Home Again.

It is without having to think about it, the worst trip home I have ever made! We started out on August 1st planning on being back at midnight on August 2nd, we made it home at 6:00pm on August 3rd. We left at 11:30am from Shippensburg and arrived in the Harrisburg airport. The people checking us in had a problem with our 6 70 pound bags, but we got that settled and after an hour we were checked in. We were on our flight to Philadelphia and everything was going well. When we got to Philadelphia our flight kept getting delayed more and more and then when the plane finally arrived a thunderstorm arrived that shut down the runways. We got to Laguardia and had to change terminals which our miles apart, we began to walk to the next terminal when a man in a van that takes people to rental cars stopped and asked if we wanted a ride, we accepted of course. When we finally got to NY Laquardia American Airlines terminal we were too late for our flight and found out that the terminals were shut for the evening, we were however able to locate a hotel in Queens that we spent a few hours for some much needed sleep. After about four hours at the hotel we were up at 3:30am to try to get on the first Miami flight. We were put on standby the night before and were first on the list on standby. We found out that the flight was oversold, and they began offering money for people to give up their seats. We thought we would not be able to get on this flight because of this, but God made it so that four seat became available after everyone boarded and we were placed on the plane to Miami to make it to our 10:20 flight to Brazil. Once arriving in Miami we ran to the ticket counter of TAM where we found out that they had no record of us in their computer system, as if we hadn't even purchased tickets! This led to a two plus hour conversation on the telephone to Expedia.com After getting basically nowhere with Expedia, I went to the TAM store in the basement of the airport and asked to use a telephone to call TAM store international. I was glad to hear that they were already going to give us new flights to get back to Palmas. We would now leave at 8:15pm and be on our way that evening. While I was talking on the phone two carts came in with our suitcases on them, which we had no idea where they were up to this point. They allowed us to keep our bags in the store while it was closed for lunch! (This never happens!) After a quick lunch we got a room in the Miami Airport Hotel and slept another 4 hours, this helped us survive the rest of our flight. After making it on the plane to Brazil we were taken to São Paulo and we stood in line for our bags for literally one hour. Ours were the last ones out. We then ran to the ticket counter to check in our bags again and were told the flight was already boarding. After a quick radio call the attendant asked if she could send them our bags, which they accepted. We then ran to security again and ran to get in line. We got on the flight! After arriving in Brasilia we waited another 6 hours for our flight that would eventually take us to Palmas. Of course this was a half an hour late too! We arrived in Palmas at 6pm and slept for a long time the next day. Even though we had such a terrible trip home, we could see God blessing us in many ways and we attribute that to your prayers. Thank you so much!