Boyd Bear Tracks

I guess I'll just give you the shortened version of our travel here. It will probably sound more like a "gripe" list :-).

5:30 am on Tuesday, load up the van and leave for the Des Moines airport. Everything went smoothly and even though we had 6 carryons (including the carseat and guitar) we made it on the plane. We even got the 2 kids on there too! :-)

Short flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis; still, Ellie fell asleep (she was doctored up with night-time Tylenol for her cold).

Got to the gate for our flight and realized we were going to miss lunch on the plane (it was too short of a flight). So, bought $5 worth of stuff from "vendo-land" (Jon's word).

Not too long of a flight to Newark, NJ. Ellie fell asleep again. She didn't like the sound of the big turbine right outside her window!

Rushed through the airport in NJ and had to leave the security area. So, we had to go through security all over again. This was the "Neverending Flight" (someday I'll make a horror/comedy movie about it!). We don't recomend flying from Newark to Bogota! It's about 6 hours! Even if it's a better price . . . don't do it!

Lucas did take a nap, but when he woke up he started his tummyache, headache, vomiting routine. Fortunately, every seat back had a baggie :-)! I think we used all the ones in our row. At least, Ellie was cheerful!

We got to the airport in Bogota and were the last ones out of the plane (of course). We did get through customs quickly, but then had no idea where to pick up our luggage (or where to get carts to pick up our 8 bags). We finally, found the carts and thought we found the belt for our luggage. We waited, and waited, and waited some more--no bags! We asked someone if we were at the right belt and got the run-around (go to this one, no to that one). Finally, Jon found a lady who who gave us the great news that 94 bags had been left in the U.S. (apparently our 8 were part of that number). Meanwhile, Lucas was sick a couple more times.

But, we got through customs really easily!! And, a customs lady personally sat down with us to do the paperwork in preparation to receive our shipment. So, hopefully that will be an easy process (although according to the missionaries here we shouldn't hold our breath :-).

Another blessing, our pjs were in a carryon and there's a nice washer and dryer here! And, I had packed a change of clothes for the kids.

Hopefully, the suitcases will be on the flight from Newark tonight and we can pick them up tomorrow. We're still waiting to hear.

Despite all the troubles (we have the record for the most lost bags :-)), we are happy to be here and excited to settle in and begin ministering with the Colombians.

Thanks so much for your prayers. Apparently we still needed to learn a couple of lessons on patience and reliance on God :-)!