The other side of the world to me

I apologize for the longness of this post

After very few hours of sleep it was 6:00AM. I was lying wide awake on the Longs downstairs hide-a-bed. The minutes ticked by like hours, but I didn't want this day to start, so I didn't get up. Finally at 6:30 the alarm went of forcing me to get up. I woke Flo up. It took a while to do so, but eventually she got up and I went up stairs to have coffee with Beth, Cathy, and Charity who hadn't slept at all.
Eventually we were all up and moving. After I completed getting ready for the day I went down to the Longs basement where I found Kathryn, Flo, Beth, and Anna. I sorta broke down saying 'I didn't want to leave'. Beth made it very clear that we were not aloud to cry yet, so I held back the tears.
So we (Kathryn, Flo, Beth, Cathy, my sisters and I) headed off to Southside RPC with Mr. Long driving some of us. We arrived at church and sat down in the front row for the last time. Pastor Keddie preached on 'What it means to be a prophet'. I must sadly admit that I didn't pay as much attention to the sermon as I should have. Most likely because of lack of sleep the night before. As I look back on my sermon notes I can hardly read them because me sentences ended in squiggles where there should have been words.
After church came Sunday school. I spent the first half of when I should have been in class talking to the Soma's before I quietly snuck into class. After church came time to say goodbye to some of the people that weren't going to be able to make it to our going away party.
I said goodbye to the Elders crying when I hugged Charlotte.
Then the Parton's said goodbye to us. Mrs. Parton told me to think of her whenever I saw any fish. I told her I would. The goodbyes had to start then. It was very sad. Rushed goodbyes are never fun.
After church our family headed home. Dad made us look through our basement for a lost item. So we had to do that before we could eat lunch. Lunch was all the leftovers from meals that people had brought us the week before. I went up stairs and sat in my old room (Allen's before mine) on the floor (because Eleni had already taken my bed) with a blanket and pillow. I heard Charity in the room next to me on the phone. I didn't know who was on the other end, but I overheard that someone wasn't going to be able to make it to our going away party. I couldn't help myself I started crying and must have cried my self to sleep (which is never fun) because the next thing I knew, Dad was telling me it was time to get ready for church.
I completed getting ready then got in the car with Grandma Wallace, Charity, and Tamara and we headed off to church. The car ride there was very quiet besides sniffles. My Grandma commented that it hadn't even started and we were already crying.
Walking towards the doors I was already crying and it didn't help to see heaps of my friend standing at the door waiting for us to arrive. I was greeted by Faith Hovee and Laura Nelson before I even got to the doors. The tears just kept falling. I cried on my friends shoulders, then headed toward the sanctuary which was packed.
Ruth came over and gave me my Christmas present and gave me a hug before I sat down next to my Grandparents for my last evening service at Southside, at least for a while.
I was in tears most of the service. During the requests form the congregation we sang psalm 146A. Charity, Tamara, and I, along with most of the Southside girls were crying. That was the last time, at least for a long time, that the descant was sung by the Blackwood girls.
Pastor Keddie preached about 'The God that glorifies us'. This was a really good sermon for me to hear. In his second point that God watches over us, he mentioned that God will always be watching over us and not just as a spectator, but as a God who is near to us. That helped remind me that God will still be there watching over me in Australia.
Following the sermon came a time of prayer for the Blackwoods and their ministry in Australia. We all got up on the platform along with the Elders and they prayed for us. I was standing there trying not to cry up in front of everyone when Tamara asked me for a tissue. I just lost it. The tears spilled over. I couldn't help it.
I didn't realize how many people were there until I stood up and looked around after church. We all headed off toward the fellowship hall for food and farewell.
We Blackwoods were supposed to be the first ones in line for cake, but unfortunately I didn't even get to see the cake whole except for in pictures. I was to sad to eat and to busy saying goodbye to everyone.
There were more then 100 people ,besides the Southsiders, there to say goodbye to us. Everyone made us feel so special. Saying goodbye to this wonderful church family that had been so great to me in the past five years was very hard.
There were lots of hugs and tears on my part. Mr. Bishop did a little talk about the weird things in Australia and about how special the Blackwoods were and how we would be greatly missed. Then came time to really start saying goodbye to people.
The Longs had to leave pretty soon after. I love that family so much. Beth and I shared a long hug. They were really the first people that we had to really say goodbye to, and then they headed home.
The Harts tried to leave without saying goodbye, but Tamara caught them before they left.
The Mangan family was all there. It was hard thinking about the school year to come without all the classes that we had with them.
Saying goodbye to the Southside friends of mine was very hard. I love and miss all of them so much!
The Saunders attempted to cheer us up by making smiley faces out of food.
Hannah Ray came over and told us that we had done it, we seceded in making her cry. She said she felt like she was loosing her little sisters.
I had to say goodbye to Ruth and Elizabeth and that was pretty tough. I felt like a lot of my goodbyes were rushed. I guess that was what happens when you try to say goodbye to more then 300 people in one night.
When I hugged Liz Neel goodbye, she commented that she was crying on my hair, and so was I on hers.
Flo was convinced that she wouldn't cry during the evening, but she broke down on Charity and that didn't help seeing that.
Micah Humphrey's did his best to make us smile through out the evening and he did a pretty good job of it. Emily was really good at encouraging us to remember all the good times we had and that we were following God's will for our lives.
When the time came to say goodbye to the McKlintocks that was hard. I couldn't believe that they and the Moores had come down to say goodbye to us. Even though I had only known them for a year, we had become great friends.
Andrew Doerr gave us his CD including the song that he wrote for us and that was exciting. He was the first guy that I hugged goodbye, but not the last.
Kathryn Held was very smiley until she asked Benji to hug her but he wouldn't because he was embarrassed. When he finally did it made her smile through her tears.
Joseph Ray gave us three girls some of his special gel pens. As Zachary said it was like a banker giving up his gold.
One of the hardest parts of the evening was when the car with Kathryn, Anna, and David Held, and Flo was pulling out. They were almost the last people to leave. They all got in, rolled down their windows, and David started them all singing friends never say goodbye. I couldn't even stand watching them pull out, so I waved and then walked back toward the church tears clouding my vision. That was it, most everyone was gone.
When the Kreigers and Grandma Wallace were the only ones left, we stood around not saying much. Zachary made us smile, and we took pictures of where we and the fishers were headed, and where Josh and Sarah already were.
The car ride home that night was very quiet. I stared out the window most of the time. Remembering every detail about that drive home from Church for the last time for a long while.
When we got home the Soma's came over and cleaned out our fridge. We gave them most everything except for lucky charms, milk, ice cream, Jam, and bread (we had to have something for breakfast the next morning).
I was looking through moms desk when I found two American stamps. I had to use them, I couldn't let them go to waste, so I sent out two last letters. I ended up having to make envelopes out of construction paper because the envelopes were packed.
I read my bible, lay down in my parents closet with only a blanket and a pillow and fell asleep right away, tears rolling into my ears. Crying sure makes your tired.

It has been a whole year since that day at Southside Reformed Presbyterian Church. Leaving my church family behind was pretty tough, but I have come to love my church family here so much. Everyone in the Frankston/McKinnon churches have touched my life in many amazing ways. A year ago I never could have even imagined how much I would truly love these people. I still miss my church family in America, , but eh amazingly wonderful people here have made it less hard.

Check out Charity's blog for a bit more and Zachary's pictures from that night.