The Trip

Where to begin? It’s been a long time, and feels even longer since I last wrote here. I have realized a few things about myself these last few weeks, one of them being the fact that even though I do not consider myself a planner or organizer, I do need preparation time. I always thought I was more of a “spur-of-the-moment” kinda girl than I actually am.

Leaving Kenya so quickly was rough. We felt as though we were in a fog for a good portion of our time in Canada. It’s like we were in a different place physically, but our minds and hearts couldn’t quite catch up. One day we were doing the “Kenya thing” and the next we were on a plane bound for the North American continent. Strange, strange feeling. One I wouldn’t recommend.

We were really thankful that we made the decision to go home for Bobbi’s funeral, regardless of how strange it felt to be leaving Kenya. It felt like the right decision, and the chance to spend time with her family and the rest of my family, just remembering her, made it worth it. She was such a special person, and my childhood memories are filled with hilarious events and times of exaggerated imaginations with Bobbi. We had so many good times…my life was definitely sweeter because of her. The funeral and memorial services were hard, though. It made the events of the past week hit home. It was reality. Bobbi was really gone. I hate it. And yet I know that she is with Jesus. I know that her life here on earth was but a shadow of the life she has now. I know that she is Home. And yet it still hurts to have lost her here. Please continue to pray for her husband, Justin, and her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. She was deeply loved and is now deeply mourned by those who loved her most.

The rest of our time in Canada involved a lot of visiting with friends and family and a lot of eating of really good food! It was a good time of catching up and ended up being a time of refreshing in our hearts. We needed a break more than we even realized and God used this unexpected trip home to give us that. It also turned out that we were able to be home for our niece Halle and nephew Hosea’s birthdays, which was also really special. We had a lot of fun with different people, having coffee, hunting, an early Thanksgiving meal, visiting until the early morning hours, laughing, crying, and just enjoying the people that we love so much. And by the way…Canada is colder than we remembered…we have become complete wimps and consistently complained about the -2`C weather…!! =)

Trevor and I with our nieces, Makena and Halle

...and with our niece Samala, and nephews Jorrell and Hosea

Loramie (sis), Rea (sis-in-law), Anj (sis-in-law) and I

However, even with thoroughly enjoying the family, friends, food and fall season at home, we were ready to come back to Kenya. (and not just because of the warmth, either, although it sure helped!) We were really missing our friends, Kenya home, ministries, and just life here in Nairobi and most of all just knew that our purpose here in Kenya wasn‘t finished and we needed to get back to our normal life.
So on Thursday, October 8, our adventure back to Kenya began…

Seriously. Who ever said adventure was a good thing? We had one of “those” travelling experiences that make you just wanna say “are you SERIOUS??!” What a trip.

Every one of our flights was delayed. Every. Single. One. The first from Grande Prairie to Edmonton was delayed because of the weather. (we were home for the first snow storm of the year…yay!) So we waited in the GP airport for at least an hour. Then our next flight from Edmonton to London was rather nightmarish. We had boarded the plane, and were waiting to take off. And we waited. And waited. And waited. Till the captain made an announcement about the plane experiencing left engine failure. And that the mechanics were checking it out. Nothing like already being on a plane and realizing that you really are putting your life in these mechanics {hopefully} capable hands!! So we waited some more, only to be told that this was NOT something they could fix now and we would have to de-plane and wait for another plane to be brought in from Vancouver. Next departure time being 2:30 am. Awesome.

We were a little worried about not making our next connection from London to Nairobi, but thought, well, if this plane leaves on time, then that gives us a little over an hour in London, and we COULD make it. So we used our meal vouchers from the airline and had a nice meal at Chili’s and hung out in the airport for the next four hours.


But, you guessed it, another complication. We had boarded the second plane of the day in Edmonton. And waited to take off. And waited. And waited. And waited. Till the captain made another announcement “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, we seem to be having another unusual problem with this aircraft…” wow. Seriously. Something about a problem with not having enough fuel to get all the way to London…

After a long few hour wait sitting in the airplane, we finally were able to take off. We arrived in London in time to see our next connection take off without us. Awesome. Too much confusion later, we ended up in a hotel in London for the night.

Welcome to rainy London...

waiting for the train at London Heathrow Airport

The next morning we took a bus back to London Heathrow, then a train to our terminal. After we had boarded our plane….oh yeah, another delay. This time it was something to do with the runway. The lady sitting next to me, after I told her about our previous flight issues, said “then this is your fault. It’s something about you that’s making this plane delayed too. You’re bad luck.” Thanks, lady. That makes me feel so much better.

But we arrived safely in Nairobi, which in itself felt like a miracle after the frustrating experiences of the last few days! 10:00 pm Saturday night was a welcome time!! Hello Kenya! But the “bad luck” didn’t end with coming to Kenya, apparently. Our luggage decided to stay in London. Of course! We just had to laugh. Seriously. It would have been too good to be true had something actually gone right!! We did all the necessary paperwork at the baggage claim, and then had two wonderful friends come and pick us up at the airport. Thanks Saks and Dann!! =)

So now…Trevor’s bag has arrived…and mine is still who-knows-where! I’m trying to have a good attitude about it. It’s just stuff. Just possessions. Nothing that really matters. (do you hear my trying to convince myself?! Ha) but really, God has been showing me a lot of things in the last few days and making me realize what is truly important. So I’m trying to see it from His perspective.

We are now trying to get over jet-lag and enjoying the wonderful Nairobi weather!! It’s been so good to see all our friends again and get back into “Africa-mode”. More updates to come soon.

God is good.