Delay in Japan...God was watching

Since we were not able to blog often during our trip, I thought I would take a moment and share some of the stories you might not have heard about our adventures. During our homeward journey we were delayed on the runway for almost two hours (that was fun...not!) Because of that, we missed our plane in Japan...well sort of. We arrived just in time to be escorted across concourses to arrive at our gate sweating and panting to have them pull the chain across and quaintly look us in the eye and say "so sorry...gate is closed". It was very frustrating to see our plane sit there for another 10 minutes and not be able to get on.

You may note some frustration and fatigue in our looks in the photos as we had to go through Japanese customs. This was a hastle as Matt still has a Chinese passport...so you have to go through separate lines and fill out different forms (which of course we didn't know). Then they were not going to pay for our stay and told us we were on our own. Thankfully, we found someone who could help and we were tranferred to a very compact style (with kimonos included) hotel. The yen and the dollar do not see eye to eye very well and we ate some fast food at the equivalent of about $80 US dollars...YIKES!

The next day, however, when we returned to the airport...we were ever so thankful for that delay. As the flight we were supposed to be on flew out for 45 minutes and they couldn't get their landing gear up. So, then they had to turn around and come back to Japan and land. All those poor folks got in very late at night and couldn't rebook until they got to the airport the next morning so they had to stand in long lines and be rerouted...where as we were all ready guaranteed seats on that day's flights.

I regret to tell you that I did not praise the Lord when we missed our plane and say something spiritual like "I know He has a reason for this". Truthfully, I grumped inside and felt a little hopeless and at one point almost cried when they weren't going to let Matt have a VISA to get in. But the next day when I heard the news about what would have happened had we been on that flight...I repented for my response and thanked Him for watching over us and providing us with a much better scenario than the one that could have been.

This is just one of the many examples where God was watching over us during our trip. The prayers of the many have covered us and still are as we are adjusting to our new normal:O)