We made it!

Well we made it. We left Atlanta on Monday around 1pm and went to Charlotte (we were able to get cheaper tickets this way) where we had to sit on the tarmac for 1 hour while thet retrieved a part from the warehouse and then installed it on our plane. Then when we arrived in Miami over an hour late we found out that they cancelled our reservation because we weren't there on time. The agent said we could wait in line but she couldn't guarantee that we would make the flight. She found seats for us but we were all over the plane. We barely made the flight because we had to get through security and the line was looooong. But we made it just in time. We couldn't sleep on the flight (except Matthew, he got in about 3 hours) because it was so crowded but we perservered. FYI, if you are ever on an international flight to Brazil and they ask you in the morning eggs or sandwich...? go with the sandwich. Even though the meat inside isn't identifiable it is still a safer bet than the eggs because I'm pretty sure eggs aren't suppose to come in a solid block that resembles one of Mary Jane's lemon bars. Anyway, when we arrived in Sau Paulo and got over to the conveyer to pick up our luggage and... you guessed it, it never came around! The longer we stood waiting and begging God to please miraculously cause our luggage to materialize, even though the conveyer was now off, we decided to make our way over to the awesome counter known as "lost luggage". These people really moved with a sense of urgency for us, NOT! To say that they were laid back would be an understatement. As the clock was ticking we now only had about 15 minutes to get ticketed and go through security and make it to our gate. Somehow we made it! We then got to sit for another hour on the tarmac waiting to take off... all this on no sleep. Well, we finally made it to Curatiba safe and sound. Just no luggage. We met our liaison at the airport and it made all of the headaches that we had encountered over the last day worth it all. He told us that when the kids recieved our photo albums last week that they went crazy. The little ones were running all over the place with joy! They even said that "Mommy is pretty'. And you know something? I have to agree wholeheartedly with them on that! He then told us that Ana Carolina made the comment that she was afraid that her new family was going to beat her up.? That just broke our hearts to think that our little daughter identifies "family" as something that will hurt her. It's things like that, that totally solidifies in our minds that what we are doing the right thing. It's the reason why the Lord has chosen us to step up and show these children what it means to be accepted and loved unconditionally. So, tomorrow is the big day. We will go and meet the kids for the first time at 9:30am. It looks like we'll be wearing the same clothes tomorrow as we have for the last 2 days! That's awesome. I'ts a good thing that underwear has 2 sides, huh? Gotta go. Pray for us! Luv Ya!

Jim and Mary Jane