Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Return Home

Jet lag, while I never like to admit it, got the best of me this time.  My nights begin about 7 pm when I can no longer stay awake.  But day by day, I'm getting back to normal.

The flight home from Hong Kong to Chicago went smoothly, even a little bit less than the 14+ hours that was originally scheduled.  Brehanna was caught in Chicago by an agriculture department sniffing beagle with an orange in her carryon.  No fine, just a check on her customs form.

We pass through the customs exit doors to continue our bags to Appleton.  But Ashley said her mother had told her that our flight was cancelled.  Some bags had already been checked through.  And indeed, the flight had been cancelled.

The best scenario was to have the four girls travel by Wisconsin Coach Lines to Milwaukee, there to be picked up by family.  Bags would have to be claimed the following day.

Brogan and I were able to book a flight to Central Wisconsin (airport not closed) about 5 pm.  Later that flight was cancelled.  Found out at that time that the 6 pm flight to Appleton was going, but had 11 stand by passengers. The agent said that we would be bumped up in the line since rank is determined by the cost of the ticket.  We ended up 4 and 5 on the list.

We never thought that we would make it, but we did.  And at our arrival in Appleton, discovered that our luggage had followed us on the same plane.

Karol had decided to drive to pick us up even though we were willing to stick around for another two hours and ride with the Panama team (they returned at 8:15 pm).  Was so good to see her again.

Roads medium poor, but a safe trip back to our home.

In about a day, our newsletter will be posted at http://uwsp.edu/stuorg/peace under the mission trip section.  I'd encourage you to take a look at it to judge the blessing (especially for us) of the trip.

Our next trip is to Tokyo, Japan, from February 22 to March 2 where we will be participating in the closing worship and party on Feb. 26 for the POPV/VYM program.  I served with POPV from 1966-1968 in the program that has functioned for some 47 years.  God be with you all!

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