Travel Day

Well the day to travel has finally arrived.  I think this has been the hardest part of the journey thus far.  Once we received a referral it has been hard to wait to meet our sweet girl.  We had to wait until after the new year as the courts here close for an extended period over the holiday.  

It is 11:44 am and it has been quite the morning.  I am typing to you from the plane on our way to Atlanta.  My parents arrived at 8:45 am to pick us up for the airport.  We have 6 checked bags weighing almost 50lbs each, 2 roller bags, a laptop bag, a backpack, and my camera bag.  Lots of stuff.  We got about half way to the airport and realized that we had not remembered to bring our stroller…ugh.  Luckily we had planned for extra time so were able to turn around go back home and get it.  You can get these in country but we have been told they are expensive and not the best quality.  Once we arrived at the airport we checked in with the sky cab.  Being we are only allowed one bag each we were planning on paying the 75$ fee for each additional bag.  We explained to the sky cab that we had a bag of donations for the orphanage (private casa) and another bag with medications and things for baby A.   He proceeded to whisk Jeff inside and about 5 minutes later returned with tags for free baggage.  Thank you Delta!!  Needless to say he got a good tip and he wished us good luck!   Once inside we made our way to the family security line.  Slick.  No removing shoes, no taking out laptops etc.  5 minutes and we were through.  

 It was emotional taking off knowing we won’t be back for awhile.  It was very emotional for me this am saying goodbye to the dog too.  He is in great hands with our house sitters and friends though.  We told Isaac that we are going to our  new “home” for 6-8 weeks, we will refer to the USA as our “home home” just as our friend Maddie did when she was on this journey for her little brother over a year ago.  We are so thankful for this day.  We are running on high emotion and soooo excited to meet our little girl.  She is worth every second of the planning, packing, travelling, preparation.  We love you baby A!! Be there soon!!

12:30 am  

Our flights went smoothly.  We were on time to Atlanta and had about a 3 hour lay over before flying the second leg of the journey which is about 4 hours and 10min.  It was a good time to get a little lunch and have time to stretch our legs.  We ate lunch at TGI Fridays.  Our flight to Bogota was good also.  We were able to get 3 seats together but we were in the back row.    That was a bit tight but we were happy to have seats together.    We had screens in the seats so were able to watch a movie and play games.   Cecilia hired a driver to pick us up at the airport.  He brought a large van with him so it was nice to have the space for all of our luggage.  We exchanged our $ at the airport.  Sure wish we spoke spanish fluently.  

When we passed through immigration Isaac spoke to the young girl at the counter in spanish.  She loved him and gave him this huge smile.  He also had to ask a few girls that were working where the luggage carts are and thanked them for their help.  He told me he could understand they were saying he is so handsome!! 

:-)  We arrived at our hotel and went to bed around 1am.  Not sure I will sleep much as anticipation is so high!