Adventures in flying

We finally received the boys’ passports on Aug 3! Thank you all for your prayers for that! We immediately sent photos of them to Zambia immigration so our Work Permit could be completed. Our flights were booked for Aug 15th so we had an open house on Saturday evening for family and friends to say their goodbyes, it was a very full and busy house, but a wonderful time! Sunday we were called up to the front of church to be blessed and the congregation prayed over us, very comforting to hear and see the support behind us!

After dinner with all our kids that evening, completing our last minute packing, AJ received a message from John that our work visa was still not completed and without it we would not be able to enter the country, in fact we could be deported until we get the permit. Joe (immigration) and John (SOH) were both hopeful that we would have good news the next morning, but a 4 day delay in travel plans was likely. We went to sleep that night, a bit unsure of what tomorrow would bring! Monday morning we spoke to John and Susan who were now in Zambia, and there was no news yet at that point. We discussed the possibility of delaying our flights, but with so many things planned for leaving that day, changing all of it wouldn’t have been easy. Both Laura and I felt sure that the permit would be completed in time, so we agreed to travel at least as far as Toronto, and if we still hadn’t heard anything, on to Ethiopia. After all, God had opened every other door on the journey to this date, so we knew He would do it again. So after some tearful goodbyes to our kids and Brody, we left Vancouver at 4:45pm.

We landed in Toronto at 1am and went to the ALT hotel to sleep for a few hours before the next flight. We still had no news on the permit, but John and Susan had found a way for us to get a travelers visa for Ethiopia, a ride from the airport, lodging, and an orphanage to volunteer at, should we be delayed. After a very comfortable rest of about 6 hours, we woke up, showered, and got ready to fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. About an hour before we boarded our flight, we received a message from John: our permit was APPROVED!! What fantastic news, and a huge answer to prayer! We could continue our journey with peace in our minds and hearts that we were doing the right thing, and there would be no major changes to our travel plans going forward. It was a blessing for sure, because our flight was delayed leaving Toronto, then when we approached Addis Ababa, the control tower had lost power and couldn’t communicate, so we had to stay in a holding pattern for a bit. When we finally landed, we rushed across the airport to catch our next flight, running and taking busses, and just made last call to board! Good thing too, because we only had to wait in the plane 1.5hrs before we could take off due to more communication difficulties with the control tower. Anyway, we did eventually take off and about 4 hours later, landed (or dropped would be more accurate) onto the runway in Ndola, Zambia! Getting through immigration took a bit of time, but all went smooth and we could collect our bags and get on our way. All of our bags with the exception of a bundle of hockey sticks made the trip! We made it!!