Bonjour, Belgium!

A small part of my wonderful "sending off" committee! Friday, 6/10/11 :-)

Bonjour from Belgium!

Ahhhh... it is wonderful to be back in my European home and amongst my European family! Thank you all for your prayers these past weeks, days, and hours. They were heard!

Yesterday's good-bye's went very smoothly and I was peaceful and excited. The check-in and security went smoothly, and then the excitement started. When I reached my boarding gate in Columbus, we were told that "our" plane had a not arrived yet, but should be there in about 10 minutes. No big deal... I had a 1 hr 11 minute layover to my next flight, so could afford a few minutes delay. 10 minutes turned into about 20, and we finally began boarding. After we boarded our plane to Atlanta, the captain notified us that a runway had been shut down in Atlanta and there was a back-up of planes there, so we were not being given clearance to leave Columbus until that was dealt with. We waited about 30 more minutes, and at that point, I realized that unless my flight in Atlanta was also delayed, I probably wasn't going to make it to Belgium on that flight. Oh well, I thought. I love airports and travelling adventures, so whatever happens, happens. The flight to Atlanta was very smooth and fast. I played the "inflight trivia" game on the fancy computer screen in the seat in front of me, and had a great time, winning 2 out of the 3 rounds... despite the fact that I had almost no clue as to what half the questions were talking about! :-) The pilot must have been going a little over the air "speed limit", because despite the fact that we left about an hour later than scheduled, we arrived only 1/2 hour later than scheduled. My seat neighbor had a "fancy technological device" that was able to look up my gate and find out that my flight was on time (!). So, with about 15 minutes left until my Brussel's flight's scheduled departure time, I de-boarded the plane from Columbus and began the walk-run across the Atlanta airport. The terminal we landed in and the terminal I had to get to were the two opposite sides of the airport - about the longest distance possible from one terminal to another. At any rate, between the little subway thing, escalators, and my walk/running through the airport, I made it to my gate just after hearing the PA system call out the last boarding call for my flight (they called a couple other peoples' names, but not mine... :-) I got checked in and boarded the plane and sat down huffing, puffing, and sweating, and very happy. At that point, I pretty much expected my luggage to follow on a future plane, but I was just glad to make it on that flight! Once again, the flight itself was very smooth and uneventful. I was able to doze on and off for about 3 hours of the flight (from 3 a.m. - 6 a.m.), enjoyed the food and once again, was struck by the oddity of spending 8 1/2 hours and a short night's sleep with about a hundred of my closest strangers. At any rate, we arrived in Belgium this morning and customs and border patrol went super smoothly (in fact, not a question was asked or word said other than "hello" :-). Paul Petrie met me at the airport and took me "home", and I have unpacked, taken a short nap, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everybody again. Stephen Petrie's wife, Sarah, her sister Emily, and Stephen and Sarah's 8 month old daughter are still here (they've been taking care of Rebecca the last couple weeks). They will leave on Monday, but it's been wonderful to get to meet the final Petrie's I had not met, and it is of course enjoyable to have an adorable baby in the house! I have been able to pick right up with some of the responsibilities here, with a lot of freedom to rest and settle in as well. The responsibilities will pick up more in the upcoming days! :-)

Please pray that I get a good night's sleep tonight and that my body adjusts quickly to the time change. Other than that, I am healthy, happy, and so very grateful for the exciting and successful trip! :-)

Happy weekend, all!

A la prochaine,

Mary Beth