Flying “Home”

It is 3:40 in the morning.  Only a few roosters have started to cook-a-doodle-doo.  By 4ish there will be a whole choir.  Often I can sleep through them, but lately my “to do list” has been growing.  I love how quiet this time of day is for reading/reflection and thinking jobs that don’t need interrupting. 

I imagine a week from today I will be already awake and making the final preparations for our departure.  We will leave at 6 a.m. next Thursday a.m.  The trip is a daunting one to say the least.  We will traverse through time zones, that leave me dizzy trying to calculate our flying hours and lay overs.  In Singapore airport we have an 8 hour lay over.  The blessing is we have 2 small motel rooms with hot showers, clean beds to lie down in, and even an indoor swimming pool should we decide to take a dip.

So the journey is from Papua to Jakarta, Jakarta to Singapore, Singapore to Tokyo, Tokyo to Detroit, Detroit to Nashville.  Approximately 48 hours of travel time (between lay overs and flights).  I’m not afraid to do it without Darron.  Perhaps because the children all have reasoning skills now!  However, I know his strength will be missed, that I love to lean on if he is present. 

He will be leaving on the Wednesday, before us, to travel up into the mountains.  This is his first trip into the interior and I know he is excited.  The timing is not how it was originally planned, but sometimes needs over rule hearts.  The plan is that he and Zach will be taking shovels and wheelbarrows to a pastor who has been working hard there.  This is all with money that has been raised from the States.  The people have been hand digging their airstrip for over 5 years now.  Just working a few days here and there when not tending their crops.  Hopefully now, enough rice can be provided that the people can simply work until it is finished.  Which will be a huge encouragement to this pastor, his wife and small child.  Along with many others.  A special thanks to all of you who took this project to heart.  I know Darron will blog about it, in the future.

 

After 10 days of keeping 6 boys active, fed, clean, and occupied I was relieved on Tuesday to hand my two extra charges back to John and Wendy.  John seems to be recovering well from his surgery.  The boys did very well.  I think we all let our hair down in those 10 days…..so we are bonded with memories and little jokes that make life fun.  Immediately after dropping them Jacob, Nathaniel, myself, and one of the pilots at aviation went to JayaPura to pick out all the bathroom and kitchen tile for our new house.  We limped home by 5….for some reason, it is always exhausting to go to JayaPura. 

Meanwhile, the two older boys were flying with Uncle Bob.  I wish words could express the adrenaline that feels this home pre and post flying with Uncle Bob.  Aubrey and Andrew know that this is such a huge privilege and they just relish this opportunity.  They actually went in the morning and afternoon.  Both boys were allowed “to fly” the airplane twice.  With much wonder, that evening at supper, they described how Uncle Bob had even closed his eyes to take a “small nap” while both of them were flying.  They were not quite sure what to make of that!  Did he really trust them that much???  They snapped some awesome pictures.  I had about 10 loaded on here, but the internet is so slow it keeps failing.  I thought news would weigh out pictures.  Maybe I can add l

 

Some of the photo’s are of our home.  I love the perspective.  For these truly show our mission field.  The hospital set right behind our property.  The hundreds of tiny homes right outside Aviation’s gates.  We truly are so looking forward to flying home to America for a time of renewal.  And yet Papua has become our home.  Despite the bugs, the heat, the angry people and ways we don’t understand……I can sincerely say we are truly looking forward to returning.  Flying back home to Papua.

 

 

Until next time…..thanks as always for reading and praying.  The children and I go back to JayaPura for fingerprinting today (Friday).  Without Darron.  It will take prayer, money, and people talking to the right people to get us fingerprinted without the head of the household with us.  It’s all in a day at Papua!