POST by LIZ: Cruising California

As Jed cruised along in the sorbet lime coloured Mazda, I madly wove through the traffic desperately  trying to keep up. My eyes refused to look back at the possible pile up I was causing; my main focus was not to lose sight of my lead-foot husband – coz, heaven-forbid another repeat of yesterday’s car following disaster, but that’s in the past and Jed said all was forgiven!

Our stressfree, “we’ll have stacks of time if we leave at 8am” turned into a mad dash out of the door at a quarter-to-10, suitcases thrown into the cars and a couple of wheel spins as we headed to the airport.

Prior to this grand salida, I had been woken up by what seemed like angels singing at 5:30am – “waaaaaaaay too early, Francesca,” I thought, as I sent the ‘angels’ flying through the sky, like I was in an Olympic Javelin Competition,  across the Church's nursery floor that we were kipping on.

The next “snooze” button went off again at 7am, “Jed, it’s 7am...” 

“ZZzzzz mmmm... no! We don’t have to leave till 9 Liz – sleeeeep...”

“Nine?? That is not what we planned...” but his loud snores drowned out my argument. Okay, whatever, I was tired and needed a few more winks of slumber.  I’d only had three hours sleep due to the many events that occurred the night before: We’d had a great day at Venice Beach, I was doing a marvellous job at tracking Jed, until we turned off the six laned highway, then realised that the car three vehicles ahead that I had been following for the past two miles was indeed, not Jed...

Nightmare!

All I will say about that is, thank God for Starbucks wifi, facebook friends, and smartphones with GPS’.  

We returned a lot later than expected to be greeted by smiles and pizza, a private dance performance – (this sounds weird.. but Jed’s updates will explain more), and Yader’s reunion with his tia and tio (aunty and unle… They hadn’t seen each other for nine years! – so it was very emotional for all). But meant that my ‘requires at least three hours’ packing was delayed until 1am.

So, sleep we did for an extra hour.

The Angels sang again but this time they did not fly. “Okay, it’s time to get moving!” and that is when it all started to go wrong.

Blurry eyed Jonny and Eric made their way to the bathroom, but on the way there, Jonny realised his cap was missing... he searched through the bags and surrounding area, but no green DC baseball cap could be seen.

Like a grizzly bear who had just had its cub taken from her; he roared into action; slamming his fists on the floor, doors and tables.  Jed quickly chased him outside and told him that his behaviour was out of control, and I could hear the ‘Growing-Kids-God’s-Way’ training method of ‘What to do when your toddler throws a fit’ – kicking in.

Meanwhile, Yordy, who had been awoken by the “bear”, saw his broken zipped backpack lying empty on the table and his eyes turned red.  “Where’s my stuff? He howled in Spanish.  I quickly attempted to explain that last night his backpack zipper popped off and I put his clothes and other items into the blue Nike backpack. 

I waved the backpack in the air with a forced smile, trying to lift the mood, but his eyes just narrowed, and his nose snorted gruffly.  It was like I was waving a red cape at a bull the way he charged at the bag. He tore it open and allowed the neatly rolled items to tumble carelessly to the floor.

As I watched my hard work be mistreated,  I knew that “now was not a good time to address the issue” with Yordy. I had seen those ‘eyes and flared nostrils’ before.   The last couple of time we had ‘addressed the issue’ my car received two major beatings and Jed almost had a knife in his chest. 

Yes, now was not the right time to address this attitude, so I simply turned and allowed the stamping bull to struggle with the broken zipper, as I prayed a silent prayer of wisdom and peace to this final day in the USA.

So, here I was, in the car packed full with suitcases and pillows. We arrived in record time at LAX airport.  Eric, Beycker and Jonny pulled the luggage from the car and dragged it to a spot. 

Jonny had a flight to catch – long story short, he has a BBoy Competition in Wisconsin, so he will be remaining in the US for his tournament, and then touring with Churches with Jed and Rafael.

We left Beycker and Eric guarding the bags, Jed and Jonny took the Mazda and I followed in my car.   As I followed Jed, a pushy white van blocked my view. “It’s okay Liz, just stay focussed” I encouraged myself, but in focussing on telling myself to focus, I missed Jed’s signal to the left and whizzed right on past. 

Not again!  I thought to myself as I realised my mistake, but the airport traffic urged me forward. Now if any of you know LAX, it’s a pretty big airport – there are literally hundreds of airlines and several terminals, so a quick miss like this cost me!  

I circled the site and pulled into what I thought was the same parking lot, but it was too late, Jed was nowhere to be seen because I was at the wrong carpark.  Not to panic, just park and get into the airport.  There’s no rush on my part, it’s just Jonny who needs to get there, wherever ‘there’ was.

I didn’t even know which terminal parking lot I was in.  Geez, why can’t I be a savvy driver?

As I pulled into a parking space, mad at myself for losing Jed for a second time within 24 hours, yet glad that Jonny was in Jed’s hands and would still make his flight regardless of my blunder, I suddenly felt the blood drain from my body... perched in the passenger’s seat was Jed’s black bag with Jonny’s ticket and passport!!!!

Skates on, I grabbed my phone (thank God I say again for smartphones!) and within seconds the electronic ticket confirmation displayed that Jonny’s US Airways flight was leaving within 35 minutes. “CRAAAAAP!!!” I pegged it through the carpark and down the stairs. 

WAIT! I need to know where I’ve just parked. I skipped steps as I rocketed my way back up the concrete steps to get a good look at my parking spot. “Terminal two 4E, Terminal two 4E, Terminal two 4E!!!” I chanted as I made my way back down the stairs and to Terminal One, which hosted US Airways.

I was impressed with my sprint. But when I arrived, no Jonny, nor Jed could be seen.  I checked to see if he had checked in, but “nope” was the reply. 

I remembered that Jed had Fran’s phone that Carl from New Life Community Church had lent to her.  Quickly I dialled the number, but lo and behold Virgin informed me that the minutes had been all used up.  Grrrrr,...great timing!  But hope was not lost, I remembered WIFI and skype was my newly beloved provider.

It rang and rang, then did this weird double ring echo and then Jed answered...”What...Liz... ah...” CLICK Okay, so it wasn’t the best phone call a husband and wife could of had, but he knew I was at the right spot at least. 

The check-in-chick, who had been using my dramas as a cheap replacement for her dearly missed soap operas, piped up, “Ya know honey, you can always check in for him if you have the confirmation code.”

Ahhh, there’s some brownie points coming my way.. YES, I have the confirmation code, I have the passport, coz I have Jed’s black bag!

 

My fingers touched the self-check-in screen like an expert. As the boarding cards printed I felt satisfied with my recovery, however I started to wonder what was holding Jed and Jonny up.  Suddenly I realised... I have the confirmation code, I have the passport, I have HIS bag!  I have it... and he doesn’t know.

Jonny busting a move in the airport

Back to skype my chubby fingers travelled. Ring-ring, double ring.. “Liz?” 

“Yep, I have your bag!!”

“GRRRRR”  CLICK.

I waited and waited, with every second passing I wished they’d hurry.  Suddenly Jed appeared frustrated and flustered.  We still had to make two more runs to the airport and time was ticking.  “C’mon,” he growled.. and headed for the exit.

“Wait, where’s Jonny?”  I quizzed, He stopped in mid air.  “Didn’t you put him on the flight?” he retorted.

“hmmm, no, I thought he was with you..”

Without conversation Jed took off at top speed, it was just like trying to follow him while driving! 

“JONNY” he yelled like a madman as he stormed through the crowds.  I could see the security guards grabbing their walkie-talkies and making a bee line for us.     

We found Jonny waiting at the curbside where Jed had dropped him off.

Jonny, a BBOY Pro!

“Rapido” and within seconds we were back inside at the screening point.  We threw passports and tickets at him and fumbled through in childlike Spanish the how-to board an airplane instructions to Jonny. 

“Have fun” I yelled as Jonny bound up the stairs towards the screening point.  He turned and gave us a shrug; indicating his lack of knowledge on what to do next.

Jed and I both pointed to the left, he obeyed, he showed the security lady his boarding ticket and she sent him in the opposite direction.  He turned and looked at us like a kid starting his first day in kindergarten.  He was scared, unsure, and wanted us to be with him.  We stared back, longing to scoop him up and just take charge, but the grey haired security officer and black roped area clearly stated we were not permitted past that point. 

We shrugged and agreed with the lady’s commands to head right and that was it, he nodded his head in obedience and disappeared. 

We stood for a second in silence. Both wondering silently how this would turn out. But the loud ticking of time urged us forward.  Jed started to walk, then looked back in the direction of the screening, “We need to...” then he stopped, knowing it was out of our hands. 

Jonny, through God there is purpose for his life...

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POST by FRAN: Playing en la Playa

Setting up for our first night in the WILD...

Everybody love the beach, right? I know I do! My friend’s parents own a beach house on a beach called ‘Playa Hermosa’ (witch means beautiful beach). They kindly let us go and use their house on the beachfront for a few days. Playa Hermosa is about an hour's drive away from our house.

A lot of people we know own houses on that beach, but they only go there for holidays. So we always get the whole beach to our selves. This time nobody was there except three couples that stayed in a resort just off of the beach and we only saw them like twice. But other than them, we had the beach all to our selves!

We left for the beach on Saturday at 3pmish. It was a squished ride. We had all the luggage neatly thrown in the boot and then Lucky, Anna, Yordy and I were in the back seat with our heads banging up against the roof! In the middle seat was Mum, Lorenzy, Billy, Granny, Eliezer. And in the front were Dad, Grandad, Sezni, and Rafi.

Girls being girls: Liz, Fran, Renz, & our newest recruit, ANNA!!!

We were squished into an eight-seater car with a dog! We were all excited about the beach, we just weren’t that excited about the drive to get there!

We were about a third of the way there when Mum says, “WOW, the dog is doing better than I thought!” She spoke too soon! Just after she had said that the dog vomited all over her back! It’s bad luck sitting in front of a dog that hasn’t traveled before! Mum didn’t say much after we got the toilet paper and wiped off the dog vomit.

We got to a little village that was twenty minutes away from the beach and Mum said, “We need rice and matches and plastic plates!” So Dad stopped at a venta (a shop that is built in to someone's house). Lorenzy and Eliezer jumped out and asked if the lady in the venta had rice, matches and plates.

“Dad I want to run to the beach!” Sezni yelled at the top of his voice. “Me too” said Rafi like a little mouse. “Go ahead! You turn right at the end of the street” Dad explained to the both of them. “So this is right?” Rafi held up his left hand, “and this is left?” pulling up his right hand. “No, the other way around!” said Dad, not really explaining it properly to them.

Lunch, with Franny Brien

“I got it Dad!” Sezni replied, as he started running off with Rafi following shortly behind.

Five minutes later Lorenzy and Eliezer got back in the car with three match boxes, ten pounds of rice and three bags of plastic plates. Dad started driving, “Let’s catch up to those boys.” We turned right and then went on. “Where are they?” asked Grandad. “They wouldn’t have come this far!” said Mum. “Go back! We missed them!” Mum started panicking.

We turned around and went back to where we started, “Have you seen two little boys?” asked Dad. “No,” was the reply. “Let’s go left just in case.” Dad said. “You’re driving!” said mum. We went left and asked two girls if they had seen them, “Oh they are two little white boys? Yeah they ran down there.” “Thanks!” We got to the end of the road, which forked off into four ways, we went straight.

Lorenzy, Eliezer, Lucky and I got out to look for them, “SEZNI...RAFI!?”

After looking for ten minutes Sezni and Rafi came out from the overgrowth crying. “We got lost,” Sezni explained as he climbed into the car. “Did you guys follow my instructions?” asked Dad, wondering why they had gone wrong. “We went this right (putting up his left hand and then we forgot the rest so we just kept going! sob, sniffle, sob” explained Rafi.

Fran & Billy in a tide pool

We got back on track and every one was silent for a while... nobody had anything to talk about. We were all squashed into our car. We were all hot, “Can you turn on the AC?” complainingly asked  Lorenzy. The windows were rolled up and Sezni pushed the AC button. The AC made everyone much happier.

We got to the beach and in total it took us an hour and a half, but when we got there we didn’t care about the long prison ride in the car, we went to the water and just played and had a really happy afternoon.

We forgot to get gas so we cooked over a little fire that took us ten minutes to start. We ate hot dogs with onions! The first day at Playa Hermosa was probably the best. We went to bed at nine thirty, we thought it was like eleven or something, we were all so tired!

The next day I woke up at nine, Yordy had his music on and was practicing tricking with Sezni and Rafi on the sand by the beach house. Mum and Dad were sleeping, so was Anna and Lorenzy upstairs. Eliezer had gone for a walk with Billy.

Franny & Yordy enjoying the rock pools with Lucky

I went into the kitchen and got something to eat, cerial. Anna came downstairs and grabbed some too. After breakfast I got my swimsuit on and went and sat on the sand looking out at the beautiful ocean. Mum eventually woke up and came and sat with me, then came Anna, followed by Lorenzy.

Mum did a little devotion and after the devotion we went and ate more breakfast! Once we were all full we all got ready to go to the pools by the big rocks, thats when we realised that we didn’t bring any sun cream! Oh well. We hit the beach without it, besides my quinse is coming up and I need to get rid of my bad tan lines!

Fran, Yordy & Billy, enjoying the freedom of being at the Beach

The water was so nice and refreshing, but the sun was so hot and we were so vulnerable! The first full day at the beach was so nice - I had friends and family with me enjoying the entire day!

We dug holes and buried people in them so that you can only see their head! We climbed rocks and looked out on the ocean. We looked where the sky met the water. I drew a little and we just had a lot of fun!

Renz, Anna, Yordy, Fran & Sez on the rocks (with Lucky of course)

In the night we made another fire, this time a lot bigger and closer to the water. We roasted marshmellows to flames! We went on a walk and went for a swim for two minutes (we got scared)! We took a few silly pictures and did silly poses. We listened to music, it was so much fun!

We walked up the beach and realised that every step we took there would be some glowy stuff that would glow and then disapear. We decided to run back to make it look like the glowy stuff was chasing us. And when we got back to the fire we all laid down and looked up at the sky, it was a moonless night, filled with stars!

“Wow it is beautiful!” We all eventually said these words out loud. I spotted a shooting star and that’s when I finally said these words, "Nights like these are the ones I appreciate the most, when you're with your friends and family and eternity!"