We are standing at the ticket counter at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport with 22 pieces of luggage on Thursday, April 26th at 7:30 a.m. for our flight that leaves at 10:04 for Chicago. Eleven family members are waiting to say goodbye before we leave, but according to the very nice woman behind the counter, we have a problem. We purchased one way tickets and don’t have documentation that we have a job in Croatia. They can’t check us in to Zagreb or they could get fined. We start praying.
Earlier that week, Dan had called United and Luftansa about this very thing, and was told we wouldn’t need any paperwork. However, that didn’t help the woman at the counter. She left for 30 minutes to make phone calls to various people and embassies. We continued praying. When she came back she explained our options. We could fly to Chicago and then hope Luftansa checked us in through their system all the way to Zagreb. Or we could buy a one way refundable ticket from Zagreb to Munich. Hmmmm… as Dan and I discussed our options, leaning toward the one way ticket, she looked at her computer and paused. Thank you God! It turns out we were already checked in to Zagreb. When Dan had called to confirm our flight, Luftansa had checked us in – so were cleared to go. She gave us better seats on the plane and wished us luck.
It took about 30-45 minutes to weigh and check all our bags. By that time we were running late and had to say a quick goodbye to family as we entered the security gates and then raced for the gates. Ten minutes later, they started boarding the plane. Whew! After sitting down in our new seats, we looked up and saw Eric and Kris, a couple from Lakeside Christian Church in Cambridge (where we had been living), walking down the aisle. They proceeded to sit down next to Dan. They were on their way to Ethiopia to bring home two boys they were adopting. Isn’t that amazing?! We knew they were on the same plane to Chicago but it was fantastic that we were able to sit with them. We prayed together in the Chicago airport before they left for Frankfurt and we left for Munich.
As we waited in Chicago, Lydia’s stomach was having problems. She had finished her last oral typhoid that morning and had not been able to eat breakfast on our dash to our gate. She made it through the flight from Minneapolis to Chicago but by the time we arrived in Chicago she was pale and nauseous. Thankfully, it was out of her system by the time we got on the plane for Munich. Speaking of which, as we were standing in a long line to board the plane, one of the stewards came up and said, “Follow me.” He whisked us to the front of the line and went back for other families with kids. We were able to settle into our seats in the middle of the plane before it got crowded! As we watched other families enter, we realized how blessed we were, as many had been given seats apart from one another.
The girls did great on the long flight and we eventually arrived in Munich early in the morning. Our flight to Zagreb was delayed by an hour and when I saw the plane we would be taking I wondered how all our luggage was going to fit and if we were going to get off the ground if it did fit! It was a small commuter plane but I guess it was bigger and stronger than it looked because one hour later we safely landed in Zagreb, officially entered the country, and collected all our luggage! Steve, Jenny and Daniel Meeker met us on the other side with beautiful bouquets of flowers. God is good!
