We Have Arrived in Africa!!

We have good news to share we have successfully arrived in Nairobi. It has already been an adventure. Some tiny highlights included arriving to check bags and finding out that carry on luggage also is weighed and we were over limit. A very kind attendant from Kenya Airways helped us in pulling out packs of Children's Rosary books until we fell under the limit. Quickly the kids went into packing mode as they rushed to get the extra books into checked bags that had some space. 
One other hiccup was an unfortunate injury with my neck on the way to the airport. Although I had hopes that I would be in tip top shape with my joints to start the flight I realized this was not to be. The flight time on our tickets was 14.5 hours. But as soon as we boarded the plane they started announcing that we would arrive early. I like to think the winds were blowing with us. 

The flight was hard. Sitting in quiet prayer a thought came - when God calls someone to do something it may be difficult, there may be suffering. This isn't a punishment and it does not mean we have made an error in our course. It just requires more trust. In the midst of the flight I thought of Our Lady. How she must have had uncertainty for her own well being and that of her unborn Baby. Things didn't look good when she went into labor with no room available in the Inn. It probably didn't make sense to her.  But our ways are not God's ways. So it is not my role to question why I hurt my neck. It happened and we go on entrusting all things to Our Blessed Mother and Our Lord.

The kids have done well so far. Asher fell asleep for less then an hour on the plane but Seth did manage to capture a picture of him. There were lots of questions leaving the airport during the final check of our bags as to why we had so many rosaries. But after many questions and looking in our bags we were told we could go. This was a wonderful blessing. We had some concerns about finding the people who would pick us up but as we walked out of the airport we easily found Carol and our driver David who will help us for the week and a half. With ten checked bags and many carry on bags there was concern about fitting everything into the van. But everything fit! Praise God. The top picture is the crew in the van headed to the hotel. As one can see we are tired but spirits are good. We are so grateful for the prayers. They have helped us tremendously. 

On Sunday at the conclusion of our 8AM Sunday Mass our Pastor blessed our whole family: Seth, Konstantin, Alina, Asher and myself. The whole Congregation present at Mass extended their hands and prayed for us. Monday one of the parishioners from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish had a Mass offered for the trip. We are also so grateful for all those unifying in prayers with us through the 30 Day Novena. Thank you all and please know we are carrying you with us on this journey.