Away From the Fishbowl

Well, the long, slow trek home came to a happy conclusion on Saturday afternoon at PDX airport. After something like 25 hours in the air (including two night-times, in the span of Friday-Saturday, thanks to the phenomenon of crossing the international date line), with an additional 12 hours in various airports, I walked through the "arrivals" door at my home airport, and saw my family waiting for me at the "Kissing Post." It was indeed a glad reunion. It's not to say that the trip home was terrible; as far as international air travel, it was actually enjoyable. Have a look at a few of these pictures I snapped along the way: A Jetstar Boeing 787 parked in Bali, waiting to take us passengers to Sydney.  A view of downtown Sydney, Australia, taken from the window of the Qantas A-380 that would be my ride home. Maybe one of my favorite photos I've taken -- a view of the famous Sydney Opera House as seen from the air. Sunrise over the

Typically, the work of ITEM focuses on teaching and training pastors, elders, and teachers in churches around the world. My work with ITEM has, to this point, been involved with teaching seminars in preaching that help pastors in the task of Christ-centered preaching. Typically, the groups we have range anywhere in size from 30-60 church leaders. We've found that the ideal size is around 25-40 students; this allows for productive and involved small-group time, during which we put the pastors to work together in groups, discussing and studying the texts of scripture, with an eye towards preaching them. Any smaller, and the chemistry of the group may not be there, and any larger, and the group discussion can become too difficult to hold together. Well, our experience in Indonesia became very different -- and we had to adapt on the fly. When we stepped into the classroom (our facilities were at a local Christian church & School -- see the photo above and the photo to the right

We've officially concluded our teaching time, and we are making the long trip home. There are a couple of legs to this trip home,  So far, we've already made our way from the island of Timor to the city of Denpasar, on the island of Bali: Airline: Lion Air (Another new airline! Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 Distance: about 600 miles Time: about 2 hours Total distance flown: 12,237 miles Here's a link to the map : Tomorrow, the real travel time begins. This leg will be the longest day of travel yet -- and will involve two "nights" but it will only feel like a half a day of travel. Let me explain... Leg one will launch from Bali, to Sydney. This is a red-eye flight, leaving Friday night: Airline: Jetstar Aircraft: Boeing 787 Distance: about 3000 miles Time: 5 hours, 40 minutes. Here's where it gets confusing. Leg two leaves Saturday morning, Australia time, but Friday evening America time. So, we are running away from the sunset. That mea

...and that is how I ended up in an Indonesian hospital. But let me back up. Apparently I'm a few inches taller than the average Indonesian. While making a visit to the bathroom, I didn't realize how short the door frame was, and I crashed my head into the top of the door frame. When I pulled my hand back -- well, you can imagine. Anyways, the bleeding stopped fairly quickly but the cut looked big enough that needed a stitch or two to close it up. Well, the good folks here at the school were about to load me onto a motorcycle (that's all that was available to drive at that moment!) and zip me up the street to the hospital. Thankfully, at just that moment, a driver and a car showed up to take me to a near hospital. I will say, these good people were very friendly, and very kind. I will also say that the new haircut they gave me...well... let's say it was worth the price.  Which, very kindly, was nothing -- the medical staff there happily did the work for nothin

We are home.  Despite our city being in totality for the solar eclipse this morning, we had zero issues getting home. I cannot imagine trying to get to the airport or back now--I heard traffic is horrendous.  Our shuttle bus from PDX to Salem was actually early and we were in the house by 12:30 PM.  Previously with all the travel warnings we were anticipating being home much later.  I think we timed it right. Tired is an understatement.  With so much activity the past ten days, time zone changes, long travel day, and unpacking--I am feeling the fatigue settling in.  I am craving some normalcy after Rob returns home this weekend. I will back up with yesterday.  We left my parent's home in Byron Center a little bit before 10:30 AM and drove in two separate cars bound for Chicago.  We had to take both vehicles because we cannot all fit in one.  Plus my mom needed to stay in the area longer than my dad. The ride itself was pleasant until we hit the Indiana border, of course.

Today will be focused on travel -- but it's not a long day. The trip from Bali, where we have stayed for the last two nights, to Kupang, is a little over 600 miles. We'll be spending three nights in Bali, before returning to Bali, in preparation for the trip home. Here's the breakdown: Airline: Garuda Indonesia (a new airline for me to try!) Aircraft: Boeing 737 Distance on this leg: ~600 miles Total distance flown on this trip: 11637 Time: A little less than 2 hours. I'll let you know how it goes! Here's a link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yQ75HXCQ7568_UkkLgBcLl1eR50&usp=sharing

We are still in West Michigan...but not much longer.  Tomorrow morning we still start the long journey home by driving to Chicago, visiting family there, and then flying out of Midway Airport.  We come into Salem tomorrow night and will get to experience the apocalypse  eclipse the next morning Yesterday we went to Craig's Cruisers in Grand Rapids which has changed a lot since I last was there at least ten years ago.  There is way more to do and it is more like a Dave and Buster's.  Each of the kids and (and adults!) enjoyed the pizza buffet (which had way more than pizza) and picked the attractions they wanted to do.  Kara got Grandpa drenched on the bumper boats...and it was not that hot out. My younger two mini golfed with Grandpa and Grandma and their cousin.  They have not played much mini golf so their cousin patiently taught them.  They caught on better with time. My oldest and son also drove go carts for the very first time and they did great!  No major cras

Well, today we head out for the next leg of our trip. We'll fly from Vijayawada to Delhi, with a stopover in Hyderbad, and then from Delhi, to Singapore. This will include a 3.5 hour layover, which I actually wish were longer; Singapore is the world's nicest airport, and I wish I had more time to explore. There is a pool, a movie theatre, butterfly gardens, as well as restaurants, and the usual airport stuff. From Singapore, we fly to Denpasar, Indonesia -- a tourist location for many. We'll be staying at a simple hotel there and we plan to enjoy a day and a half of rest and relaxation. Here's the airline/aircraft breakdown: Vijayawada -> Delhi: Air India, Airbus 319 Delhi -> Singapore: Air India, Boeing 787 (A new one for me -- looking forward to flying this one!) Singapore -> Denpasar: Jetstar Asia, Airbus 39. Here's a map you can follow along.

I was not surprised by all the big waves on Lake Michigan today!  I awoke around 3:30 AM this morning to thunder.  It was rainy most of the morning.  When it is gray and rainy in Oregon, it is generally cooler outside.  When the kids walked outside this morning, they felt thick humidity for the first time in a long time.  While it was in the low 70's, it felt warmer due to all the humidity in the air. We spent the morning at my parent's house and left for Fruitport, Michigan after lunch.  Fruitport is a little town seven miles from the lakeshore between Muskegon and Grand Haven.  I worked as a youth director at Fruitport Christian Reformed Church from 2000-2004.  Rob and I lived next door to the church after we were married in 2001 until we moved to Indiana for his one year internship in 2004.  Rob's last year of seminary (2005-2006), Fruitport CRC asked  him to preach at least once a month and our oldest Hailey was baptized there.  Those years were very special! Whe