WE'RE COMING TO AMERICA - TODAY!!!

Well "TODAY" meaning 5 months ago. :) 

In my chronological attempts at catching up, I am now to our American trip. I was gone for nearly 8 weeks (starting June 11th) and took a bazillion pictures and so this trip will have to be documented over many posts on this blog.

So to start with here are some airplane traveling shots and stats.
Estimated hours of traveling to and from airports and flight time: 77
Estimated time to do that without Varian there to help:  49
Now that's not even mentioning all the time traveling in the car on the various road trips and day trips.

PHEW!

But I can't even begin to tell you how blessed we were on our travels. Frankly the entire trip I felt so strongly the blessings and continual watchful care of Heavenly Father. I felt like He loved me and knew that this trip was so important to me and helped everything just go so smoothly. Jaren truly was an ANGEL BABY and I was blessed with a calm and relaxed and adventurous spirit.

Here at home I get a bit anxious with the thought of taking Jaren to run errands and disrupt his nap schedule..etc. But on that trip there wasn't one day where we didn't load him in the car and take him off to some party or trip or function. Oh wait, there was one night where we had a dinner party at our house and I hadn't taken him out that day. Just once.

But again, it was such an amazing. trip and I felt so happy just being home and being around loved ones. It was great to have all my friends and family meet Jaren. Also it had been 2 years since most of my family and Varian could spend in-person time together and so that was such a blessing!!!

So the long 14 hour flight from Brisbane to L.A. they bolt a bassinet into the wall for you to lay your baby. What a lovely thing this is - HOWEVER the minute they turn that fasten seat belt sign on they insist that you take your sleeping quiet baby out of their bassinet (in which they are strapped in) and put them on your lap and belt them into your seat belt. HELLO! Do they want you to bother all the other sleeping passengers who hate the idea of being on such a long flight with a baby? Sadly that first flight they would leave it on for hours at a time and Jaren's not really one to sleep in your arms. But again we were blessed and although he never really got a full night's rest he took several naps, and was so wiped out by the time we made it to San Fran that he crashed that night and woke up the next morning right on the U.S. schedule. Hallelujah. I think we were expecting a lot worse.

Flying by myself with Jaren was a bit intimidating but again I feel like Heavenly Father just really blessed me. Jaren did so well and quoting one man who we sat next to on our DC trip, "That is the happiest baby I think I've ever seen!" Seriously, he was delightful and giggly and so well behaved. He took naps and ate well and just did such a good job. The big flight home was smooth and Jaren just slept the entire time. Somewhere around 9 am Utah time he woke up and I fed him and he sat on my lap for awhile and played with me, and then I laid him back in the bassinet to nap for the rest of the flight. Then I fed him again right before landing which gave him enough energy to last happily through the world's longest immigration and customs line.

So again - flying with a baby - not that big of a deal. Granted he was only 5 -6 months old and was pretty content just to sit on my lap anyway (hmmm, how will he do for next year's flight when he will want to be walking around?). But even if it had been a nightmare, it would have been worth it to be HOME and to have that wonderful trip! So stay tuned for many fun posts of our U.S. adventures.

To Be Continued....