The long trip

The day of our trip had finally arrived.  Everything was packed, the house was clean (and so empty) and we were excited!  We left home with lots of time and arrived at the airport around 10:45.

Checking in our luggage and going through security went smoothly but once through we found out that our flight was delayed.  Not a big deal as we had a long layover in Calgary.  I think we finally left Edmonton at 2:15.

All still chipper in Calgary :)

Once in Calgary we saw that our flight to San Fransisco was delayed as well.  This made us more nervous as we only had an hour and a half layover between SF and our flight to Auckland.

Passing the time...

As we boarded our flight to SF we were told that if we had a connecting flight we'd be re-booked once we got there.  So I messaged the person picking us up in Auckland that we may not be on the flight and that I'd be in touch.  Little did I know we wouldn't get wifi again and our phone wouldn't work so said person had no idea what was going on and assumed we weren't on that flight.  We did make the flight by running from one plane to the next though!  Long story short I created for us another long wait in Auckland before being picked up :p

And...to top it all off our luggage didn't make it with us.  Hopefully that arrives today sometime - just really thankful we packed an extra set of clothes for each of us (even if it is pants!)

Waiting for our luggage that didn't come

Ahhh...warm weather and fresh air.  Felt so good after being in airports and planes for over 24 hours!

A long trip but we knew it would be.  Thankful to God for watching over us and a safe arrival in New Zealand!  And so thankful for friends, old and new, for helping us out with the drives to and from the airports.

We have been memorizing Psalm 139 the last little while with the kids.  A psalm I've always loved but it's these verses that have been going though my mind:

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea, 
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast."

Sometime during our long flight we crossed into 2017.  It was an exciting way to start the year :)

God bless you all in this new year!