Wednesday, August 14th - farewell to David Glen Hatch group

Today, we headed out with the DGH group to breakfast, as a going away celebration. We went to the wharf to a restaurant called Quay Four, with windows looking right on the harbour. Unlike this photo, we were the only ones there for awhile.  Liz Burger had reserved a huge table by the window to seat all of us and had little goodie bags for everyone in the DGH group. They contained a knit scarf with the Africa flag colors and a DVD containing all the photos from their tour to Johannesburg, Kruger Park, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. I didn't get to see it, but she said each location had different music in the background. I gave her the photos that I took in Durban and Cape Town to put on the DVD as well. She covered it in an animal print and they were all thrilled. We even got Heim to join us for breakfast.  Everyone was reminiscing about their time in Africa and not exactly happy to be going home. They all wished they could stay longer.

After a sumptuous breakfast, everyone wanted to do a little last minute shopping on the wharf, so we all split up with the agreement that we would meet at the parking garage at 12:30. That really didn't give us much time, but these people are speed shoppers and managed to buy plenty in that small amount of time, like a tie for dad or necklace for mom or something to hang in their home. The photo shows the part of the waterfront where I found a beautiful skirt, but it was expensive and I didn't have time to try it on, so I passed. I'm still disappointed...ha.

We arrived back at the hotel with barely enough time to get all the luggage and get back downstairs for the prearranged transport to the airport. We thanked Brother Heim and sent him off, back to his business which was in need of his attention and we took a much needed rest in the hotel room, as we were staying another night. Lauren was flying to Amsterdam, but her plane did not leave until that evening, so she got the hotel to let her stay for the day in her room and said she was going to rest. We told her to call us if she wanted company or needed anything, but she assured us she just needed sleep. I walked around the outdoor mall area later and enjoyed just looking at stuff, but then it got cold and windy again, so I came back and rested.

We asked the reservation desk for a recommend for dinner and she recommended an Italian restaurant less than a block away across from the hotel called Doppio Zero. We walked over there and got a table and ordered a sumptuous meal. We were talking when a woman a few tables away turned around and it was Lauren. She had come in after us and had to walk right by our table to be seated and neither of us noticed each other. She was still waiting for her food and we were about finished, so she brought her food to our table and we had fun finding out about her. She is married with three darling children and showed us photos. Her husband is very supportive. They live in Michigan while she is getting her advanced degree in music and I think her husband is attending the University as well...a tough life when you have three children, but she didn't seem bothered by it at all.

 
 Lauren had just finished a concert in Vienna before she came to Africa and then off to Amsterdam, so it had to be quite a while since she saw her children and the youngest looked to be only about a year old. When she talked about them you could tell she really missed them. After her dinner, Lauren rushed off to the airport and we went back to the room to pack and plan the next leg of our journey.

The DGH Group is gone. We have been culturally fed and loved every minute of the experience once they got here. We hope that we contributed in some small way to their success. One thing we do know and that is that without going on this mission, we never would have been able to do what we've done for the last few months. Every day is something different...new and exciting. We've learned that you really can teach an old dog new tricks...in fact, we are the trickiest we've ever been at any age...ha. We just wish we could have had our family with us during these special experiences. I keep thinking, "Oh Shannon and Ryan would love this." During one drive, we saw a sign that said "Reptile Park" and we thought, Darin would love that. Of course, Mia and Trey would love so many things that we've seen and many things happen that cause us to think of them and miss them. We are very blessed.