Some answered prayers were: The airlines let our bags slide 55 lbs and under without a charge and let us check our 17th suitcase for free. It was suppose to be a fee of 200.00 since there were only 8 of us on the trip.
Once we got to the airport we realized our tickets were wrong and we were going to miss our connection in Germany. After many negotiations, we were setup with new tickets. Our flight path was XNA - Chicago - Frankfurt - Kiev - Donetsk. Our translator and drivers met us at the airport in Donetsk and we were very happy to see them.
Ashley and Maria at work preparing information packets for us to take
Endless piles of papers in the office waiting for us to pack
Packing, not sure where to start
Packing, not sure where to start
Sorting everything out to pack with suitcases waiting to be filled
Christie fixing packets that had missing papers.
Not an easy task when everything is in Russian
Packing a wheelchair.
We managed to get 3 wheelchairs and one stander in our suitcases!
A group of co-workers met us while packing to pray over us before our trip
Christie sorting through the braces.
It seems like we took a lot, but once we were over there,
she was wishing we could have packed more.
Amy was the suitcase weigher!
Arriving at XNA
We took 17 suitcases of supplies and 6 walkers!
Amy, Carmen, Kym, and Gregg
Christie, Abby, Kati, Amanda
Taking a break in Germany. Once we got their, Abby didn't have a seat assigned so it took some time to get that sorted out.
Everyone we dealt with concerning the walkers were much more patient than we had expected. We had to check them on 4 different planes.
Quite a load!
We got many looks and questions over all the walkers. Some comments include our pilot stating, "you look like you are going to do something special with all those carts", a lady at Chicago airports asking, "what is this all about", and "what are those things". We were also "those" people that everyone talks about when you discuss all the good "people watching" you can do in an airport.
