First Blog Evah

Well, it’s 6 am, the day after Labor Day (in America), and all through the house, not creature is stirring, except the kitten that is trying to get in our kitchen window.  Looks like a good time to write our first blog!

We are settled in Bitola, Macedonia!  Praise God!  Let me give a few highlights of the travel fun that got us here:

Road Trip – When we left NC, last Wednesday, our first task was to complete a road trip from Rutherfordton to Washington DC.  So, 7 busting-at-the-seams suitcases, 2 excited boys, one not-so-excited dog, one determined husband, and I piled into a rented minivan and were off!  Everything went swimmingly. Really. Amazingly. It did.

Dulles Airport – We arrived at the drop off curb and decided the best course of action would be to unpack the entire van at the curb, then have Malachi and me wait for Zo and Joe to return the rental van and ride the shuttle back, so we could drag everything inside the airport and to the ticket counter. Of course, I don’t stand around well and Malachi loves a challenge, so the two of us decided to get everything inside all by ourselves.  Malachi took three 50 lb suitcases, (which were as tall as he is), his carry on and his backpack. I grabbed the 4 other suitcases, 3 carry ons, my backpack, and the dog cage (which, thankfully was on wheels).  Man, were we a sight!  We made choo choo train noises and stopped every 20 seconds to pick up a bag that fell over or rest, but we made it to the ticket counter.  (Shout out to the lady that helped Malachi the last 50 feet!) Wish I could’ve taken a picture, but obviously, my hands were quite full!

We got everything checked in (including the dog, which was my greatest concern b/c of all the struggles we had getting her paperwork completed) and only had 30 min before the flight boarded to regroup.  Boys were jumping off the walls at this point.  Fun times!

Dulles to Istanbul – 10 hours and 40 minutes of paaaarrrrtttyy…Not. Actually, it was a very good flight. The “lowlight” was when a poor, 20-something girl got sick and puked on the aisle next to our seats.  That was around hour 2 of the 10 hour flight.  Even though a flight attendant walked by every 30 minutes, and sprayed some flowery smelling junk on top of it, by hour 9 of 10, it was pretty awful. Something along the lines of “eau de puke with flowers on top.” Ugh. But boys did great (this was Malachi’s first time on a plane and Joe’s second).  We are grateful for such an easy flight.

Quotes from Istanbul Airport –

“Why do the women here dress like ninjas?” – Joe

“Is Roxy ok? And where in the heck is she?” – Me

“I’m grumpy.” – Malachi

“Me, too.” – Zo

Istanbul to Skopje – Piece of cake flight. By the time we were up, we were coming back down again.

Now was the “fun part” – getting through customs and immigration with 2 exhausted boys, an insane dog that has been in a cage for almost 30 hours without being let out to go to the bathroom for the last 17 (I’ll let your imagination take you from there), 350 lbs of our stuff on wheels, and a nervous wife, who is just positive something will go wrong and they won’t let the dog into Macedonia. (Unfortunately, “faith” is not my strongest gift. Actually, I don’t even think it made top 10)  Poor Zo. J

No kidding you, I had a manila envelope with 25 documents proving Roxy’s health, wellness, and overall awesomeness that I had gotten signed by the vet, the USDA in Columbia, SC and anyone else I could find that seemed “official”. We dragged ourselves up to the man at customs, and this is how the conversation went:

Man: “Hello. Where are you coming from?”

Zo: “America.”

Man: “And the dog?”

Zo: “America.”

Man: “Have a good evening.”

Yup. That was that. He didn’t even ask to see the stack of papers. Didn’t even pretend to look at them. I thought seriously about demanding he see all of the proof that I had gathered (pride is a struggle for me), but quickly thought better of it, smiled sweetly and continued on my way.

We arrived! Safely. Soundly. And gratefully. Now, onto the next step of our adventure…..