On Monday, February 18, we got up early to finish all our last minute packing and cleaning. I feel like I should say that the morning was pretty relaxing and stress free for the magnitude of what was about to happen...definitely God's grace in our lives! When we were ready to go, the four of us, along with my parents and Cole's parents, went on our way to the Charlotte airport. I was worried that it would be a very emotional and tearful goodbye at the airport, but again, we were able to part ways in very calm manner. I am grateful for that as well!
We boarded the plane for the short flight to Washington DC. We sat on the plane for a short time while they fixed a small problem, but had an uneventful flight otherwise. We had a 2 hour layover in DC before we boarded the "big plane" as Cameron likes to call it. We sat on the "big plane" for at least an hour after we were scheduled to depart while the maintenance crew took their time deciding whether or not we could leave without a spare oxygen tank. It was not a very fun hour of sitting. Cameron was easily distracted by activities we brought for him, but Harrison was not so amused! In fact, he spent a good portion of that hour screaming!! I don't like to be the one causing a distraction or annoying people, so this stressed me out a lot. Thankfully, shortly before we finally took off, Harrison fell asleep. I can honestly say that the rest of the flight was very uneventful. We ate some dinner, watched some movies, and then all fell asleep. None of us more than a few hours of sleep, but enough to make the trip a little more tolerable. We landed in Brussels around 9:00 (3:00 am EST). We grabbed our luggage (all of our luggage made it), and headed out to find our taxi. I'm sure it was amusing watching us try to navigate through the airport by ourselves. I'm quite certain we all looked a bit disheveled, but we also had a ton of luggage - 7 pieces of luggage plus a double stroller, two carseats, and two small children in tow. It was a bit of a mess, but we made it!
After our caravan made it through customs, we found our taxi driver who had a strange look on his face when we saw us. He told us that there was no way we would be able to fit everything in the car he brought for us. I wanted to cry when I saw the car...it was small. I was not prepared to deal being stuck at the airport until we had another solution, but thankfully, the taxi driver found a colleague with a big van who was willing to trade routes with him. So, we loaded the bags, carseats, stroller, and ourselves and headed to Gent. It took about 40 minutes to get to our temporary apartment. The boys (including Cole) slept while I sat in the front seat and worried about all the changes and all there was to do to make Gent our home.
When we pulled up to the Aparthotel Gent, the taxi driver set a record for "Fastest Unloading of an American Family with Lots of Stuff." We were left standing in front of the building, our luggage on the sidewalk, and a little dazed.
Thankfully, it wasn't raining.
We had arrived.
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