Man, God's good!

I apologize for that last entry which was written shortly after a long nap at a time of day that my body thought should be the middle of the night. My mind and body is still not back up to speed but it’s recovering :)

With that said, I would like to just share with you some of my ponderings this morning that I have had as I thought on God’s goodness and grace to me over the past 37 days of travels.

Things that made these past few weeks challenging:

- Traveling for 32 hours straight with nothing more than two 30 minute naps along the way … TWICE!

- Going through a 13 hour time change 2X (affecting the mind and stomach . . . or was that all the airport and plane food?)

- Sleeping on 11 different beds/couches (one of which was for 4 nights consecutively, another for 3 nights consecutively and the rest were less)

- Driving over 2,000 miles and flying over 5,000 (in the States)

- Spending “quality time” in 7 different airports (and going through security 8 times)

- 5 delayed flights (averaging 1.5 hours a piece)

- Not getting to spend much time with my parents or sister

- Having to say goodbye . . . A LOT

BUT ways in which God’s grace was poured out on me:

- I had safe, smooth travels – I never fell asleep while driving, never lost ANYTHING, and only paid luggage fees one time!!

- I was never sick

- Enjoyed games of “Yahtzee”, ping-pong, “Clue”, “Rook”, “Nickles” and “Sorry” with family

- Played ultimate frisbee (I forgot what it was like to play any type of sport, since I’m a girl and all ;) )

- Watched a Colt’s game with my sister (they won of course, even though it was pre-season)

- Shared with 7 congregations, visited 2 colleges, met with 7 pastors

- Had a 4 day vacation in Minneapolis for a friend’s wedding (it was awesome to be a part of that bridle party, they were a hoot!)

- Countless hugs

- Late night talks (and late night Wi hula-hooping contests!)

- Great food! (I seriously felt like my schedule was “meet, eat and leave”)

- Numerous people who showed genuine interest in what I am doing (I could tell who was keeping up with me, and some of them I didn’t even know!)

- Speaking at a relative’s church that wasn’t even on “my list” with a last minute (literally!) invitation to share for the whole service . . . did I mention that they also very generously blessed me?!

- Having God get me through times of sharing my ministry when all my body wanted to do was sleep

- Somehow getting me on a FULL flight out of Moscow because of missing a flight AND saving me about $150 in baggage fees!

Man, God’s good! His grace never ceases to amaze me! In hind’s sight, I would have liked to have more time to prepare for some of the opportunities I had and I would have liked more time with family. But God used this time to abundantly bless and show me – yet again – His faithfulness and grace.

Welcome, Baaack

So I arrived back to my Novosibirsk home and to T - my Russian babushka. I was so glad to be back to this home and with Baba T. However, not without problems...

A few hours after this last entry I arrived to Chicago, waited 2 1/2 hours for the next flight, boarded to plane and waited some more. The door wouldn't close on the plane because the inflatable slide (for emergency exits) had come loose. They said they would fix it and we would be on our way able to make up time as we flew the long rout over Greenland and down into Moscow. 30 min later the captain came on again and said they were having to replace the whole slide and it would be another 30-45 minutes. By this time I knew that I would not be making my connecting flight in Moscow (which only had a 2 hour layover), but relaxed as they began to play an episode of "The Office" while we waited :) Then half way through the show they came back on and said that it was taking so long we needed to de-board the plane and go to the other end of the terminal to board our new one. (And the sad part was, I didn't get to find out how the late birthday party that Jim and Dwight threw for Kelly went!)

Anyway, while we waited to board the next plane I talked to a counter lady (I don't know where their titel is?) and I asked her to see about changing my connecting flight out of Moscow. She said she booked me on the next flight, printed off the information for me and I was worry free, having a 3 hour layover in Moscow. We were on our way once again, only 2 1/2 hours later then expected.

By now I should know better then to assume that just because something works "that way" in the States, it doesn't always mean that it works that way here...

To make a long story short, the "counter lady" didn't get me on the next flight but thanks to God's help, Russian language ability I barely made it onto the next flight while managing to get all of my over weight luggage onto the plane free of charge (I guess the gentleman at the check-in counter felt pretty bad for me and knew if he charged me I would not have time to go pay the fee and still make my flight :) )

So I slept great when I finally got home (from 2am to 2pm) :) but then last night I was only able to enjoy sleep for 3 hrs when my body said "rise and shine" at 2:30am.

I apologize for my delay in posting my arrival. My internet "wasn't working" when I arrived and it took me a while to get around and get tech support to come take a look at it . . . just a few minutes ago a guy came looked at the problem and asked "where's your internet cable?" So, yeah, turns out I totally forgot to plug my cable into my computer . . . oops! Pretty sure that dude thinks I'm a french fry short of a happy meal - if he knew what I'd been through, maybe he'd cut me some slack . . . then again, this is Russia so probably not.

And if there's any typos or miss-spellings; remember you're probably not in Russia and cut me some slack ;)

From Home to Home

As I type I am in the Denver Airport waiting to fly to Chicago then to Moscow then to Novosibirsk - "home". But I'm also COMING from "home". My 33 days back in the States went by pretty stinkin' fast and it was stinkin' hard to say goodbye to family - somethings God calls us to do just plain stink.

I type to say "hello" to those I didn't get a chance to see (please understand how busy my schedule was) and to say "until next time" to those I was blessed to hug and say hello to.

I am so blessed with supportive understanding parents, that allowed me to "get down to business" during my short time in the States and shared me with others. (I know my mom would like you all to know that I was "home" home for only 8 nights and those were not consecutive.) Durring the 32 hours I had with JUST my parents at home was filled with ping-pong, Yatzee, Clue, Sorry and ALOT of talking!

I would appreciate your prayers as I head back to The Mother Land and get back into my life over there - Russian language and Russian culture. Also, please pray for my parents as they adjust to another 10 months (or so) with me half-way around the world.

Thanks for reading and praying!