Kenner Update: an EARTHQUAKE, a LESSON LEARNED, and more...

[This is actually being posted quite late, but for those of you that don't get our emails...]

Hello Friends,

We have had two weeks now since we got back to the US. What an adventure it has been!!! I know many of you track us on Facebook and already know a bit about the last couple of weeks, but if not, here is an update…

Feel free to skim of course, but for those that want the juicy details, here goes.

First of all… the EARTHQUAKE!

On what we thought was our last day in Vanuatu, we were all geared up and ready for what we thought would be the coming 24 hours of traveling. We had said our ‘see-ya-later’s’, checked our baggage (after a losing argument over excess baggage fees), boarded the plane, and were waiting patiently for take-off. The plane began to move as we started our taxi to the runway. Then it REALLY began to move… in ways a plane is not supposed to move! It felt like the worst turbulence I have ever felt, the only thing was that we were still on the ground. Many passengers guessed that it might have been a flat tire or something. After waiting in puzzlement for a while the captain came over the intercom to report that Port Vila had just experienced a massive earthquake. We found out later that it was a 7.8 only 40 miles from Port Vila… the biggest earthquake that any of the locals we talked to had ever experienced. Eventually, because of several aftershocks and not being sure of the soundness of the plane or the runway, the captain decided to cancel the flight. This left about 200(?) passengers literally standing on the tarmac wondering where they were going to sleep until the next morning when the trip would resume. Most of the people we talked to as we were waiting had not even been to Vanuatu, they were just on a connecting flight - from somewhere else, going somewhere else… boy were they in for a surprise!

To make a long story short… Jim stuck around the airport with the rest of the passengers to take care of the details (he also got to serve as a Bislama translator between airline staff and all the irritated English speaking passengers), and our teammates rallied to help us out with food and just making sure we were taken care of (thanks again L & H).

Basically, we got a super luxurious little mini vacation out of the whole incident. The airline was responsible to make sure we had food and lodging (the house where we had been living was completely inhospitable and moved out of by this point). Of course there are not Motel 6’s in Vila so we got put up in this amazing resort, super fancy dinner included. The kids hardly knew what to do with themselves… “Mom, what fork do we use?”, “Why do I have three glasses?” This place was seriously top end. And we were totally able to enjoy it, because we weren’t paying for it! To be honest… in the beginning I was a bit irritated by the whole event, but then when I found out I got to enjoy the lap of luxury for a little while, that took the edge off =)

THEN there was the rest of the trip…

In spite of the fancy washer/dryer combo in the hotel holding our clothes hostage (seriously, the door of the washer is self locking and would not let us get our clothes out until it cooled off enough, which was taking FOREVER!) until we found the emergency access panel – which had obviously been used by many guests before us, we eventually did make it to the airport in the morning, and on time.

We got to the airport and waited… and waited… and then we boarded the plane and it took off.

We were supposed to make a connection in Fiji the day before… which of course, we had missed. We thought the flight from Fiji to LA was only a couple of times a week and that we were going to be there for a couple of days, but thankfully that was not the case. We were on a flight that night, with only a 9 hour layover! We weren’t able to leave the airport because we had all our baggage, but we found things to do. When the time came to check in for this leg of the trip, we already had well over 24 hours into this trip and we had not even crossed the Pacific yet, and the airline again gave us a hard time about our baggage. Now, I will admit, it was a mountain of baggage. But we were moving overseas. AND, we had thoroughly researched the baggage allowance and did all we could to make sure we were within the limits! Our bags made it on the plane, and we went through security, and then waited for our flight. After being away for a while it was kind of crazy how hearing the words “Due to heightened level of security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security …(blah, blah, blah)” was actually kind of welcoming. Crazy, I know. So, after the body search (yup, you read that right, a… girls in this line, boys in that line… behind closed curtains kind of search. Thankfully it wasn’t a strip search, hahaha) we boarded our flight.

There was a KEY LESSON to be learned in all of this…

For all of our previous trips I was always faithful to pray for our trip… safe, smooth travel. No problems with baggage. Connections and everything on time… But this time I really slacked. I had not covered this trip in prayer like I usually do. By this point in the trip I really felt like God was saying, ‘So you think you can do this without me, huh?’ Not that I thought we were doing this without Him, He is always there and watching over us. But, He wants us to pray, to rely on Him. But I hadn’t been praying and we were exhausted, a few hundred dollars in the whole, tired from hours and hours and hours spent waiting, stressed about whether or not we would get seats on connections or have to wait for days, the list goes on…

At this point, I confessed to the Lord my lack of diligence in prayer, asked forgiveness, and PRAYED.

We were still tired, and ready to be at our destination. But the rest of the trip went VERY well. We made it to LAX. Customs and the transferring of baggage went very smooth – too smooth in fact. We had just enough time to grab a Starbucks, and make a phone call to Jim’s mom who would be picking us up in Seattle, and then we were on our next plane. We arrived at our destination exactly 24 hours after we were supposed to… a 24 hour trip turned into a 48 hour trip, and a very valuable lesson was learned.

BACK in the U.S. of A.

That night we drove back to Jim’s childhood home (his Mom’s house). The next day we went out for some ‘non-Vanuatu’ clothes. You know… shoes (other than flip-flops), jeans, new socks and undies… the basics. Within our first 24 hours we enjoyed a churro from Costco, a take-and-bake pizza from Papa Murphey’s (for old times sake with Jim’s mom), and REAL chocolate ice cream (nobody does it like America). A bit of advice… be ever-so-thankful for the abundant and cheap (yes I really mean cheap even though it doesn’t feel like it when it is what you are used to) choices that are available here. I know we didn’t realize how much is here, and how blessed we are in the US, until we went overseas and saw the contrast. Our poor are filthy rich compared to others around the world. I know these economic times are hard, but perspective is a good thing.

A CAR!

On day 2 we went car shopping with my (Tania’s) dad. This IS something we had really been praying about, and a lot of you had been praying with us. That God would lead us to just the right car for our budget and needs. I was expecting (but hoping not to) do a bit of shopping to find just the right deal. However… it only took us only about 4 hours of beating the pavement. Yup, 4 hours. My dad had been keeping an eye on the vehicle market for us, and we had scoured the internet and newspapers for what was out there so we would recognize a good deal when we saw one, and then God led us to what He had picked out for us. We got a Mercury Mountaineer (a small SUV) that will give us plenty of room for the coming road-trips and the hiking we like to do. It is in really good shape. I will attach a picture. It doesn’t get the gas mileage that our old Honda Civic got but it does have leg room for the kids, who are much taller than they were two years ago. =)

REINTEGRATING

The transition has gone very well. We were a bit concerned for Grace because it was very hard for her to leave her friends, but she is doing very well. We have really been enjoying taking these last couple of weeks to just focus on family. The timing is good as we are catching the last few weeks of the cousins summer vacation. We have had fun BBQ-ing, rooting for family at the races, floating down Satsop River, tubing at the lake, hiking way up into the hills for a 360 view of the South Cascades, and picking berries – all with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews… we have missed each other.

THANKS

Thanks for praying with us about this trip and transition. If you are in our area (WA or MT), we will be seeing many of you shortly.

PRAISE & PRAYER points…

PRAISE

· That no one was hurt in the big earthquake in Port Vila even though there was quite a bit of property damage, that grounded our flight

· That even though there was a bit of a hiccup in our travel plans we were able to make it to our destination only 24 hours late

· For the lesson learned in all of it… always pray, and do not give up!

· For the provision of a really good car for our needs

· For a pretty smooth reintegration/transition back to family and our home culture

· For 16 years of marriage! We just had our anniversary

· For many other answered prayers

PRAY