Aww…..very tired. But we’re in PAP right now! Just one more day and we get to see Gigi, Miss Beth, and all our beautiful Mole people! We cannot wait! We’re one step closer.

There is a reason I ask for so many prayers when my family travels – it’s because of days like today! Without prayers – there’s no way we would be in PAP right now. It was just one of those days where nothing went right and yet here we are in Haiti!

Here is a run down of our traveling experience:

10) The alarm goes off at 3am instead of 3:30am. Once you’re up – you’re up. We were a little frustrated because the night was already so short.

9) New Circle Road closed the ramps going both ways to Lexington/Versailles Rd which is the road that takes us to the airport. We had planned on getting to the airport around 4:30 to start checking in for our 6am flight. This detour cost us about 20 minutes. Funny how we woke up 30 minutes early! We got there right at 4:30.

8. My parents showed up and helped us unload those 16 pieces of luggage. When we lined them up at the counter the girl checking us in said – “I’m sorry. NONE of your bags can go. Haiti has an embargo”.  So I had about 5 minutes of pure anxiety as I looked at our 5 coolers and 11 tubs. It ended August 24th. No worries.

7) All the children fell sleep on the flight to Dallas. It was a 2 hour flight. Somehow I got really bad motion sickness. I spent most of the time throwing up in the bathroom. The kindest stewardess you could meet brought me ice chips, ginger ale, and cold paper towels. I NEVER asked her for one thing. Having watched my trips to the bathroom – she just instinctively brought it to me.

6) We are in the process of potty training Gabriel. He ends up removing his diaper without us knowing and peed in his seat. We did not have a change of clothes. But we found a random pair of shorts packed in the diaper bag!

5) Our flight from Dallas had a 90 minute mechanical delay. We landed at 1:45 and the plane to Haiti was to leave at 2:10. We landed at D14. You had to walk from D14 to E10. Did I mention that the last gate for D was D60? There was just no way we were going to make it.  I had the bum ankle and we had 2 strollers, 2 roller bags, 2 backpacks, and a diaper bag! Jose and the girls started jogging while Momma Gigi and I were doing the best we could with the strollers. In trying to walk briskly – I had more pain in my ankle than the day I sprained it. There were no wheelchairs or carts to be found. With tears streaming down my cheeks –  we made it to the gate right in time. We sat on the plane and my ankle was nearly twice the size as it was the day before. But we made it. God gave me the strength to persevere through the pain.

4) After everyone is loaded up on the plane to Haiti – there is another mechanical problem. We are delayed ON THE PLANE for an hour. I was so frustrated we ran all that way for nothing. Yet as I look out the window – because of the delay – our bags are being loaded. Had the plane taken off on time – there is no way we would have had our bags.

3) We basically ran from gate to gate  which meant the kids were starving but there was no time for anything. Another church group coming to Haiti shared some snack food with my little mob.

2) Feeling like I could barely walk – a wheelchair was waiting for me at the PAP airport. Our bags were the first ones to come off the plane and within 20 minutes or so – we were on our way. That hardly ever happens. And we had ALL our luggage.

1) As I’m sitting in the PAP airport a young guy comes up to me and says, ” I don’t know if you realized it or not – but I have been flying with you since Lexington. I watched your little herd of people move from airport to airport, run just like I did to catch the plane, and never once did they complain. I just wanted to let you know how impressed I am. I have flown with a lot of children but none quite like yours. I just wanted to let you know what a special crew you have.”

You know after he left, I started thinking. We had every roadblock you could think of thrown at us today – and my kids went through every single punch and never missed a beat. They ran their little hearts out to catch the plane. I just knew Malaya would tell me she’s too tired and couldn’t do it. But she was ahead of all of us. Gabriel slept almost the entire day – that in itself gave us a quieter trip. The twins slept some on every plane.

I was sitting in the hotel room tonight thinking that today was one of the worst travel days we’ve ever have – and in many ways it was. But God had us taken care of every step of the way. No doubt due to the many prayers. I can only imagine what the day would have been like without them.

Tomorrow we will head out at 7am to start getting things ready for the tent city giveaway. We hope to start giving everything out around 9:30-10am. Please be in prayer.