We're off!

We left for the airport at 4:30am on Wednesday morning, arriving at the airport around 5:30...we felt so blessed to be surrounded by family and were thankful for our parents and sisters who were able to come see us off at such an early hour--Thanks for getting up and coming to send us off, it meant a lot to us!

Caleb was in a great mood, even though we had to wake him up so early (that is probably exactly why he was in such a great mood, now that I think about it....being allowed to get up early!).  Here he is with his Grandpa and his Opa, pearched on top of our luggage cart.

Caleb practicing for the plane!

And here we are as a family with all our luggage!  We were thankful everything fit within the weight limits.  Yes, we had 6 (49 pound) suitcases, 3 carry on's, a carseat and 3 personal items!  And even though we got many pitied glances, no one stopped to help us with any of it along the way....we were quite the circus act, especially in Michigan when we had to book it from one end to the airport to the next and couldn't find a cart.  I'm glad we won't have to repeat that anytime soon.

Caleb did great on the planes....I was a little worried about his ears but they didn't seem to bother him at all (thank you for your prayers!).  On our first flight from MN to MI we had a window seat and Caleb LOVED that, especially before we left and he could watch out the window at the other planes moving around and the luggage carts.  He got all excited and pointed out the window at everything.

The first flight went perfectly...Caleb nursed during take off, fell asleep and slept most the flight.  He didn't seem to be bothered by the plane at all or even really notice it. (PS This is NOT a picture of Caleb nursing, it is a picture of him sleeping on me....just wanted to clarify that so no one misconstrued).

We were thankful that once in Michigan we were able to get put in the bulk head seats for the flight over to Korea and also thankful that we were able to sit all together (for some reason our initial tickets put us in seats apart from each other).

The (almost) 14 hour non-stop flight from Michigan to South Korea went "okay."  It wasn't as bad as it could have been but it wasn't easy....after we had been in the air for 4 hours I checked the time and could not believe it had only been 4 hours and we still had 10 to go.  I almost lost it at that point but then we just settled down and got through it.  Somehow.  Probably largely due to all your prayers!

Since we were in the bulk head, we were surrounded by other little kids.  The family on our right had two little girls, one of which cried most of the flight (I was just glad it wasn't Caleb!!).  The family on our left also had two little kids, one 2 year old and one 8 month old.  Caleb immediately loved the 2 year old and was constantly trying to climb over and play with him...the 2 year old liked Caleb's toy truck, so it worked out pretty well.  We got to talking to that family and found out both of them had worked with YWAM (Youth With  a Mission) for over 6 years and so that was really fun for me (since I did YWAM for a while) and fun to meet fellow believers.

Mama was pretty tired but Caleb didn't share in our desire for sleep....in fact, he only slept about 2 hours the entire flight...and he didn't enjoy being in his carseat much either...but we did catch one family nap (Caleb and I were legitimately sleeping, Steve faked it for a photo op).

My favorite thing to do on the flight was watch the map of where we were and all the stats...I enjoyed seeing us fly over Canada, the North Pole, Russia and (finally!!!!) into Korea.  I also found it facinating that we flew about 560MPH and that the outside temp was around -72.

We had the smoothest landing I've ever experienced and were all pretty glad to finally land and get off the plane!  We made it through customs fairly quickly and easily and were met by Pastor Nelson (Steve's boss) and his wife, Michelle.  They were so kind and welcoming to us and made us feel very welcomed right away.

So that was our trip.  We made it.  We are finally here, in South Korea.