We started on Monday morning with a last sausage biscuit and my mom showing up to give the kiddos a bath before the long journey. *Blessing 1*
We got all that done, said bye to Meredith and headed through security. *Blessing 4* (you weren't expecting a blessing associated with security, were you?!?!) The TSA agents could not have been nicer or more helpful! --I've NEVER said that before!-- They were friendly and easy going and very helpful! Even through my "random" pat down! As we got through security, we headed to our gate, only to find out that the plane was running 45 minutes late. Our gate was in between a Jim N Nick's BBQ and a playground! Are you kidding me? *Blessing 5* A final pork sandwich for me and Brad, and a play area for Lucy! It was the perfect delay! *Blessing 6* My friend Jeremi showed up at the airport once we were through security. I was sad to not get to hug her again, but so blessed by her thinking of me and wanted to love on me again! She brought me a book - passed along through another very nice TSA agent!
That figure in pink back there is my sweet friend Jeremi. We were texting each other since we were on opposite sides of security.
I don't honestly remember much about the first flight besides Lucy and Will both slept a little. It was shorter than all the rest...but what I do remember is the Houston airport. When we got off the plane, I knew Will needed a diaper change. I went into the regular Women's bathroom, but there wasn't a changing table. Hmm. As I was walking out, a lady who was washing her hands said, "There's a nursery down the hallway." I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but I set out to find this. I figured it was like a family bathroom. *Blessing 7* The nursery room. WOW. It was a dimly lit room with 4 cribs and 4 rocking chairs, a bathroom, and a changing table! It was awesome! No one else was in there, so I called Brad and Lucy into the room with us and we proceeded to hang out there for the next hour! We met an Arab couple and their baby. Cool. And then we headed out to our gate.
A glimpse at the blessings from Aunt Emily... stay tuned for another post about this one!
*Blessing 8* When we walked up to the Lufthansa gate, it was packed! As we were looking for some seats, a Luft worker came up to me and asked for our boarding passes. I gave them to her and she walked back up to the desk. Hmmm. So I followed her and asked her what was up. She said that she was checking us in - we are considered a "Special Help" family because of the small kiddos. SCORE. And she switched our seats from row 77 (it was a 90+ row airplane!) to row 54 - which turned out to be the 2nd row in the Economy section. And we got to board earlier than the rest of the crowd - which was a huge crowd! She sought me out... Someone's hand was at work!
Enthralled already!
Lucy is easy on a plane. The little personal TV screen at each seat makes her as happy as can be! She got her headphones and was set! Will, praise the Lord, is also easy on a plane! He was fed and changed and ready for some sleeping - which he proceeded to do for about 90% of the plane ride! *Blessings 9 & 10* A couple next to us actually remarked that they'd never seen such well-behaved kiddos on a plane! YAY! Thank you, Jesus! And thank you everyone who was pouring out your prayers over us! The row behind us was completely empty, so after the dinner service, I set Lucy up to spread out and I moved behind her and took up 2 seats myself! *Blessing 11* Brad slept a lot on this flight. I slept about 2 hours, maybe. But I was feeling good!
Look at those tired eyes!
---Now, the Frankfurt airport was just about the only negative experience we had. And that is only because it's GINORMOUS! We had to walk from gate B28 to gate C16. There's no tram and very few moving sidewalks. And Lucy had been asleep when the plane landed, so Brad carried her about halfway - she's 39 lbs these days - and I'm pushing Will in the stroller with the carry-ons hanging on it and pulling the rolling carry-on bag and Lucy, of course, had to go potty so she's holding herself and whining... I'm sure we were a sight! And we only had 1.5 hours to make our connection... Anyway. We made it. Praise the Lord!---
You could see the attendants eyes get bigger as we rolled up to the gate! *Blessing 12* But in true God's grace fashion, they, too, allowed us to go ahead and check in and then even let us get onto the plane FIRST! What a blessing to get on and get settled! This plane was much smaller. We were just about in the very back of the plane, but that was just fine with us! We had no rush this time.
She loves to trace her hand. Somehow, she always ends up with only 4 fingers...but still, it's cute.
This 6 hour flight seemed longer to me than the 9+ hour flight did. Maybe because there were fewer movie/TV selections and Lucy kept getting upset when a cartoon she'd already seen came on. Yes, she's a snob, I guess.
So. We landed. Yay! That's a blessing in itself! When we landed in our country, I said to Lucy, "Lucy, We're home!" and she said, "WOOHOO!" It was precious! *Blessing 13* We went inside, bought our tourist visas - which we'll have until the business is set up - and stood in line to get stamped into the country. By the time we finished all this and got through to the luggage area, all our bags - ALL 13 of our bags - were there waiting for us! *Blessing 14* We rounded up 4 porters(!) and headed out to meet our friends who picked us up *Blessing 15* and got loaded up in ours and their car and arrived back at their apartment around 10:45 pm - which would be 1:45 pm CST.
All around, it was a great day, full of blessings and God's grace and favor! I'm going to do another post about the fun surprises that my sister, sweet Aunt Emily, made for Lucy bug! TOO cute! *Blessings!!!*
Lucy, the next morning. We'd been up since 3:45ish AM.
But look at that beautiful view!
I love the smiling pics of Will in his carseat! I am so happy your travel experience was so easy! Hopefully the worst of jetlag is over soon too. And I'm especially happy for you to be back home!
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