7/28/06
8:45 PM: Despite all of yesterday's frustrations, everyone in our family is now exactly where they're supposed to be. Randall left the hotel at 4:00 AM this morning. His flight to DC was delayed, but he had a very long layover before the whole group left from DC. I talked to him a few times before his second flight left, and I was pretty sad when we spoke for the last time. It's an 18 hour flight, and he should be arriving in Johannesburg around 6:00 AM our time on Saturday morning (it will be noon in South Africa).
The girls and I had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to the airport. Unfortunately, I hadn't really planned enough time, so I was pretty stressed when I saw how long the line at the ticket counter was. But while we were waiting, I saw that the departure time changed to 50 minutes later, which gave us more than enough time to get settled. I told Elisabeth I had never been so happy to have a flight delayed. The waiting area was really crowded and overwhelming, but we did okay. Not long before they started boarding though, Elisabeth got pretty upset and started crying. She said she was going to miss me and wanted to go home. I talked to her and said soothing things, but she was still pretty sad. Then another family in the pre-board area noticed and started talking to Elisabeth. Their daughter is the same age as Elisabeth (and was wearing a very cute outfit), and Elisabeth was distracted by answering questions and getting to know them. They offered to have Elisabeth sit with them, and that made her feel a lot better. It was nice having a family adopt her that way. Karin called around noon to say that Elisabeth had arrived. Elisabeth chatted with me on the phone and sounded great.
Sophie and I headed up to Virginia from the airport at around 11:00 AM. We stopped for lunch, and Sophie slept for the last hour. Nannie and Grammy were happy to see us (and we were happy to see them). Grammy and I took a nap, so I'm feeling pretty well-rested. It's nice to be here. Really nice!