Over the river and through the woods

Getting back to the London airport was much better in the morning.  One of our drivers was an aspiring grand prix driver (or at least thought he was) and the other was fairly quiet – even I was trying to start up a conversation without luck.  Once we arrived at the airport we discovered all the previous night flights had been canceled.  This created quite a mob of people trying to check luggage in.  If our bags had not been checked all the way to Kenya, I think we’d still be at the airport in line.

While waiting for the team to get through security I noticed someone who didn’t seem to fit in the crowd – Kimbo Slice.  For those of you who don’t know who he is, it’s probably better that you don’t or you’d judge me because I do.  One growl and a head fake and he was running… can’t you see how close I got to him later.  Sorry Brad, you had to be with your kids…

Finally on the plane we headed east.  Since this flight was during the day we had some better views.  Here is the Alps – and what you missed was Yvonne singing the entire soundtrack to The Sound of Music.  Good thing I recharged my iPod.

8 plus hours later we had landed in Nairobi, Kenya.  Surprisingly the custom officials noticed the amount of bags we had and just shook his head and waved us through – guess he was almost done with his shift and figured we’d be too much of a pain.

 We met our ride from the airport and got a chuckle to see his expression when we told him that there was eleven of us… and 27 bags.  He had to call in a military transport…

So we are here…enough said.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

So off we go.  We piled into our dependable Dodge Caravan and headed down to LAX to meet up with the Klassen family.  With the back of the van full and 6 bags strapped on top the kids got to feel every bump along I-5.

Good thing we planned to arrive a bit early.  I, for some reason, had a fascination with driving around and around all the terminals until I found the right one.  BTW, if you do make a wrong turn don't think that the airport planners with give you and easy way to fix it - just head towards San Diego and when you see the Mexican border, turn around and try entering the airport again.

81/2 hours inside a metal tube.  Good thing I had my iPod... for about an hour.  British Airways have these wonderful 747's which have several different classifications of seats.  There's the sleeping "cocoons" for those who could have just bought the plane themselves - they got the entire upper deck and front of the plane.  Then there's first class - it was like walking through a room of private cubicles, with very nice staplers.  For "budget" minded travelers, British offers World Travelers' Plus - sponsored by LazyBoy.  Oh wait, there's one more section in the far back.  It's the "we charged you more for your luggage than your seat" section.  I do think my luggage probably was more comfortable.

We arrived in London to.... snow.

So pretty.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to instruct the British about snow tires and snow plows.  I guess these are luxuries for us spoiled Americans.  Funny thing about Europe... small cars, small tires, small streets, and small discernment when it comes to driving in the snow.  Our taxi drivers, complaining about how all the "other" drivers didn't know what they were doing, decided to forgo the normal routes of travel.  Of course the streets we ended up on had much less traffic - which meant that there was nothing melting the snow off the roads.  London also isn't the most flat of cities.  Several times our taxi driver would push on the gas and the car would just sit there on the incline - so he'd just press the pedal more.  I guess he thought that with enough friction the snow/ice would melt under the tires.

So originally we had these wonderful plans to explore the sites of London during our 1 day layover.  That plan was scrapped when it took 2 hours to go from the airport to our lodging.  So we dropped our stuff off and headed down the street to a local pub... for some fish-n-chips.  So for the record, our first devotional time was done in a London Pub.

On top of all this, Yvonne and I celebrated 17 years of marriage today.  Not exactly what I thought it was going to be like, but as long as I'm with Yvonne - I'm happy.  Now if I can figure a way to lose these 9 other people...

Off to Kenya in the morning (if we can get back to the airport) and 80 degree weather.

Cleaning for Armageddon

This is Brian - I have officially hacked control over this blog for the next several weeks.  Yvonne carries no responsibility or liability for the statements/comments/general thought process which will be shared.  For those concerned(and you know who you are) you can just close your computer for the next 3 weeks and pray and fast...and seek some counseling and/or prescription medications.

We leave on Sunday - so this being Friday means I've got one more day to watch some TV, surf Ebay, and eat Bon-Bons before I'll start thinking of packing.  My wife on the other hand is diligently rearranging our bedroom into a Walmart shopping isle of folded shirts, socks, toiletries, and nick-knacks. (all hypoallergenically sealed in ziplock bags of course)

We (myself and my children) were, as expected, told the house need to be cleaned before we leave.  I beg the question to all humanity - Why do we clean our homes just to leave them - which then upon our return we instantly unload all of our dirty laundry, empty our overstuffed luggage, spread out all the overpriced souvenirs and "gifts" for those who watched our turtles and watered our plants, as well as tear through all the missed mail and completely obliterate any coherence of order in our homes...  Tell me how any of this makes any sense.  I guess if we die it will be easier to sell our house - you can thank us at our funeral.

But now it's off to don the latex gloves and clean underneath the backside of the drainage pipe behind the toilet. - I can't imagine what we'd have to clean if we were going on vacation... Merry Christmas and Yes, I do love my wife - hope she knows that.

A Lesson To Be Learned In Nit Picking

What's up with the Downs? Last week some pesky little bugs jumped into our hair...literally. Half of the Downs household ended up with little nits, the eggs that lice lay, in our hair. Of course they were sweet eggs because they were from some precious friends of ours, but we wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible.

After shampooing with chemicals to kill the nits, bleaching every nook and cranny, ferociously vacuuming, pulling every article of clothing, bedding, rugs, etc. and piling it high in a corner to be fed to the washer turned to "hot water" we gals sat in the master bathroom (it had the brightest lights) to begin the long process of nit picking.

Not until this last week did I understand the phrase, "You are so nit picky". Now, I get it-someone who finds every minutest thing to be critical of. We looked through every particle of every hair of the four of us Downs who had these critters not wanting to miss one egg. We wanted to be extra safe and pulled each hair out that had a nit. Over the course of 5 days, approximately 7 hours were devoted to looking at each strand of our luscious nitty locks.

What's the lesson? PATIENCE! Multiple times a day this thought circled through my mind, whether I was putting in the 20th load of laundry, vacuuming for the 7th time, or picking nits--

"LORD, You are so very patient with me!!! Thank You! You take time to pick all the nits out of my hairy soul and do it with such love, and patience. Never do You get riled up if you find another nit, but You are the God who sanctifies and You promise that you will sanctify me through and through so that all of me is kept blameless. My heart is grateful to you the God Most High for teaching me about Yourself through a little sticky bug."

We are lice free and grateful. My heart is filled with gratitude that I have a washer and dryer and access to lice shampoo, because so many live with these critters, because they don't have the means to get rid of them.

I simply need to be still for chunks of time while the Lord sifts through my bugs, so I can praise Him with purity.

May God Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Blessed Beyond Measure

The Kenya team! The Klassen Family, The Downs Family, Brad & Jen Bell, Loni Weber, & Charlotte Teisinger.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be the head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:22-23

Today I can't help but proclaim the magnificence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the Head of us, those who believe Him, and we are His Body! I am in awe and humbled that those who trust Jesus are "the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way". I have seen this in action countless times and have been marveling at how His Body works and moves as His hands and feet and arms and toes and legs and nose. We look to our Head for all direction and ability to do anything for His glory.

13 of us in the Body have the privilege of going to Kenya in 40 some days as the feet, sharing the gospel with others as we walk along, while over 50 precious people have personally given sacrificially (through prayer, encouraging words, and financially) to the Downs household to enable us to go share the love of Jesus. I would guess a couple hundred people have been involved in one way or another for our whole team. I wish we could take every single one of them with us because of how instrumental each have been in enabling us to go. We couldn't go without the Church functioning as the Lord designed it.

So this morning my heart is soaring and blessed beyond measure. I try to calculate it and simply can't wrap the measuring tape around it, because it is eternal Kingdom work and the Lord works miraculously! Some things we just can't put in words. I know with confidence that everything is for the Lord's name and fame.

We are honored to serve the One who gave His life for us.