Tiffany Phommathep looks out from the balcony of the Bodega Bay hotel, which has been her home for almost two weeks.

The wind moves her long black hair as her gaze shifts to the shore.

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day. For nine days Tiffany has been hoping for a sign and praying for a miracle, but the chances are dwindling with each passing sunset.

In her hotel room, a “Toy Story” movie is playing for her three young children, who are chatting with other family members.

Later in the day, they will all head to Dillon Beach. Tiffany will be able to see the location of searchers from here He found the body of his 17-year-old sonJJ is in the water near Tomales Point.

Her husband, Johnny, remains missing, along with their 14-year-old son, Jake, who is Johnny’s cousin and family friend.

All lost at sea 21-meter Bayliner sank in bad weather conditions While on a family crabbing trip on November 2nd.

The Lodge at Bodega Bay had been Tiffany’s home since the tragedy.

He had been to his family’s home in Tehama County only once; When JJ and Jake are honored at the Corning Union High School football game. The players gave him three roses, hugged him and shared memories of their son.

“It feels more comfortable to be here with them,” he says.

“I would give my life for them. I wish I could trade.”

say goodbye

Johnny almost didn’t make the trip. Two people had already canceled and gone to urgent care that morning with a headache.

But early-season crab trips were becoming a family tradition, something they’d been doing for the past four years, and eventually Johnny’s cousin Prasong Khammoungkhoune convinced him to go.

So Johnny packed up his fishing gear and filled a plastic cooler with Laotian turkey, sticky rice, and lemongrass-baked chicken. He left some chicken for Tiffany, as he always did before traveling.

He kissed her and the three After saying goodbye to her other sons, she, JJ and Jake left their home in Corning, a small community on Interstate 5 about a half-hour northwest of Chico.

They picked up Johnny’s childhood friend, Matthew Ong, in Sacramento and headed to Bodega Bay in Johnny’s pickup truck.

Prasong and his son would come from San Jose by boat and meet them at the boat launch.

Hours before first light on Saturday, November 2, they set out from the boat launch at Westside Regional Park’s Bodega Bay.

Johnny and Prasong were familiar with the area. They attended this very launch a week ago.

A typical trip means about 12 hours on the water. Enough time to get back before dark. Then they would approach, take pictures and send them to Tiffany.

But that Saturday, Tiffany’s phone was silent.

Every hour that afternoon he called his family to see if they had heard from the crew.

His anxiety increased. He called the Sonoma County Sheriff’s non-emergency line just before 10 p.m.

I am touched by the tragedy

Tiffany and Johnny have been married for 18 years. Both were born in Thailand and came to the United States with their parents at a young age.

They met in high school and dated for a while but eventually lost touch.

He found her a few years later and left her a casual voicemail.

Johnny, who worked as a technician for AT&T after serving in the Air Force, tried to play it cool when she called him back.

They would have five sons together; the youngest was just over three months ago.

Their lives would be filled with love, laughter, kids’ sporting events, and backyard chickens.

But he will not be affected by the tragedy.

On November 14, 2017, Tiffany, JJ, Jake, and their brother were driving Nikos to school in Rancho Tehama when a convicted felon named Kevin Janson Neal rear-ended their Ford F-250 crew cab truck.

Neal, who had already killed three people in a shooting rampage. He pulled up next to Tiffany’s truck and opened fire before speeding away.

Tiffany was shot four times in the shoulder and once in the left side while protecting JJ, who was in the front seat. A bullet narrowly missed his heart. Another settled in his intestine.

JJ was shot twice in the leg, Jake was shot in the foot, and Nikos’ window was broken.

Neal crashed his truck into a school, where he fired more than 100 shots, injuring several people. He continued his rampage, killing two more people before taking his own life after being cornered by police officers.

In total, 5 people died and nearly 20 people were injured.

Tiffany wonders about the cruel irony of saving her son only to lose him seven years later.

“We are Christians,” he says. “We are great believers in Jesus Christ. “I question why I have to go through this, why I have to go through all these tragedies.”