The Longest Christmas Day Ever

A long Christmas day would normally be a good thing but this one will go down as the longest and most trying ever. Gail wrote a few days ago about the arrival of our children in Cambodia for a much anticipated 12 day visit. We spent several days at Sihanoukville beach resting and getting over jet lag. We then flew to HoChiMinh City, Vietnam to see the progress of the boat and enjoy this surprisingly clean and enjoyable city of twelve million people. As we waited to leave for the airport and short flight back to Cambodia, we received the e-mail that we feared might come some day while we are so far from home.
Gail’s father, Jim Mabery was tragically killed in an automobile accident on December 23rd while traveling to visit family in Tennessee. We caught the first flight available back to Arkansas to be with our family. I write this in the Los Angeles Airport at 6:00 pm on Christmas Day.
We woke up Christmas Day in Cambodia and traveled all day crossing the International Date Line sometime last night. When you cross the Date Line traveling east you start the previous day all over! That’s why it was such a long Christmas day.
Although the last few days have been challenging to say the least, we are holding up OK. Gail is very strong and we can only think of her Dad being at the throne of God singing loudly. I told Gail today that I bet he is “leading” the singing!! I will write more about this amazing man in the days to come.
Please pray for the Mabery family as we prepare to “celebrate” Jim’s life later this week.