t h a n k f u l (times 7)

Seven things to be thankful for in no particular order... 1. We all got to Fortaleza safely and on time. We we're especially lucky to get Russell here on time (he came two days later then the rest of us) because he got delayed in Idaho Falls due to big time snow and fog. He was only supposed to have a 45 minute layover in Atlanta too, but luckily the flight out of Atlanta was delayed so he didn't miss it which was good since they only fly to Fortaleza every other day. And then on Russell's flight from Atlanta to Brazil some guy punched one of the flight attendants in the face so they almost had to emergency land in Miami but they decided to take him to Brazil to be arrested there instead. Haaaaa good luck getting a fair and fast trial in Brazil over the Christmas holiday!

2. And not only did we all make it safely and on time but so did ALL of our luggage (all 10 suitcases plus carry-ons)...even though we used my unlucky red luggage. I guess my luggage is only unlucky and gets lost when I really need what's in it and not when it contains things like tomato soup, Kleenex, and orange sticks.

3. And in all that luggage not one thing got broken or spilled of the 500 pounds of stuff we brought my parents. Not even the jars of dill pickles we brought...or the cocktail sauce, Christmas decorations, and other breakable things we packed. 4. And...I didn't even get busted by customs for bringing my mom and dad some milk, chocolate milk, sour cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, and cottage cheese. And everything stayed nice and cold in the cooler we packed. The only bad thing is that now they'll have to go through dairy withdrawals again. 5. Lee, Kim, Ty and I were on the first ever (as far as we know) direct flight from anywhere in the U.S. to Fortaleza, Brazil. We consider ourselves VERY lucky that they just added this direct flight. It saves us from having to fly all the way down to Southern Brazil from the U.S. and then all the way back up to Northern Brazil on a Brazilian airline as you used to have to do. That's about a 10 hour travel time savings (now it only takes about 18 hours) as well as about a 700 dollar savings. So yay for Delta! Before we left Atlanta they even had this big ribbon cutting ceremony for the inaugural flight. And then when we got to Fortaleza after landing they didn't pull to the gate immediately and then they got on the plane's intercom to tell us that it would be a few more minutes before we could go to the gate because they had to "baptize" our plane in honor of the inaugural flight. So we're sitting out on the tarmac and then a few firetrucks came out and doused the plane. It was pretty cool/funny. And then when we got into the airport they had this reception breakfast (see below) waiting for us. They had big dogs from Delta there all dressed up in formal wear as well as news reporters and people from the Fortaleza tourism board there to hand us each free beach bags, hats, and maps of Fortaleza. We would have felt like superstars except we were really tired and dirty from traveling.

6. I'm glad that I was able to get 195 little packages of candy from the U.S. (one for each of the missionaries in the Brazil, Fortaleza mission) made up from the candy I brought before my dad and brothers ate it all. It was quite a feat. We probably had close to 100 pounds of candy for the missionaries.

7. Thanks to my awesome new big fat carry-on that came with my luggage set I was even able to bring my mom a 220 volt, 6 quart crock pot. I've never before had a crock pot in my carry-on. I guess there's a first for everything!