First travel day

I am writing our first blog entry from a plane flying over the Andes Mountains on our route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  This travel day has been crazy long!  We had our send off Friday morning at 9am at Concordia as we were prayed over my tons of family and friends.  After many tearful good byes, we boarded the cars and headed excitedly to LAX.  Backpacks on our backs, we walked into the airport to news that our first flight was delayed 8 hours!!! So our team had to quickly get a lesson in flexibility that we know will be vital all throughout this trip.  Just thinking about corralling a team of 38 people, to 10 countries, on countless modes of transportation, through borders and visa checks, is enough to make you realize how many times we are going to be tested in patience and flexibility.  After spending a very long day in LAX, we finally had our 8 hour flight to Lima, Peru.  We had a few hour layover there in which they wanted us to stay on the plane.  Not ideal, but we all went with it.  We then took off again for Santiago, Chile with tons of empty seats. We were able to spread out and get some much needed sleep.  Sheffield was a champ!  He played all day in LAX and even napped in his stroller.  Then he feel asleep right away and slept the entire 8 hour flight all through the night.  Then he ran around the plane during the layover, to then fall asleep again at takeoff.  I truly feel like this was one of the biggest answers to prayer for this first day. I know so many of my family and friends are specifically burdened to pray for Sheffield on this trip since he’s so young.  As I write this we are on our third and final flight of this leg and he literally fell asleep while the plane was taxiing to takeoff.  I’m in AWE!  Thank you Lord!  This day has been so very long and drawn out. We’ve been in a plane for 16 + hours and have sat in the airport that same amount with delays!  Not quite the best start to this trip but much good has come out of it.  The team has bonded, been flexible, had fun, played with our kids and made the best of it.  I did have a mini cry session to John at the beginning of the first flight cause I was so tired, uncomfortable in my seat and stressed about how this was going to work with Sheffield.  John quickly switched seats with me and sat in the middle seat (what a guy!).  I remembered back to when we decided to do John’s PHd in England and take our 3 month old Naomi and 2 year old Jack with us on an 11 hour flight.  About 1 hour into that flight sweating as I held newborn Naomi and wrangling 2 year old Jack to sleep on a plane, I looked over at John with tears in my eyes and said, “What have we done?” “We are crazy” “I think we made a huge mistake!” We got through that uncomfortable plane ride and had such a fruitful time in England all those summers with John’s phd program.  It was tough at times with two small children but we felt like God gave us this opportunity and there were so many incredible moments along the way.  I felt just like that yesterday as we started our first flight and had wrangled Sheffield around LAX all day.  I felt like I could have looked at John with the same questions…”What did we do?” “Are we crazy to take our 13, 10, and 2 year old AROUND THE WORLD?” “Will he sleep on this plane or is it going to be a miserable experience?” Yes this day was long, yes it was frustrating to wait and wait and wait, and yes it’s all the more hard to wait and wait and wait with an almost 2 year old, but you can also look at it as the perfect start.  This trip isn’t going to be all easy but it’s going to be good.  Sheffield may only be a toddler but he can travel like a champ and God can protect Him.  Jack and Naomi could be sad leaving home and friends but they could also be inspired and loved on by these college students, which I already saw today.  We could have sleepless days, uncomfortable situations and heartbreaking moments on this trip, but God has BIG plans in all of the good and bad and I’m confident in that.  It’s amazing how you can feel so confident in what God has called you into and the plans He’s laid before you, but then so quickly have moments of doubt and fear.  I feel like I already saw such a beautiful picture of God reminding me today that it’s all going to be ok, that He’s got my children in the palm of His hand, that He has great plans for this team and that He will teach us beautiful lessons even in the midst of travel days and delays.