We have arrived!! Half dead and fully alive!

The last few weeks in South Africa....

Packing and moving home was harder than I thought and by the end of it our minds were frazzled. We had to think of everything - what to store, what to take with, and what to live in for the 2 weeks before we leave. Pete was a machine!!! He moved everything with the help of one man. We have stored our boxes along one wall of Pete's parents garage and organised it so that their 2 cars can still fit in. Pretty impressive if you ask me and a huge saving in storage costs (thanks mom and dad!)
After packing up and moving out, Pete and I felt exhausted. We drove to Joburg to stay with my mum and dad for a few nights and that was a very good time for us to rest up and prepare for the emotional goodbyes that lay ahead

The flight...

The 12th of August kind of snuck up on us, we were at the airport and then we were flying and now we are here. We left on the Durban to Dubai flight at 6:40pm South African time and had bulkhead seats - lots of leg room. I gave Katie some mooti to help her sleep on the flight (I had tried and tested the mooti before flying). But as we took off, she lost it!! We were the passengers that people wished they didn't have to sit next to! Katie got a bit delirious and was crying her lungs out. I got totally stressed and started furiously praying in tongues. After about an hour she passed out! I carefully lay her on the floor in front of us and breathed a sigh of relief. As dinner was served the air hostess told us that a baby on the floor is unacceptable and could we please carry her. I had tried to hide her under a blanket but her feet were sticking out and she was spotted, oh well! As I scooped her up she opened her eyes and, BING!, that was her sleep over!!! (grrrrr) Amy was amazing. She loved the fact that she had her own seat and her own TV screen. She watched movies, ate her supper and fell asleep. We landed in Dubai at 3am (South African time) and had a 3 hour lay over. Dubai was buzzing and we were totally overwhelmed by all the shops and people. We washed our faces, brushed our teeth, changed our clothes and took a deep breath before we boarded our long flight from Dubai to San Francisco; 16 hours.

The flight was packed and we sat in a row of three seats near the back of the aircraft. The plane flew straight up past Russia; over the North Pole (which was the half way mark and such a beautiful sight from 32000 feet); down over Canada and to San Fran. We worked out that we left Dubai on Tuesday at 6am South African time and landed at midnight that night. Thats long man! The girls were so good. They both slept on and off and Amy stayed in her seat the entire flight playing games and watching movies. Katie wasn't allowed to crawl in the aisles so in between her naps we were taking turns to walk with her and entertain her.
At one point on the flight, Pete and I looked at each other and thought, "How did we get here and what are we doing???" I think that was the moment where it all truly hit us. We actually got quite emotional about it and had a little cry. But when we landed and we saw that American flag and were greeted by all the custom officials I got butterflies in my tummy.

We did it and we are here...

The one thing we were worried about when we got to San fran was how we were going to get out of the airport with 7 massive bags of luggage, a car seat, 2 carry on bags and 2 very tired girls. As I said earlier, we landed in San Francisco at midnight South African time and it was 1pm American time. So we had to wake both girls from a very deep sleep and take them through a very busy airport. Amy cracked at that point and was in tears from exhaustion. So there we were, Pete pushing two trolleys full of luggage and me with one girl on each hip. We sailed through customs and the customs official chatted to us and said he has a friend who has just qualified from Bethel School of ministry. He was so kind and could see we looked shattered so offered to push one trolley through to the shuttle service outside of the airport. People must have thought we were pretty important as we walked side by side through the airport with a custom official in full uniform :) Praise God for the right people at the right time. We hopped onto our shuttle, got to the Hotel, all had a good bath and fell asleep at 5pm.

Redding, here we come...

At the moment Pete is at the airport collecting our rental car, and off we go on a 4 hour road trip to Redding. We are going straight to our apartment and a friend has very kindly offered to help us move some beds in and a few other things so we can sleep and set up our home.

South Africa, we miss you and all the beauty, family and friendship we have there. You are irreplaceable.

America, we love you and we are ready to embrace the different culture and add our flavour :)

Lord, Thank You for Your grace and protection. Here we are, we came; like You asked us to; and we are ready....