Off to Bangladesh

What a day we had yesterday!

Mom, Dad, and I all went up to Dan and Trista's and Dan's parents met us there. Fortunately, Dan's dad was able to borrow his church's van because all of us were able to fit into the same vehicle along with their 10 bags and 4 carry on items. Those included in the trip to New York City were:
Me
My Dad
My Mom
Trista
Dan
Dan's Dad
Dan's Mom
Dan's sister, Becky
Dan's Brother, Nate
Dan's Sister-in-law, Nate's wife, Ann
Dan's Niece's Abby and Joanna

My sister Jamie was at the shore for the weekend and couldn't make it and Dan's other sister, Cori, left to teach english in China just the week before. His side of the family are really the world travelers!

Anyway, it was raining horribly for part of the trip and traffic, being NYC was HORRIBLE!! A 60-70 mile ride took us 4.5 hours! We finally maded it to the airport at 7:30 and their plane left at 8:20. Then they found out that their tickets would not be honored because they did not have proof that their final destination was Bangladesh and not India, where their 2nd layover was scheduled to be. This was poor planning on the travel agent's part if you ask me. She had them booked to fly into Calcutta where they would just buy their tickets to Chittagong, Bangladesh there! The only reason I can think of for why Dan and Trista agreed to that idea was that it was a good price. But they did not even purchase the tickets! They were just being held!!

So, this was a problem because their visas did not permit them to be in India because they were for Bangladesh. Fortunately they were able to purchase their tickets from Calcutta to Chittagong at JFK.

Then they attempted to check their baggage and that became a pain in the neck because after it was checked they had to go to another section of the airport to pay for the extra bags. Praise God they were all within the weight limit! Of course they ran into more problems there but it was worked out by 8:20 (when the flight was scheduled to depart) BUT then we heard that their flight was delayed for 30 minutes which, miraculously, gave them enough time to get through security and to their gate!

It was insane!!

Now, my problem is that Trista is gone for a long time. It's starting to become real to me. All day today I kept thinking "I'll have to call Trista and tell her that!" or "I'll remember that for when I see her" and then I remember she is not here and I won't see her for a year.

I'm so excited for her but I am scared at the same time. I found out yesterday that there was some bombing in Bangladesh a few days ago. Trista told us not to worry because it was in the southern part of the country and she'll be in the north, but for some reason that does not make me feel too much better.

I know she is going to be okay and that she is where God wants her so my fears are not really justified and so I don't think about them too much. I am, however, being realistic in acknowledging the potential dangers and no one can blame me for that!