Shanksteps – Adventures Abound
Greetings from the good ol’ US of A. Yes, that’s right, we are here. We “snuck” home for Christmas and New Year’s after getting the okay from those in control. We decided to come home to spend Christmas with our families for the first time in 5 years, and God even gave us a beautiful white Christmas. We want to apologize to all of our friends that we didn’t let you know we were here; we wanted to focus entirely on family during this visit as we’re usually rushing around.
We have come to accept “adventure” as the norm when traveling, and this trip was no different. I flew back to the US at the beginning of Dec to surprise Sarah at school. Greg was supposed to arrive in the US on Dec 21 to celebrate Christmas in CT. Just as his plane was about to board in Chad, everyone was told to return to the terminal to wait. Apparently, approximately 8 presidents of other countries had been in Chad for a conference and were getting ready to leave. So, each of the presidents was escorted down the red carpet with their entourages, accompanied by the Chadian military marching band. Well, since every president had their own plane, and each departure took about and our, Greg’s flight left over 8 hours late from Chad to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And, since the flights only leave 4 days a week from Addis for Washington, DC, Greg just barely made it in time for Christmas. No big problems, just frustrations.
We thought that our adventures were over for this trip. So, none of us expected what would happen the night of the 2nd. Less than 5 minutes after leaving Greg’s house to play Walleyball, we hit an icy patch in the snow in my father’s car, slid off the road, flipped upside-down, and landed in a stream. Fear set in as the water started pouring in; but Greg’s sister Heather had the clarity of mind to right herself and get the door open. She pulled Sarah out. I opened my door while still hanging upside down in the seatbelt, but managed to get out without any problem and helped Greg out. Miraculously, the only injury to any of us was a bruised knee, and a totaled car. When the car was finally pulled out of the stream, we discovered another miracle. Although water had damaged the inside of the car, the roof didn’t even have a scratch, and none of the window was broken. I’m convinced that angels cushioned our fall, and held the car together so we could get out. So, although we have to deal with insurance and a totaled car, we are very thankful that all of us are okay!!!
Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. We are heading back to Africa Jan 9.
