Recent Arrivals

first time flying alone, and my flight's been delayed... Lord have mercy.
please close your eyes and extend your hands heavenward in petition for me
to make it home safe and soon.
Eric’s post on Facebook, December 17, 2012

I should have listened to what Eric asked and prayed as intently as he requested. Although we did pray for him and his flights, little did we know that the delay he mentioned would literally mean over a day of waiting for him.

At right is Ethan when we welcomed Eric at the airport and below while relaxing with Evan at home.

Travelling separately from Toronto, both Evan and Eric arrived in Chiang Mai, today. We are extremely pleased but most relieved as Eric was actually due 26 hours before he actually got here. His first flight was delayed so he missed his other connecting flights. Delays are a normal part of air travel and because we’ve travelled so much, we normally dealt with the added “wait” as best we could. In typical fashion, Eric did just that and simply told his younger brother to tell us that his flight was delayed. We were then left

wondering what became of him for a whole day as we waited to hear when he would get here. Without him connecting again, we didn’t know whether he managed to get on other flights. We anxiously awaited his arrival which was thankfully tonight, over a day late. He ended up staying overnight at a hotel in London and the whole day at Heathrow Airport while he waited for his 10 p.m. flight. Sometime while moving about from terminal to terminal, he lost his passport, too. He said it provided a scary excitement to his day as he spent a fair bit of time retracing his steps until he found his passport with the people looking after the transit trains. Praise God. =) While all that was happening, I had people at the school I teach in and the staff at the OMF office in Canada, praying for him. Thankfully, God graciously answered and looked after him.

Eli obviously looked very happy to see Evan at his school. They hugged first!

Evan left half a day later than Eric but got here half a day before Eric. His flights were uneventful. Both of them spent long hours watching in-flight movies. All together, they watched close to 10 movies while on their flights! Too much! Both met people they enjoyed chatting with. The Lord’s hand was upon them as we asked for in prayer. We are so grateful to have them back and look forward to spending time with them for the next two weeks. We realize that it could be a very long while before we all spend Christmas together as a complete family in Chiang Mai. We praise God for this wonderful opportunity! It is such a precious gift. In light of all the sad and horrible deaths caused by shootings, we are not taking this for granted and thank God. He is good. =)