We packed up and hit the road for Little Rock, AR.  Reegan had been sick for a few days and just wasn't getting better.  That morning she complained of ear pain and had splotchy red spots all over her body.  I knew it was time she get to a doctor.

We had already planned to stop in Memphis to meet up with some friends that were also home for a short time and will be some of our neighbors in England.  We'd been texting about lunch arrangements and then I started texting about medical clinics!

We had about a 6 hour unplanned stay in Memphis (I was SO not happy with the wait at that clinic, but we got what we needed) getting us into Little Rock about 9.  Much later than we hoped, but we about fell into bed.  Jerry had a meeting all day and I had made plans to meet up with a friend I'd made through blogging.  I walked out to our van.  My phone rang, it was my mom. and I'd hardly said "hello" when I discovered our driver-side window was shattered in a bazillion pieces!!  Karis lost it and started screaming.

I hung up with my mom and called Jerry, interrupting his meeting.  I wasn't even sure he would pick up, but he did.  My brain doesn't function well under stressful situations.  He was and is usually my calm.  I headed for the lobby to report the break-in learning the police had already come and taken a report.  It's crazy to me that they didn't try to find a way to let us know!!


Hotels don't claim responsibility for theft on their property, so we were given no compensation.  I was a bit miffed about that, but what can ya do?!  They did send a guy out to help me clean it up.  The workers were so kind!

We had a ton of stuff in our car.  Snacks, souvenirs we'd picked up, travel pillows, jackets, trash!  Do you know, not one thing was taken!  We took all our valuables in with us, luckily!!!

You know what I did find other than little shards of glass spewed all over?  BLOOD!  Disgusting!!!  This crazy guy must have busted the window with his hand!!  Blood drops and smears all over.  Brennan didn't even want to get in the car, my little germaphob!  And so much for those security cameras they have mounted outside the hotel.  It was a lesson learned!! NEVER park on the backside of a hotel.  Always park by the front!!

I still wanted to meet up with my friend.  I knew it would be good to get our minds off of the event.  So we headed to Chick-fil-A.

We should have known that this trip was going to have it's rough patches. Thirty minutes into it, our phone rang.  Our hotel reservation in Little Rock for that very night had been cancelled due to extended power outages.  Great!  Now what?

Not only that, but my 100 year old grandma was not doing so well and we wondered if we should be taking this trip at all.  The kids had been excited about this trip to Nashville, we had 2 speaking commitments in Arkansas and my grandma was stable, so we decided to go.

I was texting with my friend, Kristi (you know, the one I wrote so much about in Vienna?!), who we would be staying with in Nashville.  We started wondering if we drove past Little Rock, maybe we'd a hotel further out of the city.  We started discussing it and the kids were up for making it an all day drive to Nashville.  I can't believe my kids were volunteering to do this!  And they were troopers!!  Kristi hurriedly got her home ready as she just had other guests before us.  They welcome us to their home just past midnight!  Little Rock was a mess with clean up from a big storm and we got stuck in some major back up between Little Rock and Memphis leaving us sitting on the highway, adding another hour to our trip, but we made it!!

The view from Kristi's back porch.   It was such a lovely site every morning with the occasional glimpse of a horse by the barn.



             

Through facebook I discovered that a long time Hannah's Prayer friend was also staying in the area.  We met up for a late night dessert!  It was so fun seeing Terryl again!!  We had met up in Texas the last time we were in the US.

The weather in Nashville didn't cooperate much.  It was fairly dreary while we were there, but we did get out one day to visit the area around Vanderbilt, where Jeremy works.  We had planned to eat at the infamous Pancake Pantry, but the line was too insanely long for my kiddos.  Oh well, maybe next time!


There are all kinds of cute shops along this street.  We cracked up seeing these 2 cats playing in the Christmas tree window display at one shop.






I was adamant that if I made it to Tennessee I would find a way to see Red & JoAnn!!  They were my first babysitters as a newborn in Alaska.  I have many childhood memories of being in their home.  

They had not met my children, so I was so pleased to introduce them!  They drove 2 hours west, we drove 2 hours east and we met in the middle in somewhere Tennessee at Cracker Barrel.  The time flew way too fast, but I'm glad I got a few precious hours with them!!


After saying our goodbyes we drove back towards Nashville to meet up with another friend.  My college suite mate, Karla.  We hadn't seen each other in about 20 years!


A highlight of being in the Nashville area was visiting Grace Community Church in Brentwood.  This church is a special place to us.  They had sent volunteers to lead worship for some of our annual meetings in Europe over the years.  Although the pastor and music minister were out for the holidays, we still enjoyed visiting.

We've heard about and been preparing for this process for months.

For the type of visas we need, there is only one time of year that we can apply. 

This is now our 4th country in Europe.  Russia, you can't even step foot in the country without a visa.  Czech Republic requires a visit to a neighboring country to their Czech embassy to start the process (never knew why, but easy enough to drive to Vienna, Austria or Dresden, Germany) and then in a few months you show up to the visa office, sign some papers and your done.  Of course, we had a Czech helping our colleagues that was knowledgeable in the area of visas to keep up with the laws.  She was a godsend!

Spain was a little more complicated with every piece of paper you own needing an apostille (a special kind of stamp).  Although lengthy and armed with more papers than they need, it wasn't so bad.

Austria, on the other hand, just doesn't make sense to me.  Lots of paperwork was also required, but here's where it gets crazy.  You are required to stand in line vying for one of 60 visa slots (or so we've heard it's 60) that are given that year for this particular visa. Doesn't sound so bad, right?  Problem is, there is NO order.

Our visa has to do with the fact that we work in the country, but are paid outside of Austria and will not be working for an Austrian company, therefore will not be covered by their social care. 

Seems to me they wouldn't mind these kinds of workers in their country.  They don't have to pay us AND we are contributing to their economy.  Right?!

In the past our colleagues have experienced some chaos in this process.  It has boiled down to being whoever can throw their elbow the hardest gets in the door first.

The last 2 years have been a bit better.  A lawyer representing certain clients have started a list of names of those who show up.  It's a first come, first serve bases, based on when you arrive at the door.  However, the visa office honored the list last year and we hoped it would be the same this year.

The line has gotten so crazy that it warrants an overnight stay.

In past years, our colleagues have shown up around 5 am to get in line.  Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky.  Some of our colleagues drove by the office late afternoon on January 1st and before 5 pm a line had already formed!!  The plan had been to get in line at midnight.  That was quickly changed when 20 people were already on the list at 5 pm.  Jerry showed up at 6 pm and we were numbers 47-51 for each member of our family.

Y'all (and I don't use that term often, but this warrants it), y'all I am getting too old for this!  Staying up all night!!  My body does not do so well.  Especially when I am required to take care for my kids the next day!  Which, by the way, our kids spent the night with some colleague friends!  They were not required to be there.....or so we thought.  More on that in a minute.

The plan was for me to show up at about 5 am.  I could do that, but the lawyer keeping "THE list" said if I didn't show up by 3 am I could be bumped for not being there in person IF a government official came by.  Did I show up at 3 am?  Yes I did (after 4 hours of sleep).  Did a government official come by before 5 or even 7 am?  No, one did not!  Oh well!

Anyway, Julie and I hopped in a taxi and got there by 3 am.  Insanity!!!

This is craziness!  Now, I'm not saying that the US system or any other is without flaw (ha, that sounds funny)

Really?  There is not a better system to standing out in the FREEZING, MIDDLE OF THE WINTER, COLD to get a CHANCE, not even a guarantee, for a visa slot?!

We did, however, have 2 cars nearby to get an occasional warm up and we did have access to bathrooms.  But, wait!  It doesn't stop there!  Sounds so nice of them to give us access to bathrooms, right?  Well, said bathrooms just happened to be located off of a HUGE foyer area!!!  Were we able to sit in said foyer????  Nope!!

It was somewhere between 6 and 7 that we were able to come into the foyer and line up.  It was much warmer in there.  We were all sprawled out on the floor, mostly heads nodding off.

Eight o'clock came.  There was a bit of pushing and a bit of stress.  People were walking in and not observing the line.  Come to find out, many of them were there for other reasons.  Oops!  Things remained calm and "the list" of names were honored and we were called in order.

I had one more full day in Texas before heading back to Madrid.  My dad was staying with my brother, so my mom and I took the day to do a bit of downtown Granbury shopping.  It is a B&B capital complete with a beautiful city square dotted with all kinds of cute shops. 







That evening we met up with my brother, Kerry and niece, Michelle.  I was again, not thinking and didn't pull out the camera.

Tuesday morning we headed to the airport.  I was to catch a flight from Philadelphia and then on to Madrid.  I soon found out my plane was arriving late putting me late into Philly.  The desk agent assured me I had plenty of time..........ha!! She didn't seem to take in to consideration all the extra taxi-ing the planes might do in both Dallas and Philly.

While coming off the plane I learned another guy was also going to Madrid.  He took off running.  I tried, but I am no runner and I seem to suffer from exercise induced asthma, so there was no way I could keep up.  He was a very tall, very athletic young African American man, so of course he made the plane!!  I did not!!  He was probably thinking how pathetic that the short stumpy almost 40 year old woman didn't make it!!  Ha!

I arrived 10 minutes before the plane was to leave and it was too late!!  Me and 6 other people!  I remember a day when they held the plane for late arrivals!  Not anymore!

It was SO frustrating to be sitting there seeing the plane, seeing the pilots and not being able to board the plane!  I don't know about you, but I hate the public cry!  Not other people doing it.   I just hate to do it myself and avoid it as much as possible!! But, it was not to be held this time. I did the public cry! Oh my! My face and nose get beet red and it is hideous!! I don't know why really.  I guess I assumed that I would have to wait 24 hours before heading to Europe.  I felt so bad for the guy helping me with a new ticket. Poor guy, he really was trying to help me feel better and joking with me some. He did feel sorry that I missed the plane.  Luckily, there was a plane heading for Lisbon, Portugal in just a couple of hours.

I then needed to try and find a phone to call Jerry. The ladies at the airport information desk were very helpful and when their desk phone wouldn't allow a call to a TX number (it was our Vonage-VOIP number in Madrid), one of them let me use her cell. How sweet is that?! Jerry didn't pick up since it was the middle of the night. It had been hot in Madrid so I thought he might be sleeping in the living room. But it just so happened that the airport had free internet!!  I have not been to an airport yet with free wifi!! So I was able to send Jerry a message that I had missed my flight.

I boarded the plane to Lisbon and it was fairly uneventful. The seven of us that missed the flight to Madrid were almost certain we were going to miss our Madrid flight in Lisbon as well. We got held up in passport control and then in security. I about lost it in their security section where they had to recheck my bag. They had a very inefficient process and the guy checking was taking forever with another lady.  I don't usually do things like this, but all the sudden I looked up and very loudly said "Can someone please help me, I am going to miss my flight????!!!!!" About 5 seconds later he got moving on my bag only to discover that it was nothing and I got an "I'm sorry for the delay." Another grr!!

Luckily though the plane we were to be on arrived late and the 7 of us all got a seat and were on our way (albeit a tad late) to Madrid and I even got a row of 3 seats all to myself!


I was worried about my baggage.  Lucky baggage, it made my Madrid plane in Philly when I didn't!!  It was just a bit inconvenient that we had to drive to another terminal in Madrid to pick it up. But I was SO glad it was there waiting for me and we didn't have to track it down all over Timbuktu!

So there ya have it.  My bit-o-drama on the way home.

Much happened while I was away.  The kids had all kinds of fun things at school.  I'll be sure to catch you up soon!

To the beach we went!!  We were staying in the town of Benalmadena just south of the town of Malaga,  a city that attracts lots of British tourists and those looking to relocate.  It was a beautiful, glorious day in the midst of craziness!!  I had gotten away from home without packing Jerry’s or my beach towels, but we thought we could all just share.  We hit the beach and instantly came upon a kind of cabana area.  It was an umbrella with 2 chairs.  Beach towels could be requested as well as sand toys. The ladies' sign said “Let Maria take care of you!”  We thought we’d look into it expecting the price to be out of our range only to be pleasantly surprised that it was only €4.50 (just under $6) per chair (we rented 2) for the whole day.  That we could do!  I’m so glad we did!  Maria was so nice and sweet to our kids!  The beach was just a short walk in front of us where we played in the surf ALL day!  A great way to spend our 16th wedding anniversary!!  There were several restaurants set back further on the beach.  We enjoyed a nice, decently priced lunch without having to take our stuff with us or go far at all.  The Lord gave us a calm in the midst of our storm.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day!  Except for the sunburn I got on my back, ouch!!  It was worth it though!We got back to our holiday apartment that evening and learned that Jerry’s dad had woken up and was doing better.  Praise God!!  Things were going a bit better!

I was still dreading the trip to Morocco, but at least we had some sweet memories of the day before.  The roads in this area of Spain are small little beach roads and highways or you can pay for the toll road.  To save time we decided to pay for the toll roads towards the town of Tarifa at the southern tip of Spain.  Tarifa is about 31 kilometers (about 19 miles) from Tangier, Morocco.  In reading through Rick Steve’s travel book on Spain I learned that Tarifa is the windsurfing capital of Europe!!  As soon as we stepped out of our vehicle I learned why!  Oh my goodness, the wind!!!  Oooff!!  I have never experienced such wind!!  Not even my days in college in Plainview (west), TX!  Ha!!  I couldn’t see a thing because my hair was in my face the entire time!!
We had tried to buy ferry tickets online but it didn’t seem to work (we learned later that it took our money but gave us no tickets!  Grr!  We’re still working on that!).  Luckily the ferries go frequently enough that we were able to get tickets with no problems.  It was only a 40 minute trip but partway through the trip we learned that we needed to go through passport control on the boat.  And the line was horrendous!  I was really trying to enjoy this trip, riding a boat, going to Africa but that was all lost at this one moment!!  We were wanting to hurry so we could turn around and get on the next boat, but it didn’t work out that way.  Because this was also a ferry that carries cars, all the people who had cars had to get through passport control first so they could get their cars off the boat.  It still didn’t make it any easier and was still so frustrating.  Once we got off the boat we'd hoped to turn around and get right back on, but learned that we had to get another stamp clearing us to get back on the boat and return to Spain.  We ran what seemed like a mile through the maze of docks to get the stamp only to be stopped quickly by the longest line ever possible!!  My heart sunk!  And we missed the boat.  That meant we had another 2 hours until the next boat left.  Not enough time to go look around (which we weren’t really interested in doing anyway), so we sat....and waited.  We went to a little cafe in the ferry port for some drinks and a snack and that was it.  The time passed SLOWLY of course, and finally our ferry came.  We were one of the first ones on.  We wanted to be in a prime location to do passport control and get a good seat.  This ferry was much fuller.  We sat by the passport window only to learn that on the way to Spain you don’t do passport control on  the boat.  Grr again!!  Instead of having a good seat to look out on the water we were sitting in the middle of the boat.  And on the way back we hit some rough waters.  In Alaska, I grew up going deep sea fishing for halibut every summer.  I am use to rough waters, but this was making even me feel sick!!  I had given the kids Dramamine just in case.  Karis can get motion sick in the car, but the boat didn’t seem to phase her or the other 2, go figure (maybe the Dramamine really did work).  We tried to take some strolls around the boat and even walking was a challenge.    We got a good laugh out of it though.  It wasn’t long and people were getting sick.  Not fun!!  And both girls had to go to the bathroom during all this.  Tight stalls, moving up and down.  I was feeling icky.  We finally saw land and the harbor come into view.  I decided we were going below deck to be one of the first ones off.  I practically ran off the boat dragging the kids with me towards passport control!!  I was so happy to be on Spanish soil!   I practically kissed our van when we got to it!  Ha!  We were on our way back to our accommodations and found a Burger King knowing the kids needed a little treat after our day.
Here are just a very few pics on our Tarifa/Tangier trip.  To say we weren't in the mood for taking pictures is an understatement!  Ha!

This had been a whirlwind trip.  In some ways I was so ready to get home, but I dreaded getting back in the car the next day.  We decided to get up early and head to the beach for one last dip in the waves!!  We had another wonderful morning at the beach, but I was sad to go.  The beach was our one reprieve during this whole trip and I didn’t want it to end.  Neither did the kids.  I think they were all crying as we left.  I wanted to cry along with them!!  We had a good trip home and were glad to have this trip behind us!  We had a great time at the beach and I can now say that I have been to Africa!!
Here are several pictures of our morning at the beach.  Ah, what fun times!!