houston, we have a problem!

The eager beavers we are, we arrived 3 hours early for our flight in San Antonio going to Houston. We didn' t want issues or delay. Better to arrive early than late. Got through security, ate some lunch and waited to board. 1:00 arrived and we boarded. Two very eager and excited kids plus two anxious parents, We were off .... Or were we? Just as we were about to leave, the engines shut down and the captain came on "Houston has a problem, a storm is coming and they have grounded all flights". Uh oh. The captain said they would be deplaning alllll of us. It would be 2 hours at least. I knew then we were in for a haul. We only had 1.5 hours in Houston before our flight to Germany left. 3 hours in Frankfurt for our flight to Ethiopia. That sounds like funny math to me. We sat ... And then were boarded again 2 hours later. Here we went, de ja vu! Or would we? Once boarded a second time, the engines came on and we taxi'd away for lift off. Or would we? Here came the captain again ... Houston is once again grounded only this time, we were stuck ... Literally, in the back of the plane with no AC. Oh my gosh it was HOT! Seriously, we entered hell. From there, it was like a remake of Steve Martin's planes, trains and automobiles. 1 we missed our flights 2 we couldn't locate bags 3 we ran from terminal to terminal with no help. 4 we finally were directed to the right helper 5 we now were stuck in Houston for a whole day 6 spent $ for a cart that wouldn't dispense from the holder 7 ten hours later, arrived in a hotel ... 3 hours from home. Um yes, we could have driven this 3 times by now. We now depart at 4:10 this afternoon. A full day later. It gets better.... We will have 13, yes 13 hour layover in Frankfurt and 2 days later than original planned, we will arrive in Addis. I think all in all we' ll be traveling around 67 hours from our original time we left. That is some serious travel hell. We are thankful for a hotel. No, they didn't comp or help. But thankful. Thankful that we WILL get there ... someday. Thankful our kids are doing great. thankful we got some sleep last night. Thankful that we have you praying. thankful his mercies are new each morning. Thankful that awaiting us is a beautiful little boy! PS sorry for typos... Doing this on an iPad. signing off from Houston and thankful that un a few long days and several planes later... That WILL say Addis Ababba! Love to all