Miracles and Misadventures

I have a bunch of pictures from our trip that I want to share, but that is gonna take quite a bit more organization than I'm capable of right now, so this'll have to do for the moment. These are copy and pasted directly from a running tab of problems and tender mercies that I kept on my iPod during our 48hr migration:

Problems:

• Security stops us and digs through a bag for a camera battery
• Noah forgot his BYU hat in the Sessions van
• Joycie smashes finger in the airplane window
• Joycie won't get buckled because then she can't see out the window
• Loaded cart crashes and dumps luggage across LA airport
• All of our carry-ons are 2x too heavy for New Zealand Air regulations. Technically we should be charged $150 per bag and probably miss our flight. It ended up costing us over an hour and having to repack in the middle of the LA airport
• Danny forgets to dump his water bottle going through security and has to go out, dump it, and do security again
• Joycie's diaper leaks in Dad's lap
• Combination of a stuffy nose and the altitude drops leave Noah deaf after each flight
• Upon arriving we find out that our shipment is already here and we are going to have to pay for a very expensive storage until we have a house
• Everything seems to land on Noah's shorts, everything from Mercy's sprite to random gum on a McDonald's seat.
• The van that came to pick us up from the airport is way too small and all of us kids stay at the airport while Mom, Dad and Joycie drive to the car dealership.
• Awkward moment when Dad tries getting in the drivers seat of the shuttle van because its on the other side
• Sage tripped and scraped her lip and knee and didn't have Mom to comfort her.
• Van coming back to pick up the kids from the airport took way longer than expected leaving us sitting out in front of the airport for 5 1/2 hrs
• Noah accidentally deleted and had to rewrite this entire list
• Mercy and Oak lock themselves out of our hotel very early in the morning and have to wake Danny up to get back in
• The only snacks left are black licorice

Tender Mercies

• First flight was delayed 15 min giving us very needed time
• Security officer let the big camera batteries slide
• First plane wasn't very full, allowing us to all sit next to each other and fit our ample luggage
• Very helpful flight attendant appeared with coloring books for fussy girls
• Gorgeous sunset in LA
• Checking attendant worked with us for over an hour figuring out all the luggage's weight problems and ultimately bending the rules to help us get everything through without paying extra
• Security officer chased us all the way to our gate to return Danny's forgotten passport
• Very interactive and fun personal entertainment centers kept everyone happy on the monster flight and made the 13hrs fly by
• No lost or delayed luggage, our things seemed to always be some of the first off the plane
• Very helpful, kind and funny man at Auckland information desk
• McDonald's play place with plugs and comfy seats as a perfect "home base" for our day spent in the Auckland airport
• Randomly discovering that the family in the booth next to us are LDS as well
• Free McDonald's wifi
• Beautiful  New Zealand spring weather while waiting outside the airport
• Noah randomly had Mom's credit card in his wallet allowing the kids to buy themselves dinner while waiting to get picked up
• Buying the van went smoothly and we had room for all our luggage in the industrial sized trunk
• Just enough battery left to blast music in our new party van
• Beautiful morning waking up to the Hamilton temple out the window of our hotel
• Fruit is way cheaper here, allowing us to buy 27 kiwi fruits for less than $3 dollars to make a delicious breakfast
• Amazing scenery made having to drive across the country seem like a privilege
• Kids made the entire trip with very minimal fighting even though they were very tired.

Even though it looks like these two lists are almost even we felt extremely blessed the entire way and are so grateful to all the friends and random strangers who helped us out!