We are here... now where do I begin

We made it to Dominica! To say getting here was a bit of a crazy adventure would be an understatement. I experienced one of the worst days of my life the day we left. That's right, not just a bad day, the worst day of my life! Anything that could go wrong did and of course you always plan for the worst but man, I didn't expect it to end like it did.

Packing was in and of itself a task. Because of the weight restrictions, we (Broc, me and Crew) could only take 2 bags each for a total of 70 lbs and one bag couldn't be more than 50 lbs. Jack was a lap rider so all of his stuff just had to be put in any of those bags. Remember, everything we are taking for the next 16 months has to fit in those bags. It was ridiculous. We had everything out in Broc's parent's basement, trying to make it work. I'm sure I gave Lesli a heart attack with all of our stuff out, trying to sort through everything. Our parents, Chelsey, Aubree and Riley were there helping us out. So grateful for their help. We unpacked and repacked and unpacked and repacked. One suitcase we had to repack it 7 different times, just to get it within the weight limit. Each time we repacked we took out more stuff. We had tried to plan our time for things but ended up getting way behind because stuff was too heavy and we had to decide what things we were going to leave behind. The stress of no sleep (we packed all through the night), the emotion of moving to a new country and wondering if we were going to be able to finish in time, was setting in. We moved into Broc's parent's house just before Jack was born, so we had some stuff there that wasn't coming with us. Trying to make a place for so many things that didn't have a place to go, feeling unorganized because now my game plan for packing has fallen through. I'm sure I could have been more organized. Believe me, I have thought of all of the should haves and could haves.

We put Crew and Jack to sleep at my Mom's house so we wouldn't wake them up. My Mom called around 2-3 AM and said that Jack was having a hard time breathing. His chest was retracting and he was wheezing. He also had a fever. Classic croup symptoms. Really, just a few hours before we had to be at the airport. We wondered if it was safe at all to even fly with Jack, especially with him having breathing problems. It is stressful to have a sick baby, but in these circumstances, I was so scared. I didn't know what we needed to do. Oh and we were in Morgan, a town that closes down at 10pm. Broc gave Jack a blessing that he would be ok to fly and that he would not have any problems. Broc went back over to his parents and finished up the packing and organizing, and I stayed with Jack. I felt like I was in a bad dream and just wanted to wake up and have everything be ok... like I had planned it. We were trying to call and reschedule our plane tickets, but that was a joke trying to get through to talk to somebody. It was the week that a lot of the flights had been cancelled because of the bad snow storms, so everybody was trying to get through. We finally got through and the soonest flight available was January 13. Broc's classes started the 10th, so rescheduling was not an option. Somebody had an idea to take Jack to the old folks home where they would at least have a pulse ox to check his O2. Lynn took Jack and me over there. The roads were awful. It was snowing really hard and we couldn't go faster than about 5 mph. Dang, that means we needed to leave even earlier to get to the airport to accommodate for bad roads. Now even more behind. We checked Jack's O2 and it was 97%, what a relief. He seemed to be getting a little better as well. But the fact that he had a fever, I was still concerned. He has never flown before, would he be ok. And what if he does ok flying but has more problems when we get to Dominica? We are moving out of the country... to a third world country, no less. My mind was racing.

And we were running a race against time. By this point, I had to just trust that Broc was able to think of everything we needed and make sure it was in the bags. It is the worst feeling knowing you are moving out of the country and won't have access to certain items. I just wanted to triple check my list (wait- what list, it got thrown out a few hours ago with half of the stuff we were planning to take!) I felt so rushed with everything, trying to remember things. It actually is giving me some anxiety now, just thinking of it. We finally got on our way to drive to the airport and I was feeling sick. Thinking, hoping and praying that everything we needed, got in our bags. Our parents took us to the airport to see us off. The roads were horrible. I wondered if we would even make it there in one piece. We pull up to the airport, ready to get out of the car and I ask Broc if he remembered the stroller... He said, "no". My heart sunk.

{That stroller, was the first thing we purchased when we found out we were coming. I knew it would be our mode of transportation, our car. I did so much research in finding just the perfect one. We paid more for it, but knowing it needed to be a good all terrain, double stroller, we felt it was worth it.}

And now, we are at the airport realizing this... reality hit me hard. We couldn't turn back, we were barely going to make it on the plane as it was. I lost it. I cried. I wondered what we were going to do. I was shaking. I couldn't control myself. With everything we had just been through in the last few hours, now this? No sleep, packing drama, stress of moving to A NEW COUNTRY, sick little Jack... and now the cherry on top. I don't mean to sound negative. But this is a form of a journal for me. And I really was at my breaking point. I have never felt so many emotions coming at me at once. The goodbyes were far from ideal. We barely made it through the metal detectors, trying to put on our shoes, and find all of our items (for all of us) and we hear, "DURRANT PARTY OF 3, LAST BOARDING CALL!" We were scrambling, trying to grab everything. Broc, me, Crew and Jack ran, with all of our carry-ons (3 carry-ons plus 3 personal items/ bags etc..). We came close to our gate and we started yelling, "Durrant party of 3 is here! Don't leave us!" We somehow managed to get on that plane. I really don't know how.

It was Crew's first time flying. And he loved it! He did great! Well except for maybe getting bored and kicking the seat of the person in front of him.

Jack did great too! He had no problems. ~ Miracle~

We flew from SLC to Texas. From Texas to Puerto Rico. We stayed over in Puerto Rico then flew to Dominica the next morning. The bag guys in Puerto Rico were a joke. That is another story. We crashed when we got to our hotel. We were starving and it was really late so nothing was open. We went and got a cup of noodles, and a hot pocket at a little store in our hotel.

It was pretty fun to try to tackle all of our bags and our two kiddos!

Sweet innocent Crew. So oblivious to any of the stress!

The next morning in Puerto Rico!

Heading to the airport!

Waiting in line, hoping our we don't have to take more stuff out of our bags. People in front of us were over their weight limit and had to leave stuff at the airport. Luckily, we didn't!!

The little airplane that took us to Dominica!

Crew is always trying to roarrrr like a monster!

almost there...

You would have never known that he was so sick, right before we left.

In Dominica, FINALLY!!

Waiting at Customs.

On the bus ride that took us from the airport.

It was an hour of windy roads and crazy drivers (they drive on the wrong side of the road)! But these two slept the whole way!

Pics from the drive home

We arrived in Dominica on December 30. It was a long and crazy 2 days filled with ever emotion imaginable, but it felt so good to be in our new home- finally! We are loving it here and having some amazing experiences. As for the stroller, well we will save that for another post! Hopefully, I will be able to get a few more posts up soon! Stay tuned!