Lost in New York City?!

So there we were, traveling light at the airport with two car seats, five carry on bags, a stroller and three children. We had finished our busy stay in North Carolina, not quite ready to go home, but with nowhere else to go when suddenly without notice our flight was delayed several hours! The delay made it impossible to catch our connection flight (the last flight to Phx that day) in Newark, NJ. I went up to the help counter to see what our options were and the man searched and searched for a way to get us home. There were no ways out of NC because American Airlines had bought up all the empty seats for their customers because they were grounded. The only option he found was to take the delayed flight to Newark, spend the night and fly out the next evening to Phoenix. That is just what we did. We were dressed for Phoenix and stuck in NJ! We had no bags and two car seats to lug around. Mark washed all of our clothes at the hotel while we were sleeping (ding). Our checkout time was at one and we didn't have to be at the airport until 6:30ish because we had no bags to check. The airline gave us a few diapers to get us through the night and some baby food for Caleb. I (Jessica) had to make these unfortunate events into fun so I came up with a plan. (I hate to waste time miserable when there is fun to be had). I talked to the front desk lady, who by the way is one of my favorite people now. She helped me form a plan to take my family to New York City that went something like this. The hotel shuttle took my to KMart to buy light jackets for my family since it we were dressed for the beach! Then the hotel held our carry ons and car seats for us while their shuttle took us to the train station. We hoped on a twenty minute train to NYC and walked several blocks to the Empire State Building. I was in heaven or close New York City. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time. I've always longed to go to New York and here we were stuck for an entire day twenty minutes from down town with no where to go! No No I will not cry I will go to the city! I will see the empire state building and I will drink and iced grande carmel macchiato with whipped cream on top. That's right folks! I was there. I took my kids and my husband to the city and forced them to have fun. I had tears of joy in my eyes the entire trip. We hoped a train back to Newark the shuttle picked us up (bringing our bags) and took us to the airport. We hopped on a plane and flew six hours home. I don't think we've been any more tired. But I lived a dream and God gave me beauty from ashes. Had we not gone to the city we would have checked out of our hotel at one gone to the airport and sat there ALL DAY while I was longing to be in NYC and our kids would have definitely ran out of things to do. They would have been sleep deprived and stir crazy. Thanks Mark for going along with my crazy plan. Tee Hee. I wonder if he really knew who he was marrying. Here are some pictures taken on a disposable camera purchased at K Mart :) Our camera was in our checked luggage.

Sorry about the crooked pictures I'll have to fix it later.

Jessica

Pics from North Carolina

These are more pictures we took while staying at our friends house while we were in NC.

Roger made this plane from scratch it was a hit for our kids!

Poor Mark was quite tired after mowing this HUGE lawn with Micah on his shoulders. What a dad! Fun times.

Micah and Mommy in a hammock

This is a hand made hammock that took four months to make! Our friends acquired it while on the mission field. I'm pretty sure it was made by the same people that Elizabeth Elliot reached!

Micah and I are enjoying a snuggle in it. Taking in the scenery from their picture window in their bedroom. We stayed at the Krenzin's house. They are the neatest couple and could fill up books and books with stories of their journey in missions. Thank you Roger and Regina for the blessing you are to us!

Whew Whoo! We passed!

Well, our newest news is that Mark passed his Technical Evaluation with JAARS. We are so very excited! Being in NC and going through the TE has just brought us even more confirmation that we are on the right path. We are ready to go and jumping in with both feet. We both feel very strongly that as long as God keeps flinging open doors then we just keep headed in that direction. The timing may seem odd to some folks but it couldn't be more perfect in our lives. We are stepping out on faith that God will provide all we need and the means to be a part of bible translation through aviation! Our kids are excited too.

Over the past few years through a variety of circumstances and people God has put it on both of our hearts to the mission field specifically expediting bible translation using aviation. We have been praying about it for years and while Mark was deployed we started feeling like the time was coming soon. While Mark was in Afghanistan he started contacting JAARS to see what the needs were. Eventually we got news that they were in great need of several helicopter pilots! At the same time we were feeling led by God to check this out things were happening over seas and this huge need arose for them. We are thrilled that we kept going with the process, not knowing if this is the right time or not. We feel so strongly that it is and we are so excited to see what God is going to do. It is an amazing feeling to show up and hear that they've been praying for a helicopter pilot! Well, all we have to say to that is...
Our God is an amazing orchestrator! He is good and we are ready to go serve in a new capacity! Send us Lord!

We were trying to take another family photo. Hahahaha. Not so easy with three small children. We'll try again soon but I think we'll enlist more adults to help make the kiddos smile.