January 2020 Trip, Day 1

In Port au Prince, Haiti. Traveled 17 hours in real time. 20 hours by the clock. It's 90° right out of the gate.

We had a bumpy ride last night. Heavy winds pushed us into NYC over 40 minutes early. It was a long, too long, a layover at JFK. What is there to do when you're tired and smelling a bit ripe? Oh, of course you get the $17 breakfast burrito, with the $4 drip coffee and find a couple padded benches in the children's play area. Nice spot to lay down for a few minutes. Until flight information began to blare over speaker directly above us. But we were prone. Little blessings have to be embraced and thanks given, even when things aren't perfect. These are still chances to say thank you Jesus for your presence in my life.

Being blown ahead of a storm, we got to our destination early, which also gave us time to lay down before the real morning traffic at a very busy airport. Thank you, Jesus. Our layover gave Eileen and me a chance to catch our breathe and have calm, quite breakfast, before all chaos broke in around us. Thank you Jesus.

Getting onto our flight to Port-au-Prince reminded me why we are here, watching our Haitian traveling companions. They cram everything they can into their bags, and their bags into the overheads and under their seats, in their laps, and even stacked on their heads. Rule of thumb, do not return to Haiti without gifts, for everyone. That is one reason for the solar cell phone battery chargers, cell phones, tablets, snacks, etc. that we stuffed into two, very heavy checked bags. And that is why the ticket agents took our bags with a wink and no fee. Thank you Jesus.

Travel here is slow, hot and dusty, but gives you more time to get to know those accompanying you on the journey. Thank you Jesus. To mention every little thing we are thankful for would take many more paragraphs, so I'll end with the challenge, reflect on your day today and say thank you Jesus for all the little things that happened in you life, just today, just this morning, just this afternoon. I think your eyes and heart will be opened. Thank you Jesus.

Amen.