It's all good.

In Chicago before boarding the first plane to LA

I'm going to make what may seem like a bold statement here: traveling 36 hours across the ocean with our 10 month old baby was easy.  And that's not only because we have a pretty super baby who is easygoing and adaptable (we do), but because everything can be easy to accomplish with our good God who's on our side.  We are learning that in any situation, even really difficult ones, if we just choose to have a heart of praise, thankfulness, and joyfulness, then in the words of my hubby, "It's all good."

In times of doubt & fear before we embarked on this journey of journeys I braced myself for the worst.  I read horror stories on blogs about inconsolable screaming infants and parents on the edge of nervous breakdowns on planes. People asked me with serious doubt in their tone of voice, "And how is he [James] going to handle that trip...?" and left me with a "Good luck with that!"  I hadn't been that concerned initially, because James has been a very easy baby in all stages and situations so far, but I began to wonder if this would be different.

But then I decided to enter the trip in a place of joyfulness & thankfulness, and to rest in the favor of the King of Kings throughout the trip, no matter how James reacted to being confined to our little area on the plane or the lack of/messed up sleep during the entire 36 hours of travel.

The result: God totally granted us his favor and peace as we traveled.  That's not to say there weren't a few minor hiccups along way.  (Being in planes and airports for 36 hours is naturally not the easiest task, even with a super well-behaved baby!)  But we were able to approach the harder things with peaceful hearts and also be thankful for the parts He made very easy for us.  

James seemed unaffected by the change in air pressure during takeoff and landing that could have hurt his ears.  We were placed in spots on every plane (3 different ones) with open seats next to us so we had space to spread out all of our things and stretch out and try to sleep.  James was able to sleep WAY more than I actually expected and on the longest leg (LA to Tokyo) he slept 8 out the 12 hours, giving us a chance to sleep some too.  He never had any major time of inconsolable crying (being able to nurse him when crying really helped with that) and he didn't get restless like I thought he might with not being able to crawl around much.  Getting through security a number of times and customs when we arrived went incredibly smoothly and each of our seven checked bags arrived without a hitch. 

All smiles in the air!

Somewhere along the way (Tokyo??) still smiling

James and his best buddy Eli

Side note: The Singapore airport was AWESOME!  I would highly recommend it for longer layovers if you're ever flying through that area of the world.  They had a bunch of gardens (including a butterfly garden), a free movie theater, pool on the roof, sleep lounges, a gaming center with TVs and and Xboxes/Playstations, in addition to the usual airport shops and restaurants.  Unfortunately, we were there from the hours of 2-8 A.M. so none of those things were really open, but it would have been cool if they were!  This was in one of the gardens there: 

I believe some of the ease we experienced was due to the blessing of God in giving us an agreeable son in general, but some was also a special favor He granted us for this trip specifically that came from approaching it in a place of rest and peace instead of worry and anxiousness, and from the many prayers that were lifted up on our behalf for the journey.

Now that we're here, we realized that the last few years, months, and weeks had been so much about just getting here it seemed like making it through the plane ride and setting foot on Bruneian soil was the end goal.  And in a certain way it was a very big accomplishment.  

But now that we're here, we've realized it is only the beginning!  There is much to do now as we settle in and I'm excited to share more as we learn what it's like to live in this new place!   

36+ hours later, in the Mogard's back yard!