Dear Blog Readers,
  I haven't forgotten about you.  My grandpa died October 17th.  I had known that the end was coming for some time before and had thought through the possibility of flying home for the funeral, but it was difficult to know when to purchase the tickets as I didn't know when the memorial service would be held.  Also, round-trip tickets are pretty spend-y travelling the distance that I would be & with the late notice, so I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't work out.
 I used a housemate's phone to call Grandpa & tell him goodbye.  He was unresponsive, but I was so thankful to be able to have the ability to call him and thank him again for all that he did for me & to tell him once again that I love him.
 Several days later, I received the news that he passed away.  As much as I am going to miss him, I am thankful that he is not suffering any more.
  I had already reconciled myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to be there, so my uncle & I discussed the possibility of me "being there" over Skype.  I was excited about that option.
  Then my mom contacted me asking me if I wanted to fly there for the funeral...the door was swung open again.  After talking to another uncle of mine, he decided to use air miles to help me get there, which meant I only had to buy the round-trip ticket from Davao to Manila & back again, equaling about $120 - totally something I could do!
  Tickets were purchased and I began the preparations for leaving.  I arrived at the airport at 4am on Friday morning & flew out 2 hours later. This started my approximate 35 hours of travel there.  Due to the time change, I arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah around 10 pm on Friday night.
  The memorial took place Saturday.  Though there were many tears shed, it was also a beautiful time of sharing memories that we all had with such an honorable, amazing man. I am honored to be able to call him Grandpa.
  The next two days, I spent with the family and had a lot of really good conversations & fun times. Gonna miss ya'll!
  Tuesday morning, another uncle drove me to the airport.  Our flights were only 20 minutes apart, so we got to hang out together by my gate, since I left first, and talk.  That sure helped the time pass faster!
  Due to the time change, Wednesday was skipped and I arrived in Davao at 5:25 am on Thursday morning.  Thankfully, I slept almost all day/night...I needed it after the total of 8 flights & 70 hours of travel in 6 days!  It was so worth it and once again God proved Himself faithful of keeping me going despite the lack of sleep!

 (if you hear me refer to my mini-trip, this is the one I am referring to) :-)