We Made It!!!

We made it! We have been here one day so far, which has been a total blur do to sleep deprivation, but the country is beautiful and the people are very kind. I’ll start by telling you a little bit about our flights over. First let me say the “Big Guy” is great and answered a lot of prayers for us along the way. We woke up at 4am Tuesday morning and began our journey. Our first flight left out of NWA for Chicago at 6am. It was about 2 hours long and Pax slept the entire way. We had a 3 and ½ hour layover in Chicago, which was fun. We walked the airport, let Pax play and got some food. Just before we were supposed to board the plane for Tokyo, Pax fell asleep. So as we boarded the plane but Benny had to carry both of our back packs, which weighed like 30 pounds apiece, while I carried Pax. When we finally got settled into our seats (which were pretty good seats near the front in Economy plus which just means a few inches of extra leg room) a stewardess came by and asked us if we would like the switch to the bulk head seats in the economy section of the plane. We were so excited because this meant we had 6 inches of extra leg room and a bed for Pax. When we got to our new seats there were four chairs and only one was occupied by a very kind Chinese man. The stewardess said we may get lucky and no one comes to the 4th seat. Well guess what…..We got lucky and had 3 seats for the 12 hour flight to Tokyo plus extra leg room and a bed for the baby!! Oh let me also say that the extra seat we had was the ONLY extra seat on the plane! The “Big Buy” is so good!! This flight was going fairly smoothly until Pax woke up sick. He was running a small fever and threw up a little. Looking back Benny and I think it may have been because he was asleep during takeoff and the pressure in his ears made him sick. We could be totally wrong but he perked up when we got off the plane and his fever went down. Other than a few upset moments from Pax he did a great job! When we arrived in Tokyo we had another 3 hour layover. It was 2:30 in the afternoon in Tokyo but our bodies were telling us it was the middle of the night so we were exhausted. We got some food and let Pax play in one of the play areas in the airport. We also took turns napping . Our next flight to Bangkok was 6 hours long. I don’t remember much about this flight except that it wasn’t crowded at all and we got an entire row of seats (4 chairs) all to ourselves! We took turns lying out across them sleeping. Landing in Bangkok is where things got interesting. Each time we landed in a new place and got off the plane the workers handed us the stroller right as we came out of the plane door but this time there were no workers and it was 11 pm, which to us meant 11 am and TIERDNESS had really set in. So we followed the people down the walk way and onto the bus that transported us to the airport where we were to find our next terminal for our final flight. Our final flight to Chiang Mai wasn’t until 6am the next morning so we had decided we would stay in a hotel next to the airport for the night but we were told we had to pick up our baggage. We were confused because our tickets said our baggage would go straight to Chiang Mai and we really really needed to find our stroller. Naturally we went to the information desk but no one knew what we were asking for so we got sent ALL over the airport. This may not sound too bad but again that meant I was carrying Pax’s tired limp body while Benny had 60 pounds on his back! Finally Benny said lets just get some seats, we will stay here for the night and I’ll go find our stroller. A worker had come by and given us a pamphlet showing some reclining chairs in a quiet wing of the airport for people who had to stay overnight but again NO ONE seemed to know where that was. So for the next 3 hours we rested on some benches waiting for the United Airlines counter to open so that we could ask about our stroller. Pax only slept 2 of those 3 hours so Benny and I watched him play at in a play area for the rest of the time. He started getting very sleepy and fussy so we warmed him some milk but he didn’t want it and began crying louder. At this point every Thai woman we saw came over to check on him. Some even picked him up to play peek a boo with him. They were all very kind and quieted him down. It was 3:30am at this point so Benny said you stay here and I’m going to go see if the counter is open and find our stroller. About 10min later he came back smiling ear to ear but without the stroller so I was confused on what he could be so happy about. He had found the lounge chairs! He took us to them and we rested in comfort while he set out again to find the stroller. I began praying….Please Father the next time I see my husband let him have the stroller in his hands walking toward us. Well guess what, that is EXACTLY what I saw the next time I saw Benny. Again the “Big Guy” delivered in our time of need. There is a long story behind how Benny found it that we will tell you if you ask. But believe me our Father is to be PRAISED! It is now 5am and time get our boarding passes for our final flight!!! We got them, ate some breakfast and waited in the terminal until we boarded the plane. While waiting we met a family from Sweden that has two boys 5 and 3. They work for Torch Bearer’s and do almost the same thing we do in Sweden!! How crazy is that. They are also staying here at Juniper Tree with us. Other than being super tiered we all have been doing well. Pax woke up once in the middle of the night for a couple of hours but went back to sleep until 5 am. Which is great considering the time difference. I think we will all be back on track in just a few days! Thank you so much for all of your prayers. He heard them and answered! We ask that you continue to pray that we acclimate fast to the time change, for our continued health and for Pax. It is extremely hot here so it is going to take some getting used to. We do have air conditioning in our room but it’s an extreme difference when you walk outside. Any ways we hope you all are doing well and Know how much we LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU! We will post again soon.

A special Thank you goes out to the Gresham family for waking up at 4am to start us on our journey here. You guys are the best. Enjoy your vacation time! 

With LOVE in Him

The Story’s