FLIGHT FROM "H" "E" "DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS!"

FYI: WE POSTED TWO BLOGS TODAY SO MAKE SURE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING ONE AS WELL THAT DETAILS OUR LAST DAY IN GUATEMALA!

Just an update to let you know that we are home in NJ after a long trip! We left Lauren's house at 4 am, and headed for the airport. Our plane arrived in Houston almost an hour late because of Hurricane Dolly that we had to fly around. Then we still had 2 hours in the Houston airport before boarding plane #2. Let me just say that anything that could go wrong with that flight did. We arrived at Newark on time (about 6:15) but then had to circle for 45 minutes because of a thunder and lightning storm. We then began running out of gas. SO, we flew to some hicktown airport in NY called Newburg, where we were to re-fuel and fly back to Newark. Only, we couldn't re-fuel because there was lightning there too, so we sat and waiting for over an hour and a half. FYI: this plane was "new"so they didn't have televisions of any kind, so there wasn't even an in-flight movie! Also, the Hughes family likes to eat, so sitting on a plane for 7 hours without any dinner was not fun!

Finally, we were refuelled and flew to Newark, where we finally set down about 10 PM. Then, our friend the lightning struck again. Our luggage took at least 45 minutes to be unloaded, and then only 3 of our 4 bags came out. Then an announcement was made that the luggage unloading would be delayed due to lightning issues. HOWEVER, what they later informed us was that the unloading wasn't delayed, it was STOPPED. They would need AT LEAST 2 hours to get the rest of the luggage off of the plane. Finally, we were able to get our last piece of luggage and head home (thanks to Jaci's Dad's smart thinking to ask some random people in a side office where they apparently DID have some of the luggage from the plane INSIDE the airport that for some reason they weren't unloading!) We got home around 1:30 in the morning, with Jaci having been up for 24 hours and me having been up for 22. It was so bad that even when I attempted to go to the restroom during our wait in the airport, they were closed for cleaning.

Of course, our experiences on the mission field in the last week taught us a little something about being grateful for what we have and keeping the right perspective. This little bookend of our trip was God's way of reinforcing that to us! Thanks for all of your love and support for our trip! We can't wait to see you all face to face to share with you!

P.S. We were so excited to see our little ones last night and this morning, but the second they go down for their naps, we will all be asleep!