Panama Day 1 and Day 2

Our journey began on Tuesday, June 29th. We left the church around 10:30 a.m. for the airport. Our flight to Atlanta was suppose to take off at 1:57 p.m. and then our flight from Atlanta to Panama City, Panama was suppose to be at 5:30 p.m.

Our friends that were keeping the girls went with us to the airport so we could say goodbye from there. This was the first time that both Brian and myself have ever left them. Plus leaving them for 8 days!

Our team with family at the airport!

We all got through security and had a snack while we waited to board our plane. Oh yeah, this was also the first time that I have ever flown. While we were setting there Bro. Kenny said that he had got a notification that our plane was delayed by 1 hour because of mechanical reasons. This wasn't going to be a big deal because we had a small delay in Atlanta and would still be able to make our flight to Panama.

Well about 30 minutes later they announced that our flight had been delayed for another hour. Yikes! Bro. Kenny went up to the desk to work everything out, but the only problem was that there was only 1 flight daily to Panama! So the airline put us in a hotel in Lexington that night and bumped us up to FIRST CLASS on our flight from Atlanta to Panama the next day!!! We as a team got together and prayed and just asked the Lord to work out all of the details and that we knew that there had to be a reason our flight was delayed. We just put our entire trust in Him!

We all had a few encounters with people at the hotel and in Lexington that we wouldn't have had otherwise. Bro. Kenny was able to be a witness to the man working for Delta. I am sure he could have gotten upset and acted ugly, but he didn't do that and instead showed Christ to this young man.

Our room at the Hyatt:

It was a very nice room and I was so thankful that I had packed extra necessities in my carry on bag! :)

The next day we just headed back to the airport for day 2 of our travels. I loved this picture of Brian (he was talking to the girls) and I also love the fact that he was wearing two silly bands that they had given him to wear. :) Anna gave him a Woody one and Holly gave him a moon one!

This is the plane we rode to Atlanta on! I just had to get a pic of my first airplane. :) Brian said that if he would have thought he would have asked the flight attendant to give me a set of wings. Ha!

I was just amazed by the sights! I didn't get sick or anything, just a tad bit dizzy when the plane would turn. Another funny thing that happened was with our seating. On our previous days flights I was booked to sit beside Brian on both flights. When things got switched up a bit - so did our seats. Fun times. So when we got on our flight to Atlanta there was a man sitting down in the seat that should of been where Brian was gonna be holding my hand. So I very nicely asked this man, "Sir, this is my very first flight ever is there any way you could switch my husband seats, he is right over there by that window!" He at first kind of hesitated, but then got up so Brian could switch with him! It was a bit of an anxious moment, but whew it happened all within about 20 seconds! Whew - thank you Lord!!!

Here is the plane that we rode to Panama on. Notice the food being loaded on the left side of the plane. We'll get back to that in a minute! :P

And here we are. Sitting. In. First. Class!!!!!

Brian taking advantage of the pillow! :)

This was just a random pic that I took and I caught a plane taking off!

The clouds from 36,000 feet were just amazing! I saw God's creation in an entirely differently way and I was just in awe!

We did hit some turbulance while on this flight, but I think it was from the hurricane that we may or may not have been flying over :) But we were literally setting in the front row of the plane so it wasn't too bad on us.

Here is the sunset at 36,000 feet!

I have always heard that food on a plane is horrible. Well, not the food that we had. I had a filet mignon with steamed veggies and sweet potatoes, salad, warm bread, and a chocolate mousse cake!!! And it was really delicious! A blessing indeed!

Now on to the photo that almost got me arrested! :)

Haha! Just kidding! As soon as we got off of the plane in Panama City about 9:00 p.m. I snapped a couple of pictures. But then Bro. Kenny very nicely said that I might not want to be doing that right at that moment....ha! This is the gate that we also boarded our plane for home too. After we got off of the plane we went through immigration to get our passports stamped and the IMB missionaries were there to pick us up. All of our team except for me and Brian stayed in a lodge that night, but we were guests at Kenny and Cheryl's house. We slept really well and woke up to some amazing views of the city the next morning.

I've got TONS more to post and will try to post a day or so each day! Our VBS is this week too so that is why I won't be able to get it all done at one time!

But it was truly a wonderful trip and we did meet some very special people that I can't wait to share about! God definitely showed up!!!