Mexico or bust.

This has been such a crazy couple days. You guys, I made it to Mexico. Can you even believe it? If you kept up with my multiple Facebook posts then you probably already know about our multiple delays, missed flights and slumber party in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  If not then I'll do a quick recap. We left San Jose Saturday morning 1 am. Flew to FL and were unable to make it through customs and security in time to catch our next flight out to Detroit. We tried talking to the airline to figure out our options. They told us the next flight to San Diego wasn't until Monday morning. As you can imagine my heart was so overwhelmed in the moment. Standing there 6 months pregnant with my exhausted almost 1 year old I whispered to God how overwhelmed I felt. We tried seeing of we could Atleast get a flight out of Florida to a place where we have family so we could wait till Monday there. 2 days at a hotel with no transpiration, no luggage and not a ton of extra spending money was not sounding to exciting.

Nothing. Not a single flight. I started asking  around to family and friends if anyone knew someone in the Fort Lauderdale area. We finally got a flight worked out for Sunday morning from FL to Detroit, Detroit to Las Vegas and finally Las Vegas to San Diego. So although we were going to be traveling from Central America to the east coast then to the Midwest and on to California we were gonna take it.

Axel prepped for the trip by stealing my protein bar and eating some. Crazy boy loves food. 

Amazingly, one of my close friends Sheri has her mom who lives in the Fort Lauderdale area. I had the pleasure of meeting her over Christmas time last year when she came to New Ulm to visit Sheri and her family. She responded to my Facebook post about being stranded in FL and offered to come get us and house us for the night!!! I can't tell you how relieved I felt in that moment. She so kindly drove to the airport and picked us up.

By this time Axel had crashed after a long night of flying and a hectic morning of racing through the airport. While he slept we did what all wise parents do, got coffee. Praise The Lord for frozen Mochachinos. Here is an amazing shot of  Caleb and I. Exhausted, no make-up, puffy sleepy eyes and still kicking. 

We hung out outside since Carol had about a 40 minute drive. It was so beautiful out and the fluffy clouds were breath taking. 

Carol was an AMAZING host. I'm pretty sure we spent most of our time thanking her for being so wonderful and so kind. It was such a blessing to be in a home and. Not a hotel. When we got to her place she quickly gave Axel a tub of Legos and he of course was in heaven. Carol had quite the touch with out little man! I was amazed how well they meshed! Axel and Caleb then ran to the store with Carol and got snacks as we were running low. We had lots of stuff confiscated at the border. Oops. I was harldy able to keep my eyes open so she so kindly made me a fresh bed, have me pjs and washed my clothes while I napped!! I hardly remember sleeping- due to sleeping so hard!! Talk about exhausted. 

I of course indulged in good food including delicious turkey sandwiches for lunch with blueberries for Axel, cherries and grapes! YUM!  For supper Carol really treated us by making lemon chicken, corn on the cob (my favorite) and a delicious fresh tossed salad. This was all followed by blueberry and cherry pie!!! 

So amazing. So blessed. It's moments like these when I know God is always watching so closely. He knew our family needed a day to rest and I really couldn't have asked for a better place or person to share it with. My heart is full. 

The rest if trip was crazy of course with delays but hey, we made it to San Diego by 7pm. We were supposed to arrive at 2:30 but I was just happy to get there!! Here's a series of photos to show you the craziness we experienced with busy Axel on the next 3 flights. 

Hungry begging for food. 

Gave up the fight after another delayed flight. 

Looking out the window as we took off. Loving the wings, the clouds the city scape. 

Flying out of Fort Lauderdale. 

And the busy monkey goes at it.. Climbing on Dad. 

Wants to turn the lights on and off and play with the air vents. 

Climbing under the seats. We were those awesome parents who lost their child on an airplane. One minute all is well and axel is playing at our feet the next minute the guy in front of us is handing us our screaming child over the seat because he managed to crawl through to the next row. Awesomely awkward and hilarious all at once. Apparently he didn't like be drug out from under the seat by a stranger.

Eating a granola bar. We basically fed him snacks non stop to keep him entertained. And it worked! After nearly 2 full days of traveling we never had a meltdown. This is a miracle folks. 

Playing under the seat with the gentlemans legs who was infront of us. I'm guessing that guy was wishing he was like 5 rows up instead of infront of us. 

Trying to catch the shimmery lights on the wall from the sun reflecting on my ring. 

Eating. 

More eating. 

And napping again. 

Flying over Nevada. 

Almost to Vegas!!!

Landing!

Our last flight was only an hour and them we drove to in and out burger in San Diego before crossing into Mexico. 

We were tired but we finally made it! We arrived at the base around 8:30 pm. Monday morning Caleb jumped right into working with the base and getting photos going. Axel and I lounged about and adventured around the base. God has already done some really cool things. We've met awesome people- had great connections and  been blessed by the helpfulness and kindness of the people at YWAM Tijuana. I'm excited to share more about it when we get back to CR.

Hope you're all doing well! Thanks for praying for us as we traveled! We send our love to wherever you are. 

-Briana 

P.s. Did I mention that I'm going to have a 1 year old tomorrow? What a joy!! happy birthday to my world traveler. 4th country before he turns 1. What an adventure this has been. I'll do an Axel update in a few days. ❤️ Lots of love!!