Our travel days in pictures

On Saturday, the awesome Hannah, a junior on Base, came to my house at 5:15am to help me get the kiddos and myself over to the Base "airport" for my military flight to Germany. Having her was vital as there are many steps I have to take to get our tickets. We aren't assured a seat. Seats are given based on what category you are flying in. Everyone got a seat though which is always a good thing. I was told that we could have four seats but we couldn't have them together. Praise the Lord for nice people who switched seats so we could sit together. We had four seats in the middle of the plane.

They have a family room that the kids can play in. I brought the boys' trains, and they played the whole time. Then our friend Patty came by to see if we needed anything, and she took the trains home.

Our first flight was four hours to Germany. It went very well. And we got to our stop in Ramstein and were able to very quickly see Vernica's older sister, English. The second flight to D.C. was eight hours long. Once we tired of movies, we pulled out some craft packs from my good friend Angelica. How wonderful these were! They kept us busy for nearly two hours. Here is Isaac matching colors to vehicles.

The other thing that the boys seemed to love was looking at the safety instructions for the plane. They looked and looked and asked tons of questions. Not sure it is the best reading material to see all the bad things that can happen on a plane.

Here is me with a self portrait of my girl.

Here is Elijah putting beads on a pipe cleaner. Angelica, you are brilliant!

Seriously, I can't thank Angelica enough! Here is Isaac painting with water. He loved this!!

About halfway through our flight, at about 10pm Turkey time, Elijah and Abigail had emotional breakdowns. I had to go to the bathroom, and the boys stood outside -- Elijah sobbing. The attendant held Abigail who was sobbing. Shortly after that, I managed to get all three kids asleep. Here is Elijah sleeping on the floor.

And here is Isaac sleeping on his and Elijah's seat.

And here is Abigail sleeping in her seat.

But after two hours of them sleeping like that, the attendant told me Elijah couldn't sleep on the floor. So we spent the last two hours with the kiddos sprawled across all the seats. This left me without a seat, but I did not care! I was just so happy to have them all asleep.

The next morning we would board one more flight and head to South Florida. Throughout the two days I was blessed by good samaritans including:

• A returning home airman who let us use his computer to watch a movie when I was worried about not having enough power.
• A couple that walked me and the kiddos all the way to customs when our stroller was not available at the gate and was instead with the baggage.
• A man in line with me for ice cream on Sunday morning who said, "How could I help you right now?"
• Two older ladies who helped watch Abigail and my stuff when Isaac got hit with a sick tummy.
• That same older lady who held Abigail on the flight for me when both boys had to go to the bathroom at the same time. (I put them in bathrooms across from each other and let them go at the same time.)
• Flight attendants bringing extra snacks, warm water, and asking me how they could make things better.
• People around us telling me what a great job I was doing and that they would help in any way that they can.

I felt all of your prayers. Truly. But now that I am home, my jet lag is horrible. We are hanging on and getting through it. More to come as the fatigue lessens!

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