Indonesia 2012: iCal Notification: Fly Home

Today is the final flying leg of our trip.

Yesterday both the children had a meltdown. For Connor he had reached the end of his ability to cope with all that has gone on around him and the things he has had to cope with. This expressed itself through him being sick of sharing beds, that he wanted to be back in his own bed. As the one who has had to share with him in all places except Bunaken, I can understand!

For Kenzi, twice today it was just a breaking down in to tears saying she "just wants to go home".

Our children have done so well. I have done these sorts of trips with adults and teenagers and have seen some of them respond much, much poorly. We are both very proud of them, amazed that there has not been more meltdowns, and praise God that He has sustained them.

Our 4am kick off and traveling through three times zones would not have helped yesterday. Add to this average food on the planes and it was a recipe for exhaustion. I then added to the mix by having us stand in line for immigration, only to discover we should have gone through another line for visa on arrival.

I have no idea how well or poorly I have looked after my family on this trip, but I will be looking forward to not making sure I have passports, money, tickets and I will not miss filling out immigration cards.

It was amazing to walk through immigration, collect our bags, and then see someone from the Orchid Garden Hotel waiting for us. Why? I was imagining having to find a shuttle bus that goes to the Hotel. Let me contextualise this. We had just come from the Novotel in Manado where the service was so poor. We just received an overall sense that we were more of a bother to the Hotel than guests. The room was bad with many problems, not to mention there was only one bed for four of us. There were lost of other problems at the Novotel as well, but, the reality is, they were all 1st world.

The contrast for us has been a galaxy size difference. Michelle Chrimes had asked Royal Brunei Airlines to provide a Hotel for us as they had changed our flights. And what a breath of fresh air this has been on our last stay overseas. They were so organised and welcoming. They initially only gave us one room (we were meant to have two), but their care for us meant we were happy to just have one room with two beds and share one more night. But we received food and drink vouchers, when I asked about an adapter it wasn't a problem. Then, when I asked after dinner about the best way to get to the airport, they advised that they would again provide transport AND they remembered that we were meant to have two rooms. So last night Triniti and Kenzi slept in their own room, in two separate beds, whilst Connor and I shared a large bed to ourselves. However, I had to move Connor twice over to his side as I was getting sick of being hit in the head or having his legs kick against mine. Eventually I placed a wall of pillows down the middle of the bed to keep him over there. I too am sick of sharing beds. I too am looking forward to home.

However, I have been richly blessed to have shared every flight with my son. We have talked and laughed about many things. But yesterday we had a conversation about '1st world problems' and 'real problems'. Now we have a frame of reference. We can delineate between the two and manage life in a new way.

We currently have the option of where we live. We currently can afford to do many things. We currently have many luxuries and toys, if not as many as others. We have enough.

As Compassion says, "The opposite of poverty isn't wealth. The opposite of poverty is enough."

We have enough. We have friends. We have family. We have Christ. We return home asking the question, "How can we do more with what we have, to help more those who have less?"

Once more unto the breach!

As we arrive home, most of you know the next challenge we face before driving home. Pray for Connor and Kenzi as we work through that.