Those were the words I received in five separate emails today. Glorious are they. 
Here’s a recap of our past couple of weeks.
On January 16th we packed three cars with twenty bags to go to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) for our 5:00 p.m. flight. We (Tara, me, Tanner (9), Keaton (6), and Regan (then 3)) boarded a jet headed first to Detroit. We then changed planes and left Detroit around 9:30 p.m. to fly to Paris overnight. In Paris we had to change terminals and airlines, thus requiring us to go through security again and requiring us to pick up all our checked bags and move them to another area for recheck. One of our bags got picked up by the X-rays and we spent a bit of time trying to help the French security man understand that Uno Attack! was a family game, not a weapon. 
We finally arrived in Birmingham, England on January 17th, at 11:00 a.m. We thought we had arrived in England to begin our adventure as staff missionaries at the YWAM base, The King’s Lodge. Unfortunately for us, as you can read about in my prior post, we arrived without the proper documentation for entry into the United Kingdom. We thought we had the right stuff, but we learned quickly that we needed to have our entry clearance completed in the U.S. rather than at the Birmingham airport.
We were detained for five hours at the airport, after flying for 15 hours with our three children and getting little sleep on the cramped flight over, to be allowed three days entrance into England. We finally arrived at The King’s Lodge after dinner. Praise God several young missionary students helped me take our twenty bags up the two flights of stairs to the third floor where our flat is. And, praise Him for blessing us with an understanding and hospitable YWAM base who made our few days there as comfortable as possible.
Three days into adjusting to our jet lag in England we began the process of returning to America (by the requirement of the government of the United Kingdom). This time, because we had high hopes that we would return to England with the proper paperwork, we only packed a couple of bags and several empty suitcases (to fill with goodies). We then made the return flight (again about 15 hours worth) through Paris, Atlanta and ultimately Northwest Arkansas, arriving at Tara’s parents house at nearly midnight.
When we left Fayetteville, Arkansas the first time on December 16th, we thought it would be goodbye for at least 8 months. Now, less than one week later we found ourselves back in Arkansas. Much had changed, however, because we rented our house and gave our cell phones to good friends who had just returned from doing mission work in Fiji. We also had packed up all our other belongings for storage in the hope that our house would sell while we were gone. So, we were emotionally and physically ready to be in England. But now we had to figure out how to obtain our visas so that we could return to The King’s Lodge.
We discovered that we had to go to Kansas City, a four-hour drive, to have our fingerprints scanned electronically at an Immigration Office. So, we made that drive and spent the night with good friends, staying up most of the night catching up and thus losing our third night of sleep in about 10 days. It was while on that drive that I remembered the recurring dream I had before we left for England the first time. It was the dream of being in college and realizing I had a final examination but had forgotten to go to class all semester long. I had shared it with Tara and laughed about it before we got on that fateful flight. Suddenly it dawned on me that God had been warning me we truly weren’t ready for our trip.
Meanwhile, we awaited new documentation from YWAM England so that we could apply for the appropriate paperwork. Receiving that paperwork on Wednesday morning of this week, I put together all the remaining documents I needed to send off a package to Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon. It involved everything from our passports to our marriage license and even our bank statements. And, each visa cost $432.00. For a family of five that means $2160.00! Unbelievably, and to the British government’s credit, after receiving all our paperwork yesterday, I received the email today saying that we would have our visas and passports as soon as UPS could get them back to us.
So, we have been on a topsy-turvy roller coaster ride of excitement, fatigue, disappointment, and travel education, but in the end everything seems to have worked out. It has meant the cost of five extra plane tickets and a delay for our work in England, but we have learned a life-long lesson on international travel. We also have spent time with our families and a few friends that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. I feel as though God sent us on this extra trip just so we could visit with our friends in Kansas City whom we hadn’t seen in years (as just one example of how God has been redeeming our time). Our return flights to England, this time through Germany, are scheduled for Valentine’s Day. We will finally arrive at The King’s Lodge on February 15th, nearly one month after we originally planned to be there.
God is infinitely faithful and we are so grateful that He is. We’ve spent more than five thousand unexpected dollars, but we know that God knew that long before we did. May He be glorified in and through our lives.