Getting there

We left for Swaziland on Mother's Day. Though that could've been hard, it was the best day for multiple reasons, mainly dealing with James and Dean's work schedules, and to maximize the time with the McAdams when they weren't hosting another team. We had worship with our church family that morning, then were blessed by their prayers for us and our sweet friend Rachel who was heading to Rwanda just after us. After running home and getting last minute items, we all arrived at the airport a couple of hours early for our flight. Though my goal had been to leave without our kids there to say goodbye in the airport, since I thought it would be more difficult, things just didn't work out that way. There was little drama, but it was painful for Elijah most of all, to say goodbye. The other kids hugged and were excited, but he was broken hearted and James had to carry him out sobbing. That was pretty tough, but once we were through the gates, Alli and I both could breathe a huge sigh of relief. We had no problems on the first leg to Atlanta, and then had such a brief time between boarding our next plane there, that we could barely get an iced coffee before taking off. We did meet a sweet Texan girl while waiting, who was a nanny in South Africa. First connection made!

I had a love/hate relationship with these informative screens.

Here is the little screen facing me shortly after leaving Atlanta. Ya'll, it was 15 HOURS of sitting, which is so-o-o long. Thankfully, it was already evening and we could sleep some. We were excited but also very tired from little sleep the night before, and were able to rest for several hours. Right on time, we arrived in Johannesburg.

So close!!

 

Our room at Airport Lodge

Amy and Steve had set up our hotel and driver to pick us up at the airport. We met Johan, an older "proper South African" gentleman who was kind and helpful getting us to our room for the night. We settled in, ordered takeout with help from the front desk "girlie" as Johan called her, and then paid to use internet. Electricity is a different current than here in the US, and so we had to use an adapter for Alli's laptop, and tried to call and Skype with our husbands and kids. It was a frustrating hour or so, and going on very little sleep, we were pretty delirious and goofy. Finally we at least let them know we were there and ok, but since I could not use my phone, we warned them we would probably have little regular contact if Amy's internet was down too. Little did we know... 

We slept reasonably well, and had a good breakfast the next morning. Another driver took us back to OR Tambo Airport for a quick one hour flight to Matsapha Airport. When we flew out of the city and saw the landscape change, and knew we were about to see our friends and those we loved, I really felt such joy and excitement. It was the moment we'd prayed for, for months and finally was almost here!