Ethiopia trip, day 1

Saturday, January 29,

I am sitting in the London airport waiting on our last flight that will take us to Ethiopia. It feels like we have been traveling for days, even though our first plane left last night. We dropped the boys off at Aaron's mom's house, and they immediately hit the toys and hardly blinked when we said goodbye. Micah did tell me earlier this week, that he didn't sleep one night because he was so excited for us to leave! Which I am so thankful for. What a blessing and comfort to know they are so fine! :)

Our flight from Omaha to Chicago was a bit late, and we already had a pretty short time in between our flights. So that equaled RUNNING, each of us with a carry-on and personal bag, and making it with 30 seconds to spare. So thankful to have Aaron on this trip! He is such a seasoned traveler, and knows when we need to hurry and where we need to go. There is no way we would have made that flight if we had walked, so it was definitely worth the embarrassment of trying to run with my huge bag and carry-on. The flight from Chicago to London was 7 hours, and we were both able to sleep a little. Although it felt like I didn't sleep at all. Then when we arrived here we had 9 hours until our next flight. We got a bite to eat, freshened up, found a place to store our carry-ons, exchanged some money, and hit the town! Again, thanks to Aaron for figuring all of that out, and for not getting us lost. I sort of just wanted to find our gate and hang out, but it ended up being a good idea to get some fresh air and walk. London was COLD and cloudy, but also beautiful. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. Really, most of the buildings are so beautiful, I felt like all of them must be something important! We walked around for about 2 hours and it took about an hour each way to and from the airport, so we had just enough time to get checked in and eat dinner. Of course we had to try fish and chips! Who knows how good they really were, but we were totally impressed and chowed down.

When we checked in with Ethiopian Airlines, we discovered they have a rule about carry-ons we didn't know about. Your carry-on can only be 7 kg, and if it weighs more than that you have to pay 10 pounds/per kg over. Aaron packed EVERYTHING in his carry-on so we could use our checked bags for donation items, so his was way over. Thankfully, we were able to talk to the manager who waived that fee for us. Thank you Lord for that!

So that brings us to right now. This flight leaves in about an hour and is another 8 hours to Ethiopia. We will get there around 7:00am, and hopefully our driver will be there and take us to our guest house. I am so thankful for how the Lord has protected us, allowed us to make our flights, and provided for us so far. Aaron reminded me on the way to dropping the boys off, that this trip is ultimately about Him. About what He wants to do in us, and we need to be open and available to Him.