Sittin at home

Never actually posted that we were home. We're home. How did we get here? We were to fly out last Friday morning China time. Got up at 5 am to catch the bus at 6 to get to the airport blah, blah...Streets of Guangzhou are fairly empty that early in the morning. Wasn't used to seeing that. We were supposed to get to Hong Kong with about a two hour layover to allow us time to catch the 11:25 to Newark. Taxing on the runway and the engine sounds funny, plane stops, attendant says no problem, short delay while we check on something. That something involved two Chinese women cracking open the engine casing and fixin' whatever was busted with a set of power screwdrivers. Not wrenches, not computers diagnostics, but screwdrivers. We're now behind on this funny sounding engine plane to Hong Kong. Get off the plane in a hurry cuz now we are late. I hold up ticket and say stroller on board, need to get it. No, you go to gate now, stroller will be on board your next flight. I ask another person about that stroller. No, you go to gate and we load stroller.

It was a good stroller. Sigh.

China Air is now in possession of a nice stroller. Maybe they can use it as a courtesy stroller. We had to get tickets, boarding passes, luggage checked, security screened, all that stuff. We were basically running to the gate, got on the plane sweating like hogs in a slaughterhouse, within ten minutes, we were moving. 15 hour flight which took us north across China, Siberia, the Arctic Ocean, north of Alaska and Canada, came in above the Great lakes and over northern New York. It is an oddity how something can be beautiful and yet be so desolate. That was Siberia. Ice and snow covered, in the moonlight, it was really cool, but it was barren. About every 50 miles there would be ten or so streetlights in the middle of nowhere. How did those people survive?

Landed in Newark, had to go thru immigration, get our luggage, go thru customs, recheck the luggage, go thru security, find the gate. Once we found that, it was time to eat cuz we had a six hour layover. Found a pizza joint, threw down some meat lover's, went back to the gate and found the most comfortable bed in the world - a carpeted floor of an airport. At this point we had been up around 27 hour with no sleep, so that floor was a welcome sight. We stretched out and had a nap or two. Fading in and out of sleep, you could hear CNN talking about Saddam's pending execution. Got on a puddle jumper to Little Rock, slept about 20 minutes, talked to the flight attendant, and there's Little Rock. Lot of folks waiting there for us. I'm grateful to you all for coming. We were very tired at that point, so I am sorry we weren't very talkative. And surprise, there's Channel 11 doin a live feed. Come to find out they had done a news story on Yazi coming home. My cousin set us up, probably with some encouragement or direction from a few aunts. Payback is coming. Got home after 32 hour day. Man, that was a long day, but it sure was good to be back home among family and friends. Thanks to you all

Timeout on the field

It seems some of my posts at 2:00 in the morning after a day of touring and taking care of little one and other stuff have generated some spirited discussion. This might be a good time to call a truce. For those who know me, you know my heart and how I am. For those of you who don't, I can understand how my posts come across as irrereverant (somebody check my spelling). Unfortunately, as wonderful as some say the written word is, it can at times not convey the true intent of the author. With that said, I am thankful that many have commented, as they see fit, on our life changing experience. We should all be thankful that we have this kind of freedom to comment. I have just returned from a country where one's opinion or beliefs is many times not tolerated. As I type this, I think of my Chinese friends who have lost jobs due to their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my encouragement to all is be thankful for the opportunity that the Lord has given us to express ourselves freely in this country (a day is probably soon coming where we cannot do that).

I will throw this out, however. While my daughter is Chinese by birth, she will not be raised Chinese. It is not because I don't like China, it is because I am not Chinese. I am American. And yet, she is not really going to be raised "American" either. She will be taught the same as my son that this world is not our home. No matter what our heritage, what our past may be, it is our future that we strive for. My Chinese born daughter, raised in America, will be taught to think Jewish for our God has chosen to reveal Himself through His Word, written by Jews. She will know Him and His legacy and His past and His future. That is the greatest gift I can give her or my son, the knowledge of the One who can save them.