Home for Christmas!!! :) :) :)

We waited for the loading of the plane to get done last night and since it had been delayed two hours, some people transfered from that flight to another that left sooner so there was room for all five of us standbys. The plane left around 9:50pm Phoenix time, 10:50pm Memphis time. He didn't give us assigned seats just told us to find an empty one. I ended up sitting next to this guy who wasn't like any of the other people I sat by on the ride to Hawaii. He actually talked to me and was nice and more than that...he smiled! :) It seemed like everyone on the plane was in a good mood, or it might have been that I was in a good mood! :) Towards the end of waiting for the plane, my mom and I were soooo tired that we were laughing at everything! It was great to be in a good mood again and have my stomach hurt. :) The guy I sat by wasn't that talkative but did talk when I asked him questions. He looked like he was in College and was studying some papers. Anyway, the ride was long but endurable. I just read my book the whole way and looked out the window. There was no going to sleep for me. We landed in Memphis at 1:15am this morning and Stephen came and picked us up. I was wearing flip flops, or slippers as the Hawaiians would say, and my toes were like on the verge of frost bite! They were literally really cold. They are used to weather in the 80s everyday not the high 20s. They warmed up though when we got in Stephen's truck and I put them up the the vent. Probably not the best idea but it helped. :) Not forty minutes later I was warm and covered in my bed!
I got up this morning around 10:45am to Autumn staring up at my bed with a humongous smile spread wide across her face! :) It is good to be home!!!!! :) :) :)

At the airport...

So I'm here in the airport right now waiting on my flight that has been delayed two hours! So we are here waiting...again! Airports are starting to feel like home away from home to us now. :(
We had a wonderful time at my cousin's. She was very hospitable!! She was always asking us if we wanted anything to eat or drink and giving us Christmas cookies and stuff. It was just awesome being there. Very refreshing for us. :) When they brought us back to airport we felt almost brand new. My mom was saying that she almost wished that we would miss the flight so we could stay and be with them more. I was like..."NO!!!" I have nothing against them but I've been away from home for forever and just want to be there asap!
Anyway, that's the newest on us. :) Thanks again for your prayers!!

Okay, my mom said I had to blog about our clothes...funny topic! :) So here we are, Monday night in the same clothes we were wearing since Friday morning. Whoa! This isn't exactly my type of first class traveling but it was necessary considering how our suitcases decided to take off with out us to Memphis on Friday. We did wash them Saturday afternoon and I blogged about that and how I wore my brothers shorts and shirt. :) Lucky for me, I don't stink! I was smart and put my deodorant and toothbrush and paste in my carry on bag!! :) My life right now is definitely an adventure but I guess I wouldn't mind if it were normal, or even boring...as long I am home! :)

Yes!! (and) No!!

We arrived at the Honolulu International Airport around 8:45pm last night. Amazingly, there was no humongous line to wait in to check in. :) I guess that was due to how early we got there. Anyway, everything pretty much went fine through the check in point and we even got my mom a wheel chair! She carried some bags on her lap while I carried the rest on my shoulders while pushing her. It was definately a faster way to do things. :) The security screening area was fine too. I didn't feel as rushed as last time but there was a guy at the end trying to take the totes that my things were in before I got my things out. :( We got to our gate about two hours early so we did some window shopping then sat around and I went through my pictures on the computer until it died. The plane started loading about an hour early but we had to sit and wait until everyone had boarded. Finally, after I went to the front desk two times and was sent back, they called me up and gave me two tickets. I was really happy and didn't look at them until we were walking to the plane. They both were first class tickets and right next to eachother!!! Wow! It was totally God! So we rode like queens all the way to Phoenix! When we got to Phoenix, around 7am, we went straight to out gate to check in then had some breakfast. So I guess we waited there for about two hours until they started to load and then another hour and several trips to the desk, before they told us that the plane was full. :( So here we were, stuck in Phoenix without another flight leaving for Memphis until seven tonight! We waited until about noon and then my cousin came and picked us up and brought us to her house. By this time my nerves were sooo shot there was like no recovering them! I got a smoothie and it wasn't good, my shoulders, back, everything hurt, my sickness was getting worse and I accumulated a cough! :(
So now here I am at my cousin's house on her computer blogging and checking my email. :) My mom is resting and that is where I'm heading in a few minutes. I like slept not at all last night on the way here. We watched two retarded movies and I read some. I tried to sleep but didn't do it longer than thirty minutes. I'm really tired. My mom had only three pain killers left last night and took one before we got on the plane and then I made her take another while we were wating for my cousin because she couldn't walk. She has one left for the ride home.
Thank you all for your prayers! Please keep praying that we make this flight tonight so we can be home for Christmas! :) Love and miss you all!!!

Day eighteen in Hawaii!!!

Hey guys, yes we are still here...in Hawaii! :) Obviously God has different plans for us here. Only He can see the bigger picture.

So the news for today is...we are going to try to fly home tonight! It might be a little easier than last time because we don't have any check in bags. I think we are going to try to get to the airport earlier too. Hopefully that way we will miss the big long lines that we hit on Friday.
The only thing we did today that was interesting was watch Aika for about nine hours. Other than that we did the normal...eat, slept a little when Aika did, sat around...that's about it. Oh yeah, we did some laundry. Now that was funny!! If only you would've seen me!! :) I was wearing a pair of Marshall's swim shorts and a t-shirt of his. Even I admit that I looked pretty funny! My mom laughed every time she looked at me. She tried to get a picture of me but, now way! I wasn't gonna fall for that. Plus she wanted me to blog and post the picture...nope!

Okay, so there really isn't anything to blog about today. I did take a couple pictures though so I might as well post them. :)

Aika is pointing to her nose...she actually said it when she did it too!! :) It was soo cute!!!

Our very sad Christmas tree. :( It is losing all its leaves and it isn't even Christmas yet... :(

Marshall going to work...

Change of plans...

We decided to not try to fly home tonight but tomorrow night. The plane should be emptier then. I don't know what we're going to do about not having any clothes but what we're wearing. I think Saki is going to bring something for me to wear tomorrow when she brings Aika over. Saki came over around dinner time because she heard we didn't make the flight. She was sooo excited!! She had told us a couple days ago that she would pray that we would be able to stay for Christmas! She was literally jumping up and down when she saw us! :) It was really sweet!!! I'm starting to get okay with being here now for however long God wants us to be here, but I'm not really okay with being here with out my luggage! :( I still can't get over the fact that we are still here and our luggage isn't.
Oh, when my dad went to pick up my bag, he found out that my mom's bag is in Phoenix but should be flown to Memphis tomorrow. That's great...for our baggage. Hey, at least we know where it is, right?

Day seventeen.....in Hawaii!!!

Well, we're still here in Hawaii...with out our luggage! :( We don't know if it was sent ahead of us to Memphis or kept back in Hawaii. All this morning I've been on the phone trying to get a hold of somebody at the airport and on the computer trying to track the luggage. At the moment I'm on hold and they said I'll be on hold for about three hundred and something minutes! :( It's only been thirty-two minutes so far. So, let me fill you in on the events of last night. We got to the airport a little bit after 9:30pm and stood in line for about thirty minutes waiting to check in. Then it took forever for the people to give us tickets because we were on standby and not scheduled for this flight. My mom was in pain so I ended up carrying my camera bag, my mom's laptop, my carry on bag, my mom's purse, out jackets, and dragging both suitcases!! One suitcase is missing a wheel so it was a pain and a half to drag. My shoulders are still killing me from carrying all the bags for so long! It was very difficult to bend down to get our IDs out of our purses and make sure everything didn't fall. From the check in point, we went to the security screening area. I was flying trying to unpack the laptop, take off my shoes, take the liquids out of the bags, put everything in the totes, and make sure I was not making anyone wait on me. From there it was a forever walk that lasted even longer because my mom can't walk fast, to get to our gate. When we finally arrived at the gate, everyone had pretty much finished loading and all we could do was wait to see if there were any empty seats. After thirty minutes the lady finally told us that there wasn't any open seats but we could try to fit on the plane that left twenty minutes after that one. So we walked over to the next gate and did what we do best...we waited another thirty minutes only to find that that plane was full too! The lady ended up scheduling us for the nineteenth, today. So tonight we are going to do it all over again!! Except this time I'm getting my mom a wheel chair so she doesn't have to walk so far and isn't in a lot of pain. I don't know what time it was that Marshall picked us up or we got home, I was just depressed and very tired. On top of all that, I'm starting to come down with some sort of sickness! I haven't been feeling good for the past couple days but being at the airport last night didn't help.

Please, please pray that we get on the plane tonight!!! I'm not interested in staying until Christmas and then trying to come home on Christmas day, but if that is God's plan for us, we will find joy in it. For some reason God didn't want us to go on the flight last night and I have to be okay with that. It just seems like my whole world is crashing in! Maybe it's just that I'm a girl and very emotional. I don't know, but things don't seem to be going good with me. It is probably God trying to stretch me and teach me new things. It is just hard to have a positive outlook on things when I've already let it get under my skin.
This is hilarious because I would never have thought that I would think of myself as 'stuck' in Hawaii! Anyone else in my spot here would be in heaven. :) Believe me, we are not staying here on purpose and I'm sure when we get home and all this is over, I'll wish I were in Hawaii!! :) :)

We really miss everyone and can't wait to be home again!


12:30pm--I just got off the phone with a guy from the baggage claim in the Memphis airport. He said that they have my bag but not my mom's. My dad is going to go down there sometime today to pick mine up and try to locate my mom's. So...we're in Hawaii with only the clothes on our backs, maybe until Christmas, and no food in the fridge!! :( I feel like a homeless person, except I have a home. I did put my toothbrush and brush in my carry on bag so I have those, but that's not enough to live off of for a week.
When we were in the line to check in last night, the thought did cross my mind about packing an outfit in my carry on, but it didn't go any deeper than that. I guess I'm gonna have to learn to listen to those passing thoughts. :)

I'm here!!! Finally!!!

I never thought I would be here...ever!! It was nothing short of a miracle getting all of us four, my mom, dad, younger bro, and myself, out here to Hawai'i.

We left yesterday morning for the airport at 5:45am. After checking in and going through security, we went and waited to board. We talked to a guy in charge and he said that all the seats were occupied. He said we would be waiting for a while. We took out seats and waited patiently praying all the while, watching people board the plane. Finally, after what seemed like forever, well, not really that long, our names were called and we were told that there was room for us!!! :) Totally God! The ride there was good. I got a window seat so I could take some pictures. Sorry they're soo bad. :(

This is the plane we took from Memphis to Phoenix, Arizona.

Taxing to the runway

Taking off

More taking off

Above the clouds where the sun was.

Clouds

A clear sky

Arriving in Phoenix. Can you see the canyons?

Preparing to land

Getting closer to land. In the bottom left hand corner you can see the plane's shadow.

Landing

When we arrived in Phoenix, we only had time to find our next gate and grab a bite to eat. I settled with a $9 cobb salad. :( A little more than I expected to pay! When it came time for our next flight we sat and waited. Again a guy told us there was no room on the plane. We waited in fervent prayer and finally he told us there were three open seats. Still more prayer on our parts. After what seemed like another forever, we were called up, all of us! He said he had room for all! Another totally God moment! An answer to prayer! This plane was a little bigger than the last with three across seating instead of two. My seat was 16B, which means that I didn't have an isle nor a window seat. :( A bummer especially when the lady I was sitting next to decided it was a better idea to close the blind to the window and sleep. No pictures for me! :( I did get a few though before she closed the window blind.

The second plane we took. This one went from Phoenix to Honolulu.

Taxing to the runway

Taking off

Taking off out the other window.

Beautiful clouds

Inside the plane.

My view the whole way there. :(

First sighting of the Hawaiian islands!

A bigger island

More islands

The island out the other window

The ocean!

Starting to descend...

Landing on the island of Oahu!

Arriving in Honolulu International Airport around 3:30pm Hawaiian time!

Tourists in front of their plane. :)

We are here!!! More happy tourists in front of a big tree at the airport!

Both my older brothers were there to pick us up along with my niece Aika! I haven't taken any pictures of her yet. She is really cute! After we got to my brother's house, my parents weren't there yet so we took the dogs for a little walk...up a mountain! The only bad thing about that was that I was wearing a really nice dress top, gaucho pants and nice slip-on dress shoes! :( Not exactly the best hiking attire. My feet were already killing me and my heels had blisters on them. I took them off and was going to go barefoot but my brother made me wear his big, humongous work boots! :( Not exactly the best idea of style! Anyway, I did wear the boots but they made me slip in the mud going up the hill. It was a beautiful sight though, with the bay on one side and bigger mountains on the other. No, I didn't bring my camera. I promise later on today I will take it up there if it isn't raining like it is now.