Democratic Republic of Congo, The First Week

So, when we left off, our intrepid voyagers had just arrived in the DRC...

We pick up the story on the way to our new home. Once our bags were loaded, we hopped into the van for the final leg of travel. By that time, it was just about 7 pm, and we had been traveling for over 30 hours, with maybe 4 hours sleep. Saying we were tired, is a bit of an understatement. It had been dark for about an hour or so when we hit the road and we were so hoping to snooze on the ride home. But our first experiences with the local traffic kept us awake.

                                    Photo by Jocelyn Frey...Side note, I literally thought I was                                        smiling normally...Oh, jet lag and sleep deprivation... 

Now we have spent time in several countries: England, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and by far, the worst for traffic was the Dominican Republic. Well, the roads and traffic here made driving in the Dominican look like the Tin Lizzies at Opryland (I totally just dated myself...I'm too young to sound this old). 

There were cars and people EVERYWHERE! Cars driving on sidewalks, people in the road, cars going in every direction possible...except forward. There were no road lights, but we could see along the side of the street all the vendors with candles and small fires going. The flow of people was mind boggling. I thought the crowds would begin to thin out eventually, but nope. They just kept coming...

It took us about an hour or so to drive the 16 miles to the Frey's house. The Frey's are another awesome MAF family serving here (even though they are with MAF Canada, but we won't hold that against them), you can check out their blog here. The timing of our arrival couldn't have been more perfect. They were scheduled to leave the week after we arrived and needed someone to stay in their house while they are in 'Merica for some training. 

MAF policy requires us to not have any aviation responsibilities the first week or so after we arrive in country, to give us the best possible chance of adjusting. For the first couple of days, we couldn't tell what was sleep deprivation and what was jet lag. But after about day 3 we started to get caught up on our sleep and did feel the effects of jet lag. While Nick went to the hangar and did his MAF thing, we stayed behind and hung out with Jocelyn and Ruth. They were a HUGE help for us, patiently answering soooo many questions about life in the DRC. Plus Adah and Ruth got to hang out.

Photo by :Jocelyn Frey

Each night, one of the other families invited us over for dinner. The first night was with our program manager and his family. The second night was with the chief pilot and his family, and the third was with the chief of maintenance and his. The other nights were a combination of two or three or just hanging with the Frey's. Finally, when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, we had been there a week and I got to go to the Airport! And on that bombshell, we will continue with the next addition of our story at a later time.

Farewell

This is good-bye "until we meet again" at least for now. We are leaving in the morning for Africa!!! Finally, after years of preparation and God's stirring on our hearts, we have come to the departure moment. It is very exciting and very unbelievable. I almost feel like it is all a dream and I will wake up in my old home, in Tennessee, in my old bed.

Adah helping in the packing process

We have learned so much during orientation and feel closer to God and closer to our personal call to Africa. We are excited to meet to the locals and begin settling down in our temporary home while we find a more permanent place to stay. I want to thank everyone who helped to get us here: those who prayed, those who partnered financially, those who supported and encouraged us, those donated time to help us, those who donated other gifts that have meant so much to us. You are all a part of our team - TEAM SPANN! So, let's go team!

This has to make it through the airport tomorrow.

Having said all of that, I must say we will be offline for a while until we get settled. I hope to at least post some random words and pictures sometime between now and then to let you know we arrived safely. Otherwise, feel free to look us up on Facebook. Please pray for our travels, for Adah, and for our luggage to make it. Thanks again!!!

On a break...and on to adventure!

Sorry for the delay in posts, but last week was our fall break - we survived midterms! Hooray! So we celebrated by taking a break - from blogging, from school, and from Canada. We traveled back to East Tennessee to visit family. (Please do not be offended if we do not get to spend time together as this trip was mainly for the grandparents to have some one-on-one baby time, and seeing us was a mini-bonus!) Without further ado, here are some of our adventures from last week.

We had plans to fly to Tennessee on Friday evening so that Adah could sleep on the flight.

Super Baby Spann

We took our exams early during the week and had all day Friday to pack our bags and empty our refrigerator. At 6 AM on Friday morning, Kevin received an automated wake-up call from the airlines telling us our flight has been cancelled. What?!? Now being awake, Kevin called to speak to a human being in an attempt to try and get some more info on our flight. It was indeed cancelled, with no explanation; but they were happy to accommodate us. Our next flight was Sunday. Not later on Friday. Not Saturday. But Sunday morning. Kevin, being the ever patient pilot/mechanic, tried to find out about other options: departing from Montreal, departing from Vermont, arriving in Knoxville, arriving in Nashville, arriving in Atlanta, arriving in Charlotte, arriving in Lexington, etc. Nothing could connect us to a location near Tennessee anytime before we would arrive Sunday on the regular flight. So, Sunday was our only option with an 8 AM flight. Luckily, they put us in a hotel in Montreal Saturday evening so that we wouldn't have to drive 2 hours with a 5 month old at 4 AM.

Sleeping in between flights

We had a 5 hour layover in Chicago, but baby cooed her way into many people's hearts. She did great on the flight! She nursed a little and even took a pacifier for the first (and only) time! Some people even commented  they didn't know a baby was even on the plane!

Sweet baby, even after missing all her naps!

After arriving in Tennessee Sunday evening (flying and waiting all day), we spent the next week in a whirlwind of family visits and cleaning up our old house (which is on the market). We have no idea where the time went.

Four generations: Me, mom, Great Aunt Ruby, and baby

The following Sunday morning, bright and early, we headed to the Knoxville airport to fly back to Canada. Unfortunately, the airlines had other plans....again...  The baby was not registered (even though we registered her in Canada for the flights and payed her taxes).  We waited while airline personnel worked hard to find the problem. Three agents, one phone call, 10 printed-off ticket mistakes, and one hour later, we rushed to make out flight. We arrived at the gate with 2 minutes to spare!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat during our layover in Chicago, we settled down for a short wait for our next flight (30 minutes)...until it was announced that our flight was delay due to mechanical issues. Kevin knew right away that we were on the same airplane we were on before, coming from Knoxville. During the flight, he noticed the anti-ice system wasn't as it should be, causing a loud noise during flight. 2 hours later, the mechanics deemed the airplane to be airworthy and we were on our way. Adah was a trooper! She nursed and slept happily while Kevin and I began to watch a movie on our laptop.

Halfway through the flight, Kevin noticed that the airplane made a very long turn and was heading back towards the sun. He gave me a look that said, "oh no." Sure enough,  a few minutes later, the pilot announced we were headed back. The anti-ice system issue was still not fixed and we had to turn around before we got into an area where ice had been predicted. (For those of you unfamiliar with flight mechanics/travel the plane is equipped with the anti-ice system to prevent any possible ice build up on the aircraft in order to keep the weight down/improve visibility and proper airflow over the plane).

Sleepy baby is trying to play

So, after a one and a half hour scenic tour over Michigan, we arrived back in Chicago. Luckily, by the time we walked back in to the terminal, the airlines had already arranged for another plane to take us to Canada. We waited an hour for them to clean it up and fuel it and we were on our way! We touched down in Canada (bags and all!) at 6 PM and slipped through customs and baggage quickly (Canadians love children and you get to cut to the front of the line)! We made it back to our car and drove home and had Adah in bed by 10 PM.

We are thankful to be back and are ready to finish up our first semester of French. We were grateful to everyone along the way who helped us through the airport, the kind airline service people who worked hard to get us where we needed, and all the random strangers who did not complain when our tired baby refused to take a pacifier on the flight home! God is so good!