Ethiopia Adventure Part 1

Chris' parents kindly drove us to San Francisco for the first leg of our journey. Our first flight left SFO at 4:30pm on Friday, February 20th. The very kind manager at the British Airways counter waived our excess baggage fees (thank you for all the prayers) and we were off. We have this terrible habit of staying up way too late the night before big trips, and this one was no exception. We were exhausted (already!), a little apprehensive (at least I was), but ready to pick up our son!





Our flight was, well, we didn't sleep much, but had much to read and watch. We had an 8 hour layover in London (so sad not to stay longer!) where we had a very crazy adventure getting our luggage and 5 rubbermaid tubs via train from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1 at Heathrow. My husband is a champion rubbermaid tub wrestler. We had a very tasty meal with our tubs close at hand - a security officer carrying some sort of automatic gun checked to make sure they were ours and not left behind. He had an encouraging word for us when Chris told him what was inside (baby formula, etc). Back to the meal - I ate chicken tikka masala and Chris had bangers and mash with a very soul-satisfying Belgian beer. And then we waited...and waited..and waited...and Chris slept...and I tried to read. When it was time we prayerfully lugged our tired selves and 9 pieces of luggage to the Ethiopian Airlines counter, praying for another baggage-fee-waiving miracle. Almost. They gave us a discount. Instead of $650 they only charged us $400. Ha! Still, God is good. His plan is perfect.

For now I will end with our first African sunrise (over Sudan . . . for Paul Yana) and our first glimpse of beautiful Ethiopia. We are off to visit the Johnson clan and I have learned by now that a simple 10 minute trip takes much longer to prepare for than it used to. But this is what we joyfully signed up for!