An hour before we were to leave for the airport for our trip to South Carolina, I got a call saying that our flight had been canceled. As I was on hold waiting for the United Airline representative to rebook us, I dreaded telling Kaiya that we wouldn’t be going to Papa and Babka's that day. Kaiya had pulled me from a deep sleep at 6:30 am that morning, yelling, “Is it time to go to Babka and Papa’s? I need to pack my backpack for the airplane.” Kaiya usually sleeps until 8:00 – 8:30 each morning, so her early wake up time was reflecting her excitement about our trip later, and I stress later, that day. 

As I haggled with the rep, Andrej explained to Kaiya that we would have to wait one more day to go to South Carolina. She understood, but was sad. I was too as I had planned everything around our 7:00 pm flight. The earliest flight they could get us on was the next afternoon, causing us to lose a day of our vacation. Thankfully, the rep understood and was able to move our return flight back one day, but not before reminding me that this was a one time exception and they do not normally move return flights.

If only the flight saga ended there, I would be pleased, but instead the next day we endured more delays and problems and spent three extra hours in the Chicago airport than we had originally planned. Andrej said it best when he commented that in the airline industry you rarely get what you pay for, and it is just accepted that there is nothing you can do about it. However, we did finally make it to South Carolina with two very tired, but excited kids in tow.

We all slept in Saturday morning and awoke to a frenzy of wedding preparations. My cousin Celeste was getting married that evening and Andrej and I were under the impression that we would be driving my grandparents to the wedding. When I spoke with my grandmother around 10:00 am, and she said they needed to leave within an hour, I knew this day would be nothing less than crazy. Since we lost a day of our trip when the original flight was canceled we had no time to finish the last minute things we needed to do before the wedding. Kaiya and I needed shoes, I needed a necklace and we needed to buy some snacks to keep the kids from starving in between the wedding and the reception. As I began to panic, my sweet grandmother filled me in that my uncle was driving them to the wedding and we only had to drive them home.

Relieved and thankful for the extra time to get things done, I hung up with my grandmother and headed outside to enjoy Papa and Babka’s backyard with the kids. After lunch and naps for the kids, we got dressed in our wedding attire and loaded into the car for the two hour trek to one of the most beautiful chapels I have ever seen. The wedding was held literally on the top of a mountain in a quaint little chapel at the Cliffs at Glassy. Of course with two kids we find ourselves running late for everything, so it was no surprise when we arrived that the wedding had already started. We actually made it to the bottom of the mountain with a few minutes to spare, but I knew we wouldn't make it when the gate guard told us it would take fifteen minutes to reach the top of the mountain.

When we arrived, my dad and Andrej stayed outside with Kaiya and Tobi, and mom and I slipped into the chapel just in time to hear the vows exchanged. It was a beautiful ceremony, and as most weddings do, reminded me of my own. My cousin was radiant and it was so great to celebrate such a special day with her.

Not long after we unloaded the kids from the car, we loaded them back up for the drive down the mountain and into Greenville, SC for the reception. At the reception we enjoyed good food and family. My mom got her wish and danced with both Kaiya and Tobi before they needed to take the two tired kids home for bed. Andrej and I stayed and enjoyed chatting with family, watching the bride and groom share their first dance and of course delicious wedding cake. Later that evening we drove my grandparents and a family friend home and breathed a sigh of relief that the busy day had come to an end.

Since this post is already way too long, I'm going to stop here and post the rest tomorrow. In part two and three, I'll share about Tobi's birthday party, Kaiya's first fishing trip and about a trip Andrej and I took to Atlanta (this is where I'll share some of the things we are praying through). Thankfully, we started using our camera on Sunday, so the posts that follow will contain pictures, but if you want a preview, all the pictures from our trip are located here and Tobi's birthday party pictures are here.