Stonehenge & Good Bye Again

JB has come back to us here in Germany, if only for a few days. He attended a conference in London, and while the Base he was staying at wasn't near a lot of the popular sites, he was able to see Stonehenge on his way to the airport on Friday. How cool is that?

The good news? He got to see a place he had always dreamed, since he was a little boy, of visiting. The bad news? London traffic worked against him and despite giving himself three hours to make the 1.5 hour drive to the airport after thes top, he missed his flight by one minute. Actually, he didn't miss his flight. The flight was still 45 minutes from departure. But Heathrow has a policy that if you don't check in within 45 minutes, you can't board. So he was out of luck despite some major begging of airport employees because he showed up with 44 minutes to spare. Seriously. It was that close.

Worse news? There were only two flights remaining that evening and they were both booked solid. He'd have to pay $60 just for an attempt to get on those flights, and if he didn't get on, he'd have to go get a hotel and try again the next day for another $60. Due to the volcano smog, all flights the previous day had been cancelled so there were tons of people trying to get on a flight. Not flying out until Saturday would have really stunk considering he was only stopping in for the weekend before heading back to Turkey on Monday.

But somehow, through the Lord's great favor, John get the last seat on the next flight! Praise the Lord!

I was already at the airport (over a one hour drive from Base), and completely dumbfounded as to what to do when JB did not join the other London passengers in coming through the exit doors. Where was he? I called Veronica on the cell phone that Labor & Delivery here has loaned me. JB had contacted her via email. (Actually he had emailed me before I left, but I didn't check my email before I left.) He had told her that he had missed his flight and was waiting to find out if he would get on one of the booked flights that followed.

I went to the information booth and asked them if they knew how I could find out if my husband he had, indeed, made it on the next flight. (Not having cell phones is such a pain. How did we all live without them before this?!) The nice lady at the booth said that policy prevents this. "But," she said, "You look very pregnant. Go over to British Airlines and someone may have mercy on you."

They did. Another nice woman gave me some "on the sly" information that JB had, in fact, gotten the last seat on the next flight that left. So happy! I did, however, start having pretty solid contractions in the airport. It makes me/us think that either stress or fatigue is a major contributing factor in those things creeping up on me. Time to slow down again a bit (or at least not have his husband almost miss his flight.)

We got to spend all day Saturday and Sunday with JB/Daddy before Isaac and I took him back to the airport on Monday. Believe it or not we accidentally headed toward the wrong airport AGAIN this time before realizing it and turning around. What is with our airport luck as of recent?!

It was so wonderful having him here and with us. We got some errands done -- like getting a gas card that allows us to have American and German prices and spent some time in a quaint German town enjoying the beautiful weather and culture. We took a walk through the woods behind our house. We just enjoyed being a family. JB slept on the pull-out couch (the bed in my room is only a full and we just can't manage it -- especially with me pregnant) and he got up every morning with the boys while he was here.

This morning, JB told both the boys that he was going to miss them so much. "I'm going back to Turkey today," he said. Expecting sadness, we all had a good laugh when Isaac said, "Okay. But you mail me back my lamborghini." (That was a special car that we brought him from Spain that he had forgotten to bring with him to Germany and had been asking about a lot.) I guess the excitement from getting the car outranks the sadness of seeing JB go.

We aren't sure, excactly, when John will be back. We are hoping he can be back in about two weeks, which was the date he was originally planning on flying us out here. Pray for that if you don't mind. We really need that guy around here.

P.S. A happy Memorial Day -- remembering all those who gave their lives for our freedom.
P.S.S. Getting ready to close my latest book giveaway. Click here to enter your name before it is too late!