24 hours and finally reunited

We made it to Saudi last night (Tuesday evening) and had a very successful trip.

From the time we were at the Houston airport until we arrived in Damman, KSA was a 24 hour trip.  I can honestly say it was not bad at all.

For starters, I was nervous about how the boys would do traveling and me having to take care of both of them along with navigating our traveling between airports, etc.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend who apparently loves my kids a lot and likes me as a friend, because, Stephanie, graciously flew back to Saudi with me and boys so she could help me out when needed.  All I can say is I appreciate her beyond words and know that when the time comes... I will repay her in some way.  

My parents dropped me and the boys off in Houston and we had a tearful goodbye.  It's so hard leaving.  After crying a few minutes, I quickly realized I had to pull myself together because I was in charge of getting us checked in, through security, and to our gate.

I was able to check in being a Silver Privileged Member, which gives us special attention!   The lady at the counter could tell I was a little frazzled and started our conversation by saying, "okay, 3 non stop tickets to Bahrain!" AGGHHH-- what?!?!? what did she just say??? Bahrain?!?  No!  Not Bahrain!!  I panicked inside.  She quickly saw the terror on my face and said she was kidding.  She thought that statement would get my attention and help me focus on what we were doing. She accomplished her mission.  

She started checking all our bags for weight, which I got 4 out of 5 bags at exactly 50 lbs, thank you very much.  1 of the bags was 70lbs and I said I'd pay the $50 fee.  Next, she asked me for the "permission slip" from my husband allowing me to take his children out of the country without him.  Um--- what?!?!  I did NOT have that.  Once again, I panicked.  She showed me the form, told what was required, then we discussed options for getting it filled out and turned in.  At this point, major panic set in.  I was a wreck.  It was night time here in Saudi, Brooks was asleep.  The only way of getting in touch with him was via Skype, but even then, Brooks wouldn't hear the computer ringing so we were stuck not knowing how to get in touch with Brooks.  The even better part about that was even if we did get in touch with him, they were going to need to fax/scan the form to him and have him fax it back to them.  Um, we don't exactly have a fax machine in our house and again... it's in the middle of the night over there.  I called my mom trying to see if she still had International Calling on her phone from when they were here in Saudi, then found Brooks' Saudi cell number, and was having her try to get in touch with Brooks.  About that time, the manager came over and was told of our situation and that I did not have the form.  Her first response was, "so what do you want me to do about it?"  My heart sank.  All I kept thinking was we weren't going to get on that plane, Stephanie was going to leave, and I'd have to wait a day or two, get the form filled out, then travel to Saudi alone with both the boys.  

During these conversations and my panicking I was just praying.  I prayed and asked God for favor in this situation.  I prayed that he would resolve this in a way that couldn't normally be resolved.  Within minutes, my prayer was answered.  The manager's comment actually meant, well, if they don't have it let them fly.  Who cares!  WHOA... wasn't expecting that one!  It was an answered prayer.  

So, just when I thought we were done, the lady saw my carryon and made me weigh it- I was kinda hiding it for the purpose of not wanting it to get weighed.  But, it did and I was over and was asked to remove some of my items.  After the lady saw my carryon was filled with diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, and kid stuff.... and after I "attempted" to put some items in other suitcases, she finally said, "mam, close your carryon and be on your way".  Yes mam!  That won't be a problem!  

So, after the hour ordeal of checking in, Steph and I were on our way.  We went to the Business Lounge (there are nice perks of traveling across the world-- your miles add up quickly), grabbed a small snack, regrouped, then boarded our plane.  Stephanie was able to get her seat moved right next to ours, instead of the row behind me, which was awesome.  Then, we realized our flight wasn't full, so Steph went and sat on the row beside us to give us more room.  It was awesome!  

Gavin was ecstatic to be on the plane and couldn't wait to get to see his Daddy.  He was pretty wired the first 3 hours of the flight, but did good playing in his seat, eating snacks, and watching a movie.  The extra seats we had allowed us to lift up one of the arm rests and we made a little bed for Gavin.  Once he was tired, I laid him down, we said our prayers, and we went to sleep.  He slept for 8 hours straight!  Woo Hoo!  Thank you Jesus!  

Miles did great too.  I was really worried about him.  Sunday night he was up ALL night crying so I knew something was wrong.  I took him to the doctor first thing Monday morning and found out he had a double ear infection.  Not the best thing to have when you're about to spend 16 hours on a plane.  Anyways, Miles had his nighttime bottle, I put his pajama's on him, swaddled him, and he went right to sleep.  He slept for 7 hours, woke up, got a  bottle then slept on Stephanie for another 3 hours til his next feeding!  It was awesome!  

Stephanie and I were both able to sleep uninterrupted and got a decent amount of rest.  By the time we woke up and so did the boys, we only had 4 1/2 hours left of the plane ride.... that was a piece of cake.  The kids did great. Gavin was entertained.  Miles played a little, then took another nap.  Stephanie bought Gavin a surprise so he loved playing with his new toy-- it was a stuffed horse, Bullseye from Toy Store.  I also surprised Gavin with a toy (since I felt guilty for taking him away from his family and bringing him back to this side of the world) and it was a figurine of Woody from Toy Story.  He had double the fun!  

Our flight ended, we went to the Business Lounge in Doho for a (CLEAN) restroom break, grabbed a snack, then boarded our next flight.  That flight was a piece of cake. Miles played then fell asleep.  Gavin slept.  The flight was only 45 minutes so that's nothing for us.  We got off the plane and stood in line at customs.  There were 6 lines going, 1 worker for each line and the lines were LONG.  We've always been told be prepared to just wait, so we were.  Then, a customs worker walked by our line, saw me and the boys, and motioned for us to go to the front of the line!!  Thank you Jesus!  I looked at Stephanie and she said, we're sisters, I'm coming with you!  Haha.  We turned our passports in, got our papers stamped, and we were on our way.

We got all our bags, went through security without anything getting touched or searched then we went looking for Brooks.  We went through everything so fast he was just getting to the airport.  We waited a minute or two and there he was.  Gavin actually saw him first and let out a LOUD squeal!  He was so excited to see Brooks.  He ran after him and jumped into his arms.  It was THE.SWEETEST.THING.EVER!  

We got to our house late, unloaded the car, bathed the boys, had a little bit of play time, then we all went to bed.  All 3 of us slept through the night and other then Miles waking up for a bottle at 6am, then going back to sleep, everyone was able to sleep in! 

Brooks took half a day off so that he could spend some time with us this morning.  We ate breakfast, visited, and played.  Needless to say, we're all very happy that we're back together and were REUNITED!