Getting to Guam

 *Deep breath*

What a trip.

We finished our visit in Kansas with a pit stop seeing my dear friend Katy and her family. The girls swam and jumped and played while I caught up with her. It was so nice. We then checked into base TLF and stayed there 6 nights.

It was comfortable, albeit small. We had airup mattresses, pullout couch, and plenty of things to help make our trip comfortable, like the kitchenette, cooking supplies, and stove.

The park in the middle of the TLF units was the real star of the show. I could let the kiddos go run and play there to help ease the wiggles.

We started Sunday, the 25th with packing our car with all our baggage. We checked out of the hotel and took some family pictures around base with some of the static planes.

We trekked to our church for one last sunday morning service. I cried a little during the service and while giving hugs goodbye to our church family. The past year with them has been life changing in many ways. And I will miss them terribly. Of course, the assurance we will see each other again whether years down the road or ultimately in Heaven helped take the sting away.

For lunch, we ate at Playa Azul with the McCollough and Patterson families. All 17 of us piled around a long table and enjoyed delicious chips and salsa and conversation. Of course, it never feels like enough time. Not enough time to get to know them, to play games with them, to hold deep conversations, or to eat Mexican food. I am tremendously thankful for the time we did get to spend with them. I know I can always talk to Lindsey or Keri if I had a problem or question and they would give a genuine response in truth and love. Having friends like that is priceless.

On to Kansas City. We drove to Springhill Suites by the airport and met up with Sams parents and his sister, Kat, and her family (minus one who had to work---we miss you Alli!). The girls took a dip in the swimming pool which was hugenormous and clean. I was really thankful for a clean and safe hotel.

We ate at Blind Box BBQ. Mabel slept on me the majority of the time and woke pretty grumpy. After, we all went to get Sheridan's Custard. Back at the hotel, we played Quirkle, Uno, and Tic-Tac-K.O. I went to bed close to 1130, while Sam stayed up later talking with family and getting the bags ready for the flight.

Our alarms went off at 5:05 and Sam and I were up. Definitely not enough sleep. We got our bags loaded onto the cart and I woke the girls. Jules and Daphne slept in our room while Mabel and Penny slept in Kat's room. We loaded the truck at 6:15 and headed to the airport.

Kansas City Airport had just undergone renovations and a new terminal construction, so we got to experience it. It was really easy to navigate. We walked to the airline desk, there weren't but a handful of people there. A kind man named Vic helped us get our bags checked and labeled. His patience with our group of 12 was unparalleled. I forgot I had matches in my wallet, so I gave them to Kat to throw.

After we watched our bags float away on the conveyor belt, we said our goodbyes to family. It was hard. Tears here and there. Hugged, and then hugged again. We were so thankful they could come help us not only with our luggage and getting settled at the airport, but for the show of love and support and trying to help us at ease. It was really nice.

We weaved our way through the security line. I reminded the girls about what to expect and pointed it out as I could. We waved to family and kept moving through the line. The gentleman who first took our boarding passes gave us an expedited card. This meant after we dropped off our bags in the trays, we could skip the big scanner machine and walk around it. That was really nice. We made it through, gathered our belongings, and collected ourselves near the big sparkly sculpture nearby. The girls toodled to the Lego store while Sam rearranged our documents. We walked to our terminal as the smell of BBQ filled our noses. The girls ooh'd and ahh'd over all the trinkets and souvenir shops.

We boarded the plane. Penny wanted to be first in line. We couldn't quite get through to her that it didn't matter when we get on the plane, since we have assigned seats.
The girls were excited. I looked out the window and cried a bit. I was overwhelmed with emotion about leaving Missouri, about the stress of going through the security, about what to expect, about everything.

The flight to Denver took about an hour and a half. The girls thought getting soda was amazing. Daphne and Penny raved about the flight during it, especially takeoff. Mabel slept the entire flight. Jules played her tablet.

We landed in Denver and knew we would need to hustle to our next gate. Being in the last row of the plane, it took us a while to get off. We rushed from our gate through the escalators and down to the train. We waited alongside hundreds of others for the train to arrive. We couldn't fit inside the first train that arrived, people were squished like sardines. So we waited for the second. The girls all held onto the pole as we shot off. They all liked it. After we got off the train, we rushed up to the next gate to be greeted with a long line of others waiting to board. Again, Penny wanted to rush and be first in line.

The plane was huge. TVs in the seat backs. We boarded and walked to the right, with the other peons, ahaha. The first class seats were huge pod/cubicle looking things. at upwards of 6K a pop, I bet they were comfortable.

We were the very last row. We got settled in. There were 2, 3, and 2 seats in our row. I sat next to a young gal named Nahi on her way to Bangkok to visit her uncle for a few weeks. She shared some cookies with me, and her parent's phone number so we could get free wifi on the flight. She was excited to travel and confident to adventure. It was inspiring.

The flight was 12 hours. Time went quickly. It felt like they fed us and gave us drinks every hour. They dimmed the lights and windows pretty quickly into the flight. Lunch options were a tray of pasta or chicken over noodles. I chose noodles. It was delish. Announcements were made in English and Japanese.

I watched a bit of Dune, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Notting Hill, the first 10 minutes of Beetlejuice (changed my mind), and The Whale. I shouldn't have watched that one. I cried a lot.

Mabel was good most of the flight, watching bluey and puppy pals and playing on her drawing tablet or Jule's tablet. She got antsy in the last couple of hours and cried a little. The other girls were good. Kept occupied. We didn't need to bring the snack backpack. We definitely overpacked on that one. It really was a comfortable flight. The bathrooms were good size as well.

Upon landing, we weren't in a hurry to get off, since we knew we had a good solid 2 hr layover in Tokyo. I was feeling a bit green from exhaustion, emotions, upset tummy, and cramps. We got off the plane. The girls, loaded with their backpacks, followed Sam through the airport. The bathroom was a little dirty and, not gonna lie, I couldn't find the place to flush the toilet there were so many buttons.

We found our gate and plopped down. Mabel was tired and wanted to be held. So I sat down with her next to my bags and Sam and the others went exploring. I felt so sick and I was trying not to fall asleep. I watched men work on the flight line while Mabel napped. I wanted to explore the airport in Japan. I wanted to see the shops and spend some time enjoying it. It didn't happen. That's okay.

Sam took Mabel and sat down with her on the floor. They both napped a little while while the girls and I played uno and talked.

More people gathered in our gate and soon enough, it was time to board. Penny got quite angry that we didn't rush into line. It was hard to get her to understand and be patient.

We boarded after showing our passports and passes. Last row, again. The olders sat on the right together and I sat at the window for the first time today. I cried again. I tried to use my neck pillow and was able to sleep for a bit, despite feeling so sick. I woke after two hours, checked on Mabel asleep next to me, and fell back asleep. I couldn't get comfortable. Two more hours and we were landing. Penny and Jules were falling apart. So tired, crying loudly, whining.

 

My phone died, so I wasn't able to capture the Guam airport.

We, being the last on the plane, were the last off. Sam had to go back onto the plane because I forgot our small technology bag. Sam got a message from both our sponsor Dave and the lady renting us her car that they were waiting for us.

We walked a lot through the Guam airport and went through customs, where we showed our Passports and the man took our pictures. Mabel wasn't having it. We went down the elevator to the baggage claim. Found all our bags very quickly, all 8 plus the carseat for Mabel. We had two big luggage rollers to carry it all on. We had to fill out another customs/entry type form online for each one of us to input our passport info. Exhaustion had made all of us into grumpy little creatures. Penny was whining verbally and Jules was following suit. We had the customs/entry officer scan the codes and we pushed our baggage through to the main receiving area where we met Meagan and her friend, who were holding a sign for us. Sam told the girls "Go, run to the strangers" which was funny at the time. They greeted us with smiles, at 1030ish at night, which was nice. The older three toodled ahead, chatting their ears off, while Mabel and I trailed and Sam was the caboose. Dave, our sponsor, walked up to Sam and introduced himself, and I shook his hand. I made sure to thank him for meeting us so late.

We walked outside to the curb pickup area and Meagan went to get the van while we waited. A few minutes later, she pulled up and everyone loaded the bags into the car. We snapped in the carseat, the girls piled in the van, and we waited for Dave to drive ahead of us to lead the way. It was so nice to finally be there.

We drove down the main road on Marine Corp drive and passed a lot of neglected buildings and shredded foliage. It was sobering. We arrived at Alupang towers. Penny was in straight scream crying mode. We checked in and Dave was so nice to help us unload and get up to the room.

He had stocked the room with food and drinks. My friend Catie had Sam's shirts and new patches brought up too. I was so thankful that they surprised us with that. I cried and thanked Dave for all he did. He even brought up a wagon to make bringing groceries up easier to the room from the parking garage. I was overwhelmed with gratefulness that he did all that for us.

We had the girls take very quick showers while Sam and I unpacked.

I'll be honest. The room is dirty. Hair and dog hair in the drawers and on the floor. Crumbs and debris on the night stands. Dishes with stuck on food in the cabinet. Crumbs and stuff in the utensil drawers. I legit questioned whether or not our sheets were clean. I pulled them back and they looked clean, but I didn't sleep well knowing that the room was in the state it was and if I could even trust my blanket.

Day 1:

We all slept hard and woke around 7 am. Had muffins and poptarts for breakfast. Took the girls downstairs to the beach, which was literally fifteen steps from the hotel. Saw little crabs and plenty of coral washed up. They frolicked in the water, exclaiming at every crab and shell they found. Jules already had a collection of shells to keep. We let her keep one.

A man walked from far off past us and around us with his fishing net. He went in to the water a ways down from us. I commented to Sam that that was wise---our girls splashing and scaring the fish off into his direction. Ha!

We came back up to the hotel, showered, then made our way out for lunch. We went into Stax Burgers, but they were too busy with nowhere to sit, so we went to Mosa's for lunch. Sam had a fish burger, I had a chorizo burger. Mabel and Beans had fish nuggets and the other two had cheeseburgers. Sam ordered a sweet tea and after trying it said "We aren't in the south, are we?" I tried it and said, "Nope."

After Mosa's, we drove to base. I wrestled with my emotions. I saw so many neglected homes and cars, trash everywhere, poor living conditions, dilapidated buildings and boonie dogs running. There was so much green. Some of the palms were stripped bare. others looked untouched.

We made it to base. I asked Sam if he needed my ID to get on. He laughed and assured me we wouldn't. Sure enough, we didn't.

We drove around base, getting a feel for where everything was. Stopped in the commissary to pick up some cleaning supplies and laundry soap. It was quite big compared to Whiteman's commissary. The freezers were not working.

After, we drove around more and found the BX. It was as big as a small walmart with so many options for clothes, toiletries, household goods, furniture, electronics, and more. I was really suprised at how big it was! I was thankful for that. We picked up some hairbands for the girls since they couldn't stop pushing their hair out of their faces at the beach.

We drove through housing. It was a bit of a shock compared to what we were used to at Whiteman. Our house there was two story with our garden, fenced backyard, tall ceilings. These houses are one story, scattered palm trees and debris, and feel a bit like a compound. Very sterile.

We met up with my friend and it was so nice to see her. We chatted for a while and then went to dinner at Ajisen Ramen. Delicious. I ordered Udon. Daphne ordered Calamari Ramen. Everyone else ordered ramen too. So good. I'd like to try it again.

After, back to the hotel. We settled in and went to bed around 8.

Thoughts:

I'm exhausted.
I wished we could have enjoyed the flight experience a bit more with better attitudes, but we were not able to. That's life.
Now that I cleaned the hotel, I'm a bit more at ease.
I love the beach.
It will be quite an adjustment living here.
Things will be okay.
I'm ready for routine.

I've had a lot of personal struggles lately and this trip has constantly made these surface. I have cried more in the past three days than I have in a very long time. I wouldn't call it a sense of hopelessness, but there definitely is a heaviness on me right now. I'm doing the best I can.

I know I need to adjust my expectations.

It's been a long few days. We've time traveled and we are now where we need to be. Sam is out taking care of work things and getting our paperwork ready to pickup our car from the Port.

The one thing that I've clung to is the fact that God is in all places. He hasn't left me alone. I've prayed many times simply for God to lead me to the rock that is higher than I . I can't do it in my own strength. Or knowledge. I can't do it alone.

Hear my cry, O God,
    listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
    when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge,
    a strong tower against the enemy.

(Psalm 61:1-3)

I know I have to give myself room to adjust. Room to grieve, room to breathe.
Things won't always be this way.

I am thankful for a washer and dryer. I am thankful for our health. I am thankful for a cool hotel room. I'm thankful for the generosity and kindness of Catie and Dave. I'm thankful for the rain. I'm thankful for my girls' excitement. I'm thankful Sam has been steady and consistent. I'm thankful that we have this adventure ahead of us.