The long journey home

Is it possible to suffer from jetlag after two nights sleep? I imagine, but I hope not. However, it is 11 p.m. and I am not sleepy. Our trip home keeps rolling over me like waves on a beach--or is that the jet lag that is making me dizzy?

I arrived in Austin about 6 p.m. Sunday night, June 7. The trip was long and arduous and not a little difficult (that is, "it was hard"). What else is new?

We had suffered (yes, that is not an exaggeration) through a delayed departure in Madang on Saturday morning (three HOT hours on wooden benches, after realizing I had lost my wallet and six debit and credit cards). I had already called Barry to inform him so that he could check the accounts and cancel whatever was needed. He sighed, and I laughed: "I'm baaaacccckkkk." He laughed. Thank you, God, for my precious husband.

The delay was just the beginning of our long journey home. Leaving Madang three hours late meant a "tense time" in Port Moresby. We landed with only 18 minutes to make our connection to Brisbane, but Air Niugini (pronounce that Air New Guinea, we learned) was determined. They picked us up at the baggage claim, took all our baggage tickets away from us so they could collect our luggage, then because it started coming off so quickly, let us pick them out ourselves. Then they hustled us off in three or four groups to our flight. The first group was led astray .... somewhere; we almost lost them entirely. The incredibly kind woman behind the counter issued our boarding passes so quickly, we were amazed. Then we found they were a mass of confusion (Jeanene's said "Jocelyn Reese." Jocelyn, Jeanene's daughtger whose name is now Wiebe, had a boarding pass--"Jeanene Reese." That is easy enough to understand if you know that Jocelyn's name has only been amended on her passport's last page, so the first page still says "Reese." But tell me why my boarding pass read, Mariana Long?" It was crazy! Still, you have to hand it to Air Niugini, they did get us on the plane, assuring us that our luggage was with us! But how could that be?

Landing in Brisbane, none of twelve bags had arrived. That was a bigger problem for teammate Jeanene Reese, who was flying on to New Zealand for time with hubby Jack, followed by teaching a two-week class. The rest of us were "overnighting" in a nice Brisbane hotel where I had found a bargain before departure (the hours would allow the luggage at least a bit of time to catch up). Still, filling out the lost luggage claims (after having turned over our tickets to Air Niugini) took time--lots of it. And just as we finished, a new plane landed, dumping hundreds of people into the customs line. So, I did what any unashamed leader might try: I begged the Qantas rep. "We have waited all this time with no line; now look how long the line is. Could you please see us to the front?" He looked doubtful: "Pleeeassee. After all, it was your fault we had to stand here." He looked a bit put off: I smiled: "Pleeeassee, we are so tired. I know it is not your fault personally, but the airline did lose all of our bags," and I smiled again. He broke. "Follow me." (Thank you, God!). The team had audibly gasped when I told him it was his fault, and even I thought I might have overdone my "but, sir" routine. But our escort helped us to make quick work of Australian customs, which had been relentless on the way in.

Somehow, the bus company I had hired for our transport from hotel to airport, made no big deal out of our late arrival--just catch the next shuttle, they said. (Thank you, God!) When we arrived at the Oaks Aurora Hotel--two hours late, no one was surprised by the blank look on reception's face when I told her we needed three two-bedroom apartments, not one. After some confusion, however, she realized that she did have the rooms, and we checked in. Tired and HOT all day, we were also blessed to find that though we did not have luggage, our rooms all had washers and dryers! (Thank you, God!) I won't go into the way we all had to sleep in order to wash our clothes (but we Come before Winter girls are nothing if not flexible and thankful, so take it from there!).

We held our "unpacking meeting--that is, details of the renewal, not our clothes" while we munched on delivered pizza and bottled water and drinks from the 7-Eleven just outside the lobby door. We worshipped the God who had brought us through two amazing renewals and a long day's journey from PNG.

The bus picked us up again at 8 a.m. on Sunday, June 7. Our flight would take off at 11:05 a.m.; that would be about four hours after we would land in Los Angeles, thanks to adjustments in time. (Is this what they call time travel?) The fourteen-hour flight passed fairly quickly, I guess, as we each pondered the days gone by and the reunions ahead. In LA, we found eleven suitcases! It would have been perfect, except one belonged to Jeanene--now in New Zealand. We were missing one small, but empty, team bag, and my own personal bag. Sooooo more waiting in line to fill out paper work.

We departed in groups--the first three off to Abilene at 9:30 a.m. (two hours before we took off in Brisbane), then four for DFW at 12:30, and I was last--on the way to Austin at 1:15 (or something similar). In Austin, I walked onto the escalator and looked down; my precious husband and good friend Cynthia were smiling up at me; I was home. As far as I knew everyone (who was supposed to be home) had arrived. A call from Mariana before we left the terminal verified it. Trip 18 was done.

I will write more soon about the PNG experience. It may take two or three posts! Thank you, God! And, by the way, I found the lost wallet. It had been with me all along--not in my lost luggage, as I had been hoping, but in the camera bag that never left my side. That's right, honey, I'm baaaackkk!