This will likely be my final post to this blog for at least the next couple of weeks.

I did return safely to my home and family on Tuesday, but about 6 hours later than I expected. On my ticket, there were 2 hours and 45 minutes between the arrival of my flight from Ethiopia in Toronto and the departure of my flight to Charlotte. That seemed like sufficient time to make the connection. But the departure time of that second flight was changed somewhere along the line from 10:00am to 8:25am, and I wasn't informed of the change. If my flight from Addis Ababa had been on time or even a bit ahead of schedule, I'm not sure I would have had enough time to catch the plane to Charlotte. When I learned that our expected arrival time in Toronto was more than an hour later than what was printed on my itinerary, I began to accept the likelihood of missing a connecting flight for what was--as far as I can remember--the first time in my life.

Sure enough, when we disembarked, I saw on the airport flight monitors that the gate for my second flight was already closed, as the plane prepared for departure. There were about 20 of us who missed flights due to the late arrival of the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, and it took the agents quite a while to get us rescheduled on other planes. But by 11:30, I had a boarding pass for a 4:00 flight to Charlotte, as well as a food voucher for $15 to help me buy some lunch while I whiled away the intervening hours.

The 4:00 flight was on time, so I arrived in Charlotte just before 6:00 and was back home with my family by 7:30. It's great to be back home! Anita and the girls are here, and Evan is due to arrive later today. I have the remainder of December as vacation, so I'm counting on spending a lot of my time with the family.

As a closing paragraph on my trip to Ethiopia, I would say that in several ways it was the most difficult assignment that God has ever given me, with lots of physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges. But He was faithful to His promises and always provided what I needed to accomplish what He had sent me there to do. Often it was no more than that, as there were numerous occasions where I did not have as much as I wanted of certain things, but I had what I needed. It was important for me to remind myself that the granting of my desires is optional, while the provision for my needs is assured, according to His promises.