Flying across the U. S. of A.

We're getting closer!! Packed til I dropped at 2:30 this morning, then Gabe woke me up with sweet kisses on my cheeks at 5 AM. We're so excited and hard to believe we're finally going to AFRICA to meet two precious little people!!! Sometimes it seems as if we're living in a dream... Could this be happening? OH, how GOD is so good and ever so kind to give us this opportunity!

Phil and his sweet Mom and Dad came to pick us up and drove the 3 of us to the SAC airport. We were hoping for bulkhead or emergency door seating (extra leg room for the 3 of us with our long legs, especially Phil's (he's 6'7"). Alas, it was not to be... We were told the new policy includes having to pay extra for those 5 extra inches. It turned out that those seats remained empty the entire flight. I'm going to begin to pray that tomorrow's flight with Ethiopian Airlines will be different and they will let the early birds (and/or the tall ones), have a chance at roomier seats without too steep a fee (especially for our 13 hour flight). Didn't get to sit with Phil this leg... We'll have to arrange something tomorrow...

When we got on the plane, Gabe and I looked at eachother and were amazed that we were finally on the plane and going! But then we were too tired to talk, so eye-patched it and disappeared into another realm for a couple of hours. This may sound strange to some, but I must say, it was quite nice to sit for five hours and r e s t, read a little, write a little and r e s t some more : ).

At one point when the plane lurched, and my heart began to beat just a bit faster, it was a great time to remind myself that we were in the hands of our Father, the Creator of the universe! We have no cause to fear or not trust Him. He's never given us reason to. In fact the opposite is true... When it is our time to go, it will be so and not a moment before. We'll trust His timing... A sweet calm washed over me while I thought about God's sovereignty and I was at peace. Such thoughts go through my head at times when I'm at the complete mercy of a pilot whom I've never met and his plane is lurching hither and yonder... : ).

We arrived in Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. at 4:16 and were shuttled to the gorgeous Embassy Suites, complete with live swans (!) and complimentary appetizers. What an incredible beginning to this trip and again, how good is our God!!