our children with their grandparents and great-grandmother, Jan 18 '12 By the grace of God, we arrived safely and soundly to the Philadelphia airport around 9:15 AM this morning. Despite a delay leaving Santiago; the slowness of disembarking our family of 7 people with 13 carry-ons from the very last row of the airplane; having to hurry through the enormous Atlanta airport, through various security points (including the famous full body scan for Pedro); and arriving at the gate for our flight after all other passengers were settled on board and with only minutes to spare before departure ... God still allowed us to make it on and make it home to Delaware and my parents' home as scheduled.
The first leg of the journey, from Santiago to Atlanta, took about 9 1/2 hours in flight and for most of those hours Ian and Alec slept comfortably and soundly. I can't say the same for the rest of us, and Owen was especially miserable after having said his sad goodbyes to cousin/best bud Micah. The Atlanta to Philadelphia flight was only 1 1/2 hours which seemed like a piece of cake in comparison! All five of the kids "earned" wings on this flight.
Two suitcases were temporarily lost in the confusion of our rapid scramble to board our connecting flight, but they reappeared at our doorstep later the same evening. Pop-Pop Christian and a friend from his church were waiting to deliver us and our luggage safely home to Delaware, where Mom-Mom waited with open arms and a lighted Christmas tree surrounded by bountiful gifts. First things first, hungry tummies were satisfied and curiosities awakened by bagels, the first our kids could ever remember eating!
Some other cute impressions of the day were the girls' amazement at automated sinks with automated soap dispenser and automated paper towel dispensers; and their surprise that "everyone is speaking English!" here in the United States. Owen made some adorable statements, in particular when he told Pop-Pop that he didn't remember his house, he only remembered "the smell of Pop-Pop" and nothing more; also, when I pointed out that the houses did not have fences like in Chile, he innocently assumed "well, the wind must have blown them all away!"
We did indeed have a "second Christmas" complete with gifts and new stockings, but most enjoyable of all was being with family we have not seen in many years, including my grandmother whose 91st birthday was also today.
Thankful to God for His mercies and undeserved grace on this day!
The first leg of the journey, from Santiago to Atlanta, took about 9 1/2 hours in flight and for most of those hours Ian and Alec slept comfortably and soundly. I can't say the same for the rest of us, and Owen was especially miserable after having said his sad goodbyes to cousin/best bud Micah. The Atlanta to Philadelphia flight was only 1 1/2 hours which seemed like a piece of cake in comparison! All five of the kids "earned" wings on this flight.
Two suitcases were temporarily lost in the confusion of our rapid scramble to board our connecting flight, but they reappeared at our doorstep later the same evening. Pop-Pop Christian and a friend from his church were waiting to deliver us and our luggage safely home to Delaware, where Mom-Mom waited with open arms and a lighted Christmas tree surrounded by bountiful gifts. First things first, hungry tummies were satisfied and curiosities awakened by bagels, the first our kids could ever remember eating!
Some other cute impressions of the day were the girls' amazement at automated sinks with automated soap dispenser and automated paper towel dispensers; and their surprise that "everyone is speaking English!" here in the United States. Owen made some adorable statements, in particular when he told Pop-Pop that he didn't remember his house, he only remembered "the smell of Pop-Pop" and nothing more; also, when I pointed out that the houses did not have fences like in Chile, he innocently assumed "well, the wind must have blown them all away!"
We did indeed have a "second Christmas" complete with gifts and new stockings, but most enjoyable of all was being with family we have not seen in many years, including my grandmother whose 91st birthday was also today.
Thankful to God for His mercies and undeserved grace on this day!
2 comments:
So glad you mad it safely. How neat to be with your grandmother on her birthday!
Everyone facing the camera and smiling! Amazing!! Welcome back to your Delaware home.
Ginny C
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