Safely Home from Our First Term

Didn't get many of these types of pics - too busy, but here's one of Josh packing - he's SO good at it! :)

Josh wrote this letter after we got home and sent it to our coworkers.  Thought you might like to read it too.

Hey Team,

Just wanted to write and let you know (officially) that we did arrive home safely and about how our trip went.  The first day we flew from (our town) to a big city (the capitol) and then on to another Asian country.  Our 12 PM flight out of our home city was about an hour and a half late (as expected) but still reasonable to connect with our 5 PM to another Asian country. 

Kids patiently waiting for Josh to get the arrangements made at the counter.

You can see Josh at the front of the line (blue shirt).

Once we arrived in the capitol there was some kind of a delay with getting our bags - it seemed to take forever (maybe a half hour).  By this time we were running out of time.  I didn't want to wait for the transit bus or haul all 4 kids, 9 carry-ons, and 10 suitcases onto it.  So, I rented two vehicles sort of like minivans from a taxi company to take us there - a high price to pay for a 5 minute taxi ride but worth it to not miss our flight.

We finally arrived at the International terminal at about 3:50 so just over an hour to catch our flight.  We stood in line at the security checkpoint for about 20 minutes biting our nails.  We finally made it to the check in counter (I don't remember what time because everything was starting to blur at that point).  There was only one person in line so that was GREAT!  It was finally our turn and the attendant had the great joy of checking all six of us in along with all our bags all the way to Milwaukee.  Fortunately he was very helpful and kind because we were overwhelmed with juggling 6 passports, filling out 10 luggage tags, getting 18 boarding passes, filling out 6 immigration cards, paying the airport tax (...what, it's 150.000 per person now?  It used to be 100.000!  After scrounging together all our local money we had exactly 900.000 with only a few small bills to spare, phew!!!), getting our exit tax exemption, and trying to keep track of the kids who were playing with the line ropes, etc.  The exit tax exemption letter from (paperwork guy) worked like a charm.  I was in and out in a few minutes.  They took the extra copy that I had along for their records.  Now it was time to make a dash for the gate as it was almost 5 PM.  Oh sick, still have to go through immigration - everything was in order but we still hadn't finished filling out all the immigration cards so we did that as quickly as possible and were on our way.  We took off for the gate as fast as we could go.  The kids were half walking half jogging.  I don't know how far it was but it was NOT VERY CLOSE!  We walked as fast as we could for about 10 minutes.  Towards the end Josie was trailing behind with Katrina in the stroller and Julia was starting to cry as her backpack was getting too heavy.  I kept pushing ahead with the kids that were with me because I figured if I got there ahead of Josie and they were closing the gate and I told them that our whole family was coming then we could still get on (these are the times when seconds count and long legs come in really handy :-).  I finally made it to the gate and there were OTHER PEOPLE IN LINE!  That was the happiest I had been all day to see a line.  Josie arrived shortly after and we all caught our breath and tried to get a bit organized before boarding.  We were hungry and thirsty but obviously had had no time to get anything - all we could do is look longingly at all the fancy airport shops as we rushed past them on the way to the gate.  So, the flight was about a half hour late which was excellent for us.  Soon we were on our way and enjoying dinner in the sky and thanking God for going before us.

 NOTE TO SELF: In the future, always fly nicer airline to capitol city no matter how long the layover is so you don't have to haul everything between terminals and you have plenty of time because everything takes longer with a family of six.  Duly noted!  :-)

 We spent the night in the Asian airport transit hotel and enjoyed the airport for a few hours before going to bed.  The place is amazing as everyone says.  Josie & I sat and enjoyed free mechanical foot massages while we watched our kids burn off steam on a play structure.  The airport is like a mall, park, hotel, airport, and restaurant strip all combined into one - crazy!  Josie and the kids slept well but I could hardly sleep.  The next morning we had to check in at the United transit desk for them to switch all our boarding passes from one airlines to another and that took like a half an hour - not sure why so long.

Julia sound asleep in her transit hotel bed.

Katrina enjoyed a few rounds of peek-a-boo before falling asleep too.

5 AM came pretty quickly - the boys are waiting again for Josh 

to get arrangements made for the rest of our boarding passes.

Julia was refreshed after that brief sleep.

 We made it on our flight to yet another Asian country just fine.  It was 7 hours long and the kids definitely got tired of sitting pretty quickly.  Spencer and Mitchell got practice using the bathrooms on the jet and were able to manage it on their own.  We still went along with Julia each time so plenty of trips to the bathroom.  I think the worst thing that happened on that flight was that Julia spilled a glass of apple juice right on her lap.  Julia's apple juice-stained pants never got changed (it dried nicely and wasn't sticky so no big deal! :-).   We switched planes in yet another Asian country and then got on a 747 for the 11-hour flight to Chicago. 

In yet another Asian country waiting for the boarding call, 

checking out the action on the tarmack.

Josh, just back from running around the airport 

in search of some bottled water.

This was the big one - 11 hours is just a long time to sit no matter what you do.  We watched a movie, tried to doze, ate and drank, read, used the washroom, tried to keep Katrina happy and then did it all over again (not sure how many times).  The kids all conked out but Josie & I could barely sleep, if at all.  One time, we had our trays down and full of food and drinks and Julia needed to use the bathroom (and couldn't wait).  I don't know how I did it but somehow she and I slid out with the trays still down and didn't knock anything off.  We finally made it to Chicago and were more than happy to get off the plane.  We made it through immigration and all our luggage arrived.  We re-checked the luggage and braced ourselves for our last flight to Milwaukee.

After a grueling security check (laptops out of their bags, shoes off, sweatshirts off, Katrina out of her stroller, etc - the most extreme of all of the security checks we went through) we found out that our flight to Milwaukee was cancelled because of the storms that were in the area.  Shoot!!!  So close and yet so far away!  The airport was nuts as many flights were delayed or cancelled.  We could have waited around for who knows how long until the next flight or take a bus and be home in a couple hours... we chose the bus.  It wasn't a bad ride at all :) and we arrived at the Milwaukee airport only 1 hour later than our flight was supposed to arrive.  Josie's parents and sister met us there.  Bizarrely, one of our checked bags was already there (can't imagine how since the flight was canceled).  I filled out the claim forms for the other nine checked bags and we were on our way -- we made it!  Our luggage took it's time arriving.  We got 3 pieces the next day, 3 pieces the following day, and 3 pieces the day after that.  Strange, but was sure glad they all arrived.

 Sorry, this got kind of long.  Anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your prayers for our trip home and for helping us with meals etc as we prepared to leave!

 -Josh (for the gang)