It’s 4pm, and we just finished lunch…typical for Spain, or so we understand. At this very moment, we are driving down the highway in our brand new (to us) Ford Galaxy. We just finished lunch in Madrid, and we are on our way to Caceres to sign the contract for our new apartment! It took two cars (other than ours), just to carry our luggage. Our car just barely fits all 6 of us and our stroller.
It’s beautiful here. The people have been so kind and friendly, and so far, most people have spoken a little bit of English! As we drive down the highway, it reminds us of California. It looks very dry like a desert. There are beautiful snow capped mountains all around with vineyards on either side of the highway. Every once in a while you’ll see a Spanish home (I might call it a villa) with the Spanish tile roofs and high walls. It’s beautiful! I don’t think it has really hit us that we are actually, finally here!
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who prayed for us as we traveled! God was SO gracious and good to us on every side. We had a huge snowstorm in our area the night before we were supposed to leave. We had chosen to drive the 3 hours to D.C., so that we would only have to switch planes once during our trip. 14 inches in the south is not the greatest travel conditions! We had to battle the snow-covered roads, but we left a little early, and we did fine. It was icy and slow at first, but once we got to the major highway, we were good to go!
My parents and my sister came with us, so that we had another vehicle to fit all of our luggage. We arrived 4 hours before our flight was due to take off. We just wanted to be prepared for any difficulties we may have with checking in our luggage or with security. We parked curbside and unloaded our 20 bags… yes, 20!! Well, 11 huge checked bags, 1 pack-n-play, 6 carry-ons, and 2 carry on overnight bags… along with 3 car seats and a double stroller. We were a sight to see!!! We had help with the checked luggage, and we tipped him well! J
We had bought 9 big huge red duffle bags for this trip. I call them body bags; they are so big. So, we spent the last several nights packing all our breakable stuff in the two hard suitcases, and the rest had to be distributed through the 9 duffle bags. It was quite a process. I packed everything, and then we weighed each bag to make sure nothing was over 50 lbs. Of course, several were, so I had to re-distribute things … several times. Poor Wes got so tired of lifting 50 lb. bags and standing on the scale. We tried to pack each bag up to 49 lbs and nothing more, just in case our scale was off.
It certainly paid off. As we weighed everything, the lady complimented us on packing so well! J Praise the Lord, nothing was oversized or overweight. We were taking our pack-n-play (it’s what Carolina will be sleeping in for the next 4-6 moths until our crate arrives.) But, I was worried it would get totally banged up and broken, so we found a large box that was just perfect sized. It was technically ½ inch too large, so we were grateful that they didn’t have a problem with it. Using the box also gave us a little bit more space, so I packed some pillows and some stuffed animals to pad the pack-n-play, and so the kids will have some familiar “friends.” We were so thankful for how easy the check-in process was.
Because we got our tickets so last minute, there was not way to book our seats together. Of course, once the lady saw how young our kids were, she put a request in for them to book us together at the gate. Once the gate opened, the guy actually came up to us and asked us and asked us if we were the Whites. J Go figure, I guess we are not inconspicuous. J Anyway, he was so nice. He upgraded our seats so we would have some more leg room and put us in back to back rows. What a blessing from the Lord!
We were early, so we sat for a little while with my family in the airport before we had to say goodbye. Goodbyes are never fun, so we decided it was really a “see you later.” Somehow semantics helped in this instance. J So, we said goodbye, and the guy showed up with a wheel chair for Nathan. This was one time I was grateful that Nathan’s disability actually brought us some convenient help. The wheel chair had a place for luggage underneath, so we loaded it up. The guy took us through special doors and entrances and right up to the front of security, b/c of Nathan’s wheel chair. It is always so crazy for us to go through security, b/c of the stroller and all the kids, but everyone was so kind and helpful. They even let me take all my little cartons of Soy milk and baby food for Carolina!
Everything the whole trip really was perfectly timed, so that it felt very peaceful. I didn’t think I would ever use that word in conjunction with this trip, but our God is SO good! We had the perfect amount of time before we boarded the plane, and then the kids slept for about 4 of the 8 hours of our first initial flight. Carolina slept in her car seat for the first hour or so, and then I held her for the next 4 and ½ hours. Needless to say, I was very sore and didn’t sleep at all, but she was quiet and sleeping, so I was happy!
Once we arrived in Frankfurt, it was a little difficult getting off the plane, b/c they didn’t have our stroller or a wheel chair right there for us… but we made it, and then asked again for the wheel chair. This time, it saved us a ton of time. Not only did we get personally led through the entire airport, but we were taken to the front of a huge line at customs. It was definitely a blessing.
In Frankfurt, our plane was delayed for about an hour, so the kids got just a little bit antsy, but not too bad for what they’d been going through! They were working on between 2-5 hours of sleep (depending on the kid) and no naps… so, I thought they were doing pretty good! We were all exhausted by the time we got on the plane. Carolina fell asleep in Wes’ arms before he could even get her in the car seat, so he just held her for the two hours of the flight. Nathan fell asleep against him, and all three of them slept for the whole two hours! Weston and Jonathan were a little more excited, but they slept for the last hour. All in all, we were blessed!
It was hard to believe we had actually arrived in Madrid! We were exhausted, but to thankful to finally be here! We had no wheel chair this time, and initially, they told us there was no elevator to go down to baggage claim. We walked around and around trying to find some way… they didn’t even have escalators going down, they were just normal steps. We didn’t want to have to tackle that unless it was completely necessary. Ok, you should have seen us: Carolina was in the front of our sit and stand stroller. Nathan sat on the bench part, and Jonathan stood, facing Nathan… they were almost nose-to-nose. J I had Carolina’s car seat attached onto our rolling duffle bag; Weston was carrying his huge back pack that was really too heavy for a 6 year old; Wes was carrying a hiking backpack full of “stuff” and we had attached his laptop bag to the part that usually carries a sleeping bag. Lol! We also had Carolina’s diaper bag and my duffle bag full of snacks and activities for the boys hanging on the back of the stroller. WE WERE A SIGHT! Anyway, to make a long story short, we finally found an elevator. Once we finally got down to baggage claim, everyone else was gone, and it was just our luggage going around and around.
As we were walking up, an attendant was checking the tags on our luggage… it must’ve been there a while. So, our next challenge was how to get all 20 pieces of luggage out to where our friends were waiting! They had carts there, but they were so tiny, we could only fit 3 bag on each. As we stood there, assessing the situation, we saw someone waving at us whenever the sliding doors would open. We were so thankful to see Joel Jolley and Daniel waiting outside for us! Wes loaded about 6 carts full of our luggage, and we pushed the stroller and one cart through the doors. It was wonderful to see welcoming, smiling faces!
Once the guard at the door saw that we were trying to get all the luggage out the door, she let Joel and Daniel come in and help us. We had made it!!!!!!! We loaded half the luggage in Joel’s car, and then took the rest in the shuttle to the hotel.
The hotel was beautiful and so clean! We had all of us in one room, so one of the boys slept on the floor and Carolina was in a crib. It was cozy-tight, but wonderful! There was even a little play area outside, so the kids got to run off some energy.
Joel and Daniel were so gracious. I think as I look back, I’m not sure we even really said a full sentence the whole time we were together! We were so tired! They went and got us McDonalds (yay!... no culture shock for my kids!). The kids ate, took baths, and went straight to bed. They fell asleep around 5pm and didn’t wake up until we WOKE them up at almost 10am the next morning. (Carolina did wake up for a little bit, b/c she was hungry, but then went right back to sleep!!) Again, God was very gracious. I think they got all caught up and they’re good to go now! J I also went to bed early. I took a shower, and crawled into bed at 6pm. So, thankfully, we all got rest.
This morning, we met with Dwight and Mara, who are in charge of language learning in the area. (And I got my first “café” here in Spain!... it was wonderful!) They went over just a couple things with us, and they dropped off our vehicle for us! Right after that meeting, we loaded the vehicles, and headed out! We stopped on the way out of Madrid at TGI Fridays… again, they’re breaking us in easy… either that, or they were getting their fill of American food. ;) And here we are, driving the 3 hours to Caceres!
Once we get to Caceres, we will sign the contract for our apartment, and try to get our utilities and phone set up. Thank the Lord, we have all this help from all the missionaries already here. They are certainly an answer to prayer, and they’ve been so friendly and kind. They just kep telling us they want to help us adjust as easily as possible. We have certainly seen God’s love through them! I will write again and post pics of our apartment, as soon as I can.
Thank you all so much for praying, and praise be to our Sovereign, Gracious God!!!! We have arrived in Spain!
Glad you guys made it. We were wondering with the storm if you got out. Tell Weston Kbeth says hi - Miss you guys
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