Well, the time has arrived and so have we.
On October 5 in the late afternoon we boarded a plane for the USA. Once on board and in the air we settled down for the lohg haul to Honolulu (10hr 20min). Owen fell asleep during take-off but woke to eat as soon as we laid him in the bassinet. Once fed, he then went back to sleep for 5 hours.
Chloe hopped from seat to seat b/c there were several around us that were empty which was nice. Still, b/c we had the bulkhead seats, the arms didn't fold away which made it difficult for Chloe to spread out to sleep. She finally managed to get about 2 hours but this wasn't nearly enough.
After arriving in Hawaii, we had to collect all 7 cargo bags, add them to our 6 carry-ons and transfer to the Hawaiian airline terminal. this in and of itself was not a problem but with this much luggage and a stroller to boot, we found a helping hand which was most welcome.
We waited in the queue to check-in at Hawaiian only to get to the front and be told we had to send our bags through the "Agricultural scanner". So through a crowded terminal I am pushing 2 heavily loaded carts to the BACK of the line over to the "Agri-scan" area, where I have to off-load and then reload the bags. I get back to the front of the line and AGAIN have to offload and reload the bags after weighing in. Then push the carts to the "other area" for security screening. I think for the course of the trip to Boise I lifted about 1500lb.
It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Even with the extra bag fees and overweight fees that we paid, we still ended up saving over $1000 dollar by purchasing our tickets independently, for each leg of the trip.
Staying at Portland, OR overnight was a big help for all of us and we felt more refreshed the next day for our final leg to Boise, ID. At the Boise airport we were met by Duane and Sheila Taylor and their kids Ashley, Alex and Nicki. The Taylors have kindly put us up for the next few weeks while we try to get settled and find work.
So far, I've had one interview with good potential and applied for several jobs which I am waiting to hear back from. So we do ask that you pray for us and that God leads us to the place we should be and the work I should be doing for him.
Weather has been nice so far but cool today. Jobs are plentiful is most of the US but there are several places I'd rather not go and that is mostly out east and south. We are doing well and have pretty much flipped over to the right time zone now.
Now we're ready for the next step.
