So today did NOT go as planned. We met with Helena and got a phone to use while we are in country. It's a disposable phone like tracfone at home. Another adoptive family purchased it while they were here much earlier this year. They left it for others to use and give back. All we have to do is add time when we need it. It was such a blessing to have because as things turned out, we needed it today to call Helena.
We got to the airport a little early again. Once we got on the plane, the mechanics showed up... never a good sign. We were on board for about an hour when an announcement came on (in Spanish). I tried my best to follow along and catch as much as I could and my suspicions were confirmed when everyone on the plane groaned. Our plane was broken... we needed to get off. We thought they had another plane for us but such was not the case. After some confusing time and my constant efforts to make sure that we were where we were supposed to be, we heard yet another announcement. My Spanish is starting to come back and I was able to gather that they had a few seats left on the 2:45 flight but everyone else would be flying out tomorrow morning at 7:30am. Again, my translating proved correct when a bazillion people jumped up and ran to the counter. We, travelling as a group of five and having a process in translation delay, had no chance.
We were then informed that we had to pick up our checked bags and take them to the provided hotel with us. Uggghh. I had planned for unexpected events (lost luggage) and had enough to make do on in our carryons. I did NOT want to tote our enormous amount of very heavy bags back to the hotel. And then we missed the first shuttle because we had more people/bags than would fit. Avianca is footing the bill for tonight's hotel, lunch, and dinner. So I guess that's good. However, we have a very LONG day ahead of us tomorrow.
The worst part is that the officials who have our kids don't even know that this has happened because they aren't available on Sunday (as it should be). So Helena is going to watch and make sure that we get on that plane and take off on time and call the office as soon as it opens tomorrow. She is taking care of notifying the hotel in Pasto and our driver of the changes. I'm very thankful that we have her help. We are hoping that we will be able to push the Encuentro to the afternoon and still get the kids tomorrow, rather than postponing another day. My heart is very heavy worrying about the kids. They have faced so much disappointment in their lives. They have been abandoned and left to take care of themselves. Will they think we aren't coming? Will they be resentful and angry when we finally do show up? It would be so much easier to deal with unexpected issues if we were all already together but disappointing them by not showing up when they were told we would... well it breaks my heart.
I was also looking forward to having this afternoon and evening to 'set up camp' before we got the new kids. It looks as if now we won't be able to do that. We meet in the lobby of our hotel at 5am to catch our new plane tomorrow. When we get to Pasto, we have a 45 minute ride down the side of the mountain, throw our bags in our hotel rooms, change our clothes and go meet/get our kids.
Please pray for us. We need shielding from the devil's attacks on our adoption.
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