Home Again

YAY! We are back on American soil! We landed in Atlanta around 6 PM, and on our cell phones immediately to Ted and Ray just to let them know we made it to the US again. We are thrilled to see toilet seats and to be able to flush toilet paper! Ahhh-life is so good in the USA. (but - my quadracepts are much stronger for that little inconvenience of missing seats)

Then, just to see if I could work the technology with the airport WIFI, I used SKYPE to call Ted. I found out the internet service was free......for about 20 minutes - then it switched over to airport default and all you could see was airport advertising and the internet service charges. Also found out to use the airplane WIFI was a paid service. I am definitely an old dog learning new tricks........and happy to be able to process a little of the technology available today.

We landed on time in Indy and our luggage made it too. What a blessing to report that all of our fight experiences were good...no rough clouds to bounce us around, no bad weather, and great service on Delta.

On the flight from El Salvador - our row mate was an El Salvadoran man named, Jose (Elmer was his nic-name). He has been a legal resident of the US for 12 years and wanted us to see his leagal driver's license. He spoke English much better than my spanish. He loved it when I spoke anything in Spanish to him. I could tell it was amusing. He had returned to El Salvador for his mother's funeral about a month ago. The main topic of conversation was about pupusas - which Carol has now learned to make. He tried to convince her she could be rich if she opened a pupusaria in Indy! Before we landed we also presented the salvation plan to him by showing him the beads on our gospel bracelets. He immediately understood what the each color represented. He said he had a personal relationship with Christ. He did convince us that he knew the gospel message.

Elmer decided to help us with our bags to the customs area. That guy had us practically running. I finally had to tell him to slow down. Carol was still carrying 2 tote bags and her legs just don't move as quickly. Elmer graciously did slow down and planted us in a short line at the customs area and disappeared. What a blessing he was.

On the trip from Atlanta to Indy - we had the best row mate ever! Others thought we had an empty seat on our row -- but we knew our companion was JESUS!

Another blessing was the little 3 year old boy, Astin, that was behind us. His speech was so articulate and his conversation was so entertating as we could overhear him talking to his daddy. I couldn't stand it. I had to talk to him. So I used my "Elmo" voice. He totally "got it"! He peeked through the seat to see Elmo. At the end of the flight, he asked if I was really Elmo. I told him no, I was Elmo's mommy. "Oh," he said beaming, "I have a mommy too!" The row of folks behind him cracked up laughing. Then he smiled and said, "I am so glad you got to meet me." Which evoked another laugh from the bystanders. Then he shook my hand. Great kid that Astin! It truly was nice that I got to meet him!

A quick call to the cell phone lot after we got our bags and my chariot arrived. Ray was just a couple minutes behind Ted. We were on our way home from Indy about 12:30 AM. By the time I was wound down for bed it was about 2:30. Haven't heard from Carol but I know she was planning on going to church. I skipped the morning but will go to the PM service. Can't wait to see the folks at church - but I was pooped!

Thanks again for your faithful prayers. God heard them, we felt them, and the Lord empowered us to do HIS work through your amazing support. AWESOME JOB, Prayer Warriors!

Check back next week for the slide show.