I THINK I AM GOING TO FLIP!!!!!!

Seriously folks, I am about to pee my pants I'm so excited! My hands are shaking and the adrenalin is pumping!!!!! This has been the best good news day EVER for our family! I'm waiting for "the call" to come for the kidney transplant now! LOL!

So. You know about the visa. VISA ON FRIDAY!

And you know that we already bought tickets for Kendi's escort and Kendi. She'll touchdown on US soil at 12:30pm on Sunday September 6th!

And you know that last week I mentioned that the IRA we had cashed out was actually about 66% higher than we thought it was going to be. We got the check today!!

And you know the plan was for me, my mom, and Taevy to drive up to Chicago to pick up Kendi. What I didn't say was that we were secretly hoping there might be a way to get us there with the FF miles I've saved up. I just didn't know if it would be possible and didn't want to get my hopes up.

So this morning I called NWA to see what they could do. I could get my mom, Taevy, and I there for 25K miles each, plus a $100 fee for each of us (because we weren't booking outside of 21 days). Yuck. Plus, I couldn't book Kendi's ticket on FF miles because it was a one way ticket. Her ticket was going to be $165. So $465 plus a night at the hotel for the 4 of us to fly to and from Chicago. Yikes. The check big check I mentioned above hadn't come in yet. And that is about $100 more than it would have cost us to drive (and have hotel/food for 2 days).

I called my mom. She really wanted Taevy to go (as did I). She was calling my step-dad to see if they could afford to pay for Taevy's ticket ($100) so she could still go. While I was waiting for my mom to call back, I asked Taevy to bring in the mail. Ta-da! Check! Big check! The check that says we can afford to go ahead and get Taevy's ticket even though the thought of $500 for one day still makes me go a little dry in the throat.

I called the NWA reservation line again. It is ALL about who you get folks! While I'm on hold I wonder why I can't buy Kendi a round trip ticket with FF miles? That would save $65 at least. I ask the ticket agent. SURE, she says. No problem! So for 100,000 miles I've gotten us all tickets, and the ticket fees will be $100 each (I expect). The women eventually says, "I'm sorry, but there is a $30 ticket fee for each ticket." Hello? What? ONLY $30? Yep! So for $120 I was able to purchase all four of our tickets to get Kendi and bring her home!!! It will cost less than 1/2 of what it would if we had driven!

Wow. I am just so hyped. Bright is about to come home from school, and my brain is complete mush as far as continuing to teach the other kids today. School's out! And as soon as Bright gets home we're leaving to go pick up Eric for a celebration day before we head off to cheer/football practice tonight!

I feel so unworthy of such a day full of blessings, but I'm so thankful. I will never forget how He took care of every detail on this day!!!

Anita
P.S. I didn't mention that our TV has been going out. It turns off constantly and we don't know why. It's unfixable. The extra money from the IRA is going a new TV. I know it's extravagant, but TV is Eric's only "thing." He can't do a lot of things with his vision (play basketball with the guys, etc.). But he can enjoy a TV if it's large enough. I'm so happy that he'll have a TV he can enjoy, that actually works!