We made it to SC!!  What trip with the Hetzels would be complete without a little drama?

On the plane, I sat on the aisle with Brynn in my lap, the girls sat behind me, and Blake and Ed sat behind them. Across the aisle from me was a man in his 50’s (sitting by the window) and his middle-school aged son. The plane flight was going smoothly until we landed and at that point, I look over to the dad across the aisle and I notice that not only were his eyes closed, his head was hanging down and was very limp. I watched his son try to get his attention and the dad didn’t respond. At this point, the son and I both at the same time realize and voice that something is wrong. The boy alerts his mom who is sitting ahead of him, and she tries to get her husband’s attention. It took a few minutes but he finally opened his eyes and looked up, even though he didn’t lock eyes with her. Then, he locked eyes with her an then a minute after that, he was able to respond. When she asked him what had happened, he said “I don’t remember anything.” He said he was having a few chest pains, so we aren’t sure if it was a heart attack or fainting episode, but the EMTs met us at the plane and took him to the hospital to get checked out. Even when we were leaving, you could tell that he wasn’t back in his right mind. It was super, super scary watching someone not respond and having a medical episode. Crazy! The flight was so eventful that sweet Blake feel asleep on the drive home.

We have spent the week visiting/presenting/giving updates to churches and individuals who partner with our ministry, having appointments with potential new partners, seeing family, spending a few days with my parents at a campground in Myrtle Beach on vacation, and time enjoying doing and eating things that we only get to experience in the South. It has taken some adjusting to getting used to traveling by car again (Blake asked one night when we got back into the car “How many stops until we are there?”) and riding in car seats and we have really struggled with seeing so many people who look like us….we miss that about NYC….but overall, it has been a smooth transition and our kids are loving having space to run and be loud. Rather than walk through each picture, I am just going to post a ton of them and let you experience some of our week through pictures.

And then today, Ed got to cash in on his Father’s Day present from us and his parents – a voucher to go skydiving. Ed loves crazy, high, adrenaline-filled things (he is a 7 on the Enneagram if that tells you anything!) and so when we had a chance to get him something like this, we jumped on it. Needless to say, he was thrilled, loved the entire thing, and can’t wait to do it again. I will watch him every time but you will NEVER get me up there. Crazy man.

Please continue to pray for our trip here in SC and NC. We are trusting the Lord to get our ministry partner team back to 100% before we return and we have complete faith that God can do it – will you pray this with us too?