Storytime

So I realize that my first posting from here in SA wasn't as detailed as some of you would like. So I need to tell the whole story of how we got here and then update all of you on what's been going on. If you don't have much time, come back later.

Em and I flew out of Kansas City into Orlando and spent about two and a half days with Todd's folks. I use the term "with" to mean that I took over their living room, dining room, kitchen and guest bedroom. We had all of our things laid out and I meticulously packed recent purchases, Christmas gifts and the like. Todd, in all of his wonderful mercy, burst a few blood vessels hauling each bag no less than a dozen times to the scale so that each would be appropriately weighing the maximum weight of 50 lbs and never complained once. We also packed our maximum carry-on bags, and for those of you who know me, the four small bags were were allowed on with us (not to mention getting around the checked bag limit with her carseat) came to about 100 lbs. Todd teased me about this, until we arrived without the bags, and was very grateful for for my OCD about carry-on packing of extra everything we could need for a week.

Our departure was a fiasco (in true Nazarene fashion) with a caravan of cars at 3:30am for the Orlando airport. We made it through security with all those bags (which had liquids, baby food, laptop, digital camera's, and video camera... all of which needed their own grey tub at airport security) without any problems. We arrived at the gate, got on and then promptly sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes because of fog in Atlanta. That delay made our connection time of an hour shrink to (kid you not) 21 minutes. For those of you who have never been to Atlanta, thank the Lord above. The AC was broken and we had 100 lbs of carry-ons, the baby, and the car seat. To say we were a spectacle would be a GROSS understatement! But, we made the connection and the flight attendant checked the car seat straight through to SA so we wouldn't have to deal with it again.

We landed in Washington/Dulles with about five hours to spare. So, we ate, went to the restroom, and just puttered around until someone came up to the South African Air desk so that he could print our final boarding pass (they couldn't do it on Delta because it was a different airline... or something like that). The not-so-nice man at the desk then informed us that we (and all of our carry-ons, minus the carseat) would be required to go back through security to the front desk because we only had a one-way ticket (apparently, only terrorist and non-quality folks get one-way tickets- and we were in that group). So we figured, we hadn't had any issue in Orlando, this should be cake. We then walked the 1/3 mile underground to the main desk where we met another not-very-nice young man who gave us our boarding passes and informed us that the bassinet that we reserved for Em was no longer available and that she was over the weight limit anyways. Now, I had asked several times if there was a weight limit and was assured that my daughter would be fine. So needless to say, the thought of holding a 17 lb squirming child for 18 hours didn't thrill me, but what's one set back? Everything had gone so well so far. The man highlighted some things on our boarding passes and we went to security. Then, we found out that the highlighting was actually a security something and we got the STAR treatment. Each of us had our own personal security checker who frisked us (Todd, me AND Em) and then proceeded to open and undo all (literally, ALL) our checked bags. Each jar of baby food, which was specifically bought because of the individual plastic sealing) had to be opened and tested for drugs. Em was tested. Todd's underpants were tested. Each part of each of the cameras was tested... and on and on. Now Reap (Todd's guy) and McClure (my guy) took their jobs extremely seriously, so any of you out there who wonder about our national security, rest assured that Reap and McClure are on the job!

So we have all our 100 lbs laid out on the security tables, and low and behold, we're not drug traffickers or anything else they were looking for so I had the task of repacking all those bags. Surprisingly enough, Todd and I were joking and teasing through the whole thing. We found the ordeal rather amusing and then walked the extremely long walk back to the gate. There, we again went into the restroom and discovered that our daughter loves all forms of water in every type of dispenser, so we let her play until the water started getting hot.



We then loaded onto the plane and all was basically well. There was a good tailwind and we arrived into town much sooner than we were supposed to. The bags didn't arrive, but the hassle with the carry-ons made me feel more than slightly vindicated. Customs was a breeze (we only had a few small bags!) and the airline supplied us with money for purchasing items for the days our bags were gone. They have since arrived and are in the process of being unpacked. The crate should be here by the end of next week and I'm looking forward to going to the Mr. Price Home (think Ikea/Target/Pier One and you have my new-found sanctuary... there's something about clean stores that are well lit with pretty things to look at that just makes you breath more deeply). We are loving the house and are meeting lots of neighbors. This community seems wonderful and the missionary kids (MKs) who are two doors up are already big sister/cousins for Em, and she loves the attention. She got back on her regular sleep schedule two nights ago and Todd and I are so thankful for that. I don't know how anyone is able to function when their kids don't sleep through the night... maybe I just won't have a next one, just in case... ;) Anyways, as soon as the computer gets Microsoft Office, I'll be sending out a newsletter with everything, but for now, here are a few pictures of Em's favorite new toy- the wrapping on the gift basket when we arrived, and her first bath here.