never forget us even when we step on an airplane and travel across the ocean to a cluster of thousands of islands in Asia. Here are a few fun moments from our latest transition:<\/p>\n<p>This is my Sunday small group, minus a few people. We didn&#8217;t usually look silly like this all of the time, but I feel like this picture represents their true, inner personalities which I love so much!<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3051\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/For-blogupdates-011-e1400793125508.jpg\" alt=\"For blog:updates - 01\" width=\"544\" height=\"369\" \/>This is Kim taking a very active role in our cross-cultural training on a random Wednesday night. She brought in preserved eggs that she enjoys and made sure we tried them. It was interesting&#8211;honestly, it wasn&#8217;t bad, just not a flavor I grew up on! Now I won&#8217;t be as afraid of odd foods in the future, right?&#8230;well, maybe still a little.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3046\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/For-blogupdates-18.jpg\" alt=\"For blog:updates - 18\" width=\"550\" height=\"516\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of eggs, Payton requested a duck egg since his dad had told him they were good and you could eat them like scrambled eggs. Well, on my usual trips to the local Asian store, I&#8217;d seen them, so I told him I could get one. Well, &#8220;Duck Balut&#8221; is not the same as a regular egg. At the register she said, &#8220;You know this has baby inside, right?&#8221; Surprise, surprise. I bought it anyway. I was going to let Payton crack it open without telling him, but I finally told him and we all took it outside to have a look (I&#8217;ve heard of such things overseas, so I figured we needed to gain the experience). Kim&#8217;s 100 year old eggs (picture below) were tame in comparison to this little creature. It was not something I&#8217;d like to see again, so I&#8217;ll need to learn the word for fertilized, big duck egg really quick, so as not to order one up at a restaurant in the future!<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3047\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/For-blogupdates-19.jpg\" alt=\"For blog:updates - 19\" width=\"505\" height=\"674\" \/>These are guys Payton got to know through the basketball ministry and at church. Kevin&#8217;s hat adds a nice addition to Payton&#8217;s usual garb, don&#8217;t you think?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3052\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/For-blogupdates-021.jpg\" alt=\"For blog:updates - 02\" width=\"526\" height=\"494\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Felix and Jennifer took us out for some authentic cuisine&#8211;the guys finished the meal by sharing a flan and we shared tres leches.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3049\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/FelixPayton1.jpg\" alt=\"Felix&amp;Payton1\" width=\"436\" height=\"410\" \/>It was amazing&#8230;especially the Tres Leches. Jennifer must have sensed my enjoyment because two giant cakes appeared at potluck the next evening&#8211;soooo good. I even smashed a piece into the cooler for the road.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3048\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/GraceJennifer.jpg\" alt=\"Grace&amp;Jennifer\" width=\"549\" height=\"515\" \/>And let&#8217;s not forget the family ritual of a campfire and singing which ended the final night before we left Michigan. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-3053\" src=\"http:\/\/paytonandgrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/For-blogupdates-031.jpg\" alt=\"For blog:updates - 03\" width=\"548\" height=\"514\" \/>Didn&#8217;t I say we were blessed? And I have about 60 more pictures to prove it, but I&#8217;ll refrain from slowing down your internet!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are blessed! I cannot tell you how good it feels at this very moment to be a part of a family (not just blood, but our spiritual family too), especially when I know they&#8217;ll always love us and never forget us even when we step on an airplane and travel across the ocean to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79075,72509],"tags":[20041,81385,81651],"class_list":{"0":"post-3045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-michigan-2","7":"category-standard","8":"tag-family-2","9":"tag-scrambled-eggs","10":"tag-spiritual-family","11":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}