So begins our adventure.

Well we are all here safely in Cape Town.  

The goodbyes were tough.  It was worse the first night here in Cape Town though.  After putting Ryann down around 8ish (cape town time), She woke back up two hours later, everyone else was asleep.  So it was just Ryann and I in a very new and unfamiliar place.  I just lost it then.  It seemed like time just slows down and one year is going to be a long time.  I started getting all nervous that Anthony and I couldn't raise Ryann without our parents nearby. *Take note that we've been by ourselves with Ryann for a total of  about 2 ½ months, the rest of her life was spent living at both of her grandparents house.*  So i woke up Anthony and he just held me as I sobbed for a good hour.  If you don't know me, I'm quite the emotional person.  The next morning I felt SO much better and was able to be excited about being in Cape Town.  

The first flight was 9 hours long.  PLENTY LONG ENOUGH!  Our dear friends Bethany and Dave got first class seats while Anthony, Ryann and I all got economy seats.  We were pretty jealous, but there was nothing we could do because they apparently do not allow infants up in first class.  Oh well.  So our plane took forever leaving Atlanta, and that made us all a little nervous because we had such a small window in Dakar. We left a hour after the original departure time.  We thought we were gonna be stuck in Dakar, Sudan for two days!  But as we got closer to Dakar, they were able to call ahead and have them hold the plane to Cape Town. There was a good bit of us that needed to get on that flight.  So we were very thankful.

As we got to Dakar, the captains told everyone that isn't going to Cape Town to stay put and let those who are going to get off first.  Of course that was pretty stressful.  Ryann was sound asleep in my arms and we had tons of stuff spewed all over our three seats... pretty much a violation of the plane rules.  So I was trying to keep Ryann asleep while using my free hand to shove everything towards Anthony.  As soon as we were able to unbuckle and get our carry-ons,  Anthony had to jump up and get our three luggage, plus our three personal items.  It was all over the place.  We shoved the spewed items into a single bag, I grabbed Ryann's backpack and bumbo and Ryann herself.  Anthony was left with everything else!  Poor guy, he was such a trooper though.  He tried to make it as easy and non-stressful as possible for Ryann and I. 

So we got off the plane, they whisked us to a bus, checked our passports, drove us 50 meters to the terminal, we grabbed everything we had and went into the terminal. They gave us our tickets and we turned right around and boarded the same bus!  They drove us the remaining  50 meters to an airplane parked next to the one we just arrived on.  We hustled up the plane and grab our seats.  Dave and Bethany got the very first row in first class as we had to walk/shuffle/jog to the second last row in the entire plane.  The flight attendants on this flight were amazing.  As soon as we climbed the stairs to the plane they asked us to let them take some stuff to help us to the back.  Then when we sat down another flight attendant asked if we needed warm water or juice for the baby.  wow.  It was a blessing.

On the second flight, only half the plane was full.  So all of us passengers were able to spread out and make ourselves comfortable.  The flight attendants were all so laid-back.  Ryann and I were able to lay out on the three seats designated for us while Anthony grabbed different seats.  Ryann did really well.   She slept most of the time and woke up the last hour and half.  When she woke up, she was in a cheerful mood.  Offering smiles to all the nearby passengers and flight attendants.  When we got off, they all commented on how well she did.  I was quite proud of her.     

We finally arrived to Cape Town.  A couple that we met in USA were waiting for us.  They had two cars waiting for us and one of them had a trailer.  By the way, they were two TINY cars.  All of the cars here are TINY.  It was quite the experience driving on the wrong side of the road!  They drove us to the apartment that we would be staying at and got all of our suitcases inside, gave us a quick tour, and some advice about the place.  Then they gave us a meal.  A wonderful and thoughtful lady at Jubilee was willing to make us dinner for the night.  We were so relieved and thankful that they thought of so much for us including providing the first meal!  

I already told you about the first night earlier in this post...

I'm going to comment briefly on the church but leave most of it for another day.

We went to Jubilee the next day, and again, the driving experience was something else!  Jubilee has made itself home at a old tile factory.  They have only renovated and use 1/3 of the building and it's HUGE.  The people there were quite friendly and excited to meet us.  We were shown around and then we talked about we roles we might have here.  We have  a lot of freedom in where we want to serve.  So we will start on Tuesday the 2nd.  We get today (saturday) and mondays off.  We are all very excited about what is happening at Jubilee.  We get internet at the Church.  So I am assuming, when we have some free time, we will be able to use it.  We are looking into getting internet for our apartment.  If we do get it, it will not be until the beginning of October.  

Ryann is very clingy right now.  She is very aware of the new things surrounding her.  So we are keeping her close to us and letting her slowly get familiar with things around her.  She hasn't been sleeping very well at night right now.  We are anticipating that it will be better sometime next week. 

I will try to get some photos up  soon.

 so that's it for this long post. Praise God we are finally here. 

love you all.