Change-O-Plans

Well, most of you have probably heard by now that our trip to Africa was postponed. It is quite disappointing, but we truly feel that there is a reason for this delay, even though we may not understand it.

We found out Thursday morning a few hours before we were to leave town for Atlanta, that our flight had been cancelled. They had booked us for another flight leaving out Friday evening. So, we made a few adjustments in schedules. We left out Friday morning for Atlanta and got there to check in around 1pm. We got all our bags checked and just happened to stand around and ask a few questions. We knew at this point we were flying standby from Paris to Mali, but we soon found out that no planes were leaving Paris due to a flight attendant strike on our airline. Evidently this was the reason for the first cancellation as well. So, we were at the check-in counter for over 2 hours trying every possible flight available on every airline. We were so close many times to actually getting on a flight, but it just never happened. We had set a few parameters, such as we needed to be in Mali by Sunday at the latest because we were still a day drive from Guinea, our final destination. Anyway, it was all complicated and at different times we were flying in different directions, divided up, on different routes and all kinds of craziness. When we finally just opted for a refund, it took another hour or so to get our luggage back to us--it had been checked and gone through the screening process and was ready to load on the plane!

We had dinner in the airport, re-rented some vehicles, and headed back home. Needless to say, our kids were also disappointed we weren't going. As a matter of fact, they didn't even want to come home! So, we let them stay the weekend with grandparents and I will go get them today. They had such big plans too!!

It ended up being a nice quiet weekend for me and S--something we don't get too often. We just hung out at home and got a few things done. We got to go to our small group bonfire Saturday night, we ate out at a restaurant Sunday after church, and we even saw a movie Sunday afternoon!!! Now I remember why we don't do that too often--it is expensive!! But it was great to spend some quality time with each other and get some much needed rest!

So, I'm off to get a few more things done before I get the boys back. I hope they are ready to see us, we are ready to see them!!

Oh, and one good thing that came of this whole ordeal was that my sister-in-law had her baby Thursday morning. So, we got to see our new nephew!! Welcome, big guy, to the family!!