“We was on this mission trip to Brazil and prayin’ for this here lady that had cancer and I’ll tell you what, she was death on a cracker, that woman. Next week we saw her, and my Lordy, she’d swallowed the whole electric company, you know what I mean? That lady was lit up! Cancer gone! Ain’t God good!? I tell ya, ain’t He gooooood!?”
-wiry guy with salt and pepper hair

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you mind if I bless your daughter real quick? The Holy Spirit keeps laying her on my heart.”
Me, after a split second prayer for wisdom: “Sure, her name’s Ellie.”
Silence. He seems to be listening.
“Do you sing alot to Ellie? Because God wants you to know He is blessed by how you are using your voice in her life. He gave the gift of your voice and He sees it is bringing forth fruit.  Ellie came into the world observant and absorbent and she is absorbing what she observes in you: the kingdom of God…”
Me: teary
-chubby 20-something with a bushy, bushy beard

“Would you like to try some beef jerky I made last week? Help yourself to these cashews as well.”
-tall, classy lady in creme

“Faith brings answers. Enduring faith brings answers along with character.”
-the preacher

Me: “Could I ask you a question? Why do you wear that thing on your head?”
Girl: “Well, um, mostly I wear it cause I was raised Mennonite.”
What I wish I had said: “What is Mennonite?”

“So we had three boys and then my wife felt God saying we need to have a girl and 9 months later David was born, haha. I told her it just ain’t in the mix for us, haha.”
-laid-back dad from the nursery

A squeeze from a stranger: “You’re such a beautiful mom.”
-a sweet voice, from somewhere behind me

From inside the bathroom stall: “Hello? Hello? Hellooooo? Could someone please help me?”
Kind woman rushing to me at the changing station: “Sure, what do you need help with?”
Me: “Im ok, thanks, but there’s…”
Shouting now: “Hey, hey, I need help. Someone please! I can’t get out of here!”

Imagine this: you are at the airport, perfectly on time for your flight. You carry on a small briefcase and you are sipping some expensive airport coffee, trying to avoid conversation with complete strangers.  All of the sudden here comes this young couple with lots of carry-on items stuffed in their stroller, the husband carries a duffle bag and plastic backpack and he pushes the stroller. The wife carries a screaming baby trying to calm it down with loudly whispering to the child that its gonna be OKAY.

Now that was more or less the beginning of our trip. If you think that going through security is a hassle try to go through security with an infantly baby! You might as well calculate in an extra hour because by the time you have your shoes back on the airplane is up in the air! That’s why they say parents with babies can go in front of the line– it’s because they are never on time to be in front of the line. Well, you know what I mean. We made it in time and settled down for the night on the airplane. Ellie did rather well; her ears did not bother her and sleeping on the lap seemed a piece of cake for her.

We landed in Frankfurt, Germany, and my mom and dad picked us up– our vacation had begun! Ellie had to get used to Europe, as she was out of her rhythm and cried quite a bit. We were in a vacation rental park full of Dutch people. It was fun for me to experience the cold culture. My sister, my brother-in-law and I went to do a zip-line course. While we were climbing our ropes this Dutch guy began talking to us and as the conversation carried on, we ended up insulting each other that we were too fat to climb the ropes. It was a Dutch conversation on its best and we had a good time with the guy.

Faster than we wanted, the end came and we said goodbye. It’s weird to go back to the country you love and to leave, knowing that you will never live there again.  Friendships will fade and the familiar things will change until you don’t recognize it anymore. My friends and family loved little Ellie and we are so glad they got to see her in this stage of her life. Anyway, this post is about babies in airplanes, lets quick move on before I start bawling my eyes out. 😉

The way back was a little harder since we had a layover in Philadelphia. Before the layover, Ellie did just fine giving us big grins every time she opened her eyes and saw her loving parents hovering over her. Then from Philly to Charlotte it was a little less comfortable. In the other flight somebody was kind enough to seek a seating place elsewhere so we could lay Ellie down on the third seat, but this time the plane was full. We had put Ellie in the sling so she could hang on her mothers shoulders and sleep the night away. But for takeoff Joy had to take the sling off and Ellie did not like that. She decided to take a mini nap and that was all. Finally we arrived in Charlotte and officially survived flying with a two month old!