Travel Day Timeline

Here's a brief look at Saturday, August 4th

3:45 am(mountain time): I turn the alarm off after snoozing a couple times and head for the shower. It was a short night and it will be a long day.

5:32 am: We pull out of the parking lot of our MAF apartment in Nampa, headed for the Boise airport. The lawn sprinklers were doing their thing as we loaded up Reg Epp's van & trailer. It will probably be a while before we see lawn sprinklers- I don't think there's a big demand for them in Shell ; -).

7:10 am: 6 people, 1 stroller, 6 bags, 1 car seat, and a few pillows, stuffed animals and purses are frantically running through the airport trying not to miss our flight to Portland. Fortunately, we arrive at the gate before they've begun boarding.

7:28 am(pacific time): We fly right next to Mt. Hood. Its snow-capped peak and our plane are the only inhabitants of the sky above the clouds.

10:25 am: Luke is falling asleep in my arms while I talk to a group of people at our gate wearing "Oregon Mission Ecuador" t-shirts. They'll be on both of our next two flights as they travel to Quito on a short term missions trip.

2:56 pm(central time): Jadyn & Luke are both sleeping soundly and Jodie's in the middle of them sleeping a little less soundly. Shea & Micah are sitting next to me watching "Star Wars 2" on the portable DVD player. Things are pretty peaceful at the moment and I"m feeling relaxed, nostalgic, and excited about our adventures in Ecuador.

6:07 pm: I'm hot, tired and a little frazzled and the plane hasn't even taken off yet. Getting all of us (and our warehouse-sized supply of carry-on cargo) around the airport and settled in our seats is EXHAUSTING (for some reason, the stress level seems to reach it's climax on the tarmac). Jod's mom made it safely to Houston (she's going down with us to help us get settled into our new home- yea!) and we're all in our seats wating to fly to Quito.

6:26 pm: We just got off the ground. I'm looking out the window at the lights of Houston- the last time I'll see the U.S. for the next 10 months. We've been so blessed by all of our friends and family in the States and wouldn't be able to take on this new challenge without all of their prayers and encouragement.

11:09 pm (eastern standard time*): The plane is descending into Quito. Our family is getting a first look at Ecuador- the country that will be our new home. Our prayer is that God will be glorified by our lives during the time we spend here.

11:30 pm (approx) - 1:00 am (approx): This is all a big blur. It's late, we're all tired, we have a ton of bags, and we don't speak Spanish. Fortunately the customs process is pretty straight-forward and we are able to find the Grants and Schmidts who will take us to the guest house (the Roger Youderian house) for the night. Seeing Ron, Margie, Fred, & Desi's smiling faces makes us feel very welcome.

1:45 am: Luke has his second-wind and is jumping up and down on the bed as I doze off ...

3:07 am: I awaken to a lound sound of beeping and static. I follow the noise down the hall to an empty guest room and turn off an alarm clock. Back to bed. Tomorrow (today) we go to Shell.


Will give a report on our first few days in Shell (hopefully with some pictures) soon!


*Ecuador is on Eastern Standard Time year round. This means it's the same as eastern in the winter and central in the summer. I had been telling people this was the same as Indiana. But Jason & Joselyn informed me that Indiana is now using daylight savings time and will always be in the eastern time zone (except for the Gary/South Bend area). Sorry, had to get that last bit of trivia in there.