Kathy's Blog!!!

Hello, Friends! I'm writing my first Thailand Team Blog entry somewhere over the sea between South Korea and Taipei . . . we have about two hours left on our nearly 14 hour flight . . . and we are all doing well. I am sitting in Row 9 next to Gracie, our Blog Master, which is why I get to write one of the first entries! It is 12:15 pm Pacific Daylight Time, and 4:15 am Taiwan time on February 14th – so Happy Valentine's Day! They fed us dinner about 2:00 am your time, and we just had breakfast! The food is pretty good, especially compared to the tiny bag of pretzels you get when flying in the US. Everyone slept at least five or six hours – or more – and we are all feeling remarkably refreshed.

God's hand of care was strongly evident on us as we checked in at the Spokane Airport as Brandon Kafflen was at the Alaska ticket desk and checked us in through the First Class station with loving care. He arranged for us to leave on an earlier flight, which ended up leaving the same time as our original flight which left even later. When we actually boarded our “numero uno” plane, Brandon was at the gate blessing each one of us as we went onto the plane. Before going through security, many friends from Garland – besides family members – came to the airport to say goodbye to us, and Ricky Kienholz blessed us and prayed for us before going through security. Thank you, Ricky, for helping to organize such a loving farewell for our team. We feel loved!

When we got to the China Air gate in Seattle, a couple with three young children got in line behind us as we waited to get our boarding passes. When Heidi Anderson saw them, she did a double-take because the woman looked so much like a woman who came to Garland's Celebrate Recovery for awhile and for whom she has babysat. The man heard us say Chiang Mai and asked us where we were going. Amazingly, this young family is headed for Chiang Mai from Spokane on all the same flights we are on to attend a conference for the ministry Unreached People Groups. And, his wife is the twin sister of the woman Heidi and Sally know from Celebrate Recovery.

All of us are excited and thrilled to be on this adventure, but it is especially fun for me to see the sense of thrill and eager anticipation of the teenagers. They are exclaiming over every new sight and experience, gluing ticket stubs in their journals and recording their thoughts and feelings, reading their Bibles . . . So, moms and dads, be at peace. Your tears at the airport touched your girl's hearts (and the rest of ours, too), and they are all doing well.

Bye for now! If you're lucky, we may post some pictures of how we look after being up for over 24 hours already.

Love and blessings,
Kathy