We made it nonetheless...

After 40+ hours of travel... we made it safely to Alabama. If you had told me that it would take that long to get to Alabama with a 3 year old (has the energy of about 5 kids combined)... I would have said, "You're out of your mind... I'll NEVER travel there"... but you see, at the end of that very long tunnel... was Da Da... so in the end, I would have traveled 50+ hours... well... lets not get carried away.

I'm usually the "over packer" kind of person... I'm always prepared for any battle... but I knew, since we would not have the "muscles" (AKA Da Da) traveling alongside us, that I would have to shlep everything around. So, I managed to load all of our things (for 3 weeks) in one small carry on rolling bag, and my hiking pack, along with one carry on... stroller and car seat on the side. Of course this Mama was too stubborn in the airports to pay $5.00 for one of those carts. How did I carry everything around? It was sort of a puzzle that was fun to figure out... but not to fun to actually achieve. I did manage it... and so wish I had a photo to prove it. I seriously looked like a packed mule lugging everything everywhere we went.

Our flight to San Francisco (our first layover) was pretty uneventful. When Charlotte should have slept 8 out of the 10.5 hours on the plane, she ended up only sleeping 2 out of the 10.5 instead. She did however end up cuddling another 4 of those hours, and ate some meals/snacks which took up a couple more hours, and flipped through magazines the rest of our time on the plane. I barely had to entertain her... and I just kept thinking the whole time, how she was made to be a world traveler (I never would have thought that after our plane ride home from Ukraine)... made to be an Air Force brat (she'll be traveling her whole adolescent life while Papa is in the military!)

Once we arrived to San Francisco, we had 2 hours to clear Immigrations, hand in her adoption paperwork to become an American Citizen, pick up our bags, lug the bags through customs, recheck our bags, and then take the air train over to our gate to make our connecting flight. Needless to say, by the time we actually cleared Immigrations and made our way over to pick up our luggage... our flight was already boarding... and the lady at the ticket counter politely told me, "There's no way you'll ever make it..." Man oh man, those were the last words this Mama wanted to hear. Seriously, I was beat... I was counting on getting some sleep on that next flight, and just wanted to keep on my way to Alabama so that I could pass Charlie on toher Da Da hug my sweet husband. Up until that point, I tried not to stress myself out about traveling all alone... but as soon as she uttered those words, I just about lost it... the tears streamed down my face (only when the United worker wasn't near the counter, of course), and the idea of having to WAIT one more day, didn't settle right with me. But in that moment, that moment where I could have either thought "nasty" thoughts about my airline (and the fact that it took me 45 minutes just to get my stroller), or I could have chosen joy... I remembered what I had read in Francis Chan's Crazy Love, just a few hours prior (while cuddling my little one on the plane),

"When I am consumed by my problems- stressed out about my life, my family and my job- I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities. Both worry and stress, communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won't be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed. Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are? I find myself relearning this lesson often. Even though I glimpse God's holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all."

and I chose joy... the easier thing would have been to complain, and to stress... but I remembered Philippians 4:4, " Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" vs. 6, "Do not be anxious about anything..."

We made it to Papa, just 24 hours later than we expected... but we made it nonetheless.

On the left is how much I "lugged" around, and Charlie... on the right...

We enjoyed a few hours of sun (after our first nap)... around dusk, and it was beautiful. I only spent a few hours in California, and fell in love. Even Charlie enjoyed her time (through the grass) and seeing the ocean for the very first time.

Officially, at 11:09 am on Monday, Sept. 19th (the exact time we landed in the good ol' US of A), is when Charlotte officially became a US Citizen. On our walk along the bay... we came across the American flag (posted below), and this Mama got a little choked up... she's ACTUALLY an American Citizen... now we get to start on social security number/US Passport documents...man this never ends... where would be the fun in that?