T = Travel Day is Here

This was the first morning I woke up and did not feel like being ill! I am going to believe it was from all the prayer coverage we have had since yesterday. I was actually awoken by an excited 11 year old finishing doing some last minute preparations for his time away from home.

As soon as I had everyone ready, I had Austin and Cassidy in the car. Ray said goodbye to the boys and then we headed off. I dropped Cassidy at Jake's house and had a quick chat and hugs goodbye with Tammy, before I headed to Bible Camp with Austin. This was a further 30 minute drive. It was nice, because when we arrived, his old camp counsellor was like: Austin, my man!

After this, I picked up Dane, took him for a haircut, picked up some last minute things, went to two banks to exchange our last $600 of donation money, and then home for last minute packing.

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Erin arrived at our house right before we were to leave and so we took her and all our bags and headed to the chiropractor. Three of us were seeing the chiropractor for a quick fix before hit the road.

The first 'oops' of the day was this.

What is this, you say? This would be a picture of the one thing that I forgot to pack. My laptop. It was left sitting on the driveway! Right beside my front wheel! Can you imagine if Ray had driven over it? Ray said, "Oh, you would have had no more blogging." And I said, "No, I would have had a new laptop." *grin* Thankfully, as you can see, we saw it just as we were backing out of the driveway!!

Once we got to the airport the fun began. We dragged our last suitcase, plus eight hand luggages, camcorder, dvd player, and camera case into the airport. As soon as we got in I found the boys weighing our hand luggage. Okay, so that was a good idea! Turns out my scales were slightly off. There is not a lot of room to move on a 15lb baggage allowance!

The bags were pretty tight to the allowance. But then I put one bag on and it hit 25 lb! WHAT?! I had definitely had my bags pretty close to the right amount. This panicked me and I took the bag aside and opened it up to see what could be in the bag. Trust me, I was suspicious.

And rightly so! *laugh* Right in the top of the bag was my one son's small laptop, 2 ipods, 1 cell phone (that doesn't even work. Huh?), cds, 3 pairs of sunglasses (how many eyes does he have?), extra clothes, and a flashlight.

Okay, so now we know where the extra 10lb came from. Those boys were told to stay away from the hand luggage. They knew how tight we were! Boys! Suffice it to say, I kept my back to the culprit and quietly unpacked the overloaded 10lbs and sent it packing back to my van.

But upon great disappointment from said son, I backed down on a few things and told him he would have to wear it in his little backpack. I sure hope we don't go over.

Me and my Big Little One

The Little Guys and Our Sweet Friend, Erin

I found out that yesterday the airport was on lockdown. Apparently, the bomb squad was called out for something and it was shut down from 10am - 8 pm!! Thankfully we missed this!

Later, they called us to the security to go through our bags. I had no idea that these small airlines would be so like the big airlines!! I had my hairspray. I was intending to throw it out in Vancouver, before we headed out to the airport. I had more packed in the checked luggage. But nope, they chucked it out for me.

Then, this very sober looking woman was searching through *all* another son's pockets - and we are talking about camo pants with about 14 pockets - She did not look amused! Well, wouldn't you know it. She found something. What did she find?? A knife. A swiss army knife. I looked at her, the knife and Dane, and told her I knew nothing about it! LOL! She said we were very lucky it hadn't happened in Vancouver.

I was so busy getting through this insane amount of security that it took the stress off leaving my little ones. They were doing fine. They were very interested in the airplane that they were going to watch takeoff.

When I flew away and saw my little boys standing at the wire waving their little arms high in the air, it make me cry.

I am not a emotional sort, but seeing those little boys standing there and watching them get smaller and smaller was kind of hard. I later learned that Briton stood there and said in a little voice, "Mummy, Daddy, Bye," as the plane began to take off. Erin figured it was like it sort of sank in that we were really going. Up to then it had been rather abstract. Yes, he would talk about his two sisters, by putting up his two fingers, but how much does a 3 year old really get?

I learned later, when I called from the hotel, that Briton got a little teary eyed at dinner. He said, "Mummy," and sat twisting his hair. That is something new that he does that shows his stress I think. He didn't take too long to cheer up. I have packed some little treats, so tonight when he goes to bed he will get a little set of animals to play with. Hopefully that takes his focus off the fact that he doesn't have us with him.

I should mention that Ray accidently put my hand luggage in the hold. So when I tell him this he tells me, "Enjoy the scenery," and promptly goes to sleep!! What did I do? ENJOY THE SCENERY! WHAT ELSE COULD I DO! That was my chance to FINALLY read! And yes, as I am writing this Ray is reading it over my shoulder. *laughing at him*

Flying Over Our Airport

Sharing Colt's IPOD

When we got into Vancouver, I had Dane stay on board the plane after everyone else left. We were flying on a Beechcraft airplane and that is the kind that Dane says he wants to fly. I suggested that he go and tell the pilot of his plans for the future and see if he could see the cockpit. The pilot was very obliging and you should have seen Dane beaming!

Future Pilot

When we arrived in Vancouver we had to find our other four bags. They had shipped them down that morning, free of charge. That took a while. While Ray was off doing that, I was waiting with Dane. I saw this adorable little black baby in a snugli with a caucasion lady, greeting a man. The man lifted the baby out of the snugli and lifted her high, before giving her the sweetest cuddle.

I threw 'protocol' to the wind and approached them. I had to ask. I thought about it for a minute. Was it possible that they were coming from Ethiopia? I knew *I* was heading out that way, so it made sense that they could be coming *from* there. So I asked them, "Is your baby from Ethiopia?" They very warmly greeted me and said, No, she was from Florida. I explained why I asked was because I was on my way to bring home our little girls from Ethiopia.

It turned out that this couple used our agency in Abbotsford and were checking out Imagine, our other agency, with the idea of adopting from Ethiopia or Zambia this fall. It was so cool to meet someone else who understood the process and was in love with the idea of adoption!

Waiting For Ray

Heading to the Airport Hotel

After we got to our hotel the boys headed to the fitness centre and I called the little boys and Ray ordered pizza. Then it was to bed by 10:30. We have a wake up call coming at 3:30 - at the airport by 5:00 am!! I hope they have plugs on the plane, so I can plug in and write!

(Goodnight, my big boy, Cassidy, and my little boys, Briton and Cooper!! I love you!! And Austin, even though you are at camp and can't read this, Mum loves you too!!)